Gold, Silver, or Bronze? - Part A

What was it that invaded guys like Colby approximate what would make a person decide to travel around the world and that people say bad things to me and play me in jail and get up the next town keep doing that you motivate a person to do that really is a huge motivator, especially with the rewards of truth or gold-medal. What about the life of a Christian today on connect with Skip Heitzig Skip shares an important and powerful motivator. You have to pursue Christ right now want to tell you about a resource that will help you become the difference maker God created you to be. I've enjoyed watching the growth in the ministry of my friend Levi Lustgarten this month's connect with Skip resource.

Take back your life a new book by Levi Lesko personally bided tell you about it's all around this idea of taking back your life. The 40 day interactive journey thinking right so you can live right is to be really powerful and special. I think some people to have this bellies in hardcover, which just makes me happy because I never had a booklist hardcover but has a ribbon so you really keep track of your progress through these 40 days. It would be in a car will get to someone who is looking to grow in their faith or for any of us.

He wants us maybe conduit and oil change for your heart check up on on your wellness where you're at, will deal with internal difficulties and help you deal better with external circumstances that are challenging as we explore how we can get to the very best version of ourselves that we are meant to be. Get the book.

Take back your life with a donation of $35 to connect with Skip call 1-800-922-1888. Online it connectwithskip.com this hardcover book by Levi Lesko will help you take back your life. It's a 40 day interactive journey to thinking right so you can live right 1-800-922-1888 second chapter 5. What motivates people to do a good job that's a question that businesses have asked for years, books and seminars are everywhere on how to give people incentive to produce and to live right to do right especially on the job.

So how do we get people motivated well. Here's an example of what not to do. Here's a company's in-house memo to all employees regarding sick leave policy is the new policy sickness, no excuse. We will no longer accept your Dr. statement. If you're able to go to the doctor you're able to come to work leave of absence for an operation. We will no longer allow this practice, we wish to discourage any thought you may need an operation as long as you're employed here.

You will need all of whatever you have and should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are and have anything removed, would certainly make you less than we bargained for.

Additionally, too much time is being spent in the restroom in the future will go to the restroom in alphabetical order. For instance, those whose names begin with a will go from 8 AM to 8:05 AM D from 80528 10 AM and so on.

If you're unable to go at your time you will need to wait until the day your turn comes again death other than your own.

This is no excuse. You can do nothing for them and were sure that someone else in a lesser position can attend to the arrangements.

However, if the funeral can be held in the late afternoon will be glad to let you offer one hour early, provided that your share of work is done ahead of time to keep the job going in your absence.

Death your own. This will be accepted as an excuse but we would like a two week notice as we feel it is your duty to teach someone else. Your job or socket a motivate anyone what people are discovering. Honestly when it comes to motivating people's rewards often work giving people incentives to perform and produce by giving them some kind of a reward.

Once a certain benchmark is met, not only on the job. They found that in education as well. I read some tests recently where they took a group of students found that giving students rewards will help them consistently, do homework, not just the internal reward of a job well done would not be great, but external rewards, giving them pencils, pens can be notebooks and then when someone gets a little bit older, our society we live in even give cash rewards for say information leading to the arrest of some notorious criminal. I was reading the Reuters news service article about a war criminal. They believe is still alive in South America from Nazi Germany. He escaped afterwards.

His name is Albert time. They believe that if he still alive.

He's 94 years old and they're still hunting him down. They've offered $495,000 cash reward now in all of these instances, people are given something some reward some award to get them to do what's right and sometimes it's cash I've question was it that motivated Paul the apostle, or guys like Paul the apostle means what would make a person decide to travel around the world and have people say bad things to me and throw me in jail and beat me up and have rocks thrown at me now get up and go to the next town would just keep doing that hereafter, what would motivate a person to do that what motivates a person to be a missionary guys like David living stone who were trained for the medical profession in Hamilton Scotland got a medical degree is a doctrine decided I meant to give the rest of my life to Africa as a missionary.

Why, or E. Stanley Jones to spend his whole life in India. What is it that would motivate people to do that.

What kind of incentive is there. Paul answers that question in our text today and he calls it the judgment seat of Christ to the thing that was the motivation and incentive for Paul was the judgment seat of Christ which is the place where we will receive rewards in heaven for what is done on earth. Now please don't misunderstand were not saved by works as I'm going_this morning but though we are saved by faith we are rewarded in heaven based on our works. What we do. So you might look at it this way you get into heaven by the finished work of Christ. But once you are in heaven you will be rewarded based upon your works. What you do on earth for Christ.

Let's look at our verses this morning.

Second Corinthians chapter 53 verses verse nine through 11. Therefore, we make it our aim for our stated goal we make it our aim, whether present or absent to be well pleasing to him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he is done, whether good or bad knowing. Therefore, the terror of the Lord we persuade men but we are well known to God. And I also trust are well-known in your consciences. Those three verses Paul addresses three things three things. The form is incentive ambition, motivation, and occupation what his goal is why he has that goal and because of that. What he does. In the meantime, on the earth.

Let's consider those together, let's think about what should be our God word ambition. What one thing should we look for verse nine, that's let's look at it again.

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, whether alive or dead member. He said a few verses before that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord to whether I live or die. My one goal is to be well pleasing to him how that verse gives to us Paul's purpose statement. His goal in life and that was to please Christ, to read it to you in the amplified version is even clearer. We are constantly ambitious and we strive earnestly to be well pleasing to him. So pleasing Jesus Christ was Paul's lifelong and eternal ambition question is that common is that ambition to please Christ above everything else is that commonplace or would you say that's the exception rather than the rule I say is the exception rather than the rule. I would say we live in a society that tells everybody to do whatever you feel is right for you not to please Christ. I'll even take it a step further, I would say that this is rare, even among Christians. I would say it is the exception rather than the rule.

Even among believers in Christ. I would say there are very few whose sole goal in ambition is to please Christ above all else, and here's why say that when Paul was surveying the Christian landscape in his generation and he landed on young Timothy to be his right-hand person. Paul writes in Philippians 2 for I have no one who is like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state for all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus has quite a statement opposing all the people that I know in the church she was writing about. Everybody seems to have their own agenda except one. One guy that's that's Timothy Hughes. Like-minded sometimes a single word or phrase will sum up a person's passion will throw out a few words golf cars music painting is a number of things that could sum that up. In fact, some people even advertise that in form of a bumper sticker. I'd rather be fishing or boating or whatever would be that they're not doing at the time that's there bumper sticker.

Sometimes people will freely and honestly admit what is their passion. I've had people say my life is music or my life is art or painting or bicycling or running is my life.

What is your bumper sticker word or phrase would sum up what your main goal and passion is above all others. We know what pauses he tells us in Philippians 1 verse 21 for me to live is Christ and to die is gain is talk on my life is Christ and he says in verse nine that is his single passion and ambition to please him question, do you know why you were made, you know, the very purpose for which you exist on planet Earth.

The main purpose of your life that God intended for you. I asked the question because I hear people when they talk about their passion and ambition is a lie was made to do this. I was meant for that. I like to answer the question why you were made what you were made for flip in the revelation for verse 11. The anthem that will be sung in heaven among other things, is this for you created everything and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created. So why were you made. You were made to please God, which is the very antithesis the very opposite of what you are told in this culture is a sampling of advertising slogans by different companies that that sort of sums up their philosophy, Erickson electronics. Their slogan make your self heard T-Mobile a better world for you dare tell cellular express your self one airline company. Embrace your dreams. Magazine says there's their slogan acquire what you desire L'Oreal cosmetics because you're worth it without one Budweiser beer for all you do this bods for you. And finally, Sprite, obey your thirst. You get the point.

Basically everything in life is to be measured by personal pleasure. Whatever is best for you so you live in a world that tells you and I that we should live to please ourselves but but here's the real kick to that we discover something, the more you do as you please.

The less you are pleased with what you do, the more you live to please Christ.

The more satisfied you become. That's why Paul could go from one place to another place to another place throughout all of that suffering, keep doing it because he was pleased and satisfied making his goal and aim in life to please Jesus Christ.

We have we have a follow-up question that there's Paul's goal that's his God word ambition.

Why, what is it that made him that way. What what fueled that passion or put it this way was the motivation for that passion has to be something behind that did to the fuel that kind of ambition will answer is, there were two things, both of them were yet future Depaul number one was the future glory. That's verses one through eight of chapter 5. The second was future judgment.

That's 910 11 future glory. He writes about in the previous verses we covered that in another study on this series and a pulse that I know that when this earthly body. This tabernacle is dissolved. We have a building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We grown earnestly desiring to be clothed, etc. so that's the glory part. The other part is the future judgment because the judgment seat of Christ. So let's look at that in verse 10, here's the and motivation for we are because we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he is done, whether good or bad at this verse describes a scene that will take place in your future.

It is a scene that you will be at you and I will all be present for this for. Notice it says we must all appear. Furthermore, when you appear there. It's a time of evaluation and verdict.

A conclusion as it says the judgment seat of Christ. Furthermore, as the verdict is rendered at that event, you will receive a reward or the loss of a reward for it says that each one may receive so it's a place of revelation as a place of reckoning and it's a place of receiving this judgment seat of Christ. I want to unpack that for us in the remainder of the time that we have. First of all, look at the term, two words judgment seat judgment seat now in the Greek language. It's only one word, not two words the judgment seat is from the Greek word, they might toss payment toss, which means a raised platform may tell you about the word itself. The root word payment, toss the root word means the distance covered by a step of the foot is the root word eventually it sort of morphed into the meaning of a raised platform a raised step and eventually it came to mean the elevated position of somebody in authority and minute later on became to describe the judgment seat the payment toss in every single Greek city of the Empire, you can go to any Greek town and there would be a bema seat or a payment toss. It was a place in town central were speeches were given laws were passed, verdicts were rendered.

In fact, it was before the bema seat or the payment toss in Corinth that Paul four years before the writing of this letter appeared in acts chapter 18 verse 12 are told they rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. Furthermore, every Greek citizen at some point had to serve as a judge on the payment toss we would call it in our modern jurisprudence part of the jury, and every member of the jury was given to bronze discs one was hollow. One was solid and there was a brass or bronze earn up on a raised platform and you would vote if you thought the person was guilty or innocent. If the person was guilty he put in the hollow disc. If he was guilty. Put in the solid disc and all of those were tallied up and judgment was rendered at the payment toss.as time went on the turn bema seat referred to the Olympic Games, the place where rewards were given based upon the performance at the Olympics of the first Olympic started back in 776 BC men only competed very few sportswear and engaged in the original Olympics. A foot race.

The chariot race. The javelin throw boxing and wrestling and whoever competed in the original Olympics were brought before the judges the payment toss and and they were rewarded if they one.

They were given rewards a crown today.

It's a gold medal or a silver metal or bronze medal but not back then they they gave something really special little leaf crown, a crown of Laurel leaf. That's all you got called a Stefan us of your name is Steve or Stephen. Your name comes from the little Laurel crown called the Stefan us and so all of that labor and work and training for a little leaf crown that's gonna fade away in about a week. Paul has this in mind in first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 25 aridity do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. We do it for an imperishable crown energy Olympic athlete trains and trains to stand before the judge at the bema seat to receive her role reward of a leaf. It's gonna fade away in a couple weeks a few days we do it we serve Christ wholeheartedly is working to get an imperishable crown.

Probably the most grueling of all bike races is the Tour de France ever watch them a television. I'd always thought it be great to be there not to participate but to watch though I like to bicycle that were talking 2000 miles of bicycling to the mountains of France, grueling one of the participants called it the annual madness when it's all said and done, you know what you get if you win the Tour de France than what $100,000 may be $10,000 note, you get a nice little bicycle jersey great 2000 miles working working working a little bicycle jersey and the ability to say I finished in one the Tour de France is marvelous, but short-lived. That's Paul's point in the text I just read. It's short-lived in perishable crown.

We work for an imperishable right back to this judgment seat of Christ. What kind of judgment will this be. Let me first say what it will not be when we talk about standing before the judgment seat of Christ. This is not referring to the great white throne judgment. In Revelation 20. That's for unbelievers only that's for Christ judges the wicked in their banished forever. Not speaking about that you and I will never face judgment for our sins ever authority settled.

Romans chapter 8 verse one there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And Jesus said in John chapter 5 whoever believes in me, or hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life. So this is not a judgment for our eternal fate that's already settled by the way were not saved by any works right saying the Bible says Ephesians 2 by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves, not by works is any mention that Skip the message from the series from the federal return to Skip to tell you how you can use teachings coming your way to help connect others to the good news of Jesus as the end times gets closer. We as believers in Jesus need to be watching and waiting for his return and telling others about him with every opportunity we get when you give today you make it possible to your generous gift to reach even more people around the world with the life-giving gospel of Christ. Here's how: 800-922-1888 to give.

That's 800 922 also get online connectwithskip.com/donor that's connected skip.com/as always, thank you for your partnership is an exciting biblical resource available right at your fingertips Skip had several Bible reading plans available version Bible simply search Skip dissecting the insured come back tomorrow. Skip examines what you choose to follow so Skip presentation of connection communications ever-changing through ever-changing time