What Is Done In The Body

"He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience." - 2 Corinthians 5:5-11 ESV

These thoughts settle me this morning... they encourage me.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." - 1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

We are what we are by the grace of God. God is working in us and through us. We can gauge our next move based on the Bema seat judgement. Will it be cause for celebration there?

"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." - 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 ESV

The foundation is Jesus Christ... who He Is... what He has done. Will we reinvent the wheel or will we sit, walk and stand in what Jesus has done?

Evaluation is based on the quality of materials we use... Gold (God's character and nature), Silver (The righteousness and purity of Christ) and Precious Stones (people who have been transformed and mined out of the Earth) and the active application of those materials. The application must be done by the Spirit of God using a willing participant as a co-laborer... someone yoked to God.

We look at our physical frame this morning and see a body. We also look at the local expression of believers in our area (if we are fortunate enough to have that) and see a body. At the Bema seat what we do and don't do in those arenas... what we say and don't say... where we go and don't go... will be tested by fire. What remains will remain forever.

Today is the day. It is all we have. Let's be who we are by the grace of God and function in the faith that expresses what Christ has already done. We won't regret that we did.

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