If we were to outline 2 Corinthians it can be divided in seven sections and it would look sort of like this. Paul writes a very intimate and loving letter to the church, and mainly because of their positive response to the first letter, to remind believers of their commitment to Christ and also to defend his authority, his apostleship. So here comes Paul’s second letter, written from Macedonia, most likely from Philippi, you see in the top circle there. In fact, the first book, 1 Corinthians was more of a disciplinary letter to the church and he strongly confronted issues like divisions and sexual immorality, pride and incest and lawsuits and divorce and remarriage, even doctrinal error, things of that nature.īut thankfully many complied, many of the church complied with Paul’s first letter, but as Paul continued on Corinth began to court false teachers and they swayed the church in Paul’s absence they swayed them to question Paul’s apostolic authority. So you can just imagine what the church was going through in that day and what they had to deal with, not to mention their congregants and what they struggled with. And so the book of Corinthians is actually where we get the concept of carnal Christians. One of my professors said Corinthianize meant to engage in drunkenness and debauchery. In fact, Corinth in Greek means to practice fornication.
And it was known for everything sinful Corinth was. And the church was surrounded by an immoral and pagan culture. And it was also the epicenter for commerce in a place called the Agora. And in that city housed the temple of Aphrodite, with its thousands of prostitutes and it housed an athletic center for competitive games, sort of like the Olympics. Corinth was a very important city, a very big city and very wealthy city, and very pagan, known for its immorality, sort of like Vegas but worse. This is Paul’s second letter, written around 56 A.D. When we ask “where,” where is this Judgment Seat going to take place? “When” will this Judgment Seat take place? And “Why,” what is the purpose of and when we ask “How” we want to ask how are we to prepare for the Judgment Seat of Christ.Īnd so as we open to 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 I’d like us to break down these verses word by word, but before we do that I want to get familiar with this letter really quickly. “What,” what is the Judgment Seat of Christ. And when we ask “who” we’re asking who are the participants.
This morning I simply want to ask six key questions, just your basic journalistic questions that anyone can ask during a study of the Bible, and it’s this: the who, the what, when, where, why and the how. We’ll talk more about that as we move along. The Judgment Seat of Christ is so important, not because it’s just taught in the Bible, because it affects, it directly affects the believer’s development in Christ, their growth, their walk with Christ. This is not a secondary issue, as some scholars say. I believe the Judgment Seat of Christ is a very, very important doctrine. But thank God for Sugar Land Bible Church, Amen! And thank God for churches who are heaven bent on teaching the whole counsel of the Word of God. And for some it just might negatively affect attendance, they don’t want to ruffle any feathers. This is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and for some it doesn’t flow with their agenda or their philosophy of ministry. And as believers who clearly see it taught in Scripture we’re left asking why? Why is that? Well, we learned, before Andy went on vacation, in his sermon Entertaining the Goats and Feeding the Sheep, that for some churches it doesn’t really fit in their hierarchy of needs. In fact, some churches avoid it altogether. It’s considered by some scholars a secondary issue, a less important doctrine. The Judgment Seat of Christ is a topic that by and large does not usually get any air time in the church today. This morning I’d like to speak with you about a prophetic event in the Bible called the Judgment Seat of Christ.
May You open our hearts to Your Word and use me Father as You see fit. We acknowledge our dependence upon You and on Your Word. Can we pray? Thank You, Father for Your Word. Speaking of Andy I’d also like to thank him for this opportunity and asking me to do this it’s truly an honor and a delight to study this topic.
Preaching in place of Andy is a very tall order and I have some big shoes to fill so…. I’d like to thank God first for this opportunity and thank you guys for the honor of speaking to you this morning. Can everybody hear me? Please join with me and turn into your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Judgment Seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10