Works Judgement
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2025 · 8 June 2025
We are going to see the fact that believer’s works will be judged before God to see whether they are worthy of reward. Now this is an important theme and subject. Paul says here, there is coming a time when all the believers works, will be judged by fire to determine whether they are worthy of reward. And this becomes important to every believer in order that he may prepare for himself for that coming time.
One of the motivating forces of Paul was that when Jesus is coming back, that it would be a time of reward. Paul prepared himself for that. It wasn’t that he wanted for himself all kinds of glory and honor; it was that if he was going to be involved in anything, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. If he was going to run a race, he was going to run it with one thing in mind, and that was winning it.
If he was going to fight a fight, he fought it to win it. That’s just how it is in the Christian life. If you give anything less than total commitment to it, you have dishonored God. And so reward for the Christian life isn’t so much a matter of me earning a benefit or of me being motivated by my own glory ultimately as it is of the fact that I want to honor the one who placed me here by giving my very best.
In 2 Corinthians 5, he gives the three motives for his ministry. The first one is Christ’s judgment is coming. He says in verses 9 - 10, “We labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him; for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body whether it be good or bad.” He says, “We labor in order to be rewarded. Christ will evaluate our work; and that motivates us.”
Second thing that motivated in 2 Corinthians 5 was Christ’s love was compelling. He said in verse 14, “The love of Christ constrains us.” The third thing that motivated him was Christ’s work was complete. He said, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” Three things motivated Paul: Jesus was coming to reward; his love for Christ out of his heart; and when he preached the gospel, and people were transformed.
But first he mentions: Jesus is coming. Paul wanted to be accepted of Christ. He wanted Christ to say, “Well done.” He wanted to maximize his potential, not so much that he might know tribute, but that Christ might know that he loved Him, that he cared about Him, that he was willing to give everything. He reiterated this desire in Romans 14:10: “Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother?”
“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Verse 12 says, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” We don’t need to judge other believers. God will take care of that; and every believer will give an account of himself. What he’s really saying to the Christians who were going to read the Roman letter is, “Let God determine who’s doing what. We all fall into the trap of being spiritual judges.
You can’t make that spiritual judgment. That’s not a judgment you have a perspective on. You let God make it. There’s no reason for your divisiveness. Only God can do that and really honor men; and He will. Ultimately there will be a time for reward. That introduces to us this passage. And what this passage is talking about is precisely that time when God will reward His own. Notice verses 1 Corinthians 3:5-8.
Now this is talking about judgment on believer’s works. There are many judgments in the Scripture. It talks about the judgment of sin. When? At the cross. There’s no more judgment, that’s done. Scripture talks about the judgment of self in 1 Corinthians 11:31, “If we would judge ourselves, we wouldn’t wind up being disciplined by God.” If we take care of our own lives, God wouldn’t have to discipline us.
There is the judgment of Israel in Ezekiel 20. It talks about the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. It talks about the judgment of Satan and demons in Jude 6. It talks about the judgment of the unsaved at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20. And, seventhly, of all these judgments is the judgment of the believer’s works. There’s coming a day when we will be judged on the basis of what we have done.
Beloved, there isn’t any judgment future to see whether you get into heaven or not, your faith in Jesus Christ already sealed that. According to Philippians 3:20, you’re already a citizen of heaven, right? Now other people say what the believer’s judgment’s going to be is that they’re going to be punished for the sins they committed after they were saved. If that’s true, we’ll spend all eternity doing that.
All of your sins were cared on the cross. Christ took all of them. First John 2:12 and Colossians 2 says it: all of our sin. He just bundled them all up on the cross and bore them all. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore no judgment to them who are in Christ.” “Who shall lay any charge to God’s elect?” Nobody. God’s already declared us righteous; there aren’t any sins for which we have to pay.
Others have said, ‘You have to be punished for the sins you didn’t confess.” That’s a very popular view. “The ones you forgot to confess or didn’t confess willfully will have to be paid for, and you’ll have to get punished.” The Bible doesn’t say that. That betrays a lack of understanding of confession. Confession has nothing to do with forgiveness. Forgiveness has already taken place on the cross.
Well, you say, “What is it?” It is simply a place of rewards. There will be no condemnation. Turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 4:5 which says, “So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.” Don’t run ahead of God and try to evaluate everything.
There you can get the idea that maybe God is more concerned with motive than He is with actual deed, right? Now the end of verse 5, “And then praise will come to each one from God.” You see, every believer will have praise. There won’t be anybody condemned. Christ bore all punishment. There will only be praise; but there will be varying degrees of praise, depending upon the work of your life.
When it says in 2 Corinthians 5, “We shall all appear before the judgment seat,” it refers not to a tribunal or a court; it refers to the Olympic stadium which was outside Corinth. And the winners went up and ascended the béma, and there were rewarded for their victory. Every believer will be going to get a reward, a prize. Everybody will have praise; some more than others. Some will be more highly honored than others.
1 Corinthians 3. Let’s look at the judgment as it appears here. When you get to the judgment seat, there are going to be a lot of people surprised at what’s left after the test. Some people are going to think they really made a great contribution and not going to have anything left, and some dear saints out of nowhere that nobody knew are going to have the greatest rewards of all. Only God knows that.
So Paul here shows that all believers are building a building, and there’s coming a fiery test, and the fire will be applied to their building, and only what is left will be rewarded. But every believer is going to have something left. It might just be a little, tiny piece. It’ll be a little bit of praise. But everybody’s going to get some. It doesn’t have anything to do with condemnation. Number one is the master builder.
Verse 10, “According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it.” Here Paul introduces himself as the master builder. Paul was a foundation man. He was the guy who started the churches. He wrote to the Romans, “I didn’t go certain places, because I didn’t want to build over somebody else’s foundation.”
He wanted to go where Christ was not named. In Corinth when he came there, he stayed eighteen months. In Ephesus he stayed three years. In Thessalonica he stayed less than a month, because the Spirit of God did a faster work there. But everywhere he went he laid the foundation of the church. He’s not trying to push the party issue. I did it only because God was gracious enough to commit that ministry to me.”
In Ephesians 3:7-8, he says, “I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. 8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ.” In 1 Timothy 1:13 he says, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief.”
Now notice the term “wise master builder.” He went into a town, he approached the synagogue, tried to win the Jews to Christ, he got a few Jewish converts. Then he began to move into the Gentile community and win them to Christ. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was a master strategist. When he built a building, his building was solid, his foundation was solid. The footings were deep and abiding.
Paul is a combination architect and general contractor, not just a planner. Nobody is sitting up saying, “Now you guys, go do this.” They were active. There weren’t any architects who weren’t also general contractors. The plans and the building were done by the apostles. They laid out the strategy and they carried it out. Now he says, “I then laid the foundation. I have laid it, and another builds on it.”
In Corinth, the next guy in was Apollos, and Apollos built on what Paul had begun. And Apollos was followed by others; and all the believers really were a part of it, because he says at the end of verse 10, “Let every man take heed how he builds upon it.” Paul says in verse 11, “For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.” Everybody else adds to that.
Now, some people would like to restrict this passage only to pastors, or evangelists, or teachers. Well, I would say that primarily the passage is referring to those people who preach and teach Christ. They are the ones, in the truest sense, building up the structure of doctrine upon the foundation that has been laid. We are the ones who are continuing to teach the word of God upon the foundation that the apostles set down.
Verses 12-13 say, “If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.” But, in verse 13 it says “each one’s work” is tested what sort it is, so you’ve got to broaden it and now it includes every believer who tells others.
Though all of us are not at the same degree building on that apostolic foundation, we are all building on it, because every one of us has a ministry. Every one of us has a ministry based upon the foundation that has been laid, and we are to be careful how we build. Secondly, we come from the master builder to the foundation, in verse 11: “For the foundation is Jesus Christ.” Now here we are introduced to the foundation itself.
Christ is the foundation of Christianity. In a sense, the foundation is the whole of the word of God. The Gospels are written to give us the history of the life of Christ. The Epistles were written to give us commentary on that life, and to draw principles from that life. The book of Revelation is written to tell us that Christ is yet alive and reigning, and will return. Christ is active in the church, the book of Acts.
The Catholics are trying to build a building on tradition. Some people are trying to build on top of a foundation of good works. Others on a foundation of ethical humanism. Some on the foundations of pseudoscience. Some people are trying to build their lives on morality, and ethics, and good deeds. But the only foundation for a life and for corporate life, which is the church, is Jesus Christ.
Matthew 16, “Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Who do men think I am?’ They said, ‘Well, some say you’re Elijah, some say you’re Jeremiah, some say you’re one of the prophets.’ He said, ‘Who do you think I am?’ Peter said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said, ‘On that confession I’ll build My church.’” That’s the identity of Jesus Christ, the truth of Christ. He is the only foundation.
Paul takes a look at the workmen and how they build and they’re rewarded: Verses 14 to 17. Verse 14-15, “If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.” Whenever in your life you teach sound doctrine, and you obey sound doctrine, or you pass it on to somebody, that’s excellent.
What are the rewards going to be? Crowns. They’re incorruptible crowns, 1 Corinthians 9, for those who are faithful, obedient, and self-sacrificing; the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8; the crown of rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, for those who win souls; the crown of glory, 1 Peter 5:4, for those who are faithful pastors; the crown of life, and James 1:12, for all who love Him sacrificially.
The fire will test all your works, and there might be a great conflagration in some people’s case. But he’ll still be saved. Find out your spiritual gift and use it. Verse 16 says, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” God wants a pure church. God doesn’t look kindly anybody who comes against His church to defile it or destroy it. You’re a holy sanctuary.
Verse 17, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.” Somebody who comes along and tries to undo what God has done, somebody who comes along and tries to hinder the work of the church, somebody who comes along and tries to remove the foundation of Christ, sets himself in a position to be destroyed by God. Let’s pray.