'What have we practiced in our body?'
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Has it been faithfulness, diligence, love, unbelief, laziness, bitterness? This is what we will receive in the Day of Christ.
Have we practiced faith? God will give us the reward of faith. Have we suffered for the Gospel’s sake? God will give us the crown of life. Have we borne the reproach of the cross? God will lift us to the ranks of those who are highly esteemed in Heaven.
Have we wasted our time and the gifts of God? God will reward us with the wages of laziness and unfaithfulness. Have we beaten our fellow-servants and eaten and drunk with the riotous? We shall be rewarded accordingly.
Have we neglected our salvation and denied Christ before men? Christ will neglect us and, in the Presence of the Father and His holy angels, will deny any knowledge of us.
The Judgment Seat of Christ has been set forth by Christian teachers as though some believers receive prizes, others, somewhat lesser prizes, and the wicked, lazy Christians, of whom there are many, receive even lesser prizes. Is this what the Scriptures teach?
In recent times, two "angels" have appeared to the pastor of a Christian church and have informed him, according to the account he wrote, that no Christian will hear anything negative at the Judgment Seat of Christ and that there is nothing to fear. Is this what the Scriptures teach? Were these indeed angels of God?
The pastor now is dead. He may know now whether these angels, who spoke "another gospel," indeed were Gabriel and Michael.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)
"According as his work shall be."
Some who profess the name of Christ have practiced covetousness and have held back the wages of those who have worked for them.
Some believers in Christ have cheated and robbed other Christians in the hope of gaining an advantage in the world system.
Multitudes of church attenders have wasted their lives accumulating material wealth, paying little attention to prayer, to obedience to the Scriptures, or to what assistance they might have given to the poor and needy.
There have been Christians who have lived as disciples of Jesus. They have forsaken their own life, have taken up their cross, and have followed the Master wherever He has led them.
Christ will reward every person just as his work has been.
Each individual who stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ will be examined closely concerning the things he has done in the world. Every word, deed, and thought will be evaluated in terms of love for God and love for one’s neighbor.
The deeds of sin and self-seeking he has confessed and turned away from with sincere repentance will not be mentioned to him. They have been forgiven and cleansed from his personality.
All of the rest will be revealed and he will receive the consequences.
Some teach that no Christian need be concerned about the Judgment Seat of Christ. If they are correct, why did Paul state that he persuaded people because of the terror of the Lord’s Judgment Seat?
We have been deceived by those who are willing to distort the Scriptures so they may please their listeners and get more money from them. The land is filled with Christian teachers for hire.
"That every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Will the believer receive the good things he has practiced in his body?
He will receive those good works back in the form of a body of life from Heaven. Also, he will be surrounded by grateful souls who have gained Paradise because of his faithfulness in serving God. He has an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God, being accompanied on every side by love and gratitude from the Lord and from people.
Will the believer receive the bad things he has practiced in his body?
If he has not confessed and forsaken his wicked deeds he will receive lashes (if not worse) in the Day of Christ. He will enter eternity without reward. There will be no cry of gladness from Christ or from people upon seeing him because he has lived in sin and self-love. He will enter the Kingdom of God naked—saved as by fire. Or, he may never be permitted entrance to the holy city.
Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade all believers to live no longer to themselves but to Him who died for them and rose again. He is returning soon to raise us from the dead and to clothe us with a body like His glorious body.