John Bevere - Aim to Please God

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What I learned in my 30 years of ministry is that many Christians believe that because Jesus is our Savior, they will never stand before Him as judge. However, the Apostle Paul says quite differently. I want to read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Listen to this, starting at verse 8. Paul says, "We are confident, yes, very well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." We know right there he is speaking only about Christians. How do we know that? Because when an unbeliever is absent from the body, they are in hell.

Now, that's not a harsh statement; it's just a statement of truth. Jesus, we must remember, came to rescue us from what we condemned ourselves to. He came to save us. But when a sinner is absent from the body, they are in hell. So we know Paul is only talking about Christians. He goes on to say, "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him." I remember when our boys were sitting around the table when they were younger. One day, I said to them, "Guys, you can't do one thing to cause your mother and me to love you more than we love you," and they said, "Oh, that's great!" Then I added, "And you can't do one thing to cause your mother and me to love you any less than we love you."

You could see them reveling in our unconditional love for them. But then I looked at them and said, "But you are in charge of how pleased we are with you." They kind of sat back and wondered. It's the same way with us; God loves us unconditionally, but we are in charge of how pleased He is with us. That's why Paul said we make it our goal. Why do we make it our goal? Listen to what he says in the very next verse: "For we, who are only Christians, must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

I want to read this to you from the Amplified Bible; it's absolutely amazing. It says, "For we must all appear and be revealed as we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive his pay according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil, considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing."

We are going to stand before Jesus Christ as our judge. Jesus will examine our lives—how we lived in accordance with His word—and He will make eternal decisions. Those decisions will stand forever and ever, and there will never be any changes. Are you prepared to stand before Him as your judge? You can be! What will be the criteria He uses to judge your life? You can know this, and that's why we've written the book "Driven by Eternity." I've spent hundreds of hours studying these scriptures on eternal judgments so that you can have them well laid out and prepare your life for that judgment seat.