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So this morning we've got a routine Ministry inspection of our cattle.
It can take ages to get everything ready, to put cattle where they can be easily seen, so the inspector's kept safe and can clearly see the numbers on the ear tags of every beast on the place.
And I've got to admit ... I really hate to undergo these inspections, with a vengeance!
I mean, who wouldn't?
Just once in a while they send someone you don't know to check on the animals you love and care for 24/7/365 to find out how you're breaking rules you've know chance of knowing (and therefore of keeping) because there are huge booklets hundreds of pages long with one sort of rule after another ... and it's not even all in one book.
Now look, the lady coming tomorrow seemed very nice on the phone, and she's been great about COVID measures, but you know it's her job to come and check you out to catch you out for doing something wrong ... and it's usually something deep down in the paperwork.
Then when they find whatever they manage to that breaks some rule you're unaware of, the next thing they seem to do is to take money off you!
But before you reach for your violin and start stroking its strings for the farmers, let me be quick to say this army of inspectors is creeping through all sorts of industries and we're all suffering with paper regulations that don't do the job.
Catching people out has become a growth industry
... and it says something deeply disturbing about our times.
It seems like sometimes it is justified ... but other times, not.
And it seems like sometimes the aim is to get compliance with the regulations, but at other times the intent seems just punitive.
There are two different sorts of 'watching to catching out' in the Bible, and the intention of each is quite different.
(Prepare for a light touch of 'heavy' theology ... this won't hurt!)
The Accuser of the Brethren
Revelation 12 is a really encouraging passage of Scripture written by a persecuted Christian to persecuted Christians about what has happened and why they are suffering as they are.
And included in the blessings of the coming of the Kingdom of God for God's people is the 'throwing down' of the 'Accuser of the Brethren' who slanders the Lord's people every day to their Father in Heaven. (Mysterious figure - don't know very much more about him than we've already been told ...)
"Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down."
The implication is very much that what he says is not justified, but the nastiness of the experience is still very evident.
The one who uses his birds-eye view of their life from Heaven to catch them out gets himself caught out and is removed, his days are numbered and his time is now short.
Unsurprisingly God's people in Heaven celebrate the outcome of that day!
But that's not the end of the 'inspection' of God's people.
The intention of the NEXT inspection is very different ...
Standing forgiven before the judgement seat of Christ
In Romans 14:10–12 Paul writes, “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. . . . So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God”.
And then ...
2 Corintians 5:10 says “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
In these contexts, both, it is very clear that both passages refer to Christians, not unbelievers. The judgment seat of Christ, therefore, involves believers giving an account of their lives to Christ.
The judgment seat of Christ does not determine salvation; that was determined by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf (1 John 2:2) is clear about that, and our faith in Him (John 3:16).
All of a believer's sins are forgiven because of what Christ has done on their behalf, and they will never be condemned for them (Romans 8:1): "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
We should not look at the judgment seat of Christ as God judging our sins, but rather as God rewarding us for the way we've gone on and livd our lives.
Yes, as the Bible says, we will have to give an account of ourselves. Part of this is surely answering for the sins we committed. However, that is not going to be the primary focus of the judgment seat of Christ.
At the judgment seat of Christ, believers are rewarded based on how faithfully they served Christ (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:5).
The Point
We're living in a world thoroughly equipped with people that are very critical and throw hissy fits at folks who see things differently from them.
That gets to look a lot like the Accuser of the Brethren!
The purpose is not to persuade and encourage change so we can all be better but, to vent anger and issues a person has that haven't been 'processed' with the result that they are being passed along.
The Judgement Seat of Christ is one where the judge has already paid the fine and served the time ... and rewards are now the matter before the court.
The Takeaway
Therefore there is no condemnation left that sticks to the follower of Christ. So we are secure to be able to consider the criticism that might sometimes get rained on us from a position of peace and willing self-criticism, to seek improvement.
But we are secure too to bat away the accusations that come from the same stable as 'the Accuser', because Christ has died and risen to put this sinner in the right with God.
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