The Bema Seat

The past two Sundays, one of the pastors at our church did an incredible monologue drama about The Bema Seat of Christ, a powerful picture of the judgment of believers.

Wait, the judgment of believers? But my sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, so I'm not going to be judged. . . am I?

The Bible speaks of two different judgments. Revelation 20:11-15 speaks of the Great White Throne Judgment, when the book of life is opened and all are judged for their deeds as either righteous or unrighteous. As Christians, we will escape this judgment because Christ's blood has covered over our unrighteous deeds and we are forgiven. If you have trusted Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, your name will be written in the book of life and you will be ushered into heaven. Believers do not have to fear the Great White Throne Judgment.

The Bema judgment, spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, is nothing to fear, either. The purpose of this judgment is to give rewards based on our stewardship of the things God has given us (our time, talents, money, etc.), and whether we invested in things that will last for eternity.

The idea behind the drama is to remind us that we need to be living not for today, but for The Day. We need to live with an eternal perspective in our motives and actions. We need to care more about what Jesus thinks than about what others think. We need to invest in people for eternity. What a good reminder!

If you have some time, I'd encourage you to listen to Pete Briscoe's audio presentation (about an hour long, but SO worth it!) or read a transcript of the drama. I could only find a transcript of part 1, so you'd be left hanging, but if you only have a few minutes, you could get the idea.

You could also buy the book by Tim Stevenson or buy the audio or video of Pete Briscoe's presentation.