Christians on Judgment Day

2 Corinthians
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:9-10
June 11, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:9-10: So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians live holy lives to bring pleasure to Christ

2. Christians also live holy lives for another reason

  • There will be a day of reckoning

  • Judgment can be negative or positive

  • Christians, safe and secure in heaven, will enjoy more/fewer rewards based on how they have lived

3. Christians lead holy lives to avoid loss and enhance their own joy in heaven

  • Appearing before the judgment seat of Christ

  • Who will appear?

  • In what manner will we appear?

  • Purpose of appearing

  • What will be the general standard of judgment?

  • What will be the particular standard of judgment?

4. Some observations

  • Our presence in heaven is based 100% on God's grace and mercy

  • Our status in heaven will reflect our faithfulness and diligence

  • Faithful Christians will be rewarded appropriately. Less faithful Christians, though not punished, will forfeit rewards

  • Neither our presence nor our status in heaven is based on merit

  • Do you struggle with a besetting sin?

  • David's big sins

  • Perhaps the tears God will wipe away will be tears shed on Judgment Day

  • Regarding those above you in heaven

  • Regarding those below you in heaven

  • Final thought

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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