God has said several times that he is going to measure his people with a plumbline (Amos 7:7; Isa. 28:17; Zech. 4:10; Rev. 11:3). The plumbline is the word of God. Someday, we’ll all stand before God’s throne, and he is going to measure all of us by the standard of his word.
We are the temple of God today. The temple of God is not a building somewhere, for God does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24-25). God does not dwell in any church buildings, shrines, or grottos. Furthermore, God is not going to live in a temple in the Middle East. That old temple in Jerusalem was destroyed 2,000 years ago, and its veil was torn by God. Even if people rebuild that temple by demolishing the Dome of the Rock Mosque and defeating Islam, Jesus is not going to dwell in that building. Instead, such a re-built “temple” will probably become the seat of the Antichrist. Christ is not coming back to a building; he’s coming back to his people. God dwells in our hearts as individual believers (1 Corinthians 6:19), and he dwells within the church, which is his house all over the world (Ephesians 2:20). This is the house that God is building today, and it’s the house God wants us to focus on, and this is the temple that will be measured by God’s plumbline.
When we are born again, we partake of Christ’s righteousness, the Holy Spirit comes into us, and we become God’s house. In addition, we become part of God’s church, which is God’s house all over the world. We are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God, not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we trust in Christ, we receive eternal life, and if we die, we will go to heaven to be with God.
Why Measure Something Perfect?
If we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, why do we need to be measured by God’s plumbline? Wouldn’t we automatically “pass inspection” because when God looks at us, he sees not our sins, but he sees the blood of his Son?
Once we’re born again, we get to heaven through the righteousness of Christ. Praise God for that. But being born again is just the beginning of our Christian lives, and now we need to walk out our faith in Christ. We need to actually live in accordance with the word of God. We need to grow from spiritual babyhood to adulthood, leaving the basic principles of Christ behind (Hebrews 6:1-2). Even though we’ll go to heaven when we die if we trust in Christ, God wants us to grow up now into the image of his Son.
Judged for Distribution of Rewards
In eternity, true Christians won’t be judged to determine whether we are saved or not, for our names are already written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Instead, we will be judged to determine our eternal rewards.
God will reward Christians according to what we have done (Romans 2:6).
God will judge us according to our works (1 Peter 1:17).
Jesus will give us things according to our works (Revelation 2:23).
He will reward us according to our works (Matthew 16:27).
The basis of the judgment will be the word of God. To the extent that we have obeyed the Lord and walked according to his Spirit on this earth, to that extent, he will give us eternal rewards. Those who are more faithful to God will have more rewards, and those who are less faithful will have less.
This is not about salvation – heaven or hell. A family may have 8 children, and some of them may do what they’re told, and others may disobey. The ones who do the right thing may receive rewards, and the ones who do the wrong thing may not. The disobedient children are not disowned; they’re still part of the family. So it is for us. Even if we don’t have a lot of rewards, we’re still saved. But we should live to gather eternal rewards because that’s what God told us to do.
How to Gain Rewards?
We amass eternal rewards depending on how we live after we are born again. We do this in various ways.
We gain rewards when we are persecuted for Christ (Matthew 5:12).
We gain rewards when we lay up treasure in heaven by being generous with our money, time, and other resources (Matthew 6:20).
We gain rewards when we love our enemies (Luke 6:35).
We gain rewards when we are faithful to expand God’s kingdom with the spiritual gifts and revelations that God has given us (Matthew 25:14-30).
Basically, to the extent that we are faithful and obedient to God in this life is the extent to which we will be rewarded by God in the next life.
Again, this judgment does not determine our eternal salvation, for that is determined by our faith in Christ. Praise God for the blood of Jesus, which is our only hope of eternal salvation. Instead, this judgment will determine our level of rewards that we will have once we are in eternity with God. Each one of us will receive at the judgment things from the Lord according to what we have done (2 Corinthians 5:10). Whatever good things we do, we will receive those things back from the Lord (Ephesians 6:8).
At the time of judgment, God will judge everything in our lives. Some things will endure, and some things will be destroyed. We’ll be rewarded for what endures, and we’ll suffer loss for what is destroyed. But either way, we’re still saved if we trust in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9-17).
These rewards are called heavenly treasure, and they’re also called light or glory. Some saints will have more light and glory in eternity than others. Paul said that the persecutions he faced for Christ created for him a larger weight of glory in the coming age (2 Corinthians 4:17). One way to amass heavenly rewards is to be persecuted for Christ, and those who are persecuted will have great rewards/glory/light/treasure in eternity.
At the resurrection, the saints will shine like the stars in the sky (Dan. 12:3). And in the sky, some stars shine brighter than others. The New Testament tells us that this is what the resurrection of the dead is like (1 Corinthians 15:41-42). Some saints will shine more brightly throughout eternity than others.
We are commanded to lay up treasure in heaven. God wants us to run the race well so we amass eternal rewards. If we could see eternity and know what having more eternal glory meant, we would be strongly motivated to actually live for this. Let’s walk by faith, not by sight, and live in light of this impending, eternal reality.
by Peter
Lincoln House Churches 