I recently had the privilege of being part of a Bible conference on the topic of rewards and the Judgment Seat of Christ. I was speaking on the Parable of the Talents in Matt 25:14-30. This parable is sometimes considered controversial because in it the Lord strongly rebukes one of His servants. As a result, most say that the servant is not a believer.
This attitude was evident in the comments one of the attendees made. I said that the rebuked servant is a believer, and that the parable teaches us that unfaithful believers will be ashamed at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Such a believer will lose eternal rewards and experience Christ’s displeasure.
The attendee was adamant that this was not possible. She felt this way even though I emphasized that the rebuked believer still had eternal life and would be in the kingdom forever. In her view, a “true” believer could never find himself in such a situation. The Lord would never treat one of His children that way. She said that a gracious Lord will not have righteous anger toward a Christian. He is full of grace. When we see Him, He will have only positive things to say.
While such a view might make us feel good about what our future evaluation at the Judgment Seat will be like, it is not Biblical. A great deal of material in the NT tells us that some believers will indeed receive a stinging rebuke from the Lord (e.g., 1 John 2:28). We will give an account of how we served Him (2 Cor 5:10). It would not be just if the faithful believer were treated in the same way as the unfaithful one. A righteous Judge would not do that.
We might also point out that even earthly parents are at times displeased with their children. A “true” child can do things of which his parents do not approve. Good parents will withhold good things from their children if those children are disobedient. This is true even though they remain children of the parents.
In many cases, however, such arguments will not be persuasive. People can have a concept of the Lord that they are not willing to change. Preconceived notions are sometimes hard to put aside. That is true for all of us.
In this case, however, it might be helpful to consider how the Lord dealt with believers while He was living on this earth. Was He ever righteously angry at how His children acted? If so, that would at least open the possibility that He will do the same when we appear before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
In Mark 10:14, we see an example of Christ’s being unhappy with believers and strongly expressing His displeasure toward them. The believing disciples needed a serious attitude adjustment. They had expressed an air of superiority toward a believer whom they looked down upon (Mark 9:38). Then, they did not understand why they, as men, couldn’t treat women as inferior in a marriage relationship (10:10). Immediately after that came the straw that broke the camel’s back. The disciples treated children with the same kind of disdain. Parents brought those children to the Lord to be blessed by Him, and the disciples shooed them away. In their view, these little ones were too insignificant to be allowed to take up their time (10:13). The disciples thought very highly of themselves. They should have known better.
How did the Lord respond to their actions? The NKJV says that He “was greatly displeased” with them. The word greatly does not appear in the original. It is added to express what the Greek verb indicates. The verb means to be angry because something wrong was done. The Lord was greatly angry at the way the disciples were treating others. When He saw that, He rebuked them.
Doesn’t it make sense that the same thing will happen at the Judgment Seat? When the King looks at our lives, what if He observes that we had that kind of attitude? What if other sinful activities characterized our lives? Wouldn’t such actions cause Him to be “greatly displeased” with us?
As we think about the day we will give an account of our lives before the Lord, we can take comfort in knowing that anything we do for Him will receive a reward and His approval. But let’s not kid ourselves. The righteous King will not praise the believer who did not do the things He commanded. It may go against what we picture in our minds, but He will be “greatly displeased” at such a life.
