1a. The Bema leads us to prepare ourselves a. in Liberty (Rom. 14:4)

    What is the Bema Judgment Seat? In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the "bema" was the wooden pulpit on which Nehemiah stood from morning to midday when he read the Scriptures to the Hebrew people. 

    In Rome, it was the platform on which the judge of the games would sit not only to oversee the start and finish of a race but also to award the prize to the victor (anyone ever see Ben-Hur?)

    In Jerusalem, when Pontius Pilate sat down, the Greek word bema was used in both Matthew and John to refer to location of his rendering of the verdict against Christ.

   In Corinth, Paul was brought before Gallio at the bema. See video

   In Philippi, Paul was beaten before the bema.

   And in Veria (called Berea in the Bible), there are bema steps that led to the synagogue. If you have ever heard of a Berean Church, it is named in honor of the people of this city who were more noble than those who were in Thessalonica as they consulted with the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul and Silas was preaching was true. See video

   In Caesarea, Festus sat on the bema seat as Paul made his arguments for Christ. Upon a bema seat, judgments were rendered, and exonerations were granted.

    So, if Christ was judged at a bema seat,
       if Paul was unfairly punished at a bema seat,
        if Gallio and Festus and others unfairly rendered unjust verdicts 
against Paul,
  against Jason, a believer in Thessalonica,
    against Sosthenes in Corinth,

 then why would Paul use this term to refer to the judgment seat of Christ for Christians?

   It is because there is coming a day in which the true and righteous and holy God will bring all of us who go by the name of Christ, who are believers who are true saved by grace through faith Christians, God will bring us before the bema steps of Christ and call us to give an account of what we have done here on earth with that saving faith. God will call us to see our works both good and bad and be judged according to them. 

1. The bema seat of Christ reminds us to prepare ourselves. Romans 14:9-11
  ⁹ For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.  ¹⁰But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the bema, the tribune, the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written: ​​“As I live, says the LORD, ​​ every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

There are three subpoints to this call to prepare ourselves that we should remember, the first given today and two more to be shared in the next post.

a. Don’t judgmentally mettle in matters that don’t matter. Instead, have liberty. (Romans 14:1). 

    If you were to read this entire passage of Romans 14, beginning in verse 1, you will see that Paul is urging the Roman church to not dispute over questionable things and not to judge brothers and sisters in Christ on issues that are not important,
            that are not a matter of heaven or hell,
                        that are not crucial issues of salvation.

    Romans 14 could be divided in three parts: “The Law of Liberty”, “The Law of Lordship”, and “The Law of Love”. 

     Look at 14:1. “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.” 

    We as a group of 17 Protestants, spent the week in Greece, home of the Greek Orthodox church, with a tour group of members of the Roman Catholic Church.

     We had a marvelous time and chose not to meddle in matters that didn’t matter, but instead we rejoiced in the things that united us in Christ. We were united under the law of Liberty!

    All Christians will be brought before the bema seat of Christ and He will sort things out. I believe this will happen immediately after the rapture of the church. You may say, “Pastor Tim, why do you think it will be then?” 

    Revelation 22:12 says,  ¹² “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

     Notice that Jesus does not say he will reward us because of our work, but according to our work. This is a repeated theme for the bema seat judgment for Christians. Immediately after we are caught up together with Christ, all Christians will be judged according to our works for our rewards, not to determine our eternal resting place in heaven or hell, but to reveal our rewards we will have in heaven. 

    The voice of the angel and the trumpet of God will sound and we who are true believers in the faith will be forever with Christ. Nine times in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5 through 7, Jesus spoke directly about rewards and stated that the faithful and righteous Judge will reward us for our efforts here on earth. That may not be your motivation to do good deeds on earth, but it is marvelous that God will remember and reward our efforts!

    You see, we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. Paul said we are saved by grace through faith and not of works, but in verse 10 of Ephesians 2 states that we are the "workmanship of God created in Christ FOR GOOD WORKS." 

We are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. We will see more about this tomorrow! But for today, let us remember that 

The bema seat of Christ reminds us to prepare ourselves,
and we should not mettle in matters that don’t matter. 

Instead, have LIBERTY.