Romans 12:2-5 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (3) For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. (4) For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, (5) so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”
Another aspect of our lives that will be judged on that day is how faithfully we fulfilled our functions in the body of Christ. As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle teaches us that God has placed each member of the body of Christ into His body to fulfil a specific role in the earth. This aspect of judgment pertains to God’s perfect will for our lives, which means that to the degree that we fulfil our roles we will receive our rewards on that day, however to the degree that we fail to fulfil our roles we will lose the rewards that should have been ours. In this passage the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reveals to us that God has His permissible will (the word translated “acceptable” is also translated permissible), and He also has His perfect will. We are encouraged by the Holy Spirit in this passage to prove or find out what God’s perfect will is. In other words we are encouraged to find out what God’s perfect will is for our lives individually. So what is God’s permissible will? God will permit His children to live as they so choose (not sinfully obviously), and I would estimate that for various reasons, most believers walk only in God’s permissible will. But nevertheless God also has His perfect will for our lives, and it is in the fulfilling of His perfect will, which would include our specific function in the body of Christ, that we will be held to account on that day. The apostle Paul learnt to be led by the Spirit in every area of his life and we are encouraged to do the same (2 Corinthians 1:17). Clearly saints who have learnt to walk in the spirit will fulfil God’s perfect will for their lives, simply because they are constantly led by the Holy Spirit in everything that they do.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit teaches us that we are God’s workmanship. In other words we are who we are because God has made us that way. For example some of us are artistic while others are good administrators. And so we see that each of us have received God given talents. Many of the Lord’s saints have taken those talents and used them for their own benefit and gain in this life, and up to a point there is nothing wrong with that. But I want you notice the rest of this passage of scripture. There is a primary reason that God has made us the way we are, and that reason is so that we can accomplish the good works in Christ that God has already prepared for us to walk in. In other words there are specific works prepared for us by God that only we as individuals can walk in, and those works relate directly to the gifts that each one of us have received from the Lord. And so whether or not we have completed these specific works will impact our judgement on that day.
Michael E.B. Maher
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