Popular caricatures of God’s judgment picture him as a cosmic bully who arbitrarily throws down fire, floods the world, breaks things, and sends people to an everlasting hell just because he can. Because he has all the might, he is right. We are to be frightened and do what he says because he might throw a tantrum and destroy us if we challenge his power. If you stroke his ego, he might give you a place in heaven one day.
The only thing that this caricature gets right is that God is a God of judgment. The Scripture is quite clear on this fact. From the opening words of history in Genesis 1, God is discerning or judging, declaring his creation “good.” Throughout history God distinguishes between good and evil, rewarding and delighting in the good while punishing and hating evil. In the end, we will all stand before God as our judge. “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment… (Heb 9.27; cf. also e.g., Eccl 12.13-14; 2Cor 5.10; Rev 20). God judges. Judgment is coming.
Why will we face judgment? What gives God the right to judge us? On what basis will he judge us? These are all legitimate questions, and the Scriptures clearly answer them.
The answer begins in the beginning. God created everything. Everything created belongs to him. That means that man (man + woman), by right of creation, belongs to God. Man is unique in the creation, being made in God’s image. He is given responsibilities as a master would do with his servant or as a father would do with his son. These responsibilities are man’s stewardship. God entrusts man with his creation, but the creation still belongs to God. Man is called to be a faithful steward, managing the creation (including himself) in a way that is in harmony with God’s own good intentions for his creation. When God judges man, he judges him on the basis of whether or not he has been faithful with the stewardship entrusted to him.
Every person is a steward of God’s creation. That is a non-negotiable position. For that reason, every person will be judged for how he managed God’s possessions. This judgment will concern how he handled everything from his own body in response to God’s commands to how he manages his relationships (marriage, children, work, et al.). All of it belongs to God. We are only stewards who must give account to God.
From the beginning of man’s creation, God establishes a pattern of how he works with us as stewards. God first establishes the relationship through creation, giving promises, responsibilities, and prohibitions. Then he goes away for a time, giving us time and space to carry out our responsibilities. At his appointed time, he comes back to judge whether or not we have been faithful stewards. When we have been faithful stewards, we enjoy the fruit of our labor with him in a feast. If we have been unfaithful, he punishes us.
The time between God granting us the stewardship and his return is a test of faith. Will we believe that what he has told us is true? Will we continue to do what he says to do? Do we believe that he is really coming to judge us?
Throughout history this pattern has worked itself out time and again. Adam in the Garden. Noah with the building of the ark in light of the promise of the flood. Abraham with the promise of a child. The children of Israel with the forty-day absence of Moses on Mt Sinai. Jesus takes up this stewardship theme in his parables of the talents in Matthew 25 as well as the master and servants in Luke 12. Judgment is coming. Will you remain faithful?
All that God requires of stewards is faithfulness (1Cor 4.2). Fundamental to this faithfulness now is how you and I respond to what God calls us through the gospel of Jesus Christ: complete allegiance to Jesus as Lord and everything that means for our lives. Each of us will be judged based on what we did with the gospel. Jesus has come, given us our stewardship and the Spirit to empower us for our task, and he will come again to judge whether or not we have been faithful servants. May we live so that we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter the joy of your Lord!”
