‘Ashamed’ means: to experience a loss of honour. When Jesus appears, the revelation of what our life has been like: what we prioritised; what we considered important; why we did things; how we did them; our motivation… when this is all uncovered, we will be aware of our failure to live the life Jesus planned for us, and the enormity of the loss of eternal rewards - of intimacy, honour, glory, and authority.
We will suffer and experience feelings of shame, disappointment, grief – but these will not be permanent. The status will be permanent, but the feelings won't be, because…
Revelations 7:17 – “He will wipe away all tears from their eyes”.
There will be a moment of realisation: of what we have done with our life; the opportunities wasted and lost; the impossibility of now recovering that; and the consequences of what we've lost for eternity. I think there will be immense grief, and immense shame over that. However, the shame and the grief won't last forever. It will just be a thing that happens, and then we will see, as we look at the evaluation, that God is a just God - that He has done what is right, and we will accept His judgement concerning our future.
Wow! That raises then the question… How will Jesus evaluate our works? If you're trying to do this naturally, how long would it take to work out someone's life? This will all happen in just a moment of time for us, because in the realm of the Spirit, time is not there to hinder us in any way. So how will Jesus evaluate our works? Let me share with you four things just related to that…
1) We need to find out what pleases the Lord. Now that you're a believer, one of your roles, your responsibilities, is that you discover what pleases the Lord - because relationships are meant to bring pleasure to us. God designed us, He created all things for His pleasure. God created us for His enjoyment; and so, some things bring God pleasure, and enjoyment. For example, with David… “I delight thy will, oh God” - he delights to bring God pleasure! In God's assessment of David (in Acts), He said: “I have found a man after My own heart, who will fulfil all My will”. God has been looking for someone who has a desire to bring pleasure to Him; and participate, or partner with the Father, in accomplishing His will. So, the first thing is, we need to set the direction of our life to discover what pleases the Lord.
2) Jesus constantly sought to please His Father.
John 8:29 – “He who sent Me, is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him”.
“I always do the things that please Him”. Jesus' whole life was focussed around His Father, and pleasing His Father; and He brought such great pleasure, that on more than one occasion the Father spoke from heaven, saying: “this is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. He brings Me great pleasure. I am delighted in My Son, because of how He lives and what He does. Paul also spoke, and he urged believers that we should seek to find out how to please the Lord. Here's a couple of scriptures, talking about knowing the will of the Lord; and finding out what pleases the Lord…
Ephesians 5:10 – “Don't say you don't know. You've got a Bible and you can pray. Go and find what pleases the Lord”
2 Corinthians 5:9 – “Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him”.
Jesus modelled a life lived to please His Father. You can live to please yourself; you can live to please people; or you can live to please God. Who is it, that you're living to please? If you live to please God, it will put you in conflict with your own desires at times. It will also put you in conflict with what other people want.
Galatians 1:10 – “If I seek to please men, I cannot be the servant of God”.
If I make it my priority to keep people happy, or to please people, then I won't bring pleasure to God, because I will be in conflict with Him!
3) Pleasing God requires we walk in faith. Pleasing God requires you trust Him.
Hebrews 11:6 – “Without faith, it's impossible to please Him; for he who comes to God must believe He is, and He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”.
Without trusting God, believing, and allowing that belief to be worked out in our life, it's impossible to please Him. Faith is the bottom line! It is crucial then, that I exercise faith; that I live a life of trusting God, hearing God - because faith comes by hearing God.
4) Pleasing God requires we be led by the Holy Ghost.