5. Judgment of Self

The lists of Judgments we find in the Bible are not there for man to justify himself, because we are justified in Jesus Christ plus nothing.

This list of judgments is for personal reflection and to help in the regeneration process. These are tools for introspection and meditation with the Holy Spirit.

As mentioned earlier we will look at these judgments in more detail now.

2.1 A Personal Judgment
2.2 A Judgment of our Relationships
2.3 A Judgment of our Conversation
2.4 A Judgment of our Faithfulness
2.5 A Judgment of our Inner Motives
2.6 A Judgment of our Spiritual Condition
2.7 A Judgment of our Works
2.8 A Judgment of the Shepherds

We believe in Jesus and we are going to heaven, but as we see from the list above judgments will still fall upon a believer. The outcome could be reward or possibly regrets. Some are looking for approval or acclamation to feel accepted. Therefore by seeking such notice they hand over to someone else their walk with Christ for assessment.

Have you ever asked questions such as?

1. Is a pastor the best Judge of me?
2. Is my youth leader the best Judge of me?
3. Is a policeman the best Judge of me?
4. Is the judge in the court the best judge of me?
5. Is my boyfriend the best Judge of me?
6. Is my girlfriend the best Judge of me?
7. Is my mother the best Judge of me?
8. Is the lady in the church the best Judge of me?
9. Is my enemy the best judge of me?

• We could have more but that’s not the point.

1. Is God the best Judge of me?
2. Am I the best judge of me?

When you look at this list there are a lot of people who can get in the way of you and God. They may have an opinion or a different perspective, but really that counts for nothing.
Some may want to help, and with all the right intentions, but the problems don’t go away.
Those between you and God need to be careful when entering into your problem area.

They need to ask themselves and you need to know if their advice is based on the word of God.

A. Some come with philosophy and that is not the word of God.
B. Some come with their formula and that is not the word of God.
C. Some come with their rules and that is not the word of God.
D. Some come with their problem and that is not the word of God.
E. Some come with other religious teachings and that is not the word of God.
F. Some come with fortune telling and that is not the word of God.

Hosea 4:12 My people seek advice from their wooden idols, and their rod declares to them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to go astray, and they have gone lusting away from under their God. (MKJV)

The advice of the world leads to death.

Proverbs 5:11 and you moan when your end comes, when your flesh and muscle are eaten away, 12 and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction; 13 and I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor bowed down my ears to those who taught me! 14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. 15 Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well. 16 Should your overflowing spring be scattered abroad as rivers of waters in the streets. (MKJV)

This is a warning for all believers to consider but we needn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. It is important to seek good Godly advice and that doesn’t mean going to anyone in the church, but seeking someone who is more mature in the Lord.

Before you make the decision to ask someone for advice look at the fruit in the person’s life because a good tree will have good fruit.

Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (KJVA)

Once you have sought Godly advice you will find it comes down to you and God alone in your room to find the answer. It must just be you with God and His Word because you are the one who must live with the outcome of any decision.

Warning of putting yourself in God’s hands

If a believer asks the question: “Should I place myself in the hands of God for a judgment or assessment of my life?” The answer is NO, if you do this you are embarking upon a journey of loss, because the judgments are already settled and therefore God cannot change.

If a non-believer asks the question: “If I put my life in God’s hands for judgment of my life will I end up in hell?” The answer is YES, that’s true, if you have not taken responsibility for your sins and repented.

It was settled before the incident in the Garden and it is settled in eternity. What is required is for man to take steps towards responsibility for his or her sins. Then once this has been done repentance is necessary to finalize the transaction with God.

We need to take responsibility now for our Christian walk. We need to let the word of God, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, wash and refresh us.

A good place to start is to become the judge of our own life so that we don’t hand over the responsibility to anyone. Therefore we don’t have to wait for God to make a decision, knowing that God has already done that. The word of God is the mirror for us to look into.

2.1 Personal Judgment

Romans 14:12 So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God. (MKJV)

We are only responsible to give a report about ourselves and not for others. We will not be required to give a report on other people so we don’t need to do that now either. Therefore we don’t need to talk about others unless we are exhorting, comforting and edifying them.

Discernment is a gift from God and therefore we should treasure the things we discern, taking these concerns to God in prayer and not the world. People only take things to others to build their own support network for self-justification.

We must judge ourselves.

2.2 A Judgment of our Relationships

The Bible is all about relationship from cover to cover it shows us how to get along with our fellow man.

Romans 14:10 But why do you judge your brother? Or also why do you despise your brother? For all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (MKJV)

If you have un-forgiveness and wrong attitudes towards your wife, husband, children, your earthly family, your Christian family or your enemy you will be judged.

Romans 14:13 Then let us not judge one another any more, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense toward his brother. (MKJV)

An excessive religious fever may cause some to stumble. We need to seek God to help us to be real to people.

Romans 14:15 But if your brother is grieved with your food, you no longer walk according to love. Do not with your food destroy him for whom Christ died. (MKJV)

Attitudes that give the impression we think we are better than others needs to be brought into line.

When people say we need to love the unlovely we should remember we were once the unlovely. This attitude has a smattering of pride.

James 1:26 If anyone thinks to be religious among you, yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is vain. (MKJV)

Vain means a waste of time or a characteristic of false pride or unproductive effort, a fruitless life, which is a vain attempt towards faith. You can be religious by going to church and doing all the things others do but you are wasting your time if your tongue is saying bad things about others.

We must judge ourselves.

2.3 A Judgment of our Conversation

The words we use are important. Do they bring life or are they unwholesome words which are laced with filth and lead to death?

Matthew 12:36 But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. (MKJV)

We need to control the tongue and not use words of blasphemy such as using the Lord’s name as a swear word, and not to use swear words in general.

Ephesians 4:29 Let not any filthy word go out of your mouth, but if any is good to building up in respect of need, that it may give grace to the ones hearing. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. (MKJV)

A person being a whisperer, full of envy, malicious, quarrelsome and deceitful, the Bible states they are worthy of death.

Romans 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; being full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, perfidious, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but have pleasure in those practicing them. (MKJV)

The language we use will reflect upon us. If it brings life to all around us, it will also bring life to us. Inversely, if it is not good it will bring death.

We must judge ourselves.

2.4 A Judgment of our Faithfulness.

As a servant of the Lord and others we need to maintain a life pattern which will be helpful to others. Matthew 25:19 to 45 gives an excellent outline of the faithful steward.

1. Punctuality… keeping to arranged time
2. Reliability… dependability to do what is expected
3. Perseverance… determined continuation with something
4. Responsibility… provide an answer to all
5. Accountability… responsible to give an account to superiors

Our faithfulness is right throughout our whole life. Are we spiritually faithful to loved ones? Are we physical faithful?

We must judge ourselves.

2.5 A Judgment of our Inner Motives

All we need to do to please God is believe in Him who sent His Son calling on the name of the Son for our salvation and nothing more.

He loved us first, we respond to His action with a desire to help others find the way. This is heart-felt unction to function.

2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad. (MKJV)

We are not to judge others. That is up to God and we need to be careful here. It is God who will look upon our hearts to see what our motivation to do things was. Are we doing things to help others or are we doing things to get man’s approval.

Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (MKJV)

We will all appear before Him and everything will be revealed for what it is. Some will hear, “enter good and faithful servant” and others will hear, “away from Me; I know you not.”

We must judge ourselves.

2.6 A Judgment of our Spiritual Condition.

Some have come to the cross of Jesus and repented and then turned and walked away. After some time they have fallen into sin again, losing their eternal salvation. It was paid for once and for all but if the dynamics of salvation are not followed loss will be incurred.

Hebrews 4:11Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (MKJV)

Repeated sin can cause the heart to harden and it makes it more difficult for one to repent and then a fall has taken place.

We are called to read the word of God, talk with God and go to church as a good starting position to work out our faith.

a. Reading the Bible helps us to know what we can do.
b. Learning by listening to good teaching will secure us in our walk with Christ.
c. Talking with God will help to develop God awareness and therefore we will be led by His Spirit.

We need to keep an eye on what we allow into our life because if we allow temptation to be entertained it can become sin and the final outcome can be disastrous.

We must judge ourselves.

2.7 A Judgment of our Works.

We don’t need to do work’s to get to heaven, but we do them because we want to do them. God may stimulate us to do something but it is still our choice.

Are the works we do because we see others doing them and we think that is what God wants us to do?

Some may see programs which were God-inspired for another person or church and some think it’s OK just to copy it.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad. (MKJV)

The work we do should be based on the example of Jesus Christ and by the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is clear from the scripture below that some works will be burnt up and destroyed.

1Corinthians 3:11 For any other foundation can no one lay than the one being laid, who is Jesus Christ. 12 And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 13 each one’s work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one’s work as to what kind it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire. (MKJV)

The most important thing for us to do when looking at a program, which is working in another location, we think that might be suitable for us, is to go to God in prayer.

Our life should be a God-driven life and we should endeavour to follow His leading so our works will not be worthless.
(1 Corinthians. 3:11-15)

We must judge ourselves.

2.8 A Judgment of the Shepherds.

The shepherd or the leader of a group will be judged twice, once for their own Christian walk and secondly for the teaching and the leading of others.

This is a personal judgment for the Shepherd but more importantly the follower too. The follower needs to take responsibility for their own walk with God, because we can’t say as Adam and Eve did, “it’s his fault I’m in trouble”. We need to read the Bible and the Shepherd needs to point us in that direction too.

James 3:1 Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive greater judgment. (Darby)

The leader will receive a crown when Jesus returns if his or her heart has been true to the calling of God and not self-promoting.

1Peter 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. (MKJV)

It is not only the words spoken by a leader that are important but their actions. Most people in general only hear what they see.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember those leading you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct: (MKJV)

It is how you respond or react under pressure that will have an impact upon your sheep, so all the areas of judgment we have mentioned in this lesson are of double importance to the leader because of the judgment they will receive.

If the leader is leading in accordance with the word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit no one has the right to speak against their leading.

We must judge ourselves.

Final word on Judgment

We must judge ourselves and not leave it to another, for others don’t have to live with the outcome. Taking responsibility for our Christian walk rests with us.

God has already set in place His judgments and these cannot be changed. The only thing that can be changed is our standing, whether we want to stay in sin or not. Whether we want to adjust our thinking to bring it into line with God’s word, knowing God’s judgments are final. Our judgments with Godly leading can avert a final destruction or lose under

God’s judgments.

God does not want to judge any of us. He wants us to assess our own condition. Of course He has given us His guidelines to follow.

He wants us to build a life that will not be burnt up in the fire but come out as pure gold. A life built with reflection on the judgments of God, is the life that will receive the crowns mentioned in the Bible and explained in the next post.

We must judge ourselves.

Sin is not the major problem.

If you have had any experience in the printing field or you have copied an article using a photocopier, you will know that an error may develop. You may see that the clarity has diminished. Then if you copy a copy it will further degrade. A copy of a copy of a copy will become unclear.

Theology needs to be examined by the believer and the Church today to see if it is relevant or theological sound. If an error has been perpetrated, then copied and further copied, many may be led into error or server condemnation.

 

Buy this ebook at this link : Augustine’s Photocopied Error By Ian Traill

Get a free look inside by clicking on the picture below.

What people are saying – Write a review

Judgment of God

As the term implies there is a judgment of God in every action and inaction based on the facts of any situation. This in turn brings about the eternal legal and literal standing of a person and nation.

God has set out the price for any disobedience as we will see in chapter seven. As we look deeper at this subject we will see the judgments and the outcome. Please note, as we look at the eternal outcome or the sentencing based on disobedience or sin, that this could be changed, be it by the individual and/or nations but there are some time restraints.

2Peter3:7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (NIV)

Deuteronomy 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” 36 The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. (NIV)

There are two states we can look at. One is simply the judgment of the law of the land, the other is the judgment of God, but God’s judgment can be broken into five parts.

1 Judgment on sin
2 Judgment of the saints
3 Judgment of the nations
4 Judgment of the sinner
5 Judgment of Self

1 Judgment on Sin

It is the judgment on sin from God that had happened at the beginning of time that changed the whole legal position of man. With Satan’s fall, followed by Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God by eating the fruit, it was only the verdict and punishment that was to be handed down.

Subsequently to avoid the punishment all they needed to do was to take responsibility for their actions by the act of repentance.

God had passed judgment on sin so we can see if man had eaten of the Tree of Life he would never have to face any of his own actions. Finally, he would have no need of God.

2 Judgment of the Saints

Judgment of the saints is to confirm our passage into heaven based on our confession of Jesus as our Lord and God, and with the act of a heartfelt repentance. This needs to be this side of death or the resurrection whichever comes first. It’s too late after death or resurrection. The prayer of forgiveness is the legal requirement to break the curse of sin and death over our life. Remember, we are already legally seated in heaven. That means our new spirit is pure and has no sin, and therefore it can be with God. It will be music to our ears when God says. “Well done good and faithful servants, enter into My rest.” (Matthew 25: 23).

“Judgment of the saints”

Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Also please understand there is another aspect to this judgment, which I have listed below, the judgment which will come upon the believer. Please note this does not affect our salvation, which is purely based on the belief in Jesus plus nothing.

When we talk of the judgment of the saints, who do we mean? We mean all who are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This list is only a guideline for the Christian walk and not for the purpose of condemnation, for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

A list of Judgments
A Personal Judgment
A Judgment of our Relationships
A Judgment of our Conversation
A Judgment of our Faithfulness
A Judgment of our Inner Motives
A Judgment of our Spiritual Condition
A Judgment of our Works
A Judgment of the Shepherds

The purpose of these Judgments is for personal reflection to aid in receiving the Crowns. (I Corinthians 3:8-15)

3 Judgment of the Nations

This judgment is at the beginning of the 1000 year reign of Jesus in Revelation 20: 4.This takes place after the saints’ judgment and before that of the non-believers!

This is something that could take a lot of explanation and is a very interesting study in itself. But at the moment I will keep it short because it is the judgment of the saint and sinner, which I want to cover in more detail. But let me say every power and principality will have to give an account for its action in the past in regards to Christians and the People of Israel. This will all take place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1-2 11-12) at the throne of Jesus.

One point, which is very important, is that every action big or small will be judged. Nations need to repent too.

4 Judgment of the Sinner

This judgment is of the unrepentant sinner which means all the unsaved people, those who haven’t called on the name of Jesus. This includes those who say they have lived a good life and they don’t need God.

This is where the non-believer will come to the Judgment Seat. When they approach the throne of God, they will see their own sin. The sinners will be self-condemned and they will look upon Jesus at this point. They won’t hear God say, “Enter.” They will turn and go into the pit of hell and be in torment for eternity.

This happens at the end of the Millennium where the non-believers or sinners will be self-condemned when looking upon God’s holiness and they will see their sins. Also at this time those who have become believers and calling on the name of Jesus in the Millennium will also be judged and given their reward. (Revelation 20: 12)

The White Throne Judgment or the Second Judgment is for those who are not written in the Book of Life. (Revelation 20: 14-15) Another way of saying this is to say it is The Judgment of Self-Condemnation.

The legal position of the saint and the sinner is clearly set out in the Word of God. The saint is literally in the world, even though he or she was acquitted of sin. Their sin has been superseded by what Jesus did on the cross plus nothing. Now the saint is legally in heaven.

The sinner is literally and legally in the world without passage into heaven. Legally they are on their way to hell.

Even though the second or final judgment comes at a later date it could be superseded now by the accepting of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for all mankind.
This only applies to those who are living and those who are born after the first, and before the second resurrection. Once you have physically died without accepting Jesus as your Saviour it’s too late. You don’t have the right of appeal after your death. Therefore today is the day of salvation.

Titus 2: 11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (NIV)

Before we can receive the grace of God we are all in the state of fallen man, and under the curse of sin. In the world when you commit a crime and are found guilty, you must pay the price. We deserved the punishment for our sins and to spend eternity in torment. So for us to receive the grace of God someone had to pay and that someone was Jesus.

Legally we were dead in our sins, but Jesus has legally paid the price for our redemption. All we need to do is appeal to God to forgive us. Then we are legally and literally free from our past sins, our present sins and our future sins. This has happened by God’s free gift and the amazing thing is we did not need to do anything to warrant God’s benevolence towards us.

This is the same God from the Garden of Eden, and all Adam and Eve had to do was to say, “Sorry” and God would have forgiven them. But their act of disobedience caused them to harden their hearts.

It was because of this hardening of their hearts that their literal and legal position changed. They were legally and literally in the Garden, but now they were literally and legally outside the Garden. They could not come back into the Garden. Only God could bring them back legally.

Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

Finally, on the subject of Judgment, it is easy to see the judgment of the world’s legal system. It is literally and legally on the same plane. Do the crimes, do the time, or live an honest life and stay out of trouble.

On the other hand, the spiritual dynamics of judgment are different. You are literally on this earth, but legally you are in heaven.

It is in the world where we can change our spiritual standing. We need to do our business with God while we are in this life. After death and the resurrection there is no appeal. Your outcome will be sealed by the action or inaction of your free will towards Jesus Christ. If you are a non-Christian, today is the day of salvation. You need to take a step of faith in Jesus.

Man could avoid the final judgment if he would only compare his life to the word of God and be his own judge. God has made His judgment and it cannot be changed after the resurrection of all mankind nor can it be changed in the grave. God is your worst judge.

If you are a Christian you need to use your time on this earth to share the saving grace of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible, so that others do not have to face the terrible Day of Judgment.

“Let’s not be a Church of regrets, but be a Church that gets.”

5 Judgment of Self

Is on the next post.

 

Sin is not the major problem.

If you have had any experience in the printing field or you have copied an article using a photocopier, you will know that an error may develop. You may see that the clarity has diminished. Then if you copy a copy it will further degrade. A copy of a copy of a copy will become unclear.

Theology needs to be examined by the believer and the Church today to see if it is relevant or theological sound. If an error has been perpetrated, then copied and further copied, many may be led into error or server condemnation.

Buy this ebook at this link : Augustine’s Photocopied Error By Ian Traill

Get a free look inside by clicking on the picture below.

What people are saying – Write a review

The Precipice – a manual on prayer and fasting.

When we may be on the precipice of a possible fall and our brain is exhausted or we need change in our lives, we will search our hearts for answers and call out to God.  It is the heart that cries out to God for change, in love, hate and a myriad of emotions which are involved in the development of our relationship with God and our fellow man.

All of us have faced challenges whether on a personal level or in a group situation such as the family, church, work and so on, and as Christians we ask God to help us. We may do that by prayer on a daily basis, but in some very difficult or stressful times we may go into a fast to see the hand of God moving in our lives and hearts.

Love is a Choice and a Feeling

God’s love does change when a person becomes a believer, but it does not increase for some and not for others! We will see that there is a difference between the love God has for the believer and the unbeliever.

Choice

In John 3:16, God’s action to love (agapao ) everyone as a prize, and desiring them unconditionally.

Agapao love does not equate to happy. God is not happy with everyone, because not everyone is calling on His Son’s name.

God shows no impartiality in the magnitude of His unconditional agape love. He agape loves us all 100 per cent and you cannot get any more. Agape love is a dear love based on a decision of the mind. God must agape us. Agape love is God’s obligated demonstration of love to all mankind.

John 15:13 No one has greater love (agape) than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (MKJV)

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love (agape) your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, (MKJV)

Feeling

Phileo in the Greek is to approve, like, sanction; to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend and show signs of love. God is pure. If we believe in Jesus, God loves (phileo) Jesus (1 John 5:2) and us completely (John 16:27) and we are treated affectionately, romantically sanctioned.

John 16:27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God. (MKJV)

In John 16:27 the Father’s love is “phileo” in Greek, which is a love with strong emotions, to treat affectionately. God phileo loves us tenderly, because we are committed disciples who love His Son (John 5:20; 11:3; 11:36; 12:25; 15:19; 20:2; 21:15-17).

1Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love (phileo) the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes! 23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24 Let my love (agape) be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. (MKJV)

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love “phileo”, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent. (MKJV)

Unconditionally obligated, God (agapao) loves everyone in the world. God conditionally (phileo) affectionately loves the believer in reciprocation to the believer’s call for salvation in the name of Jesus. After our adoption by God to become His sons (teknon) by His faith, He then calls us philoteknon which is, dear intimate sons and friends. When we in obedience to His Word follow His direction, He is then well pleased (eudokeō) in us and then He officially grants us authorization by saying, “He is well pleased in us.”

It is the acts of agape love that we should show to the world, but it is by our free will in obedience to His Word, God will be (eudokeō) well pleased in us. He does not say I love you more.

We may grow in a phileo affectionate feeling love towards others we serve and fall deeper in love as time passes.

In John 3:16, God loves (agapao) everyone, but after we responded to His calling His love will change to the demonstrative love (phileo) (John 15:14) as we become His friends and sons (philos and teknon) simultaneously. When we are saved at that moment of our prayer of repentance and consecration at the Cross of Jesus we become His (philoteknos) loved sons. Nothing after our salvation can gain more agapao or phileo love from God. God may at times be well pleased (eudokeō) in His loved sons (philoteknos) as we walk obediently to His Word. We then embark as sons of God to minister to the whole world as special loved believers (1Peter 2:9) but not every believer fits into the five ministry gifts God gave to the Church.