Author: JUV Interpreter
Company: Bexar County Information Technology

Personal Accountability

Mat. 12:36	But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Give account, day of judgment, every idle word!  

Resistance to the idea of Accountability:
We treasure personal freedom.
We resist the concept of accountability. Nobody likes judgment, punishment, shame, etc.
People don’t like the IRS, Code Compliance, OSHA, parking meter readers, etc. 
Children chafe at the constant demands of parents: 
Where were you? 
What were you doing? 
Who were you with? 
How much did you spend?
However, personal freedom is not the opposite of personal accountability. In fact, the one depends upon the other. Consider how accountability compares to responsibility.

Responsibility and Accountability? 
What is the difference between them? Present and Future. We are responsible now, we are accountable later. Today we are responsible to keep records. Someday we will have to produce these records and give an account of our actions. 

Benefits of Accountability:
The establishment of personal accountability is the gift of freedom, freedom of choice, of movement, of change, of decisions and delegation, while the day of reckoning is future. 
Personal Accountability also grants reward and credit for a job well done, as well as warns of punishment and shame for poor work or decisions.

What our text says about God:
That he cares about people. He is invested in our lives. He considers us important.
That he cares about history. God is doing something in the world. He commissions us to work with him.
That he cares about justice. We think of every idle word as too much to trifle with. God is very demanding.

What our text says about judgment:
Judgment happens after work is over, (the day of judgment). It is by then too late to change things.
Judgment in the future is personal. Collective (temporal)  judgment happens here and now.
Judgment is formal. There are witnesses. Each is granted opportunity to give his own account.

Mistaken notions about the judgment:
Popular idea of “last judgment” to determine salvation of each according to merit.
Idea of Peter at the gate deciding who is allowed into Heaven (misusing Mat. 16:19).
Jehovah’s Witnesses thinking the judgment determines who is resurrected

Judgment is:
After death:   Eccl. 11:9, Eccl. 12:14 (Rom. 6:17 misused – “dead is freed from sin,” cannot annul other scriptures.)
After resurrection (in this body): 2 Cor. 5:10, Job 19:25, Acts 17:31, John 5:28,29, etc.
At a set time (a day): Dan.7:10, Rom 2:5,
Before Jesus Christ: John 5:22, Acts 10:42, Acts 17:31, 2 Tim. 4:1, 1 Pet. 4:5, Rom. 14:9,10, etc.   

Judge of Quick and the Dead (people still living and and dead resurrected)
The fact that Jesus is called the judge of the living and the dead indicates there is more than one judgment. The living and the dead cannot logically be judged in the same judgment. Judgment of the living indicates there will be a gathering of the living people at some point in history for a personal judgment. This is obviously not the judgment mentioned elsewhere that happens after death:

 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9

In fact, there are more than two judgments. Some teachers count many, seven, or even nine. To count so many they must include judgments that are past, such as Satan cast down from Heaven (Luke 10:18), or the fornicating angels (Jude 6), or temporal judgments such as Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gommorrah, or even Christ on the cross. I will only consider four judgments that qualify for this idea of personal accountability, two of the living, and two of the resurrected dead.

Notice the common idea is that a single last judgment will determine our eternal relationship to God.
	Truth is our eternal relationship to God will determine which judgment we stand at.

Judgments of the Living

Living Israel: The idea is that God will deal with natural Israel in the future by means of affliction, and then save them from destruction during the coming tribulation, and then will judge the survivors before establishing his kingdom with them.
Ezekiel 20:33-44
Psalm 50:3-6
Psalm 96:13
Matthew 25:1-30 (probably most of these types of parables in Matthew and Mark refer to this judgment.)

Living Gentiles: The idea is that God will judge Gentiles (the nations) who survive the tribulation while alive and allow the approved to enter into his kingdom on earth.
Matthew 25:31-46   Sheep and Goats
Notice entrance into the millennial kingdom depends upon Gentile treatment of Christ’s “brethren,” which we take to be natural Israelites. However in Matthew 12:47-50 Jesus calls “whosoever shall do the will of my Father” his brother, sister and mother, so we may apply Christ’s brethren in the parable to any believer. In any event, the specific judgment for entrance is not good works, nor confession of Christ, etc., but aid to Christ’s “brethren” in their trouble. Of course, Israel’s only logical helpers during this time will be believers of the Bible.

Judgments of the Dead

Great White Throne

Rev. 20:11-15 This judgment happens after a thousand years of reign on earth, and after Satan is loosed again, and after the “short time” he deceives the nations again. It does not determine salvation, just the degree of punishment (as in Mat. 23:14). Many books are mentioned in the Bible (Dan. 7:10) besides the “book of life” (Dan. 12:1, Php. 4:3, Rev. 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:,12,15, 21:27, 22:19), that might be referenced in this judgment, the book of the living (Ex. 32:32,33, Ps. 69.28, Ps. 109:13), book of remembrance (Mal 3:6), book of wanderings (Ps. 56:8), book of recompense (Isa. 65:6), book of rewards (Jer. 22:30), and of course, the common scripture (John 12:48).

Judgment Seat of Christ

1 Thes. 4:13-18
Rom. 14:10-12
2 Cor. 5:9,10
1 Cor. 3:9-14
1 Cor. 4:5
1 Cor. 9:24-27
Eph. 6:8
2 Tim. 4:8
Rev. 19:8
Rev. 22:12
1 John 2:28
Luke 14:12-14

Not about redemption, which is complete:
Heb. 10:14
Rom. 5:19
Col. 2:10
Heb. 8:12
Heb. 10:17-18
Isa. 38:17
Isa. 44:22
Ps. 103:12
Mic. 7:19
John 3:18
John 5:24

It is about rewards:
Crowns
1 Cor. 9:25
1 Th. 2:19
Php. 4:1
James 1:12
Rev. 2:10
2 Tim. 4:8
1 Pet. 5:4
Treasure
Mat. 6:20
1 Pet. 1:4
Commendation
Mat. 25:21
Luke 19:17
1 Cor. 4:5
Responsibilities
Mat. 19:28
Mat. 24:45-47
Mat. 25:21,23
Luke 19:17-19
Luke 22:29-30
Rev. 2:26