Who Receives the Commendation, “Well Done”?

“Well done, good and faithful servant…. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

In Jesus’ story, so says the master to his servants who double the money he entrusted to them.  

The Apostle Paul tells us that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

So at that judgment seat, to whom will Jesus say, “Well done!” 

  • To those who see many come to faith through their witness? 
  • To those who plant churches and preach good sermons? 
  • To those who raise children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4)? 
  • To those who work faithfully at their jobs, not just giving eye-service, knowing they are serving Jesus (Ephesians 6:5-8)? 
  • To missionaries who go to unreached peoples and spur on others to go to the unreached? 

That last category includes Elisabeth Elliot (1927-2015). Lucy Austen’s new biography details her Christian upbringing, her call to missions, her brief marriage to Jim Elliot and his death at the hands of the people group he was trying to reach, her subsequent return with their little daughter to that people group, her many books, radio broadcasts, and speaking engagements. 

Beth and I read a number of her books in the first decades of our marriage, and Beth listened regularly to Elliot’s daily radio broadcast when we had a house full of young children. Beth and our daughter Erin were privileged to hear her speak in person at Gordon College in 2002. 

In God’s providence, that was one of Elisabeth Elliot’s last speaking engagements. Surprisingly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1998 at age 71, she ended all public speaking in 2004. She lived her final eleven years with increasingly severe dementia. 

So when Elisabeth Elliot stood before the judgment seat of Jesus, what did our Lord say? “Well done”? If so, was He referring only to her life through 2004? What about those last years with Alzheimer’s?

We can only answer the question rightly if we remember what Jesus calls us to.  He calls us to be like Him, to be like the Father. He calls us to be conformed to His character (Romans 8:29). He calls us to follow Him (as Jacob will explain this Sunday). All our works are to be done in the strength that He supplies, so that He gets all the glory (1 Peter 4:11). Indeed, apart from Him we can accomplish nothing – just as a branch of a grapevine cannot produce fruit unless it stays connected to the vine (John 15:4-5). The Apostle Paul details what this conformity to the character of Jesus looks like in Galatians 5:22-23, and calls it the “fruit of the Spirit” – what God produces in His people. 

Clearly then Jesus commends at His judgment seat not our accomplishments, not our activities, not our work life, not even our family life. He proclaims, “Excellent!” (a possible translation of the Greek word – there is no word for “done”) over our active dependence on Him to become what He intends, to become like Him. 

Necessarily, for those of normal physical and mental health, this includes activities such as those listed above that are done by His power for His glory, as an outgrowth of His work inside us.  But the emphasis is not on what we do; the emphasis is on who God has made us to be. 

And who did God make Elisabeth Elliot to be? A chosen, holy, beloved child (Colossians 3:12). An unworthy servant whom He used in marvelous ways through periods of trial, periods of intense work, and a lengthy final period of suffering from Alzheimer’s. He chose those last eleven years for her. She had displayed Jesus through diligent service for decades. In her last decade, she displayed Jesus through patience in suffering, through the enduring of affliction, in some ways following Him in His final hours. And Jesus pronounced, “Excellent!” over the entirety of that divine work. 

In concluding a biography Elliot wrote in 1968, she asks whether her subject will have been:

welcomed home with a “Well done, good and faithful servant,” or will he simply have been welcomed home? The son who delights the father is not first commended for what he has done. He is loved. (From Who Shall Ascend? as quoted in Austen, p. 525)

In Jesus, you too are chosen and holy and loved. Live by faith in Jesus – as we proclaim at the end of our services, “remembering who you are and to Whom you belong.” Our God will complete the good work He has begun in you, His beloved, enabling you to fulfill the purpose for which He made you and redeemed you. And on that final day, He will proclaim over you, “Excellent! Enter into My joy!” 

Perfection and Discouragement

Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Perfect? Like God? In this life, I’ll never be perfect. So what does that statement mean?

In Matthew 5 Jesus builds up to that statement:

  • “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).
  • “You are the light of the world…. let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14,16).
  • “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

Our Lord then gives several examples of ways the scribes and Pharisees fall short of the true meaning of the law by redefining it to be achievable by their own efforts. He then concludes with the statement about perfection. We are to be “sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:45), taking on His family resemblance, showing what He is like. This is the purpose of both our creation (Isaiah 43:7) and our redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14).

But how do we live this out? How do we hold to a standard of perfection, of Christlikeness, without despairing of our ability to attain it?

The Apostle Paul helps us do this through what he writes to the believers in Thessalonica:

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).

Paul commends them for their love – they are exhibiting the type of love that all Christians should have for one another. Yet, in instructing them to “do this more and more,” he implies that their love is not yet perfect.

We can learn how to live as imperfect people called to perfection by distinguishing among our goal, our practice, and our standing.

  • Our goal: Perfection, complete Christlikeness, loving with His love.
  • Our practice: Increasing in Christlikeness, loving more and more.
  • Our standing: Loved in Christ Jesus, accepted in Christ Jesus, forgiven in Christ Jesus.

The goal is clear: Conformity to Christ, complete sinlessness, shining with the glory of God. God promises to complete that good work in us after Jesus returns.

In the meantime, we aim for that goal, and are not satisfied with anything less. We hate the sin that obscures God’s image in us. But we praise God for ways that we are more closely taking on Jesus’ character, and strive to grow in those ways.

All the while, God accepts us fully because of the work of Jesus. He did not bring us into His family because of our works, and He does not keep us in His family because of our striving.

So do not get discouraged as you see how far short of perfection you fall. And do not redefine “perfection” to make it achievable. Instead, confident in your standing before God because of Jesus, strive for more and more love, for more and more Christlikeness, thanking Him for whatever ways you improve, asking for forgiveness through Jesus for the ways you fall short, and holding firmly to His promise that He will complete that good work in you.