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Jesus, my all-in-all, had one message clear and simple, which is that no person can serve two masters. His message was to shun evil and to walk in paths of righteousness. He never combined good with evil, but drove the demons out and healed that person.
So why are you making accusations, making things personal, getting off topic, and name-dropping Jesus in your own self-defense? I wanted to say, "Good, keep doing that!" But your above statement doesn't line up with what you've been doing.
It makes sense to me as well. Jesus lived out his message, and we are to take our example from him. The trouble is, history is full of whited sepulchres, the self-righteous. They overturn good with evil and make accusations against those who follow the Lord. The disciples and early Christians suffered horribly at their hands, as did Jesus, but eventually the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire with all the false prophets. Revelation 20:10.
While it may be a good scripture, it isn't specific enough to serve the purpose. It is for you and I, but I've learned that when you present a scripture you have to put yourself in your opponents shoes and figure out they may raise enough doubt about it that it remains in dispute. That's why I only use the scriptures that they can't do that with.
That's what theologians call isogesis, reading into the text according to your understanding and belief, rather than exegesis, gaining understanding from what the text is saying. By your reasoning, the Lord is going to squeeze the Churches Paul ministered to into a crown and hand it to him as his reward. I'll tell you that the parable of the talents is a more appropriate analogy than Paul's metaphor because it expresses the concept of stewardship, and stewardship is not ownership, but authority under responsibility to the owner. Paul was actually being presumptuous in his question (it is a question not a statement) because no one determines their rewards but Christ Himself and that at the Bema seat judgment ( the judgment of works and the gifts of reward according to the wisdom of Christ, not the hopes of men.) Paul was a sinful man and admitted it openly. He had no fear of condemnation because of the plain truth of the gospel and he was absolutely aware of his own weakness and failings. The preacher applies the word first to himself and then to the congregation.
It's there. You're just missing it.
By your reasoning, you're making the crown a literal crown we will wear on our heads, which it is not. It's a metaphor for praise and honor. We will in fact be praised for and will glory in our work in the kingdom completed in this age. I posted the scriptures that say this. We will glory in our work in the age to come. Not in our salvation, but in our work. Our work completed being the people who entered into the kingdom as a result of our labor in the field and building of God as God's co-worker. So be careful how you build! Build so as to get a reward. Run so as to win the prize.
We can't tell the motive of the heart, though sincerity seems detectable, so we can't say what was in Judas' mind when he took his own life (or even if that act was accomplished by another cohabiting spirit.) All we know for certain is that Judas is identified by scripture as a son of perdition (destruction. )
As Paul says, it's the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. One leads to salvation. One does not. But both are sorrow over sin and it's penalty.
