Why does Paul say believers labor and strive to be accepted of Christ?

Les explains that in this building process, believers labor so that whether present or absent they may be accepted of Him, not for salvation but for reward. He points to verse 10: all believers must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. That is not salvation being put in the balances, but reward. Les notes that “judgment seat” is an unfortunate translation; the correct Greek term is the bema seat, a raised podium, the seat of judges. In the Olympic Games, the bema seat was set at the finish line, where the judge determined who was first, second, and third. Nothing in the bema seat judgment involves eternal destiny—that is settled. The bema seat determines how much reward. As believers, salvation was settled the moment they believed, but they are not to sit in an easy chair and let life go by; they are to get busy and work, first to bring glory to God’s name and also for their own personal benefit of reward.