Our Rewards

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, our rewards. Salvation is not reward for services rendered, but rather it is the free gift of God that is given to every one of those who trust Him as their personal Savior. Now I want to say that again because so many people are confused about rewards. That is, salvation is not a reward that God has given to us for works, for good conduct, for good behavior. Salvation is the result of the grace and goodness and love of God to those who place their faith in Him. Rewards are very important in the eyes of God. In fact, as you begin to look at the Scriptures, you realize how many verses there are in the Bible that concern our rewards. God has not forgotten our labors. He doesn't overlook the good things that we do for others. God is very concerned about that. And He is faithful to reward His children for their service. And as we think about servanthood, as we think about all the different ways that you and I can serve Him, we have to remember this, that our service is God really working through us, doing His work through us for His glory and His honor. As we've said before, that it is divine resources that meet human need through loving channels. That's when real ministry and real service takes place. Well, what about these rewards? Does God reward us for our service? I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 6. And in this sixth chapter of Hebrews, which is a passage of Scripture that deals with those who place their trust in the Lord, and then they begin to fall away and begin to stray. And the writer of Hebrews gives a stern warning about that for them to continue. And then he says, in this tenth verse, he makes a very strong statement that all of us who are believers should remember, especially when we get a little weary serving the Lord.

Listen to what he says in verse 10. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. Look at that. God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, which means toward Him, because His name represents all that He is, toward His name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. We've been in the series on servanthood, and this is the fourth message in the series on servanthood. And today I want to talk about servanthood, our rewards. That is, what about our rewards and what are they like and what should we expect and what should we look for? So, I want to mention, first of all, according to this passage, this is certainly a wonderful word of assurance that no amount of labor, no amount of service or good conduct that you and I express will ever go unheeded and overlooked by God. Now, here's what I want you to notice. Not only does He make promises, but the very character of God is at stake when it comes to this matter of rewarding us. That is, you could say, well, God's integrity is at stake because He makes a promise. And there are a couple of things here I want you to notice. If God makes us a promise, it says something about His concern and His love and His desire to reward us. But when He says here in this 10th verse, God is not unjust, well, just, the word just and the word righteous are the same word, just translated differently. And what it means, here's simply this, that God would not violate His own divine law. God is not unjust. For God to be unjust would be to violate His own law. If God violated a single solitary law of His own, if He violated a single one of them, then you and I would have reason to doubt anything else in the Scripture because we wouldn't really know whether He would or He would not.

If He makes a single promise, He does not keep. How do I know He won't keep the second promise and the third promise? How do I know He'll keep the promise of eternal life if He doesn't keep the promise of those things that apply to your life and mine here and now? So first of all, He says here, He is not unjust. That is, the righteousness of God is at stake. His very character and attributes are involved in our rewards. The second attribute that's involved here is God's omniscience. That is, He does know all things at all time, listen, past, present, and future. He knows every single solitary thing, therefore, God hasn't forgotten anything ultimately, and the only thing He says He forgets is He forgets our sins as being against us. And therefore, you and I can stand before Him at any moment, and God doesn't say when we come to Him, well, yes, I hear what you're saying, but I do remember the past things that I've had to forgive you for, no. That is, they are. Forgiven and forgotten as being against us so when you and I think in terms of the reward He's made all these promises of rewards that he says he says as you and I serve him We're going to be rewarded and the last chapter of the Revelation He says I'm bringing my reward with me, which is one way in which we're going to be rewarded But what I want you to notice here is that listen no act of service whether it is giving someone a cold Drink of water or reaching down to help someone pick up something. They take a drop It doesn't make a difference what we do God is going to reward us for every single solitaire act of service Not just major acts But every single one because we are his children as we move along in the message You'll see in a few moments What is happening to us moment by moment day by day of our life in every act of service where there's good conduct or? Sacrificial service or whatever it may be it's very evident He says in this passage that he is not forgotten. He is not unjust he does not forget our work of love And if you'll notice that two things he doesn't forget he doesn't forget our actions but neither does he forget our motive and our motive is very important what we do and

In these past messages as we've talked about serving the Lord that when we serve each other He says we're to serve each other But he says it is as unto the Lord that no matter what you and I doing for others We must remember that we're really doing this in the name of Jesus and for him and the very important part Is that it is God doing it through us and it is not something that we're doing in our own Energy for our own self-glory for our own prominence and prestige and all the rest Because those motives will cause us to lose a reward which we'll talk about in a few moments So he says that he's not unjust and that he does not forget those things that you and I have done now That brings me to look at this whole idea of the time of our rewards because somebody says well, well, okay When am I going to be rewarded? Now if you ask most people that they would say well, I'm gonna be rewarded when I get to heaven I don't know about you, but it's a little tough to have to wait that long Especially you think about people who live 80 90 100 years and they think you mean I'm not gonna be rewarded till I get to Heaven and the truth is the Bible doesn't really say That you and I are not going to be rewarded till we get to heaven doesn't say that So when he says here that God has not forgotten I don't know about you, but I don't want to be forgotten here now Amen that there's some things I'd like to enjoy in this life as a result of the blessings and the rewards of God And of course as you and I walk obediently before him, we know that we are blessed in this life So you can't say that all rewards are limited to the future Now let's put rewards in two categories There are rewards that come now and there are awards that do certainly come in the future But in the category of those rewards that come now You can place those in two different categories and I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 6 for a moment Because there are those rewards that come now Listen carefully to this category of rewards. There are those rewards that come now that are neither fulfilling Nor lasting in their value, but they are awards and here is a good example of that

Look if you will in chapter 6 and I want you to look beginning in verse 5 Jesus is talking about he's talking about fasting and praying and Practicing our righteousness, but if you'll notice he says in verse 5 of chapter 6 and when you pray He says you're not to be as the hypocrites But they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men Now he says truly I say to you they have their reward what's those next two words in Full now listen, if you get it in full here and now that means you've got all you're gonna get So there are rewards that come now, but are not lasting not fulfilling to us. All right I want you to turn over a page if you well in your in your Bible look if you will here in verse 16 he says and Whenever you fast do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do and mess your hair up and so forth But they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men truly I said to you they have their reward in full Now go all the way back to the first verse of this sixth chapter and notice what he says here He says beware of practicing your righteousness That is your good conduct and your good works before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward No reward with your father who is in heaven so when somebody says are all of our rewards are they limited to The future no, there are awards that happen right now But here's what I want you to notice when you listen when you and I serve the Lord or do anything in order to be seen of others, in order for our own glory and our own praise and our own promotion and our own gain, He says, you have all the rewards you're going to get right there. And all the rewards you have is the praise of men. Now, this does not mean, let me say this also, this does not mean that you and I cannot be rewarded by man for work done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, if our motive is right and people choose to reward us for some reason or reward you for some reason, there's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean that any reward from mankind is necessarily wrong. The whole issue is motivation.

If our service is for God because we love Him, because we're concerned about people, that's one thing. If it is because we want people's applause and to please them, that's something else. If it is done in the right spirit, we can be rewarded by man here and now. But ultimately, our future reward, listen to this 14th verse, the 14th chapter of Luke. He says, and you will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Jesus says, here is the ultimate final reward. That is, because somebody might say, well, you know, I think I do get rewards but I don't think I got my share and I don't think I was treated right or I don't think I got enough recognition or whatever it might be in a person's mind. Ultimately, you and I know that this just God who is absolutely righteous and absolutely holy is going to do the absolutely perfect right thing by us in the judgment. That is, when you and I stand before Him. And so, when you come to look at these verses that have to do with that, I want you to turn to a couple other verses and I want you to hold one of these, if you will. Look, if you will, in Romans chapter 14 for a moment. The 14th chapter of Romans, here Paul also reminds us. He says in this 12th verse of the 14th chapter, he says, so then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God. And so, there is going to be a time of judgment when we'll give an account of ourselves to Him. Then I want you to look, if you will, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and a very important verse I want us to look at for just a few moments here. In the 10th verse of 2 Corinthians chapter 5, here's what he says. He says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed. That is, we may receive for his deeds in the body according to what he's done, whether good or bad. When he talks about bad here, he's not talking about ethical or moral evil, he's talking

about whether it is good for nothing. For example, if I walked up here and preached on Sunday and the only reason I was up here is because I want you to think I'm doing well or look well or whatever it may be, that's a good for nothing sermon. But if I'm here because I love the Lord Jesus, because I want you to know the truth, because I want to expound the Word of God so you'll love Him, follow Him, obey Him and share Him, then that's something else. So when he says that we're going to be judged of the deeds done in our body, whether it be good or bad, we're talking about not evil or ethical, unethical, but we're talking about those things that were good for nothing, that amounted to nothing, and that have no value in the eyes of God. And we all will stand before Him, as he says, and give an account for those things. Now, what I want us to see here is this. In light of that, in light of all that, how is God going to judge us? We say, well, if He's going to judge us at the time when He takes us all home, and we're not going to be judged for evil at that point because the only reason we're in that judgment is because we are His children. We've been saved by His grace because the lost people are going to be judged at a different time. We stand before Him, we're judged, not a matter of evil in our life, but a matter of God examining our lives to reward us for the good things, many good things that many people do. And there are many people who will be rewarded for good things they never even thought about being good works of service or whatever because it was just natural normal because of their love for people. That's the way they want to live. That's the way they want to operate. And so, there'll be much that you and I are rewarded for that we never even thought about. And I certainly wouldn't want to go through life if I were you trying to figure out, well, how am I going to serve the Lord in such a way that I'll have all these good things to bring before Him?

Most people who are concerned about rewards are concerned about enough rewards to get into heaven. And I want to say again, salvation is not a reward for deeds done. Salvation is the gift of God's grace to us. It is God's goodness and love and mercy toward us. It has nothing to do with my acceptance. before Him. Your acceptance and my acceptance before God is based on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing. Rewards are the result of our service, of our good conduct and so forth, now that we are saved. So someone says, well, all right, if this is when it's going to happen, what will be the nature of these rewards? Now, I want you to look at several things here because one of the things that comes to people's minds is they say, What does the Bible say about crowns? There are all kinds of crowns mentioned in the Bible. One of the first crowns is the crown, the incorruptible crown, which is what Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 9 when he talks about those who get mastery over the flesh. Now, what in the world does that mean? That simply means this, as you and I endeavor to live a godly life, we don't always live a godly life. There are times when we sin against God, we fail because we're children learning to grow in the Christian life, but he says he will give a crown to those who, listen, who I believe this crown is given to those whose hearts desire is to walk obediently before God and who go through struggles at times in their life, but that's where their heart is. He says that incorruptible crown. Then he talks about, for example, the crown of life in James chapter 1, which he gives to those who endure through troubles and trials and heartaches and difficulties and persecutions in life, but don't give up and don't lose heart and hang in there and stand in there no matter what. He talks about the crown of life. Then he talks about the crown of righteousness, which he says belongs to those who love his appearing. Who are those who love his appearing? Those who want to walk godly, those who live godly in Christ Jesus. Then he talks also about the crown of glory, which he says belongs to those in 1 Peter chapter 5 who feed the flock. Now you say, well, is that just talking about pastors? No, because when you as a Sunday school teacher or you a discipling someone, what are you doing? You're sharing the Word of God with that person. As you share the Word of God with that person, he says, God

is going to reward you. So whether you're living a righteous life, whether you're winning someone else to Jesus Christ, sharing the Word of God, walking holy before him, he talks about these crowns that God will give us as a result. Now, in essence, what Paul is saying is simply this. We will be rewarded for every single aspect of service, no matter what it is, whether it is righteous living or a righteous giving. It doesn't make any difference. We will be rewarded. Now we're talking about the nature of these rewards now. And there's a second thing that I want you to think about here. And that is one of the rewards that you and I are going to receive is a reward, which I call our capacity to manifest the glory of God. Well, let me give you an example. Your wife loves concerts. You don't like concerts, but you go because you want to please her. And so you're sitting there beside her and you're nodding and all this. Listen, the same musical tones are coming. Everything that she's hearing, you're hearing. Now she's just, she's just, she's just lifted in ecstasy. She thinks it's absolutely fantastic. And you're sitting there thinking, gosh, I wish this should hurt and get over. Now you're both in the same place hearing the same thing. One of you is enjoying it and the other one is not. Now I don't want to liken that to heaven except to say that even though two people can be in the same place, this woman has a great capacity to enjoy that kind of music because that's the way she was trained. Let's say she was brought up on that. She loves that. That's her thing. He came out of the country. He never heard what a concert was till he's about 40 years of age. And besides that, he swore he'd never go to one. So here he is sitting in a concert and he's not enjoying it at all. Now it won't be that same degree of difference in heaven, but some people will have the capacity, listen to that, will have the capacity to enjoy heaven, I believe more than others. But listen, they won't know they don't have the same capacity. So nobody's going to be unhappy in heaven. But to say that everybody's going to enjoy it the same, you can't say that. To say that everybody's going to receive the same reward, there's not a single verse in the Bible that even hints at that. Not a single one. And so therefore, part of our reward by the life that we live here, it affects our capacity to enjoy to the absolute maximum. Now listen to carefully so you don't misunderstand. The fellow over here who hasn't served the Lord very long and didn't get saved until he was 65 years of age and died at 67, not much reward. But you know what? He's going to enjoy heaven

to the fullest of his capacity. He just doesn't have the same capacity. That's why when somebody says, well, it doesn't make a difference just so I get in. If I live to be 75 or 80 and I die on my deathbed, I get saved. That's all that matters. Just so I get in, that is not all that matters. Somebody has given you a bad deal. Because the Scripture says we're going to be rewarded according, listen, not only according to what we did, but how much of it we did. So the person who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ till their deathbed in God and His mercy saves them, they say, well, just so I got in. No, there's a whole lot more to heaven, my friend, than that. And so our rewards are very important in the eyes of God because our capacity to manifest His glory for all eternity, the specific rewards that He wants to give us. And I don't think any of us can understand fully all the glory and the wonder and the amazement that heaven will be like, the rewards that God gives us. I think it's going to be absolutely, totally overwhelming to us. But it'll be that which we can enjoy without a question. Now, there's one other aspect of this nature of His reward, and that's this. We will be given specific responsibilities in heaven. Those responsibilities are going to be based on, listen, our faithfulness according to what God gave us to do down here now. So that our faithfulness now, whatever you're, listen, whatever you're doing, I don't mean just standing in a church and serving God, I'm talking about in your vocation,

your faithfulness in your vocation, your faithfulness as a mother, your faithfulness as a father taking care of your children, taking care of the household, your faithfulness in serving God in all different ways, all of that is a part of our reward. Now, with all that in mind, let's think for just a moment about this whole idea of the methods by which He is going to determine what you and I do. What is His method? Now, listen carefully. We're going to be judged based on three things. The light of truth that we had. Secondly, the opportunity God gave us. And thirdly, our response to that opportunity. So that no two people are going to be judged alike. When we stand before Him, listen, it is the light of truth that we knew. It is, listen, according to the spiritual gifts that He gave us, the capacities that we have, our opportunities relate to our spiritual gifts and our talents and so forth. It will be according to the truth that we know, the privileges that we had based on the capacity that God gave us when we were born and spiritual gifts, and then what we did with it. So God can't compare, listen, He wouldn't be just comparing us with someone else. He wouldn't be just comparing our works with someone else's works. But rather, as we stand before Him, we stand before Him for future eternal reward.

But what is going on in the here and now and what is going to go on until the last moment we breathe our last breath. When you put all that together, there'll be gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, and straw mixed up with all of us. And as I've said to some people, I certainly hope I don't look like Swiss cheese at the judgment because we will lose some things that were not good and not right. And my friend, if you've never trusted Jesus, you'll never be in this judgment. You'll be in the judgment of the great white throne in which you will lose for all eternity everything that is good because you'll be eternally separated from God forever. The judgment we're talking about is the judgment of rewards for servanthood, living a godly life and living before Him a life that is pleasing and honorable and a life of service to Him by serving others. Now, if you were to die today and you had to take your life as it is and stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, how much of this would be gold and silver and precious stones, things that are not combustible but things that are lasting? What kind of reward would you have? How much of it is wood, hay, and straw? Because you wasted God's time. You wasted your talent and your spiritual gifts. You were too busy doing this, that, and the other to serve other people and to serve the Lord. You never took a place of service in the church because you didn't want to. You had other things to do that didn't fit your schedule.

You just didn't have time. My friend, here is the devil's trap. Listen, the devil's trap to get you to thinking, short-sighted. Just think about today, not tomorrow, not eternity, just the day. What suits me today? The day's real short, 65, 75, 100 years, real short against the background of eternity. Wise men and women make sure that when they die, it's a settled issue. They go into heaven by faith in Christ. Wise men and women are living today with the future in mind. And I want to challenge you to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And I want to challenge you, my friend, if you know Christ as your Savior. You cannot afford to waste your life, your time, your talents, your testimony. You can't even waste your trials keeping them to yourself. Your treasure, all of it belongs to Him to be invested for His glory. And the question is, what are you doing now that's going to affect your reward for all eternity? Father, we love you and praise you, how patient you are, and we know that you are not going to be unjust as to forget what we have done, but so gracious and kind and loving and good and rewarding. We pray the Holy Spirit now will speak to someone who needs to be saved, someone here who needs to be a part of this fellowship, many, Father, who have thought in terms of only future reward, but Lord, not only future, but presently to become involved in the life and ministry of this church or wherever they belong, so that their life can count here and now, bring you glory and honor, and for all eternity, reap the rich eternal rewards that you have for your children.

For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.