While we, as Christians, understand that our works don’t have anything to do with our entry to heaven, we find out that our works have everything to do with our reward once we get there.
REWARDS
1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
The loss referred to here is the loss of reward. The “revealing by fire” reference I like to visualise as Jesus taking one glance at our works with His eyes of fire and Poof! – instantly everything burnable is reduced to ashes. Of course His foundation of salvation in our lives is fireproof so at the very minimum we are left with salvation only and no reward. This fire is not the fires of hell which is a separate issue not referred to in this passage. Also, note the degrees of perishable works and the degrees of imperishable works. This shows a variety of value in our works and a corresponding value of reward. Knowing this, the Christian must always be thinking “I must be producing gold, silver, precious stones otherwise I might as well just quit and go to heaven now.” That’s why Paul admonishes the believer to “take care” how he builds.
Revelation 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
1 Cor 3:8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour.
2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body (ie, while alive on this earth), according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
2 John 1:8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
Note that if by our effort we can win a full reward then by less effort we can win a partial reward. And by carelessness we may lose the reward that we have worked for.
Rev 3:11 I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Again, be diligent so that you won’t lose something of incredible value that Jesus will give you.
REWARDS ARE IMPLIED TO BE RESPONSIBILITY/POSITION
Matthew 25:14-30 For it (the kingdom of heaven) is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me; see, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’ The one also who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted to me two talents; see, I have gained two more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.”
Matthew 5: 19Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus clearly told his followers the Kingdom of Heaven would be a place where individual saved believers would be rewarded according to their deeds. If you do a lot with what God has given you, you will get a greater reward in Heaven. If you squander what God has given you, don’t be surprised to find that your reward is much less. All Christians need to know this reality which is why the writer of Hebrews 6 refers to judgement and resurrection of the dead as two of the six foundational teachings. Eternal rewards begin with the saints ruling on earth with Jesus but that’s another subject (Rev 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth. Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; … but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.)
Other scriptures imply degrees of joy, types of crown, and other unspecified rewards. My above notes are a simple introduction to this subject and there is much material available for further study.
Lynne’s message to Franklin Aglow (Pukekohe) 21 July 2016. It’s time for the body of Christ to rise up and be all we are called to be. Obedience positions us for power. The hour is late, the harvest is white, no more delays. There is a lost world waiting for you to obey the master’s voice to step out and bring them hope and life.
Message by Lynne at the morning service at Hope Centre, Tauranga, NZ 17th April 2016. God is calling us to be “believing believers”, knowing who we are in God and living our lives walking daily in Jesus’ steps with our gospel boots on.
Sometimes it’s a tricky line between what is my responsibility and what is God’s. God has given us resources, talents, and opportunities so we want to steward those correctly. We know Jesus is the one building His church (Matt 16:18) but we know He wants to use us. (2 Chron 16:9).
We’re all no doubt familiar with the jugglers who keep the plates spinning on poles. My suggestion is that sometimes we just need to let the plates drop. If we try and keep all the plates spinning we’ll eventually burn out, drop out, run out or just plain check out. I’m not talking about abdicating or being irresponsible – I’m talking about surrendering.
Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And that we are to cast our burden upon the Lord and He will sustain us, never allowing us to be shaken. (Psalm 55:22). There are times when we need to say “Ok God, this is too much for me, I’m just going to let these plates drop – I can’t keep running round keeping them spinning. If You don’t like the sound of crashing china then You can keep them spinning.”
In Mark 1 Jesus was at the house of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, possibly relaxing after a busy morning at the local synagogue, teaching and ministering to a man with an unclean spirit. Being the Sabbath the people waited till the sun went down then they all found where Jesus was and came to be healed. It says “the whole city had gathered at the door” (v33). I wonder when Jesus got to bed that night? But He still managed to get up when it was still dark and go out to pray. Obviously the people were knocking on the door at first light as Simon and others went out looking for Jesus. They found Him and said “Everyone is looking for you” (v37).
Faced with such a need, and in line with His mission, we would expect Jesus to continue ministering to the people out of His deep heart of compassion. Surprisingly He said “Grab your bags boys, we’re moving on” (or words to that effect). My take on this is that He perceived it was appropriate to leave all those spinning plates and if they fell…? Well, His Father would take care of them.
There was only one Saviour, only one Son of God, only one Messiah – but He could still walk away from tremendous needs and trust His Father to orchestrate the big picture. Is it time for you to do the same with the circumstances of your life?
In Mark 4 Jesus was asleep in the boat and the disciples were panicking as the waves of the storm were breaking into the boat. They woke Jesus up and said “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re dying!” Interesting how we tend to interpret adverse circumstances as a sign of God’s lack of concern for us.
Anyway, to restate this situation in terms of the point I’m making, the disciples saw that the plates were about to drop and they wanted Jesus to fix the problem. Jesus, of course, did fix the problem and then once there was some peace and quiet he said (my paraphrase) “What’s the problem guys? Just because you think things are getting out of control doesn’t mean you can’t trust me or my heavenly Father. I said we were going to the other side but you obviously didn’t believe me. Let it go. Believe my words. Chill. Don’t judge by what your eyes see or your ears hear. Now get out the oars and put your back into it cos we’re certainly not going anywhere by sail.”
Trusting in the Lord with all of our heart and not our mind (Prov 3:5) sometimes means we come to our Heavenly Father with an attitude of “I’m not being irresponsible but I give up trying to keep the plates spinning. If they drop, they drop”.
Just as Easter symbolises the beginning of new life perhaps it’s symbolic that Lynne and I begin a new chapter of our lives this Easter. After 20 years of local authority finance I finish work at the Waikato Regional Council just before Easter and then straight after that Easter weekend we join with a 2 month YWAM (Youth With a Mission) outreach “Activate Love”. That outreach will see us join with 100 young people from all over the world who are coming to NZ to help re-evangelise NZ 200 years after Samuel Marsden first preached the gospel. We’ll be part of one of the teams that will be sent out throughout NZ to assist local churches in their mission to their community.
After the YWAM outreach we return to Tauranga in June and begin a new chapter of our lives, trusting God to open doors of ministry as He has been prompting us over the years.
We’ve spent most of our married lives in Hamilton so it’s a big move to put our goods in storage and head off into our future, based in Tauranga. God’s call on our lives has been clear to us but it’s been many years before the timing was right. Making that final decision was quite a struggle but I had set myself (and God) a deadline of Sunday Feb 1st to determine God’s leading so I could give my employers two months notice (or not at all!). Lynne was sure but I just couldn’t see things clearly so she prayed “Lord you’ve got to make it clear to Alan”. When I was clearing out a storage room on Saturday January 31st I found a bag of assorted cassette tapes and gave them to Lynne to sort through. One of those tapes was a message from 3 January 1993 by me entitled “Don’t Limit God”. So Lynne in her wisdom put it in the player. One of the challenges I brought to the listeners 22 years ago was “Don’t be in the same place in a year’s time”. At the end of that message Lynne and Daniel (oldest son who’s staying with us at present) and I discussed things and it wasn’t too long before I said “Ok, I’ll resign on Monday”. Decision made. Lynne thought God had a real sense of humour getting me to preach to myself to bring me to the point of decision! That message from 1993 is attached to this blog.
Since then the peace of God that had been so elusive in recent weeks returned.
God has given us many words in 2014 about travel; adventure; ministering together; our lives are just beginning; the season of preparation is over. Many of those words were repeated several times in different circumstances. So we knew God was giving us some strong clues and now the time has come to step out.
We really aren’t sure what our lives will look like after the YWAM outreach but we are confident that God has gone before us and will lead us as we settle in Tauranga and look for opportunities to preach, teach, minister, run prophetic art workshops and otherwise seek to equip the saints.
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
Don’t limit God, 3 Jan-93. Fountain City Christian Centre, Hamilton:
