Reward

What should the christian's view of reward be? Most sermons/messages say we shouldn't be concerned with reward but should only serve period. Biblical?

"Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" Luke 17:10

What I am receiving from this passage is that the reward of our work in the field is serving Jesus and eating with him, and it is amazing that he would condescend to allow sinful man to serve and eat at his table. He is so full of Grace.

What do we eat with him at his table?

But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. John 4:32-34

Doing the will of our Father in Heaven is a wonderful reward. But the greatest reward of all is fellowship with the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Our love for him and obedience to him go hand in hand like a bride and her groom.

In Luke 19:11-27, you have a variation of the parable of the talents, where each of the servants receives a minas. One generates 10 minas out of the one given to him, and another receives 5. The one who generated 10 minas was put in charge of 10 cities and received a rather verbose commendation from his master. The one with 5 received authority over 5 cities, though not quite as verbose a commendation.

I think there is some merit to considering that even though we all receive eternal life, such as the laborers in the vineyard got the same despite when they came into the vineyard, and unless my understanding is not correct (may God clarify it), there are degrees in what kind of glory we will receive, or what God will eternally entrust to us.

I admit I don't have all the details pointed out, and though even though no one person is more justified than another, and that all true servants will share in their Master's happiness, there will be some particular privileges given to some more than others. Two people with the same grace, and one does more, may probably expect to receive a greater glory than the other (though both will certainly receive great reward).

So should we work for reward? Well, it certainly shouldn't be the sole aspect of attention in our spiritual walk, but I would say that if Christ mentioned it in the parable, it is there for us to apply :)

GOD is our highest joy, our
exceeding great reward!!

GOD is our highest joy, our exceeding great reward!!

AMEN! I will sign on to that one.

I guess it seems to some more noble to say, "I am only serving and not expecting or thinking of any reward." But how many times is the reward in scripture part of the motivation for the doing? Consider even Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross and despised the shame... I think there is nothing at all wrong with reckoning the reward as part of the motivation.

I am very interested where this thread goes and evolves into, I have been left very jaded by the rewards based gospel. I grew up here all about storing up in heaven, giving our tithes and offerings and if we didn't we wouldn't be blessed, or sometime throughout the week something would happen that cost the same thing as the tithe the person didn't give. This brought about great condemnation on my part and also on many others in the church. I have come to a place of contentment that I deserve nothing at all so any amount of giving isn't really a credit to my name in heaven. I hear God spoke about as if He is a bank teller or some kind of investment worth putting your money into, because you will reap a large blessing in your business or life. My heart cringes at these statements. My response to those that believe in such a system is this, Isn't Jesus enough?

My heart cringes at these statements. My response to those that believe in such a system is this, Isn't Jesus enough?

I guess this is a textbook statement that got me pondering this question. Either this type of thinking is correct (we are wrong to look for reward) or the church is attempting to be more holy than Jesus.

Jesus brings up rewards, as mentioned, in the parable of the talents in which Jesus is commending diligent use of our gift and is the one who is bring up the subject of reward. Not only bringing it up, but using it to encourage our service.

Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.

Here the Lord makes it clear that it is something that he wants to do and will do. If it was none of our concern, why would he tell us?

Paul said he was striving for the 'prize', for first place.

Abraham was looking for a city.

The disciples asked of their reward and the Lord promised 30-60-90 fold as opposed to a sharp rebuke for not seeing him as enough.

I care nothing for 'prosperity gospel' , 'best life now' nonsense, though if God chooses to bless a man in this life that is His matter. However the passage I'm thinking is important is the Bema passages in 1 Cor 3. Here Paul lays out the Judgement Seat of Christ in which the church is examined and reward given or lost, all without any mention of punishment.

I believe the believer should be looking forward to that day with anticipation of reward, for if that happens, the Captain of our Salvation will be glorified as would a coach of Olympic Gold medalists. Picture the joy of the Lord as He rewards His children for their godly life led. This is great motivation.

There is a balance between ungodly hyper humility that disregards as sinful the very things the Lord uses to encourage his church and the self-serving lust for recognition and material.

The hay and stubble will burn, but the precious works that are done out of love for God and neighbour (1 Cor 13), God will be pleased to reward, for it was His heart to ordain this great ceremony in the first place.

The first thing the Lord mentions after His promise to return?....

Re 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Interesting thread. I haven't thought about this for a while.

Thanks for provoking my thoughts, friends!

Love in Jesus,

I don't believe this view makes one holier that Christ, on the contrary I deserve to the very least an eternity in hell. My motivation is not reward since I don't deserve one but it is the simple pleasure of serving God dispite reward. Ultimately Jesus is my reward and this is all I need. Many will stand before God and expect a reward they will have their good works held in mind and have it tallied how much reward they deserve. Bottom Line God is so outrageously Holy our works on earth are filthy rags and worth nothing. Will God give us a reward? I believe so but I don't think its going to be because we are so awesome and good but simply because God is so awesome and good.

I know the scriptures speak of reward but I just don't care if I get any or not. I just want to be with Jesus, now and in eternity. I don't know if this is a godly attitude to have or not. The only reason I like do good works is because I experience Jesus that way. I just want him. Not Sin. Not Rewards. Not my life. But his life, with Him, for Him, In Him and through Him.

In Martin Lloyd-Jones book on the Sermon on the Mount, he said (greatly paraphrased) that those who say they aren't greatly interested in their eternal rewards are basically pseudo-spiritual, and aren't adhering to the Biblical faith. Instead they were into some sort of warm and fuzzy sort of faith.

I know, not said nearly as well as Lloyd-Jones ever said anything. Forgive me for not having the quote on hand :-)

But you know, I think we generally don't think much about our eternal rewards because such a subject deals with the last days, and most of us would rather not touch anything to do with doctrines regarding the last days. So, because we are generally ignorant on the Biblical doctrine of rewards, we don't see any relevant application in the here and now regarding them.

But truth be told, I think if we gave more thought about our eternal rewards, we would find that they are great motivation towards doing effectual ministry and abounding in greater works. For example, I live a very active life. For a variety of reasons, I'm forced to work quite a few hours a week. But even with all of that, I still seek to actively engage in outreach to the lost, and ministry within the Church, leaving me little room anything else.

And I choose to do what I do, not only because I believe the Lord has called me and charged me to do these things, and I want to please Him in all things, but I engage in these things because I know ultimately, I will spend eternity with our Lord, who will richly reward me for the little labor I do now, in the ages to come. And I do these things, always conscience that the young man that I am, that I am giving up what many tell me is "the prime" of my life.

Yet I press on and throw my life away, knowing that I will be rewarded for my labor. I am willing to make the sacrifices I make, and am encouraged to make greater ones, because I am motivated by the ultimate payout in the ages to come, and the rich rewards which my precious Lord will yet give to me.

Such an idea might sound carnal or offensive to some of you. But I believe Jesus was serious when He told us to store up for ourselves treasure in heaven. If we should find no other reason to be interested in our eternal rewards, we should be interested in them simply because Jesus commanded us to store for ourselves treasures in heaven. Therefore, if you want to be in His will, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And in the process, look forward to actually receiving those rewards, and allow them to motivate you to sacrifice all the more. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus said. :-)

Just some thoughts. A great subject.

This topic just makes me understand that I know very little about who I am in Christ other than a worm :) I am still young in this and are still moved by the wind, working on being grounded in Christ. It will take an eternity to thank God for His grace and forgiveness for just one of my sins let alone the rewards He wishes to bestow on us all.

I agree with ceebub that the bema seat passage seems to place an emphasis on degrees of rewards as a motivation to be diligent in seeking Christ and doing His will with all our heart. Another passage that comes to mind is 1Cor.9:24-27 where Paul exhorts us to "Run in such a way that you may win." He paints the picture of a disciplined athlete who's sole aim is to come in first place, taking great pains so that he may win that prize. In essence Pauls says there, "If those guys go to such extremes to be disciplined and diligent to win a perishable wreath/prize, how much more disciplined and diligent should we be in light of the eternal, imperishable crown that awaits us."

I thinks this thread is complimentary to the one on good works started by Jimmy. Great topic.

Does a Bride come to the wedding for her Bridegroom or for the presents?

The groom of course. But that question doesn't fit here,because the concept of rewards doesn't belong to a wedding analogy. It belongs in analogies to labor and justice.

It is unbiblical to serve the Lord in the present, and to suffer injustice for the present, without looking unto your eternal rewards as motivation in the present. Such would be contrary to the teaching of Scripture from cover to cover, and smacks of sentimentalism more than authentic Biblical spirituality.

Why do we reject the clear teaching of Scripture in these things? Let us rather reject the warm fuzzies of unscriptural sentimentalism.

To serve and suffer with the lord is to be adorned with righteous acts, a wedding garment, for the Bride. It is not about the presents. It is about being pleasing in the eye of the one you are to spend eternity with. "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:7-8

While that's nice, the Biblical faith handed down to the saints from the Lord teaches us that we are to find motivation in our eternal rewards. A simple reading of the Gospels teaches this. Indeed, it is unscriptural to not find them as motivation, and to look forward to them.

Does the Richest Man want his Bride to come to the marriage with thoughts of all the presents his Wealthy Father will give her?

Or does the Bridegroom desire his Bride to be consumed with thought of Him, and his Glory?

I'm sorry brother, but these questions are not within the Biblical world view. Reward is motivation.

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." Revelation 22:12

He is coming. The Bright Morning Star. The beloved Bridegroom.
His lips are like lilies, and our eyes like Doves. And from his mouth proceeds a sword to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.