Rewards in Heaven
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2011 · 7 August 2011
Tonight we want to touch again on rewards, that is, rewards in heaven. ‘Rewards’ is not a subject that is often discussed by Christians and I believe that it is in fact neglected. So let us discuss this a little deeper. Maybe we can find out why this is.
One of the reasons Christians do not want to think about rewards is maybe because their sincere motive is to give God all the glory. The biggest issue is probably that there is still some confusion about the doctrine of grace. We really cherish the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, meaning that it is not by human works that we are saved. Only by the grace of God we are saved.
But if we do not make a distinction between how we are saved and then how God wants us to live from that point on, we will misunderstand what God’s will is. We should not get confused about how important God views our work for Him in the Christian life in general.
Because when that happens we do not know what to do with rewards. Sometimes we look at rewards and we say oh we do not do this for self glory; we don’t do this for rewards because we are still thinking about works related to salvation. We are so careful that we look at works only as something that will not save us.
Look for instance at all the wonderful hymns that were written a long time ago and they generally speak of salvation, the cross and grace and forgiveness of sin. And that is also true in contemporary Christian music. But where are the songs that talk about rewards? There are none.
So what people come up with related to rewards is only what they remember in Revelation 4:10 which says, “The twenty- four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.” And most Christians relate rewards to these crowns only and they say, oh those rewards we just lay them back at Jesus’ feet.
That sounds really spiritual, but there is not much biblical foundation for that. So because of that many Christians do not pay much attention to all the passages where Jesus speaks of rewards because they feel that we should not make this issue that important.
But Jesus Himself speaks very directly about the topic of rewards. Actually there is an excitement to be able to discuss rewards with you, just because it so rarely discussed and taught. If Jesus teaches this and if Paul teaches it also then it must be important for us as Christians in our daily walk with Him.
How does this issue affect us in our daily life, how does it motivate us, what are we missing if we never think about heavenly rewards? Well let’s just get started with earthly rewards, does that work? Well, of course. Why do people get excited at work when there is a competition and there is a great reward? Because they can almost taste the reward, because it will give them pleasure to go on that trip to Hawaii or to spend that $ 10,000 prize money on buying something.
But think for a moment about these earthly rewards, how long do they satisfy you? How long does a child play excitedly with his Christmas presents before he gets bored? How long are you excited by the smell of a new car? How long are you excited when you move into a new house?
How long do new clothes satisfy you before you are ready to buy that newer dress or that new great blouse? Do you know the difference between when Becky says she has no clothes and when I say that I have no clothes? When Becky says that what she means is that she has no new clothes compared to what I say when I mean that I have no clean clothes.
Are the rewards in heaven even comparable to all the different rewards on earth? God says no! First of all the rewards on earth are all temporal, they do not last long, they get old and boring and they rust and fade away and their pleasure is short lived.
God’s rewards on the other hand are forever and are lasting and will satisfy forever. Our mind cannot even begin to comprehend the expanse of those rewards in heaven. Ephesians 3:20 says that God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Whatever great the reward that we can think of, it is far less than what God will actually provide!
We only think about rewards that we can experience in our earthly bodies, but think about the resurrected body of Christ where God is giving us a foretaste of what our heavenly body will be like. Jesus ate fish so we know that the pleasure of eating will be there in heaven but imagine we will never get fat!
The reward of being closer to God and seeing Him face to face must be a reward that is incomprehensible. We know that with our earthly eyes we will never able to see God, the Father, who is Spirit. But we also know that angels are able to be in close proximity with Him to be able to serve Him.
Maybe we with our new eternal eyes with our eternal new bodies are also able to be in closer proximity with God Almighty and maybe we are allowed to get a glimpse of His glory, oh how even that would be a great reward. For the Jewish people being able to see God face to face was their highest reward.
I really cannot even begin to think of all the rewards for an eternity that God has in store for all those who love Him. But I know this; God’s blessings will never run out, you will never be bored, you will have an eternity with billions of sinless people in a world where wonders will not cease.
So with that introduction I would like for all of us to again to study and to remember what Scripture is saying about rewards and to embrace everything that the Bible is teaching us on this very important subject so that we can apply it in our daily walk with Him. And I hope that this will give us as a church new excitement in our life.
Now rewards and punishment are two sides of the same coin, meaning that we cannot understand rewards unless we understand God’s wrath. If we do not understand the difference between punishment and rewards, we will not understand the difference between how you are saved and how you have to live after you are saved.
Now listen very carefully: the believer’s sin was punished and paid for on the cross and the believer’s work will be rewarded in eternity forever. And the opposite is also true. The unbeliever’s sin will be punished forever in hell and their work will only be rewarded on earth at that time.
Now I know that almost everyone understands that our sin was punished on the cross, I have preached this, we sing about it in songs, we remember this when we take communion at the Lord’s Supper and so on. We know that this is true and is a reality.
But the second part of that statement where our work as a believer will be rewarded forever and ever in heaven has been a bit confusing, right? Sometimes we as Christians have come up with a new theology of punishment. Have you ever heard Christians talking about other Christians that have committed a terrible sin and say, “what goes around comes around!”
And what they mean is that that Christian will receive a similar punishment for their deeds at some time in the future. We often hear people say about other Christians, “Well, he or she will have to answer for that!” And many Christians believe that God at some time is going to bring that terrible sin up in the future where you will have to answer to that in front of a lot of people.
Brothers and sisters, all that is true for non-Christians and they will have to pay forever for their sins in hell but that is not the case for us as Christians. When Jesus died on the cross, when He paid for our sins with His blood, our past sins, our present sins and our future sins were removed. How far? “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” says Psalm 103:12.
That’s why we celebrate what happened on the cross, that’s why we celebrate the forgiveness of sin, that’s why we are so blessed to have the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone.
But if we do not understand this there will be this confusion. And we forget what Jesus did on the cross, and we forget that His work is all sufficient in paying for our sins. If we are not careful we go back to believing that we all are responsible for our sins and at some point we need to give an account for that for everyone to see. And beloved, that is not in the bible!
And this is hard for unbelievers to believe, and this becomes a stumbling block and foolishness to them as it says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.”
Now pay attention to what Jesus says about that work of a Christian that will be rewarded in heaven in eternity. We have discussed this before in Matthew 6:4 regarding giving and He says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” and in Matthew 6:6 about praying He says and “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” and in Matthew 6:18 about fasting Jesus says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Three times Jesus repeated the same phrase. One of the things that help us interpret the Word of God is to see where there are repetitions for emphasis and importance. And as we study Matthew 6:1-18 we see repetitions about who these hypocrites are that do things for the praise of men instead of for the glory of God. We have studied them.
But here three times we also see the repetitions regarding the rewards in heaven from God our Father Himself. And Jesus repeats that three times and brothers and sisters if Jesus does that to call our attention or for emphasis, we better really focus on that and not ignore what God is teaching us here.
Listen to this famous passage of John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Listen to verse 18 again, “He who believes in Him is not condemned,” that is now, that is present tense, that is for you if you believe in Christ right now, there is no condemnation! There is no more judgment for sin in the future for you as a believer! Not in the past, not now and not ever!
Now this does not mean that now we can sin at will from now on. Paul addressed this issue in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” And again in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”
We are not saved to do evil but that we are saved for good works. Let me show you that again in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
God’s plan all along is that we do good things to show His love to others, to become the hands and feet of Jesus so that others want to know how to become a child of God too. And if this understanding is not correct, it gives Christians an excuse not to help, not to participate, not to care for others who do not know Christ, and not to have a ministry.
And the doctrine of heavenly rewards is attached to doing good works, and being a servant! And that is hard work! Jesus and Paul use analogies of soldiers and farmers and runners and servants and all are examples of very hard work. And they all are aspects of the Christian life!
So as a believer al our sins are forgiven. And I know that this is often hard for us to believe, because I still remember my sins as a believer. And I’m sure you remember your sins as a believer, the things that we have done that are so contrary to the will of God. And personally the biggest struggle for me have been my sins after I have become a Christian.
At times I remember them and often times Satan brings them up again and it is easy to forget what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. And many Christians still think that they are going to be judged when they read about the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” And the moment we read judgment for things that are bad we think of punishment, right? But the correct interpretation here means that our works after we have become Christians will be judged for rewards only, without any punishment.
The best example is again the passage that we discussed last week that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15. Paul was responding to factions within the church that had different leaders as their particular favorite. And this is dangerous and could be the beginning of a church split.
But Paul said not to have favorites, that all these preachers were people that complement each other. You might have several preachers that you like to listen to and so do I. But Paul said in the middle of his response in verse 8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one.” This means that we all are on the same team working for Jesus.
“And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” And so Paul reiterates this concept of rewards for labor in verse 8. And then he talks in verses 9 till 15 about the work possibilities that we are His workers can perform. So he begins with 1 Corinthians 3:9, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Did you notice that Paul addressed all the church members? He said we are “God’s fellow workers,” he is not talking about himself or just the preachers or the deacons, but he is talking about everyone in the church.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
And that is exactly what we are doing now. We are building on that foundation that was laid by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount when we read Matthew 6:1-18 and what we are learning now regarding rewards is what is built on His Word. Now let us continue verse 12:
12Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
Paul is not talking about punishment for sins, what he is talking about is what every Christian will accomplish for God in our life and the rewards that each Christian will get once it is judged by fire. Even those whose works burn up and have nothing to show for are still saved, right? Let us thank dan praise God for his grace, Amen?