Will We Be Rewarded?

If we serve God, will we be rewarded? Can Christians expect greater material favor and health because they are children of God? The world often comes across believing, that if God loves them than things ought to go their way. Can Christians expect many material blessings because they are in a saving and loving relationship to the Holy God in and through Jesus Christ?

Christians often do prosper and succeed materially and otherwise, because they usually have a good moral life and they often have a healthy family life. They increase wealth because they work hard and invest wisely. The faithful disciples don’t spend money excessively on things and they take care of each other. They usually don’t have expensive and damaging addictions. However, some Christians struggle more than others. Some come from a greater family and heart dysfunction and it takes some time to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord and His wisdom and ways.

What about Jesus? He lived a sinless life and He honored God in everything He did. What favor did Jesus receive from the Father? His favor with the Father was primarily relational and spiritual. Jesus said, ““Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24)

Jesus was popular for a while when He miraculously gave the crowd bread and healed people, but when we He started talking about the cross many left. (John 6:68) Jesus was tortured, spit upon, was undeservedly mocked and brutally and shamefully nailed to a cross. Is this Father’s favor to Jesus? Jesus took it as a privilege, but it was God’s favor for those who receive Him as Savior and Lord. It was God’s favor to us. Likewise, we are not called to live just for ourselves.

How about some other people in the Bible. Did serving God lead to favor with the crowd? Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37) Many of the prophets were treated very badly. Consider Jeremiah who was thrown into a pit in the ground as a captive and Isaiah who was sawn in two. (Hebrews 11:37) Than consider the book of Job in the Bible where Job went through all kinds of afflictions that His heart might be purified and that He might, in maturity love God for Himself, rather than just the earthly blessings He might receive from Him. (Job 42:5)

Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12) “On the contrary, faithful disciples, can expect rebuke, persecution and false accusations….If we expect the Christian life to be a life of ease, prosperity, success, recognition and enjoyment of the good life, we my be in for a surprise, or we may decide to abandon Jesus when hardships arrive ‘(I didn’t sign up for suffering’) But if we anticipate the possible pain, misunderstanding, derision attacks, and suffering that Satan arranges for prophets and their kind, then we can ‘rejoice and be glad’ (Matthew 5:12), for we know we are in good company.”[i]

Will their rewards in heaven? Yes, Jesus and the Bible often spoke about these rewards. Some will be more rewarded than others, based on their relationship to Trinity and their service. What do these rewards look like. The Bible doesn’t tell us the specifics, but they will last for eternity and somehow be distinguishable. However, we will not be looking at things in heaven from man’s corrupted and limited perspective of earth but a much fuller grasp of it all.

The Bible also tells us that there will also be degrees of punishment in hell. Those who lived a good moral life but rejected Jesus as their Savior and Lord will receive a lesser punishment than those very wicked. However, Jesus described that hell will be extremely awful.

One day all of us will give an answer for our life. Jesus said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36)

Hopefully one day the Lord will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21) “Imagine seeing God be happy, about our lives as faithful disciples! What an incentive!”[ii]

However, our primary reason for drawing close to Jesus and serving the Lord is because we love Him and want to honor Him and please Him. In doing so we honor all that is good. We are like the elders in the book of Revelation who cast our crowns at the feet of Jesus. (Revelation 4:10-11) It is an honor to serve Him.

[i] Klein, William W, Become What You Are, (Georgia, USA: Authentic Publishing, 2006) p. 72

[ii] Ibid, p. 75