Introduction
We come to our next-to-last study on the book of Revelation. Revelation ends with a vision of eternal life in God's eternal kingdom (read and explain 21:1,2). Over the last two weeks, we've looked at how awesome this will be. Even more awesome is that God offers it to everyone as a free gift (read 22:17). The only condition on our part is that we "wash our robes" (read 22:14) – which does not mean that we must clean ourselves up, but rather that we appropriate Jesus' death for our sins (read and explain 7:14).
This morning, we will look at another aspect of God's eternal kingdom, which Jesus announces in 22:11b,12 (read). Jesus is urging His followers to keep serving Him (despite the sacrifices involved) because He will soon return and reward them for their service. So this is something additional to the right of entrance into His kingdom; it is a reward (or award) for faithful service. This is a major theme in the New Testament:
Jesus refers to this reward several times in Revelation (e.g., 2:10 [Smyrna church]; 2:26 [Thyatira church]; martyrs [20:4]; 22:12).
Misthos (reward") is used this way 15 times in the New Testament. Stephanos ("crown"/"wreath") is used this way at least 10 times in the New Testament. Jesus (e.g., Matt. 6,19) and the apostles (e.g., Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3,4; 2 Cor. 5:9,10; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; 2 Jn. 1:8; etc.) refer to this reward many times.
In fact, along with gratitude for God's saving grace and love for other people, the prospect of Jesus' reward is central to how God motivates us to live faithfully for Him (3-LEGGED STOOL).
What is this reward, and how should this future event affect my current life? We will look at several passages that shed light on both of these questions. But first I want to respond briefly to three common objections that prevent many Christians from benefitting from this truth . . .
Common objections
"This contradicts God's grace." Some Christians use this teaching as a threat – that your quality of life in God's kingdom will be terrible unless you served Jesus in this life ("You'll be cleaning sewers in heaven unless you shape up!" "Heaven will seem like hell to you . . .").
This is blasphemous! Between the lowest "circle" of heaven and the highest "circle" in hell is an infinite chasm – eternal union with or eternal separation from the infinite-personal God. This is about reward in addition to all that we have learned about eternal life.
Actually, it emphasizes God's grace! Suppose you committed grand theft, but your victim forgave you, absorbing the full cost himself. And then suppose he rewarded you for subsequent steps toward a responsible life. Would you call that ungracious? This is what Jesus did. He absorbed the full price of our sins so that we can be forgiven and spend eternity in God's kingdom. And then on top of that, He rewards us for our service between now and then! This is "grace upon grace!"
"This gives unfair advantage to certain Christians." This objection (wrongly) assumes that people who were Christians for longer periods of time, or who served in more public ways, or who had more/greater spiritual gifts will be rewarded more than those who did not have these things (as happens in the world).
Actually, this is the only 100% fair performance evaluation we will ever receive. The issue will not be how we compare to other people's service, but rather how faithful we were with what God gave us. Those who grew up in healthier homes or came to Christ earlier in life have no advantage over those who grew up in broken homes or came to Christ later in life. Those who were given powerful public ministry gifts have no advantage over those who were gifted to serve in behind-the-scenes ways. The issue is the same with everyone: How faithful have we been to serve Christ with what we have been given? For this very reason, Jesus tells us that "many who are first shall be last, and many who are last shall be first" (Matt. 19:30). This should be a great encouragement to those of us who feel less privileged, and a sobering reminder to those of us who have been given much!
"This encourages mercenary service." "Mercenary" means serving for the money, not because of sincere commitment to the cause (e.g., SOLDIERS). In our world, the prospect of reward corrupts people all the time. People sabotage others' jobs to get a promotion; they steal secrets to be the first out with a product; they treat other people as impersonal means to their end. And Christians sometimes have been mercenary in their pursuit of Christ's reward. They can view non-Christians as stepping stones to reward; they can view other Christians as competitors to be beaten, etc.
Actually, this purifies our motives. Jesus says that He will not reward service with selfish motives (Matt. 6:1), but that He will reward service that is done because of genuine love for God and people (Matt. 6:4). Likewise, Peter says that Jesus will reward church leaders who lead with godly motives (1 Pet. 5:2-4).
What is Jesus' reward?
With these important clarifications, let's consider what Jesus' reward is. We will look at two important aspects of it in this passage (there are more described elsewhere), and they may surprise you . . .
One aspect of His reward is the satisfaction of seeing the significance of your service. Read 3:13a ("each man's work will become evident"). Evident to whom? Since God is omniscient, He already knows the quality of our service fully and perfectly. The point is that it will become evident to us (and secondarily, to others). Jesus will walk us through our Christian lives, and His evaluation will be surprising.
I imagine that He will come to some things, and I'll think: "Yes! This was one of my best!" – but then He will torch most of it because I did it mainly to impress people. Then He will come to some other service, and I'll think: "That was insignificant!" – and He'll smile and say: "You did that just because you loved Me." And then He'll come to some other service, and I'll think: "That was a big failure!" – but He will open my eyes to see that He worked through it to do far more than I realized (e.g., REBUFFED WITNESS THAT WAS A LINK IN THE CHAIN; ENCOURAGING WORD THAT PROPELLED SOMEONE FORWARD). We sometimes get little surprising glimpses of the impact of our service (EXAMPLE), and they are super-satisfying. Think what it will be like to see it all, interwoven with others' service, used by His grace, rippling out into eternity!
How different this is than the Hindu/Buddhist afterlife, in which our individual lives are like drops of water that are absorbed into the ocean of oneness. In other words, our individual choices in this life are ultimately insignificant. But the Bible says that our choices set off ripples that go on forever! (OR ISLAM'S SEXUAL PARADISE FOR MEN or ATHEISM'S NIHILISM)
Another key aspect of His reward is the joy of being praised by God. Re-read 4:5b. Jesus described the reward in one of His parables this way (read Matt. 25:21). This is staggering – that the God of the universe, the One to whom praise is rightfully due, will not only allow us to spend eternity in His presence, but He will praise us for our service and take joy in it! And hearing His praise will somehow enable us to enter us to enter even more fully into His joy! (ME DELIGHTING IN MY GRAND-DAUGHTER'S LITTLE KINDNESSES & HER DELIGHT IN RESPONSE TO MY DELIGHT) C. S. Lewis describes this in his essay The Weight of Glory:
"Nothing is so obvious in a child . . . as its great and undisguised pleasure in being praised (by his parents or teacher) . . . (to have) the satisfaction of having pleased those whom he has rightly loved and (respected) . . . And that is enough to raise our thoughts to what may happen when (we), beyond all hope and nearly beyond belief, at last learn that (we have) pleased Him whom (we were) created to please . . . With no taint of . . . (prideful) self-approval (we) will most innocently rejoice in the thing that God has made (us) to be . . . (This) moment will forever drown (both our) inferiority complex (and our) pride . . . To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . it seems impossible, a weight of glory which our thoughts can barely sustain. But so it is."
How can this motivate us in our present lives?
"How should this prospect that Jesus will one day reward me for service affect me today, in my situation, at this stage of my life, with these resources that I have?" The New Testament provides at least four answers to this question:
It can should motivate us to be faithful servants over the long haul. We have each been given certain gifts and opportunities to transmit that serve Jesus (e.g., witnessing; discipling; encouraging Christians; parenting & grand-parenting; financing ministry). We have each been given a certain period of time (known only by God) to serve Him. We are not responsible to be "successful" by human standards – including western Christian culture's standards, which emphasize bigness, quick results, public favor, charismatic personalities, etc. We are responsible to plug away, faithfully serving day by day in our little circles of influence. This is what God values, this is what He will reward!
It can sober us to not selfish waste our lives. If you belong to Jesus, you have already made the ultimate significant decision because you are eternally secure. But what you do in this life still matters forever, and the opportunity to serve Christ here will soon be gone. Don't get sidetracked into living for worldly counterfeits (e.g., COMFORT; TOYS; PRESTIGE) when you can have the real thing (quote Matt. 6:19,20)! I know that I am and will be a far from perfect servant of Christ my entire time down here. I also know that I have wasted certain portions of my Christian life serving myself. But I want to leave knowing that I didn't waste most my Christian life! Don't you?
It can liberate us from unhealthy comparison with other Christians. Do you tend to be inordinately concerned about how certain other people view you? Do you tend to set yourself up as the designated critic of other Christians' service? Yes, we should listen to constructive feedback from others, and we should give it also. Yes, we should be accountable to other people in certain areas. But Jesus is the One who will give the ultimate verdict on our lives. When I meet Jesus on this say, He isn't going to be interested in my evaluation of other servants, or their evaluation of me. So I should live for the "Audience of One" and encourage urge my brothers and sisters to do the same.
It can provide hope when we suffer and/or make sacrifices for the cause of Christ. Our culture applauds people who sacrifice relationships, time, etc. to win academic degrees, high salaries, and even metal disks – and it scorns people who sacrifice opportunities for these things in order to serve Jesus. But whose rewards will be more valuable 100 years from now? 1000 years from now? Jas. 1:12 reminds us that God will richly compensate us for each and every suffer/sacrifice we endure in our service in this life!
Questions & comments
"Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavored, partakes of the kingdom's imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness . . . every gesture of concern, every routine service . . . every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of a faith-relationship with (Christ), will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at His coming." Bruce Milne, The Message of Heaven and Hell (InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 257.
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (Eerdmans Publishing, 1974), pp. 9,10.