Blessed Are the Unsuspecting
The Awkward Subject of Spiritual Rewards
I do not remember asking my father for very much. I never needed to, for he always stayed one step ahead of me in asking and giving and was, I suppose, the most generous man I have ever known. He anticipated my thoughts; before I could ask, I received. What he gave seemed to always be more than what I was going to ask. That was my dad, and his giving was about grace. And relationship: I was his son!
What comes to mind as I think about rewards is not so much the worthiness of Christians to receive them as God’s outrageous generosity, as our Heavenly Father, in giving them. I have not thought this way most of my Christian experience which now exceeds 60 years.
A reward is simply God’s gracious repayment to the Christian for good things done which the believer would have done anyway had there been no thought of reward.
Rewards are defined in terms of grace, which is God’s unsolicited, unearned favor. Grace unlocks the door to understanding rewards from God’s point of view.
In the same way grace is extended to a repentant sinner to receive the forgiveness he could never earn, God likewise gives grace to His faithful servants in the form of rewards they could never earn. Rewards reveal the great heart of God; they are about his mercy and grace; they are about relationships.
Perplexity
The subject of rewards is unusually, perhaps unnecessarily, troublesome for growing Christians as we try to reconcile our seemingly contradictory thoughts about them. Why have we made it so difficult to talk about the coming rewards for faithful service that Jesus spoke about so often? One who raises the topic runs the risk of being looked at as someone who must not be very “spiritual”, or he would know better.
Can we discover truth that will help lighten up a subject that can give us spine-tingling joy? My godly mother suffered from none of these inhibitions. She was often heard to boldly, but not irreverently, exclaim about the bliss of future rewards, “I want some!”
The widespread expectation is that Christians ought to spend their entire lives in service to God and others, selflessly and with a glad heart, and with no thought of personal gain. This ideal obviously runs cross-grain with the values of our culture, and this conflict seeps over into our thinking about rewards. The world’s reward system requires something in return for something else; or, tit-for-tat, quid-pro-quo, “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” God’s reward system is radically different.
Grace, Tough Times, and Rewards
We intuitively know what the Scriptures make clear, that God’s grace is free and can never be earned, and that our lives are to express humility. We are to put the interests of others ahead of our own. Talking about rewards quickly becomes awkward because we don’t want to seem selfish or prideful, and we are certainly not supposed to think in terms of entitlement.
We live in a culture whose underpinning is: What’s in it for me? “What do I get out of the deal?” is the crass expression that drives much of the way business is handled, and the way life is lived for many. Not, “What can I do that will benefit others”? Or “What’s best for everybody”? Our most innocent questions about rewards seem to quickly get knotted up with suspicions about pride and humility, about works and grace. Are we working to earn God’s favor and rewards, or serving Him in response to His generous gift of grace through Christ?
We live in a broken world, one filled with broken people corrupted by sin, in which Satan is permitted to exercise limited rule. The ungodly really do prosper, while God’s people seem to be getting the worst of it. The wicked appear to be having a lot more fun than believers. Bad things do happen to good people who are doing good.
In the tough times, what Christian has not fretted, “It looks like we are losing this thing”? Or has not asked the question born out of grief and pain, “Does it really pay to serve the Lord? Is all this worth it?”
Matthews Henry astutely pointed out that we struggle the whole of our lives with two great anomalies: Suffering Goodness and Triumphant Wickedness.
Paradox
The thinking Christian wanting to learn about spiritual rewards immediately bumps into several paradoxes. For example, anyone who tries to serve God with any expectation of getting something in return, who reminds Him how deserving he is, will receive no reward at all. He need never ask, “What’s in it for me?” The answer will be as simple as it is terse: Nothing.
By contrast, anyone who works selflessly, whose only motive is love and gratitude for the grace he has received, will enjoy a reward from God all out of proportion to his capacity to receive it.
Two precepts about rewards come from this: (1) Scheming and expecting to earn rewards only reveals your greed, and you will surely disappoint the heart of God; and (2) Serving gladly with no thought of personal gain, with no other motive than love for God and others, brings great reward.
Why Bother Talking About Rewards?
So, why bother thinking about rewards if we cannot work for them and should never expect to receive them? Is it legitimate, or even wise, to write about them? Yes.
The Bible offers reasons why properly understanding rewards is a “must” for the Christian:
- Motives (Are ours right or wrong from God’s point of view?)
Jesus never hesitated to talk about rewards. He taught that the wrong way to serve God (based on law) leads to nothing more than the hollow applause of men, while the right way of serving Him (based on love) leads to His highest favor. He said, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. . . .do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.” (Mt. 6:1-4, NIV)
A legendary French nurse who died during World War I perhaps said it best when she wrote in her diary, “Do good, and disappear.” Maybe it was her way of saying, “Don’t stand around waiting for someone to pat you on the back for having done something good.”
The apostle Paul taught that our good deeds only retain their value after they have been severely tested by “fire”; that is, they are scrutinized to see what our motivation was in doing them. Only what is done with the proper motive will survive incineration: “If any man builds on this foundation (Jesus Christ) using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his will be shown for what it is. . .it will be revealed with fire. . .if what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. . .” (I Cor. 3:11-15, NIV)
- Comfort and Encouragement (Rewards can provide both!)
The ultimate reward for the Christian is to forever live in the presence of Christ. A day is coming when that will be living reality: “. . .and so shall we ever be with the Lord forever.” (I Thess. 4:17-18, NIV) Paul adds: “. . .encourage each other with these words.”
But until then, we live in a broken world filled with exploitation, greed, and indulgence. As a Christ-follower, I need to be told in clear terms that it pays to serve Him. I need the encouragement that comes from knowing God honors a life well-lived, and that He chooses to reward the Christian who pays the price of obedience and whose life is filled with acts of kindness done in His name.
Tell me again it is worthwhile to live virtuously, to give myself freely to those in need, to refuse to adopt the world’s mantra: What’s in it for me?
Tell me again and again about God’s plans to reward the faithful who slug it out day-by-day, resolved to live singleheartedly for Christ, and to honor Him with every thought, decision, and deed. I want to taste some of the “joy of the Lord” every Christ-follower is invited to share. (Mt. 25:22, NIV)
I need to know that, at the end of my life’s work, it is possible to hear Christ say: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt. 25:21, NIV)
- Relationship (The possibility of rewards challenges us to higher levels of relationship and faith with God.)
The favor of my own father has been a powerful motivator all my life. As a Christ-follower, it has been easy to grasp the significance of the favor of a Heavenly Father. No story Jesus told describes the great heart of God better than the “Prodigal Son.” (Luke 15, NIV) The much-loved story illustrates rewards are about grace (receiving) and not about entitlement (earning).
Upon returning home, the Prodigal thinks himself unworthy of his former father-son relationship and arrives with nothing except ragged clothes, misery, and the wreckage of a wasted life. Yet the glad father showers him with privileges, not for any favor earned, but in celebration and restoration of a ruined life. The rewards the son receives are based on relationship and grace.
- Greater Opportunities to Serve (Not only now, but in God’s eternal kingdom.)
Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” ( . 22:12, NIV)
We determine the reward God will give us, much or little, by our service and diligence, and by what we faithfully did with what we were given. God does not reward us arbitrarily or capriciously, but in proportion to the initiative we show. We, not God, set the limits on what we receive.
We are not told what form rewards will take or specifically when they will be received. Jesus’ teachings make it clear they are of a spiritual nature, not material. There is in his teachings the strong suggestion they will include enlarged, ennobling opportunities to serve on a scale we can scarcely imagine. How we develop the talents and gifts we are given to work with in this life could not be of more critical importance. Jesus taught that our faithfulness over a “few things” will explode into being trusted with “many things.” Dallas Willard observes,
“. . .the intention of God is that we should each become the kind of person whom
he can set free in his universe, empowered to do what we want to do. Just as we
desire and intend this, so far as possible, for our children and others we love, so
God desires and intends it for his children. But character, the inner directedness
of the self, must develop to the point that is possible.” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 379)
When Christians die, we don’t abruptly cease to be who we are. Our personality and rich experience aren’t left behind, and our Holy Spirit-implanted gifts and perfected skills aren’t disregarded or discarded. They all go with us as an essential part of our transformation and glorious future. Christ said, “I am preparing a place for you.” And piled on top all that will be God’s rewards.
Perhaps our rewards will include a kind of commissioning by God to join Him in endless creative work to be done around our universe. Empowered by God, and with His limitless resources at our disposal, we may ask the simplest question, “What would you like me to do”? only to find ourselves completely unprepared for His answer: “What would you like to do”? How we answer that question may set into motion things to be done and services to perform at a level that will numb our mind. Will there be difficult, complex problems to solve? Adventure? Challenges that will challenge our abilities to the limit? Unbelievable opportunities that will stretch our minds, challenge our courage, and test our ability to create and lead? No question about it!
Blessed Are the Unsuspecting
The best gift is the one that catches us unsuspecting. What excitement we feel when we receive something wholly unexpected! The rewards of heaven will be like that. Our heart will beat faster, and our breath will grow shorter when we hear the Lord call our name and say, “I have a surprise for you.”
Maybe one of the reasons we aren’t told what rewards will be is that God doesn’t want to be denied the fun of surprising us. Only one with the gift of giving understands the sheer delight of that.
There is so much we don’t know about the day when works will be judged, and rewards rendered. But we do know it will be a day of stunning, unexpected discoveries.
There will be tragic, shattering disappointments as many who thought themselves worthy of great position and reward protest to Christ that some terrible mistake has been made: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name. . .perform many miracles”? (Mt. 7:22, NIV) In utter disbelief, they will hear Him disown their claims to a heavenly windfall: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me. . .!” (Mt. 7:23, NIV)
There will also be gleeful, unsuspected ecstasy and unspeakable sweetness as Christ heaps rewards on startled disciples who ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry. . .thirsty. . .a stranger. . .sick or in prison. . .?” (Mt. 7:37-39, NIV) It never occurred to them their work was being observed and would be further rewarded. They had already discovered surpassing happiness in loving and caring for the people Jesus loved: “The King will reply, ‘. . .whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me’.” (Mt. 7:40, NIV)
The bonus blessings continue in a torrent: the small will be great, the unknown cheered, the forgotten remembered, the unnoticed crowned, the faithful honored, the mourning comforted, the hungry and thirsty filled, the pure in heart see God, and the poor in spirit inherit a kingdom!
Because we understand the greatness and goodness of God, we gladly do His will and work with no thought of “What’s in it for me?” We do what we do because of who God is and out of gratitude for His indescribable grace, goodness, and greatness.
Blessed are the unsuspecting, for they shall be greatly rewarded.
Don M. Hull
© 2021