Heavenly Rewards

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

Christians will never receive the wrath of God because Jesus atoned for our sins on the cross. We don't have to worry about being judged for our sins because we are believing in Jesus for our forgiveness. So hell is not something that we must fear. That kind of judgement is only for those who did not believe in Jesus. But believers will be judged according to what we did in our lives. Everything you say and everything you do is going to be judged. You'll be rewarded for the valuable work that you did for Christ.

"Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there." (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17)

"We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:8-10)

"But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.”

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God." (Romans 14:10-12)

Believers will be judged for their works. We are not saved because of our works and we are not damned because of our works. We're saved by grace through faith in Christ, not because of anything that we did, and no one can snatch us out of God's hands (John 10:28). But those of us who are saved will do good works for Him, and we're going to be rewarded for them. Paul says our ungodly deeds will be tested and burned up.

"According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

Our good deeds are like “gold, silver, and precious stones”. Those are precious things, even treasures. This is how our good works are described, and for these works we will be rewarded. But no one is perfect. Every Christian is still a sinner. As long as we're in a corrupt body, in a corrupt world, we're going to sin until we die, but by God's grace we grow closer to Him as we mature and we sin less and less. We all still sin, and we all have flaws in our view of God. No one has a perfect theology. Within the family of believers, we have a wide range of views. There are people who, although they are saved, they cause confusion among the brethren, teachers who are teaching strange interpretations of scripture. These will suffer loss when their works are burned up. We will all have our sinful deeds and our mistakes burned away. All philosophical and theological issues will be solved at that point. Everything wrong, bad, flawed, all of our worthless deeds will be burned up. We will all "suffer loss" to one degree or another as our deeds are subjected to the holy fire of Christ. Maybe the Lord starts out by showing you the rewards that you could have gotten, and then you feel loss as He removes it from your pile of treasures. That would make you feel the loss, or "suffer loss" as Paul says it. That's just my speculation, I have no idea. We'll all find out soon. But what we can know right now is that there are eternal rewards awaiting us, the likes of which no human imagination could dream up. The vocabulary doesn't even exist to be able to explain the heavenly rewards we'll enjoy forever. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely wise, and so generously loving, how could a human even begin to imagine the gifts He'll give us? Personally, I'd like to be able to fly around in space and see stars, planets, nebulas, but that's just my tiny limited imagination at work. The actual rewards awaiting us will be so much more awesome than that.

"But just as it is written,

'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.'" (1 Corinthians 2:9)

"But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:9-12)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

There are treasures, prizes, crowns, rewards, that believers receive in heaven. Paul refers to our Christian life as a fight and as a race. He talks about beating his body into submission, and training like an athlete to win the race. We're competing against our flesh, against the world, against the devil, so it makes sense to refer to our struggle with these terms of competition and rewards.

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

We are going to give an account for what we say and what we do. Again, I'm speculating, but this could include things like how we handled temptation, how we handled our sins, how we spent our time, how well we obeyed Christ in our lives, how we witnessed to others, how we treated scripture, how much we tried to grow, or how little we tried, how generously we gave, all of the times we neglected to do what we were supposed to do, etc, etc. It will all be exposed in the end, all of our deeds, and the motivations behind our deeds. The bad will be burned up forever. Once this judgement is over, our mistakes and sins will never be mentioned again because God will cast them away.

"He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will cast all their sins

Into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19)

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are but dust." (Psalm 103:10-14)

People who reject Christ will be judged and condemned to hell. But if you are a Christian, the Lord is going to use His holy fire to burn away the junk from your life and leave only the valuables. You'll be rewarded for the good work you did for Him, and you'll enjoy your rewards forever. Your sin will be thrown away, and never mentioned again. Christians, we should make every effort to earn these rewards! Give generously, love your neighbor, preach the gospel, help the needy, go the extra mile, make every effort to store up treasures in heaven. How much of your life will just be burned away on the day of judgement? How much time have you spent watching TV? You could be earning eternal rewards in Christ's name. Don't waste your time anymore. Every Christian should be producing good fruit for the Lord. We all produce at different rates, and in differing yields, but we all do produce good fruit for Him. Set your mind on heavenly things.

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17)

Thanks for reading. God bless.