God rewards service. Nothing that you will ever do in the name of Jesus for another person will go unrewarded
by God.
As we stated in the introduction to this study, we must be very careful that we not count our salvation
as one of God's rewards for service. Salvation of one's soul is not a reward for our goodness, our good
deeds, or our service rendered. Salvation is a free gift from God, motivated solely by His love for us. It is a
“grace gift” that we cannot earn and that is never linked to our personal merit (Eph. 2:8–9).
What is linked to our service are rewards that the Lord has for us, both in this life and in eternity.
Hebrews 6:10 tells us,
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you
have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
We should never be motivated in our service by the potential for a reward we may receive; our motivation should
be thanksgiving and love for God and obedience to His command to love our fellow man. But as we serve, we can be
assured that God always takes note of our service and He will reward it.
Our Reward is from God
When we serve others, we truly are serving the Lord. No matter who the direct object may be of our service or
how many individuals we may help, God says that the beneficiary of our service is Himself. Ephesians 6:6–8 reminds
us that we are “bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as
to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether
he is a slave or free.”
Because it is Christ we serve, it is from Christ that we can expect our reward for service. He is our Master,
we are His bondservants. We should never look directly to the person we help for a reward or even for acknowledgment
and recognition.
I learned this lesson early in my life as a young teenager delivering newspapers. Very few of the people to
whom I delivered newspapers in the early morning, often before dawn, saw me. They simply counted on their newspapers
being there when they awoke and desired to read them. It wasn't easy to get up early and do that job—I don't know
a teenage boy who wouldn't rather sleep than bundle newspapers and then walk or bicycle a newspaper route. I did
my job as unto the Lord, as if I was delivering His newspaper each morning. It was while I was selling newspapers
on a street corner that a man came my way who was instrumental in my being able to go to college to begin my preparation
to become a pastor. Was that an accident? I don't believe it was. I believe God was rewarding those many hours
of faithful service delivering and selling. The man who provided the means for me to attend college was God's instrument.
It was from God that I received my reward.
It is to our great advantage that our rewards come from God for two main reasons:
1. God alone knows precisely what we need and when we need it. He sees and anticipates our needs long
in advance of our feeling or recognizing a need in our own lives, and He provides for us what is best for us.
2. God alone can give rewards that are eternal. What man can give to us is temporal. Material rewards
rust, rot, and wither. Recognition and applause are fleeting. God, in contrast, gives us a deep inner and abiding
fulfillment on this earth, as well as rewards that extend into eternity.
What the Word Says
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the
reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ (Col. 3:23–24).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break
in and steal (Matt. 6:19–20).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand
of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Col. 3:1–2).
What the Word Says to Me
Rewards Come in Degrees
Not all rewards are alike. God rewards all service, but He does not give out equal rewards for all service.
We need to be very clear on this point: A job may be great or small from our perspective, but the act of service
is what God sees and rewards. Service is service. God does not give differing rewards because one type of service
is of greater or lesser importance than another. Rather, He gives differing rewards on the basis of our heart
motivation and our faithfulness in performing the service.
In telling the parable of the talents, Jesus said that the Lord will say to the servants who used their talents
to the fullest: “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” (Matt. 25:21; also v. 23).
The servants in this parable were not rewarded on the basis of the number of talents they were given—in one
case, five; in the other, two. They were not rewarded according to how they invested their talents; in fact,
Jesus didn't even mention how they used their talents in order to double them. They were rewarded because they
were “good and faithful” servants—they performed their service as well as they knew how to perform it, with a godly
motive and intention of heart, and they were faithful in performing their service, diligent and persevering in
it regardless of how they may have felt on any given day.
Jesus also differentiated in His teaching between rewards and great rewards (Matt. 5:11–12). Those who
persevere in their service for the Lord in spite of persecution are subject to receiving a great reward.
When Peter asked Jesus what reward he and the other disciples might expect from their faithfulness in serving the
Lord, Jesus replied,
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My
name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (Matt. 19:29)
In Mark's account of this same incident, Jesus is recorded as saying that Peter and others who had left all
for the gospel's sake and Jesus' sake would receive a hundredfold return with persecutions (Mark 10:29–30).
The more you are rewarded by God, of course, the more Satan will be upset about your rewards. The enemy of your
soul has absolutely no interest in seeing you blessed or honored by God; he detests your prosperity in whatever
form it comes—material, physical, emotional, intellectual, relational, financial, and especially spiritual. He
will persecute you all the more as you receive greater and greater rewards from the Lord. The good news, however,
is that the more you are persecuted for your witness about Jesus Christ, your reward grows just that much greater
as you persevere in your faith and service! The devil's persecutions can never outdistance or overwhelm the outpouring
of God's rewards on your life.
What we can be assured about when it comes to the size of our reward is that it will always be greater than
what we give in the way of service. God multiplies our giving, no matter what form our giving takes.
Jesus gave a very famous parable about the multiplying effect of good seed that hits good soil. Often this passage
is interpreted as relating to the preaching and teaching of God's Word, and certainly it does relate to that. The
broader “word” of God, however, includes the unwritten word of our deeds. As Paul wrote, we are “living letters”
about the gospel. What we do for others in the form of service is also a means of sowing God's “word” of love,
mercy, and grace into the lives of others. As you read through this passage of Scripture, I encourage you to circle
words and phrase that may stand out to you in a new way.
Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds
of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it
sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root
it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some a hundred. (Mark 4:3–8)
When you give service to others, you are a sower of God's love and of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless
of how your service is received by others, and no matter how much Satan may oppose you in your service, at least
some of your seed will fall on good ground. It will produce in varying degrees of reward: thirty-, sixty-,
and a hundredfold. Who benefits from such a harvest? The sower.
Be encouraged in your service. At times you may see little or no progress in the lives of those you serve. You
may feel as if all the good you are doing seems to evaporate into thin air or is negated. God says that at least
some of your effort will succeed mightily. God is the One who grows your harvest. Keep on sowing!
What the Word Says
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 (Matt. 5:11–12).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever
has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.… To what
shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when
it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes
greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade (Mark
4:24–25, 30–32).
What the Word Says to Me
Different Types of Rewards
Rewards come in different packages. Some are tangible and material. Luke 6:38 speaks of these types of rewards
which God allows to be given to us during this life:
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put
into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
Not all rewards given from man are bad; many gifts that God desires to give to us are the gifts that other people
will give to us. If someone attempts to reward you for service you have rendered, and the gift is moral, legal,
and of benefit to you, the only remaining question to ask is: “How can I use this gift to benefit God's kingdom
and bring glory to God?”
We each are responsible to God to give an accounting for our stewardship, which is how we use what we have been
given by God and others. Paul wrote to the Romans: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore
let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall
in our brother's way” (Rom. 14:12–13). To the Corinthians, Paul wrote: “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” (2 Cor. 5:10).
A person who gives you a good reward that is of benefit to you and to others in the body of Christ can be considered
an agent of God's blessing. That person is God's ways and means of providing for you. Thank the person,
but above all, thank God for the good reward that He has given to you.
Intangible Rewards
Men and women are also agents of intangible rewards: praise, admiration, recognition, acknowledgment, and appreciation.
It is not wrong to receive a sincere thank-you, acknowledgment, or public form of appreciation from other people.
What is wrong before God is when we serve God and others out of a desire to receive accolades from our fellow man.
Jesus was very clear on this point, chiding the Pharisees for making a public display of their fasting, praying,
and giving in order that they might appear to be righteous before men. Jesus said to them, “You have your reward.”
The Pharisees received the praise of others, but that was all they would receive. God was not in that reward.
There are times when God will bring to light what you do for others so that you might be an example and an encouragement
to the body of Christ as a whole. In those cases, God knows that your motive for giving service was not to receive
the praise of men, but He has determined that for His plan and purposes, He will make your good deed known. Jesus
once healed a young man who was blind from birth, and when religious leaders asked Him what had caused the man's
blindness, Jesus replied that the cause of the blindness was not the important thing but rather, “that the works
of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). There are those who serve with a loving and thankful heart, with
no thought for a reward, who are exalted to prominent recognition by God for this same reason—so that the works
of God might be revealed through that person's life.
Each of us knows the personal satisfaction that comes from service when we see people helped. There is an inner
joy that cannot be matched when a person accepts Christ and then makes a change in the way he or she lives and
treats others. Any person who has ever served a drug addict or alcoholic who has turned away from drugs and alcohol,
or who has ministered to an abuser who becomes a loving spouse and parent, or who has helped a young child in need
to overcome a learning disability or physical injury, knows that God does give us intangible rewards directly and
in great measure. We feel great joy and a satisfaction that cannot be quenched. Truly, “It is more blessed to give
than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
Eternal Rewards
Still other rewards are eternal and will not be received until after we are in heaven. Jesus gave this teaching:
When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors,
lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection
of the just. (Luke 14:12–14)
Some rewards will not be given to us until we are resurrected.
We will be given eternal rewards according to:
• the degree to which we have received the light of truth in our lives; we are not judged for what we do not
know or cannot comprehend;
• our response to the opportunities for service that God gives us; and
• our motive and intent as we serve others—the state of our heart before God as we give and minister in His
name.
The Bible refers to at least four types of crowns that will be given to us for our service:
1. An incorruptible or imperishable crown will be given to those whose hearts' desires have been rooted in obedience
(1 Cor. 9:25).
2. A crown of life will be given to those who endure temptations, troubles, trials, and heartaches for Christ's
sake (James 1:12).
3. A crown of righteousness is awarded to those who pour out their lives in service of the gospel (2 Tim. 4:8).
4. A crown of glory that does not fade away is given to those who “feed the flock” (1 Peter 5:4).
These crowns are ones that are given to us but also the ones which we in turn will rejoice to lay at the feet
of Jesus in recognition that He has made possible anything that we have accomplished for the kingdom of God (Rev.
4:10.).
None of us can truly grasp the glories of heaven. Nor can we begin to imagine or understand all of the blessings
that God may have for us in eternity. We have no capacity as finite beings to comprehend the infinite goodness
of God. The rewards that the Lord has for us are immeasurable.
None of us can possibly know all of the people our lives have touched. Service to others has a “ripple” effect
that goes beyond our ability to comprehend it. Each time I pick up an inspirational book written by a person who
died several decades or even centuries ago, I am aware that this person has blessed my life and served me. God
alone is capable of rewarding that person for the help he has rendered to me. God will judge and reward each of
us for the totality of the service we have given, much of which may occur years or decades after we have
died.
Conditional Rewards
Some of the rewards that we receive from God are conditional. They are directly related to our obedience. I
encourage you to read Deuteronomy 28 to see what great rewards are made available to those who obey the voice of
God and carefully observe all His commandments. A special reward is also given to those who are faithful in tithing
(Mal. 3:10–11). Many of God's commandments are directly related to how we are to serve others; in the Old Testament,
these commandments often relate to widows, orphans, and strangers. Other commandments are related to how we serve
God through our giving, our sacrifices, and the things we do for our fellow believers. When we keep God's commandments
to serve, we are rewarded. But when we disobey His statutes, we suffer loss.
What the Word Says
Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.… Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full
(John 16:23b–24).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
I will … open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes (Mal. 3:10-11a).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes,
and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess (Deut.
30:16).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2:10).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (Ps. 103:2–5).
What the Word Says to Me
All in God's Perfect Timing
God not only chooses the type and amount of reward we will receive, but when we will receive certain
rewards. As we just discussed, some rewards are immediate, some are in the future of our earthly lives (such as
the rewards of long life and grandchildren), and still others are granted in eternity.
The concepts of “fullness of time” and “due season” are themes that appear throughout the Bible. God has just
the right time for every reward to be granted so that it has maximum effectiveness and benefit in a person's life,
and also in the life of the larger body of Christ.
Any person who knows anything about farming knows that crops have different growing seasons. After a vine cutting
or fruit tree sapling is planted, it may not produce a full harvest for several years. Garden vegetables, by comparison,
produce a harvest in a matter of weeks. Trees that are farmed for lumber may take decades to get to the harvest
point. Grain crops take only months to produce a harvest.
Our role is not to force a reward or to insist that God give us a reward out of season. The younger son
in the parable of the loving father demanded his inheritance out of season and ended up squandering it all (Luke
15:11–24). We are to trust God with patience (Ps. 37). A harvest will come, but it will be in God's perfect
timing.
What the Word Says
Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as
we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6:9–10).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day,
and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first
the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts
in the sickle, because the harvest has come (Mark 4:26–29).
What the Word Says to Me
What the Word Says
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him.…
The LORD knows the days of the upright,
And their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied (Ps. 37:5-7a, 18–19).
What the Word Says to Me
• What new insights do you have into service and servanthood?
• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?
From Developing a Servant's Heart by Charles
Stanley. Copyright 1998 by Charles Stanley.
