1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

I was chatting with a dear friend the other day and we got on this subject of rewards in heaven. A reward you receive in heaven, as heaven is our eternal home, our rewards are also eternal. My friend said for him it was difficult to get his mind to wrap around an eternal reward. It is true as we have only experienced a taste of eternity, but we live more in the temporal and know this by experience.

So we have to rely on God’s Word.

I think I will wait until later to discuss the crowns available to the believer and perhaps dedicate one entire post to each of the crowns. Crown of righteousness,, Incorruptible crown, Crown of life, Crown of glory, Crown of rejoicing, Martyrs Crown.

Years ago in the US, I was teaching on the crowns and a I asked who wanted to have all of the crowns and a few eager people raised their hands. Until I listed the Martyr’s Crown, many of the hands went down

Each of these crowns require some in-depth study so we will look at these at a later time.

Alms

This is the one place Jesus says, because of our alms on earth, we shall have treasure in heaven.

Luk 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

Mat 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Some put this reward as a reward that we get in heaven, but I believe it is a reward we get here while we are still on earth, but it will also affect the treasure we have stored for us in heaven.

When we give alms we must look at our motives. Do we give just to be seen? If that is our motive and we are seen, we already have our reward. We were seen!

If we were going alms in secret and we were seen by accident, does this mean we lose the reward? No way! It has to do with our motives. If I am going alms and my son is with me, or a spiritual son or daughter, I am not going to hide from them what I am doing as it is also my part to be an example. Our motive has to be love and to bring honor to the Name of Christ.

The Luke 18:22 scripture of the rich man, many say it was only this man that giving all is required. I think it is funny how we are always looking for an exception for ourselves when it comes to something that really costs us something. My take is when we gave our lives to Christ, it included as a package every talent, our time and resources are all His. I am just a steward!

Our goal, as the rewards are eternal, is to be included in every blessing available to us in Christ!

We are investing in the stock market, our 401k, retirement funds, crypto currencies, gold silver, platinum. All earthly investments and there is nothing wrong with doing these things. But the truth is you cannot take it with you. If your family is excited that you died, so they can get your hard earned wealth, I think you have failed at the important part of life.

The Greatest Investment of all is God’s Kingdom. The Return is Eternal!

Here are the Words of Jesus on rewards.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

If we look at the context of this scripture, we can see that not all of the “Rewards” are positive or good. Some get a “reward” for the bad they did.

The Greatest Reward of All is to see Jesus!

Before I go any further speaking of rewards, I have to say the best of all rewards is to see Jesus face to face. To have eternity with Him! To know Him as we are known by Him.

Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

The wicked and the Righteousness will see Him and the effect on each will be hugely different.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Let’s get back to the external rewards.

1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Our works shall be tried in fire.

I asked the Heavenly Father how I can be sure I am building on Gold. I heard Him say to me so clearly, “Anything you do that comes from intimacy with me, you will build on Gold.”

If we look at this reward and the works that will be tried are the Works of buikding God's Kingdom. Winning souls. Planting seeds and watering as God gives the increase. Our giving to the kingdom work. Not just a mechanical, mindless amount put in the offering plate as it goes by. No reward for buikding a mere man’s kingdom or dream. But something we did that has an impact on the eternal benefit of another.

We don’t give to get! We give out of love for God and man! We give because it pleases God and our desire in giving is to honor Him.

The Bema Seat of Christ (The Judment Seat of Christ)

Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Nothing we can do, believe changes this! This is absolute! We will all give account to God of what we did while we lived on this earth. You and I and every Christian will find ourselves one day. We will give account to the One with eyes like a flame of fire.

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

This is very exciting! We can build today towards our eternity in Heaven. Eternal rewards! The really great thing is we only have to do what we were assigned to do. Faithful in a few things! Our rewards are based on what God has for us to do and our faithfulness to that. Our attitude, our motives. Every Christian wants to hear, “Well done thou good and faithful servant”.

Mat 25:20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

I am an evangelist and winning souls is my task and my joy. I am believing God for 1,000,000 plus souls before I leave planet earth. If this is my assignment and I, by God’s grace accomplish it, I will hear “Well Done”. There are rewards in heaven and, in my heart of hearts, I don’t believe the one with the greatest rewards will be the person in the limelight. The famous people we know! Many of these will be at the end of the line. I believe the one with the greatest of all rewards will be some Grandmother, who wore to places in the wooden floor next to her bed, from sleepless nights of prayer. Her alms were given in spiritual currency. In secret she prayed.

I met a lady in Bulgaria who was born again at age 70. I met her when she was 79 and she had already planted 10 churches. She fasted 3 or 4 days a week so she has enough money to travel to these churches. She worked very hard on the farm so she had something to give when there were those in need. I remember when I gave her a hug, she was like hugging a rock. Her knees were calloused from prayer. Her blue eyes were like flames of fire. The Greatest will be someone like this lady who I was privileged to meet.

Be Faithful in your task and you will have a reward.

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

If you are a mom, raise your kids in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Be faithful to this! And you will have a reward. This reward will last forever!

My mom raised 4 children and all love the Lord. Two of us are full time missionaries in a foreign land. She is 87! She loves the Lord! She invested all of her life into her family. Her God given assignment. My brother passed away or was promoted at the age of 29. He died in faith. My oldest sister just turned 65 and has invested her life into her son. She loves the Lord!

When I turned 50, my prayer changed. My prayer from that time, even until now is that I want the rest of my life to have positive eternal consequences for other people. Imagine seeing someone in heaven that is there because of you! Because of Christ in you! To me this is also an eternal reward!

Thoughts of a missionary!
Thank you for stopping by,
Daddy William

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