Doing the Right Stuff to Be Rewarded

Believers are not judged for their sin. That has already happened on the Cross, and Jesus paid the full price. Therefore, believers will not stand at the Great White Throne Judgment to be condemned. Oh, but we will be judged. We will all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ – a special judgment just for believers. In the previous post, we described this judgment as a rewards banquet where our lives will be held up for review and rewards given for faithful service to Christ.

But, who receives the reward? All believers do whose work endures. So that could include you. 1st Corinthians 4:5 says, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” That is what we are looking for - to hear Christ say, “Well done My good and faithful servant.”

There really will be no losers at the Judgment Seat of Christ, at least there need not be. We know that every believer gets at least the crown of eternal life. They wouldn’t be at this ceremony in heaven if they weren’t saved.

But who will be the big winners? The champions? Will it be the ones who have accomplished the most? Who’ve had the best results?

No! Because it’s not the results that are judged but the attitudes. You can see this in 1st Corinthians 4:5 – God will “bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

The word, “counsels,” in Greek means the intents, the motives. God is going to look inside us to check out our motives. God will turn our works inside out to look at why we did them. Our rewards will not be based on how many notches are on our witnessing belt, but on our heart of compassion for the lost. Our rewards are not going to be based on how much money we’ve given to the church, but on the cheerfulness of our hearts as we give. It’s not on how eloquently we pray in flowery, King James English, but how we pour out our hearts in intercession on behalf of people.

We’ll be amazed in heaven at folks we didn’t think amounted to much who get reward after reward. I mean, what did they really accomplish? Not much, but it was there heart. And God judges the intents of the heart. God judges our motives, not our results.

In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus makes that clear:
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

Do you see? If you want your rewards from men, you can get them. But that’s all you’ll ever get. You got what you wanted and what you worked for. But in the process, you forfeited any rewards from God.

Be careful of your motives. Singing a beautiful solo to have people admire our great voice is “hay.” Singing for the glory of God is “silver.” Teaching to be noticed by men and thought important and wise is “straw.” Teaching out of a desire to show the glory of Christ is “gold.” Witnessing out of compulsion is “stubble.” Witnessing out of love for God and compassion for people is “precious stones.” Guard your motives, and you won’t have to worry about the judgment.