Are there Rewards in Heaven?

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krissan Morata, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means, but how we figure it out. Today we're pausing our series on 1 Corinthians to talk about the theology of rewards in heaven. This is the second of two talks on that topic. You can find the lecture notes for today's talk on the link below the podcast in case you want to follow along. Or you can go to the website Wednesdayintheword.com slash rewards2. And while you're there, take a moment to check out the website. It's completely free of advertisements and filled with Bible study resources. Thanks for downloading the podcast. Let's get started. At the beginning of this series on 1 Corinthians, I promise to take advantage of the podcast platform to explore issues raised by the letter, and this is the first one. The passage we looked at in the last podcast, 1 Corinthians 3, 10 through 17, is a fairly famous passage where Paul talks about building on the foundation he's laid with either wood, hay, and stubble or with gold, silver, and precious gems. And then the materials you're building with will be tested by fire, and if anything remains, you receive a reward. And that passage is one of the key passages used to build a doctrine of rewards in heaven. It is often taken as each individual believer building on the foundation of his or her faith with good works or lack of good works, and then receiving crowns or rewards in heaven as a result. And I argued in the last podcast that 1 Corinthians 3 is not about receiving rewards in heaven at all. I think the context and the flow of thought makes it clear that Paul is talking about the way in which Apollos and others in Corinth add to the foundation that he laid down when he established the church. And if you want more detail on that, I encourage you to go back and listen to the last podcast. Today I want to explore the question, well, if 1 Corinthians 3 does not teach that we will receive rewards in heaven, as I have argued that it does not, are there other passages which teach that doctrine? What should we expect from God in terms of rewards in heaven for our behavior in this life? So we're going to talk about that issue today and we're going to be looking at various passages and then in the next podcast we'll return to First Corinthians and finish the first major section of the letter. What should we expect from God in terms of rewards in heaven for our behavior in this life? Like most doctrines in the church today, the doctrine of rewards in heaven is built on a series of passages. Passage A gives us our first brick to build the wall, and then passage B gives us our second brick, and so on, and then we build this foundation or this theology out of all the bricks we accumulate from the various passages using ideas and themes from a variety of places. I'm going to argue that this theology of rewards in heaven is built on the wrong bricks. Like 1 Corinthians 3, the passage we talked about in the last podcast, the passages used as building blocks for this doctrine have largely been taken out of context or misunderstood. And I don't think those passages say what the doctrine of rewards theology thinks they're saying. Before we jump in, I want to review my standard disclaimer for dealing with controversial topics. Let me start by saying when I question the theology of another believer, I am in no way intending to cast aspersions on the sincerity of their faith or their worth as human beings. So if I say people who believe in rewards theology have misunderstood passages of Scripture, I am not intending to say they are not, in fact, genuine believers or that they are somehow lower second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. Neither am I making the claim that you must agree with me to be part of the elect. That is certainly not true. Over the course of our Corinthian study, we're going to discuss some pretty controversial issues which sincere Bible believing Christians have been debating since the early days of Christianity, and we are not all going to agree on the conclusions. I won't be able to answer all your questions. I don't believe that I have all the answers, nor do I claim to have the market cornered on truth and understanding. I still have a whole lot to learn. All I'm claiming is that this is my best understanding given the resources and knowledge I have today. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn and grow more, and as I've said, my goal is to teach, apply, and model good Bible study methodology, and I want to bring that methodology to these issues. Now believers are going to disagree on them, and when we disagree, we should respectfully and humbly seek the truth together, recognizing that either one of us could be the one who's wrong, and time will tell. So in the meantime, my goal here is twofold. First, that you would think through your own beliefs and understand the issues and know why you believe what you believe. So I want you to think through the issues well enough to know why you're persuaded to believe what you believe. And second, whichever side you land on, I want you to understand the views of the other side well enough to know why that doesn't persuade you. So I'd like to ask you to set those two goals for yourself. First, know what you believe and why, and second, understand the other side's argument well enough to know why that argument fails to persuade you. Also, this go kind of goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Realize doctrine does not save us. The blood of Jesus Christ does, which is a good thing because none of us has perfect theology. I certainly don't. We're all still learning and studying the scriptures and seeking to further our knowledge and wisdom and understanding. So when we debate these things, it's kind of like a class of kindergartners debating who reads best. The fact of the matter is we all still have a lot of growing to do. Alright, that said, I want to give you a quick tour of the passages and what I think they mean in context. This is not going to be a thorough defense or explanation of every detail in all the passages. I'm going to touch briefly on a number of passages because I want to give you the overall picture. And before we look at our first passage, I want to explain where I'm coming from in this debate. I want to explain one of my basic presuppositions because I think this is one of the key issues in this debate, and the fact that I hold this view is often the reason that I reach a different conclusion on these passages and fail to be persuaded by the theology of rewards in heaven. That key issue is my understanding of what the Bible teaches about the relationship between grace and works. The arguments that the proponents of rewards theology use is generally something like this. And then we run into this whole series of passages that talk about rewards and the consequences of our actions. Many of these passages are clearly and obviously addressed to Christians, and they talk about the consequences of what we do, either in rewards or in punishment. Since we know these passages are not talking about salvation itself, that suggests there is some other kind of reward or judgment that will come in heaven based on what I do in this life. So we all agree these passages are not talking about salvation itself or missing out on eternal life because we know we're saved by grace. So they must be talking about some other kind of reward or consequence other than salvation, and it sure looks like these are rewards in heaven. These are crowns that people talk about. And we'll all be saved, but if we build on the foundation of our salvation with good works, we will get these extra rewards above and beyond salvation. And some are going to get them and some won't. In broad terms, that is basically their argument. Now over my years of Bible study, I've come to the conclusion that one of the fundamental truths taught in Scripture is the relationship between faith and works. And if you've been listening to these podcasts, you will recognize this as something I teach frequently. So here's the fundamental idea. Yes, we are saved by the grace of God and grace alone. None of us will be able to stand before the judgment of God and survive based on the merit of our own works. We are all fallen sinners, and apart from the grace of God and the blood of Christ, we will not be saved. Left myself, I can do nothing to save myself or change the fact of my sin. If I'm going to be saved, I will be saved solely on the basis of God having mercy on me because of the atoning sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Now that is a key teaching of the Bible, and I'm going to refer to that as theme one for short. Alongside that theme, that key teaching, that we are saved by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus, there is a second theme which teaches that faith makes a difference in how I live my life today. Once I have genuine saving faith, something real and tangible happens that produces changes in my life. I have a real experience that produces a real repentance and a grief over my sinfulness. I have a real desire to be holy, to be freed from my sin. I long for the life God offers, and I long to live in accordance with His teachings and precepts and so on. And that makes a difference in how I live my life. The more I learn and grow, the more my life begins to look different as a result of that growing faith. My favorite analogy to explain this is suppose that you're lost in the jungle, and while you're pondering which way to go, a native pops out of the brush and says, You look lost, but don't worry, I am the best tour guide in the jungle. I can help you get back home. Do you believe me? Do you believe I'm the best tour guide in the jungle? And you say, Yes, I believe you. I think you're the best tour guide in the jungle. And the guy says, Great, follow me, we're going north. Suppose you respond, Oh, you know, north looks a little steep and narrow. South looks a whole lot wider and smoother and downhill. I'm going south. Well, your actions have just called your belief into question. You said you believe this person is the best tour guide in the jungle, but when it came time to live out your belief, you chose differently. On the other hand, if you say, Great, north it is, then your actions have confirmed and verify what you claim to believe. In the same way, if I claim to believe in Jesus, then I'm going to make different choices than if I don't believe he is who he said he was. Real faith manifests itself in the way I live my life. Once I have faith, it makes a difference in what I choose, what I say, what I value, what I strive for, what I long for. It makes a difference in how I view myself, how I view others, and how I view God and the world. Does it mean I will never sin again? No. Every person with genuine saving faith continues to struggle with sin. Does it mean perfect obedience is within my grasp? No, but over time the way I live my life will change and I will increasingly make wiser choices. Now I'm going to refer to this idea that faith makes a difference in the way I live my life as theme two, just for short. And I would argue that the Bible talks about us being judged by our works in the sense of this theme too. If we have genuine, real saving faith, that will become evident in the things we do and the choices we make and the things we value, and when life gets hard and trials hit, we'll see that faith in action. And I would argue that the Bible teaches both of these truths, both of these two themes. The Bible says we are not going to be judged by our works, and the Bible says we will be judged by our works, depending on which of these two themes the passage is talking about. And you may recognize this from my talk on Do James and Paul agree. I think Paul by and large is talking about theme one. We're not going to be judged by our works and given salvation based on whether or not we have merited it. James, by and large, is talking about theme two. If we claim to have faith, that faith will make a difference in our works. So I would argue when the Bible talks about being judged by our works, it is in this sense that what I do and what I say and how I act reveals who I am. My actions, my choices, my words reveal what is really inside me, and ultimately over time, what I do is going to reveal whether or not I have genuine saving faith. So we're not judged by our works in the sense that we have to earn our place in heaven or even a higher level of heaven or a crown in heaven. We are judged by our works in the sense that my faith should make a difference in the works that I do. If it is in fact actually the case that I have faith and I know I'm a sinner and I'm accounting on the grace of God and the blood of Christ to save me, then if that's true, my life will begin to reflect it as I face the situations, trials, and circumstances God puts me in. And I'm going to argue that the people who teach that we are earning rewards in addition to our salvation, so we're earning crowns in heaven, are mixing up these two themes and or misunderstanding which of the themes a particular passage is talking about. To look at a passage and say, well, you know, this passage is addressed to Christians and it is talking about being judged by our works, and conclude that the passage therefore is talking about crowns in heaven or extra rewards, that's just not a given. It depends on which of these two themes the passage has in mind. And as I mentioned, this is the classic question of whether James and Paul agree, and I would argue yes, absolutely they agree, but they are talking about these two different themes. And I have links to those podcasts, I'll put them in the lecture notes if you want more detail on James and Paul. But with every passage we study that talks about faith and works and judgment and consequences and rewards, we have to figure out from the context which of these two themes the author has in mind. And I think the bottom line with a lot of these passages is mixing up or misunderstanding these two themes. So the first theme is that we are saved by grace and not works, and the second is that genuine faith reveals itself in the way I live my life. Mixing up these two themes is the primary mistake I think people make when they approach this issue of rewards in heaven. But there's a second mistake. A lot of people tend to treat the Bible as if it were a catalog of gifts and rewards that you can get if you just figure out the right rules and tips and tricks and strategies. People tend to approach the Bible looking for how do I get the good stuff? How do I make my life better now? How do I get rewards in heaven and that kind of thing. It's kind of like being in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts and wanting to figure out how I get all the various merit badges. People approach scripture looking to figure out how do I get the crown of life? How do I get the crown of righteousness? How do I get through a trial? How do I get the runners crowned and so forth? And it is possible to go to passages which use different language and treat each one as if it were talking about something entirely new. As I said, the crown of life, the runner's crown, the crown of righteousness, and so forth. But that's not a given. Just like I wouldn't assume the Bible means something different when it says you're saved by faith alone and somewhere else it says you're saved by grace alone. It is possible that those are two entirely different ideas, but it seems much more likely that they are synonyms for or facets of the same idea. And I would argue that this different language about different rewards or crowns all refers to the same thing and it's not intended to be a catalog of rewards. Similarly, if I said I'm married to my college sweetheart, a grandfather, Brendan's father, and Megan's father, that does not mean I'm a bigamist. All those terms are descriptions of my husband. They're not four different people, they all refer to him. And I would argue the same kind of dynamic occurs in scripture. We don't have a catalog of rewards, we have one idea that is talked about in different language. Okay. That lays the groundwork. Let's look at some of the passages. One of the passages which comes up is later in First Corinthians, and that is first Corinthians nine verses twenty three through twenty seven, and this passage is often called the runner's crown. So let me read first Corinthians nine, twenty three through twenty seven. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. 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. Proponents of rewards theology argue that Paul is talking about a wreath or a prize that you win based on how you live your life and whether or not you exercise self-control. They would claim, obviously, Paul is not talking about gaining salvation because we know salvation is gained through the blood of Jesus Christ. So this must be an additional reward. This is the runner's crown. The problem is the context. If you look at these five verses in isolation, then yes, you can make a reasonably good argument for rewards in heaven. But if you look at the larger context of 1 Corinthians 9, the whole chapter, you'll see that Paul is talking about choices in life that reflect whether or not we have real faith. He's talking about what I have called theme two, that our choices and our lifestyle reflect what we truly believe, that faith makes a difference, and if we have genuine faith, we will live differently. He's confronting the Corinthians with choices that they have to make, and how they choose is going to reveal whether or not they have saving faith. Notice how he describes these choices in these verses. In 923, I want to be a partaker of the gospel that I proclaim. So I do all things for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. He's saying, My job is to preach the gospel, but my own salvation depends on the. Depends on whether or not I have saving faith. If I have saving faith, it will be revealed in how I live my life as I proclaim the gospel, and I want to partake of the gospel that I am proclaiming. And he concludes in 927, What good would it do me to preach the gospel if I don't live it out myself? Notice 927, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. He's saying the fact that I'm an apostle and I preach the gospel everywhere is not by itself going to save me. I have to believe the message I'm teaching. Being an apostle is my calling, but I'm saved by grace just like everyone else. I'm not earning my salvation by doing all this apostle stuff. I need the same faith and the same grace that God gives everyone else. What good would it do me to preach the gospel to everyone else if I neglect to believe it myself? And then Paul follows this section in chapter 10 with an example of Israel in the wilderness and how everyone was part of the same tribe, and all people claim to be part of the people of God because they were in the tribe, but God rejects some of them. So the warning in the passage is do you really believe this gospel? Are you really pursuing God? If not, you're going to be like the Israelites, and even though you think you're in the tribe, God's going to reject you. So I would argue the issue in this passage is do you really want the salvation God offers? Do you really want that wreath at the end of this journey of faith? Then you need to embrace the gospel and believe. If in the end your faith is only empty words and idle claims, then you can expect to find what the Israelites found. Although they were part of the tribe, they personally were rejected by God. Now we're going to look at that section in more detail when we get to chapter 9. The next passage I want to look at is James 1, which talks about a crown of life. This is James 1 12. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. People make the same kind of argument here in James. They say, You can't tell me that salvation depends on whether or not you persevere under trial, because we know we're saved by grace and not by works. Therefore, persevering under trial must win us a separate crown, the crown of life. And one day when we get to heaven, those people who persevered faithfully under trial will get to wear the crown of life, and others who didn't persevere in all their trials, maybe they failed here and there, they're not going to be wearing the crown. Again, the context gives us a different picture. The issue that's under discussion in James is that the inner reality of our faith is tested by the trials of this life. He's not talking about salvation by works in the sense that how well I react to trials determines whether or not I gain eternal life, but that my faith, the genuineness of my faith, will be revealed by my works, my actions, my choices. When the pressure comes and I have to choose between following God or not, how do I act? Well, real faith perseveres. Real faith survives those pressures and does not give up on God and walk away. I would argue that the crown of life is the crown which is eternal life, the crown which represents life in the kingdom of God. We see the same kind of language in Paul's letter to Timothy, and there he talks about the crown of righteousness. This is Second Timothy four verses seven and eight. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only me, but also to all of those who have loved his appearing. Again, people take this passage as here's another crown that I can gain. Paul's going to get it because he finished the course and kept the faith, and he tells us, the rest of us, how to get it. We have to love the Lord's appearing and so forth. So they talk about what that might mean. What does it mean to love the Lord's appearing? And they come up with there's these two groups who can get the crown of righteousness. You can get it if you keep the faith, and you can get it if you think about Jesus as coming back and you can't wait for it. Now that may sound kind of silly, but it is the kind of thinking that gets taught from these passages. It seems to me that it's much more straightforward to read Paul as saying, I didn't give up on the gospel. Under all the pressures, all the beatings, all the persecutions I went through, all the threats, I persevered in the faith. And Paul is saying, My life has shown the reality and the maturity of my faith because I persevered through these trials. He faced tests, and those tests proved the genuine reality of his faith. And then he says, I, Paul, am not the only one who will receive this reward. Everyone who, like me, does not abandon the faith is going to receive this reward. And the crown of righteousness, I would argue, is the fulfillment of the promises of the gospel. Our great hope is that one day we will share in God's glory. One day He will free us completely from the power, presence, and penalty of sin and make us righteous. That's the crown of righteousness, the promise of the gospel that one day God will make us righteous and holy, and it's given to everyone who keeps the faith and eagerly awaits the Lord's appearing. I think all he means by that love his appearing is that everyone who has accepted rather than rejected Jesus and is looking for the day of his return. Everyone who has embraced the gospel message and humbled him or herself before God, seeking mercy based on the cross of Christ, and now eagerly awaits his return. Now we could keep going and look at other passages like that. There are a lot of places where people see another reward, but they all tend to fit the same pattern. And hopefully I think you've seen that by now. They mix up these two great themes of Scripture. The first theme is that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. And the second theme is that faith makes a difference in the way we live our lives today, that genuine faith changes the way we live, act, speak, think, and choose. So it changes our works. And one of the ways we know that we have genuine saving faith is that we begin to see these changes. So let's look at a different kind of passage, because this kind of reward theology also gets applied to passages which talk about God's judgment. Those who believe a reward theology look at passages and say, those passages can't be talking about believers because we know we're saved by faith and not works. And these passages are describing a judgment based on works. So they must be talking about a different type of judgment, a judgment that comes after we're saved, and this judgment determines how many crowns we get. For example, the parable of the sheep and the goats, which is found in Matthew twenty-five. I'm going to read the whole parable. This is Matthew twenty five. I'm going to start in verse thirty-one and go to verse forty six. But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in and naked or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, naked, and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you? Then he will answer them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. All right, so in this parable, the sheep and the goats are being judged on what they did and didn't do, and they're judged based on whether they fed and clothed and visited those in need and took care of people, and those who didn't do these things are rejected. Almost no one thinks that Jesus is describing salvation by works. No one looks at this and says, Well, Jesus is saying that we will be saved based on how hospitable we were in this life. But clearly he's judging something. He's judging our works in some way. So they conclude that this passage is describing a separate judgment. That is, after the issue of salvation has been settled, this is when the rewards get meted out. And I would argue that Jesus is saying, in the end, you are going to be judged on how you responded to Jesus. How will we know how a person responds to Jesus? Jesus is no longer physically present with us. So how can we tell how a person responds to Jesus? Well, Jesus isn't physically present, but his people are. The Bible repeatedly teaches that if you love God, you love the things of God. And one of the things God loves is his people. How I treat those who love God says a lot about my faith. If I look at other believers as my people, my fellow travelers on this journey of faith, and I seek to treat them well and wisely, that reveals a lot about whether or not I have genuine saving faith. Conversely, if I hate and despise the people of God precisely because they are the people of God, that's an indicator that I probably don't have faith. If I reject the children of God, I have rejected Jesus in that sense. This is another common theme in Scripture that one of the ways we know how people respond to Jesus is how they respond to other believers because faith makes a difference. How I respond to the people in my life says a great deal about my faith. How well or how poorly or how selfishly I treat others reveals whether or not the Spirit of God is at work in my life. And if I look at the people of God and I despise them and I mock them and I hate them precisely because they have faith, that indicates that I don't have faith. Again, I don't think this is teaching that I am earning my salvation or earning extra rewards based on how many acts of kindness and generosity I perform. Rather, it says if someone looks at God's people and says, I hate them, they're not my kind of people, I don't want to help them out, that reveals a lack of faith. Conversely, if I look at God's people and say, they're in need and they're my fellow travelers on this journey of faith and I want to help them, that reveals a maturity of faith. If I look at a non-believer in need and see them as a human being made in God's image, deserving of dignity and help them, that says something about my faith. If I seek to love my enemy or my accuser or the person in authority who's treating me unfairly because I'm trusting God to vindicate me, then that says something about my faith. I would argue that this is a judgment that applies to everyone, and Jesus is simply teaching a theme taught over and over in Scripture that genuine saving faith changes you because the Spirit of God is now at work in your life to change you. And one of the ways we see those changes is how we treat other people. Let's look at another judgment passage. This is Revelation twenty, the great white throne judgment. Now this is a very complicated passage and I do not understand everything in it, but I do think I can debunk a rewards theology view of it. This is Revelation twenty verses eleven through fifteen. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, this is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rewards theology folks argue that believers are not going to go through this judgment described here because it says twice we're judged according to our deeds, or we're judged according to our works, and we know that believers are not judged according to works. Now, this is a difficult and confusing passage, and there are other reasons that scholars might conclude that believers will not be included in this judgment. And I am really not equipped to get into that discussion. For our purposes, I want to argue that there is in fact a theme in Scripture that says we believers will be judged by our works, and it is this theme too that I've already been talking about. And if this passage is describing a judgment that believers will face, then I would think that this is theme two, that my actions reveal what I truly believe, that my actions, my works reveal whether or not I have saving faith because God is at work to change me. So I would say this judgment is not whether or not I'm a sinner. That judgment has already taken place and we have all failed. We are all sinners and deserve only God's wrath apart from the blood of Christ. So my works are not going to save me in that sense. But my works can prove that my claim to faith is real. What makes my claim to faith real and not just empty words? The changes in my life after coming to faith, the grief over sin, the repentance over sin, the longing for righteousness, the striving to be generous and kind and self-sacrificing. All of that is the result of the Holy Spirit at work in my life giving me faith. Again, I think it's this theme too. Real faith makes a difference, and the genuineness of my faith will be judged based on whether it produced real changes in my life or not. If there was no real change, then my claim to faith is just an empty claim. Later in Revelation we find this passage, this is Revelation chapter twenty two verses eleven through fifteen. Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and the one who is holy still keep himself holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. Again, there's a lot in this I'm not sure I understand, but notice that this section starts with and ends with the discussion of these two groups of people. They're the evildoers and the righteous. There are those who practice immorality, who have filthy robes, and these are the ones outside the gates, and there are those who are righteous, the holy who have washed their robes, they have the right to the tree of life, and they enter the gates of the city. Most people think that this passage describes our eternal destiny, and whether you are inside or outside the gate is whether or not you are saved, whether where you're going to be in eternity. And yet right in the middle of this section is 2212, I will render to every man according to what he has done. And I would just say we encounter this theme everywhere, and I would say this again is theme two, that faith makes a difference, and that if you have faith it changes your life. And the Bible is just not afraid to use the language of a judgment of our works, and that ought to sober us greatly. But I would argue here and in other passages like it, this is not a denial of salvation by grace, but an affirmation that faith makes a difference, that those who believe will repent and turn away from the road the rest of the world is taking. Their lives will begin to look different as a result of faith, and that difference is visible and tangible such that we can judge the reality or genuineness of our faith by those changes. So I would argue that in the many passages that discuss rewards and the many passages that talk about being judged by works, I would argue that the fundamental question is will I follow God or not? Do I have real faith or am I making an empty claim? And that these passages refer to this second great theme that the Holy Spirit works in our lives to give us faith, and that faith begins to produce changes in the way we live, the way we think, what we say, how we act, such that our lifestyle is different. Okay, that leaves us with one more question I want to tackle, and that is well, are there rewards for the here and now? Is there some kind of relationship between how obedient and faithful I am in this life and getting rewards in this life? And the passage that is often used to teach this idea is the parable of the menas or the talents in Luke nineteen. Again, I'm going to read the whole parable. This is Luke nineteen, starting in verse eleven and going through twenty-seven. While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So he said, A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return, and he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten Minas, and said to them, Do business with this until I come back. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, Master, your Mina has made ten Minas more, and he said to him, Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in the authority over ten cities. The second came saying, Your Mina, Master, has made five Minas, and he said to him also, And you are to be over five cities. And another came saying, Master, here is your Mina which I kept put away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man, you take up what you did not. Not lay down and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, By your words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? And having come I would have collected it with interest. Then he said to the bystanders, Take the Mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten Minas, and they said to him, Master he has ten Minas already. I tell you that to everyone who has more shall be given, but from the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. In this parable in Luke, each servant is given one Mina, they all start with the same amount, and the first servant turns his one into ten, the second turns it into five, and the third gives back the one original Mina. And they receive different rewards. They all have the same opportunity, and the reward is based on how well they handle it. The more they accomplish, the greater the reward. We have a similar parable in Matthew 25, the parable of the talents, and I'm not going to read that one or go into that one as deeply. I do have a talk on that parable on my website, which I'll link to. But in the parable in Matthew, one servant gets five talents, one gets two, and another gets one. They are entrusted with different amounts based on their ability, and they have different opportunities. The faithful servant doubles what he's been given, and they get the same reward. They all enter the joy of their master. So in one parable, they all have the same opportunities and they're rewarded according to how well they handle it. In the other parable, they have different opportunities, but they receive the same reward. All right. Since Jesus intentionally told both these parables, and essentially told the same story in two different ways, we ought to be careful not to emphasize one over the other and build a theology on one while discounting the other. If we want to start building a theology, then we have to consider what is common to both stories. And one thing that's common to both stories is that the servants do what they were called to do. Notice that in neither parable do we have someone who wanted to succeed and failed. In neither parable do we have someone who tried really, really hard to succeed and failed. We don't see a person in either parable who was faithful but somehow didn't measure up. In the stories, those that fail rejected the master's calling in some way. They didn't even try. Now I realize that that's an argument from silence, and typically arguments from silence rest on shaky ground, but I do think it's significant that we don't have someone who wants to succeed and fails. It seems to me the stories are intended to contrast believers and non-believers, those who want to serve the Master and those who don't want to serve the Master. And rewards could just be part of the story and part of the analogy, and Jesus might not mean to say anything at all about extra rewards for believers in heaven or in this life. Again, I'm not going into detail on these parables, although I do have a podcast on the parable of the talents, which I'll put a link to in the lecture notes. But it seems to me the emphasis in these stories is not on striving to get a higher level of reward. Rather, the emphasis is on being faithful. Are you going to take on what God has given you or not? Are you going to serve the master or not? And the ones who don't serve the master are rejected. The ones who serve the master are rewarded. And the emphasis is on being faithful, not on working hard to get the best rewards I can get. As I've studied scripture, then I don't think there are admonitions that you don't want to miss out on the extra good stuff once you get to heaven or the extra good stuff in this life. And I would argue that the places where it seems to suggest this kind of rewards theology are in fact admonitions to not miss out entirely. They are admonitions to seek God and seek his kingdom now while the door is still open and the choice can still be made. They are admonitions to believe the gospel, to acknowledge that I am a sinner, that I need to repent from my sin, and I need to pursue God's grace and holiness because of the blood of Jesus Christ. So yes, there is a kind of exhortation, don't lose out, but it's not an exhortation, don't miss out on this crown. The exhortation is don't miss out on eternal life. Don't miss the kingdom of heaven. Don't reject the gospel, and don't miss out on eternal life. Being a faithful believer in the life I am living now is evidence of whether or not I am God's servants. How I choose, how I think, what I say, what I do, what I value, what I'm striving for, who I'm counting on. Those are my works, and those kinds of work are evidence of the genuineness and the maturity of my faith, and they reveal whether or not I have faith, not the level of my reward in heaven. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to apply serious Bible study to real life and to help you learn how to study the Bible. If you haven't visited my website, I encourage you to stop by. Rather than being plastered with advertisements, my website contains a wealth of Bible study materials designed to help you improve your skills and understanding, and it is all free. I don't take any advertising and I don't accept donations. If you want to thank me, join the mailing list, subscribe to the podcast, and tell a friend what you've learned. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for listening today. I'm Krissan Morata, and I hope you'll join me next week for Wednesday in the Word.