GOD'S REWARDS
I think it's safe to say we all like to get rewarded. We like to get acknowledged for a job well done. Not that we do things to get rewarded, it's just nice when it happens. There are different kinds of rewards. It could be a prize, it could be cash like when we return a lost pet or when we have information about a missing person.
Then there are the rewards given as a result of someone doing something good. Those are the kind of rewards God gives. He rewards us based on the kind and helpful things we do for others.
Someone might say, 'it sounds like a blessing and a reward are one and the same'. Although there may be some similarities, a reward is given only in response to something done. I did a good deed so I was given a reward. A blessing can be given without having done anything to get it.
God gives blessings and rewards. There's even a case where he gives an award. We'll look at that in the Sunday school. But right now, let's take a look into the subject of God's rewards.
1) Man's reward vs. God's reward.
Sometimes it's okay to accept a reward from someone for a job well done. But to do good deeds for the purpose of getting a reward is not good. And when you're representing God it's definitely not a good idea.
Balaam was tested with this when Balak, king of Moab wanted him to speak evil against his enemy, the Israelites.
Israel's success had built a reputation and when they moved into Moab, the Moabites were afraid. Balak sent for the prophet Balaam to put a curse on them.
Num. 22:16-18, "This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.” But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God."
Basically, Balak was bribing Balaam to use spiritual forces for his own purposes. God had already told Balaam not to curse Israel. He allowed Balaam to go with Balak's men but told him to do nothing outside of what he commanded.
It seems that Balak assumed since Balaam was going to him that he was in agreement with Balak's wishes, especially after the promise of a handsome reward. But, he found out that wasn't the case. Instead of cursing the Israelites, Balaam blessed them. Balak got a little perturbed at that.
Num. 24:10-13, "Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.”
Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ‘Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD—and I must say only what the LORD says’?" Balak said, "The Lord has kept you from being rewarded".
Really? What reward is there is being disobedient to the Lord? Balaam didn't receive man's reward but he did receive God's. In this case God's reward was his life! You may be familiar with the story of Balaam's talking donkey? This was the situation that prompted that.
It seems Balaam was too eager to go with the Moabites. He was supposed to wait until they came to get him but he saddled his donkey to go out and meet them instead. Num. 22:22 says God was angry with Balaam for that. He caused his donkey to see an angel and not go further.
Balaam beat the donkey to get it going but then the donkey started talking to him. Then Balaam's eyes were opened and he saw the angel. The angel told Balaam that if the donkey had not stopped the angel would've killed him. Balaam recognized his folly and went on with the full intention of doing what God commanded.
We can get lured away by worldly rewards even when God makes it clear that it's wrong. We may be enticed by the things of the world and that can become the main reason why we do good deeds. Even when we're convinced our motives are pure, we need to examine ourselves and make sure we're not serving a selfish agenda. We need to check our heart.
Jer. 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
We know the Lord is searching our minds and hearts so it's a good idea for us to pray for him to expose our hearts if we're focused too much on man's rewards and not enough on God's. Compromising God's rewards for worldly ones is never a good exchange.
Matt. 6:1-4, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
If we have worldly motives we will receive worldly rewards. If our motives are godly then we'll receive godly rewards. I thought it was interesting that Jesus said if we do our good deeds to be recognized by others we will have our reward in full. But he didn't say that in regards to being rewarded by God.
This shows the stark contrast between the two. Man's reward is inferior-it's limited and temporary. God's reward is superior-it's limitless and eternal. What is your desire-man's rewards or God's? The trinkets of earth or the treasures of heaven?
2) What does God reward us for?
God rewards us for loving our enemy. In Matt. 5, when Jesus talked about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us, he said in Matt. 5:46, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" Jesus tells us that there's no reward in loving those who love us. But there is when we love those who don't love us.
We see it throughout the pages of the bible with God, Jesus and his followers. We see it in modern times when those who are persecuted preach the gospel to their captors. We see it when a soldier needs help and his enemy gives it to him. We see it when someone has the opportunity to take revenge but chooses not to. David did this.
Saul was jealous because David was getting more attention than him after he killed Goliath. From then on, David was on Saul's hit list. One time when Saul was out looking for David, he went into a cave to relieve himself. David and his men were in there too, but Saul didn't know it.
David's men thought this was God's providence. They said, 'this is the day the Lord spoke of when he said he will give your enemy into your hands'. David crept up to Saul and cut off a piece of his robe. It says David's conscience was stricken and he told his men that he would not lift a hand against the Lord's anointed.
Then David went out from the cave and called out to Saul. He asked him why he was doing all this to him. When he held up the piece of robe he had cut off, it was obvious to Saul that David had the opportunity to kill him but spared his life.
1st Sam. 24:17-19, “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today."
David was rewarded. He was given the kingdom and many victories in battle. God rewards us when we show our enemies love, grace, mercy and help. In this we are doing for them what God did for us when we were his enemies. Now we pay it forward.
God rewards us for our righteousness and faithfulness. Saul's humility and gratitude were short lived. Soon after he was chasing David again. But, when Saul and his men were sleeping, David crept up and took his spear and water jug, which were by his head. David spared Saul's life again.
He went back up the hill and called out to Saul and his men. Saul recognized David's voice. David asked Saul why he keeps pursuing him when he hadn't done anything wrong. Saul acknowledged his sin and said he would stop pursuing him.
David said in 1 Sam. 26:23-25, "The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD'S anointed. As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and deliver me from all trouble.” Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, my son David; you will do great things and surely triumph.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home."
David had prime opportunities to remove the dangerous threat of Saul. But because of his righteous ways and faith in God, he would not go against God's will even though his life was in danger. I'm sure David was tempted to take Saul out but his devotion to God won out.
We'll be tempted to go against God. We may be under attack and feeling pressured to compromise. Some people might tell us to go for it: "this is what God wants you to do", like David's men did in the cave. But we need to stand our ground and determine that God's will is going to win out. When our trust is in God we will resist taking the easy way out. When we do that we can be sure that our faithfulness and righteousness will be rewarded.
God rewards us for our confidence.
Heb. 10:32-36, "Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.
You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."
Insults, suffering, persecution; sounds great, doesn't it? These Christians were going through it. But they stood together and helped each other persevere. And we see that they were able to do it joyfully. How? They knew that they had eternal rewards coming.
Some rewards are for the here and now but there are some we will have to wait to receive. These Christians were confident that their rewards were coming and that helped them to withstand all the trials and tribulations they were facing now. Knowing they had rewards to look forward to helped to keep them going. Our confidence fuels our perseverance and our perseverance brings about the receiving of our better and lasting heavenly rewards.
3) God is our reward.
Gen. 15:1, "After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
'After this'. In chap. 14 we read of a massive raid on Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham's nephew Lot lived. They carried the goods and people away. Abraham found out, rallied the troops and took back everything.
After that, Abraham encountered the mysterious Melchizedek, king of Salem. Melchizedek blessed him and vs. 20 states that Abraham gave him a tithe of all he had.
Then King Bera of Sodom came along and told Abraham he could keep the goods, he just wanted the people. But Abraham decided he wouldn't accept anything from him so that it couldn't be said that Bera made him rich. It seems Abraham knew enough about the king of Sodom that he might go around saying that.
Not that it's wrong to accept a reward from someone, but if doing so would potentially cause an unhealthy reaction, we should refuse it. If I knew that accepting something from you would mean you would try to use it as a means to make me obligated to you in some way then it would be in my best interest to turn it down.
It's after this encounter that we have God coming to Abraham in chapt. 15. First, God tells him to not be afraid. Abraham and Sarah had no children and he was afraid he would not have a place of his own or an heir to leave his inheritance to. But God assured him that would not be the case. He made a covenant with Abraham and announced that he would give him a son and the land of Canaan.
God told Abraham that he was his shield. God was his protector; he would keep him safe. God also told him he was his very great reward. Depending on the translation some say, 'your reward shall be very great'. Both are fitting. God is both the reward and the one who rewards.
Abraham was concerned he didn't have land or a son but God wanted him to know that he had God-he was his great reward. I'm sure Abraham thought of his nephew lot who had a family and others whom he saw who were blessed with land and families and wondered why him and Sarah didn't have these basic enjoyments.
Sometimes we can be like that. It's easy to wonder why, as a servant of God, we don't have the things others have. Did we do something wrong? In Abraham's case, the fact that Sarah was barren wasn't because it was God's judgment against them.
Instead, Abraham's faithfulness to God despite not having his own property or children brought about a very great reward of descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and plenty of land for them to occupy. But God wanted Abraham to understand his greatest reward was God himself.
We need to remember that too. When we get caught up in wondering why it seems we're not getting a good return on our spiritual investments we need to understand that the reward of God himself is more than we deserve.
Psalm 73:25-26, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
This is a psalm of Asaph. Asaph was having an issue with the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous. We've all been there before, right? He was trying to get his head around this and then he went to be with God and he came to understand some things.
He realized it didn't matter how much the wicked gained in this life because their final destiny was destruction. Asaph understood that he had the Lord with him and that the Lord held him up and sustained him. The Lord guided him and counseled him and his destiny was glory.
Then we have what he said in vs. 25-26. In vs. 25 it's like Asaph is saying, 'who do I have that is greater than you? What could the earth give me that compares with you?' Then in vs. 26 he's saying, 'you're a greater reward than my own life-for you maintain my life-you are my life. My body gets weak and can only do so much but it's you that keeps me going-you are my heart and my strength'.
"The Lord is my portion". What does that mean? One of the definitions for portion is inheritance. In OT times, when a father left an inheritance, it was broken down into portions, with the eldest son receiving a double portion.
Although we may receive rewards from God for various reasons, both in this life and the one to come, the biggest reward is God himself. He is the best portion we could ever receive. He's the one our lives are all about. Nothing or no one we have in our lives compares with having God in our lives. God is our very great reward.
