Salvation and Rewards

Eph 2: 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.


Let me begin by asking how many of you have been in court before? I don’t mean as a spectator or a lawyer. I mean as a subject under the scrutiny of the lawyer or judge. I can tell you it is not presence. I was witness for 3 cases and appeared in court for at least 5 times and each time, it is upsetting and uncomfortable. The lawyer will try to put your character to the test and you almost have to defense yourself. In fact it was like I am the one on trial.

But there is another even more important court case that all of us have to attend. For everyone of us, there is no escape as at the end, everyone will have to face God in one of His two courts. Those who are believers who follow Him will have to face Him in the court call the judgment seat. For the unbelievers, you have to face God in the court call the Great White throne. It is in this court that all of us have to answer to him. It is the final judgment.
These two future judgments are very different from each other. At the Great White throne, unbelievers will face God’s final judgment for eternal condemnation. On the other hand, believers will face God one on one at the judgment seat and be rewarded for the services rendered to Him. One is total utter tragedy while the other is sheer jubilation.

To avoid in the court where the Great white throne is, you have to be a believer. This salvation is given to you free. You only have to accept it. You do not have to work for it but you do have to work for the rewards at the judgment seat.

In short, the great white throne is where we are judged for being not saved and the judgment seat is where we are judged for being saved.

There are clear distinctions between work for salvation and work for rewards. Let’s look at salvation and rewards now.

Salvation

Many years ago, one of my guests complained that my receptionist was rude to him. I apologized to him and got the details from him. Apparently, he was asking for some free added things from the receptionist and my receptionist, Edwin was upset after his badgering and told him straight to the face that “Free things are not good and good things are not free”.

Is it true that “Free things are not good and good things are not free”? In a sense it is true when so many shops and sales throw in worthless freebies just that you will buy the thing. But as far as salvation is concerned, it is the best free thing one can get. Even better, it is from God.

Eph 2:8 & 9 are the two verses which we shared a lot with our friends and one that we that comfort in. Salvation cannot be earned and provided free to all of us. But the problem is that we stop reading and did not continue to verse 10. Verse 10 is very clear that we are created to do good work. There is life after salvation and we must not just sit back and relax. God requires that we produce fruits and give an account at the end of our life when we meet him in heaven.

The first thing we see is that salvation is provided by God for all sinners. (Eph 2:3) It does not discriminate and because all of us, black or white, yellow or red. Young or old, short or tall, fat or thin, male or females are sinners, it is for all of us. In John 3:16, it says who so ever will.

Don’t miss the second point here: salvation is for our sins. (Eph 2:1) We read through the Bible and we know we human are fallen creatures who rebelled against God. But God has a plan to redeem His people to Him. His plan is through payment of a ransom. The ransom is through His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses that talk about God’s redemptive plan are Rom 6:23; Gal 3:22; John 1:12; Rom 5:8-9; 1Tim 1:15; Luke 19:10. Jesus came to die specifically for our sin. Jesus shed His blood specifically to bring about salvation of mankind.

And thirdly, once we accepted Jesus Christ’s payment for our sin, God says He will choose to remember our sins no more. In Hebrews 10:17 we read “Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more.” What it is saying here is not that God forgets our sin, but that He chooses not to remember. God is perfect, He cannot forget. In Samuel, there are 2 full chapters on David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11,12). But when you come to Chronicles, you read all about David but none about with Bathsheba. You see when God forgive. He does not remember the sins anymore.

The next observation is that although not all sinners are the same, salvation is same for all. Salvation does not depend on us. It does not matter how far we came along, salvation provides the same rescue. Although the experience of coming to Christ may differ from one to another, once we are saved, we all become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Whether you accepted Jesus at a young age or in your dying moment like the thief at the cross, both are saved. Look at Saul/Paul, Lydia and the jailer. They all came from different back ground yet they are all came to the same faith.

Finally, salvation is a gracious gift from God. Eph 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. There is no prior condition and there is no string attached. Salvation is not under point system that you need to accumulate your work and sacrifice and then redeem it when you have gathered enough points. You cannot earn your salvation but it required your faith. It is God who tell us that the work is Done.

About a month ago, I asked my secretary what had happened to her as she looked rather pale. She told me that she is fasting. Puzzled as Ramadham is not even close, I asked her why she is fasting. I am doing it to pay back what I missed last year. She was trying to make up for the missed day that she was to fast last year. The next day, she came to me looked even more sick and handed me a medical chit. The doctor had given her a day sick leave.

After about a couple of weeks, I was able to ask her if her God will be happy to see her suffer just to please Him? There are indeed many, even among Christians who will go a long way to torture, to suffer in order to gain the peace with God. “If this is your God, will you think again?”, I asked her. Jesus had done it all and there is no more doing in our part in order to be saved. Salvation cannot be earned.

Rewards

In contrast, rewards are quite different from salvation. Firstly, while salvation is provided by God for all sinners, rewards are provided by God for all saints. The Bible addresses all believers as saints once they become believers. God has work in mind for you the saints who is the living people after salvation. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2;10)” and in 1 Cor 9:24, Paul said that he wants to be qualified for the prize.
The next contrast we will see is that salvation is for our sins but rewards are for our service. Heb 6:10 says God is not unjust, He will not forget your work. What a contrast in that He does not want to remember our sin but wants to remember our work.

Earlier we said that salvation is same for all, it does not matter how far and where we came along. But rewards are very different. Rewards depend on our works. In fact, rewards are proportionate to our service to Him. Everybody gets the same salvation but not everybody gets the same rewards. We will receive our wages according to our labor. (1 Cor 3:10-15). And in 2 Cor 5:10, we read “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. “ Also in Matt 16:27, it says that “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. “

Our ability to do work is God’s gracious gift to us. His rewards to us are also His gracious wage paid to us for the work we are able to accomplish for Him. Jesus declares in Rev 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” That is why Paul said he wants to fight a good fight, he wants to finish the race, and keep his faith. (2 Tim 4:7).

Rewards require our faithfulness. We need to continue faithfully for the work we carry out for the work. At the end, it is God who will tell us, “Well Done”.

Conclusion

The contrast for salvation and rewards are very clear and distinct. 1) Salvation is for sinners. Reward is for saints. 2) Salvation is for our sin. Rewards are for our service to Him. 3) God will not remember our sin and not forget our works. 4) Salvation is same for every sinner. Reward is different for every saint. 5) Salvation is a gracious gift from God. Rewards are gracious wage from God paid to us. 6) Salvation requires faith. Rewards require faithfulness. 7) Salvation is when God said Done. Rewards are when God says Well Done.

So the question is what should we do? Think of the 3Rs. In our environment awareness world, the 3 Rs of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are known to all. For us the believers, having believed, should also practice the 3Rs of believers. Receive, Reflect and Response. Don’t be an RC. No, I am not saying don’t be a Roman Catholic. Don’t be a retired Christian. Respond and live up to the expectation. Deliver the good work that God has promised for us.

A pastor was talking to a man at his death bed. The man seem sad and the pastor asked him if he is afraid to die. He said, ”No pastor. I am not afraid to die. I am just ashamed to die.” You see, not everybody will earn rewards. God has a program for us who are the living people after our salvation. The real life begins immediately upon salvation. Any work before salvation will not be acceptable by God but our work after salvation will be encouraged and rewarded.

Remember that salvation is now and that rewards are in the future. You cannot earn your salvation but you must earn your rewards. We all must get ready for the journey : we need to get to know the savior and start our work. You must be saved first before your work will count because that will be your service to Him. Once saved, you and I have this short life to work and earn our rewards that we can enjoy forever. What are we waiting for?