Mat 6:1; Reward from Your Father in Heaven Is a Key Motivator.Tuesday July 23, 2024
Intro: In present-day usage a reward is a gift given in recognition for some service rendered, either good or evil. The biblical usage is quite varied, including bribery, punishment, gift giving, and incentive for service. It includes the petty things that people seek and get (Mat 6:5) and the retribution to the wicked in the future (Psa 91:8).
Does it seem selfish to want rewards from the Lord? In the biblical nature of rewards the answer is decidedly no.
Mat 6:1-18
Misthos – wages, rewards for time and eternity (both good and bad). [click] Eschatological significance since in time the apprentice goes through many persecutions and trials.
Misthos as a payment for a laborer: Luk 10:7 “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages.”
1Ti 5:18 For the Scripture says, "YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."
Misthos is used for the payment to laborers, which some bosses were withholding, Jam 5:4. In the parable of the vineyard owner the laborers are paid in the evening of the working day. In fact, the Mosaic law demanded it because God is always the champion of the legitimate poor.
The phrase, “wages of unrighteousness.” Judas and false teachers (Act 1:18; 2Pe 2:13, 2Pet 2:15)
Misthos as a reward of gospel witness.
Joh 4:34-38
Jesus is the sower here. He evangelized the Samaritan woman and sent her into the village. Notice that it is not a competition (how could you compete with the Lord?). The sower and the reaper rejoice together.
This is a connection to the easy way in which a believer can fall into competition, seeking elevation above others.
Jesus fully understands human nature, meaning the nature of sin. He knows that saints are going to find themselves desiring prestige above their brothers.
This leads us right into the matter of rewards from God in heaven as opposed to the earthly way of seeing reward.
The way of the Lord is love. Love that seeks the best for others to the point of sacrifice to self. Agape love is truly death to the sin nature who seeks to exercise his or her desires and passions in your soul.
1Co 3:5-9
Now where does Paul turn? You will be rewarded for your service, but in the way that God desires, and the abundance of the fruit of those rewards are going to come in eternity.
1Co 3:10-15
Scripture’s emphasis on eternal reward seems due to the significant amount of suffering the apprentice of Christ faces.
This life for the apprentice of Christ is a guarantee of trial and tribulation, being persecuted for His name’s sake, and He said to us, if you are, you will be blessed.
Mat 5:10-12
The promise of reward is to comfort you and to keep you going in the service and worship of the one who sees in secret; and to keep you going in loving all, even your enemy. We are to seek His reward.
The great temptation, which is a trial all advancing believers must face, is to quit on your devotion to God, since it seems that only grief comes from the people you are serving. He says, “there is great reward in remaining My servant.” (Mat 24:42-46)
Heb 10:32-39
The Lord treats us in the opposite manner of the world. He promises reward, joy, and gladness. We must hold on to these promises while others breathe threats.
More disarming is the loss of all revenge motivation.
Whenever we seek human reward (being seen, admiring ourselves, seeking revenge on our enemies, seeking elevation of self above others) we will have our reward in full, but no reward from our Father in heaven.
God’s reward is for pure obedience which is free from all selfish calculation or external display.
Mat 5:46-47 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Hence, God rewards those who truly love their neighbor as He loves.
Mat 10:40-42 "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
And God rewards those who worship Him for the sole reason of seeking His face (Your heart I will seek), meaning that you seek Him, His person and as one who is elected and adopted, you very much can, but not when self is in the picture, even if self is in the picture with God.
The more of self we lose the more of love we will see.
1Co 13:1-8 |