Next week Wednesday host city Winnipeg will witness the beginning of the 1999 Pan-AM games. Young men and women will gather - a time to compete after years of training; competing to the absolute edge of their capabilities.

There will be images of the winners - hands raised in triumph, huge grins on their faces, rewarded with handshakes and medals from the officials.
A big moment, it will be. Years of effort paying off in big-time reward.

Images of such meets in the past - Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games - came to mind as I was meditating on the parable recorded in Luke 19. There also we read of men working, giving their all. There are results. The results are judged. And the competitors are rewarded accordingly. And I tried to visualize it in my mind's eye.
I could see the three men standing on the podium. The Great Nobleman approaches them, giving them the traditional hug and kiss on each cheek that is the common greeting in the Middle East.
In first place, winning the gold, the one who had 10 minas. As a result of his devoted effort he has earned 10 more! Well done! Here's his prize -- not a medal, but instead: placed in charge of 10 cities.
In second place, winning silver, the one who had 5 minas. His absolutely top notch performance earned 5 more! Well done! And his prize: placed in charge of 5 cities.
-Third place: to the.........
Hey, wait a minute! That's not what we have come to expect about the Christian faith!! How on earth could that possibly fit in the teachings of Jesus?
What I'm just describing sounds an awful lot like people getting rewards for the good deeds they perform.
But isn't it so that THE central teaching of the Christian faith is that our standing with God, our entry into heaven, our place in eternity is prepared, readied and won for us by Jesus Christ;
by HIS work and action;
by HIS love and care;
a free gift from Him to us;
That God, through Jesus, freely and fully accepts us -
isn't that what Christianity, what our life here at Calvin Church is all about??
 
 

People getting rewards for good deeds on earth:
That doesn't seem to fit with scriptural verses such as Isa 64.6: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment....
verses from which we get the teachings of the Catechism, q/a 62-64.
We hold that teaching as dear and true.

And yet.....
yet.... there it is:
Luke 19.17: "Well done, my good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities."

Even harder -- it's not as if this is one isolated bible verse, out of the ordinary and hard to understand.
Listen to these bible passages:
"If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." (Mt 10.42)
->> there it is again: REWARD!!

"Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." (Mt 19.29)

"[Every man's work] will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." [1 Cor 3.10ff]

Get the message?
The bible is very clear that somehow there is reward awaiting the believer at the end of life when he or she stands before the greatest of nobility, the King of Kings and Lord of Lord - Jesus Christ, the judge of heaven and earth.
 
 

Reward.... salvation.... eternal life:
how could they possibly be connected?
 
 

I think that we will keep things the simplest and clearest if we begin right at the start by saying that rather than trying to keep "reward" as one big heading in our mind, let's subdivide it into three categories; three types of reward from the hand of God, if you will --
1. Eternal reward
2. Reward on this earth
3. Reward in the new earth

If you can keep these three distinct it will help a great deal.
 
 

First -- Eternal Rewards:
This reward is the great one, new life in Jesus Christ, being set free from the guilt that all of us carry as sinners, and the punishment of eternity in hell that by rights awaits us.
In Jesus Christ we are brought from death to life.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2:
"By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast."

And in Romans 5:
"Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men..."

The greatest of all possible rewards is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, nothing that we could stand up and claim as our own on the basis of any merit within ourselves.
It is a miraculous and free gift of God, given to us in Jesus.

That needs to be said right up front, before anything else.

As Paul says in 1 Cor 3.11:
"No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ...." Christ is the foundation of our relationship with God; the cornerstone of our eternal life and our place in the family of God.

But that still leaves rewards type 2 & 3:
Rewards on this earth
Rewards on the new earth

And here's where they come in. For while we all agree that our faith is built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, the stone that the builders rejected, I think we also have to agree that our faith life does NOT end there!
Let us never think that all there is to our faith life is obtaining an eternal inheritance, and then carrying on with the rest of life as though nothing else has changed.
Our Christian faith cannot be allowed to lay dormant.
It must grow and develop.

We need to grow and become Christ-like in our character.
We want to develop and deepen in our experience and sharing of Christ-honouring love.

The various passages which we read seem to indicate that somehow, for some reason really unknown to us, a reason that we can only chalk up to His magnificent grace and favour, Jesus Christ takes a deep interest in our experiences and good works done in faith.
He takes an interest in them EVEN THOUGH they are, and always will be imperfect works; "filthy rags" to quote the prophet Isaiah.
He takes an interest in the effort we put forward to live for Him, and work for Him, and in his never-ending gracious goodness He rewards us accordingly.

He rewards us:
- in this life
- and in life on the new earth

So carrying along.....

REWARD TYPE #2 -- REWARDS ON THIS EARTH
This is really very simple.
Have you ever done something for someone else, helped them NOT to get something out of it for yourself, but simply because they were people in need; in need of..... whatever.
You gave it, quietly, not letting the proverbial right hand know what the left was doing - And ended up getting rewarded?
Have you ever had that happen? You were able to walk away feeling good, deep down good inside, knowing that you did the right thing. You could smile inside, and almost see the angels in heaven smile along with you at the added joy brought into the life of that needy person.
Those feelings are one of God's little rewards.

There are also rewards for obedience. The words of Prophet Malachi are a good example of that (Mal 3.10).
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
God calls for some good works on the part of His people, works of faithful obedience through financial giving to His Holy Work. He promises that to those who do, blessings will be given.

That basic scriptural principle is true for finances, relationships, and just about any other area of life you care to mention: If you strive to diligently honour God with your service and obedience, He honours that in return. It's a simple fact.
Not that we can force God.
Not even that we really deserve it. For even the best of our attempts to honour God, our best efforts at service, are marred by imperfection somewhere along the way.
So who would dare, who would dare to confront a holy and perfectly pure and great God DEMANDING reward?
- Right?
And yet God, our gracious and loving heavenly Father, grants it anyway!
Praise the Lord for His never-ending goodness!

And finally there is the third area of reward:
REWARD ON THE NEW EARTH.

This is the reward that will be issued out on the day of judgement. THIS is what the parable of the Minas is all about.
At the end of time, when God rids the creation of all sin, and sends the Devil and all his followers to eternal punishment, we who believe will be living as in the Garden of Eden:
working, cultivating, learning, and doing -
- all in the very presence of God.

Jesus seems to indicate that what we will be allowed and equipped to do there will be, in some way, a response to how we have lived in this life;
how we have handled what God entrusted into our care.

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness." [Mt 25.22]
How exactly that will work itself out, we are not told.
But somehow it will.

Which leaves one last nagging question - at least for now.
Some may ask, "Well, isn't that kind of cheap? Doesn't that make Christianity a rather self-serving religion? Aren't you just going through the motions because of what you will get at the end?"

And to answer that, I defer to C.S.Lewis who gave a "Yes & No" answer. YES, being a Christian is very much tied in to what we expect at the end. But NO, it is not a cheap, mercenary, "we're in it for what we can get out of it" type of deal.
Says Lewis, for a general to fight a battle hard with the goal of getting a medal or a government promotion would be cheap, utilitarian, mercenary. But for that same general to fight a battle hard with the goal of winning the victory and attaining peace or getting to his destination is perfectly natural.
Similarly, for a woman to love a man for the dinners they go to, or the prestige of being seen with this individual is cheap, utilitarian, mercenary. But for that same woman to love the man and long for the goal of marriage just because of love is natural and good.

For you to be a Christian and long for the glory that will come one day, to long to have Jesus make life worthwhile, exciting; to have Jesus as your true forever-friend, and to long for the day when you will live forever with Him in perfect peace and fullness is as natural as longing for marriage, or fighting a battle with the goal of victory.
It is longing for things to be as God wants them to be for you.

Mother Theresa, when being awarded the Nobel Prize for her work among the destitute in Calcutta was quoted as saying the following --
"No one thinks of the pen while reading a letter. They only want to know the mind of the person who wrote the letter. That's exactly what I am in God's hand - a little pencil. God is writing his love letter to the world in this way, through works of love."
That is Christianity at its richest. Responding to the eternal certainty and hope that Christ has won for us by our service in this life - a service that doesn't go unnoticed. A service that makes a difference... right into eternity.