How much are Christians to do to receive a Reward?

[Dennis1209]

14 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

Thanks much for the compliment . . . and you are right and insightful, I do have an answer . . .

But before I get to that, I want to say that I am fairly blown away by the caliber of Christians here and their postings on this thread and on other threads! Of course, I haven't been on here long, but at least what I've seen so far has been very civil.  Thanks to everyone for letting Christ live through them in their responses!

All the responses here were thoughtful and part of me wants to mention and respond to each one . . . but forgive me if I just go to answering what Dennis1209 correctly assumed.

A few years ago I was having dinner with a handful of brothers.  One brother conveyed something the Lord showed him, and it was actually the second time he had shared this with us.  (many time we have to hear something more than once for it to sink in, and that was certainly the case here)  He told us about how he had been reading in Matthew 25 and considering the faithful and unfaithful servants. He said the Lord showed him that the whole matter was about being "faithful in a few things." (Matt 25:23)  He said that all these many years he had skipped right over the word FEW, and it was almost like had been inserting the word "many" in place of "few."  But the Lord showed him clearly that, "Mike (that's his name), I only want you to be faithful in a FEW things."

Here's the verse: "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'”  (Matt 25:21 & repeated in 23)

So I was just like Mike, that is, reading this all these years I sort of inserted the thought of "many" in there too!  But when he shared this with us a second time, the Spirit came in and started showing me all of these verses related to being faithful in a few things.  (BTW - I've only had a handful of times where verses have just streamed through me like this.)  What I began seeing clearly is the Lord isn't putting a heavy burden or a heavy yoke on us at all!  That is, the faith in us just needs to be small - even like a mustard seed!  Verse after verse just kept flowing though my mind related to this matter.  I knew the Lord was conveying something so very liberating here.

These impressions in spirit just kept flowing over the next week, and I knew the Lord had shown us brothers a great truth - BE FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS!!  I also was compelled by the Spirit to put ink to paper, to capture all these wonderful thoughts for myself and others.  When I was done, there were six pages full of verses and ideas supporting this notion throughout the bible.

So saints, there it is - we don't need to labor under a hard yoke.  If we are just faithful in at least the few things He's individually given us, then we will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant - enter into the joy of your Lord!"

I know this is something a lot of believers, who know about the Bema Seat, are concerned about.  Hopefully this will help some others at least as much as it did me!   Thank you for reading and showing interest.

 

That was an excellent eye-opener and commentary Vine Abider. I don't know how often I have read these verses and parables in Matthew 25. I read this verse (and many others) and gave no weight or thought to a particular word, in this case, "a few."

I reviewed a few commentaries on the talents with a different perspective, considering the word few, and it gave me a different interpretation of what those verses were conveying.

A single talent represented about twenty years of wages, and a lot is at stake here. It appears that the number of talents given was distributed according to their gifts and abilities. Over a lengthy period of the Master's absence, what increase was produced? In this case, for the kingdom of Jesus. They were all responsible for producing gain according to their gifts, ability, and opportunity. The first was more productive than the second, based on his ability, desire, and initiative. But the first and second both doubled what they were given. The third was satisfied to sit on and protect what he was entrusted with, not taking any chances to produce any gain because he served a hard master and was afraid.

I suppose we could boil down this parable to one word, "responsibility." In our Christian life, what did we do, and how did we spend the resources (finances, gifts, privileges, and opportunities) we were given over time? Two of the three in the parable at least handled this particular assignment and responsibility well.

Most of the time, I do not measure up to the standards expected of me with countless failures. "Therefore, be ye perfect" is a rigid standard to obtain. I realize "perfect" is better said as mature in most instances and is a lifelong process and training.

We could juxtapose the three servants as Christians. The servant is given one talent representing his gifts and abilities. He was lazy, doing nothing with what he was given, but he was still His servant. It is not said the Master disowned him but separated Himself from that servant and cast him into outer darkness. We had a long discussion about this "outer darkness."

Jesus is the only One to use outer darkness, which implies a distant separation with no personal contact or interaction. For all the reasons discussed, I am now leaning toward this outer darkness is not Hell or the Lake of Fire, and it is starting to appear as suffering and regretting a significant loss of something. As @AdHoc has written extensively on, that something could very well be the exclusion of the joy and participation as rulers in the millennium.

As I mentioned several times now if I interpret Revelation correctly, the martyr's tears are the only ones wiped away until the end of the millennium.

[AdHoc]

15 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

As I mentioned several times now if I interpret Revelation correctly, the martyr's tears are the only ones wiped away until the end of the millennium.

I have not read your argument, so forgive me if I go down a road already traveled.

The tears of Revelation 21:4 are in conjunction with "His People". So the first thing is to find out who His People are. Israel are clearly His people until He called them "Lo-ammi - you are NOT my People". The prophets assure us that once the New Covenant with Israel is in place, they will again be "His People". Since New Jerusalem is 1,000 later, Israel are definitely His People. But their mourning occurs when Jesus bursts through the clouds at His Second coming. And their mourning is predicted to turn to joy. The tears of verse 4 can hardly be from Israelites.

The Nations have two reasons to shed tears. (i) They live under the "rod of iron" in the Millennium and could be bent under such strict justice. But scripture says otherwise in Proverbs 29:2; "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." From the judgment of the Sheep and the Goats we will certainly have tears from those in the Lake of Fire. But since the Lake of Fire is everlasting, there is no grounds for the end of their tears. The tears can hardly be from the Nations.

The Church is divided into two; (i) Those who were rewarded during the Millennium, and (ii) those chastised during the Millennium. Here are a  group of People who are "God's People" and who have a reason for tears. The martyrs and Overcomers wept during the Church age, and rejoiced "exceedingly" in the Millennium. The only contingent of men who weep at the end of the Millennium, but whose tears can be stilled, are the slothful of the Christians.

The only argument against this is that the context of Revelation 21:3-6 is God's Tabernacle. God's Tabernacle IS the Church and men are IN it. This claim is not made. The Tabernacle is WITH men and God is WITH them - but nothing is said of then being IN it. I usually don't form doctrine on what is not there, but the omission is ominous.

[Sower]

14 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

So saints, there it is - we don't need to labor under a hard yoke.  If we are just faithful in at least the few things He's individually given us, then we will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant - enter into the joy of your Lord!"

"If we are just faithful in at least the few things".....

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:"

              Trust and obey that still small voice...

 

[AdHoc]

14 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

Thanks much for the compliment . . . and you are right and insightful, I do have an answer . . .

But before I get to that, I want to say that I am fairly blown away by the caliber of Christians here and their postings on this thread and on other threads! Of course, I haven't been on here long, but at least what I've seen so far has been very civil.  Thanks to everyone for letting Christ live through them in their responses!

All the responses here were thoughtful and part of me wants to mention and respond to each one . . . but forgive me if I just go to answering what Dennis1209 correctly assumed.

A few years ago I was having dinner with a handful of brothers.  One brother conveyed something the Lord showed him, and it was actually the second time he had shared this with us.  (many time we have to hear something more than once for it to sink in, and that was certainly the case here)  He told us about how he had been reading in Matthew 25 and considering the faithful and unfaithful servants. He said the Lord showed him that the whole matter was about being "faithful in a few things." (Matt 25:23)  He said that all these many years he had skipped right over the word FEW, and it was almost like had been inserting the word "many" in place of "few."  But the Lord showed him clearly that, "Mike (that's his name), I only want you to be faithful in a FEW things."

Here's the verse: "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'”  (Matt 25:21 & repeated in 23)

So I was just like Mike, that is, reading this all these years I sort of inserted the thought of "many" in there too!  But when he shared this with us a second time, the Spirit came in and started showing me all of these verses related to being faithful in a few things.  (BTW - I've only had a handful of times where verses have just streamed through me like this.)  What I began seeing clearly is the Lord isn't putting a heavy burden or a heavy yoke on us at all!  That is, the faith in us just needs to be small - even like a mustard seed!  Verse after verse just kept flowing though my mind related to this matter.  I knew the Lord was conveying something so very liberating here.

These impressions in spirit just kept flowing over the next week, and I knew the Lord had shown us brothers a great truth - BE FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS!!  I also was compelled by the Spirit to put ink to paper, to capture all these wonderful thoughts for myself and others.  When I was done, there were six pages full of verses and ideas supporting this notion throughout the bible.

So saints, there it is - we don't need to labor under a hard yoke.  If we are just faithful in at least the few things He's individually given us, then we will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant - enter into the joy of your Lord!"

I know this is something a lot of believers, who know about the Bema Seat, are concerned about.  Hopefully this will help some others at least as much as it did me!   Thank you for reading and showing interest.

 

I have to echo @Dennis1209 words. This posting has touched me greatly. Since I was taught reward at the Bema, starting in about 1982, I have felt the pressure. I had a high pressure job and taking responsibility was my everyday. So I just plowed on. The thing that really got to me was the quiet periods when I felt that the Lord was not using me. I had visions of "slothful servant".

But now I must echo you. Our God is not a slave driver or hard taskmaster. He requires things sometimes that cost. Time, money, reputation and even life are sometimes required, but God is gracious and never drives a man to the end of his tether. Since my pensioning I have not been taxed much by the Lord. Compared to Paul's "night and day labors" my lot is fair. And this has bothered me.

But now I have new courage. Thanks.

[Ray12614]

Good topic, and I have enjoyed most of the replies here. They have made me think about this in a new fresh way. So Thanks for the insights!

I have another angle of looking at the rewards doctrine based on a reaction from Jesus to one of Peter's question after the resurrection;

---------

Joh 21:20-23 NLT
20  Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, "Lord, who will betray You?"
21  Peter asked Jesus, "What about him, Lord?"
22  Jesus replied, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me."
23  So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn't die. But that isn't what Jesus said at all. He only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"
--------

Anotherwards . . . You do what I told you to do, and not what I told others to do.

So from that we could look at rewards from an "What has the Lord spoken to us to do" perspective instead of an "have I done as much as others have done" view. What has the Holy Spirit who lives in each of us as believers told us to do?  

Of course there are many normal universal commands we see in scriptures that we are just 'expected' to do, but, there are some specific situational tasks that he will assign us that do not apply to everybody else. For instance; My church is sending people to South America to work on a missions trip, and a dozen or so have signed up to do that for a couple weeks. However, the Holy Spirit has impressed both my wife and I to stay home, and support others financially to do this work. I could go, but, IF I did, I would be disobeying the command of the Holy Spirit to stay home and support this in other ways. I also realize that the Lord could have as easily told me to go to missions when others might say that I am too old to do that. It could have gone either way . . . you see . . . 

I know that I will receive an reward from obeying the Lord and supporting this missions trip even though others might not understand what I am doing . . . 

Hope this helps somehow . . . Ray . . . 

[Vine Abider]

2 hours ago, Sower said:

"If we are just faithful in at least the few things".....

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:"

              Trust and obey that still small voice...

 

Another great example of how He isn't requiring a huge amount from us!  After all, we are often referred to as SHEEP in the bible, and they don't do all that much except trust the Shephard.

[Vine Abider]

23 hours ago, AdHoc said:

I have to echo @Dennis1209 words. This posting has touched me greatly. Since I was taught reward at the Bema, starting in about 1982, I have felt the pressure. I had a high pressure job and taking responsibility was my everyday. So I just plowed on. The thing that really got to me was the quiet periods when I felt that the Lord was not using me. I had visions of "slothful servant".

But now I must echo you. Our God is not a slave driver or hard taskmaster. He requires things sometimes that cost. Time, money, reputation and even life are sometimes required, but God is gracious and never drives a man to the end of his tether. Since my pensioning I have not been taxed much by the Lord. Compared to Paul's "night and day labors" my lot is fair. And this has bothered me.

But now I have new courage. Thanks.

Awesome!  After seeing this matter of being "FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS," I must admit I sometimes slip back into some type of performance mentality where I start to fear, and I'm not talking a healthy fear here.  This absolutely is the enemy's accusations.

Another great example is Hebrews 11, which is often called the Hall of Faith chapter.  In it are all these ones who demonstrated a trust in God at a particular point in their lives, and the Holy Spirit records those times.  But there were also many times they didn't believe in God for something and they failed! (David, Sampson and even Abraham) If you look at every person in that chapter, you will see just regular people, who at certain points trusted in the Lord.

So while the high points are recorded in Hebrews 11, He doesn't list the low points.  It reminds me of a loving father whose child just learned to do cart wheels and photographed that event.  The father is so proud and shows off these pictures - "And just look at little Janie doing cart wheels on the lawn!"  Janie might have gone and done something not so good right after, but the father forgets about that and extolls her achievement.  Likewise, the Holy Spirit took snapshots of these ones exhibiting faith.

That's how He looks at us too!

Edited November 16, 2022 by Vine Abider
Corrected chapter # for Hebrews

[Vine Abider]

52 minutes ago, Ray12614 said:

Anotherwards . . . You do what I told you to do, and not what I told others to do.

So from that we could look at rewards from an "What has the Lord spoken to us to do" perspective instead of an "have I done as much as others have done" view. What has the Holy Spirit who lives in each of us as believers told us to do?  

Of course there are many normal universal commands we see in scriptures that we are just 'expected' to do, but, there are some specific situational tasks that he will assign us that do not apply to everybody else. For instance; My church is sending people to South America to work on a missions trip, and a dozen or so have signed up to do that for a couple weeks. However, the Holy Spirit has impressed both my wife and I to stay home, and support others financially to do this work. I could go, but, IF I did, I would be disobeying the command of the Holy Spirit to stay home and support this in other ways. I also realize that the Lord could have as easily told me to go to missions when others might say that I am too old to do that. It could have gone either way . . . you see . . . 

I know that I will receive an reward from obeying the Lord and supporting this missions trip even though others might not understand what I am doing . . . 

Hope this helps somehow . . . Ray . . . 

YES!!!  That is exactly right and thanks for sharing!  We can get all caught up in thinking we have to do this or that great thing - like so & so does.  No, it's about what He has given us . . . Be faithful in those few things!

Some of the saints around me do awesome things so often - one brother is just gifted to speak to others, wherever he is (supermarket, etc.) about Christ and just so effortlessly (seemingly at least) is able to do that.  Well, that is a gift to this brother.  It doesn't mean I'm not to witness to others, and I do, but I recognize and rejoice in the special "talent" this brother has received to do that!

We've all been placed in a certain environment and given certain gifts and abilities in Christ.  Those are the few things we need to be faithful in.  Sometimes we might not think those talents and environments are so glamorous, but this is what He has given and it's for His purpose.

[JohnR7]

21 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

how much do we need to do to be pass this examination and be rewarded? 

God is exact and precise. There is nothing to small that we are not rewarded for. The length of a day is  23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0916 seconds. Is that exact and precise enough for you?  This is why there are 365.2422 days in a year, but the day is getting longer making the year shorter. So there will be a perfect 24 day and a perfect 360 day year. Proverbs 4: 18 "But the path of the just is like shining light, that grows in brilliance onto the perfect day."

[Marathoner]

I understand where you're coming from, @AdHoc. 

I was clueless when the Lord snatched me from this world. In my nascent agnosticism I believed that God was incomprehensible, so it was impossible to know Him. Therefore, when the Spirit of the Lord called my name, declaring that I belong to Him and no other, I was stunned and terrified. Terrified, for the Lord reasoned with me saying, I set you aside for My purpose before you were born. 

(That is true of us all)

But I'm an ignorant and terrible man, Lord! Let no one say nothing is too great for our Lord Jesus Christ. He sent me to a fellowship of brothers and sisters who lived in the countryside where, the Spirit said, a man approved of God would teach me what I needed to know. When I arrived at their meeting place --- a creaky old farmhouse --- the most astonishing thing started to unfold before my eyes. I didn't understand it at the time, but this was a vision opened by His Spirit. 

I saw over 200 men, women, and their children gathered together inside...

And then I witnessed the inexpressible, for the world I knew faded away before my eyes. These men and women were stones --- stones that were alive! --- fitted together perfectly into a shining house without beginning or end. This shining house is a temple, and both the life and light of these stones is the Lord Himself; a temple raised without human hands. Behold, the temple of God raised without human hands! The Lord said to me, this is where you belong. There is a place for you in My house.

When I heard this, I started weeping. I ran away to the wood line behind the farmhouse. I had never witnessed anything so indescribably beautiful and holy in my life. Once the weeping passed, I returned to the gathering. I was speechless. The man whom the Lord said would teach me received me warmly and brought me to sit with his family. From that day forward, he and his wife regarded me as a new member of their family. I was given a spare bedroom in their house.

When my old friend taught me about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I was baptized in water. Each day, we would sit together which was how he introduced me to the scriptures; when he taught me about living stones fitted together into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5), I saw how the scriptures faithfully reflect all that the Lord had revealed. I was floored by the revelation.

There was a time of astonishment and wonder, seeing and hearing things not of this world I had never witnessed before. Then, there was a time of deprivation and tribulation when I wandered this country without a home, and the Lord was silent for a very long time (decades). I believed that He had abandoned me, and so I fell into the deepest despair. I stumbled and fell. 

Then came that time when the beginning of that purpose which God preserved me for was revealed, and I suffered terribly until I was close to death. When this was done, and the Lord raised me up restoring everything I had lost during those years of despair, He said this to me:

Now you shall rest, and I will prosper you. I make the way straight.

All I have to do is listen for His voice, and I witness things unfold precisely as He declares it will. After the Lord healed and restored me, He sent me to this city. Before I arrived, the Lord said that I would come to this homeless shelter where I work and join myself to this organization. I will incline their hearts toward you, the Lord said, and they will favor you greatly. 

I struggled to hold on to that. How could this be? They don't know me, and I don't know them.

Ah, but that's precisely what happened. I did nothing but show up and volunteered to help; it wasn't long before donors came to meet me saying, "We've heard so many good things about you!" Eh? You have? Oh my.

It all came at once. First, a letter from the CEO was delivered to me, an offer to join the staff... then, members of staff brought me to an apartment saying it was my own... the organization provided all of the furnishings, covering my deposit... and then I became their first employee of the month. But I did nothing to warrant any of this! When I say that I'm no one special, I mean that with all sincerity. 

My reward is to serve our Lord Jesus Christ by looking after the needs of my neighbor. Serving is what I do best, and is that commandment I received from the Lord on that day when He lifted me up. Whatever I receive, the Lord gives according to His good pleasure. I'm just a servant.