Rewards: Part 3

What Are Rewards?
This, to me, is a huge question. I think one of the reasons rewards sound so distasteful is what we view rewards as. For example, suppose the reward is a 34,000 sq. ft. mansion, complete with its own olympic size swimming pool, a private waterfall and river, an indoor golf course, and of course an IMAX theater. It’s heaven, right? Why skimp? At least, that’s Billy Graham’s reward. I’m no Billy Graham, so sadly I have to live with a measly 1,000 sq ft. home and a koi pond. What’s more is that I become Billy’s neighbor, so everyday I walk out of my cramped two bedroom flat, dodge a mosquito from my pond, and see Billy living in luxury. Of course, I have the joy of the Lord, so it’s okay. The moral of the story would then be: Be good now or heaven’s going to be a real let down. Or to rephrase Jesus’ words, “Don’t buy a big house now where time and termites eat it down to rot and decay. Give your money away and store up for yourself a massive palace where there ain’t no termites.” Something seems a little wrong with that picture.

In Romans 2 we get a different picture. In verse 6, another “evaluation” passage, Paul writes, “[God] will render to each one according to his works.” Okay, so this is exactly the kind of passage we are looking for. Paul is arguing that God gives rewards and punishments, so what are they? “To those,” he says, “who by patience and well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality.” So he is talking about the good guys here, the ones who seek for eternal rewards, and the rewards they are seeking are “glory and honor and immortality.” And what reward do they get? He finishes, “[God] will give eternal life.” Well, that’s not exactly a detailed description of rewards. Eternal life is what every true Jesus follower receives. But I think this passage unlocks the mystery of these rewards.

Let’s start with what the good guys are seeking. What are “glory and honor and immortality”? “Immortality” seems easy enough. It would be real life, never-ending life, life as it was meant to be lived. But notice that overlaps with “eternal life.” What about “glory and honor”? We tend to immediately think of the applause and praise of others, but that cannot be the idea. The bad guys in this passage, the ones who don’t seek for eternal rewards, are those who are “self-seeking”(2:8). It would make almost no sense, then, for “glory and honor” to be personal recognition. Glory and honor do have that connotation, even in the Greek, but there is a more foundational meaning. Glory and honor are something that we can give, but they are also a quality. In Hebrew the word “glory” means “weighty” or “heavy.” It’s a word that refers to something of extraordinary value. This idea is the more foundational notion of glory and honor. After all, the reason you give a someone glory and honor is because they are glorious and honorable. The value of the person merits the honor or glory given. Therefore, to seek “glory and honor” is to seek that which has immense value, that which is tremendously weighty. All of this, I think, is wrapped up in the simple phrase “eternal life.” Therefore, Paul says that those who seek for the weighty things of eternal life receive them as their reward.

“Yes but again,” you say, “doesn’t every real Christian receive this?” True, but remember we are talking about degrees. We all receive eternal life, but the degree to which we receive that life will be different. This is a huge breakthrough, at least it is for me. Rewards are not additions to eternal life, but the degrees of which we enjoy that life. I'll gives some examples in my next post.