Titus 3:14 - “Let our people so learn to maintain good works, to meet needs, so they may not be unfruitful.”
You just need to make it a priority to be proactive for the kingdom; and you'll see that lots of Christians aren't, but this is contrary to what God says.
Titus 2:14 - “God has redeemed to Himself a people who will be zealous for good works.”
God's plan means that not just we get saved, but now we join with Him in becoming passionate, in what He's passionate about - which is people, and changing society, making things different and better. Our faith reveals then, our works.
If you look at our life, you'll see clearly: something mobilised us, and motivated us; and it's these teachings on the kingdom.
Our works include even small things. Sometimes we think works are the big things - going and planting a church, doing some big preaching, something like that; but the works are usually small things.
Hebrews 6:10 - “God is not unjust (or unrighteous) to forget your work, and labour of love that you did in His name, in that you ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
God is not unrighteous - it would be wrong for Him to not acknowledge, or reward, what we do. When you look, and see so many slack Christians or believers around, it can be very discouraging. But when you have this truth in you, you know that God is not unrighteous - He sees what we do. He will reward those who do; and there'll be loss for those who don't.
As you start to look around the church, you see that people are asleep! People have got wrong motives, they're not understanding! There's a lot for them at stake - eternity, for them, is at stake!
Most of our faithfulness is manifested in very little decisions. Most of our decisions are very little. Most of our actions are very little; and our works include all the little things: kind words, a small attitude change, a little act of service. You helped someone; you did this, you did that. You turned up, when you didn't feel like turning up; giving something, to help someone. It's all the little things! No, it's not the big things, it's lots of little things. What did you do; and why did you do it?
In Luke 21, Jesus looked up, and He saw the rich man putting big gifts into the treasure; and He also saw a certain poor widow, putting in just two mites. And He looked - in other words, He saw it all - saw what she did; and He said: “this poor widow gave more than everyone”.
You'll see that, when we touch on how God evaluates. He evaluates not just on what we do, but: what did that represent in your life. He said look here, you've got all these big shots, and they're all putting in a lot of money; but there’s this little woman, and for her, what she gave was her very life itself.
He said: I notice that she gave more than everyone! Notice then, God’s measuring, is different to our measuring. We tend to measure: there's $1000, and there's $10; but God looks at it in relationship to: what did that mean to you? So, for the $1000, perhaps he made a million - so for him, this is nothing; but for the woman who gave $10, perhaps that's all she had left over - she can't buy something now. There's more in this than just the action you do; it's what it means in your life. That's why, if it's not a sacrifice for us, it doesn't mean much to God either.
God is attentive to every little thing. He watches; every little deed is seen by God; and no matter how unnoticed people have been.
Matthew 10:42 - “whoever gives just a cup of cold water to this little one in my name shall by no means lose their reward”.
A little cup of cold water - now that's so little! But God says: I watch all of that, and if I see that it's done out of love for people, and a love for Me… I will reward that. When you hear this sort of teaching, you realise how Just God is.
I think it's a thing that people struggle with is injustice - it doesn't seem fair, I've done all this, and I haven't done any of that; but actually, you're just looking too close - you're not looking at the long picture! When you get the long picture, and you come to the Judgement Seat of Christ, you think, wow! Did I get all of that, just for that little thing? Man, you're so generous! You're so kind! God will see all those things.