So that means, it's not whether it's a good idea or a bad idea - it's whether: is God directing me that way? In another place it says: those who are led by the Holy Spirit in their choices, decisions and actions - they are the ‘sons of God’. So ultimately, if our works pass, they determine then, our Eternal Rewards.
Notice He said: “if any man's work abides, he'll receive reward; any man's work burned up he'll suffer loss, even though he's saved. Notice: reward; or loss - and that's what this whole thing of eternal rewards is about. It's about our activities now, and how we show up when God looks at them. I've found that as I've gone through this study, it just has caused me so much more to sharpen again, my own thinking about my life, and so on.
Here's the second main point then... Rewards are given, according to Works. Rewards are given, according to our Works. I touched on this last week and I'm going to put a bit more in on it this time, because I think it's really important that we don't get caught out - struggling to perform, and striving to do this, and do that; but that we actually see what God is looking at. Perhaps in another teaching session I'll share how God evaluates what we do. That's very powerful! There's a lot of things that I’ve just started to see around, related to that. I knew of three, but now I've found a lot more.
Firstly, rewards are given, according to our works. Some Christians don't understand that; and others react to it. But nevertheless, Jesus used that word. Jesus Himself, used the word ‘reward’.
He said in Matthew 16:27 - “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, He will reward each one according to his works.”
Jesus talks about reward.
We saw this scripture last week too: Revelations 22:12 - “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his works.”
Luke 6:35 - “Love your enemies, do good, not trying to get something back. Your reward will be great.”
Reward is something you receive, because you've done something right, or done something good, or done something. Rewards are an evidence that God is really kind - because what He rewards us with, is bigger than what we did - far bigger! It's like... there's no comparison!
Second thing: we're rewarded for the acts we do in this season in our life - acts that are right. We're rewarded for acts of righteousness.
Revelations 19:8 - “Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. To her it was granted she would be arrayed in fine linen, for the fine linen are the righteous acts of the saints.”
Notice then, you start to see that, in the coming kingdom, what you have done in this life will be visible to people. In other words, even if you did it, and no one saw it - in the coming age, and for all eternity - everyone will see it!
1 Corinthians 3:8 - “everyone will receive reward according to his own labour”
What are the works that are involved? The works mean: our actions, the things we did; things we said; our attitudes; how we spent time and money; what we did with our wife, our family, those near to us; how we handle our relationships - all those things are included.
James 2:17 - “If we have no works, then our faith is considered to be dead”.
Faith, by itself, if there's no works, is dead! The Bible is very strong on this - we are saved by faith in the work of Jesus Christ; but we qualify for rewards by demonstrating our faith is genuine – how we live out our life. If your faith is genuine, then it should show a changed life. It should show in what you do; the way you treat people; what you do with your life - your priorities all should show.
Titus 3:8 - “This is a faithful saying: I want to affirm that those who have believed in God, should be careful to maintain good works, which are good and profitable to men.”
He's exhorting us: now that you're saved, don’t just sit back and just do whatever you want - be careful to maintain good works.