Number 4, the small sacrifices made now have a huge recompense in eternity - small things. It may seem big to you, and for some people little is very big, but this is what Jesus:
Matthew 25:21 - "If you are faithful over small things or few things, I'll make you ruler over many things."
Notice the contrast: few things, many things. The key is being faithful. Here's another one in the Parable of the Pounds:
Luke 19:17 - "Well done, you were faithful in very little, have authority over 10 cities."
Notice: very little... 10 cities! Wow, that's just no comparison right there. What He's trying to do is, using the stories to say, the recompense will far outweigh any sacrifice. When you understand what He's offering, it so overshadows the cost and sacrifice, that people are motivated and willing then to lay down things.
In Hebrews 11:6 we saw before that God is a Rewarder. That means He recompenses, or He is extremely generous and extravagant. We can trust that God is going to give a big pay day. You know how people at work - they look forward to getting a big bonus at the end of the year? Well for a believer, we get blessed in the journey, but then there's a massive bonus at the other end, a massive bonus, and it’s out of proportion to everything. Even though we may have temporary difficulties, we are persuaded because of what we know to persevere, because today's not my pay day - it's still coming! Jesus promised the disciples…
Matthew 19:29 - "Everyone who has left houses, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life”.
Notice He said, 'a hundredfold', meaning the maximum possible return. He's trying to convey to us that if we have to sacrifice, if following the Lord means alienation from people, if following the Lord means we lose or leave behind things, He says: nevertheless, there will be a hundredfold return! Frequently there's a portion of it is in this life; and we see, if you look at our lives you can see the blessings that abound, the blessings are tangible, and visible in lots of different ways. However, they're not the real rewards. The big ones are to come. That's what makes you then excited about living every day, and not afraid of death, because how could you be afraid of death when your big pay day's ahead? You can't be! So now we've talked about the rewards, I want to give you a summary of them.
This is an overview and it's just one way of grouping them together. There's so many mentioned, somewhere between 18 and 30 in different ways, that they do cross over and connect with one another in different ways. So here they are…
#1 - Eternal Intimacy, which means that there is a realm of intimate relationship with God that's reserved for those who overcome.
Revelations 3:12 - "He who overcomes, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of My God, he shall go no more out. I'll write on him the name of My God, the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from My God. I'll write on him My new name."
When He talks about writing the name on someone, He's talking about having a deep intimacy with God as a Father, and a deep intimacy with Jesus Christ.
#2 - the second significant reward that's offered is Eternal Authority. What that that means is that, we are given different work assignments with different levels of Authority and Responsibility and Power - and that will be forever! It's not a temporary thing.
Right now, what you have is temporary, and it keeps changing, and when you see that what you do now is just your assignment for now, it's your training assignment. Every time your assignment changes, it's just more training, different assignment and how we fulfil our assignments determines then what God entrusts in eternity.
When I look at my journey, there was an assignment to teach in a high school, and run Christian outwork there, among the children. Then there was a new assignment, so I had to leave that behind; to have an assignment with a Christian school; and then the time came for that to end. There was an assignment pastoring, and then that time came for that to end. There was a new assignment then, that involved starting and planting another church; and there was an assignment leading a movement... and then the assignment shifts - it comes to an end.
If you understand your life is just a series of assignments, then you stick with your assignment until God says it's time to let it go. Then when you let go, it's easy to let go. It's just so simple. It's just having the right perspective; but if your identity is tied up in your assignment, you can't let it go. You just use everyone to make yourself feel better, because you've got a lack inside that God wants to meet.