And He said: and I will reward them. Now just in case you thought that this may not be true, I want you to see that Paul repeats the same thing. It's so repeated, I've just got to use a couple of scriptures just so you see it. One Corinthians, Chapter 3, here it is here. Verse 13: If any man's work, each one's work will become clear - so right now I wouldn't have a clue whether your work was good or bad, or anything else. I wouldn't have a clue; and not only that, I'm not going to be able to find out, because it'll never be clear until the day of Christ. It'll never be clear, because only God knows exactly what you're doing. Here we are sitting here, I don't know who's sitting here, and secretly you have no position, no public profile, nothing. But behind the scene you're living out an intimate life with Jesus. You're touching the lives of people with kindness, you're ministering to people, you're serving and maybe at your home and family, and the people that are around you, there's a flow of the life of Jesus. I couldn't see that. Only God can see that.
So it says the day - that's the day when He comes, and He sorts this thing out - so that's when it'll be clear. Right now we don't know, and in that day it'll be really clear, because He will honour ones that have honoured Him. Isn't that good? It's exciting isn't it aye, because it puts us all on the same kind of level then aye? And it says: it will be revealed by fire. The fire will test each one's work, what sort of work - so if anyone's work which He's built endures, He rewards; so God will just check out what you did, so He's got a great movie player there. He's got a record of everything you did and said, and why you did it, and He'll play it all back, and have a little look at it, and you will see why you did what you did, how you did what you did - if you were a slacker, it'll be seen. If you were diligent, it will be seen. If there was love in it, it'll be seen; if there was an agenda in it, it'll all be seen. It'll all be seen, and then He said: and if the work stands up to Jesus' investigation of it, then you'll be rewarded.
So works that are done out of a motive of love, works that flow out of intimacy with the Lord, those are the things that will abide; not doing what someone else told you to do. Not trying to please someone, or trying to gain some position, gain some influence, gain some - nothing like that's going to do it. It's what came out of your relationship with Christ, and your love for Him; and you've decided to serve Him, and you just did it under Him; so this is repeated. Whatsoever you do, do heartily as the Lord, not to men. Don't be a man pleaser - men pleaser, always waiting to do something that someone notices, so they can get ahead. Tell you what; you've had your reward. You got ahead - but it just gets burnt up.
Now notice what else it says here. It says: if your work remains - in other words, when God gives it a look over; and it's interesting when John saw Jesus, he saw Him with eyes like fire, looking right in. Oh oh, you look right in. See, we can hide from one another; we can't hide from Him - he said: but anyone's work is burned up, he suffers loss - ooh - but he will be saved. Oh, thank goodness! I thought for a moment I wasn't going to be saved. It's got nothing to do with salvation, and being saved. It's got everything to do with what God is going to reward His people with.
He said: you'll be saved, but so as by fire; or literally, it's like this: it's like a man who built a house, and it caught fire, and it burnt down, and he just got out in the nick of time; and he was saved, but he's smelling of smoke, and there's nothing left, and there was no insurance. Get the idea? So he got out; but there he is, smelling of smoke, and you see the burn marks, and the tatty garments and stuff, and that's it? I don't want to just get into heaven, and that's it - smoke of everything around me, and I've just made it in.
I don't want to just make it inside the gate, not when there's greater things ahead for us! Want to live a life that's passionate, and on fire, and serving God, and having impact and influence! I don't want to be held down by passivity, and apathy, and other kinds of negative things! I want to live passionately. There's a lot at stake for me. That's a good incentive. See, free enterprise really does work. People do work harder if they're motivated with a reward. It actually works.