What is the Reward for Kingdom Service?

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

Over the last several months we talked about divine healing, deliverance and forgiveness .

We have talked about faith, repentance and having a personal relationship with God.

We looked at parables of Jesus and about miracles, signs and wonders which demonstrate both the power of God and His purpose to restore all things.

We covered the subjects of religion, tradition and spiritual transformation.

Most recently the message was about restoration and reconciliation of relationships.

We have covered just about everything that Matthew tells us about the renewed life and living like Jesus.

Maybe you have this question as I do - So what is the reward for all of this?

Why should I live like Jesus?

Jesus suffered and was crucified - where is the incentive in that?

Not only that, Jesus’ followers were persecuted too.

Of the twelve original Apostles, only one died a natural death - John - and they tried to kill him too - it just didn’t work.

What makes people follow Jesus when everyone else seems to be again them?

People don’t just give their lives for no reason - mere must be some reward!

Matthew 16:24–25 ESV

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Just like everything else that Jesus taught about the kingdom of God - even the reward for kingdom service is different from what you might expect.

If you are thinking that being a follower of Jesus is going to make you rich or powerful according to this world’s standards - it will not!

If you think that being a follower of Jesus is going to make you more popular or famous - yeah, that’s probably not happening either.

If you think that living like Jesus is going to make you a better person - you might be right - but it depends what you mean by “better”

If you mean “better than other people” you have got it all wrong.

But if you mean “better than you would be otherwise” - absolutely - you can count on it!

There is certainly a reward for Kingdom service, but just as our lives are transformed, we must also realign our expectations.

Our reward may not look like much in the context of our present circumstances, but it becomes clearer when we see it in eternal perspective.

It may feel at times like God is not being fair, but you can be assured that He is generous and so is His reward.

And if you ever feel like you have missed out or that your reward is not coming, Jesus would remind us that it often seems so in the moment, but that our future is secure with Him.

I hope that you are encouraged to live like Jesus today - it will be totally worth it!

Your reward is eternal.

I once heard a ministry advertise - “become a pastor, the pay is not great but the benefits are out of this world!”

I’m glad this is Pastor appreciation month - Karie and I appreciate your cards, gift and words of encouragement.

You know why October is pastor appreciation month? - because October is the month that most pastors decide to quit.

Its when pastors begin planning for the next year.

Its also when the days are getting darker and people who struggle with depression are starting to struggle even more.

Which means that pastors and counselors are seeing an increase of activity.

And at the same time we are starting to think about next year and asking ourselves - do I really want to do this all over again?

That’s when it helps to know that you are appreciated?

But its not just pastors - we learned in yesterdays seminar that we are all called to make disciples.

Why would we do that - especially if its not your job and you are not getting paid?

The Apostle Paul answers this question most articulately:

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NIV

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Serving Jesus is a compulsion!

It is it’s own driving force.

Like any other addiction - we don’t completely understand why we do what we do - we just have to do it.

Its feeding a hunger that we have.

It’s meeting a deep seated need.

It’s not a job - it’s a calling.

It’s what gives our lives meaning and purpose.

And in that sense, serving God is more important than money, or recognition or any other measurement of success.

It is about pleasing God - and hearing him say: “well done!”

Colossians 3:23–24 MSG

23 Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, 24 confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ.

So this changes our perspective when it comes to understanding our reward for service.

We are not just talking about an earthly reward.

We are talking about an eternal reward.

This world will never be enough.

Matthew 19:16–22 ESV

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Here is a guy who has everything and yet its not enough.

He not only has lots of money - he is doing everything right by all appearances.

He’s rich - he keeps the law - he’s blessed by every usual measurement.

And it’s still not enough - he knows he is missing something.

So he asks Jesus, “what am I still missing?”

Jesus says, “now that you have it all - give it all away!”

You have to be kidding, right?!?

Why would anyone do that?

The point is that he was trusting in what he could see.

His confidence was in his own resources and his own resourcefulness and not in God.

The rich young ruler serves as an illustration of how you can do everything right and yet still be so wrong!

It’s never enough!

You can never have enough.

You can never do enough.

You can never be enough as long as you are trusting in your own strength.

This world is never enough - as long as we are trusting in what we can see, have or do it will limit us from being able to experience the supernatural power of God in our lives.

God will not be God until we stop trying to be god.

We will never escape earths gravity until we abandon ourselves to trust God completely.

I don’t know what that looks like for you, but for the young man in this passage, it meant doing the one thing that he was unwilling to do.

Maybe we have it all wrong?

Maybe life isn’t about possessions, reputation or accomplishments.

Maybe the reason we never have enough is because we have entirely the wrong goals and thus, the wrong measurement of success.

So what is the purpose of all of this?

This life prepares us for eternity.

Matthew 19:23–30 ESV

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

When we were in High School, many of us tried to be someone by being popular, by having achievements, or by excelling in sports or clubs. But what happens after High School, nobody cares if you were captain of the chess club or quarterback of the football team.

Many of us treated High School as if that were the culmination of our lives. But High School is just the beginning. The whole purpose of school is to prepare us for what is too come after. For adulthood, a career, a family and contributing to a society. And in the real world, the kid that everyone picked on may be your boss, your mayor or maybe even your pastor...

If I could go back and talk to my high-school-age self I would say, “don’t sweat it!”

What you think is the goal, is not the goal.

Therefore, what you think is important is not important.

Nobody is going to remember what you do in High School.

What they are going to notice is the person you become.

Don’t worry about what people think of you now, focus on the person you are becoming.

Do you know that the same is true of our lives here on earth?

We spend our entire lives trying to be someone that people will say nice things about at our funeral.

He was a good man - he loved his wife and children.

He was well-respected with a list of accomplishments.

He did good things that benefitted the community and made the world a better place.

That’s all good - but what about after the funeral?

You realize that, except for a tombstone, all of us will eventually be forgotten?

We become a name in a genealogy - with a story or two, if we are so fortunate.

But this earthly perspective misses the point - our life does not end.

Our life goes on in eternity.

Jesus tells the disciples that He has a role for them that extends beyond the end of this world.

Jesus’ disciples will rule and reign with Him for eternity.

2 Timothy 2:12 CEV

12 If we don’t give up, we will rule with him. If we deny that we know him, he will deny that he knows us.

Have you ever thought about what you will be doing for eternity?

It won’t be nothing, I can assure you that!

We tend to think of it as just being pure joy and glory.

According to the Bible, that glory comes with a great deal of responsibility.

And if we believe that we will be entrusted with even more of God’s work eternally - how does that influence the way that we live our lives now?

If I had known in High School that I would be doing the things that I was learning for the rest of my life - I might have applied myself a little more - worked a little harder.

Well guess what - what you are doing now is preparation for what you will be doing in eternity - so get used to it!

Learn to enjoy serving the Lord - because you will be doing it for eternity!

And if you learn to enjoy it - then serving becomes it’s own reward.

Your reward will be generous.

I know that rewarding work with more work might not seem like much of a reward.

But that’s because we have a skewed idea about work in the first place.

A lot of us think of our work as a kind of legalized slavery - where we endure hardship and someone else gets most of the the satisfaction, the money and/or the credit for our labor.

That may be how it is after the fall, but that’s not how God designed it to be.

God is more than generous and work was originally designed to be a partnership with God in caring for the earth.

Genesis 2:15–16 CSB

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,

Understanding what the Bible says about our eternal reward is tied to a proper theology of work and an understanding of how God designed us to function as humans who care for the earth.

The dissatisfaction that we all struggle with is not how God designed our life to be - it is a result of our fallen world and our sinful nature.

The unfairness of life is a perception based on our distorted view of the world and of reality.

Life is not fair.

Matthew 20:1–9 ESV

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.

If life were fair - everyone would give the save and everyone would get the same.

But life is not fair - each of us have different stories, different resources and different capacities.

And our stories and our individual capacities don’t start with us.

We each have a history - the story of our parents, our family and our community.

Some of us have been privileged to begin our lives with savings, maybe a car or a house instead of beginning with debt and having to work our way out of a hole.

We were taught skills or cultivated good habits - we had good role models and a sense of what it takes to succeed.

Some of us grew up in Christian homes where we were taught to love God and where we knew that we were loved and felt secure.

Not everybody has that...

Not everyone begins at the same place with the same resources.

Nut God doesn’t bless us based on what we have or on what we have done.

He rewards us based on what we have done with what we have received.

2 Corinthians 8:12 NLT

12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

When we talk about fairness I would remind us of what I said two weeks ago in the parable of the king that forgave his servant a great dept but who refuse to forgive his fellow servant.

Its about choosing between justice and mercy.

We want mercy for ourselves but justice for others.

It doesn’t work that way - it’s either justice or mercy.

For ourselves and for others.

If you want life to be fair - then consider what that means.

Fair means everyone gets justice and there is no room for mercy.

There is also no room for God’s generosity - because generosity is not “fair.”

I would rather life not be fair - because fair means we all get exactly what we deserve!

Think about it - do you really want exactly what you deserve?

On the other hand, when life is not fair, it leaves room for God’s generosity...

Generosity means you get what you don’t deserve.

That may not be such a bad thing - especially when you know God...

No life is not fair....

But God is good.

Matthew 20:10–16 ESV

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

This parable is designed to make us think - do you really want life to be fair?

Fair means you get what you deserve.

We always thing we deserve more.

like God is holding out on us.

Sure, God is holding back - but he’s not holding back on anything good.

God is good - He’s more than generous.

The only thing He’s holding back is His wrath and His judgement.

He took it out on Jesus - to save us from our sin.

to save us from ourselves - our greed and corruption.

That’s the goodness of God!

He Himself is our reward.

Your reward is secure.

Understanding the heavenly concept of reward means changing our mind about what is valuable and important.

Jesus explained it this way:

Matthew 6:19–20 NLT

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

If you are still thinking n terms of an earthly reward, then you must have missed what Jesus said.

Your treasures are in heaven.

Does that mean more stuff, just in another place?

I don’t think so - its a different kind of stuff.

Jesus gives us a clue:

Matthew 6:21 NLT

21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Your treasure is tied to what you love.

Whatever you love - that is your treasure!

No body can take that love away from you.

So who or what do you love?

We love God and we love each other.

There it is - that is your reward!

God himself is your reward!

And God’s people are a bonus!

If you don’t love God and want nothing to do with His people - I guess there’s really no point - your stuck all by yourself.

There’s no reward in that kind of life.

If, on the other hand, you learn to love, then life takes on a transcendent quality.

Jesus demonstrated this by his own sacrifice..

Remember the resurrection.

Matthew 20:17–19 ESV

17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

If Matthew is recording this right - and I believe He is - Jesus told the disciples about the resurrection before it happened.

John 12:16 AMP

16 His disciples did not understand and could not comprehend the meaning of these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified and exalted, they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him.

Jesus told them about the resurrection, but they didn’t comprehend it.

It didn’t fit their way of thinking.

It wasn’t part of their internal narrative.

They were thinking about a worldly kingdom which did not include death so it could not include resurrection either.

That’s the problem when we think of rewards in earthly terms.

We think something is wrong when we have to suffer.

We think that we are missing something if things don’t continually get better.

… better by earthly standards.

We think, like the rich young ruler, I must still be missing something.

This is not the way my story was supposed to go.

What you are missing is resurrection - the part that extends beyond this life.

If you understand resurrection - you can’t lose!

You can’t lose because losing doesn’t matter!

In fact, when you lose - that’s when you win!

I know, it sounds crazy - but only because we are so used to just thinking in terms of this life and this world.

What if we thought of our lives as simply preparation of eternity - like school.

And the reward is not how well we do - but how well we are prepared.

It is not what people think of us but the people we actually become.

James and John got a lesson to that effect...

It is a privilege just to participate.

Matthew 20:20–28 ESV

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Every parent wants their kids to be the best...

However, Mrs. Zebedee wasn’t looking at the big picture.

She wanted her boys to be the most popular kids in school.

She wasn’t thinking about what that school was preparing them for.

Do you really want to be on Jesus’ left and his right when he comes into his kingdom?

What if that coronation day happens not on a throne but on a cross?

Do you still want to be on his right and his left?

You have no idea what you are asking....

Her question is like every other question we ask and the ones that Matthew has described Jesus as answering:

Do you really want justice? - Or do you want mercy?

Do you really want life to be fair? - Or can you trust God’s goodness.

Do you really want to rule with Christ? - Then you had better pay attention, because you will reign with Him in eternity.

Your reward is that you get to participate.

I’m not talking about a participation trophy - I’m talking about participation being the trophy.

You get the satisfaction of doing what you were created to do.

Becoming who you were created to be.

Participating with God in growing and caring for His creation - the very thing we were made to do.

Loving and being loved - walking in daily fellowship with God for eternity.

That is our reward - that is what we were made for!

And the greatest part is that when you know it, you don’t have to wait for it.

We can begin to enjoy our reward by serving the Lord right here and right now.

Questions for reflection:

What are you living for? Are you hoping to get rich or famous? Is there some other achievement that you are aspiring to? Are you living in such a way that people will say nice things about you when you die? Or are you thinking about your eternal life?

Are you worried about life being fair? Does it bother you when other people are blessed? Especially when they haven’t worked as hard as you have? What if you focused instead on God’s generosity? After all, do you really want fair?

What if the reward for serving God is God Himself? Does that sound like something you could enjoy? If it doesn’t, then no amount of good deeds will ever be enough. And if it does, then serving God will be its own reward.