Last night at our Wednesday prayer meeting and Bible study, one of the ladies spoke up after we had just read these words of Jesus:
“For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41)
This sweet, elderly lady (who had just served us some very delicious beef stew and blackberry cobbler) announced to everyone, “I never think about getting a reward. I just do what I do because I love people and I want to do it.” She went on, “Thinking about getting a reward just doesn’t do anything for me.”
Her comment opened a whole discussion about why we do what we do in service to Christ. Certainly, the Bible speaks of treasures in heaven, eternal rewards, and crowns. But the question she raised was, “Should rewards be our motivation or goal?”
Paul mentioned rewards, and specifically crowns, when he wrote his epistles to the churches. These crowns appear to be rewards for Christians who do more than simply seek salvation. Oftentimes, these crowns are presented in the language of athletic competition. For instance, 1 Corinthians 9:25 reads, “And everyone who is competing in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.” Here Paul relates Christian self-control to being the best example of Christ we can possibly be. However, this still doesn’t answer the question my friend put before us: “Should rewards be our motivation or goal?”
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul shared extensively about his background, his struggles, and his present imprisonment because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When speaking of his background, he wrote an impressive list of his personal credentials as a Jewish rabbi: “If anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day; of the people of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, I was blameless.”(Phil. 3:4b-6)
Just a few verses earlier, Paul had warned these Philippian saints to beware of those who wanted to mutilate the flesh (referring to circumcision according to the Law of Moses). He went so far as to refer to them as dogs. His message is clear: “Acts of the flesh” are never going to get a person what they truly desire from the Christian life. No matter how severely we strive for perfection, such a mindset will not satisfy the longing heart. Laws (dos and don’ts) may give us a sense of accomplishment and pride. But they never get us to the place our hearts long to be. Where is that place, you ask? Paul answered it in the next section of this letter.
“But everything that was gain to me, these things I have considered as loss because of Christ. But even more than that, I consider all things as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things—and consider them dung—in order to gain Christ and be found in union with him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that is through trust in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God based on trust. My goal is to know him: to experience the power of his resurrection and to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his obedience unto death, that through whatever happens, I will arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.” (Phil. 3:7-10)
What Paul wrote here is the answer to my dear sister’s question. Doing good works for future rewards is a good thing. It gives us the assurance that what we are doing is not overlooked. The Lord will reward us for our efforts. But that is not the real prize. The real prize is to know him. This knowing is far more than an acquaintance. It is the kind of knowing we have with a spouse or a best friend. This is what drove Paul. This is what motivated him above all else: to live in an intimate, personal relationship with the risen Lord Jesus.
When Paul met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, he asked one question, “What can I do for you?” Within days, Paul was healed of his temporary blindness, and shortly thereafter he went to Arabia and stayed for nearly three years. There is no record of what Paul did during that time. But I think we know. He was getting to know his Lord.
I doubt that Paul went into Arabia and took a library of scrolls with him to study. He certainly didn’t have the internet with its multifaceted tools for research. The Scriptures don’t even tell us whether he had a travel companion. But he had Jesus. I’m betting Paul spent countless hours in deep prayer and conversation with Jesus. I’m sure the Lord taught him how to trust in the spirit and how to follow it.
So here is the question I put before us all, “Which reward motivates me? A heavenly crown or a genuine, intimate relationship with Jesus?” The truth is I don’t think we can get the crowns by simply pursuing them with our righteous acts. I believe they come as we, like Paul, seek to know Jesus first. He is the goal, the only goal worth pursuing. May we each keep this in mind as we give our lives in service to him.
Love in Christ,
