REWARD
By D. M. PANTON
SCRIPTURE
regards each disciple as a runner racing, an athlete wrestling, a warrior
fighting, a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger
storming; and all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation
- that God is, and that "He is a Rewarder"
(Heb. 11 : 6). "With many disciples," in the words of Dr. A. T. Pierson, "the eyes are yet blinded to this mystery of rewards, which
is an open mystery of the Word. It must be an imputed righteousness whereby we enter:
but, having thus entered by faith, our works determine
our relative rank, place, reward."
A Church Truth
Perhaps
no words are more frequently on our Lord's lips than these:-"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with
me, to render to each (disciple) according as his work is"
(Rev. 22: 12). To whom is this said? "I Jesus have
sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the Churches." So Paul says:-
"He that planteth and he
that watereth are one" -
in standing and redemption - "but each
shall receive his own reward according to his own labour"
(1 Cor. 3: 8).
Our Lord singles out a grave act of
discipline, and presents it as symptomatic of His habitual action. "I do cast her
into great tribulation: ... and all the
churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto each one of you
according to your works" (Rev. 2 : 22). So Paul balances the double-edged recompense. "Servants, obey:.. knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of
the inheritance : ye
serve the Lord Christ. For"
- on the other hand - "he that doeth wrong shall
receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there
is no respect of persons"(Col. 3 : 25.) It
is a truth that concerns us.
Character
All
honest difficulty on this truth vanishes when we examine what God
rewards; and, first of all, God's
recompense rests supremely on godlikeness, and godlike conduct. "Love your
enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward
shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for
He is kind toward the unthankful and evil" (Luke 6: 35). Here reward turns upon likeness in character
and conduct to our Father in heaven. Secret devotion, also, will be rewarded.
"Pray to
thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense
thee" (Matt. 6: 6): not only
will the prayer be answered, but the praying will be recompensed. Moreover our attitude of heart will help to
sway the Lord's adjudication on our service: "Condemn
not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"
(Luke 6: 37). Our life is putting, word by word, the
sentence upon ourselves into Christ's lips: we are manufacturing, as servants,
our own adjudication. For
goodness and glory are but two halves of one whole: goodness is the suffering
side of glory, and glory is the shining side of goodness. Every beatitude has a
reward attached.
Labour
So
labour, also, will be exactly recompensed. "Whosoever shall
give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only"
- the minimum of gift - "in the name of a
disciple, verily I say unto You, he shall in no wise lose his reward"
(Matt. 10 : 42). For what is reward? "To him that worketh,
the reward is not reckoned as of ,grace, but as of
debt" (
Motive
But,
most searching truth of all, God rewards supremely the why at underlies the service. "Take heed that
ye do not your righteousness" - conduct really good in itself -
"before men, to be seen of them:
else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven"
(Matt. 6 : 1). Motive
is thus revealed as decisively crucial. "The Lord will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the
counsels of the hearts; and then shall each
have his praise from God" (1 Cor. 4: 5). For
exaltation in the Kingdom is in inverse
ratio to lowliness of service in the Church. "For whosoever
would (wishes to) become great among you, shall be your servant
: and whosoever would be first among you, shall be slave
of all" (Mark 10 : 43).
Suffering
Reward is also reserved for all
suffering undergone for Christ. “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as
evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice
in that day, leap for joy: for behold, your reward
is great in heaven" (Luke
6: 23). Suffering generally
ensures purity of motive; and the Lord
counterbalances the fear of man, not only by the more tremendous fear of God (Rev. 2: 16), but also by the magnitude of His
rewards. "Every reward suggested," in the words of Mr. J. H. Lowe, "is a prize of a value
inconceivable by us at present, and can only be appreciated at the judgment
Seat." So Moses accounted
"the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures of
Its Effect
Thus
Reward not only supplies a motive in itself legitimate: it is a motive to which
our Lord and His Apostles make constant and direct appeal; e.g., Christ (Matt.
6: 1), Paul (1 Cor. 9: 24), Peter (1
Pet. 1: 17), James (Jas. 1: 12), and John (2 John 8). "I believe for my part," says Dr. Alexander Maclaren,
"that we suffer terribly by the comparative
neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Would it not make a
difference to us if we really believed and carried away with us in our
thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present is
registered, and will tell, on the far side beyond? "
A Full Reward
We
do well to remember three things: - that Sadoc, the founder of the
Sadducees, started his career of unbelief by denying the doctrine of reward:
also, that this principle took full effect even upon our Lord - "who for the joy that was set before Him endured” (Heb. 12: 2): moreover, that no wise disciple can afford to neglect so great a mass of Scripture, or
to throw away so mighty an incentive to holiness. Our discovery of this truth at the
judgment Seat will be too late. Every seed we drop into the soil
- every thought and word and act - is banked in God, and will one day spring up
in lovely, or alarming, harvest, - as we sowed, what
we sowed, as much as we sowed, and why we sowed. Therefore "LOOK
TO YOURSELVES, THAT YE LOSE NOT THE THINGS THAT YE HAVE WROUGHT, BUT THAT YE
RECEIVE A FULL REWARD" (2 John 8).
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