In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: God hasn't missed anything that you've done in the way of some good act toward someone else. Some righteous act. Something as good or something seemingly as insignificant as giving someone a cup of cool water, which in essence what he's saying is this: any act of kindness that you and I show to someone else, God is going to reward that. A godly life is going to be greatly rewarded when you and I stand before Him.

Guest (Male): We know that the Bible says our entrance into heaven is based only on grace and not on anything we can do. So what is it about these rewards that God promises to His followers? Well, stay with us for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, to hear an explanation of our eternal rewards. Let's join Dr. Stanley for his message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: You know, there are fortune tellers out there who say that they can predict our future. They either use some kind of a magic ball, or they look in the palm of your hand, or look at the horoscope and tell you all about your life. How foolish, for the simple reason there is only one person who knows about your future, and that's Almighty God. All the rest of this is fake, and many people are just anxious to hear something good that somebody can predict in their life. Well, find out what God says, and you can find out what He says if you read this word, because God and God alone knows about your future.

So I want to talk about your future for a few moments. I don't have to look into some crystal ball, read your palm, or check your horoscope. All I have to do is to look into the simple word of the living God. This is one thing He says is in your future and mine and every one of us, and that is that one of these days you and I will stand in the presence of Jesus Christ. All of us who are believers will stand in the presence of Jesus Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

At that judgment, there will only be believers there. Not only that, it will be a judgment of rewards, not a judgment to find out whether we are saved or lost, but a judgment because we are saved, and because God does love us, and because He has said that He would choose to reward us. So when God judges us, He's not going to judge us against other people and what they accomplished or what they failed to accomplish. He knows us perfectly. He knows our motives. He knows every single thing we've done.

Those things that we've done before we trusted Jesus Christ as our personal savior are wiped out forever. So what we want to talk about this morning in this message is this whole issue of what these rewards will be and the nature of them. Now if you'll turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 for a moment, and this is a passage we've been dealing with along with many others, and you'll recall in this chapter, in the first few verses, that Paul is writing to the Corinthian church and they're having a little, shall we say, church skirmish or something.

That is, some of them said that Apollos is a far better speaker than the Apostle Paul. Oh no, Paul is a theologian of theologians. So they were having a little dissertation about all that. So here's what Paul said in the fifth verse of this third chapter: "What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."

Then here's what he says: "Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor." We've spent time talking about that very fact: that each one of us will receive the reward that we deserve, listen, not compared to someone else or what they did or didn't do, but each one will receive a reward according to our good deeds. Now I want us to think about what these look like and what this reward is all about.

I want you to think about it first of all in this light: that our reward is going to match the deeds. So all the rewards will not be the same. There are two passages of scripture that give us two extremes here. One of them is in Matthew chapter 10. If you'll turn there for a moment, I want you to notice in this passage a verse that many times you've heard it. This passage is talking about rewards: "He who receives you (verse 40) receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward."

Now I want you to watch this next verse: "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." Now what I want you to notice is this: that God hasn't missed anything you've done in the way of some good act toward someone else, some righteous act. Something as good or something seemingly as insignificant as giving someone a cup of cold water, which in essence what he's saying is this: any act of kindness that you and I show to someone else, God is going to reward that.

So he gives us the whole idea of a cup of water. Then if you go back to Matthew chapter 5 for a moment, the Sermon on the Mount, listen to what he says. Here he says in verse 11: "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets which were before you." Now think about this: he says he's going to reward you for that little act of kindness that was simply giving someone or helping someone.

Secondly, he's going to reward you for laying down your life because of your conviction and your desire to live a godly life, and persecution takes your life. He says what a great reward. So what I want you to see is this: all the rewards are not the same because God's requirements of us are not the same. Our opportunities are not the same. And so these rewards are going to match whatever the good thing that we have done, whatever it might be. But they are also going to be eternal.

When the Lord Jesus Christ looks upon us, he's going to see us as we are, and we are going to know instantly what he knows about us: the things that were worthless and the things that were worthy, and he's going to reward us accordingly. Now there's not going to be any improvement later on. In other words, we are being rewarded for the life that we've lived. This is why every day counts. This is why living a godly life is absolutely essential to pleasing Almighty God, because this is his will for us: to live a godly life.

Because he, listen, he desires the best for us. And the best for us is a godly life because, listen, a godly life is going to be greatly rewarded when you and I stand before him. So these rewards are going to be according to that particular deed. They're going to be eternal. They're not going to be compared to someone else. So now the issue is: what will these rewards be? What's the substance of these rewards? So let's look at some of them, and by the time we finish, you will sort of be able to evaluate where you are in your own personal relationship to Jesus Christ as to what you really want.

What do you really and truly value in your life? So the first reward I believe, not necessarily in this order because only God knows what the order would be, but I believe one of those rewards—listen to this carefully—is when you and I stand before him and he says to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things; now I'm going to give you the opportunity to be responsible for much, much more than you ever dreamed of."

Somebody says, "Well, I don't know that I think that's much of a reward." Well, let's think about it. Let's say, for example, that you commit some very heroic act, and your family thinks it's great and they tell you how grateful they are, and your friends tell you how wonderful it is. But if you get a letter from Washington, and the President says, "I'm flying down to meet you because I want to honor you for what you've done, and I want to commend you, and I have something I want to give you."

Now when the President takes time to fly down to see you and to give you a reward, all of a sudden what? Your friends can tell you and your cohorts over here can tell you, but when the man in the highest office in the land takes the time to come and tell you what a fantastic job you did, it's a whole different story. And here's the reason: the more you love someone and the more you value them and the more you honor them and the more you respect them, the greater the meaning of their commendation, and they tell you how well it is.

Just imagine this. Listen, if you didn't get anything else: well done. Listen, this is "well done" from God the Son. This is "well done" from the one who went to the cross and laid down his life for you. This is "well done" from the one who's answered your prayers and sought after you and kept you and overshadowed you and protected you and provided for you all these years. And now, in the light of the fact that we've sinned against him, he's had to forgive us ten thousand times, and what is he saying? "Well done, good and faithful servant." That will be one of our rewards.

A second one is this, and if you'll think about this, I don't know whether you thought about this being a reward or not, but one of the rewards is that you and I are going to be able to see and to meet all the people that you and I have had the privilege of having an influence on getting them to heaven. You say, "How are we going to see all these people?" Listen, he says we're going to know as we are known. And if you'll recall, even in the rapture, the scripture says that he's coming and he's bringing with him those who have slept in Christ already, and we're all going to meet in the air.

We're going to know each other. It's amazing what's in the Bible about heaven that we don't think about. One of the rewards—think about this, wouldn't this be an awesome reward—to say, "Well, there's so-and-so," and so-and-so comes up to you and says, "You know, you led me to Christ. You sent me a tract. You told me about Jesus." How many fathers and mothers are going to see their children, and children are going to see their friends? You just think about what an absolute awesome homecoming that's going to be when you and I stand before him, and we are swept into his glory, and we meet all of those people whose lives have been changed because of your influence and your testimony.

What does that say? It says that our opportunity to witness for Jesus Christ is awesome, because, listen, that's why he's left us here. That's what we're up to: getting the truth of the gospel to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, as simply as possible. The power of the Holy Spirit to the glory and honor of God and the salvation of souls. That's what the church is all about. And when we are about the church's business and we're about fulfilling the Great Commission, God is going to honor that.

Going into all the world and preaching and teaching the word of God and bringing them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. One of our rewards is going to be we're going to be able to meet these folks. I want to ask you a question: can you name anybody to whom you have witnessed and told how to be saved and shared the gospel, and God has used you to lead that person to Jesus Christ as their savior and Lord? I want you to think about this. Would it not be a tragedy to live your whole life and come to the end and stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and not be able to name one single person? Not one that you shared the gospel with and they trusted Christ.

Let's even bring it down a step. Wouldn't it be a tragedy to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and you can't even remember anybody that you even attempted to do it? We hear a lot about, "Let's don't be different. Let's all be together." Jesus said salt, light. Light and darkness absolutely cannot coexist in the same spot any more than it can in your heart. Salt—you rub salt in a wound and it burns. And that's what the world doesn't like about the church. They want to shut us up. They want to get us off the air. They don't want fair speech. In other words, God's given us a message. The truth is the world needs to know we can't be quiet. We're not going to be quiet and we can't be quiet.

How can we be quiet when we have the only message that can make it possible for a person's eternal destiny to be changed? And so one of those things that we'll be able to share in the reward is people, for example, that all of us have had the privilege of being a part of. Now if you belong to a church that has a strong missionary organization and they're out there getting the gospel out, you know what? God's going to reward you for your part. You support that church, you support the missionary work, you pray for the missionaries.

In other words, God's going to reward us for every single thing that we do. He's not going to miss anything. And somebody says, "Well, I've been trying to keep up." Listen, you can forget it. You can't tabulate good deeds. Only God knows what they are. He knows when they're sincere, when they're not, the motive is right, when it's not right. But he's going to reward us. And one of those things that's so very important is getting the truth of the gospel. And of course, one of those rewards is going to be the assignment that he gives us.

Because he said in that 25th chapter, "You've been faithful with a few things; I'll make you ruler over many." And when you come to the book of Revelation, there are a lot of people who sort of discredit themselves. They say, "Well, how could God possibly use me?" And here's what he says: "And they will not have need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever."

Now you say, "Well, what can I reign over?" That's none of your business. God knows what he has equipped us to do in this life. He also knows what he will enable us to do following the judgment. If we have been faithful and true to what he's called us to do here, he's going to reward us for it. This is why slothfulness—slothfulness and laziness—are absolutely totally unacceptable in the eyes of God. And it should be unacceptable in our eyes. God has gifted every single one of us. He has a will for us. He wants the best for us.

He wants godly living. He wants righteousness in our life. Why? Because he wants to bless us. And he says in Ephesians, in that second chapter, you and I, listen, we're going to be like trophies—trophies before the angelic host for all eternity. Listen, not trophies for what we've done, but trophies of the fact that God saved us. That he saved us from our sins. He brought us through life. And now we're his children and for all eternity we're going to be reflecting his glory and honor and who he is.

God loves us. But slothfulness, laziness, not taking advantage of opportunities, because as we said before, what's he going to judge us on the basis of? First of all, he's going to judge us on the basis of the truth that we have. How much truth do we know? Do you realize that it's dangerous to listen to the gospel? You say, "Well, I think I'll turn it off." Well, wait just a minute before you do. You need to understand why it's dangerous. You and I are going to be held responsible for all the truth that we've heard. Secondly, for all the opportunities God has given us to serve him in some fashion. And thirdly, how we respond to that opportunity. And you see, for so many people, this is their life. Their life is me, myself, and I: what I want, what pleases me, what satisfies me. This is what life's all about. And you know what? That's not what life's all about. Life's all about him. You're not the center of your universe; he's the center of this universe. And our life is to respond and to rotate around him, not ourselves. We will give an account to him for how we've lived this life.

And when I think about the idea of his assignments to us, what's he going to do? Remember what he said to the fellow? He said, "You've been a faithful, good servant. I'm going to make you ruler over many things." That is, what you and I do in this life will determine to a great degree how God uses us and blesses us in the life that is to come.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Those who follow Christ should do their best at whatever they do, as if working directly for the Lord, and we can expect him to notice our effort and customize a reward. The Bible gives believers clear direction for living in a God-honoring way, and if you'd like help with that, visit us at intouch.org. And then listen again to this lesson by following the link to Today on Radio. Again, log on to intouch.org or call or text us at 1-800-INTOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The foundation is the most important part of any building. Learn how to build your life on the sure footing of Jesus Christ, coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley. Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this: that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God. Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus, as we all want to do. You can learn how at CharlesStanleyInstitute.org.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley. To have strong convictions based on the word of God, he's working out things that you and I would never know about in our future. In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming 24/7. Now watch this: In Touch Plus, streaming free on Local Now.

Guest (Female): From the Pastor's Heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-INTOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul reminds believers that their lives are like a building. Evaluate what you're constructing in our moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Jesus is the foundation, and the question is: what are you building on this foundation, and how will your building hold up at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Well, the scripture says you build the life consisting of gold, silver, and precious stones. Now that doesn't mean literally, but it's symbolic of what? Of that which is lasting, that which is acceptable, and that which God will be approving of.

The moment you and I were saved, we started building this life on this foundation. And first of all is our attitude. Our attitude is going to count a great deal as we stand before him. Secondly, what have we been doing? How have we invested our life? How have we spent it, so to speak? And then a third thing that's so very important is this: what has been our motive? That's very important. So let's think about some very specific things that would be pleasing to God beginning right now at your life, or the moment you were saved.

One of those things that would fall in the category of gold, silver, and precious stones—things that are precious to God—would be the time you spend in his word. Reading his word and trying to absorb it into your life and to apply these principles to your life. A second thing would be the time that you spend in prayer. Not just asking for yourself—remember we talked about motive—but praying for other people as well as for yourself. Praying for God to work his will and ways, maybe in your family, the life of our nation, whatever it might be, but time you spend talking to him.

A third thing that would fall into that category is the time you spend in worship. I don't mean simply just going to church, but I mean the time that you spend being with him, talking to him, listening to him, and just being satisfied being in his presence. A fourth thing would be your giving. Not just giving to the church, though that's a very important thing. And I think about not only just giving money but giving your time. Giving a listening ear to people who are in need and who are hurting. But giving is what the Christian life is all about. It's what Jesus is all about. It's what God's all about. He's about giving of his love and mercy and kindness and goodness toward us.

Guest (Male): Visit intouch.org to learn more about living in response to God's love for you. If this program challenged you to grow up in your faith, tell us about what you learned. Tomorrow on In Touch, the Bible says God rewards believers with crowns. Learn about that Wednesday on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.