What does the Bible say about eternal rewards?
Do you know the power of compound interest? It took me quite a while to believe that if I set aside a little bit of money, it would snowball into a sizable amount over time. When people see how their money can multiply, they might begin to make some changes.
All of a sudden, that $4 coffee doesn’t look so satisfying. Taking that same $4 and investing over thirty years at 12% would yield over $64. Why buy one coffee when someday I can buy fifteen?
If this is true, why do I still spend so much more on meaningless things now?
Because I don’t have a strong enough vision for the future, I’m still so caught up in what I can buy now that I can’t see the enormous potential for the future.
This is convicting enough, but Jesus wants to take these principles further. He wants us to have an even bigger vision of their potential potential.
In Matthew 19, we read that a confident, wealthy man (the other Gospels say “rich young man”) came up to Jesus with a question: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” This man must have done many “good things” up to this point to get to where he was. Maybe he worked hard in a business. Perhaps he invested in successful ventures. Maybe he made more profound sacrifices than others. And now he wanted to know what good thing he could do to get eternal life.
Jesus seems to know the question behind the question. That’s why he says, “Why do you call me good? Do you know what “good” means? There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
The rich man wanted to know more information: “Which ones?” The man asked.
Jesus replied by listing a few of the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'" [1]
Notice which commands Jesus mentioned. They all come from “The Second Table of the Law.” In other words, all the commandments that pertain to love for others.
And this rich man responded that he had kept all the commands to love others.
And, if we were to observe his life, we might come to the same conclusion. Maybe he was faithful to his wife. Perhaps he never stole any money or wrongfully took his competitors to court. Maybe he sent his mother a card every Mother’s Day. But Jesus wanted him to have a bigger vision of his life than just being a good neighbor.
And so commanded him to do something hard for us to comprehend. “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor…Then come follow me." [2] Put everything you own on Craigslist and fall in line behind the twelve.
Jesus said if he did this, he would “have treasure in heaven." [3]
This was not the only time Jesus said that selling possessions and giving to the poor would lead to treasure in heaven:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys.[4]
Or in Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, where he compared storing up this treasure to investing your money in a place that will never lose its value:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.[5]
This is what Jesus was trying to teach this rich young man. He wanted him to see that what he invested in the kingdom of God was not lost but preserved and multiplied. But he couldn’t see it. The gravitational pull of his gold kept him from long-term gains. And so he went away sad, unable to trust Jesus enough to part with his money for a moment.
The Apostle Peter witnesses this interaction and responds: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" [6] Peter is saying, Jesus, we have made that investment. We left our jobs and security to follow you. What treasure will we receive?
Now, you might expect Jesus to scold Peter for such a request. After all, we shouldn’t be motivated by rewards, should we?
But Jesus doesn’t dismiss his question. He explains what is in store for all those who make sacrifices to invest in God’s kingdom:
“Truly, I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits 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 wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.[7]
Jesus explains to Peter that he will see the return on his investments at “the renewal of all things.” When Jesus returns and resurrects us and the whole world, his representatives will sit with him in places of authority. And everyone who left something in his name to invest in Christ’s kingdom will receive an incredible return.
Motivated by eternal rewards
Now, you might respond: But why would I need rewards in heaven to motivate me right now? Shouldn’t I give to the poor because that is the right thing to do?
Yes. Of course.
But that’s not what Jesus says in this text. He doesn’t tell the rich man or even the disciples to make sacrifices just because it’s right. Jesus says do these things because you will have treasure in heaven.
But why would Jesus want us to be motivated by eternal rewards?
1. Eternal rewards take trust.
Investing in God’s kingdom by selling your possessions and giving to the poor takes trust. Just as you trust your investment broker to take care of your money, you trust Jesus with what has been stored in heaven for you. You believe he is not running a religious Ponzi scheme, but when a person makes an eternal investment, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
2. Where your treasure is, your heart will also be there.
Jesus says that our hearts will follow our treasure. If we invest in a new car, our hearts will be drawn to that car. If we invest in a new home, our hearts will be drawn to that home. If we invest in the world's life to come, our hearts will be drawn to “the renewal of all things.” We will think, meditate, and long for Jesus’ glorious return and the great resurrection that he has planned.
3. Eternal rewards give you eternal value.
If looking at my retirement portfolio changes how I spend my money, what could looking at my eternal rewards do to my habits? Instead of putting such a high value on the world as it is now, I can invest in what I hope the world will become on the Last Day. I can use my whole life to participate in what we all pray for, for the coming of God’s kingdom, so that his will is done on earth as it is in heaven as we wait for his appearance.
The first shall be last, and the last first.
But doesn’t all this talk about rewards make people work righteously and self-righteously? Won’t this create different “classes of Christians?”
Jesus seems to anticipate these concerns, and so, only in the Gospel of Matthew does he follow up this interaction with Peter with these words: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." [8] Jesus tells Peter, “You are very focused on what rewards you will get on the Last Day…BUT… not so fast. You who are first in my kingdom will be last.”
To explain what he means, he tells a parable about workers in his vineyard. In this parable, some workers are hired at different times in the landowner’s vineyard. When the day ends, the landowner pays those who started last. Surprisingly, he paid everyone equally no matter how long they worked.
At first, this parable seems to undermine everything that Jesus has been saying about eternal rewards. It is as if he was saying, “Forget everything I just taught you about making sacrifices and receiving 100 times what you gave up. In the end, everybody gets the same thing.”
But that’s not what he is doing. Jesus knows the psychology of investments. Some people who invest early can become arrogant and look down on the latecomers. And those latecomers can feel so ashamed that they wonder if their offer will be worth it. So Jesus tells this parable to say to those first disciples: “You are not superior to the latecomers.” And Jesus tells the latecomers (most likely the Gentiles), “It’s not too late for you to get in the game.” In Christ’s kingdom, those who show up last are holy to the first, and the first cheer others on by being last.
[1][1] Matthew 19:18-19
[2] Matthew 19:21
[3] Matthew 19:21
[4] Luke 12:33
[5] Matthew 6:19-21
[6] Matthew 19:27
[7] Matthew 19:28-29
[8] Matthew 19:30
