“Your Reward Will Be Great” (Luke 6:35)

There is a paradox in the kingdom of God. Everything we need for life and godliness comes to us freely as a gift of grace. Yet Jesus also spoke about storing up heavenly treasures and earning eternal rewards:

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. (Luke 6:35)

When we love and do good to our enemies, there is a great reward. What is it? It is not sonship or salvation, for those things come by grace alone. Nor is the reward divine honor, heavenly mansions, or other celestial perks.

So what is the great reward? 🏆

To find the answer, we only need to look to Jesus. Jesus loved his enemies. Jesus did good and gave his life for ungrateful and evil men. He did not do this to receive praise or palaces, but to save us. We were the reason and the reward for the cross.

We are his great reward.

So when Jesus tells us to love our enemies with the promise of a great reward, we ought to think in terms of people rather than prizes. The reward is that those who were once enemies may become eternal friends. Those who were ungrateful may become grateful, and those who were evil may become righteous. 🤝

“Do good, expecting nothing in return,” said Jesus. To give to the ungrateful with no thought of repayment is to reveal the unmerited favor of our heavenly Father. It’s acting like a son or daughter of the Most High.

God showed us grace by adopting us into his family. When we give the same grace to others, God’s family grows. That’s the great reward.

How to get a great reward

The Apostle Paul said, “They will each be rewarded according to their own labor” (1 Cor. 3:8). Now there’s a verse to trigger panic and dead works. Our religious flesh hears about rewards and jumps to all sorts of bad conclusions.

“I better get busy serving Jesus or I’m going to be a pauper in heaven.”

Nope. It doesn’t work like that.

For starters, no one who has Christ is poor. In him, you are the heir of all things. There are no poor people in the kingdom of God.

Second, any pressure to produce and perform is not from the Spirit of Grace. In this world, we are rewarded for our results, but in the kingdom, rewards come from sowing the good seed. There is a difference.

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:7) 🌱

This is immensely liberating. We may put enormous pressure on ourselves to produce and deliver, but there is no pressure from God. He alone imparts life and raises the dead. He alone makes things grow.

Our part is to sow, water, and reap the reward of what Christ has done.

A Samaritan scenario

I’m sure you know the story of the woman Jesus met at the well:

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony… And because of his words many more became believers. (John 4:39, 41)

His words, her testimony. Jesus provides the good news; we tell the story. It is not our job to go to the cross and save people. Our part is to say, “This is what Jesus has done for me.”

There is a partnership here. Without Jesus, we would have nothing to say. But if we don’t speak, they will have nothing to hear.

How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:14)

The people in the Samaritan town saw no miracles. No water was turned into wine and no lepers were healed. They simply heard the woman’s testimony and put their faith in Jesus.

You don’t need to be a miracle worker to lead people to Jesus. You just need to share the grace God has given you. You just need to tell your story.

As we freely give what we have freely received, good seed is sown. God’s word takes root, begins to grow, and produces a harvest. 🌾

There’s nothing particularly noble about doing good to those who are good to you (Luke 6:33). But when you bless those who curse you, love your enemies, and forgive as Christ forgave you, you are acting like a son or daughter of the Most High.

The takeaway: give grace and show kindness to those who are ungrateful and unkind. Tell people what God’s grace has done for you. And when his grace bears fruit in their lives, “your reward will be great.” 🎁

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Source: Extracted and adapted from my 20-page study note, “Eternal Rewards the Believer’s Inheritance,” available now on my Patreon page.

A big thank you and congratulations to those who have just completed my 9-week Tour of Thessalonians. A special commemorative gift will land in your inbox this weekend.

Next week – a big, big, big announcement! Stay tuned.