Heavenly Rewards – Gained by Earthly Efforts? Greg Albrecht

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The grace of God insists the greatest prize in life can only be given. In our 21st century North Americans and Europeans in particular are taught and indoctrinated by home, academy, the market place and Christless religion that God only helps those who help themselves. It is no wonder that many find the unconditional gift of God’s grace extremely difficult to believe and accept… “too good to be true.”

We are taught to produce. We are expected to produce. Early in life we learn that good grades in school earn praise, acceptance and rewards. We are taught that there is no such thing as a free lunch and that we should never, ever put ourselves in danger of asking for a hand out. So far, so good… but then along comes grace.

Within our culture many within the religion of Christendom devalue and minimize grace and in some cases pervert and corrupt it. Finding grace impossible and improbable many “cancel” it. Grace is redefined as conditional. Christless religion superimposes performance and work on top of grace, making human effort and production prerequisites for attaining and/or maintaining the grace of God.

Grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone is a way of stating our unrelenting focus, in the ministry of CWR/PTM, on the grace of God, which is of course at the bedrock of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When good works – in the most ultimate sense of “good” – are present in our lives they are the evidence that God and his grace is present in our lives.

Good works apart from the law are gifts of God, the very righteousness of God given through faith in Jesus Christ (see Romans 3:21-22). The good works that can only come from God are evidence that Christ lives his risen life in us. CS Lewis wrote, “The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that he will make us good because he loves us.” (Mere Christianity)

Good works are the result of God’s grace, the product of Christ living in us, for indeed, apart from him we can do nothing of eternal virtue and good (John 15:5). Our good works, the gifts of God, the fruit of God the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23), involve our participation, our willing self-sacrifice and our service to others in the name of Christ, but they do not earn eternal life which is given only by the grace of God.

However, there are also passages in the New Testament which speak of rewards that Christ followers are given. How do we understand such promises in the light of the grace of God?

Treasures, Gifts and Rewards

In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul compares the fragile and temporary, mortal human body with “earthen vessels” (some translations) or “jars of clay” (other translations, including the NIV). He says

Christ followers, who believe in Jesus Christ, have the treasure of God, his kingdom, our gift, our inheritance – in our bodies, our earthen vessels/jars of clay.

In 2 Corinthians 5:1 Paul continues with the contrasting motif of earthly and heavenly, moving from our bodies to heavenly dwellings: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (NIV, my emphasis, to highlight two important parts of this critically important verse).

…the earthly tent we live in… The word Paul uses for “tent” figuratively refers to the human body. Paul is concerned with how we can understand living and dying in the light of God’s glorious eternity, his heavenly kingdom.

…a building from God, an eternal house in heaven… The heavenly glories of God’s house are fully realized and experienced when we are resurrected in Christ, and given an immortal, resurrected body, impervious to hurt, pain and death. However, in addition, the way in which Christ lives in us now, even on this side of eternity, before we die physically, raises us up to heavenly places as we walk with and in Christ (see Colossians 3:1-3 and Ephesians 2:6).

In The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis notes the misunderstanding of seeing the glories of heaven as a reward for our deeds, a mercenary bribe for our good behavior. He explains the love of God, given to us by his grace, is dynamic and alive. Lewis says, “Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object.”

Does a Reward Given For Running a Race Contradict God’s Grace?

When Paul likens athletic contests to our life in Christ doesn’t it sound like he is trying to gain salvation by his own efforts… concerned about being disqualified if he doesn’t work and train and run hard enough? Is this word picture consistent with the gospel of God’s grace?

Once again, Paul seems to have some kind of eternal “reward” in mind, but he always speaks of such a reward given to those who already have been given eternal life by the grace of God.

In the New Testament this reward is never defined, nor is the effort that the reward recognizes stipulated.  But what is always present is this cardinal truth: Eternal life as a gift of God is first  given – by his grace. Any reward that God deems to be above and beyond and extra follows the gift he first gives – and any reward that God may give is only given to those who have already been given eternal life. Thus any reward is based on the grace of God.  

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul introduces the metaphor of running a race – he does this in the passage drawing from the athletic and sporting culture of Corinth, a metaphor the Corinthians would understand.

When Paul speaks of running a race he is speaking of runners who are in the race because they have accepted and entered and been invited to the race. This is not just any race – this is all about following Jesus. 

Paul is not speaking of just any race anywhere on any race course or track. Paul has a specific race in mind. This is a race on the Jesus Way – this is a distinct race that follows Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 follows this emphasis, saying that as Christ-followers (Christ-runners) we run with perseverance the race marked out for us (my emphasis). Luke 9:57-62 speaks of counting the cost of running this race before beginning the race – counting the cost of following Jesus.

When runners, followers of Jesus, begin the “race” they put one foot in front of another knowing they have been invited to a race that will require effort on their part, while fully aware their efforts do not win the race or earn eternal life.

Indeed, as other New Testament passages teach, when we run the race, following Jesus, placing our focus on him, he is with us and in us and empowering us to run the race and follow him. We are not asked to do the impossible, but rather invited to surrender to him as our Lord and Savior so that he will enable us to finish the race.

Some see a reward given for running a race as a contradiction of God’s grace, but what some perceive as a dichotomy is brilliantly clarified in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire – the story of Eric Liddell, the Scottish Olympic gold medalist runner in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. The movie speaks of Liddell’s passion for running as he relates it to his faith. He says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, and he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”

In summary:

  • We are incapable of earning the love and acceptance of God because of our deeds.  Nothing we are capable of achieving in our bodies earns eternal life.  Nothing we can do obligates God to pay us with his heavenly kingdom.    
  • Paul, in several New Testament passage speaks of a reward – but these rewards he speaks of are not specifically defined or stipulated, and, they are only given to those who are already given (and accepted) eternal life by the grace of God.  This reward, whatever it is, is only given to one who first is given the ultimate and undeserved gift of eternal life.  Eternal life as a gift of God must first be given – any reward that one may receive will follow the gift. 
  • A reward may speak of our calling, as Christ followers, to a life of self-sacrifice and service, certainly not a life of inactivity, indifference or apathy.  This reward speaks of how we live out the kingdom of God in service to others, not because what we do might earn us something only God can give as a gift.  We see in the well-known passage in Matthew 25:31-44, often called “The Sheep and the Goats,” that Jesus will judge at his Second Coming and that that his sheep will be rewarded/recognized/appreciated because they served others in the name of Jesus.  Jesus says his sheep, while serving others, are also serving him.  And, the sheep do not appear to realize they earned something from Jesus because they tell Jesus they don’t explicitly remember serving others.  In this passage Jesus’ sheep do not expect a heavenly reward because of years of earthly service to others – their life in Christ does not consist in them doing something so Christ would reward them for their doing.    
  • When the Bible speaks of any recognition, or medal, or blue-ribbon honor that one may be given by God, it is service to others in the name of Christ that is front and center.  Any reward that one might receive can only come after one actually accepts the embrace of God’s grace, and becomes a child of God on the basis of what God has done for them in Christ.  The gospel is always centered in and on what Jesus has done, is doing and will always do for us, which we can never do on our own.  The gospel is always focused on   the love God has for us, not on a transaction or performance by which we expect to earn God’s love and acceptance.   
  • We drink deeply from Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   
  •  God is the Master Potter and we are the clay (see Isaiah 45:9, 64:8, Jeremiah 18:1-11 and Romans 9:21).  God creates what he wants in us, for his good purpose.  As Christ followers we are jars of clay/earthen vessels in which God places eternal treasures  through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are God’s handiwork, his workmanship.  We are not saved BY good works, but FOR good works.

While the New Testament speaks of rewards we must never think that any action we take obligates God to pay or reward us. Giving a reward or award is itself a revelation of God who is love. Rewards in the heavenly kingdom are given to those who have already been graciously given God’s kingdom. Perhaps there is a hint of these unending gifts of God in John 1:16 – Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

Even better, from The Message, we read this same passage, “We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.”

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