Reward According

Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

1Corinthians 3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

There are 21 New Testament Bible references where we find variations of the phrase: according to works  in addition to these two references which use the words labour  and done.  In addition to these references, there are many similar Old Testament references.  With this many Bible references, it should be understood that this is an important Bible doctrine.

In the late 1800s the concepts of Communism crept into church doctrine and replaced this true Bible doctrine.  One example of Communistic thinking is the doctrine that 'we will all get a mansion regardless of what we do for God's kingdom'.  Another such doctrinal error is 'no tears in Heaven'.  These doctrines come from devils.  They are designed to get God's people to refuse to work for God's kingdom by removing the rewards and punishments which God promises to His people as a motivation to work in His kingdom.

True Bible believers need to believe the doctrine which actually comes from the Bible.  They need to reject doctrines which come from devils and even fight against the spread of doctrinal error from devils.  We can not be saved and live for the world, the flesh and doctrines of devils and expect God to reward us eternally.  That thinking comes from devils and is communistic.  We can see in this world that Communism does not work.  Instead, we need to go to work in God's kingdom believing His promises that He will reward us according to our works.

1. According
1. This word comes from music where a chord is defined as: 'A chord, in music, is any harmonic set of pitches consisting of three or more notes (also called pitches) that are heard as if sounding simultaneously'.
2. The word accord is defined as: 'Agreeing; harmonizing'.  Please notice that our references tell us that people who promote God's kingdom receive a good reward while people who support the false church doctrine receive a curse.
3. Every reference read says that the reward which we receive from God is according to his works.  The last reference tells us that people who are lost and serving the world, the flesh or false religions will be cursed according to how much they fought against God's kingdom.
4. God uses His standard for judging.  God's standard says that preaching a false gospel and teaching doctrinal error are worse than murder.  Murder only kills the body.  Religious error condemns the soul and spirit to an eternity in the lake of fire, which is much worse.
5. Since God knows the eternal consequences of each action, and since men look at only some of the short term consequences, there are differences in judgment on how bad or how good a particular action is.
2. Reward According
1. We are saved or lost depending on our relationship to Jesus Christ.  People, who have an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ, because they accepted Him as their personal Lord, will go to Heaven.  Everyone who has not accepted Him as their personal Lord will go to the lake of fire.  Regardless of our destination when we leave this world, we will be there for eternity.
2. Regardless of where we spend eternity, our reward will be according to our works while we are here in the flesh and God uses His standard for determining our reward and God's standard is different from man's standard.
3. There will be varying levels of punishment in the lake of fire with the people who preach a false gospel receiving the greatest damnation.  Religious people who think they are doing good to support a false religion will probably receive worse punishment than a mass-murder.
4. There will be varying rewards in Heaven with the greatest rewards not necessarily going to people who have a full-time position in the church but the level of reward is determined by how much profit  God gets from your labor.  We see this from the parables of the talents and of the pounds.
5. 1Corinthians 12:31 says: But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.  The best gifts  are defined in 1Corinthians 12:28, which says: And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
• We no longer have God-given apostles.  In this verse, the word prophets  is used for preachers but also pay attention to the gift of governments.
• That includes church administrators like Marilou and Jabez workers.
• Now pay attention to where the gift of helps  is in this list.  That includes your kitchen workers or church meetings like the youth camp.  That includes the people who take care of the physical facilities and other background support that most people don't pay attention to.
6. Everyone knows that some jobs pay more than other jobs.  For example, a school teacher earns more than a peddle-tricycle driver makes.  However, sometimes someone in a lower-paying job makes more than someone in a higher-paying job because they work longer and harder.  Therefore, regardless of where God put you, do all that you can for the kingdom of God and trust God to reward your effort with what is right.
3. Salvation is Different from Reward
1. God opens an account for each saved person in Heaven when they first get saved.  However, the lost do not have an account in Heaven.  Imagine someone going to a bank where they do not have an account and leaving money on the counter.  Imagine them doing it several times and then going to the bank to try and withdraw some of the money that they left there.  As most people understand, they will not be able to withdraw anything, regardless of how much money they left there and regardless of how often they left money.  You must first open an account.  Likewise, a lot of religious people think they are making big deposits with God when they do what they think are 'good works'.  However, until they get saved they don't have an account and all of their efforts are like someone leaving money in a bank where they do not have an account.
2. Proverbs 21:2-4 says: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.  Lost people think they are doing 'good works' which God should recognize and reward.  However, Proverbs tells us that this is sin  because people are doing what is right in his own eyes.  God rewards obedience, not doing what is right in our own eyes.  Until we receive Jesus as our own personal Lord, we do not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us obey God.  We do not have a Heavenly account and we are still a child of the devil.
3. There is more than one parable in the Gospels where there was a father with two sons.  Each son acted differently and received a different result from his obedience or disobedience.  However, regardless of their level of obedience or disobedience, both sons remained sons because of their relationship to the father.  Likewise, once someone accepts Jesus as their personal Lord, He saves them and makes them a child of God and they remain a child of God regardless of anything else.
4. As in those parables and as our Bible references told us, each son remained a son but their reward varied according to their level of obedience and the work they did.  Likewise, the church members should know that God keeps a record of what they are doing for the Youth Camp and will reward them according to their works.  However, the visitors also need to understand that, even if they are a member of another church, if they work to get other youths to the Youth Camp, God will reward them.  This is especially true if God is able to do a spiritual work in their life.
5. If a visitor is not saved, they can get saved today, become a child of God, assure their place in Heaven, have God open an account for them, and then put treasure in that Heavenly account if they talk their friends into going to Youth Camp with them.

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