Col No.34 Rewards & Fairness

Now I'd like to read to you from Colossians and chapter 3 and the final verses of that chapter from the 17th And whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Giving thanks to God and the Father by him Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord husbands love your wives And be not bitter against them children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord Fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eye service as men pleases but in singleness of heart fearing God and Whatsoever ye do do it heartily ask to the Lord and not unto men Knowing that of the Lord he shall receive the reward of the inheritance For ye serve the Lord Christ But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons Masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal knowing that he also have a master in Heaven we'll be looking in a moment or two at the 24th and the 25th verses One of the reasons why I Spend so much time in a series of addresses from a particular letter The New Testament or for that matter in the old It's because I feel that the Bible itself should control our spiritual diet. I Mean by that that if I were just haphazardly on a Sunday always To be looking into separate passages of Scripture, it could well be That only my own favorite topics would be hoisted before you and that would mean that our balance Would be a little uneven But when we look through the Word of God in such a close fashion as we have been doing for the last 30 odd or so Sundays Then we find that the Bible itself controls The study the meditation and there are some topics that we have looked at in Colossians Which probably some have never heard addresses on before and that is good The Word of God should control The diet of the Christian and as we've gone our way through these three chapters We have found if you like a kaleidoscope many many different colors many facets of God's truth to which we have given attention the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the relationship of a husband to his wife the final work of Jesus on the cross and all that that has achieved the Relationship that exists between Jesus Christ and those who have trusted him as Lord and Savior all this Doctrine has been brought before us as we have made our way through This epistle and we have covered many many related subjects and so this morning without apology, I bring you to the 24th and to the 25th verses for our consideration of this third chapter under the general heading of rewards and fairness But before we come to these verses, let me remind you of what has gone before The Apostle in the 17th verse of this chapter has said whatsoever He'd do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him and he virtually repeats that verse when in the 23rd we find him declaring whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men and sandwiched in between That reproduced expression those two verses is glorious teaching of the three main categories of life That Christian people find themselves engaged in that of the marital bond that of childhood that of employment and The Word of God tells us that in each of those categories if we are Christians We are to serve the Lord Christ There are some people with a wrong idea of Christianity and a wrong idea of worship they think worship is coming into the Tabernacle into such a service like this and singing three or four hymns and listening to the prayers and the address and going out that Is not worship That is only a part of worship Worship is not just attending services But worship is always service and you can offer service to the Lord as a father as you control and help your children as a wife as you minister to your husband as An employer or as an employee for whatever we do if we are Christians we do it as unto the Lord So you will remember I brought to your attention last week how these verses Elevate the ordinary it does not matter. I make no qualification at all It does not matter what I am engaged in if I am a Christian.

I am offering service to the Lord God so also twin to the elevation of the ordinary was the concept of the enlargement of the priesthood and I had some things to say about the historic Established churches which look upon the priesthood as being an elite a select group amongst the Christian people not a bit of it We're all priests and priestesses and we offer service to the Lord our God and that revolutionizes our life Here was a first century slave a terrible situation in which he found himself and there were tens of thousands of others in like Circumstances, how did he cope? Well his circumstances I say were most frustrating But when he knew that he had given his life to the Lord Jesus When he realized that this world was not all that there is to live for when the ordinary was elevated to the supernatural or to the Extraordinary when he realized that what he did he could do not unto his own master, but as unto the Lord Then it put the whole thing in a completely different context and so Going through the Apostles argument again. One of the reasons for marital fidelity is because that pleases God one of the reasons why parents should look after their children properly and children should obey their parents where their Dictates don't contradict the word of the Lord is because this honors God One of the reasons for good relationships between employer and employee is because this pleases the Lord God Whatsoever you do. Here's the final comment in the whole argument Whatsoever you do, verse 23, do it heartily with enthusiasm as to the Lord and not unto men Because verse 24, ye serve the Lord Christ well with that in mind come to the content of these last two verses of This chapter and I think that you compress all the teaching there into two different words Verse 24 speaks about rewards and verse 25 speaks about fairness So with those two headings in mind, it's very easy for us to explore what the Apostle is now Teaching as far as Christian behavior is concerned and the inspiration Which should encourage us to be good servants of Jesus Christ Look then at the 24th verse Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance For ye serve the Lord Christ What does that expression mean the reward of the inheritance? Well, let me tell you first of all what it doesn't mean then I'll tell you what it does mean Then I will comment on where else it's found and finally what this compels us to do What it doesn't mean is simply our salvation Here I am as a Christian person and as I read these verses I perhaps might come to the conclusion if I don't bring the rest of Scripture to bear That if I am faithful in the domestic situation in which I find myself Ultimately, I shall be saved But it cannot possibly mean that or else you would have the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification By works whereas we know and Paul has been teaching us in the first two chapters of this epistle and in many other letters that he Writes that salvation is exclusively of the Lord as he puts it to the Ephesians.

He are saved by grace Not of works lest any man shall boast So this reward of the inheritance it can have very little to do with my actual salvation Because I receive that not on the grounds of what I have done but on the grounds of what Jesus has done That's then what it is. Not it is not simply our salvation But what it is Well, it has to do with our salvation But it has more to do with service More to do with service What do I mean by this? Well go back to the day when you gave your heart to the Lord Jesus that was a wonderful day Maybe it wasn't a crisis experience Maybe it came as a result of the work of the Spirit over the months or over the years But the point was arrived at when you realize you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ He bled he died on the cross to save you and you entered into the most wonderful Category of men and women you became a servant of the Living God a child of the Lord God Almighty But that wasn't the end of your salvation There was more to it than this You realize that having received gospel privileges you now Were to look to gospel responsibilities You were called to serve The Lord Jesus So the Apostle in Colossians 1 29 says where unto I also labor He's talking about offering work for Jesus. I also labor Striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily.

He's received his salvation He can't be more saved than he actually is But there's something else which is vital for Paul to realize something vital for him to attend to He's called to belong to Jesus and He's called to work for the King of Kings and this is What this inheritance? the reward of the inheritance refers to You remember how Jesus told a parable actually, it's one that we read a few moments ago in which he addresses a Certain men who have been faithful and he says well done thou good and faithful servant You have been responsible in the little that I have entrusted you with Now enter into the joy of thy Lord Why did Jesus teach that parable and other related parables like the parable of the talents? Well because he was underlining the fact that becomes even more clear in the epistles That though we are saved by faith Though we are given eternal life There is something else for which Christian people shall be judged Ultimately when they stand before God and that is the quality of service that they offer during the interim period between when they were converted and when they stand in the presence of the Lord and It's people like that who have served Jesus Christ well enthusiastically heartily who will receive the reward of the inheritance Are there other scriptures which underline this? Yes, there are and the clearest was one which in land read to us last week. Let's turn to it It's 1 Corinthians and chapter 3 1 Corinthians and chapter 3 and I'm reading from the 9th verse and it's important that you follow this Here the Apostle is speaking about his ministry and the ministry of all the Corinthians who have given their lives to Jesus Christ and In the 9th verse of the first letter that he writes to the Corinthians and the third chapter he says we are laborers together with God and Then he goes on in the 10th verse According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon and in the 12th verse Now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man if any man's work Abide which he hath built there upon He shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burnt. He shall suffer loss But he himself shall be saved yet as by fire What is Paul here referring to? I argue he's referring to the inheritance The reward of the inheritance that we have discovered mentioned in Colossians Let me just explain for a moment what he's saying here in Corinthians He's talking about the day when we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ as Christians Not the judgment seat of the father for our sins have been forgiven.

We already have salvation But we shall come every one of us in this sanctuary who names the name of Christ one day We shall stand before the Lord Jesus and we shall give an account of the way that we lived our lives so Paul uses the illustration of testing precious jewels and testing things which are inflammable a Paul says that if you put gold or silver or precious stones and you test them in the fire They come out untouched But if you are to put stubble and hay and wood in the fire then they are devoured What does he mean by these two illustrations? What do you see my friend? There are people who are offering service to the Lord Jesus, which is golden Which is precious They are working for the Savior in these three categories to which reference has been made in wedlock In childhood in employment, they're working for Jesus Christ and what they do one day shall be tested But there are those Who yes, they are saved, but they never translate their Christian dedication into the realm of the secular They're saved, but they never do anything in the service of the King of Kings and the day shall come When their life shall be tested before the throne of Jesus Christ and Verse 15 says if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss But he himself shall be saved yet. So as by fire There'll be no inheritance There'll be salvation But there will be loss The Bible makes it clear That there are rewards Which will be given to those who have trusted Jesus Christ and worked for him as Lord There is a difference. There is a differentiation That will come between one Christian and Another I hope I've made this perfectly plain God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I beseech To make this clear in the understanding of every person whether young or old and and incidentally this is one of the this is one Of the commendable reasons for working our way through an epistle such as this I have this morning to draw this distinction between the judgment seat of God and the judgment seat of Christ and To tell you that though you don't stand before the former because you're saved you will certainly stand Before the latter and you will be assessed as to what you did for Jesus on this earth If it's not clear, I turn you to the 2nd Corinthians 2nd epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and the and the 5th chapter 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verses 10 and 11 I've no need to give you the scenery behind these verses It's exactly the same context as the ones to which I directed you before The 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10. It's good to hear the rustling of the Bible pages there For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ Let me repeat that it's most important for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Why? That everyone may receive the things done in his body According to that he has done Whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord We persuade men and so on it hardly needs further comment It's so clear I would not insult your intelligence by suggesting that you could not grasp that basic teaching of Scripture We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and at that point The reference here in Colossians will become very meaningful to us Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance For ye serve the Lord Christ now, you see how wonderfully this locks back into the previous Teaching that the Apostle has been given the housewife The husband the child the parent the employer the the employee They are at this moment working for Jesus They are offering service to the Lord God and as they offer that service successfully So one day they shall receive the reward of the inheritance this prompts us to realize more the Responsibilities that are ours from Monday through to a Saturday and what's more my friend It should make you realize the preciousness of time The preciousness of time you see you're not here forever You've only a limited span of time here to serve the Lord God in these categories or others in which you find yourself involved and occupied So let's take every hour of every day and let's invest them all in the service of the King of Kings Here then the Bible refers to rewards Not reward in the term of salvation That's given us as an unmerited Bequest on the part of Jesus because we've trusted him as our Lord but rewards For faithful stewardship in the categories in which Jesus has called us to live out our lives Now if you go on to the next verse you will again see how this Logically flows into the final part of Paul's teaching here where he speaks about the fairness of God but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and There is no respect of persons In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 9 you get the same latter comment that God is no respecter of persons In other words God is fair in all his judgment In the early chapters of the Bible Abraham comes to this conclusion as he's interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah He says will not the judge of all the earth do right? Will he not be fair? Indeed he will He will be fair in the way that he handles the situation of the sinner who never heard the gospel He will be fair in the way that rewards or report are apportioned out to those who have served Jesus Who having come to the Savior? Dedicated their lives for the advance of the kingdom in the economy of God He's not really concerned with categories of people You know, the the ancient world was riddled with categories racialism Social distinctions they were rife the Samaritans the Jews the chosen people the dogs free the slaves This teaching says that God is not really concerned with those artificial distinctions that exist here on this earth What God is concerned about is the way the individual wherever he finds himself in life Responds to the gospel and acts as a result in the service of Jesus Within the Christian Church, there's no such thing in one sense as someone who's a slave and someone who's free Someone who's rich someone who's poor someone who's educated someone who's not so educated These old categories have passed away.

All things have become new. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ we recognize one another not in terms of belonging to the Trade Union Congress or the the Opposite institution the the Bureau of Employers We recognize brothers and sisters because they belong to the Lord Jesus Christ all these other distinctions They fall away before the throne of God and when God judges us He judges us on the basis of how we served him here in this life and in the social context in which we Find ourselves Why do I say all this? Well, you see because I want to underline the fact that God is fair in his dealings I do so in respect to Christian people You see that there are those who so often have said to me If only I had done something with my life If only I'd been a preacher if only I'd gone to the mission field If only I had been an elder or a deacon or words to that effect but here I am in my 70th year and I look back upon my life and I'm afraid to face God that is a pastoral situation that I come across time and time again and I have to try to tell and to teach these dear people what they should have learned years ago That God looks down into the category in which he placed us to exercise our ministry And he judges us on the basis of that Was I a good husband? Was I a good wife? Did I endeavor to bring my children up in the fear and the admonition of the Lord as an employer? Was I honest in my dealings with my My men as an employee Was I honest in my dealings with my employer? You see because this is the context of Christian ministry and those who make a distinction between the spiritual and the secular Thinking that by doing so they enhance the position of the man who does the preaching are completely wrong God judges us in the position where he places us I Wish that I had got the eloquence to get this across clearly so that some of my dear older friends would not be so concerned That they did not exercise a public ministry God has not called us all to preaching and preaching is not necessarily the be-all in the end-all of evangelism For as I mentioned last Sunday morning only 10% of people ever darken the door of a church in the United Kingdom the largest pulpit Where the priest and the priestesses are to be exercising a ministry for Jesus is in the categories Which Paul spells out in those previous verses in the home in the school amongst juniors in the Workshop There we are called to live for the Lord God and When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ He will judge us in respect of what we were doing in that particular situation Our service for the Lord is Recognized in heaven Even if it's not the preaching ministry or the obvious spiritual ministry of a missionary that's the reason why I turned you to Matthew chapter 25 last week and and Reminded you how the Lord Jesus teaches that if you gave a cup of cold water in his name Then he recognizes what you do That's why I keep plugging time and time again the ministry of hospitality in the tabernacle Because James says that pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless is to minister to the widow There are practical out workings Because we belong to Jesus Christ of our service And the Lord assesses all these the kindly act done in the name of Jesus the consistent relationship with your neighbor and The occasional managing to squeeze in just a little gospel word that doesn't go unnoticed and God judges that the Lord Jesus Recognizes this you see he's so fair in his dealings in this inheritance Which possibly will be ours The way that he apportions it is quite delightful according to the teaching of the whole of Scripture So again, I put it to you friends who feel that you've let the Lord down all your life This is probably Not the case Some of the people who have suffered from this Spiritual problem and have spoken to me about it are the people whose lives have preached more eloquently to me than almost anybody else That I have known I remember my dear brother Ted Ranger with whom I spent hours a Man who would say I can't preach like you preach. I wish I could speak as you spoke But that man's life Was one of the most eloquent sermons that I ever listened to and When he stands before the judgment seat of Christ He's got a life that was worthwhile to offer to the Savior and He will receive from the Lord his Jew reward so then My argument is this That when I come to Jesus That's not the end of My experience.

I then go on to serve him and Though I will never stand before the judgment seat of God as a sinner for the righteousness of Jesus has been accounted to me. I will stand before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus and He will inquire as to how I live my life in the categories in Which I found myself earning the dealing out of reward of blessing He will be fair in The way that he apportions the inheritance But my friend Let me make this very clear to There will be some in that day Who says the Apostle Paul will suffer loss? If any man's work shall be burned He himself shall be saved But he shall suffer loss. I don't quite know how this will be worked out in the eternity, which is yet to be I do not know how this remorse will be felt If eternity with God is a place of absolute happiness Maybe the loss will be something that will be instantaneous and not carried through into the years that are to be I do not know But loss shall be suffered.

Maybe it'll be the look in the Lord's eye As first we encounter him and We realize all those situations when we could have lived for Jesus better, but we didn't The time when we could have opened up our home But we never did the time when we could have ministered to another who was in need, but we never did And in that sense will suffer loss My father had a brilliant way with my brother and myself when we were children. I Never remember him ever putting a hand on us in punishment But he could convey by the look on his face What he felt and one of the greatest spurs in My young life one of the greatest rewards Was to see my father looking pleased with me and I think it's to that extent That Jesus looks pleased with us or to the extent that there's a little trace of disappointment on his face When we stand before him that we shall suffer loss or enjoy gain and enter into our inheritance You remember that little refrain? By and by when I look on his face Face that was marred brow that was scarred by and by when I look on his face. I wish I'd given him more far far more More of my life than I ever gave before by and by when I look on his face, I Wish I'd given him more You might be very unequally yoked in your marriage Your husband your wife may not be the most ideal But you've got a husband You've got a marital relationship With the Lord Jesus Christ and you can offer him worship even in your inadequate home environment at this moment You may not have the best father or the best mother as a boy or a girl, but you've a heavenly father Who wants you to please him? You may have a tyrant of an employer.

He may be unfair in all his dealings But you're not just concerned about the here and now you're concerned about the future You're concerned to please your great master who is in heaven and it is to him ultimately that you're offering service and he in fairness Shall grant rewards To all those who've lived out lives here on this earth offering a priesthood Which pleased him in all the domestic circumstances That Christian people find themselves take these verses to your heart and may they be of an encouragement to you now and until Jesus comes Amen Father we praise you that you're fair in all your dealings You do not expect from us that with which you never gave us a talent for You expect us to use the ministries that you've entrusted to us and will judge us on that basis Father as a congregation We ask that not only shall we know reality the marvelous gift of salvation which Jesus has credited to us But in the service that we offer in our home in our places of employment May we so please him but one day We shall receive from him that accolade Well done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Lord and Joy the inheritance Which is yours? For his sake we pray these things Amen