The Reward for Serving God is…
Finish these sentences:
The reward for serving God is…
The reward for loving God is…
The reward for obeying God is…
Let’s talk about Kanye West. In the news this week: he’s starting a porn studio. Five years ago he became a Christian, release an album Jesus is King, and said as a believer he was now only recording gospel music.
What happened?
Kanye says, “I prayed, and I ain’t see Jesus show up.”
Kanye asked for specific things, and God didn’t give him what he asked for.
Is that how it works?
We live in a broken world. We suffer pain, experience heartache, and don’t always get what we want.
Is it even more true that, “God works for the good of those who love him”? (Romans 8:28)
Is loving God the real point? Is being transformed to his image much better?
I think God’s words to Abraham are relevant here. God said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15: 1 NIVUK)
In Matthew 6, Jesus is teaching his disciples to not worry. It’s worth reading the entire section:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Jesus follows with the statement, “…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
So God know what you need, but the pursuit of those things misses the first point. The goal of being human: to know God.
The reward for serving God is…God
The reward for loving God is…God
The reward for obeying God is…God
How does this reality affect your:
Life of prayer?
How we feel when something doesn’t go as we had hoped? (Think about Joseph.)
Experience of suffering and pain?
Joy in each moment?