Chapter 9: The Steward’s Eternal Rewards

Chapter 9

The Steward’s Eternal Rewards

It is my happiness that I have served Him who never fails to reward His servants to the full extent of His promise. JOHN CALVIN

Whatever good thing you do for Him, if done according to the Word, is laid up for you as treasure in chests and coffers, to be brought out to be rewarded before both men and angels, to your eternal comfort. JOHN BUNYAN

Two men owned farms side by side. One was a bitter atheist, the other a devout Christian. Constantly annoyed at the Christian for his trust in God, the atheist said to him one winter, “Let’s plant our crops as usual this spring, each the same number of acres. You pray to your God, and I’ll curse him. Then come October, let’s see who has the bigger crop.”

When October came the atheist was delighted because his crop was larger. “See, you fool,” he taunted, “what do you have to say for your God now?”

“My God,” replied the other farmer, “doesn’t settle all his accounts in October.”

A Closer Look at Rewards

A day of judgment is coming upon all men. God promises great reward for all who have served him faithfully (Revelation 11:18). He will reward every loyal servant for works done in this life: “At that time each will receive his praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

God rewards generously, promising a return of “a hundred times” (Matthew 19:29). This is ten thousand percent interest, a return far out of proportion to the amount invested.

God rewards us for doing good works (Ephesians 6:8; Romans 2:6, 10), denying ourselves (Matthew 16:24-27), showing compassion to the needy (Luke 14:13-14), and treating our enemies kindly (Luke 6:35). He also grants us rewards for generous giving: “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21).

Rewards are promised to those who endure difficult circumstances while trusting in God (Hebrews 10:34-36), and to those who persevere under persecution (Luke 6:22-23). A life of godliness will be richly rewarded (2 Peter 3:11-14). When we extend hospitality and give a meal to those too poor or incapacitated to pay us back, Christ promises, “you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).

Paul reminds us there’s a timetable for the harvest: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). The believer’s compensation, just like the unbeliever’s, is usually deferred. God doesn’t settle all his accounts in October.

The Reward of Rulership

Believers will reign with Christ over the world (Revelation 20:6). We’ll even rule over angels (1 Corinthians 6:3). Some will be put “in charge of many things” (Matthew 25:21-23). Christ spoke of granting some followers rulership over cities—eleven cities for one, five for another, and none for a third, in proportion to their faithful service (Luke 19:17-24).

It’s apparent from these passages that although all believers will be with Christ, not all will reign with him, at least not with equal responsibility and authority. There are conditions for reigning: “If we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). Christ promises, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21). He says, “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations . . . just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star” (Revelation 2:26-28).

Jesus promised to give faithful believers “the morning star.” This was the name for the planet Venus. Is it possible that Christ will have his servants reign not only in the new earth but in places throughout the new heavens?

Crowns As Rewards

Crowns are a common symbol of ruling power, though they may symbolize other rewards as well. Five crowns are mentioned in the New Testament:

1. The Crown of Life—given for faithfulness to Christ in persecution or martyrdom (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).

2. The Incorruptible Crown—given for determination, discipline, and victory in the Christian life (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

3. The Crown of Rejoicing—given for pouring oneself into others in evangelism and discipleship (1 Thessalonians 2:19; Philippians 4:1).

4. The Crown of Glory—given for faithfully representing Christ in a position of spiritual leadership (1 Peter 5:1-4). (Note that a prerequisite is being “not greedy for money, but eager to serve.” A Christian leader’s preoccupation with money can forfeit this reward.)

5. The Crown of Righteousness—given for joyfully purifying and readying oneself to meet Christ at his return (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

There’s nothing in this list that suggests it is exhaustive. There may be innumerable crowns and types of crowns and rewards unrelated to crowns. But all are graciously given by the Lord Jesus in response to the faithful efforts of the believer.

These crowns bring glory to Christ as they are laid before his feet (Revelation 4:10), showing that our rewards are given not merely for our recognition but for God’s glory. Although God’s glory is the highest reason for any action, Scripture sees no contradiction between God’s eternal glory and our eternal good. On the contrary, glorifying God will always result in our greatest eternal good. Likewise, pursuing our eternal good, as he commands us to do, will always glorify God. False humility that says, “I want no reward,” effectively means, “I want nothing to lay at Christ’s feet to bring him glory.”

We are to guard our crowns carefully (Revelation 3:11). Why? Because we can be disqualified from receiving them (1 Corinthians 9:27). We can lose them (1 Corinthians 3:15). They can be taken from us (Matthew 25:28-29). We can seek our rewards from men, thereby forfeiting them from God (Matthew 6:5-6). John warns, “Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully” (2 John 8). We can fail to earn rewards, and we can forfeit rewards already in our account.

Eternal Differences in Heaven?

Scripture suggests that some Christians will be ashamed at Christ’s coming (1 John 2:28). Although it seems incomprehensible that such shame would continue in heaven, the doctrine of eternal rewards has sobering implications. The tangible results of those who have faithfully served Christ in this life and those who haven’t will be evident for all eternity. They will be exemplified in eternal possessions and positions that will differ significantly from person to person.

Scripture is clear that there’s a payback in eternity according to what was done during our time on earth, and that there will be differences among our rewards in heaven (Proverbs 24:11-12; Matthew 19:27-30; Luke 14:12-14). In other words, our experiences in heaven will not be the same. (Obviously, in heaven there will be no conceit, pettiness, jealousy, or unhealthy comparisons, but there nonetheless will be differences in reward and position.)

We saw in the last chapter that hell will be terrible for all, but it will be more terrible for some than others, depending on their works on earth (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 20:45-47). Doesn’t it follow that although everyone’s experience in heaven will be wonderful, it will be more wonderful for some than others, depending on their works on earth?

Perhaps it’s a matter of differing capacities. Two jars can both be full, but the one with greater capacity contains more. Likewise, all of us will be full of joy in heaven, but some may have more joy because their capacity for joy will be larger, having been stretched through trusting God in this life. John Bunyan put it this way:

And why shall he that doth most for God in this world, enjoy most of him in that which is to come? But because by doing and acting, the heart, and every faculty of the soul is enlarged, and more capacitated, whereby more room is made for glory. Every vessel of glory shall at that day be full of it; but every one will not be capable to contain a like measure; and so if they should have it communicated to them, would not be able to stand under it; for there is ‘an eternal weight in the glory that saints shall then enjoy’ (2 Corinthians 4:17), and every vessel must be at that day filled—that is, have its heavenly load of it. . . . He that is best bred, and that is most in the bosom of God, and that so acts for him here; he is the man that will be best able to enjoy most of God in the kingdom of heaven.58

No matter how we attempt to explain it, no matter how uneasy it makes us, it’s a fact that the doctrine of differing rewards and differing positions in heaven means we will have different experiences in heaven. These eternal experiences are presently being forged in the crucible of this life. What I do with my money and possessions here and now will significantly affect my eternal experience in heaven.

Understanding Salvation and Rewards

Whenever we speak of rewards, particularly because we speak of them so rarely, it’s easy to confuse God’s work and man’s. Many mistakenly believe that heaven is our reward for doing good things. This is absolutely not the case. Our presence in heaven is in no sense a reward for our works, but a gift freely given by God in response to faith (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

The following chart distinguishes the difference between regeneration and rewards:

This next chart puts rewards in the larger context of the believer’s life:

As sinners, we were under condemnation for our sin until we accepted the provisions of Christ, who took this condemnation on himself. At that point, we were moved from condemnation to regeneration.

As a son or daughter, we presently make choices that are either righteous or sinful. When they’re sinful, our Father disciplines us for our own good to make us holy and fruitful. His discipline is intended to turn us back to the path of righteousness. When we make right choices, we experience the immediate reward of God’s approval and a variety of short-term benefits, as well as long-term rewards in eternity. Of course, we may also forfeit certain temporal benefits—perhaps even our life. Eternal rewards are guaranteed, whereas temporal rewards, at least in their outward form, are not.

Our works done as stewards or servants will someday be evaluated by our Master. He will reward us accordingly. The works worthy of reward are those done with faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:2) and right motives (1 Corinthians 4:5), which only God is qualified to judge. To the degree that our life hasn’t been characterized by good works, or to the degree these works have been done with improper motives, we will lose or forfeit our reward (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Salvation is about God’s work on behalf of humanity. Conversely, rewards are a matter of our work for God. When it comes to salvation, our work for God is no substitute for God’s work for us. God saves us because of Christ’s work, not ours. Likewise, when it comes to rewards, God’s work for humanity is no substitute for our work for God. God rewards us for our work, not Christ’.*

Let me be sure this is perfectly clear. Christ paid the eternal price (hell) for all our sins, once and for all (Hebrews 10:12-18). If we have trusted him for that provision, we will not pay the eternal price; that is, we will not go to hell. He has fully forgiven our sins and we are completely secure in the love of Christ (Psalm 103:8-18; Romans 8:31-39). Our salvation is sure, and we will not undergo the judgment of condemnation (John 5:24; Romans 8:1).

But although the forgiveness of our sins has every bearing on our eternal destination, it has no automatic bearing on our eternal rewards. The Bible teaches not only forgiveness of sins, but consequences of our choices that apply despite forgiveness. Forgiveness means that God eliminates our eternal condemnation. But it does not mean that our actions in this life have no consequences on earth. (Forgiven people can still contract AIDS or suffer the death penalty, for example.) Neither does it mean our choices have no consequences in eternity. Forgiven people can still lose their rewards and forfeit eternal positions of responsibility they could have had.

With our salvation, the work was Christ’s. With our rewards, the work is ours. It’s imperative that we trust in Christ, lean on him, and draw upon him for power, for apart from him we can do nothing. But if we hope to receive a reward, we must still do the necessary work. As our forefathers put it, we must bear the cross if we are to wear the crown.

Belief (trust, faith) determines our eternal destination: where we will be. Behavior (obedience) determines our eternal rewards: what we will have there. Works do not affect our destination (in other words, our redemption is secured by the work of Christ). However, works do affect our reward experienced at that destination. Just as there are eternal consequences to our faith, so there are eternal consequences to our works.

A Steward’s Motivation

“Why should I follow Scripture’s teaching on money and possessions when it’s so much fun to have all the nice things I want and do whatever I please with my money? I’m a Christian, and I know I’m going to heaven anyway, so why get radical about the whole money thing? Why not have the best of both worlds, this one and the next?”

Though few of us are bold enough to openly ask such questions, they accurately reflect a prevailing attitude in our society. That’s why I’m convinced it’s necessary to deal with the subject of eternal rewards in this book.

The missing ingredient in the lives of many Christians today is motivation. Given our false assumption that what we do in this life won’t have eternal consequences (apart from our decision to place our trust in Christ for salvation), it’s no wonder we’re unmotivated to follow God’s directions regarding money and possessions (and everything else). When it comes down to it, what difference will it make? According to the prevailing theology, everything comes out in the wash, so it won’t make any difference at all. But according to the Bible, it will make a tremendous difference! The doctrine of eternal rewards for our obedience is the neglected key to unlocking our motivation.59

Moses “regarded disgrace for the name of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26). Motivated by long-term reward, he chose short-term disgrace.

Paul ran his life’s race with his eyes on the prize, which motivated him to run hard and long. He strove not to get a crown of laurel leaves that would rot, but “to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). Paul was unashamedly motivated by the prospect of eternal reward, which he affirmed freely and frequently (2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 5:9-10; 2 Timothy 4:7-8). He encouraged all believers to be motivated by rewards (Galatians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; 2 Timothy 2:5, 12). Slaves, for instance, were to obey their masters in order to receive eternal reward (Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25).

Another model of motivation by reward is Christ himself. He endured the cross “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). He humbled himself, knowing that he would ultimately be exalted (Philippians 2:9).

Jesus said, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). Our instinct is to give to those who will give us something in return and not to those who won’t. Christ appealed not only to our compassion but to our eternal self-interest: If we do a compassionate act that goes unrewarded by others in this life, God will pay us back in the next life.

What a motivation this is when we feel our labors are unappreciated by others! We can be freed from the burden of concern about whether others overlook our deeds, because God assures us that he will not overlook them. When we understand what it means to be promised a reward from God, any prospect of reward from others—or any bitterness for not being rewarded by them—will shrink in comparison.

“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” (Luke 6:35, NASB). Once again, Christ sought to motivate us to do good works by the promise of rewards.

Despite prevailing opinions to the contrary, the prospect of rewards is a proper motivation for the Christian’s obedience (Matthew 6:19-21)—including the generous sharing of our money and possessions. If we maintain that it’s wrong to be motivated by rewards, we bring a serious accusation against Christ. We imply he is tempting us to sin every time he offers rewards for obedience! Since God does not tempt his children, it’s clear that whatever he lays before us as a motivation is legitimate. It’s not wrong for us to be motivated by the prospect of reward. Indeed, something is seriously wrong if we are not motivated by reward.

The Power of Incentives

Businesspeople work in a world of incentives. So do homemakers, school children, and every other human being, regardless of age, nationality, or wealth. Every effective manager, every qualified leader knows the importance of incentives. These are tangible motivators that may be personal, social, spiritual, physical, or financial. Unfortunately, too many Christians consider incentives to be “secular” or “unspiritual.”

Most of us use rewards to motivate our children. So why are we surprised that God uses rewards to motivate us? By God’s own design, all of us need incentives to motivate us to do our jobs and do them well. Motivation by reward is not a result of the fall, but God’s original design for humanity.

To say, “I don’t do anything for the reward—I do it only because it’s right,” may appear to take the spiritual high road. But in fact it’s pseudospiritual. It goes against the grain of the way God created us and the way he tries to motivate us.

Back when our daughters lived in our home, suppose I’d told one of them, “If you do a full day of yard work Saturday, I’ll pay you $50 and take you out to a nice dinner.” Would it be wrong for her to want to earn the $50? Would it be wrong for her to look forward to going out to a nice dinner with her dad? Of course it wouldn’t be wrong! I’m her father, I made the offer, and I want her to want those things!

Now, it would be inappropriate if my daughter refused to work without my granting rewards. But because it was my idea, not hers, she would have every right to be motivated by the rewards I offered her. In fact, my own joy would be lessened if she didn’t want the rewards I offered her.

“But God doesn’t owe us anything,” you might argue. “He has the right to expect us to work for him with no thought of reward.” True, he owes us absolutely nothing. And yes, we should be willing and happy to serve him, even if there was no payoff. If we came to God and said, “You owe us—we want to be paid,” we would be dead wrong. But there is a payoff! And here’s the kicker—it wasn’t our idea that God would reward us. It was his idea! Satan didn’t make up the idea of incentives. God did. He made us the way we are. He made us to need incentives to motivate us to do our jobs and do them well.

If my daughter did the yard work joylessly and then said, “No, Dad, I refuse the money and I don’t want to go to dinner with you,” how would that make me feel? We flatter ourselves—and insult God—when we say, “I don’t care about reward.” As if we have the right not to care about what God graciously promises us for obeying him!

God will reward the child who gave to the missions offering the money she’d saved for a softball mitt. He’ll reward the teenager who kept himself pure despite all the temptations. He’ll reward the man who tenderly cared for his wife with Alzheimer’s, the mother who raised the child with cerebral palsy, the child who rejoiced in his heart despite his handicap. He’ll reward the unskilled person who was faithful and the skilled person who was meek and servant-hearted. He’ll reward the parents who modeled Christ to their children and the children who followed him despite their parents’ bad example. He’ll reward those who suffered while trusting him, and those who helped the ones who were suffering. He doesn’t have to. He wants to! And make no mistake, he will. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:27, italics mine).

Choices and Consequences

Every major choice involves a major consequence. Scripture brims with promises and warnings of the consequences for our choices—this punishment for that sin; that reward for this obedience. Some of these incentives or consequences are short-term or temporal (Proverbs 3:9-10; Malachi 3:10-12); others are long-term or eternal (Luke 12:32-33; Matthew 6:20); and still others involve both temporal and eternal incentives (Mark 10:29-30).

Of course, reward is not our only motivation. We should be motivated by gratitude to serve God (Hebrews 12:28). We should be motivated by our ambition “to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9). But these motives are never in scriptural conflict with the motive of reward. The same Bible that calls upon us to obey God out of our love for him as Father and Redeemer (Deuteronomy 7:9; 11:1; 30:20) also calls upon us to obey out of our fear of him as Creator and Judge (Genesis 2:17; Deuteronomy 28:58-67; Hebrews 10:30-31) and out of our hope in him as Rewarder of those who serve him (Deuteronomy 28:2-9; Hebrews 11:6). Each of these motivations is legitimate, and each complements the other. Sometimes we need the combined persuasiveness of all these incentives to do what is pleasing to the Lord. This isn’t a matter of mixed motives (some good, some bad), but of multiple motives—multiple righteous motives.

We should evangelize out of our love for God. But if that isn’t enough, our love for other people should motivate us. Scripture tells us we should also be motivated to evangelize out of our fear of God. We will stand before the judgment seat and be recompensed for our works, Paul says, and therefore, since we know the fear of God, “we try to persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). Love is one motivator, fear another, reward yet another. If one or two don’t suffice, the three together should.

Our delightful daughters are grown and married now. When they were children, they loved me, and sometimes that was a sufficient incentive for obeying. But other times it wasn’t enough. Fortunately, they also feared me, in the best sense. They knew I would punish wrongdoing. And they also knew I’d be very pleased when they did the right thing. They knew I would reward them for doing right, always with approving words, and sometimes in material ways too.

What is in God’s best interests is also in others’ best interests and in my best interests (not necessarily immediately, but always ultimately). Something that is good will be good for everyone—not good for God and bad for me, or good for me and bad for my neighbor. What’s good is good for all. Every time I obey God, I’m doing what’s ultimately best for all. Every time I disobey him, I’m doing what’s ultimately worst for all. The Master and steward are both pleased when the steward does well. Both are displeased when he doesn’t do well.

The prospect of being praised by others is a strong motivator. Children are motivated by the hope of being praised by their parents. Why would it be different with the children of God? The prospect of hearing my Father say to me, “Well done,” should be tremendously motivating. The Pharisees “loved praise from men more than praise from God” (John 12:43). Their problem wasn’t that they were motivated by praise. It’s that they were content with praise from the wrong source—men, rather than God.

How should we respond to adversity for the sake of Christ? “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.” Why should we leap for joy? “Because great is your reward in heaven” (Luke 6:23).

The believer who knows God’s Word knows its promise of reward for obedience. God has set up a system that rewards obedience and punishes disobedience and that rewards others-centered sacrifice and punishes self-centered indulgence. What’s right is always smart, because it will be rewarded. What’s wrong is always stupid, because it will be punished. This is the way God has made it. This system—not personal preference—should be our reference point in deciding what to do with our money and possessions. If it’s not, we lose.

Consider these words: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:4-5).

What a picture. Next time you buy a prized possession, imagine it sprouting wings and flying off. Sooner or later, it’ll disappear. Our instinct is to think of this as a moral warning. It isn’t. It’s a pragmatic one. If riches satisfied us and if riches lasted, a case could be made for pursuing them. But they don’t satisfy and they don’t last. Hence, pursuing riches just doesn’t make sense. We’re not told to “have the righteousness to show restraint,” but to “have the wisdom to show restraint.” Don’t pursue wealth, not merely because it’s wrong, but because it’s stupid.

Pleasure, Possessions, and Power

God has created each of us with certain desires that correspond to certain motivations. Each of us has built-in desires for pleasure, possessions, and power. At first this may sound unbiblical, because we’ve come to think of these things as temptations. Satan does indeed tempt us in each of these areas. The desire for pleasure can degenerate into hedonism, desire for possessions into materialism, and desire for power into egotism. We might relate the desire for pleasure to the “lust of the flesh,” the desire for possessions to the “lust of the eyes,” and the desire for power to “the pride of life” (1 John 2:16, KJV).

Satan approached Christ on all three of these levels during his wilderness temptation. He tempted Jesus to make bread for the pleasure of eating, to worship Satan for the possession of all the world’s kingdoms, and to cast himself from the highest point of the temple for the power of commanding angelic intervention (Luke 4:1-13).

So if the desires for pleasure, possessions, and power make us vulnerable to temptation, how can they be good? How can they properly motivate us? We must understand that the evil one can only appeal to our desire for these things because our Creator built that desire into us. This is how God designed us to be.

The draw to pleasure, possessions, and power cannot be rooted in our sin nature, because Satan appealed to these desires in Adam and Eve before they were sinful (Genesis 3:1-7). Christ had no sin nature. Satan knew this, yet he sought to tempt Jesus on these same three grounds—pleasure, possessions, and power. Why? Because Christ was human, and to be human is to have desires for these things. We want pleasure, possessions, and power, not because we are sinful but because we are human.

If this argument seems unconvincing, there’s a clincher: God himself appeals to each of these desires in us! He offers us the reward of power in his eternal kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28; Luke 12:42-44; 19:15-19), possessions in his eternal kingdom (Matthew 6:19-21; 19:16-22, 27-30), and pleasures in his eternal kingdom (Psalm 16:11).

God appeals to our human nature, but never to our sin nature. Power, possessions, and pleasures are legitimate objects of desire that our Creator has instilled in us and by which he can motivate us to obedience. The evil one counterattacks by tempting us to direct these legitimate desires to the wrong objects.

How to Gain Eternal Pleasure, Possessions, and Power

The way of the world and the temptation of the devil is for us to try to gain pleasure, possessions, and power in the present world. The way of the Lord is to gain these things in the future—not by clinging to them in the present but by forgoing them in the present. It’s at this point that prosperity theology is so misguided.

Consider the threefold disciplines of fasting, giving, and prayer, which Christ addresses in Matthew 6:1-18. Fasting is denying ourselves the pleasure of eating in order to gain pleasure in God. Giving is denying the possession of riches to gain possessions from God. Prayer is denying our own power in order to gain power from God. Eating, owning, and ruling are not inherently bad—but we temporarily abstain from them, as a matter of spiritual discipline, in order to accomplish a higher kingdom purpose.

For centuries, monastic orders have tried to practice relinquishment through their vow of chastity (forgoing pleasure), vow of poverty (forgoing possessions), and vow of obedience (forgoing the power of living life one’s own way).

But one need not forgo power because he hates power. He may forgo it now precisely because he wants it in a better world. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples they shouldn’t want to be great, but that they could become great in the next world by being a servant in this one (Mark 10:42-44). Likewise, one does not forgo possessions here because he hates possessions, but because he wants them in another world. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples they shouldn’t want to be rich. Rather, he told them they could become rich in the next world by giving away riches in this one (Matthew 6:19-21). It’s not a matter of no gratification but delayed gratification. It’s forgoing present, temporal gratification in order to achieve future, eternal gratification.

We admire Olympic athletes for their dedication and discipline, but we don’t pretend they’re not acting from self-interest. We are right to admire a missionary, someone who works with street children, or someone who feeds the poor. What they are doing is not selfish, but neither is it selfless in the way we often think. Their short-term sacrifices are in their eternal self-interest, because God promises to reward them. This is not self-denial for its own sake, but purposeful self-denial for God’s glory and their own ultimate good. The key to this self-denial is faith, as described and exemplified in Hebrews 11:8-16. Faith is what motivates us to forgo something in this life for the promise that it—or an even higher form—will be ours in the next.

This concept is difficult for us to understand, because our sin nature has so tainted our pleasures, possessions, and power in this world. But in eternity we’ll be able to manage these things rightly—as our sinless Lord did—because we’ll be without sin.

Believers in prosperity theology don’t realize that when we fail to limit our seeking of pleasures, possessions, and power in this world, where we’re yet sinful, the results are disastrous. Look at the scandals that have rocked Christian organizations (several of which we examined in chapter 5). The lives of the two most prominent fallen evangelists—Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart —consisted of three basic elements in extensive measure: power, possessions, and pleasures. Both men rose to tremendous power over people, amassed a great number of possessions, and indulged in many pleasures, which ultimately included sexual immorality. Like most of us, these men in their sinful human natures were incapable of handling such large portions of power, possessions, and pleasures.

Can Appeal to Our Desires Really Be Spiritual?

God created us with certain desires, and he made us to be motivated by rewards that appeal to those desires. He calls us to act on the basis of those promised rewards. As we’ve seen, the Scriptures are full of exhortations to act in certain ways to gain certain rewards. Yet there persists a misguided belief that desire for power, possessions, and pleasure in the next life is crass and to pursue rewards is selfish or mercenary. Three godly Englishmen of three different centuries offer us a very different perspective, an explicitly biblical one.

John Bunyan, the seventeenth-century pastor who was imprisoned for preaching the gospel, said of eternal rewards, “They are such as should make us leap to think on, and that we should remember with exceeding joy, and never think that it is contrary to the Christian faith, to rejoice and be glad for [them].”60

William Wilberforce, through his tireless efforts in Parliament in the early nineteenth century, finally succeeded in abolishing England’s slave trade. He devoted most of his fortune to the cause of Christ. This was his perspective on our God-given desires: “Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object.”61

C. S. Lewis, a professor at Oxford and Cambridge in the mid-twentieth century, wrote prolifically on the Christian faith. He diverted most of his royalties to charitable causes and individual needs, living simply and thinking often of the world:

The faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call physical pleasures; and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to taste at the fountainhead that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that, I believe, is what lies before us. The whole man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy.

The New Testament has a lot to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our cross in order to follow Christ—and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that it’s a bad thing to desire one’s own good and earnestly hope for enjoyment, it is because it has crept in from the teachings of Immanuel Kant and the ancient Stoics. Certainly, it has no part in the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy has been offered to us. We are far too easily pleased, like an ignorant child who goes on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea.62

We must realize, once and for all, that fulfilling our desires and seeking rewards are not anti-Christian. What is anti-Christian is the self-centeredness that’s unconcerned about God and our neighbor, and the preoccupation with the immediate fulfilling of desires that distracts us from finding our ultimate fulfillment in Christ. The person who gives life, money, and possessions to receive rewards from God—the greatest of which is to hear the resounding “Well done”—is one whose deepest thirsts will be eternally quenched by the Maker and Fulfiller of all desire. It is senseless to devote our lives to the “mud pies” of power, possessions, and pleasures of this world—when our Lord offers to us the power, possessions, and pleasures of the next world, our eternal home.

Dreams of Eternal Dimension

Every year in Portland, Oregon, builders showcase a row of big, beautiful houses called the “Street of Dreams.” Although the houses are fun to look at, I’m struck by how sad it would be to have a dream as small as one of those houses.

When I was a pastor, a wonderful couple came to my office and told me they wanted to be able to give more money to the church and to missions, but they couldn’t if they were going to keep saving to build their dream house. They said, “We’ve always had this dream for a beautiful home in the country, and we can’t seem to shake it. Is that wrong?”

I told them I thought their dream of a perfect home was from God. I think they were surprised to hear that. Then I said, “It’s just that your dream can’t be fulfilled here, in this world.”

Our dream house is coming; we don’t have to build it ourselves. In fact, we can’t. Any dream house on earth will eventually be ravaged by time, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, carpenter ants, or freeway bypasses. Who would want to divert kingdom funds to build a dream house on earth if they understood that either it will leave them or they will leave it? Instead, why not use our resources to send building materials ahead to the Carpenter, our Bridegroom, who this very moment is building our dream house in heaven?

Writing in 1649, Pastor Richard Baxter asked a probing question:

If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labour for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear.63

May we joyously believe. And then may we live as if we believe!