How Will God Assign Rewards in Heaven? Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How Will God Assign Rewards in Heaven? Part 1. He will be reading out of 1st Corinthians 3: 8-15.

He’s not called us to be lazy. He is not called us to just slide by What we are doing is of great value and it will be tested before God Almighty One day you’ll stand before God and give an account of your work for God Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania We welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio broadcast and we are excited to be able to be with you Thank you for tuning in today. We’re going to be in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 We’re learning about how God will assign rewards in heaven Yes, we do not earn our way to heaven But we have rewards waiting for those who faithfully serve him.

And so how are those assigned? We’re gonna look at that today. Join me as we study the Bible together This morning I want you to turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3 We’ll be studying verses 8 through 15 if you’re visiting with us. Thank you for coming today being a part of our service We’re in the middle of a series in which I’ve entitled five questions about heaven and five questions about hell This is a good day to visit because we’re on the question of heaven and we’ve been singing about heaven We’ve been reflecting and meditating about what a day that will be what it means to us In our spiritual journey, but today I want us to think about this question in relation to heaven How will God? assign Rewards in heaven the Bible teaches us that we are going to be awarded for our faithfulness for our obedience to God Well, how will that manifest itself in accordance with the Word of God and I want us to look at that this morning Now one of the largest buildings in the United States is the Willis Tower It was formerly known as the Sears Tower built in 1973 in Chicago, Illinois There are only six other buildings in the world that are taller than the Willis Tower The Willis Tower is a hundred and ten stories high It is 1,000 454 feet high it contains 4.5 million square feet of floor space It took three years to build and at the time it cost over a hundred and fifty million dollars in the Willis Tower There are forty three thousand miles of telephone cable There are two thousand miles of electrical wiring.

There are 76,000 tons of steel there’s 16,000 bronze tinted windows and 25,000 miles of plumbing it Contains enough concrete to build an eight-lane highway for five miles The combined weight of the building is two hundred and twenty two thousand five hundred tons There are two thousand two hundred and thirty two steps from the ground floor to the roof The building is so tall that the visibility is 40 to 50 miles on a clear day The Willis Tower is an amazing building However, there is a more Significant building that is being built in our text today in 1st Corinthians The Apostle tells us about that building and he describes our role in its Construction look at verse 8 and 9 of 1st Corinthians chapter 3 the Bible says now he who plants and he who waters are one and Each one will receive his own reward According to his own labor for we are God’s fellow workers and you are God’s field You are God’s Building would you underscore that in your Bible that you are God’s building every believer is a careful builder Every believer is to be a careful believer and we have this responsibility of building our own Christian life and building the cause of Christ and building the church and accordingly how we do Will determine how God Awards us God will reward every believer for their service And he will do it at the final judgment when we stand before Christ He will award each of us according to the job that we have done Now I want us to learn three things out of this text that we’ll be sharing with you this morning Very important wants you to write these down If you aren’t a good writer, then go to the church app and you can follow along But number one is that God will inspect the foundation of our life Now let’s go to verse 10 and 11. We’ve already established that we are God’s building and we are building This great cause of the gospel and the Christian life, but in verse 10 He says according to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise Master builder I have laid the foundation and another builds on it But let each one take heed how he builds on it For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ now any contractor will tell you that the foundation of a building Determines the quality of the building a faulty foundation will doom a building and the building will stand for a long time if the Foundation is solid and the foundation is right now The foundation of any building also determines the size of the building The foundation determines the shape and the strength of the structure when the Apostle makes the analogy Of how that he is one who is a master builder and that he has laid the foundation others build upon it He’s certainly talking about his church planting ministry where he would go out there and pioneer and he would win people to Christ and he would organize them and Mobilize them to be able to effectively serve God He would establish elders and deacons and pastors to oversee and they had the responsibility of building But he gets very Specific with us and he says let each one take heed in Verse 10 let each one take heed how he builds on it you and I have a responsibility To make sure that we are attentive to how things are to be done in Building the house of God the people of God the family of God and our own Christian life It cannot be something that is haphazard. It cannot be careless It cannot be something that we just kind of throw together at the last minute and at the outset of what we are building And our responsibility to it is that we must remember that the foundation is critical to our life and That that foundation will determine the success of our Christian life the foundation will determine the success of any body of believers the foundation will determine the size and the ability of us to Make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ What does the Bible say look at verse 11 again for no other foundation can anyone lay? Than that which is laid which is who church Jesus Christ Jesus must be the foundation of your life and we must make sure that he is the foundation of this church family and we must make sure that he is the foundation of The purpose of all that we do as we are serving and building for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ The Bible reminds us that Jesus is that foundation now Unfortunately, there have been many who have tried to build a religious life and they have tried to build a life That is based upon maybe rules and rituals and liturgical things that they like to do But none of those things will save your soul only Jesus Christ will save your soul The Bible says Jesus declared that I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by me and friends the only true foundation that leads to eternal life and the only true foundation that leads to Forgiveness of your sins is the foundation of Jesus Christ at the very foundation of your life Needs to be Jesus and you say, how do I make Jesus the foundation of my life? well, I would start out first by acknowledging that you are a sinner and That you are in need of a Savior now many people again have never come to grips with the reality of their sinfulness They grow up thinking that they’re wonderful.

They grow up thinking they’re great and there’s nothing wrong with them But the truth is the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is no exception. It doesn’t matter you say but I I grew up in the church pastor And I cut my teeth on the pews and and my family are leaders in the church It does not mean that you are not a sinner in need of a Savior God has no grandchildren he only has children and Each of us must acknowledge that and if I am going to make sure that Christ is the foundation of my life I must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means to repent and believe It means to turn away from my sins and my selfishness and to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of my life as the Lord of my life That is from all that I know and understand at the moment that God has spoken to my heart that I am willing To walk away from my sinful lifestyle and to repent to God Almighty and say Lord Forgive me of my sins and today I receive you as my Savior Jesus told a story in Matthew 7. It’s the story of a man who built his life on the shifting sands of the world in Contrast to the story of another man who built his life on a solid rock And I want you to know that it is a reminder to each of us That we are called to build our lives on the rock Jesus Christ The storms came to both lives in this parable that Jesus shared Both of them had troubles and trials and the rains and the winds poured down upon him just because you’re a Christian does not mean You won’t have problems doesn’t mean you won’t have struggles and you won’t have trials in your life We all have different types of struggles and trials in our life But we all have to endure but the difference is the foundation of your life For the one that built his life upon the shifting sands of the world his house crumbled His life was destroyed.

He could not handle the weight of the struggles and problems of this world But the one who built his life on the solid rock of Jesus Christ he was able to endure and his house was strong and he was able to continue on and so it is in my spiritual life that when I build my life on Jesus Christ Then I will be able to continue on for the Lord even through the trials Jesus said in Matthew 7 24 therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and Do with them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house Upon a rock. Here’s a question. What foundation are you building on? Some of you your focus is your career some of you your focus is maybe a particular person that you think so dearly of and Some of you it’s about money and some of you it’s about an experience And some of you are building your life on the things of this world and I’m going to tell you something you live long enough And you’re gonna find out none of that holds up It all collapses It all comes tumbling down and that the only thing that lasts and is enduring is the true foundation of Jesus Christ and You are implored and encouraged today to give your life fully freely to Jesus Christ to build on the foundation Of Jesus Christ in your life.

I Heard the story That early one morning that there was a fire that broke out in a house on a narrow street The alarm was sounded by a policeman on duty however flames were leaping high into the air before the fire engines could get to the scene and Suddenly a young man had appeared at an upper window in his pajamas Firefighters quickly placed a ladder against the burning building nevertheless to the consternation of all He refused to come down Shouting out to the firemen that he first had to get dressed The firemen pleaded come as you are come as you are But to no avail this young man would not Climb out the window and get on the ladder and escape They tried to ascend on the stairs from below but were turned back as the wind fanned the flames into furry when the rescuer tried to Enter through a window the heat and the smoke forced him away and suddenly the stairs gave way and the roof fell in The man waited too long and he was buried beneath the ruins and How much greater? Tragedy awaits all those who refuse to flee the wrath that is to come upon this world Because they want to go do this or they want to go do that They want to live their life a little bit or they want to try Something else my friends many have rejected God’s provision of Salvation and God’s provision of safety and God’s provision of forgiveness only to find that their life Was ruined and today I want you to remember that the most important thing in the most important message I could give you Is to make sure you built your life on The foundation of Jesus Christ Now the second thing that I want you to learn this morning is that God will inspect the materials Not only is the foundation going to be inspected, but the materials in which we build in What our work is for God now We jump down to verse 12 and 13 of our text and he says now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold silver and precious stones wood hay and straw Each one’s work will become clear for the day meaning the day of judgment will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each One’s work of what sort it is each member of God’s family Has an assignment from heaven. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been saved or how little you’ve been saved Friends every one of us has assignment from God and we have an responsibility before God and we have a job to do for the Lord Jesus Christ and one day you’re gonna stand before God in the presence of God and you’re gonna have to give an account for the Assignment that he has given you Now you cannot say like maybe some students have said through the years that my dog ate it Or you cannot say well I was not feeling too good And so I was not able to get to it you and I may have thousands of excuses of why we did not fulfill our assignment But we will stand before God without excuse for he has given to us an Opportunity that we might fulfill this assignment But not only is it important that we understand we have an assignment from God, but that we understand that God cares about the materials that we use We are called to use materials that are suitable for the purpose and plans of God in this assignment in our two verses that we just read in verse 12 and 13 We learned that the building materials look again in verse 12 gold silver precious stones wood hay straw you will note that these fall into two categories and That they are listed in descending order of value That the one category at the outset is Durable materials that can withstand the test of fire and that the others at the end the wood hay and stubble Would be consumed by the fire Now what that tells me first of all is that there are Christians that are Building their Christian life and they are doing their assignment and they are building with Gold and they are building as the text says silver and precious stones But that there are other Christians who are using wood hay and straw The Bible is telling us that the material we use matters to God Are you with me church, I want you to understand something God has not called us to be haphazard Unintentional he’s not called us to be lazy. He has not called us to just slide by What we are doing is of great value and it will be tested before God Almighty One day you’ll stand before God and give a account an account of your work for God And I want you to make sure that you understand that so I wrote down some things that I think will help you that things that I would put into the category of Gold silver and precious stones when you are building your Christian life when you are doing your work for Christ there are some things that you need to remember our gold silver and precious stones and There’s things that are wood hay and straw, but here they are write them down First of all, it’s important for you as a builder to begin with the end in mind When we built the Fellowship Hall, we had the drawings we had the end in mind We understood What was the ultimate goal? We went up and did the science lab recently and we had the end in mind We’re getting ready to renovate the gymnasium and get it all out in the kitchen and add on some Classrooms and we’re getting ready to Do some more work, but we’ve got the end in mind.

We’re working with the architect with the end in mind We’re gonna do some renovations in the auditorium and we’ve got the end in mind When we started doing the lobby, there were a few complainers. I Had already during kovat thrown away all the pacifiers. So I had to go out and find some new ones Just kidding now if you can’t handle pastor Mike’s teasing you won’t make it nor survive here Just letting you know But we had an end in mind.

We could see the vision we could see what needed to be done. Others couldn’t Why are you doing that? Why are you doing this? Why would you get rid of this floor that has been here for 50 some years? I mean we could still use it even though it’s popping up from the ground and people are tripping over it It’s falling apart. We could still use this half over here and maybe just replace a couple pieces over there pastor Mike.

No, no we begin with the end in mind and Just like you do in a building and just like you do in construction So you do in your spiritual life you begin with the end in mind now I know there’s a few people out there. You’re just kind of guiding sliding through life. I got you But I’m different.

I got goals I Got things I want to achieve and accomplish and we recognize those goals We evaluate those goals and we continue to push ourselves towards these goals spiritual goals in our life and We want to reach them and I know that sometimes people say well We just kind of take it as it comes pastor. Well friends. You’re like Charlie Brown They took him to target practice We’re bow and arrows and they had the target there right in front of him and he pulled back his arrow on his bow and He let it go and that arrow went everywhere and anywhere and it finally landed somewhere And so Charlie Brown went and grabbed the target and moved it over to where the arrow was.

I Think that’s how some Christians are We have no purpose. We have no goals. We have no steps.

We have no plan. We have no strategy We’re just kind of shooting it out there and we’ll just kind of move the target say Yeah, we always intended to be here You know I’m saying but no God wants us to have the end in mind. Where do you want to be spiritually? Where do you want to be in your Christian life five years from now? What are some things that you would like to accomplish as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? I’m not asking you to go out there and have multiple Crusades and filled up stadiums.

I’m just asking you How about this? Could you have a goal read the Bible through in a year? Could you have that kind of goal? Some of you say I’ve been doing that for 10 years 20 years 30 years great How about this? Could you have a goal? That you’re going to study the Bible That you’re going to memorize Bible verses. There’s all kinds of goals We don’t have time to go through them all but what I want you to know the kind of things that last with God is That when we begin with the end in mind That we’re not haphazard out there what is going to stand the test is we understand There needs to be a goal. The other area that I think is important is to emphasize the eternal over the temporal To emphasize the eternal over the temporal Now look he says in verse 14 if anyone’s work which he has built on it endures He will receive a reward Now sometimes there’s flash in the pans sometimes they’re shooting stars Sometimes people are more interested in the external.

They’re wowed by the razzle-dazzle and the fancy But what God cares about is the eternal What God cares about is what is happening spiritually? What is happening in your heart? Eternally have you put your focus there? Have you put your energy there? Have you put your time? Yes There’s a lot of good things you can be involved in church And we don’t doubt any of those and we do not condemn them that they are not good but the question is are they the best and What is it that determines the best for the believer in Jesus Christ? It is That we focus on the eternal over the temporal But not only that we are focused on what is eternal Because I want you to know heaven and hell is all that really matters. I mean some of you will spend hours getting your kids to practice and games and I’m not opposed to any of that but you won’t sit down and Read the Bible to them You won’t pray with them You won’t put any time any effort in making sure they’re in Sunday school that they’re in a wanna that they’re in church that they’re In the youth group that they’re in some kind of a ministry where they are being fed spiritually because we are more interested in the temporal Than we are the eternal and I know that rubs people the wrong way But I’m here to tell you that you aren’t going to be able to stand before God and say, you know God I taught my son how to shoot a basketball Don’t I get any credit? Ain’t gonna matter Because it’s temporal What matters is their eternal soul Are you with me? Some of you saying I don’t have anybody to talk to about Jesus. Why don’t you start with your children? Why don’t you start with your grandchildren? Why don’t you start with people that are right in your circle of influence? Okay, the another area is the internal over the external Now here I’m talking about the heart What matters most to God is the heart the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks I’m telling you that God cares about our heart The Bible says that Jesus Declared to the Pharisees that they had all this garb and all this dress and fancy dress that they had But he said that their hearts were far From God you can be religious and be far from God You can be a person who go through the motions of rituals and all that and here’s the thing You don’t even know Jesus Christ is your Savior The internal is more Important than the external.

I want you to understand That quality of your spiritual life is more important than quantity It’s not the length. You can’t sit there and brag about how long you’ve been saved in a Christian When your life you’re still spiritually immature The Apostle said I can’t talk to you as mature people in 1st Corinthians 3 at the beginning he said I have to talk to you as babes in Christ and That’s the way I have to do sometimes. I Say one thing and I know it’ll trigger somebody they’ll have a meltdown They’ll start crying and I’ll have to go find that package of pacifiers Are you with me? But here’s what I’m saying.

You ought to grow in the quality of your spiritual life You ought to grow in the quality of your spiritual life because let me tell you something the world’s tough The devil’s not sitting on the sidelines It isn’t going to get any easier. I know that some of you all think I’m crazy And I half believe you But I want to tell you one time I was driving a bus and I was telling my Sunday school class and this little four-year-old Girl came to me. She said pastor Mike they’re calling me names back there on the bus and I said, you know what? You’re gonna have to get tough Because all your life people are gonna call you names You see I’m saying and And you see we parent the wrong way we think we’re gonna right every wrong in this world rather than teaching our children to be strong in their faith and To be strong in their walk with the Lord that other people can’t define them or label them That they find their identity in what Christ says about them rather than what other people say about them I’m telling you that’s quality over quantity You might be able to squash something little at the moment, but friends when you teach that child To find their identity in Jesus Christ rather than in the world and what others say you’re gonna build a strong believer You Well, the bottom line is this God is going to reward those who are faithful to him now There’s a lot of reasons why we should give up but friends God wants us to power through keep being faithful Keep our eyes on him and he will reward us and our rewards will certainly be a part of us giving glory to God Again and so we’re grateful that God looks at our works.

He does not overlook them He does not forget them and though we are not earning merit to be in heaven because that’s already been accomplished on the cross But we are serving to show our gratitude to God for all that. He’s done for us and then through that faithfulness God Rewards to us as we enter into those hurly gates and live with Christ forever Hey, make sure that you are checking out hopeworthhaving.com and you are signing up for our newsletter, we have a newsletter that goes out periodically and you can take advantage of that and we can either send that to your Inbox or we can send it to your mailbox You just pick and let us know but go to hopeworthhaving.com and sign up for our newsletter and take advantage of the great Opportunity there. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.