How Will God Assign Rewards in Heaven? Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How Will God Assign Rewards in Heaven? Part 2. He will be reading out of 1st Corinthians 3: 8-15.

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 pray with them. You won’t put any effort in making sure they are being fed Spiritually because we are more Interested in the temporal than we are the eternal Hello, this is pastor Mike Sanders with hope worth having radio broadcasts coming in to your home your vehicle or wherever you may be listening to us and we want to share the truth of God’s word and we hope that God’s word will Be an encouragement to you will draw you to him and that you will be a faithfully devoted follower of Christ Now today we’re going to be in first corinthians chapter three again We’re continuing our study on how will God assign rewards in heaven? So let’s get right into our study So 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 them 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 That 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 doeth 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 going to 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 and 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 a responsibility before god and we have a job to do for the lord. Jesus christ And one day you’re going to stand before god in the presence of god and you’re going to 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 are 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 going to 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 covid 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 and 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 awana 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, 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 first 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 going to call you names You see what i’m saying And and you see we parent the wrong way We think we’re going to 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 going to build a strong believer Guess what? People are going to call you names here. I am. Did you guys know that i’m 54? I know I don’t look at do I? It’s stunning I’m, just teasing again, but I just found out this week.

Somebody called me a name I mean I tell people if i’m going to call you a name at least i’ll do it in front of your face. Amen I’m, not going to do it behind your back stab you in the back right You see what i’m saying here i’m 54 and people are still calling me names But i’m not shaking I’m, not breaking I’m, not falling apart having a meltdown crying Do you understand what i’m saying? They’re, never going to stop calling me names When I get to heaven people are going to huddle together and say, well, you know what this is what we thought about mike And it doesn’t matter because all that really matters is your heart And your relationship with jesus christ and it matters where you’re at Spiritually in your life and you need to have a quality christian life and you need to have a life that is committed to the lord Jesus christ Here’s another piece of advice i’d give you is to never cut corners in your christian life Never cut corners how, many times have, we had to deal with this or that we love our forefathers thank god for every one of them But i’m not sure they were always thinking about building with the best material And so we got to come back let me just give you a word of wisdom guys Your wife’s asking you to fix something change something or upgrade something All right, and i’m going to get you in trouble you’re, going to be mad at me because your wife’s going to be quoting Me from here on out Okay, do it right the first time Because when you got to come back and fix it It’s going to cost you more amen People say, well we don’t like this or that and i say let, me tell you if you, don’t do it right now If you, don’t do it right now i’m going to tell you 20 years from now When it falls apart or 10 years from now or five years it’s going to be more expensive It’s going to be more expensive So be smart about that that’s just a little side advice hey i’m helping you ladies all right it’s time to rip out that Paneling put up, some real walls That have insulation amen Don’t be mad at me now let me tell you another thing that i want you to understand And that is that you need to commit to obedience and faithfulness to god Now look at verse 16 and 17. Do you not know? that you Are the temple of god And that the spirit of god dwells in you If anyone defiles the temple of god god will destroy him for the temple of god is holy Which temple you are What he’s trying to teach us is that we need to live lives of purity and obedience and faithfulness to god He’s teaching us that as you’re building your spiritual life Don’t forget that your body is the temple of the spirit of god and he wants you to be faithful and he wants you to Be obedient friends there is nothing more important in your life Than being faithful and obedient to god Can i tell you that friends You need to make a commitment that it doesn’t matter.

We’re going to be faithful to god We’re going to be obedient to god for that’s all that matters when I stand before god I want to be a person who’s lived a pure life who is obedient to god who is faithful to god That’s what I want Now there’s so much more that I could tell you about material But I think you can study them on your own the scriptures are filled With the material that we ought to use when we are building our christian life But the third thing and final thing that I want you to note is that god will assign rewards For our work The bible teaches us that god will scrutinize the work and bestow rewards upon us accordingly Go back to verse 8 and note at the end. Each one will receive his own reward according to his own Labor Did you get that? And then we look at verse 13 He says each one’s work will become clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire And the fire will test each one’s work of what sort it is What material did you build with verse 12 gold silver precious stones or wood hay and straw? Did you build that what would be wood? Hay and straw would be like you did it for your selfish reasons Your motives were all about you and your agenda Rather than the cause of christ And look at verse 14 if anyone’s work which he has built on it endures he will receive a what? Yes, you’re going to be rewarded for your faithfulness and obedience to god the fiery tests will expose what truly Last and it’s going to be beautiful I want you to see in verse 15 if anyone’s work is burned He will suffer loss He’s not talking about the loss of your salvation, but he’s talking about the loss of your rewards There will be some in heaven who will receive more rewards than others And you say we can’t do that because we need to have participation trophies That we need to get a medal or a trophy just because we showed up No, that’s not how it works in the kingdom of god god Will award you Based upon your obedience and your faithfulness to him and how you built the materials that you built with Note again, it’s not your salvation, but it is your awards again verse 15, but he himself will be saved Yet it’s so as through fire So it’s not that you’re losing your salvation it’s just that you if you choose to be a slacker you choose that i’m going to be a Sideline critic if you choose to say i’m going to just come sit and soak and do nothing in the church And i’m not going to do anything for my spiritual growth And i’m certainly not going to build on the things that will make me stronger and better christian that I just kind of want to Be a sunday morning christian and coast through my christian life Well friends you’ll get to heaven if you have the right foundation, but you won’t have that many awards If our work has been without quality If our work has been without commitment sacrifice dedication and faithfulness, there’ll be no reward But we are promised That if it is We will be awarded and god Will bless each of us with a reward according to his own labor Now I read the story of a band of musicians Who were in another country and they traveled from town to town presenting music to make a living And they had not been doing very well and times were hard and there was little money for any person to come to hear their music And even though their fee was small, they just could not attract a crowd Attendance had been falling off. And so early one evening the group decided to meet together and talk about their plight One said I see no reason for opening tonight another said it’s starting to snow And to make things worse we are going to have more bad weather And so they were talking back and forth what do we do Another said well Nobody cares Let’s just quit and let’s just call it off And let’s just give back their fees and let’s put this concert off And so they didn’t feel like they could do it, but there was another gentleman He was sitting in the group and they asked him.

What do you think and the man appealed? To the group and he said to them That I know you’re discouraged And I am too But we have a responsibility To those who might come And we will go on And moreover we will do our best We will do our best job of which we are capable tonight And it’s not the fault of those who came who are coming That the others do not And that they should not be punished with less than the best that we can give They were encouraged The musicians were heartened and so they decided they would move forward with the show and they never performed better than they ever had And they were excited about what they were able to accomplish and the show ended And this elderly gentleman Called the group back together After the small audience had left And in his hand was a note that someone had handed to him By one of the audience he was sitting in the audience And he said I want to read this note to you. Listen to me my friends He said I want to read a note that was handed to me And here it was. Thank you for a beautiful performance And it was signed simply Your King the greatest reward That we could receive Is well done Signed king jesus Well, it’s amazing to think about what heaven will be like And just thinking about the fact that god has made it possible for us through jesus christ to experience Eternal life with jesus christ and what a glorious Moment, that’ll be when we leave this world enter into that majestic world where we are with our savior and our loved ones Forever heaven’s going to be great But even on top of all that we’ve already shared god is going to reward you and god is going to show His love towards you by rewarding your faithfulness and your diligence for god, maybe you’ve been discouraged Maybe you’ve been thinking about walking away from your responsibilities at your church.

Don’t do it Stay faithful to god stay plugged in and continue to serve All the way up to the end and you let the lord determine your time and your seasons And we are just glad that we can be a part of it Now we want to encourage you to go to our website hopeworthhaving.com sign up for our daily Devotions if you go to hopeworthhaving.com sign up for daily devotions They’ll be sent each day to your inbox and you can begin the day with just a little devotion not long But something to keep your mind focused and encouraged as you walk with jesus christ take advantage of that opportunity This is pastor mike sanders reminding you that in christ there is hope worth having