Kingdom Instructions Pt 5

chapter 3, verse 1 says, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things above, not on the things on this earth. And you can do that by being in the Word every day on your own. So, hope you join us. Thank you.

Thank you, Teresa. Okay, so those are the things that are happening. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 139. 139. We'll be looking at the new American standards so we all sound the same. Should be one in a row if you need one. And as you're turning to Psalm 139,

if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

A little bit of a longer psalm this morning, but it's a really good psalm. So, I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 139. For the choir director, a psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path

and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven,

you are there. If I make my bed and shield, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you and the night is as bright as the

day. Darkness and light are alike to you. For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance

and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I wake, I still with you. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they

speak against you wickedly and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting

way. Father, we come before you and Lord, we praise you, Lord, for everything that that psalm had to say. That we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That you know us better than we know ourselves and yet you still love us. And so, Lord, do search us this morning, Lord, and know us and see if there's anything that needs to change in us and lead us in the way that you would have us to

go. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 19. Matthew, chapter 19. We come now to part five of kingdom instructions. Today, the specific thing that we're looking at is rewards in the kingdom. And so, as we come, we're going to look at three different things this morning. We'll first of all see

the promise of the rewards. We'll see the system of rewards. And then we'll look at a few concluding points to sort of wrap it all up and put a nice little bow on it. So we pick up in chapter 19, verse 27, and this is what it says. Then Peter said to him, Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us? And Jesus said to them, Truly I say

to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or farms, for my name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last. And the last first.

Now it starts off with Peter asking Jesus a question. And in order to build a little bit of context, let's think about why did Peter ask Jesus this question? Well, in order to do that, we'll build just a little bit of an introduction based on what took place the time before. There had been a young man that came to Jesus. We refer to him as the rich young ruler, because if you take Matthew,

Mark, and Luke, you learn from each of those a detail about this man, that he was rich, that he was a young, and he was a ruler. Therefore, we call him the rich young ruler. So he comes to Jesus, and he asks Jesus, what should I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus, of course, starts with that table of the law that has to do with man's relationship with man. And he tells

him all the things that he should do. And he says, I've kept all of those things. But Jesus, getting to the core of his being, dealt with the idol that was truly in his heart. And he says, you therefore sell all that you have, give the money to the poor, and then you, follow me. And it says that the young man went away very sad, because he had great possessions. Jesus

then began to talk to the disciples about how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, as all of this is going on, Peter once again begins to think, this is just like you and I. We begin to apply this to ourselves. So what does this mean for me? Now, that's not a bad thing. And while many give Peter a little bit of a hard time for this question,

and perhaps he should be given a hard time for this question, you'll notice Jesus didn't rebuke him for his question. Jesus simply answered it. And so it caused Peter to ask a question of Jesus. If Jesus had said, in order for the rich young ruler to attain eternal life, he needed to leave everything that he had and follow Jesus, well, Peter wants to know, well, then what is there for us? And so Peter asked

this question. Peter said to him, behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us? Now, I think the first thing that we should pay attention to about Peter's question is the accuracy in Peter's question. These guys really had left everything to follow Jesus. If you think about each of these disciples, some of them left a lucrative fishing business that

they owned. Some of them left their job as a fisherman. Some of them left careers behind in the financial world. Each of them, in some way, had abandoned everything about their life in order to follow Jesus. So there's accuracy in the question that Peter asks. And I think that there's a great deal of honesty in the question that Peter asks. He goes, Jesus, we've

kind of done that. And if that's what we've done, then what is there now for us? What does this mean for us who have followed you? In other words, what reward will we have seeing we've done everything that you just told this rich young ruler to do? Now, there's a lot of people who say, we as Christians should never think about rewards. We should just simply serve for the joy of serving.

And while I do think that there's an aspect of that that's true, the Bible speaks a lot about rewards. Matter of fact, Paul, when you get later into the epistles, talks a lot about running to achieve a crown, right? That there are eternal rewards that we have. That there is fruit that we produce, and that fruit comes with rewards that go with it. And so, I kind of agree with J. Vernon

McGee. There's nothing wrong with a believer in Jesus Christ continuing to live their life for the purpose of earning eternal rewards, as long as those rewards are eternal, and not just the temporary things of this earth. And so, when Peter asks this question, he says, so what's there going to be for us? We've done what you said to do. What reward is there for us?

And of course, Jesus answers in two ways. The first thing he does is answer by telling them what reward there is for the twelve specifically. Notice what it says in verse 28. Jesus said, truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The first part

of Jesus' answer is specifically for the twelve disciples. The twelve that are standing right there in front of him, that we will later refer to as apostles. That's who he specifically directs first. He says, there's going to come a time in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne. Well, what is that talking about? Because clearly he's

speaking of a future event. So what's Jesus talking about when he says that? Well, exactly what it sounds like he's talking about. In the new kingdom, when there's a new heaven and a new earth, perhaps millennials stretching into the kingdom of the new heaven and new earth, when Jesus is ruling and reigning, there is a specific job for these twelve disciples.

The specific job for these twelve disciples in that future time, that millennial reign of Jesus, is that they will sit on twelve different thrones and essentially they will rule with him over the twelve tribes of Israel. In other words, the time that they spend working for the things of God here on this earth, abandoning their earthly life, abandoning the worldly things and seeking after spiritual things, will yield them just that. They will have spiritual authority in heaven. They'll have spiritual authority in the kingdom to come. That's what

specifically waits for them. And so it's kind of an interesting thing because Jesus doesn't rebuke Peter for his question. Instead, he kind of rewards him for his question by saying, actually there is something great that's waiting for you. And what's waiting for you is that if you're faithful in the small things now, there are great things that await you in eternity. And so

having answered first of all what Jesus is going to do in rewards for the twelve specifically, he now deals with all disciples generally. He goes on to say, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life. He now begins to speak to all of us as disciples, period. Because in order to be disciples of Jesus Christ, it does mean that there is an aspect of crucifying the self-life on this earth. There is a

putting aside of the comforts of this earth so that we may pursue the things of eternity. Interestingly enough, Teresa read that verse from the book of Colossians that we are to seek those things which are above where the father where Christ is seated at the right hand of the father. Well, in order for me to seek the things that are above, I must also abandon the things of this earth. And throughout the centuries, since the time of Jesus walking on this earth, that's what, that's exactly what the disciples of Jesus Christ have done. Some of them

have had to leave behind relationships. Because, notice what he says, those of you who, well, I guess we'll deal with the houses in just a minute. Some of them have left behind relationships. Notice what it says. Brothers, sisters, father, mother, children. Those are some of the closest relationships we have on this earth. Relationships that have that familial

bond, and yet, in order to follow Jesus, sometimes there is the leaving behind of those relationships. Because, those who are the closest to you, if they do not pursue Jesus with you, you will find that eventually they sort of leave you by the wayside. And it's not so much that you're going, I just can't be around you anymore. It's just that they don't want to be around you anymore. Because you're pursuing

the things of God, and your life just looks very different from theirs now. Your lives are going two completely different directions. In a less intense sort of a way, a lot of my friends that I had when I was in high school, after I started walking with the Lord, we were no longer close friends. I was still acquaintances with them, and I still talk to them when I see them today. But we didn't hang out all the

time anymore. Why? Because our lives were going two completely opposite directions. Therefore, the things I was pursuing were so different from the things that they were pursuing, that I kind of left behind those friendships. As a matter of fact, there was a point in time in my life where I kind of went, am I ever going to have a close friend again? Because none of the people that I knew very well were

pursuing the things of God. Bible college was really wonderful for me in that way. Because I finally found other people that were pursuing God together. And may I say, that's one of the beauties of having the family that we have here at Calvary Chapel of Arc City, is that we have brothers and sisters that are pursuing God together. But sometimes those close

relationships get left behind, and we can think, it's almost like I don't have a mom and a dad anymore. It's almost like I don't have a brother or a sister anymore. It's almost like I don't even have kids anymore, because they've decided to live a completely different life than me, because I've abandoned all to follow Jesus, and they don't understand that. Jesus says, don't worry, I'll take care of you. We'll deal

with that in just a minute. The next thing that he deals with is the material things of the world that we oftentimes will leave behind. He refers to it as houses and farms. In other words, all of the things that you would call your own on this earth. And again, throughout the centuries, believers in Jesus' Christ have had to do just that. They at times have had to leave

behind the creature comforts of this world, all of the treasures of this world, in order to pursue the things of God. I remember when I was late junior high, early high school, we always watched KSN News when I was growing up. And I remember it was either, I think it was a weather guy that worked for KSN News, and I remember him making an announcement, and on the news, him saying, I've decided to leave my career as a weatherman so that I can go and work at a Christian youth camp in like Montana. And I remember thinking, whoa, that's got to be a major cut in pay.

I grew up in a ministry family. I was like, that's got to be a major cut in pay. He's really leaving behind everything that this world would have to offer so that he can go and serve God in the way that God has called for him to. Wow, the rewards he's going to have, though, because he has abandoned all of the things of this world in order to pursue the things of God.

And I just sometimes wonder, in the Western culture church that we live in now, how easy is it for us to do that, especially in the times that we're living in? How easy is it for us to say, I know it may cost me my job. I know it may cost me my house. I know it may cost me the farm. I know it may cost me a relationship. I know what it is going to cost me. But quite frankly, it's worth it

because the pursuit of God is the thing that's the absolute most important in my life. Before we get to the rewards portion, may I just say I think each of us as believers in Jesus Christ needs to ask ourselves some of those hard questions sometimes. Am I willing to leave behind mother, father, sister, brother, kids, house, the farm? Am I willing to leave all of that behind in order to follow Jesus?

Jesus says, I want you to understand something. If you leave those things behind, for my name's sake, end of verse 29, you will receive many times as much. Now here's the million dollar question. What does Jesus mean by that? Does that mean that if you've left the farm behind, now Jesus is going to give you like 10 times the size of farm? It's okay. I left 10 acres behind.

I've got 100 coming to me. I left 100 acres behind. They got 1,000 coming to me. I don't necessarily think so. Does God do that sometimes? Absolutely. I think about Job, right? Job lost everything, right? All because he followed God. Because God was like, hey, if you looked at my servant Job, hey, and Satan says, hey, the only reason he blesses you the way that he does is, or follows you the way

that he does is because you blessed him so much. God's like, fine, take it all away. Just don't touch his life. And so, everything gets taken away from Job. Kids, farm, house, livestock. It's almost like everything that Jesus just described right there is exactly what happened to Job. And yet, in the end, when Job finally came to the place of understanding that God is God and

he is not, God restored to him everything 10-fold. That's how well God took care of him on this side of eternity. Does that happen sometimes? Yes. Is that the specific context of this promise? I don't think so. I think what God is talking about here is eternal rewards. I think that what God is talking about here is that when we stand before him, there will be eternal rewards in

heaven that we can't grasp, both spiritually and crowns that we will then throw at his feet. I believe our capacity to enjoy heaven will be that much greater because of what we have done to serve him on this earth now. However God decides to reward us, he does so because God will be a debtor to no man. Because as I give both my time and everything else to the Lord and abandon things to follow him, he says, I've taken note of that and don't you worry, I'll take care of you.

I remember the pastor that I served under in Johnson County, Rick Jardine, wonderful man of God, always talked about the fact that when he started walking with the Lord, basically all of his family abandoned him because they didn't want to go the direction that he was going. And I remember him standing up in front of the congregation at Calvary Chapel of Johnson County and saying, but I truly believe God has fulfilled this verse in my life because though I may have left behind all of my family in order to follow Jesus, he has blessed me with a family ten times that size here with the family of Johnson County. No matter what it is, God will be a debtor to no man and he will always take care of us, both on this side of eternity and the

other side of eternity. We work for those rewards. We pursue God and serve him for those rewards. But I want you to notice the second part of how God says he'll reward all of the disciples in general. He says, everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake will receive many times as much and will inherit

eternal life. Did you notice there's an interesting word that's used there and that word is inherit eternal life. Why was Jesus so specific in the way that he said eternal life would come to us? Because an inheritance is not something that you work for, is it? It's something that's gifted to you. You see, eternal life is given to us by faith. Rewards are given

to us through faithfulness. Well, he lays out this principle for what rewards are supposed to be, that there is both going to be rewards for the twelve, the fact that they will sit on these twelve thrones and rule and reign with him, and then there is the rewards for all disciples, that even though we leave things behind, we will receive many times more and will inherit eternal life. But now he begins to speak about the reward system. Did you notice the little verse right there at the end, the principle that's given to us in this reward system?

Look at verse 30. Many who are first will be last. And the last first. Now for those of us that grew up in church going to potluck dinners, you know that when you got to the front of the line, the people at the back of the line always say what? They always say the same thing. It's okay, the first will be last and the last will be first, right? Because we're angry

that they got to the potluck line sooner than us. At least that's what me and all of my friends did growing up when we got to those kinds of things. That's not exactly what's meant here. Actually what's meant here is completely talking about rewards and Jesus lays out this principle that many who are first will be last and the last first. Well what does he mean? What does

this principle mean for us? What this principle means for us is that God's system of rewards is not the same as the earth's system of rewards. And we basically have to untrain ourselves from all of the thinking of the world in order to really understand how God will reward us in eternity. You see the world's system of rewards is actually pretty cut and dry, right?

The first gets everything and the last will get nothing, right? Again, wrestler all through high school. One year I made it to state wrestling. And in state wrestling I made it there and I lost my first two matches. And you know what they don't give the guy that loses their first two matches and gets beat out? They don't give him anything, right? They just don't. You don't win

anything. The first place guy, he gets to stand up there on the podium. He gets the medal. He gets the bracket. He gets the accolades. The guy that gets beat out the first day, he gets to eat. I guess that was fun, right? I got to eat at that point in time. That's about it. You don't get anything because that's the way the world rewards people. The world rewards people that says

if you are the best, you're going to get everything. If you're the worst, you'll get nothing. But Jesus says, but I need you to understand something. Many who are first will actually be last. And many who are last will actually be first. My system is going to work different than the world's. In other words, all the people that you may think will get the greatest rewards in heaven

may actually get the least amount of rewards in heaven. And all of the people who you've maybe never even heard of will actually get the great rewards in heaven, not the least. It's a completely different system. And isn't that kind of true of becoming a Christian anyway? Is that we have to untrain ourselves from the thinking of the world so that we can begin to think

in a biblical way? Well, in order for us to understand this, Jesus told a little bit of a parable because that's what he does. He told a story. And so we pick up in chapter 20 verse 1 with the illustration by telling the story of the laborers and the vineyard. Chapter 20 verse 1 says this. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire

laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to those he said, you also go into the vineyard and whatever is right, I will give you. And so they went. Again, he went about the sixth hour and the ninth hour

and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing around and he said to them, why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said, because no one hired us. He said, you go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages. Beginning with the last group

to the first. When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, these last men have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the scorching

heat of the day. But he answered and said to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. If I wish to give this last man the same as to you, is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first and the first last.

Let's break this story down and then we'll give some concluding points at the end. So the story is very interesting. It starts off like many others. Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is like. In other words, as he's been talking about rewards within the kingdom of heaven, he wants to explain to them why sometimes the first or last and the last first. So the kingdom of heaven

is like a landowner. And this landowner needs to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now, it's important that he get these guys and that he get as many workers as possible to work in his vineyard because when it's harvest time for a vineyard, it's right before the rainy season begins to set in in Israel. In that Mediterranean sort of area. Now, if the rains begin

to come before the grapes are harvested, it ruins the entire crop. So, as he is looking for laborers for the vineyard, there is a limited window for the harvest. Gosh, this almost sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? It's almost like some other language that Jesus has used. In other words, there's a large harvest, but there's a limited window for the harvest.

Therefore, he needs workers for the harvest. I've read it somewhere. Anyway, so he's going out and he's looking for these guys. So it says, first of all, that he's starts off early in the morning. And when he begins to hire early in the morning, he agrees with a group of men to receive a denarius for a day's work. Now, at this point in time, if you didn't own land for yourself,

you would find yourself in the public marketplace looking for a job. Looking for day labor. So what you would do is you'd show up and the farmer would come and say, hey, I need ten guys. These ten guys go to work for him and he agrees with them ahead of time and says, I'll pay you a denarius. This is about six o'clock in the morning at this point in time. Which if I'm harvesting

in Israel, it's probably a pretty good time to get started. Although the day is very long because it's going to go until six o'clock in the evening. So at six o'clock in the morning, he hires his first group. And as he hires his first group, they agree for a denarius. Now, a denarius, some of your translations may say a penny, but a denarius was a day's wage

for the average working man at that point in time. If you will, he said, this is the going rate for your labor. This is what I'm willing to pay you. And they agreed. There's nothing untoward he's done whatsoever right now. Everything is honest. Everything is fair. Everybody's happy. But as these guys are out there working, he comes back to the town square and sees some more that aren't working.

And so notice what he says. He went about the third hour at this point in time. It's about nine a.m. Apparently the later crew is showing up. And he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. There's an interesting word that's used there. Is it not the word idle? Right? There's just nothing that makes you feel more lazy than to say, I've just got nothing but

idle time. Like, I'm just standing around. I'm just slacking. I'm just loafing. I'm just like, hey, whatever. You know, they're scrolling through Instagram on their phone or whatever. You know, they're just hanging out. They're doing nothing. He's like, why are you just standing here doing nothing? There's a great harvest, and there's a limited window. I need more workers in the harvest.

Nine a.m. Go out and work in the harvest, and I will pay you what is fair. See, that's what he says right there. You also go into the vineyard, verse 4, and whatever is right I will give you. And so they went. Now, these guys have no guarantee of the amount that they're going to get paid. They just know he's going to take care of them, and they feel like they can trust the landowner.

So they go out, nine a.m. They begin to work. It says he comes back about the sixth hour, about noon. And then the ninth hour, three o'clock, and he did the same thing. Amazingly enough, every time he goes back to the town square, there are people standing idle and doing nothing. And he looks at them and says, you should be out in the harvest working. Go out. I'll

pay you what's right. So every three hours, he's doing the same thing. But now he comes to the eleventh hour, five p.m. Now, we said the working day went from six a.m. to six p.m. So quick math tells you how many hours are left? One. Just one hour left. And he looks and he says, why are you standing around? Or why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him,

because no one hired us. And he said to them, you go into the vineyard too. Now, Spurgeon makes a great point here, and I don't think we can run by it. Isn't it interesting how many people knowing that the harvest needs to be brought in, were simply standing idle in the square all day long? I fear that somehow this may translate to the church of the 21st century. That the harvest

is very great, and yet there's way too many of us that are standing idle in the marketplace all day long going, but nobody's hired me. But nobody told me what to do.

And so he says, go out and work. And so they go out and work. Well, now it's time to get paid. Verse 8, so when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said, said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first. Interestingly enough, he starts with the last group, and I think there's a reason in Jesus' story why he starts

with the last group. Otherwise, the first group can never get offended, right? Starts with the last group. So the ones that showed up and worked for one hour, can I just say got the best deal of all this? Like, they worked for one hour, and they made a full day's wages. So they come in, and those that were hired at the 11th hour, each received a denarius. Now,

if you've been there since 6 a.m., I fully understand why they're mildly offended at this. If you're standing there, and you've been there since 6 a.m., and you've worked your tail off, your clothes are drenched in sweat for the third time that day, and you're just worn out, and you see those guys get paid a denarius, and you're like, oh, yes. Bonus day. We're going to get paid more than we thought.

This is going to be amazing. Man, greatest day ever. And so as he starts working his way through, everybody's receiving the same amount. When those he hired first, verse 10, came, they thought that they would each receive more, but each of them received a denarius. You all know that moment where you're like, he's going to take better care of me than I thought

he was going to. And then he gives you your pay, and you're like, that's not as good as I thought he was going to. And you're like, oh, that's so sad. That's how those guys feel, only they let him know about it. So they begin to grumble to the landowner. They're like, dude, we put in all this work. We bore the scorching sun, the heat, all the things. We worked for you all day, and we got the same

amount as them. He looks at him and says, isn't it right for me to do what I want to do with my own money? Am I not sovereign over my land and my rewards? Can't I do what I see is fit? We agreed for a wage. I paid you your wage, the wage we shook hands on. So why are you upset with me? So the last shall be first, and the first last. It's a great story that we can kind of appreciate where

the first guys are coming from, because again, in the world that we live in, those that work the longest should get paid the most, because we still have that earthly mentality. There's a different heavenly mentality. And so from this, I think that there's a handful of things that we take away. We're reminded that God's system is different than ours, so what does that mean for us? And so with these concluding

points, over about the next 15-20 minutes, we're going to talk about these concluding points. Number one, we will be surprised by the rewards in heaven. We will be surprised by the rewards in heaven. I want you to think to yourself, and I want you to think, who is the most influential Christian figure that you can think of? Now, I'm not talking some crazy televangelist who's only out there for the money.

I'm talking about legit, like, this is a truly influential Christian person. I would venture to say that for a lot of us, Billy Graham is who comes to mind, right? He's probably one of the most influential people of our generation. I think that there's a few that are bumping into that in the world that we live in today, since Billy's gone home to be with Jesus. Franklin

may move into, Franklin Graham may move into one of those places. Perhaps a Greg Laurie, for my era, I think like a Levi Lusko, or a Tim Chaddock, or somebody like that, that's a little bit more my age that fits into those. But these guys have either pastored megachurches, or they're evangelists that have great, what we would think of as great rewards, because we've seen great fruit from their ministries. And I would venture to say that if we were thinking about who was going to get the greatest, greatest rewards in heaven, we would think that the rest of us will be sitting on the back row, and Billy will be up there somewhere in the front because of the great work that he's done. Perhaps you're thinking of Charles Spurgeon,

I don't know who you're thinking of, but we think those guys are going to be at the front, and they're going to get the greatest amount of rewards. And that may be true, but that may not be true. Because there is a very good possibility that there's a little old lady from Ann Arbor, Michigan who's been praying faithfully for the past 50 years for the work of the ministry of a church up there. By the way, that's just an arbitrary town I threw out there.

That's been praying for the work of the ministry of her church faithfully without anybody knowing it her entire life. And it could very well be that when it's time to hand out the rewards, God will say, hey Billy, could you step to the right please? Marge needs to come on up. Because it could be that she's the one who actually is going to receive the greatest amount of rewards in heaven because she was praying for the ministry of her church, and she did so, so faithfully.

It could be that there are people that you don't even know exist in the world and have never heard their names that are going to end up getting some of the greatest rewards because all they did was faithfully serve in the most mundane ways possible and nobody saw it, nobody acknowledged it, nobody recognized it, but Jesus saw it all. But God saw everything that was going on in that person's life, in all of the faithful service that they had rendered. I'm always reminded in the New Testament of Anna. Anna the prophetess, right?

Who had lived, I can't remember how many years it was from the time that she had been a widow, basically she lost her husband probably somewhere in her 20s, and she had just been living for like 60 or 70 years doing the exact same thing. You know what the exact same thing was? She went to the temple every day and prayed. And do you know how God rewarded her? A woman

nobody else in the nation of Israel even knew about. A woman none of the disciples would have written a book about had this not happened. A woman nobody else even knew existed. Do you know how God blessed her? God blessed her by being one of the first ones to see Jesus on the day that he was brought to the temple to be presented on that eighth day. Why? Because we

will be surprised by the rewards that we see in heaven. Some of you are going to serve in obscurity, and that's a beautiful thing because serving in obscurity means that God sees everything. There are so many things, I just think about this church locally and the things that go on here. There are so many things that go on here that nobody even knows about during the day.

I bet most of you don't know who the cleaning crew is. I bet most of you don't know who some of the intercessory prayer crew is. I bet some of you don't know all of the people that do all of the little ins and outs that mow the lawn and all the things around here. You don't know that. And what I really know that none of us know the names of are the people that pray

before the service, not because they gather here in the back, although that's a great place to do that, that pray before the service, they pray after the service, and they pray all through the week for me, for you, for all of the requests that go through our prayer chain, and for the requests that sometimes don't even make it through the prayer chain because they're too private. God sees all of those and will reward those in fantastic ways. He'll ask me and every other pastor that stands up in front of people every week, He'll ask us to step aside so that some of those toilet cleaners, so that some of those prayer warriors, so that some of those people that you don't even know exist, can come forward and receive their rewards.

Because one thing we can always be sure of is that whatever it is that you do in service for the kingdom of God, God sees. He takes note of it. He writes that little thing down and He rewards you for it. I believe when we get to heaven we will be so surprised at the people that get some of the greatest rewards. And you know what? None of us will find ourselves going, but what about me?

We'll just all be going, I had no idea the effect that they had on my life. I had no idea the effect that they had for the kingdom. Praise God for that work. We'll be surprised by the rewards in heaven. Number two, God will reward based on His grace. You know, that's one of the interesting things that's pointed out in that story, is it not? That God rewarded not, that that land owner

rewarded not based upon how much work everyone did, but simply by His desire to reward anyone that would get involved in the harvest. Because it's completely by God's grace. Again, it is so hard for us as human beings to get out of our minds the works based mentality. We talked about this last week. What the heck? We'll talk about it again. It is so hard to get out

of our minds the works based mentality. The mentality that in order for me to earn rewards from God, I have to do the hardest work. Listen, there's an aspect of faithfulness we'll deal with in just a second, but when it comes right down to it, we could do the hardest work in the world and God would still owe us, listen, nothing. Because He's already allowed us to inherit eternal life.

And so He will reward us completely based upon His grace. His unmerited favor. Just because He's so overjoyed that we wanted to serve Him. I tell this story over and over again, but I think it's so good. It comes out of C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity. There's a chapter called Sixpence None the Richer. And he tells the story of a dad who has a son and the son, all he wants to do is to buy

his dad a gift. But the son has no money in order to buy his dad a gift. So the dad gives his son sixpence so he can go out and buy him a gift. And the son goes out, purchases a gift for his father, brings it to his father and presents it to him. And the line goes like this, though the father is sixpence none the richer, he is overjoyed at what his son has done for him and rewards him

for it. You see, that's kind of what God does for us. Because when He rewards us, it's based on His grace. Because God granted us salvation because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And when God grants us salvation because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, He then fills us with His Spirit. That Spirit at work in us not only regenerates us and makes us alive,

but begins to lay on our heart the needs of the world that are around us. The Holy Spirit is who makes us aware of the harvest that is all around us. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us after He has made us alive and made us aware of the harvest that is around us. He then empowers us to go out and serve in the work of the ministry, in the work of the harvest. And then He is the one who brings

forth the fruit of the work of the harvest. And then after the Holy Spirit has made me alive, made me aware, made me able, and brought forth the fruit, Jesus says, and now I'm going to reward you for it. Friends, that's called grace. Because I didn't deserve any of that. It wasn't me that made myself alive. It wasn't me that saw the harvest around me. It wasn't me that had the

ability to go out and do the work in the harvest. And Jesus knows it wasn't me that brought forth any fruit. He did it all. And after He did it all, He said, now I'm going to reward you for it. Because that's who God is by His grace. And He always rewards us. By His grace. Number three. God will reward based on faithfulness. Ryan, you just said it's by grace. It is! But He still calls

us to be faithful. But I want to point out the importance of faithfulness in our lives. Faithfulness is different than success. Do you know that? Success says, I did what I set out to do. Faithfulness said, I did what God called me to do. Because sometimes there's no results in faithfulness. Do you know that? I will I will always be reminded of the ministry of Jeremiah.

Do you know that Jeremiah the prophet prophesied for years and never had listened a single convert? Actually, they just locked him up in jail. No converts. Now, Daniel could probably call himself fruit from the ministry of the work of Jeremiah. But as far as Jeremiah knew, no prophet in anything that he had done. No fruit, no conversions in all of his life.

And yet, he's considered one of the greatest prophets of all time. Why? Because he was faithful. You see, each of us are stewards of the gifts that God has given to us. Each of us are stewards of the calling that God has in our lives. And as we're told in the book of 2 Timothy, it is required of a steward that he be faithful. Faithful means I show up every day

and I do what God calls me to do and I trust the results with Him. Some of you are raising kids and you've been pouring into their lives faithfully the way that God has called you to. And your kids have made decisions to go the other direction. And you're going, I don't understand. I was faithful to do what God called me to do and yet, I'm not seeing the results.

That's okay. God still sees you as successful in His book because He didn't ask you to produce results. He asked you to be faithful. You may say, but I've been doing the exact same thing over and over again, just like God called me to do and I just don't see anything coming out of it. That's okay. You be faithful because God sees your faithfulness. Brothers and sisters,

God accounts it all so much differently than you and I do. We're stewards and all He wants for us to be as stewards is faithful. Number four, I stole this one from John Corson. It's never too late to start. It's never too late to start. Listen, I think that in the same way that the landowner was going out because he knew that the harvest was great and the window

was limited, I think we're in that same place right now. The harvest is great. We have a limited window because quite frankly, the rainy season's coming. Quite frankly, judgment is coming. It's written all over the world. It's written all over Scripture and the more that you compare Scripture with the things going on in the world right now, you just go, judgment's coming.

The world has willfully forgotten as it tells us in 1 Peter. The world has willfully forgotten that God judged the earth once with a flood. Therefore, He will judge it again with fire. But the world has forgotten that. And you know what's really sad? The church has forgotten that. We have forgotten that there's a harvest out there, not because Jesus wants you to have the best life.

I think God wants good things for you. But that's not why we go out and work in the harvest. We go out and work in the harvest because judgment's coming. We need to be those watchmen on the wall who are willing to tell the truth, who are willing to work in the harvest. And many of us have lived too much of our lives standing idly in the marketplace saying, but nobody's hired me.

Consider yourself hired and get into the work. It's not too late. You're like, but there's only one hour left. I don't care. The landowner went out the 11th hour. One hour left in the harvest. And he still rewarded them the same. It's never too late to start. Amen? Let's all stand.

God has wonderful things prepared for us. He just wants our eyes open to see them. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you and thank you for the time that we've had in your word here this morning. Lord, I thank you for how gracious you are to us. Lord, I thank you for how patient you are with us. And Lord, as it is our desire to get into the harvest,

I pray that you would show us what that looks like on a daily basis. Lord, give us that heart to do what you've called for us to do. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

We thank you, Lord. We thank you for reaching out and drawing us by your Holy Spirit and giving us the strength to respond. So now, Lord, as we leave here, begin our new week, give us your wisdom, your strength, your encouragement, and the wherewithal to serve you. In Jesus' name. Amen? Have a great week.