Can Christians Lose Their Reward for Their Labors as unto the Lord?
Some Christians follow the way of the Pharisees in laying a heavy burden upon men’s shoulders (Mt 23:4). These men teach the Word of God, but are they rightly handling the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:21; 2 Tim 2:15)? They teach that Christians can lose their reward by not working hard enough nor doing the right works. In denying refreshment to the child of God with a message of grace (God working on behalf of His beloved), they warn believers with an illusory message of work/reward, with the threat of loss.
The man of God, who understands God’s grace unto salvation, does not spook the sheep of the Good Shepherd’s pasture by burdening them with notions of elusive performance (Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25). The threat-layer says, “Sheep, if you don’t do certain things that I cannot even name then you will surely lose your reward in heaven on the day of judgment!” My dear reader, is this message the Gospel of grace? If not, it is another gospel to be rejected. Let us reject it, together, with some comforting truth from the Bible.
First, God has chosen to adopt you as His own (Rom 8:15, 23), beloved, even from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5). God knows the days ordained for you before there is even yet one of them (Ps 139:16). He knows the plans He has for us all (Jer 29:11).
Second, God is pleased to measure out faith (Rom 12:3; Heb 11:6) and prepare works beforehand (Eph 2:10), to manifest for His purposes and glory. God causes it all to work together for good for His holy nation of royal priests on whom He has set His love (Dt 7:7; 10:15; 2 Chron 9:8; Rom 5:5; 8:28; 2 Cor 5:5; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Jn 4:19). Ask yourself, “If God causes it all to work for good, how can there be an eventual loss for the true believer?
Third, God sets His grace in motion by transferring His lost sheep from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col 1:13). Placed in union with Christ, the regenerated soul has Christ now living in him by God’s indwelling Spirit (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11), who has moved the man made new from the world and into Christ’s body, His church, the Israel of God (Mt 16:18; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 6:16). God does this by His own free will and sovereign grace (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 11:5)…not man’s.
Fourth, filled with the Spirit of God, the born again are made alive, spiritually, to the things of God (1 Cor 2:15; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). He that is spiritual is conscripted into service as a slave of Christ (Eph 6:6). This new life is dominated by the mind of Christ set on the things above (1 Cor 2:16; Col 3:2), him saying, “I delight to do your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart (Ps 40:8).” This man, being conformed to the image of Christ by the sanctifying work of the Spirit (Rom 8:29; 1 Pet 1:2), prays, “Teach me to do Your will, for you are my God; Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground (Ps 143:10).”
Fifth, the Christian soon learns that at his very best he is an unprofitable slave (Lk 17:10). He labors in love for his Lord (motive) with the promise of God in view that His grace is sufficient (2 Cor 12:9), so that, “They will not labor in vain (Is 65:23a).” Indeed, when grace enlivens the saint, the labors ensue without question because the Spirit-filled are assuredly Spirit-led (Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18; Eph 5:18). Who can resist God’s will?
Sixth, it is the Spirit of God who is willing and doing His good pleasure in performing all our works for us (Is 26:12; Phil 2:13). He who does the work receives the glory (the implication: God does all the work and so God receives all the glory). It is Christ, by His Spirit, who accomplishes everything that concerns us (Ps 57:2; 138:8). In this monergism, the Apostle Paul reports, “…yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor 15:10d-e).”
Seventh, with Christ living and working in every believer (Gal 2:20), it is the witness of the Holy Spirit to generate the Christian's exclusive boast in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:31), “He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen (Dt 10:21).” Can you not see, Christian, that it is not you but Christ in you who is doing anything and everything that is good and acceptable to God. For apart from Christ, you can do nothing good (Jn 15:5), as it is written, “There is none who does good, there is not even one (Rom 3:12).”
It is the gross error of the burden-layer to get men to focus on themselves and their performance before God, forgetting that nothing good dwells in any of us, that is, in one’s flesh, for even if one wills to do good, the doing of good is not present (Rom 7:8). Jacob, re-named Israel, was a wretch of a man, as was Esau his twin brother, but God loved Jacob (not Esau), and that makes all the difference for the vessel of mercy being prepared for glory (Rom 9:23).
Eighth, dear Christian, cast whatever attained crown of reward at the feet of Jesus (Rev 4:10). He alone is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev 5:12), for from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36), including your labors and your sure reward (Ps 58:11).
Reject the man who tells you that your reward is ever in jeopardy by reason of some ambiguous work order he is bereft to provide. He does not know the plans of God for those who are called, nor does he understand that Christ alone is the saints’ everlasting reward…though he may sing alongside you, “You (Christ) are my all in all.”
Be encouraged again, ye saints of the Lord — that with God’s Spirit in you making all things possible that He alone will direct your steps in guiding you into all truth (Mt 19:26; Mk 10:27; Prv 3:5–6; Jn 16:13). His truth, Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6), sets you free from the pathetic false gospel of performance Christianity (Jn 8:32). Your “good works” would surely not pass the test, for they are filthy rags (Is 64:6) — even wood, hay, and stubble, but His good works will stand forever…with you as their witness.
Rest in Him, and of course, rejoice when He fulfills His eternal good pleasure in and through you — both willing and doing all things whatsoever He has ordained — that you might bear witness of His good works, as He is the Potter forming the clay that withstands the fire of testing, now and forevermore (Jer 18; Rom 9:17–21).
God has ordained that His work be tested by fire, saying, “…Refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God (Zech 13:9; c/f Mal 3:3).’”
May God grant you understanding in this matter of His work and His glory, so that together we may praise and glorify and honor Him, alone, at the revelation of Jesus Christ on the last day (1 Pet 1:7), before the consummation of all things, including our eternal reward — Him who loved us and gave Himself for us (Eph 5:2).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
March 8, 2022
