Disciples, Evaluation, Rewards. Matthew 20:20-28
What Jesus began to emphasize in this section was that which should characterize the person who was a genuine disciple.
Summary:
There is a difference between salvation, which is by faith alone in Christ alone, and being a disciple or follower of Jesus. Jesus has been talking to His disciples not about how to get to heaven but how they can have a position and rule and reign when they get to heaven. It is not based on seeking status in this life but serving the Lord Jesus Christ and living a life of humility, which is the result of spiritual growth. So there is a distinction between justification and the spiritual life.
There are two categories. Jesus is addressing those who have already believed in Him (the disciples). They are justified, they are saved, they will have eternity in heaven, and He is talking to them about something in addition to just securing their destiny in heaven, and that is being a disciple.
John 8:31 NASB “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you continue in My word, {then} you are truly disciples of Mine'.” This shows that there are two categories here. He is addressing those who have already believed in Him. They are justified, saved; they will have eternity in heaven. And He is talking to them of something in addition to just securing their destiny in heaven and that is being a disciple. “Abide in my Word” is a condition of being a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. So a disciple is someone who is committed to following the teaching of his master to some degree. There are disciples who will produce “some tenfold, some thirtyfold, some a hundredfold.
John 21:19, Jesus said to his disciples: “Follow Me!” Follow me is not the same as believe in me. These are two separate issues. John 21:22 Jesus said ... “You follow Me!” Believing in Him is what secures eternal life; following Him is what is necessary if we are going to reap the benefits of the new life in time and in eternity.
Discipleship is demanding. Jesus made statements such as Matthew 16:24 NASB “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” He isn't talking about justification there because then it would be by works and not by faith. He is talking about something that comes after salvation.
There are differences in the scriptures between salvation and rewards. Growing as a disciple is the basis for rewards.
o Salvation is offered to all mankind and anyone who believes is saved. Rewards though are for all believers. They are offered as an opportunity to glorify God into eternity.
o Salvation is given to a few; rewards are also given to a few. Salvation is given to those who believe; rewards are given to those who believe and grow spiritually.
o In salvation Christ does the work; in rewards the believer does the work, but we have to understand what that means. It is walking by the Spirit, serving the Lord, growing to spiritual maturity.
o Salvation is a free gift but rewards are earned.
o Salvation is permanent, but we will also see that rewards might be lost due to failure in the spiritual life.
o Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone but rewards come as a result of our walk by faith, our walk by the Holy Spirit.
o Salvation provides us with equal opportunity at the point of salvation but that is not a guarantee of equal results. Results are determined by how you utilize your opportunities to serve the Lord and to glorify Him.
That basically shows that the Scriptures teach a difference between justification/salvation and the rewards that come at the judgment seat of Christ.
Works as defined in Scripture relate to the course of a person's life. They are the products of one's life: the things that we think, say and do. Works can be good or they can be useless or worthless. Some works are even sinful.
1 Peter 1:17 NASB “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay {on earth;}”. Work is the result of how a person conducts their life.
So we understand that works are significant but not in relation to securing our eternal destiny in heaven. Scripture makes this very clear in a number of passages. Ephesians 2:8, 9 talks about works in relation to justification: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So salvation justification is a gift, not something we work for or is earned. It is something given without strings attached.
A gift is something that is yours no matter what you do with it. You can compare that with someone giving you a brand new Ferrari. You can do with it whatever you will. You can put it in the garage and let it sit there. You can drive it for 100,000 miles and not change the oil or the tires and get problems. You can destroy something but it is still yours.
This is what happens with a lot of people in the spiritual life. They have something that is quite valuable but they never develop it, they never learn about it, they grow. It is like driving an expensive, valuable car until you just run it into the ground and it is no valuable to you whatsoever. But it is still yours; you don't lose that ownership. The point is, you can't lose your justification but it just has no value or meaning for you in this life and that will reap some negative consequences.
We are saved “not of works” (Eph. 2:9) but that is not saying works don't play a role. The very next verse says that we are “His workmanship created for good works”. We are created in our regeneration for the purpose of serving God and that good will be produced in us through our walk by means of God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore works are related to Christian service, to obedience and to spiritual life. The Scripture talks about the fact that if you love God then you will keep His commandments. That has nothing to do with securing your eternal justification but it is related to your spiritual growth, your service to God and your ultimate evaluation at the judgment seat of Christ. This is why Paul says: 1 Corinthians 15:58 NASB “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not {in} vain in the Lord.”
That is talking about Christian service. Christian service takes place biblically, primarily and initially within the body of Christ. We have a whole series of commands related to one another. We are to love one another, we are to serve one another, we are to pray for one another, we are to teach one another; we are to admonish one another and encourage one another. And we are given spiritual gifts to minister to one another within the body of Christ. We do not use our spiritual gifts to minister outside of the body of Christ, that is not their purpose and focus.
The only exception to that is the person with the gift of evangelism who is presenting the gospel to people who are unsaved. But one of the primary purposes of the gift of evangelism, according to Ephesians 4:11, 12, is just like a pastor; he is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, which is evangelism. Most people think that the gift of evangelism is primarily to evangelize others instead of what the Bible says, that the primary purpose of the gift of evangelism is to train the rest of us to be effective evangelists in giving the gospel to others. It is not an either/or, it is a both/and; but the priority is training believers to give the gospel.
Some Scriptures that are important to understand about the distinction between salvation as a gift and inheritance as a reward are found in Colossians 2:24 and 2 John 8.
Colossians 3:24 NASB “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Immediately we see that service there is related to inheritance. Inheritance is not given as a gift; it is given as a reward. A reward is something that is worked for, something that is due to effort. What Paul is saying to the Colossians is now that they are saved they need to continue to serve the Lord so that they will see the reward of their inheritance.
That is a critical word because it introduces us to the idea of heirship: that we are heirs of God and heirs of Christ. There are two different categories of inheritance. The first type is the gift that is the same for every believer and the second is one that is distinct for every believer, depending on these issues of service and spiritual growth.
2 John 8 NASB “Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.” This is a warning. What John is pointing out there is that there may be a loss. This is parallel to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24ff where he uses a race image and says, “I run so that I will not be disqualified”. Disqualification doesn't mean you can lose your salvation, it implies a loss of rewards.
The surrounding context of 2 John 8 is significant. There is a warning there that many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess or admit Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. So there are those who are false teachers and are teaching false doctrines of Jesus Christ. Then John warns his recipients to watch out because believers can be deceived and taken captive by false doctrine.
“Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. [9] Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ ...” So here he is not talking about losing fellowship due to sin but losing fellowship due to a false Christology, a false understanding of the person and work of Christ. That is what 1 John is all about as well. When he talks about “our fellowship is with the Lord and consequently with one another” that fellowship can be breeched by having a false understanding of the person of Christ in the first chapter.
The word “abide” always emphasizes fellowship with God. It is not a term that relates to what every believer has, not related to our position in Christ, but our walk with Christ by the Holy Spirit. 2 John 9, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God ...” Some people think not having God means they don't have salvation. But if you are careful in your understanding of how John uses his vocabulary—for instance, having God or knowing God, or relational synonyms—it is related to fellowship. They are not talking about our position in Christ.
For example, in John chapter fourteen Jesus is talking to Philip. Philip says, “Show us the Father”. Philip at this point is clearly already a believer in Jesus as Messiah. Jesus said: “How long have you been with me Philip and you do not know me”. We have made a mistake in evangelical language and idiom and we think that knowing Jesus equals believing in Jesus. But biblically the terminology “knowing Jesus” is what happens after we believer in Jesus. As we grow and mature as believers we come to know Him. We cannot know Him before we are saved because the things of the Spirit are not naturally understood. We have to be regenerate first, and then we grow and understand who Jesus is. So knowing Jesus is relational and progressive as a result of our spiritual gift.
What 2 John tells us in the surrounding context is that we are to grow and mature and serve the Lord, and if we do not and we are not doctrinally correct in our understanding of the person and work of Christ then we will be out of fellowship and we can actually lose rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.
So what we have seen is that salvation is a free gift but rewards are earned. This is a distinction that we have to maintain. Just as we maintain a distinction between justification and sanctification, we make a distinction between walking by the Spirit and walking according to the sin nature, we make a distinction between walking in the light and walking in darkness, so we must understand that salvation is a free gift but rewards are earned.
Inheritance comes in two categories. This is seen in Romans 8:17. These two categories are heirs of God and heirs with Christ. One category is true for every believer. “Joint heirs with Christ” will be seen in context to relate to our spiritual growth. Every believer has some inheritance: we are heirs of God. Other believers will grow and serve the Lord and they will have the reward of their inheritance, additional blessings that are there in eternity. This relates to roles and responsibilities, position and privilege in heaven.
In Matthew chapters eighteen to twenty two of the big questions that get asked of Jesus relate to position and privilege in the kingdom. In chapter eighteen the disciples are arguing amongst themselves as to who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom. When Jesus answers them He does not say they are all going to be the same. He doesn't correct their understanding that there will be some greater than others and that there will be distinctions in the kingdom. What He says is that they have misunderstood what the issues are and what will determine who will be greatest in the kingdom. They had to be like the little child, humble and without status. They were not to be concerned about their status in the kingdom; they were to be serving Him now.
Jesus emphasizes the role of service, the role of Christian service, the role of spiritual growth and humility.
So in the kingdom there will be distinctions among believers. This is a key theme in the book of Hebrews. There is a warning to those Hebrew Christians to whom the writer is speaking not to be like the Exodus generation. They were all saved. Almost all of them were justified and will be in eternity. They all had the opportunity to enter into the Promised Land but because of disobedience at Kadesh Barnea only two could enter. They all were justified and all will be in heaven, but because of sinful disobedience they lost privilege and inheritance. That again shows distinctions that will occur. It relates to a temporal illustration of that.
In Romans 8:17 we have a fun little grammar issue. In the original manuscript—uncial, with no space between words—there was no punctuation. When the translators of the English Bible read this they had to decide based on their understanding of the grammar of the text where the clauses are, where the sentences end and begin, and where the commas should go. The commas were not inspired by God and were not part of the inerrant text. They were inserted by a fallible theologian who translated the text.
When we look at the grammar here there are a couple of different ways to inherit. The issue is the position of the comma. The verse reads: “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with {Him} so that we may also be glorified with {Him.}”
If we put the comma after “also”, then “heirs of God” and “fellow heirs with Christ” are tied together as if they are the same thing. Both of those are then followed by a conditional clause, “if indeed we suffer with Him”. What that would be saying is, if heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ are the same thing then we can't be an heir of God or a joint heir with Christ at all unless we suffer with Him.
But Jesus didn't say to believe and suffer, He said believe. The issue with suffering is that if you live for the Lord in this life you will face the opposition of the world system and the opposition of other people. It is not necessarily active suffering; it could be just living within the world and receiving the rejection and the hostility of the world. 1 Peter deals with this. If we are truly following the Lord Jesus Christ then we are going to face opposition in this life. That is what suffering with Christ means; it doesn't make sense if suffering with Christ is a condition for salvation. But the way this verse is punctuated makes suffering a condition for all inheritance.
An illustration. If you have this sentence and asked to punctuate it, if you are a man you would punctuate it one way and if you are a woman you will likely punctuate it another way: A woman without her man is nothing.
If you are a woman you may punctuate it this way: “A woman, without her, man is nothing”. If you punctuate it that way you are basically saying that men just can't ever be anything unless they have the right woman behind them. Men, on the other hand, may punctuate it this way: “A woman without her man, is nothing.” If you punctuate it that way you are saying women just can't really be anything unless they have their man. So where you put the commas can completely change the meaning of a sentence, and this is the problem in Romans 8:17.
What we have in most translations puts “heirs with God and fellow heirs with Christ” as synonymous. If we re-punctuate it this way, “and if children, heirs also heirs of God, (the first category of heirship) and fellow heirs with Christ if, indeed we suffer with Him”(the second category of inheritance that is conditioned upon suffering with Him). In this case being heirs of God is something that is true for every believer. But for those who press on in spiritual growth and obedience, and are willing to take up their cross and follow Jesus, then the result is that they have additional inheritance; they are joint heirs with Christ if they suffer with Him.
An example biblically of the first kind of inheritance in Ephesians 1:13, 14 which is talking about the fact we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise and that He is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. That is the inheritance that we all have that is pledged by the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
An example of inheritance in the second category is seen in Galatians 5:19-21. This is a very important passage for understanding the spiritual life. It follows the command in verse 16 to “walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”. We are told in vv. 19ff what the works of the flesh/sin nature are. It is not an exhaustive list but if these sins are present in the life then we know that we are walking according to the sin nature:
Galatians 5:19 NASB “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, [21] envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul says, “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” A lot of people take inheriting the kingdom of God as a term that is a synonym for getting into heaven, being saved. But as we have seen inheriting the kingdom of God is a separate category of inheritance that relates to position and privilege and roles and responsibilities in the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is a similar passage.
The issue is, if we commit these sins it doesn't mean that we have torpedoed or self-destructed spiritually. This is the significance of 1 John 1:9. We have forgiveness and cleansing from all sin. We can recover, because Christians sin. Christians have a sin nature that is just as nasty after salvation as it was before. This idea that Christians don't commit the same kinds of sins as unbelievers is just not true.
That is a false theology that a lot of people think: “Oh, how can that person be a Christian? Look at that guy, look at his life. How can he be a Christian?” He is a Christian because he trusted in Christ as his savior, but then he has just blown it from that point on. So he is not going to inherit the kingdom of God. He will be there but he won't be an heir of the kingdom, he won't be a joint heir with Christ.
When is this decided? 2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” This is an evaluation judgment for believers following the Rapture of the church. We are raptured and then there is an evaluation day. The purpose of the evaluation judgment is not to point out your sin. Sin was judged at the cross, so therefore this judgment is not related to sin. But we have to remember what we saw in Galatians 5, that those who practice [PRASSO] these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. There are consequences for the believer who continues to live in carnality.
We are evaluated for the things that are “done”. It is not the word “do” [POIEO]; it is the word PRASSO, the same word as in Galatians 5—the things that are practiced on the body. And they are categorized two ways: as AGATHOS (good), which refers to good of intrinsic value, the things that are done while we are walking by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24). It is related to Christian service, our spiritual growth, our spiritual maturity.
In contrast, things that are done in this life are bad [PHAULOS]. This word only occurs in a few of the older MSS. The majority of MSS use the word KAKOS, which can refer to evil but refers to something that is harmful, worthless, bad, or wrong. This word can be a synonym for sin. Remember what we saw in Galatians 5:19, 20 that if you are walking according to the sin nature, those who practice those sins will not inherit.
Let's say you have five hours in the day and you spend five hours out of fellowship, you didn't spend any of that time walking by the Spirit and so there is nothing rewardable out of those five hours. So it is not that we are being judged for our sins at the judgment seat of Christ because as we see in 1 Corinthians chapter three the purpose for the judgment seat of Christ is to expose the good, not to expose that which is worthless.
1 Corinthians 3:11-13 NASB “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ ...” Now you build on that with your spiritual life, your conduct, your works (everything you say and do is summarized in that phrase). “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones [things of value], wood, hay, straw [worthless], each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is {to be} revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”
It will be revealed by fire, so you stack everything up and then God is going to light a torch and the fire will test or reveal what is there. The fire is going to burn up the wood, hay and straw; what is left over is the gold, silver and precious stones. So the focal point of the judgment seat of Christ is what we have that has eternal value. The purpose is not to expose sin or failure but to expose obedience, service.
The trouble is there are some people who when it is finished are not going to have anything there. There are others who are going to have a little nugget or two, others a little pile there. That is what Paul talks about next. 1 Corinthians 3:14 NASB “If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
[15] If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss [of rewards]; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
God has already determined what our rewards will be, but it is potential. If we are failures at the judgment seat of Christ then we don't receive those rewards. They are not distributed; they will be destroyed.
This is the issue in discipleship: to follow Christ. This is what Jesus is getting across to the disciples: “If you follow me, if you are humble like a child, if you serve me and serve one another, if you grow to spiritual maturity; then you will have these positions and privileges and roles and responsibilities in heaven, because your work was designed to glorify me. But if you don't follow me, then you will enter into heaven for sure, but yet as through fire.” There won't be anything rewardable. You will be in the kingdom but will not be an inheritor of the kingdom; you will not have those positions of privilege because you don't build the capacity for that in this life.
The challenge for all of us is the same day in and day out. Am I going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I going to abide in His Word? “If you abide in my word, then you are my disciples indeed”. In other words, knowing the Word of God is not an end in itself but it is the only means to the end of spiritual growth and spiritual maturity. We have to abide in the Word and the Word will abide in us, and that produces through the Holy Spirit our spiritual growth and our spiritual maturity.
So the challenge is, are we willing to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and be a disciple no matter what it costs? Or are we just satisfied with, as long as I get into heaven, not the other place, then I am okay? Do we have a low standard of expectation or do we want to press ourselves to a high standard of expectation?