Heart Motives Determine Rewards

Philippians 1:15-18 “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: (16) The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; (17) but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defence of the gospel.  (18)  What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”

And then we come to the preaching of the gospel which is done in the flesh. So how is it possible to preach the gospel in the flesh? Any preaching that is pleasing to the flesh and accommodates the flesh, is not of God. There are certain churches and ministries that only teach certain truths from the bible and those truths are taught to the extreme. The ministers who preach in such a manner are not being led by the Holy Spirit but rather they are preaching in the flesh to accommodate the flesh of carnal believers. And so these ministers proclaim a distorted gospel, being driven by covetousness and selfish ambitions. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit confirms the truth to us that there are ministers of the gospel who preach the gospel from selfish ambition and not sincerely. All such works, even the preaching of the gospel will be burned up on that day, for they have been done in the flesh. An important truth is revealed to us in this passage, which is that those who receive the gospel message preached, even through insincere ministers, will nevertheless be blessed, for as Paul states, it is still Christ who is preached. Nevertheless the minister who preaches insincerely i.e. in the flesh, will not be rewarded by the Lord Jesus on that day, even though the ones to whom they ministered were blessed through their preaching. So why is that? The reason is because in all instances the Lord looks upon the motivation of the heart, and many works that on the surface may look spiritual are nevertheless works that are done in the flesh. That same principle applies not only to ministers of the gospel but also to all the Lord’s saints. The Lord looks upon the motivation of our hearts and those works done through selfish ambition, even though on the surface they may seem like good works, nevertheless will go unrewarded on that day because they are works done in the flesh.

Matthew 6:1-4 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  (2)  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  (3) But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

 So what about those who do not preach the gospel? In other words what about ordinary believers in the church? How will their works be judged as to what was done in the flesh and what was done in the spirit? It is so important for us to understand this concept, for as we have already seen, all good works done in the spirit will be rewarded but all seemingly good works done in the flesh will be burned up. Remember that in this section we are talking about seemingly good works and not sinful works. In what is commonly referred to as our Lord’s sermon on the mount, Jesus gave us numerous examples of works done in the flesh that will be burned up on that day. All of the works mentioned by our Lord Jesus in His teaching were in and of themselves good works. And so on the outside when we see those good works, we think that the Lord will most certainly reward them. But our Lord does not look on the outside, our Lord looks on the heart. And so what the Lord Jesus taught us on that day was not rocket science. God will judge our motives. The works done in the spirit are those works in which our motive is to please God, as we are led by the Spirit of God, and not to please men. But the works done in the flesh are those works which are done to please men and to receive recognition from men. In the example quoted above our Lord shows us how the same good work, such as doing a charitable deed, can be done in the flesh and can also be done in the spirit. The good work done in the flesh is done to be recognized by men and that work will be burned up on that day. The exact same good work done in the spirit is done, not to be recognized by men but rather to please the Father, and that work will be rewarded on that day. This same principle can be applied to every area of our lives. Every good work that we do in the spirit will be rewarded on that day. Every “good work” that we do in the flesh will be burned up on that day. Then there are also just the normal daily lives of every believer. You will find two believers standing before the Lord Jesus on that day who were both employed by the same company and did the same type of work. The one will be rewarded for their work done while the other will have all that time at work burned up, resulting in their eternal loss. So why is that? The one did their everyday work as unto the Lord to please Him i.e. in the spirit, and will thus be rewarded. The other worked for themselves and the progress of their own earthly careers, not working as unto the Lord, but rather trying to please their boss so that they could be promoted. All of their work was done in the flesh and will thus be burned up on that day.

Colossians 3:22-24 “Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.  (23) And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

I want you to notice in the passage of scripture quoted above; that the scripture says that whatever we do we are to do it as unto the Lord. And so this principle applies to every area of our lives. Paul goes on to teach us in this passage that the end result is that we will receive the reward of our inheritance. Conversely, those who choose not to do everything as to the Lord, but rather for their own selfish ambitions, will forfeit their inheritance on that day. Let me give you a bit of spiritual counsel here. The first thing you should do every morning when you open your eyes, even before you get out of bed, is commit to the Lord everything that you will do that day. You will find the Holy Spirit working in you throughout the day reminding you to do all as unto the Lord Jesus. You will find your day taking on a whole new perspective of wanting to please your Lord in all that you do, and ultimately you will be rewarded on that day.

Michael E.B. Maher

Eternal Judgement

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