Christians will either receive a reward or suffer discipline. The reward is the kingship to be exercised by Christ with His faithful followers in the one thousand years. The punishment is revealed in Matthew 24:50-51: "The master of that slave shall come on a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." At the Lord's return the loose and unfaithful Christians will suffer punishment.
Do not think the Lord is too kind to punish you. A good father always disciplines his children. Discipline is a sign of love (Heb. 12:6-7). We have been chosen, predestinated, called, and regenerated; now we are enjoying the Lord's rich grace. If we refuse to take the Lord's way, we must not think that when we die all our problems will be over. This is not logical.
One day the Lord will return and set up His judgment seat. Here He will judge not the unbelievers but the believers. In 2 Corinthians 5:9 Paul said that he was ambitious to be well-pleasing to the Lord. Then he went on to say, "For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the things done through the body, according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad" (v. 10). At the Lord's return we Christians will have to render an account to Him at His judgment seat. His judgment will decide whether we will be rewarded with an entrance into the kingdom of the heavens or be punished in some way. The defeated Christians will suffer loss (1 Cor. 3:15).
Christ's redemption is complete and perfect, yet we still need to confess our sins in order to be forgiven (1 John 1:9). As Christians we need to repent daily to be brought back to God's economy. Many Christians have died with unsettled problems between them and the Lord. They committed sins after they were saved, yet they never confessed them nor repented. God's forgiving and Christ's cleansing of the believers when they sin is based upon their confession. If we do not confess, God does not forgive. If we do not confess, Christ does not cleanse. To think that we may live carelessly and still have no problems after death is not logical. We have to render an account to Him. The kingdom truth is very sobering. It wakes us up. When the Lord comes back, He will come not only as our Bridegroom but also as our Judge (2 Tim. 4:1, 8).
Among the believers in the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are some faithful overcomers to whom the Lord promises a reward (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-29; 3:5-6, 12-13, 21-22). These overcomers, who live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in the present church age, will be the faithful followers of Christ in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. They will be rewarded with the enjoyment of eternal life in the millennium (Matt. 19:28-29; 24:45-47; 25:19-23). They will also be co-kings with Christ in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2 Tim. 2:12).