God’s salvation is not something we receive once and for all. Rather, it is a lifelong matter which the Apostle Paul and other writers in the Bible have likened to running a race. God does not want His children to be lazy and sloppy in developing the salvation that they have been given. In His wisdom He has prepared both a reward for His faithful and diligent children and a punishment for his lazy and disobedient ones. In this lesson, we want to show in brief how God has planned for this. By understanding this matter, you will be helped to not neglect the salvation you have received and you will be encouraged to pursue your full salvation and the reward which awaits you.
In the Bible, there are many passages which speak about the reward and punishment of the believers. One of the clearest is in Matthew 25:14-30. Let us read that passage now.
Many people today do not believe that God will punish those believers who have been lazy and unprofitable to the Lord in this life. They say that God is too loving and merciful to do that to any of His children. However, in this passage it is more than clear that some of the Lord’s servants, who must be His believers, will suffer a severe punishment from the Lord when He returns. Yes, the Lord is loving and merciful and He will never allow one of His saved children to be lost in the lake of fire. His salvation assures us all that none of His believers will ever suffer the punishment which the unbelievers will suffer. But, in His wisdom, God knew that if He did not prepare a reward as an incentive and a punishment as a warning, few of His children would reach His goal.
In the passage in Matthew, the Lord clearly rewards His servants for profiting Him and punishes those who do not. This is the proper, biblical understanding.
According to the Bible, God will reward some of His believers who have been faithful and diligent, and He will punish those who have not. This is biblical, logical and fair. Would it be fair and reasonable for the poorest students in your school to be rewarded with a banquet and a gift of money along with those students who studied diligently and received the highest grades? Would it be fair for a believer who had never progressed in his salvation due to laziness and sinfulness to be rewarded in the same way as the Apostle Paul? No, of course not. It would be unfair to the diligent. The Bible also teaches us differently.
Today, we are God’s children through regeneration. How are we progressing? Are we being sanctified and transformed every day? Are we growing in life? Are we serving Him as a faithful servant in the church life? The Bible tells us clearly that at His second coming, the Lord will come to firstly judge all of His believers. He will reward or punish them according to their work. Then He will judge the world and all its people. Those who have been faithful will be ushered into the kingdom and a wedding feast to enjoy Christ for a thousand years. The unfaithful ones will suffer His punishment by being cast into outer darkness away from the Lord’s presence.
By growing in the Lord’s life and by faithfully serving Him today, we may be those whom the Lord rewards with the thousand-year kingdom and the wedding feast. Let us be encouraged by this reward and warned by the fact that we could suffer a punishment. Keeping these things in mind, we will be greatly helped to go on with the Lord in His full salvation.