Why would God repay you?

As we’ve walked with David and Jeduthun through Psalm 62, they have instructed us to seek God when life gets rough.  When we are attacked, lied to, or in need of a refuge – they have pointed us to God each time.

The words of the psalm have been both challenging and eye-opening.  However, the first time I read through the psalm, the last line threw me a little bit.  It honestly seemed out of place. 

Psalm 62:11-12
God has spoken once; I have heard this twice:
strength belongs to God,
and faithful love belongs to You, Lord.
For You repay each according to his works.

While justice is a natural conclusion from His qualities of strength and love, why does the psalm end with:

For You repay each according to his works.

The general concept that “God is a God of justice”, I understand.  But why say it like this? 

As a church-age believer, I know that at the Bema seat judgment, all I have done – both good and bad – will be evaluated by God and I will be justly rewarded (or not) for my thoughts/choices/actions as a Christian (2 Corinthians 5:10).  HOWEVER, this psalm was written 1000 years before Christ’s birth, which means that David doesn’t know about the future Bema seat judgment.

The whole psalm has been about trusting God right now, for the relationship and the relational benefits in this life.  Does God reward us in this life?  Yes, He does…but we also know that monetary blessing or reward isn’t necessarily an indication of how good or bad my walk with God is at the moment. 

So how can we reconcile David’s last statement with the context of the previous verses?

Here’s what I discovered:

The Hebrew word for repay also means to make peace, or to be at peace. 

Now that we know the definition, this ending phrase makes sense in light of the entirety of the psalm…David and Jeduthun have been challenging us about where we find rest, where we find our security, and, ultimately, where we find our peace.

To the degree that we do the things that David has pointed out as our responsibility:

trusting in God alone
pouring out our heart to Him
not setting our heart on riches

Then all of David’s descriptions of God being our shelter/refuge/strength will become a reality.

And our soul will find rest because God will repay us…not necessarily with riches or material comfort…but with His peace as our refuge from everything the world throws at us.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

I was disqualified

While I have never been in a situation where I needed additional blood, I know friends and family that have.  I’m thankful that when their need for a transfusion arose, blood was available.  Not only can your donation impact one or more lives, there are health benefits for those who donate blood, too.  I’ve also found that donation places like the Red Cross will even tell you which hospital received your donation.  We all know that donating blood is “a good thing”, but learning where and how our specific donation was used certainly reinforces the positive impact of our actions.

That said, I recently decided to donate blood.  I hadn’t done so in a while, so I went online and signed up for an upcoming Saturday morning where I could set aside some time.  I planned my day around the appointment.  When I arrived, I was asked to wait for a short time while they took care of other donors.  When it was my turn, I filled out the paperwork, answered some additional questions, and passed my mini-physical. 

After I sat down in the donation chair, the lady checked the veins in my left arm.  A troubled look came over her face as she gently pushed her finger around the inside of my elbow.  She couldn’t find a vein suitable for their needle.  I offered that she could use a vein a little lower down my forearm, but she told me they had to use a specific zone around the inside of my elbow.  She checked my right arm, and had the same problem – she couldn’t find a suitable vein.  She called over her colleague, who examined both of my arms.  She also came to the conclusion that I wasn’t prepared to donate blood. 

I admitted that I had not had any water that morning, and that I should have hydrated better.  They both agreed, but instead of just getting additional water the morning prior to donating, they suggested that I increase my water intake for two weeks before my next donation attempt.  This I found a little frustrating.  I told them that I do drink a fair bit of water, typically 2-3 liters per day.  But there was nothing to be done.  I was disqualified to give blood because I wasn’t prepared.  I didn’t fight or argue, because neither would have changed my situation.  I wished them a good day, and I went home.  All-in-all, the total trip cost me two hours and nothing came of it.

Without being over-dramatic, the reality of the situation was that I was unable to participate with the donation center in providing a positive impact to others in my community.  As I drove home, I thought about how much water I had been drinking lately.  After an honest assessment of the last few weeks…although I generally do drink as much as 3 liters of water per day…I have to admit that recently it’s probably been more like 1 liter per day, which would certainly explain my dehydrated state and blood donation disqualification.

Did you know that every person who has believed in Jesus for eternal life will one day have their actions assessed by Jesus?  While His assessment of our works will have no bearing on our eternal destiny, His bema seat judgment will impact our opportunities in eternity future.  Paul talked about it in both of his letters to the believers in Corinth:

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.  

1 Corinthians 3:14-15
For the [judgment] day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.  If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved – but only as through fire.

The loss experienced will be the loss of rewards and future opportunity to partner with Christ.  On that bema seat judgment day, all that we have done, whether good or evil, will be examined.  It will be clear how much we have lived for Jesus in this life and how much we have matured to be like Him.  Some will be rewarded, others will be disqualified.

There are many passages we could examine to find hints and descriptions of what kinds of rewards are available, but suffice it to say that if the God of the Universe says His rewards are good…then they’re going to be rewards we want to earn! 

Our difficulty right now is the same one that I had with my water intake…I thought I was “generally” ok.  Turns out I wasn’t.  We tend to think that God is ok with whatever progress we’ve made or actions we’ve taken.  However, Paul warned believers in Rome that they shouldn’t think to highly of themselves, rather they should honestly examine their choices and actions (Romans 12:3).  We may want to do the same…otherwise, we may coast through life thinking that we’re pleasing God when we’re actually not.  That’s not something we want to realize when it comes time for the judgment seat of Christ. 

Let’s not be disqualified later because we didn’t take action now.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

You are my proof

I heard the statement recently “The only thing God is building right now on this earth is His church.”  After pondering over this idea for a while, I believe the person saying it was right.  The speaker was driving home an important point: the only things continuing on from this life to the next will be the people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life.  Everything else will be made new (Revelation 21:5).  This doesn’t mean that everything else – careers, homes, sports, buildings, hobbies, etc. – are considered “evil” or “worthless”, because these events are what God uses to develop and grow us.

So this means that the only eternally lasting work we can do is to build up Jesus’ church.  We can accomplish this work through one of two ways: 1) helping unbelievers understand and accept Jesus’ free offer of eternal life, or 2) encourage and develop those who already believe.

There are many ways to accomplish either of those pursuits; however, we also have to recognize that our time on earth is limited…which means we want to make the most of our time, especially when it comes to investing in other believers. 

At times in his letters, Paul expressed concern that he had not invested properly, that those he had shared both the gospel and his life with were not good “proofs” that his time was well spent.  Other times he commended his former pupils on their development after he had invested in them.  Here are just a few examples:

To the believers in Philippi, Paul wrote to encourage their progress in their relationship with God and how well they imitated Jesus to those around them.  He described how their growth was a benefit to them individually and to the further spreading of the gospel…but also to Paul, himself:

Philippians 2:14-16
Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life.  Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

When Paul was correcting the believers in the region of Galatia for becoming confused by false teachers, he didn’t question their salvation, but he was concerned about their fruitfulness:

Galatians 4:11, 5:7
I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted…You were running well.  Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth?

When checking up on the believers in Thessalonica, Paul spoke proudly of their progress in faith and love.  He joyfully told them:

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?  Is it not you?  Indeed you are our glory and joy!

When I look at two of Jesus’ most famous parables, The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and The parable of the minas (Luke 19:11-27), I find that Jesus is looking for a good return on His investment of gifts and abilities in each of us.  When we Christians do give an account to Jesus, what else can we give as evidence other than the lives we have ministered to, invested in, and enriched?  After all, Paul was writing to Christians when he said:

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.

Just like in The parable of the talents and The parable of the minas, the master will return and He will evaluate what we have done in His absence.  The judgment seat of Christ is only for believers; unbelievers will be judged at a different time.  As such, the judgement seat of Christ is not a place to determine our eternal destiny, instead it will be the time when Jesus determines our eternal rewards and opportunities to serve in His kingdom in the life to come.

I am proof that Joe Rheney did not run in vain.  I am not the only proof of his efforts, but I will be evidence – and I want to be good proof for a man who loved and invested so much in me.  I will also be proof for any Godly investment made by others at various times in my life – my parents, grandparents, teachers, friends.  Similarly, you are my proof that I did not waste my time blogging my Bible study.  It is my hope and prayer that you find good encouragement, a clear explanation of Scripture, and Godly challenges here.  What return on investment (ROI) is there for God if all I have learned and experienced with Him is kept solely for me?  Put simply: If I am not sharing who God has made me into and what God has taught me, then I am not fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission. 

I know, this is a lot to take in all at once.  And not many churches emphasize this topic.  If this is new to you, or if you are suddenly feeling overwhelmed, here are a few application points to consider:

·       Paul invested in different people for different seasons of life.  Similarly, there will be different seasons when we invest, on God’s behalf, in others.  It’s also likely that we will not always invest in the same way or in the same physical location.
·       If you have children living at home – they are your primary ministry.  Not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t be investing in others, but your children must take priority over all others for this season.
·       The servants in both The parable of the talents and The parable of the minas were responsible for and received rewards based upon how much ROI they had from the master’s initial investment in them.  They were not judged in comparison with each other.  As such, we should not beat ourselves up if we are not “Paul the Apostle” or “Billy Graham”.  Instead, we should focus on being faithful with whatever skills, abilities, finances, and time God has given to us.

Truthfully, this topic can be summed up in just two questions:

Who are you proof for?
and
Who will be your proof that you did not waste God’s investment in you?

Keep Pressing,
Ken