Joyce Meyer - The Rewards Of Serving God (08/24/2019)
Joyce Meyer stirs up excitement about the rewards God has for every believer who stays faithful, reminding us that while salvation is pure grace, heavenly rewards come from our earthly works and obedience. Drawing from Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 3:8 and Revelation 22:12, she urges us not to look to people for appreciation but to God, to stand firm even in rejection, and to live with joyful expectation of both daily blessings and the ultimate payday when Jesus returns—no more pain, perfect peace, and full satisfaction.
Looking Forward to Reward
You know, we all really, in different ways, look forward to reward. A lot of times it is just little things but, you know, when we leave today and fly home, I am looking forward to a good meal. I am looking forward to having what I lovingly call a pajama day tomorrow.
I will just kind of hang out in something real comfortable and have a nice quiet day and recover and light a candle that smells real good and light my fireplace because it is cold in my city right now. I look forward to that. That is part of my reward. That is part of what helps me recover.
Are there any of you that want to have a job and never get a paycheck? We look forward to that reward for our hard work all week. The Bible even talks about farm animals and it says, “Do not muzzle the ox when it is treading out the grain.” In other words, do not put a muzzle on it so it cannot eat.
The Need for Reward
If you want something to keep working, it has got to have a reward in its life. Might I just throw this in? You might remember that with the people maybe that serve you or work for you or even your children. Do not just get all over them when they do the wrong thing. Reward them at different times in their life for doing the right thing.
I love to live with expectation. I really do not know what I would be doing right now in my life if God had not taught me that it is good to expect Him to do great things. David said, “I wait on the Lord. I expectantly wait on the Lord.” It is not wrong to expect reward in your life.
Rewards According to Labor
1 Corinthians 3:8 says: “He who plants and he who waters are one in importance and esteem, working together toward the same purpose; but each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” Everybody say, “I have got a reward coming.”
Here is the good thing. Each one of us gets a reward for doing what God is asking us to do and what God is asking you to do may not be something all that exciting. You might look at other people and think, “Well, boy, that would be exciting.” Maybe God has asked you to do something where you never get noticed. Maybe God has asked you to do something where you do not really seem to get that much appreciation.
Look to God for Reward
Let us not look to people for our reward. Let us look to God for our reward. Let us not look to people. I mean, people should appreciate you but, you know what? Even if they do not, God appreciates you.
We need to look to God a lot more than we do to people. You know, even when I feel that I need encouragement, oh my gosh, I can remember so many years getting aggravated at Dave if I did not feel like he was encouraging me when I needed it. Any of you do that? Nobody does that? I guess you do not do that? No. Anybody ever get aggravated because you do not get the appreciation you feel like you need?
Going to God for Encouragement
Well, people should appreciate you and they should verbalize it but you know what I have found out? If you try to make them give it to you, they are only going to resent you. But if you go to God—and see, the good thing about your relationship with God is you can be open with Him and you can talk to Him about anything and you can share anything with Him.
So I can go to God and say, “You know what, God? I am just tired. I have been working hard. I do not feel like I have really had that much appreciation that I feel like I need. Can You send me what I need?” Now, I am not going and getting mad at Dave because he is not giving it to me. But I am going to God, and God can work through whoever He wants to to bring it to me and it is so much sweeter because then I know it was from God. It was not something that I squeezed out of somebody through trying to manipulate them and control them.
The Ultimate Payday
I will tell you what is going to be a major payday—when Jesus returns. Whoo, Jesus, hallelujah. Now, I do not mean this to sound morbid or anything even associated with negativity but, you know, because I am well into the latter part of my life now.
I mean, actually, to tell you the truth, the longer you are here, the more tired you get of it. Just all the nonsense out in the world. It is just like I get tired of listening to the news, I get tired of cranky people. No wonder the apostle Paul said, “It would be better for me if I could go, but for your sake, I am going to stay.” But is it not wonderful to not have to be afraid of death but instead to actually look forward to the time when you are finished here?
Heaven as Promotion
I mean, I want to stay here as long as God wants me and I am not trying to die or looking to die; that is not what I mean. But it is good to be looking forward to promotion and to see leaving this earth as a promotion rather than something that is going to be a terrible loss to you.
I do not know exactly what heaven is going to be like but, man, I read it every now and then: “No more tears, no more crying, no more pain.” I am so looking forward to getting out of this aching body. Amen? I do not want my feet to hurt anymore. I do not want aches in my back. I do not want a headache. I feel good. I am not, like, a sick person but you know what? You have only got one of these and the older it gets the more you feel things.
No More Drama in Heaven
Is anybody there? How many of you are looking forward to no drama, no emotional drama off of everybody? I mean, I am so done with drama, it is like, “Really, people? Just suck it up and move on with your life.” We have all got our problems. No more crying, no more tears. Perfect love. Nobody mad at anybody. Wow, is that ever going to be a major payday. To live in God’s presence.
Come on, look at me. You are somebody that is going to live forever and you are going to see Jesus face to face. All I want to do this afternoon is encourage you. I want you to go out of here excited. “Something good is going to happen to me. I have got a reward coming in my life.”
Jesus Brings Rewards
Revelation 22:12: “Behold, I (Jesus) am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,” He is coming with rewards, “to give to each one according to the merit of his deeds (his earthly works, and his faithfulness).”
Now here is the thing. Please understand this. You are saved strictly by grace. It has nothing to do with anything that you do. If you do not understand that, then you can never even get a good start with God. By grace are you saved through faith. It is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. We are made right with God totally by the grace and the mercy of God and not according to anything that we do.
Salvation by Grace, Rewards by Works
But the proper way to understand relationship with God is when you realize what He has done for you, how amazing it is that God sent His only Son to die for you, to take the punishment for your sins and misdeeds and literally for the sins of all of the world. While we were still yet in sin, He died for us. When we did not care anything about Him at all, when we were totally ignoring Him and living a life of sin and loving it, He died for us.
You know, the Bible says if He did all that while we were still in sin, just imagine what He might do for you now that you at least care a little bit and are making some little tiny effort to do what is right. We do not receive salvation through our works but we do receive rewards for our works when we get to heaven. So there is a motivation for doing what is right.
True Happiness in God
Number one, you want to please God and just to show appreciation for what He has done for you. But you know, I am kind of like, whatever the best is I can have, that is what I want. So whatever is available in heaven, I want to make sure that I am not lazy here on earth and then I end up missing it. I want to have the best that I can possibly have and I do not think that is the wrong attitude. I think it is a great attitude.
When you realize how amazingly wonderful it is to have God in your life then you want to serve Him all the days of your life. I do not know about you but I am spending every day of my life not any longer trying to get everything I want because I have been there, done that, and I can tell you what—you can get everything you want and you are still not going to be happy.
The only thing that is ever going to make you truly happy is to have a right relationship with God. That is why I can boldly say to people watching or maybe even in here today, if you do not have a right relationship with God you are never going to be happy.
Standing Firm for Reward
Even if you are living in sin, knowing that you are doing something that is against the Word of God but you are living in sin because you think that is the thing that is going to make you happy, it is not making you happy and you are not happy and it will never make you happy.
If you are honest with yourself, you will know that you are not really a happy person. You know, just getting your way does not make you happy. The only thing that really can give you real joy and peace is knowing that you are right with God to the best of your ability—and that does not mean you need to be perfect. Jesus was perfect for us. But it does mean that we should get up every day of our lives and we should serve Him with our whole heart and do everything that we can to do all that God wants us to do.
Standing Alone if Needed
If you are the only person that you know that is trying to do what is right, you keep doing what is right because you have got a reward coming, amen?
If you are the only teenager in your high school that seems to have any moral conscience at all and you are trying to do what is right, even if you grow up and you do not have one friend while you are going to school, I will tell you what—you have got a friend that will never let you down. You are better off with Him than everybody else.
Satan will arrange for us to be rejected by people. That is one of the greatest hurts that people can have. You want to do what is right, people come against you. When God called me to do what I am doing, I lost every friend I had, got thrown out of my church. Oh, it was an exciting time. It was really exciting.
Choosing God Over Acceptance
I remember times of being on the kitchen floor on my knees and feeling the pain of that rejection so bad that I did not feel like I could stand it. But I felt something in my spirit: God has got something for me and I do not want to miss what God has got for me. Even if I have to give up everybody else on this earth, I do not want to miss what God has got for me.
Come on, do not miss what God has got for you just to be accepted by somebody here on this earth that is not going to care about you anyway when it is all over. If you are the only believer in your family, do not back down. If you are the only person on your job that seems to have any moral courage at all, do not back down. No matter how much fun people make of you, no matter how much you are persecuted, you stick with it. You know why? You have got a reward coming. The time is going to come.
A Story of Standing Firm
I will tell you a quick story that I like to tell. I worked at a company many years ago. This actually was before God called me into ministry but even back then I had a love for God. I did not know anything really about serving God but I wanted to do what was right and I had a certain reverential fear of doing things that I knew were against the Word of God.
I worked at a company where the boss wanted me to help him, basically, steal some money from a customer. Many times out in the world today, you are kind of given the message if you do not compromise and do what we want you to, then you are not going to be promoted. You are going to lose your job. You are not going to have any friends.
God Rewards Integrity
How many of you feel that pressure? Okay, so I am going to make this quick because I have told this story a number of times. But it was a bookkeeping/accounting situation where a customer had overpaid their account and I was in charge of sending out the statements every month and he wanted me to not show that we owed them money and send them a statement that had a zero balance on it and us just keep the money.
Well, I ended up telling him—and he was not a Christian—“I cannot do that. I am a Christian and, for me, that would be wrong and I cannot do it. I would feel like I was stealing their money.” Well, obviously, the look I got was not very pleasant. It was obvious that I had upset him, and I expected all day for him to come out and fire me before the end of the day.
But because I did what was right, God rewarded me and, long story short, I ended up getting promoted, getting promoted, getting promoted, until nobody had any more authority in that company than me other than him. Only he had more authority than I did.
You Will Win in the End
Let me tell you something—if you stand up and do what is right out in the world, it may look to you for a while like you have lost but you will win in the end. Come on, does anybody need this today? Anybody need this encouragement to stand firm and stand up for what you believe is right? We have got too much moral compromise out in the world. We have got to stand strong and not let the world scare us.
Can I tell you the truth? You can do without any of them if you have to. “Well, I do not want to be lonely.” Well, I do not either but I would rather hang out with God who I know loves me than a bunch of people that I do not trust who are just trying to control me and manipulate me. You stick with God, you do what is right and you are going to have a reward.
Scriptures of Reward
Psalm 58:11: “Men will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous,’” whoo! “Surely there is a God who judges the earth.”
Matthew 5:6: “Blessed, joyful, nourished by God’s goodness are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled and completely satisfied.”
Do you know how wonderful it is to lay down at night and just know that even though you did not have a perfect day, you missed it in some points, that you really did try to do your best for God. You made some hard choices and you stuck with God and, man, you are going to get a good night’s sleep.
Peaceful Sleep for the Righteous
I was reading a couple of the psalms this morning and in each psalm that I read David said, “I will both lay down and sleep in peace.” I like that. He did not just lay down. A lot of us lay down and we do not ever sleep. He laid down and he slept in peace.
I have been in bed with a guilty conscience and it is not comfortable. How many of you know what I am talking about? It is much better to choose the hard thing during the day and get a good night’s sleep than it is to go with your flesh and do what is easy and then roll around in bed all night and not get a good night’s sleep.
Hunger for Righteousness
“Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness”—see, I do not even think it is so much that we do everything right, if we want to do everything that is right. I do not do what is right all the time. I make a lot of mistakes. I have bad days. I have flesh days. But I am sorry—as soon as God convicts me of wrong behavior, I am sorry, I repent, I do not want to act like that. I want with all of my heart to do what is right. I believe you do too.
I do not think you would have taken a Saturday to be here if you did not want to improve and do what is right. You know what? You have got a reward coming. You know what it is? You are going to have a satisfaction, whoo! “Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be completely filled and find a satisfaction in their life that nothing else can give them.” The righteous will be rewarded with peace.
Rewards of Steadfastness and Generosity
Isaiah 32:17 says: “And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.”
James 1:12 says: “Blessed, happy, prosperous, and favored is the man who is steadfast under trial, he perseveres when he is tempted and tested and tried, he is faithful to the end,” and the Bible says, “God will give him the crown of life.”
If you have to live in a tiny apartment that is not big enough for you all your life, you are getting a mansion when you get to glory. “In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you.”
I am going to tell you the truth—I do not think we think enough about heaven. I really do not. I think we need to encourage one another a little bit more that this is all going to be over a lot quicker than what we think it will be. Do not waste all your time here trying to get things that are perishable and are going to disappear in the twinkling of an eye.
Do you know the Bible does not put it like this but in essence this is what it is saying—that everything that is here on this earth is already decaying and passing away. Let us invest now for eternity. Let us spend our time now doing things like what you are doing here today so when you go back out in the world next week you can go as a better representative of Christ.
You have got a reward coming. You have got a reward coming in your life. Come on, we are almost done. The rewards of generosity—man, I have got seven or eight Scriptures on that. Just listen to this.
“Bring all the tithe (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there might be food in My house, and now test Me by it, says the Lord of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so great that you cannot contain it.”
Well, there it is. You give up something and you get more. If that is not enough, how about this? “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake.” Your stuff is going to last longer than somebody else’s. When the repairman comes to your house, he may fix two things for the price of one. God is going to give you favor. That is another reward that we get in our life is divine favor from God.
Do not you love it when you go in a restaurant and they put you in the best seat in the house? Do not you love it when they drop your fork and decide to bring you a free dessert? Do not you love it when you go shopping and they say, “You know what? There is going to be a sale that does not start until Monday but I am going to go ahead and give you the sale price now”? Do not just take those things as coincidence. That is part of your reward. Come on, you have got a reward coming. That is part of your reward.