Conduct a unified After Life Campaign where people read the book, hear sermons, and study the After Life in their small group. For details, see http://www.pulpit-press.com/after-life/

Future campaignes in the works for:

Contact:

josh@joshhunt.com

575.650.4564

Saved by grace; rewards by works

Salvation is given to us by grace through faith. Rewards, on the other hand, are given on the basis of works. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets”  (Luke 6:22–23).

Notice He gives us a reason to rejoice in persecution: because of reward. There is a direct connection between deeds done for Christ on earth and a great reward in Heaven. This is not an isolated teaching on the part of Jesus. He talked about it all the time. We receive a gift for believing: eternal life. We receive rewards for doing. Here are some other verses that speak to this:

• For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done. Matthew 16:27 (NIV)
• Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21
• You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14

There are two keys that determine everything about your eternity. The first key is your faith. That unlocks the door to eternal life. We are not saved by trying. We are saved by trusting.

The second key is behavior. That opens the door to reward. Faith determines where you will spend eternity. Works determine how you will spend eternity—whether you will have a great or small reward.

Imagine a friend who built a rocket to go to the nearest star to our solar system, Proxima Centauri. It is 4.2 light years away. Using an Ion Drive Propulsion system, it would take 81,000 years. Imagine the absence of Earth’s gravity caused the aging process to magically stop. Hang with me.

Your friend decides to give you a tour of his rocket. There are two parts. The first part will be burned up during lift off. The second, much smaller part, would travel the 4.2 light-year trip. Which part do you think he should decorate? Which part should have the big screen TV?

You would immediately see that no matter how cramped and uncomfortable that first part was, it was the second part that mattered.

Jesus saw the wisdom in this kind of thinking. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19–20

Here is the big idea of this chapter: eternity lasts a long, long time.

What happens on the dot called today has ramifications for the line called eternity. The things we do today send ripples into eternity. Today matters for forever.

One more word picture, imagine a chain that goes from here to that same star, Proxima Centauri. This life is one link of the chain. What you do during this life affects the whole chain. Today matters. It matters for all eternity. No good deed will go unrewarded.

What you believe in this life determines where you spend eternity. How you behave in this life determines how you spend eternity.