Application
Guide: “Treasures in Heaven” (Mt. 5-6)
May 8th,
2005: Pastor Kimber Kauffman, Senior Pastor
of College Park Church, preached on the subject of rewards in heaven. All
throughout the Scriptures, he noted, can be found the concept of storing up treasures
in heaven. Pastor reminded the congregation that we are not only to serve
Christ out of fear of his holiness or out of love for his goodness, but out of
a desire to receive reward in heaven for our good works as believers.
- We will all be
judged. Nonbelievers will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment
(Rev 20:11ff). Believers will stand before Christ (2 Cor 5:10). Christian
leaders will be judged based on how well they built up the body of Christ
(1 Cor 3:10-15; Heb 13:17).
- If we truly believe,
that we will one day stand before Christ and be judged, how will this
affect our behavior or lifestyle?
- What practical ways can we be mindful each day
that each day we should be living for Christ, that our lives should count
for eternity, and that we will one day give an account for how we lived
as believers?
- It is a sobering truth that we will be judged by
God by the same measure we judge others (Matt 7:1-5). God takes very
seriously the judgments, criticisms, and assumptions we make of other people.
- Why is it the Christians are stereotyped as the
some of the most judgmental people in our culture? In what ways do you
make hasty or sweeping generalizations about other people – be they
individuals or people groups? Who are you often critical of and why? How
often do you judge people’s motives without giving them the benefit of
the doubt?
- One of CPC’s guiding principles states, “If we
make a mistake, we make it on the side of love.” How should this
principle guide our thoughts, attitudes, and assumptions about other
people?
- Salvation affects one’s eternal position; Heavenly
rewards affects one’s eternal possession. “The whole subject of rewards…is
both a joyous and solemn theme and should serve as a potent incentive for
holiness of life.” – Wilbur Smith
- Are you trying to serve more than one Master (Mt.
6:24)? In what, or where, are you currently storing up your treasures?
- If you were to die today, would you wish you had
sacrificed more for Christ or done more to advance his Kingdom? Will you
die with regrets about the example you set as a Christian or your failure
to love others like Christ loved you? What needs to change in your life
if you are going to store up treasures in heaven?
- Do you believe (hope) that it will be worth it spending your life serving
Christ?
- We rejoice in rewards because God Almighty is
glorified and pleased (cf. 2 Cor 5:9). Yet as we serve, we must also be
mindful that even our “works” as believers do not enhance God’s opinion of
us. It is by God’s grace that we can do good works (cf. 1 Cor 15:10). It
is God working in us to do them (Eph 2:10; Phil 2:12-13; Tit. 2:12).
- How does God’s grace, even in our sanctification, dispel any pride or temptation to
compare one’s spirituality with another’s?
- If even rewards are founded in the grace of God,
what attitude should we have as we receive them? Who gets the glory?