John Politan Moses: Looking to His Reward (The Doctrine of Eternal Rewards) (part 3) Hebrews 11:23 – 29, Selected Scriptures September 4, 2016 Reading from the Valley of Vision, “Covenant” (pp. 258 – 259) I hope you have your Bibles open to Hebrews, chapter 11, because that was our jumping- off passage, if you will. What did it say? Just to bring it back to your eye one more time, Heb. 11:24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for [because] he was looking to the reward. There it is. About thirty-five years ago, the First Baptist Church of Modesto, California, was what church people maybe refer to as a “maintenance” church. At one time it had over a thousand members, but its membership had dwindled to around two hundred (or a little less). Many aspects of the church property were in a state of disrepair. A man by the name of Al Broom was asked by the senior pastor to please come and be the executive pastor of the church and see if they couldn’t help turn some things around. One of Al’s first jobs to get done was to do something about the carpeting in the church. He found a great deal on some blue-green carpeting, so he ordered it and had it installed in the church. The next task was to do something about the front doors. They had these front doors that were old, had been varnished a thousand-plus times, and they had to do something about them. He called a carpenter, who took the doors back to his carpentry shop, and so forth, to try to get them repaired and fixed up. The carpenter called him back and said, “Hey, Al – these 1 Moses: Looking to His Reward (The Doctrine of Eternal rewards) (part 3) doors have been varnished a gazillion times,” and this, and that, and the other. They had cracks all through them. “There is no way in the world we can restore these doors. The best thing I can do, if you want to keep them, is fill in the cracks and paint them, and that is it.” Al says, “Well, good grief, Man – it is Friday morning. We have church on Sunday. I have got to have doors back on the church. Fill in the cracks, and let’s paint them.” The carpenter asks, “What do you want me to paint them?” And Al, thinking of that blue-green new carpet, says, “Paint them blue.” So, the guy fills the cracks, paints them blue, and by late Saturday night gets them installed in time for church on Sunday morning. The next day, Sunday morning, Al Broom is back somewhere in the offices of the church confines, working away, about 7:30. It is about an hour and a half before the first service is to start. All of a sudden, the maintenance man up in the front part of the church calls and says, “Al, Al – we have a big problem. You have to get here real quick. So-and-So, you know, has been a member of the church for over forty years. He is hopping mad over these blue doors. Al, you have got to do something. Please come.” Al says, “I will be right there.” But, before he got up from his desk, he took a little 3x5 card, jotted down a few words, and put it in his pocket. He goes up toward the front area of the church, and sure enough, this church member comes at him, wagging his finger, crazy over these wood doors. Al doesn’t say a word while the guy is talking. He reaches in his pocket, pulls out the 3x5 card, and holds it in front of his face. The guy is looking at it, reads the card, and just shrugs his shoulders and walks away in a huff. Well, before the morning is over, before the service even starts, five or six more people come up to him about the blue doors, wagging their fingers, and so forth. Every time, Al reaches into his pocket, pulls out a little 3x5 card, holds it out in front of the person, the person stops and reads it, and walks away in a huff. Same way every time. Well, the senior pastor had been observing all of this going on all morning. So, after the 2 Moses: Looking to His Reward (The Doctrine of Eternal rewards) (part 3) service is over, he walks up to Al Broom and says, “Al, I don’t know what you wrote on that card, but I have got to read what is on that card.” Al says, “No problem!” He reaches into his pocket and hands it to the Senior Pastor. The Senior Pastor read it. What the card said was simply this: “You can always determine a person’s spirituality because it is directly proportional to their response to blue doors.” The pastor loved it so much that he incorporated it into his sermon the next week, and before the next few weeks went by, every one of the persons who were irate with Al called him to apologize – one guy even called him after midnight by long-distance to apologize to him. And, ultimately, the church passed a resolution which (at least, thirty years ago) still stood on a plaque beside the entrance way to the First Baptist Church of Modesto, California. The plaque basically says this: “May the blue doors on this church always serve as a tangible reminder to each one of us that we need to always follow the Word of God more than any traditions of men.” Why would I start out today’s sermon with that true story? The reason I started out is because, while the doctrine of eternal rewards is a blessing, I hope, to all of you, I have received a little feedback from some of you that to some of you it is a huge “blue door.” Some of you are struggling with it still. You are thinking, “Oh, no – to serve God because He promises to give me a reward just seems dirty. It just seems less spiritual. It doesn’t seem to be the right type of motivation,” and stuff like that. All I want you to do is keep an open mind. And, remember: minds are like parachutes: they only work when they are open. However, we also want to remember A. W. Tozer’s admonition: the purpose of opening your mind is the same as opening your mouth: it is to close it again on something solid and nutritious. I want to give you solid spiritual food. Hopefully I have done that for a couple of Sundays. I want to try to do it again in tying down this topic of eternal rewards today. My point being what? If the Word of God says it, then you and I – whatever our hang-up is – need to get over it 3 Moses: Looking to His Reward (The Doctrine of Eternal rewards) (part 3) and start accepting it, and believing it, and living by it, and quit getting wrapped up in the traditions of men. “Well, why is it, John, that I have not been taught this before?” I don’t know. I hadn’t been taught it very much my first thirty years of my Christian existence, either. The point is, does the Word of God teach it? If it does, we need to learn it, observe it, apply it, and follow it. Now, just to orient you a little bit, so you know that I am not totally out on some tangent in regard to this, I did grab a few quotes from some individuals so that you could be, hopefully, a little bit more encouraged with this doctrine, to know that I am not out in the deep end somewhere. Quote: “We long to see Him and to be with Him, and such desires are the work of the Holy Spirit and are the first fruits of Heaven. But remember that just inside the door there is Christ’s judgment seat, where He will adjudge our life and our portion, our rewards. Prepare, my soul, to give an account of all my talents.” – S. B. Meyer (1847 – 1900), Bible scholar. Here is another one from Alexander MacLaren, a Scottish pastor. MacLaren’s outlines and sermons on the Scriptures are classics of both devotional and assistance to pastors around the world. MacLaren said this: “The judgment seat is meant for us professing Christians, real and imperfect Christians, and tells us that there are degrees, and that the future blessedness is proportioned to present faithfulness.” Did you hear that? Future blessedness is proportioned to present faithfulness. “You have been faithful with ten minas? Enter into ruling over ten cities. You have been faithful with five? Rule over five cities.” It is proportionate to present faithfulness. “It is true: God loves His people, but, yet, He loves not their sin, nor anything they do, though with the greatest zeal for Him, if it be contrary to His Word. Therefore, as truly 4 Moses: Looking to His Reward (The Doctrine of Eternal rewards) (part 3) as God will give a reward to His saints and children for all they have indeed well done, so truly will He at this day, the judgment seat of Christ, distinguish their good and bad works.