Bible Verses on Reward for Good Works (done with Faith in Christ) in Heaven.

Do you believe Good Works, done with Faith in Christ, gain a Reward in Heaven, by God's Grace? Some disparage Good Works, but many Bible verses indicate this. It is true that Good Works WITHOUT Faith in Christ cannot save us, but Good Works WITH Faith in Christ have a Promised Reward in Heaven.

Thoughts?

"Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward." (1 Cor 3:12-13)

"He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.” (Mat 10:41-42)

"Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward." (2 Jn 1:8)

Not everyone will be rewarded equally. Saints who labor more for the Lord will receive a Higher Reward from Him. Martyrs will have a Greater Crown (Rev 2:10). Do you agree or disagree? Are good works done after coming to faith, with the Holy Spirit indwelling us, of no value, same as works before faith?

The works we do according to His Word we are rewarded for...in addition to the

5 Crowns available to all those in the Administration of grace.


1. Crown of life
Jas 1:12 Blessed the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

A better translation of that verse could read…. Blessed is the man who stands fast on the Word against adversities showing himself approved, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to them that love Him.




2. Crown Incorruptible
1Co 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

Self-discipline…training yourself in doing (walking) the Word of God. 1Co 9:26&27 are corresponding verses to this.




3. Crown of Rejoicing
1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

The crown of rejoicing is for witnessing and getting people to the point of receiving the gift of holy spirit.

(You have to go back to 2:13 to pick up the context of this.)




4. Crown of Righteousness
2Ti 4:7 have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

That is pretty self-explanatory. It is also in the context of athleticism, not as a warrior. A corresponding verse to this could be Phl 3:14.




5. Crown of Glory
1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

This crown applies to anyone in the body of Christ who is walking, leading and taking the oversight of the believers in the body of Christ…..not just evangelists, teachers, ministers….. etc

While standards of character are part of all who are led by the Spirit, the work of each saint is bound by each saint's gifts and callings in Christ. There is no general "good work of the believer". The demonstration of good works come from a life of obedience to the Lord, not the attention to the needs of the people. This is how Jesus could walk away from the needy crowds: He was following the Spirit.

Religious traditions that emphasize the work above obedience to the Lord have usually supplanted the rule of Christ with an earthly counterpart, like Roman Catholicism and many Evangelical churches. Here, the leaders define the work of the people. The heavy workers are then typically given more influence based upon how much revenue they generate for the church with the occasional martyr thrown in for good publicity. This foments the idea, among the congregation, that "more works = more acceptance and godliness".

I always figured that if I were the first floormat that everyone stepped on when they entered Heaven, that I'd consider myself fortunate.

Just get there!

Hello XavierJesusLovesIndia, yes, I believe that they do because (as your OP points out) the Bible tells us that they do (e.g. 1 Corinthians 3:13 .. see below).

That is a bit of an odd comparison/contrast above to be sure (as your 2nd premise does not logically follow your first). Nevertheless, I believe that this statement of yours is also true, as long as it is clearly understood that the "promised rewards" in this case (the ones that we may OR may not receive at the Bema Seat Judgment for our good works .. or the lack thereof) have NOTHING to do with our earning/meriting our salvation (whether we are referring to coming to saving faith in the first place, or to maintaining our faith throughout our earthly lives), because salvation is by grace (IOW, by God's UN-merited favor) through faith, and that from first to last (salvation to Glory/justification to glorification).

The ONLY "works" that can result in our receiving salvation/eternal life were performed by the Lord Jesus when He lived among us,

This means that the Lord Jesus is our ONLY innocence, our ONLY righteousness, our ONLY atonement/forgiveness for our sins, and the ONLY satisfaction for the wrath that His Father (our former "Enemy") was holding against us .. e.g. Romans 5:8-10.

Ephesians 2
8 By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for/unto good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

We've already discussed the fact that the faithful works (works that survive the test of fire at the Bema Seat Judgment .. e.g. 1 Corinthians 3:13 .. see below) that we do ~as~ believers in this life, will result in "rewards" of some kind at that Judgment (what those rewards may or may not be is a matter of conjecture, as the Bible does not tell us what they will be .. except to say the one thing that they will not be .. our salvation).

We can see clearly, from MANY verses/passages in the Bible (including 1 Corinthians 3:15 .. see below), that our salvation isn't based upon/merited by anything that we, ourselves do, but by faith alone in all of the things that the Lord Jesus did for us.

How could it be otherwise .. e.g. Romans 3:23, 4:5, 5:8-10; Hebrews 9:22, 10:4.

God bless you!

~Deut
p.s. - this is a blind post, so if everything that I just said above has already been discussed in your thread, I apologize for not reading through the thread first.