The religion natural to fallen human beings is that of seeking by one's actions (rituals and routines) to gain favour and benefit from whatever God or Gods one recognizes, or to secure some inner bond with the divine by austerities such as fasting, trans-rational meditation, and self-mutilation. What is expected is well-being, now or later or both, as in effect payment for work done. In addition to a handful of international religions, local cults all over the world are shaped this way; and in the West, at least, great numbers of more or less moral people who embrace no particular religion remain confident that this is a friendly universe and that their track record, such as it is, will earn them a happy eternity somehow. Such is the world's way of thinking about our destiny; no doubt it always will be.
New Testament Christianity, the Christianity of Jesus and his apostles, stands in clear-headed opposition to all such thoughts. It affirms that we are all accountable to our holy Creator, in whose hands we always are, and that none of us is good enough to merit anything but condemnation and rejection. In love, however, this same holy Creator promises forgiveness, new life and eternal joy to all who will give up trying to work their passage to happiness, and will humbly embrace his mercy as set forth in the atoning death and living lordship of Jesus Christ, his crucified and risen Son. Grasp this gospel, turn to this Saviour, receive his pardon and peace, become his disciple, learn to fellowship with the Father and the Son through the third person within the divine unity, the Holy Spirit, and your motive in life henceforth will be gratitude - gratitude for this undeserved love, which the New Testament calls grace; gratitude expressing itself in a purpose of serving, pleasing and adoring God for ever as you savour the joy and freedom that Christ imparts to all who are his. Where other religions say 'do,' Christianity points to Christ and says "done!" – and where other religions say "you lack life; work for it," Christianity says "you have life; work from it." The contrast is absolute.
Is there then, within the life-motivation of gratitude, any further form of motivation, one that connects with the quality and worth of Christians' new lives as disciples of Christ and workers for God's kingdom? Yes; Christ and Paul both declare the reality of rewards freely given for faithful service, over and above, indeed on the basis of, the free gift of salvation itself. The rewards are pictured as both receiving a wage and winning a race. Scholar Chin Aik spells this out with clarity and care. It is a further aspect of the personal, relational renewal that grace brings, and it confronts Christians with the breathtaking fact that the more devotedly we labour for our Lord here and now, the more enriching will be his acknowledgement of our faithful labour in the world to come.
Thanks be to God!
J.I. PACKER
The motivation to publish my Master's thesis entitled: "The Function of Reward as Motivation in Paul's
Eschatology" is twofold: 1) Unless it is in book form
for a wider circulation, it will most likely be read by a few,
and only a few, keen on academic research, and 2) The subject
itself involves every Christian and as such should be read by
as wide an audience as possible. 