Rewards

I like to tell people that I have been studying the Bible all my life. After all these years however, I am still occasionally finding entire phrases that I have either never noticed, or that contain wording that I have never noticed. The other day, in my daily reading I once again came across such a phrase.

"The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward."    Matthew 10:41 (ESV)

Of course, we are probably all familiar with the verse that follows it, as it is often quoted:

"And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water . . . will by no means lose his reward."

But we often have a tendency to downplay the subject of rewards. I don't know about you, but I have always been caught in the idea that it is self-centered to think about rewards, and consequently I have failed to realize the magnitude of the reward that is talked about here.

The scripture in focus clearly states that the one who receives either the prophet, or the righteous person because they recognize that that is who they are will receive not just a reward, but the same reward as that prophet or righteous person!

I'm sure that a certain amount of this truth has been lost in the debate over whether there are such persons as prophets any longer, but that makes no difference. The great truth to take away here is that if you receive a servant of God because you recognize that he is a servant of God, you will receive the very same reward as that servant of God will receive for his efforts! No less; no more!

There are, I think, two operative words here. The first is "receives" as  it is translated in the ESV, as in receiving the prophet or the righteous person (or any other servant of God, I believe). The NIV translates this word as "welcomes", which is, in this case, a more accurate translation. In my Greek lexicon (by Dr. Mounce) there are many descriptive English words used in the definition for this word, but I would summarize them all by saying that it means that you recognize that persons ministry for Christ, and you give them whatever support (not necessarily financial) that you can offer.

 The other word is "reward".  The Greek word here carries with it the idea of either a reward, or a wage that is due that person for the effort that they are making. In other words; those who support the servant of God in whatever way that they are able, will get the same reward as the person performing that ministry.

I really need to  emphasize here that I am not trying to talk solely about financial support. This passage certainly applies to financial support, but I believe that it applies to prayer support, words of encouragement, and physical help in their mission, as well as any other form of help or encouragement that we are able to give.

What I do want to emphasize is the fact that many that I continue to meet who are in ministry are very proprietary, and unfortunately see others in ministry as competitors, not totally different from Diotrephes, as mentioned in 3 John, although they are sometimes acting out of insecurity rather than ego, as was Diotrephes.

My point is this: we all need to recognize and support each other in ministry, and allow one another's individual ministries to complement each other and to offer one another mutual support. When we do, we will share equally with that person in that ministry.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.