BOB: We’re going to answer a question from someone named Paul and the header says loss of rewards and heaven question mark. Interesting question, right? So here’s what his question is. Is it possible that a person can lose rewards in Heaven? If that is the case, are there only certain bad deeds that could cause a believer to lose his reward? And he goes on to say if one faithfully obeys Christ, maybe not perfectly for a period of time, but then backslides into disobedience for a period of time. Did he lose his honor in Heaven? So can people lose eternal rewards? 

STEVE: Well, I would say absolutely not in the sense of rewards and treasures that we’re storing in Heaven. There are too many verses that say what we treasure up in Heaven. Thesaurizo (from “thesaurus). 

BOB: Matthew 6. 

STEVE: Yeah, Matthew 6:1-21. Thieves do not break in and steal a moth and rust don’t destroy. They’re being preserved for us. And 2 Timothy 1:12 says that Jesus himself is guarding what we’ve deposited in Heaven. Like a prison guard guards a prisoner, if you will. Paul says for this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I’m not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep the paratheke, the deposit, what you might deposit this word was used to deposit once bill folder or valuables at an end in the safe for safe keeping. And that’s the way it is with the Lord. He’s got our, what we’ve deposited in our good works and serving him, storing treasure in Heaven. And he’s guarding them until that day. 

BOB: And that day refers to the Bema, the Judgment Seat of Christ.

STEVE: That’s right. All through 2 Timothy, that day refers to the Bema, and when we receive rewards. 

BOB: Okay, now a lot of people think, however, the that verse is talking about eternal security.  And of course, eternal security is under there because I’m not going to get rewards if I’m not going to be there. But that’s not what he’s talking about. He’s talking about that which he has deposited. 

STEVE: Exactly. And probably the word “committed to him,” those people off because in lordship salvation circles, you’ve got a certain amount of committing yourself to the Lord. 

BOB: Right. But it’s not committing yourself. It’s committing those deeds. 

STEVE: Exactly. And that word “what” is a noun, paratheke, and it means deposit. I know that he’s able to keep the deposit that I’ve laid up there until that day. 

BOB: Yeah. In fact, there’s a verse in Philippians 4:17. Basically, the book of Philippians is kind of like Paul’s thank you letter for the support he’s gotten and a request for more money. He says in 4:17, not that I seek the gift, but that which will accrue to your account. Well, we all have kind of an eternal rewards account. We’re laying up. So in that sense, those can’t be lost. 

STEVE: Right. Those can’t be lost. On another hand though, even rewards could be forfeited in the sense that I didn’t do the things necessary to earn the rewards that I could have gotten. Right. So that’s a little bit different. I haven’t gotten them yet, but I could have gotten them, but I didn’t get what I could have gotten. 

BOB: Another thing would be motive. If my motive is wrong, even if I do a rewardable act. For example, in Matthew 6, if I give so as to be seen by men, the giving itself is rewardable. But if my motive is to be seen by men, Jesus says that you’re reward and full. 

STEVE: Exactly. But let’s make it very clear that to have a motive for getting the reward is absolutely not wrong. It’s commendable. 

BOB: In fact, Jesus at the end says where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

STEVE: Exactly. And in Hebrews 4, he’s actually condemning the children of Israel because they weren’t motivated by the reward of entering the promised land and earning it and winning it through the obedience and so forth necessary to get it. But the word of God can examine our heart, even our intents and motives, it says that in Hebrews 4—they didn’t have the right motives. They weren’t motivated by rewards. We’ve got to be motivated by rewards. 

BOB: Okay, so if we do good deeds or say the right things, et cetera, with the right motives, then we are laying up treasure in heaven and we are laying up some sort of deposit, right? I call that in my book, The Road to Reward, “Instant Winners.” Those, the minute that we do them, they’re secure. But aren’t there other verses that say we must endure in order to have these endurance prizes? 

STEVE: Exactly. And let’s call rewards and treasures in heaven one thing. And though this next item is a reward technically, let’s call it the inheritance. 

BOB: Okay, the inheritance. 

STEVE: And the inheritance is consistently based, especially on endurance. It’s based on suffering too. But endurance and endurance through the suffering and staying with it to the end. And that’s necessary over and over in verses in Hebrews that we are his metachoi. If we hold fast our confession firm until the end, he’s able to save to that end those who draw near to him in prayer, it says in Hebrews. We got to stay with it to the end. That’s the big theme for endurance in Hebrews is this carrot of the inheritance that’s laid out. Namely the inheriting of the kingdom, so as to be co-rulers with Christ, one of those whom at the very beginning of the book, he says are anointed alongside of Christ to rule and reign in the kingdom. And can that be forfeited? It can be because we could fail to persevere. We could fail to endure. 

BOB: But that’s not something you have yet. 

STEVE: It’s not something we have yet. 

BOB: The other treasure we’re talking about or the deposit that you get the moment you do it. 

STEVE: Yeah. Now there’s a little mystery to it in that does God know whether we’re going to get it or not? He does. And in Hebrews 12 talking about the firstborns—plural. He says their names are registered in heaven, the firstborns. He knows who they’re going to be. Those co-heirs. We don’t yet. And that’s pretty exciting. I want to be one. I know you do too.

BOB: There’s a lot of related words like approval. We long for his approval. And in Roman 16, one of the men, I guess it’s Apelles, is “approved in Christ.” There are a number of things related to this. But this theme of ruling with Christ and associated rewards only if we endure and persevere, it’s from Matthew to Revelation, right? It’s everywhere. It’s in all the gospels. I mean, I think of Matthew 24:45-51, the parable of the just and the unjust servant. He’s doing well, he’s feeding his servants. He’s going to be made a ruler in the life to come. And then he takes his eyes off Christ and says, my Lord delays his coming and he begins to beat his fellow servants and drink with the drunkards. And the Lord’s going to give him a verbal tongue lashing and there’s no rulership for him. You have that running all the way through. In the parable of the minas. You’ve got one of the guys that doesn’t endure and he’s not going to rule at all. The parable of the four soils and Luke 8, the interpretation in 11 to 15, only the third and fourth soils are going to rule. The second soil falls away and that’s going to miss out on ruling. It’s not laid out clearly, but it’s there. And you have it, 2 Timothy 2:12. If we endure, we shall also reign with him.

STEVE:  And there are verses in the epistles where Paul is certain of rewards that his fellow workers are going to get. So on the one hand rewards and treasures we store. What did you call it? 

BOB: Instant winners. 

STEVE: Instant winners. 

BOB: And perseverance prizes. 

STEVE: Instant winners. And we know that’s secure because the Lord himself is guarding it for us, 2 Timothy 1:12. But like you say, the inheritance is forfeitable. We’ve got to endure to the end and that’s something we’ve got to shoot for. 

BOB: And what you’re hitting here is the expression “inheriting the kingdom.” It occurs a lot in the New Testament. It occurs in three vice lists, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5-7, all three are misinterpreted by many scholars who say, you’re not going to get in the kingdom unless you’re enduring in righteousness. 

STEVE: For sure the deeds of the flesh will keep us from inheriting the kingdom as believers, but not being in it. 

BOB: But ruling in it. 

STEVE: But ruling in it. 

BOB: I think Hodges made the point, there’s a difference between being in somebody’s house and owning the house. If you are an heir, you’re a part owner in that house. If you’re an heir of the kingdom, then you have a partial rulership or ownership of the kingdom. 

STEVE: Bob, I owe you so much for so many things you’ve taught me over the years, but one of them illustration of the two kinds of rewards we’re talking about here is Solomon. He’s one who’s going to be rich in the kingdom. He’s got a lot of rewards waiting for him, no doubt. Will he be a co-heir? Doesn’t look like it because he didn’t finish well. 

BOB: He died as an idolater. And in the list, idolaters won’t inherit the kingdom. 

STEVE: Exactly. So, sorry, Solomon, for that, he’ll regret it. On the other hand, you’ve got a Samson who was a rounder if there ever was one and wasted his life, really. But you know what? He finished strong and he’s in the list of metachoi in Hebrews chapter 11. 

BOB: So one final thing. What are these instant winners and what are the perseverance prizes? In other words, what is this treasure in heaven in Matthew 6? 

STEVE: Well, in particular, I think of using our monies for the Lord’s work or, 

BOB: You mean, you think there’ll be money in the kingdom? 

STEVE: I know there’s going to be money in the kingdom. There’s no question about that and there’s material goods and things like that as well, and lands and so forth and commerce. 

BOB: So we could use all that to God’s glory, which will bring us more joy too. 

STEVE: And Luke 6 talks about, I love, it’s one of my favorite stories to envision is a fellow who forgave the debts of the people who owed his boss money because he knew he was about to be fired and out on the street. And so Jesus praised him for his shrewdness and he says, we need to be like that in this sense. We need to use our unrighteous mammon, which is money and win friends with it, namely sharing the gospel with them, but using our monies to do that. And those friends will greet us into the eternal dwellings. What a great reward that’s going to be, that’s treasure in heaven.

BOB: Okay. Now, on the other hand, the perseverance prizes, one of those is inheriting the kingdom and ruling, but in the book of Revelation, it includes things like the right to the tree of life, the right to the hidden manna, that’s the eat the hidden manna, a special white stone with a nickname on it that only you and Jesus know, special white garments, right? And there are several other rewards for the rulers. But the point is, we won’t want to miss out on any of it. 

STEVE: No. And no doubt, it’s all of those rewards could be boiled down maybe to the joy and increased ability to appreciate the Lord’s presence in a way that we wouldn’t otherwise. 

BOB: Great. Now, Paul, great questions. So no, you can’t lose up that which you deposited, but you can lose ruling with Christ, inheriting the kingdom, and their associated rewards because you haven’t won that yet. That, in order to win, you must persevere. 

Well, thanks for listening and keep grace in focus.