Matthew 19:27-30 Mark 10:28-37 Luke 18:30
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27 Then
Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what
then will there be for us?” 28 And
Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in
the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. 29 “And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My
name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal
life. 30 “But many who are first
will be last; and the last, first.
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28 Peter
began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed
You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you,
there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father
or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but
that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses
and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with
persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 “But
many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
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30 who
will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come,
eternal life.”
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Peter asks a question that everyone wants to know but that
few have the courage to ask. The basic
question was: What are the rewards for following Christ? The rich young ruler walked away because, in
his estimation, the price was too high.
Peter affirms that, in contrast to him, they had left all behind to
follow Christ. So, he wants to know what
he and the other disciples can expect as a result of their obedience. Jesus answers his question by explaining
three types of rewards the they, and every believer, can expect as a result of
following Christ.
KINGDOM REWARDS: Jesus starts by talking about a time of
regeneration when He is sitting upon His glorious throne. It is hard to be dogmatic about the
interpretation of this expression, but I believe He is speaking of the
Millennial Kingdom. During this time the
earth will be regenerated, He will reign as King on earth, and the twelve
apostles will reign on thrones over the twelve tribes of Israel. Scripture teaches that believers will rule
and reign with Christ during the Millennium and for eternity. God is King and the “family business” is
reigning. We are sons and daughters of
the King. We are destined to reign with
Him. Most of us will live more or less
one-hundred years. If I am right about
the Millennium, we will reign with Christ on earth for ten times that period. Our faithfulness as followers of Christ today
will determine our positions and abilities for service during Christ’s
Millennial reign and, by extension, for eternity. This should be a motivating factor for
service and following Christ today.
EARTHLY REWARDS: The life of following Jesus has significant
rewards for the future. However, our
rewards are not limited to the future.
Jesus has outlined the cost of following Him, but there are not only
sacrifices. God gives many rewards in this
present life to those who follow him. We
may have to turn from family and possessions at different times of our lives,
but the Lord has multiple other people He brings into our lives that more than
make up for any “loss” we might feel. In
general, unbelieving families are broken and, in some cases, they are sources
of great pain. On occasion, a believer’s
family will turn their backs on a believing family member; but that believer
then has an entire body of believers that become much closer than brothers and
sisters of our flesh. That may be
accompanied with persecutions from the world, but we are not alone in any of
this. God provides for our needs and has
been so faithful to provide for so many of our desires. It is very hard to consider what we do in the
name of the Lord a sacrifice because of the many rewards He provides.
ETERNAL REWARDS: The rewards for following Jesus are not
limited to this world or the kingdom, but they stretch into eternity. When people think about rewards this is what
usually comes to mind. However, many
people fail to live in light of this reality.
As believers, we understand that we need to focus our lives on the
eternal and have our affections fixed on the eternal. The problem is that we seldom live according to
what we know to be true. It is so easy to
be consumed with the present, especially when there is pain or suffering involved. We begin to question if it is worth the
sacrifice. Jesus wants to make it
crystal clear to all of us, that it is absolutely worth whatever sacrifice that
might be made now to be able to enjoy the eternal rewards He has planned.
APPLICATION: Following Jesus in and of itself is a
privilege. Just being able to live to do
what we were created to do is a wonderful thing. However, besides that, we have the promise of
present, kingdom and eternal rewards. We
have blessings now, even in the midst of suffering, we will reign with Christ
in the kingdom and will reign with Christ for eternity. No other life could be this satisfying.
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