Short Answer
Believers will experience complete joy in heaven regardless of the amount of rewards they receive. While the Bible teaches that there will be different rewards based on faithful service, the greatest reward will be being in the presence of Christ. No one in heaven will feel disappointed or deprived because the joy of being with Christ will fully satisfy every believer.
The Overview
The Bible teaches that believers can receive rewards in heaven based on how they faithfully serve Christ during their lives. Jesus frequently spoke about storing up treasures in heaven and encouraged believers to live in ways that honor God and serve others. Even simple acts of kindness done for the sake of Christ—such as helping someone, encouraging another believer, or giving a small gift—are remembered and rewarded by God.
However, some Christians worry that if they receive fewer rewards than others, they might experience less joy in heaven. Scripture indicates that while rewards will differ, the joy of heaven will be complete for every believer. No one will feel regret or sadness because the central joy of heaven is not the rewards themselves but the presence of Christ.
The greatest reward a believer will receive is being with Jesus Christ forever. Seeing the Savior face to face—the one who died for sin, rose again, and continually intercedes for believers—will bring a level of joy that surpasses every earthly experience. The privilege of being in His presence will outweigh any differences in individual rewards.
Although rewards are real and believers are encouraged to pursue them through faithful service, they are secondary compared to the ultimate reward of eternal fellowship with Christ. Every believer will experience fullness of joy in heaven, and no one will feel deprived or unhappy because of differences in rewards.
Key Takeaways
- Believers Will Have Complete Joy in Heaven
Regardless of the number of rewards received, every believer will experience full joy in eternity. - The Greatest Reward Is Christ Himself
The ultimate joy of heaven will be being in the presence of Jesus. - Rewards Are Given for Faithful Service
Acts of kindness, service, and faithfulness done for Christ will be remembered and rewarded. - Even Small Acts Matter to God
Simple actions such as helping or encouraging another believer can store up treasure in heaven. - There Is Still Time to Invest in Eternal Rewards
As long as believers are alive, they can continue serving Christ and storing up treasure in heaven.
The Source — The Speaker Transcript
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with Pastor Mike. How can I help? >> Hey, Pastor Mike, can you hear me? Okay, I’m using earbuds. >> I can hear you just fine. >> Okay. Um, my question is about heaven. You mentioned earlier uh in passing about different different positions that we will have in heaven. >> Yes. >> And when you said that, it I I tell my friends a lot, I’m really scared. kind of scared, concerned that when I get to heaven, I’m going to be the toilet washer because I I just don’t think I’m
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gathering that many rewards. I mean, like, compared to so many other people, it so if I have not as many rewards as like you or other people, um, well, I still have the same joy. >> Sure. >> Joy? I mean, I’m trying to figure this out. >> Yeah, you’ll have joy, right? There there’s no no doubt about that. But you’re still breathing, Jane. You’re still around. And when when Jesus says things like this, I’ll get back to what you asked. It’s a good question. I’ll
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answer it. But first, let me tell you, Matthew 10:41, right? Whoever gives one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water, because he’s my disciple, truly I tell you, he will by no means lose his reward. Okay? All I’m saying is today, you could start storing up treasure in heaven by doing something selfless in serving someone because he’s a follower of Christ. You could write a note to your pastor. You could uh you could go and try to help out in a situation that you know somebody in your small group is
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struggling with. And as soon as you do that selfless act because someone is a follower of Christ, as Hebrews 6 says, God’s not unjust. He’s not going to forget that. This isn’t like you do something right, you get a reward. You do something wrong, the reward gets taken away. That’s not how it works. Right here it is in the Bible saying, “Store up for yourself treasure in heaven because once once they’re there, they’re guarded by the power of God. They’re guarded in his presence. Now,
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tomorrow you may be a lot of wood, hay, and straw, and it’s all burnt up. But all I’m telling you, if Jesus beckons us for rewards with something as small as giving someone a bottle of water, I’m going to say there’s a lot of good that you can do between now and the time we lower your body in the ground. And we can say this girl at I mean, all the way to the end, she was healthy. She gave a cup of coffee to a gal who was struggling and sat down with her, held her hand, and prayed with her. that
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there’s going to be reward for you, Jane, in in heaven for doing that. That’s huge. So, don’t give up on storing up treasure in heaven. Secondly, this is the way I put it in in the book that I wrote because I knew people were going to have the very question you ask. And I wrote a little story in there about the fact that if you were to think about heaven this way, you’ve got to remember when we talk about rewards, it’s something no one seems to talk about these days, but we need to talk
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about it because Jesus talked about it all the time. And if he did, we should preach it. But if you think, “Oh man, I’m going to get there and suffer loss, just like it says in 1 Corinthians 3. A lot of my life’s just going to be burned up. Gold, silver, precious stones are going to be sparse, but wood, hay, and straw are everywhere. It’s going to be terrible.” I illustrated it this way. The reward ultimately, the biggest reward is Christ himself. You will be in the presence of the unmitigated, perfect
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one of all the universe. the one who died for you, rose again, who’s been interceding for you before the father. He’s been a standup advocate for your life. He is your savior and you will be so glad to have personal presence with Christ, right? That and I illustrate it this way. If you had the person like you could think I’ I would love to have lunch with this person, right? All right. And I said, “For some people it’s a sports athlete. For others it’s a you, you know, a singer or a politician
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[snorts] or whatever. Somebody you think is amazing. I’d just love to have lunch with them.” I said, “Here’s the thing. If I said, I’ve worked out the lunch for you. It’s next Tuesday. And and here’s the thing. You wouldn’t really care if I said to you, “It’s going to be at this per this amazing restaurant, amazing steakhouse. You’re going to sit there with this wonderful person that you’ve died to have lunch with. You can’t wait to have a meal with. and this person’s
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going to be there across the table. You’re going to have or derves. You’re going to have cloth napkins. You’re going to have an amazing ambiance. They’re going to be live violinists in the corner. You’d be like, “Amazing, right?” But if I said, “Hey, you’re going to get to have this with this this person. You’re going to meet at the park. There’s going to be a bucket of chicken. Uh there’s going to be, you know, your favorite soda there and you’re going to drink out of the can and
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you’re going to eat some chicken, but you’re going to be across from this amazing person you couldn’t wait to be with.” I’m going to say there’s great joy in either situation. Is one better than the other? Yeah, it is. It would be better better for you to have a lot more gold, silver, precious stones. But you’re not going to be sad. How can you be sad? Right? You’re across the table from someone that that you have longed to be with, someone who is so amazing to be with, who brings you nothing but joy,
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right? That that person is your reward. Christ is the ultimate reward. And yet, are there rewards? Yes. Should we care about rewards? Yes. Is there a difference between, you know, driving home from your lunch in a beautiful car or in just, you know, you’re you’re in a Prius, whatever it you’ll get around, you’ll get all your needs are going to be met. The question is, right, we would rather, as God told us to try and aspire to have rewards, rewards that we cannot lose. And that to me, if you’re still
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breathing, you got a chance to do it. You can intercede for someone at your church who’s in need of prayer. and that that 30 minutes of prayer will be rewarded. You giving someone a gift card is going to be rewarded. You trying to help out is going to be rewarded. So, don’t give up. And I know, Jane, it’s easy for us to focus on all of the scratches and dents in our Christian life. But you have a Christian life. You wouldn’t be calling in if you didn’t care about your Christian life. So, keep
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investing in living out your life of Christ for the people around you, especially the Christians. As as Galatians 6 says, as you have opportunity, do good to all people, but especially to those of the household of faith. And I’ll bet even in saying that, you thought of some people that you can encourage, that you can serve, that you can give, you can do something helpful to. Go serve them because they’re followers of Christ. And you will be rewarded. And one day, we’ll have a conversation. We’re going to meet up on
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the other side, and you’re going to say, “You’re right. Look what I got for doing these things that you prompted me to do.” So get out there, Jane, and do it. Okay?
