The Reward of Service

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 15, 1905

The Reward of Service

THERE is nothing more sure than that service brings its reward. There is nothing more certain than that God will reward every man, whether his work be good, or whether it be evil. It is a reward just as much when the service, the work, is evil as when it is good. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be,” whether the work be good or evil. The judgment is with reference to giving a reward, and in the judgment hour, in which we now stand, we stand as it were facing the day of reward, whatever our work may be. We are in a day of reward.

The nature of the service determines the nature of the reward, and the reward is not something arbitrarily given simply because of the fact of service, but the reward is itself the inevitable result of the experience of the service. As the blossom is bound up in the seed, and the kind of blossom is simply the result of the kind of seed, so of the service; the reward is, as it were, simply the blossoming of the seed of service, and the kind of service rendered determines the character and the measure of the reward.

Let us read a scripture which bears directly upon this: “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good

and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

The lord of those servants said the same thing to both servants, which sets forth the truth that the reward for each faithful servant is of the same kind. The reward for the faithful servant is of the same kind, whether he had two talents or five talents, whether he gained two or gained five. Each one gained one hundred per cent. Each one received the same kind of reward.

“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”

Or, as it says in Luke’s Gospel, “From him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. When that man went and hid his talent in the earth, where it did not belong, he refused to take that talent. When his lord came, that man did not have the talent that he gave him in the first place. He had not used it. He simply seemed to have it. He lost it when the time of reckoning came.

All faithful servants have the same word said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” but the actual reward itself to each one is measured by his ability to do more of the same kind of thing that he has been doing to the measure of his ability, as shown by his experience in service. Every one’s cup is running over, but each one builds his own cup, and the one who by faithful service develops the largest degree of ability to serve, and who uses that ability in actual service, that man’s reward as compared with another man’s is the greater ability to continue to serve the same Master. That is his reward. Those to whom service is irksome here, can not receive the reward. They destroy their ability to receive any such reward. Their very attitude toward the Lord, the Master, and his work, prevents the Master from giving them any such reward as he would like to give them. He who refuses service, who refuses work to the measure of his ability, has chosen death. It is simply a question of degree; and when the final reward comes, the man who refuses service is refused the privilege to serve in any degree whatsoever. Therefore the reward of the faithful servant is life eternal, his time and power in full measure for service. The reward of the unfaithful servant who refuses to work is death, neither time nor power for service. That ought to take hold upon our hearts and lives in a new sense. It comes as a sort of a new message. It is not simply a call upon us to serve the Lord in order that his work may be done. He could do his work much easier without us. He could call upon the angels and send them forth to do his work, but in the doing of his work is the salvation which he desires to give, and the salvation which he gives is the reward for which each one prepares himself.

The greatest reward that comes to one in this life is the ability, the power, to serve others. That invisible thing which can not be measured by dollars and cents, and can not be weighed on the scales, but is of great price, is this sharing in God’s character. What is it that gave us a gospel at all? What is it that has given to us a Saviour at all? What is it that has brought within our reach the hope of salvation? It was not because the character of God changed when sin entered the world. It was not because he adopted some new principles. It was because God is God, and Jesus Christ is his Son, and because of the very nature of their character that we have any gospel at all. Now if we are to share in the benefit of that gospel, we must share in the work of the gospel. There is no other way. And he who expects to share in the reward of this gospel must share in the service of this gospel.

It is the law of the kingdom that what we wish to keep we must give. It is what we give that we hold. It is what we give that we have. Every true Christian, who has given a thousand dollars to the cause of God, and has ten thousand dollars still remaining, really has only the one thousand dollars that he has given. That is a live truth that what a man gives in this life is that which he has. He has laid hold of that now in a way actually to possess it. It is just so with talent. If any one has a talent conferred upon him, and he shuts himself up to himself, and does not give forth that talent, that ability in service for God, he loses that talent, he loses that ability. But he who gives forth freely, who gives himself freely in a life of service, is the one that is building his large cup of reward for the future. He may not know how many souls are reached by his service. He may never know how wide the waves are that he has set in motion, those waves that have an influence upon other people’s lives. He may never live to see the fruit of what he has given out, but the man that has freely given is the man who holds the things that God has given to him. We should have more to give if we gave more, more of time, of talent, and of means.

“Give, and it shall be given unto you.” Just as soon as God finds a man who is willing to be a channel for him, he will pour something through that channel, because God is waiting to bless the world. Yet he wants human instrumentalities, that divinity through humanity may reach and touch and bless humanity, and the one who is used in this way for the service of God is the one who will receive a special blessing in that service; and the very nature of the reward will save us from selfishness. The way of seeking the reward is in itself the cure of selfishness. It is the divine way.