Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
All work of whatever kind is service to the Lord Christ and is to be done heartily as to the Lord and not to men or merely to please people. Those who so serve Christ shall receive from the Lord himself the reward of the inheritance. That inheritance is a reward in the future life, an excellent glory prepared for the faithful and purchased by the great and costly sacrifice Christ made for salvation. The reward is not measured by how much is accomplished, but by purity of motive and earnest desire to glorify God, so faithful use of gifts whether few or many is honored alike. Serving Christ therefore means doing appointed work willingly, cheerfully, diligently, thoroughly and with integrity even when unseen, so that no honest work however small and servile is cause for shame but may be done as religious duty honoring God.
Meaning and Context
All work of whatever kind is service to the Lord Christ, to be done heartily as to the Lord and not to men. It is not to be done merely to please people or to gain human approval, nor as eye-service to earthly employers while seeking wages with as little labor as possible, but sincerely and wholeheartedly for the Lord. Every appointed task so done is serving Christ.
Those who thus serve Christ shall receive from the Lord himself the reward of the inheritance. The reward comes from the Lord himself in the future life, and the promise of it grounds faithful labor and calls for doing all work heartily as to the Lord and not to men.
The verse belongs to the instruction of Colossians 3 that calls for perfection of character by blending the life with Christ's life and striving lawfully for the crown of life. Keeping the reward in view requires separation from disobedience, honoring God by keeping His commandments, and developing the merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, thankful character set forth with it, so that calling and election are made sure. The chapter containing the verse is to be read and studied by young men and women preparing for service, that they may give themselves to the Lord for sanctification to His service. There they are to give first attention to self and to doctrine, maintain a godly example and well-ordered life, trim the lamp of the soul and be replenished with the oil of the Spirit, seek grace and clearness of comprehension for successful work, learn to labor for those for whom Christ gave His life, and have Christ formed within as the hope and strength of the life. It is also a plain message to those not obeying God, stating what must be done in order to leave on the minds of unbelievers an impression favorable to the truth.
Promise of Inheritance
The inheritance is a reward in the future life, given by the Lord himself to every appointed task done heartily as service to Christ and not to men. It is an excellent glory prepared for the faithful and purchased by the great and costly sacrifice Christ made for salvation. That cost is to be kept before the mind with clear vision, dwelt upon and appreciated with a lively sense of how dearly salvation was purchased. When this is sensed, anything called sacrifice on the believer's part sinks into insignificance. Physical, mental, and moral powers sanctified under the Holy Spirit and trained to carry on heaven-appointed work here in purity and goodness will be strengthened and employed on a wider and nobler plan there, just as talents faithfully used in this life are used without corruption in the life to come.
The reward is not measured by how much is accomplished, and no person is left to measure the work or reward of fellow workers. Jesus himself gives the wages that are due, and the reward is in accordance with the spirit in which the work was done. Purity of motive and an earnest desire to glorify God determine it, for the principles by which the worker is governed determine the reward. So the earnest worker who from right principles does little receives the same reward that comes to the one who accomplishes more. Faithful use of God-given gifts and talents, whether few or many, is honored and worthy of honor, and by using them faithfully and wisely the worker gains power to do better work and to bear heavier responsibilities. Each person is certainly given his own work to do for God, to be done with Jesus ever before him and to the glory of his name, doing the smaller duties waiting for him and using talents be they ever so few instead of remaining idle because he cannot do the work of the most experienced or be in the highest place or work for the multitude.
Serving by these principles counters selfish ambition and rivalry and leaves no place for work driven by them. The assurance that inheritance and reward come from the Lord encourages those troubled by temptation and doubt to hold fast with patience and confidence in God's promise. Keeping this future reward in view calls for a clear distinction and separation in this life from those who disobey God, honoring God by keeping his commandments. It calls for doing all work heartily as to the Lord and not to men, and for developing a merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, thankful character, so that calling and election are made sure.
Faithful Service Required
Serving Christ means doing appointed work willingly, cheerfully, diligently, thoroughly, and to the best of one's ability, with integrity even when unseen and not merely when a supervisor watches or only enough to pass along and receive wages. Faithful workers take up daily duties as in God's presence and under His eye, with entire devotion, working the same whether the human overseer is present or absent and going where help is most needed rather than acting as eye-servants restrained only when watched by men. Such diligence fills all the hours of labor and is faithful to the post of duty each day and each hour, not with care only to avoid exceeding specified time. Obedience in this service is not mechanical, but comes from a heart right with God.
Work for Christ is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanks to God, from love for Him and desire to please Him rather than from seeking praise or glory for self, and such service receives heaven's approval. Because He has bought people with His own most precious blood, all they have belongs to Him, including gifts, time, and talents. Improving time and talents acknowledges His ownership and dependence on Him for everything possessed as the fruit of His mercies and grace, and wholehearted self-denying cooperation with Him in beneficence for suffering humanity testifies to unreserved consecration to Him who gave His life. Sacrifices and duties done from right motive and right action for Christ and the advancement of His work are respected and rewarded by the Lord, including work that is not great or publicly recognized.
Each person is responsible for his own part and is given his own work in carrying out Christ's commission to teach all nations, since no one is entrusted with the whole work and none is free from defects. Therefore the work is to be done heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, without exalting self or any other man and free from envy, discontent, jealousy, selfishness, covetousness, and self-seeking, with Christ's work of redemption kept in mind. God requires nothing less than perfection from those who shall receive the inheritance, reached by putting no confidence in self and daily knowing that self is not to be trusted. Perfection is reached by grasping His promises with firm faith and asking for the Holy Spirit in full realization of helplessness, so that self receives no glory when the Spirit works, the Spirit takes the heart into His keeping and brings to it all the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and believers are kept by God's power through faith.
Faithful work is measured by God rather than by human approval, for with God there is no respect of persons. Of the Lord Himself those who serve the Lord Christ shall receive the reward of the inheritance, while he who does wrong shall receive for the wrong done without favoritism.
Work in Daily Life
No honest work, however small and servile it appears, is cause for shame, for labor is ennobling. Ordinary and humble tasks such as laundry, washing dishes, and work at the washtub can be done as religious duty and service to the Lord Christ, and faithfulness in such common daily labor honors God as truly as going to meeting. Even while the hands are engaged in the most common labor, the mind may be elevated and ennobled by pure and holy thoughts, and from the Lord Himself workers receive the reward of the inheritance.
God's publishing work is sacred because the truth published there decides the destiny of souls. Those engaged in it serve the Lord Christ under His direct supervision and take up daily duties as in the presence of God, with entire devotion and consecration, doing their best each day and each hour as if Christ's eye were upon them. He sifts all motives and reads all hearts, and is proving and trying and sifting those who have light and knowledge. Business hours must therefore be faithfully employed with heart interest in the work, with foresight, earnestness, energy, and dispatch, awake to see what needs to be done and apt and quick to execute it, using time and material to the best account. To be wasteful of time or material is dishonesty before God, for squandered moments amount to nearly a day in a week and wasted time is wasted money to the cause of God and the cause of truth, while faithful, hearty work saves much means and keeps believers from leading unbelieving fellow workers into dilatory, reckless example.
Visiting, courting, amusement, selfishness, and conversation that diverts the mind from the work have no place there. Faithful service does not do only enough to pass along and receive wages, but works in any place where help is most needed, and works the same whether the human overseer is present or absent, not as eye-servants who feel restraint only when watched by men. Nurses in sick-rooms, sanitariums, and hospitals likewise serve the Lord Christ in the discharge of their daily duties. That service requires decided effort to work wisely and well, to be always pleasant and cheerful amid constant association with large numbers of sick people, and to show cheerful, thoughtful, pleasant consideration in every word and act.
Ordinary agricultural or mechanical work can be done in a heavenly way when shaped by the thought of eternal life and the Spirit's leading. Through grace, people can develop Christlike character and honor God by showing heaven's principles in social and business dealings. Religion must shape business and every daily duty, for God's commands are to be obeyed in their details and work entrusted by Him is to be done faithfully with care, vigilance, and integrity. Knowing that one belongs to God gives daily duties a higher character, with Christ guiding every thought and action.
Duties given by God are to be done wholeheartedly, not as cold or dreary tasks, but as loving, joyful service to Christ in His presence, bringing the highest powers and sympathies to the work in loyalty and fidelity. Work done for the Lord is to be carried out cheerfully, courageously, hopefully, and amiably. Work should be wisely balanced with rest and physical activity, since overwork can drain the strength and courage needed to serve faithfully. Daily work for wages and common day labor for an employer belongs to the whole life work for God and is to be done faithfully and diligently through all the hours of labor, with unselfish motives and regard for God rather than merely to please self or gain higher pay, for God sees and examines every act. The same spirit and principles a person brings to daily employment will be brought into God's cause, and faithful service to the Lord brings the reward of the inheritance.
Employed people who serve Christ are to do their work intelligently and wholeheartedly as service to the Lord, knowing they are accountable to Him and that He rewards His faithful servants with the inheritance. Their earthly employer is not their highest master. Employers in turn are to remember Christ's authority and to treat those who work for them fairly and kindly.
All work of whatever kind is service to the Lord Christ and is to be done heartily as to the Lord and not to men or merely to please people. Those who so serve Christ shall receive from the Lord himself the reward of the inheritance. That inheritance is a reward in the future life, an excellent glory prepared for the faithful and purchased by the great and costly sacrifice Christ made for salvation. The reward is not measured by how much is accomplished, but by purity of motive and earnest desire to glorify God, so faithful use of gifts whether few or many is honored alike. Serving Christ therefore means doing appointed work willingly, cheerfully, diligently, thoroughly and with integrity even when unseen, so that no honest work however small and servile is cause for shame but may be done as religious duty honoring God.
Meaning and Context
All work of whatever kind is service to the Lord Christ, to be done heartily as to the Lord and not to men. It is not to be done merely to please people or to gain human approval, nor as eye-service to earthly employers while seeking wages with as little labor as possible, but sincerely and wholeheartedly for the Lord. Every appointed task so done is serving Christ.
Those who thus serve Christ shall receive from the Lord himself the reward of the inheritance. The reward comes from the Lord himself in the future life, and the promise of it grounds faithful labor and calls for doing all work heartily as to the Lord and not to men.
The verse belongs to the instruction of Colossians 3 that calls for perfection of character by blending the life with Christ's life and striving lawfully for the crown of life. Keeping the reward in view requires separation from disobedience, honoring God by keeping His commandments, and developing the merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, thankful character set forth with it, so that calling and election are made sure. The chapter containing the verse is to be read and studied by young men and women preparing for service, that they may give themselves to the Lord for sanctification to His service. There they are to give first attention to self and to doctrine, maintain a godly example and well-ordered life, trim the lamp of the soul and be replenished with the oil of the Spirit, seek grace and clearness of comprehension for successful work, learn to labor for those for whom Christ gave His life, and have Christ formed within as the hope and strength of the life. It is also a plain message to those not obeying God, stating what must be done in order to leave on the minds of unbelievers an impression favorable to the truth.
Promise of Inheritance
The inheritance is a reward in the future life, given by the Lord himself to every appointed task done heartily as service to Christ and not to men. It is an excellent glory prepared for the faithful and purchased by the great and costly sacrifice Christ made for salvation. That cost is to be kept before the mind with clear vision, dwelt upon and appreciated with a lively sense of how dearly salvation was purchased. When this is sensed, anything called sacrifice on the believer's part sinks into insignificance. Physical, mental, and moral powers sanctified under the Holy Spirit and trained to carry on heaven-appointed work here in purity and goodness will be strengthened and employed on a wider and nobler plan there, just as talents faithfully used in this life are used without corruption in the life to come.
The reward is not measured by how much is accomplished, and no person is left to measure the work or reward of fellow workers. Jesus himself gives the wages that are due, and the reward is in accordance with the spirit in which the work was done. Purity of motive and an earnest desire to glorify God determine it, for the principles by which the worker is governed determine the reward. So the earnest worker who from right principles does little receives the same reward that comes to the one who accomplishes more. Faithful use of God-given gifts and talents, whether few or many, is honored and worthy of honor, and by using them faithfully and wisely the worker gains power to do better work and to bear heavier responsibilities. Each person is certainly given his own work to do for God, to be done with Jesus ever before him and to the glory of his name, doing the smaller duties waiting for him and using talents be they ever so few instead of remaining idle because he cannot do the work of the most experienced or be in the highest place or work for the multitude.
Serving by these principles counters selfish ambition and rivalry and leaves no place for work driven by them. The assurance that inheritance and reward come from the Lord encourages those troubled by temptation and doubt to hold fast with patience and confidence in God's promise. Keeping this future reward in view calls for a clear distinction and separation in this life from those who disobey God, honoring God by keeping his commandments. It calls for doing all work heartily as to the Lord and not to men, and for developing a merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, thankful character, so that calling and election are made sure.
Faithful Service Required
Serving Christ means doing appointed work willingly, cheerfully, diligently, thoroughly, and to the best of one's ability, with integrity even when unseen and not merely when a supervisor watches or only enough to pass along and receive wages. Faithful workers take up daily duties as in God's presence and under His eye, with entire devotion, working the same whether the human overseer is present or absent and going where help is most needed rather than acting as eye-servants restrained only when watched by men. Such diligence fills all the hours of labor and is faithful to the post of duty each day and each hour, not with care only to avoid exceeding specified time. Obedience in this service is not mechanical, but comes from a heart right with God.
Work for Christ is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanks to God, from love for Him and desire to please Him rather than from seeking praise or glory for self, and such service receives heaven's approval. Because He has bought people with His own most precious blood, all they have belongs to Him, including gifts, time, and talents. Improving time and talents acknowledges His ownership and dependence on Him for everything possessed as the fruit of His mercies and grace, and wholehearted self-denying cooperation with Him in beneficence for suffering humanity testifies to unreserved consecration to Him who gave His life. Sacrifices and duties done from right motive and right action for Christ and the advancement of His work are respected and rewarded by the Lord, including work that is not great or publicly recognized.
Each person is responsible for his own part and is given his own work in carrying out Christ's commission to teach all nations, since no one is entrusted with the whole work and none is free from defects. Therefore the work is to be done heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, without exalting self or any other man and free from envy, discontent, jealousy, selfishness, covetousness, and self-seeking, with Christ's work of redemption kept in mind. God requires nothing less than perfection from those who shall receive the inheritance, reached by putting no confidence in self and daily knowing that self is not to be trusted. Perfection is reached by grasping His promises with firm faith and asking for the Holy Spirit in full realization of helplessness, so that self receives no glory when the Spirit works, the Spirit takes the heart into His keeping and brings to it all the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and believers are kept by God's power through faith.
Faithful work is measured by God rather than by human approval, for with God there is no respect of persons. Of the Lord Himself those who serve the Lord Christ shall receive the reward of the inheritance, while he who does wrong shall receive for the wrong done without favoritism.
Work in Daily Life
No honest work, however small and servile it appears, is cause for shame, for labor is ennobling. Ordinary and humble tasks such as laundry, washing dishes, and work at the washtub can be done as religious duty and service to the Lord Christ, and faithfulness in such common daily labor honors God as truly as going to meeting. Even while the hands are engaged in the most common labor, the mind may be elevated and ennobled by pure and holy thoughts, and from the Lord Himself workers receive the reward of the inheritance.
God's publishing work is sacred because the truth published there decides the destiny of souls. Those engaged in it serve the Lord Christ under His direct supervision and take up daily duties as in the presence of God, with entire devotion and consecration, doing their best each day and each hour as if Christ's eye were upon them. He sifts all motives and reads all hearts, and is proving and trying and sifting those who have light and knowledge. Business hours must therefore be faithfully employed with heart interest in the work, with foresight, earnestness, energy, and dispatch, awake to see what needs to be done and apt and quick to execute it, using time and material to the best account. To be wasteful of time or material is dishonesty before God, for squandered moments amount to nearly a day in a week and wasted time is wasted money to the cause of God and the cause of truth, while faithful, hearty work saves much means and keeps believers from leading unbelieving fellow workers into dilatory, reckless example.
Visiting, courting, amusement, selfishness, and conversation that diverts the mind from the work have no place there. Faithful service does not do only enough to pass along and receive wages, but works in any place where help is most needed, and works the same whether the human overseer is present or absent, not as eye-servants who feel restraint only when watched by men. Nurses in sick-rooms, sanitariums, and hospitals likewise serve the Lord Christ in the discharge of their daily duties. That service requires decided effort to work wisely and well, to be always pleasant and cheerful amid constant association with large numbers of sick people, and to show cheerful, thoughtful, pleasant consideration in every word and act.
Ordinary agricultural or mechanical work can be done in a heavenly way when shaped by the thought of eternal life and the Spirit's leading. Through grace, people can develop Christlike character and honor God by showing heaven's principles in social and business dealings. Religion must shape business and every daily duty, for God's commands are to be obeyed in their details and work entrusted by Him is to be done faithfully with care, vigilance, and integrity. Knowing that one belongs to God gives daily duties a higher character, with Christ guiding every thought and action.
Duties given by God are to be done wholeheartedly, not as cold or dreary tasks, but as loving, joyful service to Christ in His presence, bringing the highest powers and sympathies to the work in loyalty and fidelity. Work done for the Lord is to be carried out cheerfully, courageously, hopefully, and amiably. Work should be wisely balanced with rest and physical activity, since overwork can drain the strength and courage needed to serve faithfully. Daily work for wages and common day labor for an employer belongs to the whole life work for God and is to be done faithfully and diligently through all the hours of labor, with unselfish motives and regard for God rather than merely to please self or gain higher pay, for God sees and examines every act. The same spirit and principles a person brings to daily employment will be brought into God's cause, and faithful service to the Lord brings the reward of the inheritance.
Employed people who serve Christ are to do their work intelligently and wholeheartedly as service to the Lord, knowing they are accountable to Him and that He rewards His faithful servants with the inheritance. Their earthly employer is not their highest master. Employers in turn are to remember Christ's authority and to treat those who work for them fairly and kindly.