The Greater and Lasting Reward
Hebrews 10:32-35 — 7/24/16, Kyle Luck, Pastor of Youth Ministries
Outline:
The world makes it hard to follow Jesus.
•Following Jesus can cost us a lot.
•Many fellow believers lose much following him.
•This may be increasingly true for us.
How are we able to remain faithful when it is difficult to follow Jesus?
•What does it take to follow him faithfully? Not to shrink back, but to move forward in love?
[Hebrews 10:32-35]
What the believers dealt with:
•They were told to remember things that happened after they trusted in Christ.
•They had endured a lot of public difficulty.
•Some of this was insults and disgrace (reproach).
•Some of it was affliction (violence, imprisonment, beatings, loss of things).
•Some believers had to choose whether to be complacent, or to have fellowship with other believers in their sufferings (likely by helping them in prison). Choosing fellowship meant loss of property.
What the believers did in response:
•They chose to follow Jesus in love.
•They had compassion on fellow believers in prison (not complacency, but love).
•They joyfully accepted the plundering of their property (love for enemies).
•Joyfully? How?
How they were able to endure and stay faithful:
•They knew that they had a greater possession, and an abiding one.
•Jesus is the greater possession. The rewards in him are better, and longer lasting.
•They are then reminded to continue in confidence, knowing they have a great reward.
•This reward is the motivation for faithfulness and love.
•The reward is Jesus, not something else that we’re using Jesus to get.
How the greater reward sets us free to endure hardship and loss.
•If we look to the greater and lasting reward in Jesus, we will be set free to endure any loss in the path of love and sacrifice.
•We’ll be free from materialism, because our things help us pursue Jesus, not the other way around.
•We’ll be freed from lust, because Jesus is a greater pleasure.
•We’ll be freed from complacency, because even a difficult path with Jesus is better than a comfortable one without him.
Questions for personal reflection or Life Group study:
•What would you do if you had to lose your home or property because of following Jesus?
•Have you ever had to endure difficulty in following Jesus? What was it like?
•Have you ever asked yourself why you want to follow Jesus? Is he what you want?
•Do you think you love things, or Jesus more? How does the loss of things help prove what we really love and desire?
•Do you see how treasuring and desiring Jesus frees us from materialism? What about lust? Or complacency? Or any other sin?
•Do you believe that is true, that enjoying him more than other temptations really does free us? Why or why not?
•How can you grow in loving Jesus more, so other things you love are loved less than him?