Of all the words I hope to hear my Savior say some day, these two words rise to the top. “Well done.”

They are foretold in a story Jesus tell in Matthew 25, when a slave appears before his master to give an account for how he used his talents. Both the slave who had five talents, and the slave who had two talents, receive the same commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (verses 21, 23).

Sadly, a far different fate awaits the man with one talent, who instead of investing it, “went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money” (v. 18). The master calls him “wicked and slothful” (v. 26) and eternally commits him to “the outer darkness” (v. 30), a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30).

Many people think that only non-believers will be judged. Not so. One day — not so long from now — each one of us will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and give an account for what we have done in this life. This could be cause for fear and trembling. But I believe it could also be cause of anticipation. It all depends on what you do with Christ in this life, and how well you spend your life serving him.

For the wicked, the day of judgment will be a time of shame and horror. For the lukewarm, it will be time of sadness and regret. But for the faithful, it will be a time of unspeakable joy and reward.

C.S. Lewis once said, ” Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” Are you aiming at heaven? In our latest sermon podcast, we take an in-depth look at one of the passages on our heavenly reward. You can listen here:

In this message, you’ll learn:

• What is our ultimate purpose in life
• A sneak peak of what our future judgment will be like
• The role of grace in our judgment
• The role of works in our judgment
• The specific reward we can hope to receive
• Why motivation by reward is not a selfish, ungodly pursuit

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