We know God will reward each person according to their works on earth, but what about the good things we do for lost people? Will God reward us for doing good things to those outside the church?
The Invisible Elect
We know God will reward each person according to their works on earth (Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6; Rev 22:12), but what about the good things we do for lost people? Will God reward us for doing good things to those outside the church? I know this. Even when we minister to those outside of the faith, they still might be part of God’s elect. We will not know that until that person comes to saving faith, and even if they never do, we have still ministered to others as a witness for Christ. We’re not responsible for them believing. It’s not our responsibility to save anyone…it is their response to His ability. It is still our responsibility to evangelize. God’s timing on saving souls is a mystery. He might use your good works for helping a lost person as a means to reach them and introduce them to Christ. Even if they reject Christ and are never saved, I believe God will still reward us.
Loving Our Neighbors
To love our neighbor is to love them even outside the faith. Remember Jesus told us to pray for and do good for and to love our enemies (Matt 5). We cannot know who God’s elect are. It is only when they come to saving faith in Christ that we know they are His elect. Many of the lost you will witness to and reject your message, I can guarantee, at least some of them are part of God’s elect. It’s just that they are still not yet called (John 6:44; 17:20). God has His own timetable, and His timing is always immaculate. We should just throw our own timetable away!
Once Enemies
Consider the fact that we were once against God and wanted nothing to do with Jesus, but God made the first move by loving us first (1 John 4:19). The Apostle Paul says: “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). He didn’t wait for us to get our acts together because that was never going to happen! Without God’s Spirit, we would remain enemies of God, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). It wasn’t because we deserved it or earned it (Eph 2:8-9), but “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10).
Why God Saved Us
God saved us, not to snatch us to heaven, but to use us as a means to save others. Our purpose is to glory God (Psalm 115:1) and to be used by God as a means to His ends, chiefly to save sinners or to rescue the perishing. We recognize most will reject the gospel, since we are “a fragrance from death to death [but] to the other a fragrance from life to life…” (2 Cor 2:16). Realize that rejection will come, but it is Him whom they spurn, not us personally. It’s not so much the messenger they hate (but they very well may), but the message itself (John 3:18-19). They are not really rejecting you, but rejecting God.
Foreordained Works
The Apostle Paul tells us just why we were saved, after telling us just how we were saved, and that is, God did all the heavy lifting (John 3:16; Eph 2:8-9). Why were we saved, besides glorifying God? Paul says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). This is saying God, long ago, long before we existed, God planned works for good that we should walk in them. He appointed ahead of time, good things for us to do to people to minister to. The question is, will we walk in them?
No Works – No Faith
James understood that our calling includes good works, but these good works will be fruits of the Holy Spirit, but they will be there. If there are no good works, then that’s not really saving faith the person has. James writes, that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). You can see that faith and works connection in the Patriarchs like Abraham, where “faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works” (James 2:22).
No Excuses
I know that our good works should begin in our local Body of Christ the church, but if we fail to help those who are outside the faith, then we will not be loving our neighbors, nor will we be light and salt in this world before sinners. They must see our good works to see that our faith is real and God is real. We don’t know who God is going to call. We must share Christ with all people we come into contact, no matter what they look like or what we think about them. We can’t take soil samples and then witness…we must sow the Word as often as we can, as far as we can, as wide as we can, and to as many as we can. Then, leave the increase to God, for only He can make it grow (Acts 2:47). I know of several people who said they came to saving faith by means of a person’s helping them. Can you imagine the joy of by used by God to bring someone to saving faith by His grace? There’s not only joy in heaven (Luke 15:10)…but we’re partying here too! Someone was lost…now they are saved!
Conclusion
Will God reward our acts of kindness to the lost? Don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t be helping people who are not Christian. God possibly helped us first by means of using someone else. Maybe their example pointed us to Christ. Never resist an urge to do good for someone…regardless of who it is.
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: Are Our Rewards Based on How We Live on Earth?
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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