Will Some People in Heaven Have More Joy Than Others?
00:00:00.000 | Will some saints in heaven experience more joy than others do?
00:00:04.180 | Today's question comes from Jordi, a new pastor in the Albertan Prairies of Canada.
00:00:09.680 | Dear Pastor John, I recently listened through the 2004 Desiring God Pastors Conference,
00:00:14.160 | Money, Ministry, and the Magnificence of Christ,
00:00:18.200 | and one of the topics that arose in the speaker panel was the concept of varying rewards in heaven.
00:00:24.920 | You and Randy Alcorn, quoting Edwards, both hold that the reward is increased capacity for joy in Christ.
00:00:31.860 | Could you expand some more on where you are getting this understanding,
00:00:35.780 | biblically?
00:00:38.180 | Well, first of all,
00:00:39.760 | let me clarify that I don't mean to imply, in talking that way, that there are not other
00:00:47.000 | ways in the age to come
00:00:50.220 | that our rewards are
00:00:53.840 | experienced as different. Jesus says you're gonna reign over ten cities, I'm gonna reign over five cities, and I think
00:00:59.980 | that means very concretely and specifically it may happen just that way.
00:01:04.960 | You may be the mayor of ten big cities, and I may be the mayor of five little cities, and I don't mean to imply those
00:01:12.720 | specificities lose all their concreteness.
00:01:15.960 | So don't take it that way.
00:01:19.440 | But what we find in the New Testament is that the greatness of our
00:01:25.960 | rewards in the age to come are said, or is said, to correspond
00:01:31.800 | to the life of obedience that we've lived here. We don't earn the rewards.
00:01:38.440 | They're graciously given by God.
00:01:40.820 | We don't deserve them, and
00:01:42.840 | they will be evidences that God looks with favor upon his own work of grace in our lives working through us.
00:01:49.540 | So the rewards are
00:01:51.800 | intended not as evidences of being earned, but rather as occasions for
00:01:56.840 | happiness in
00:01:59.320 | heaven, not
00:02:00.800 | disappointment. But if they are occasions for happiness, and
00:02:04.600 | some people have greater rewards than others,
00:02:08.000 | will not some people be happier than others?
00:02:12.720 | But isn't the picture of heaven where every tear is
00:02:17.440 | dried up, and every sorrow will be removed, and in God's presence is
00:02:22.520 | fullness of joy for all believers, Psalm 16, 11.
00:02:27.640 | So on the one hand,
00:02:29.640 | you have every saint promised fullness of joy—I think that's right—and on the other hand, we're promised
00:02:36.920 | differing rewards, which are occasions for greater or lesser
00:02:41.880 | joy.
00:02:43.160 | So how does that work? That's the question.
00:02:48.600 | So let me simply read a few passages so you get real clear textual foundation
00:02:55.120 | for the issue here. These are texts that get at the
00:02:59.320 | differentiation in rewards in the age to come. 2 Corinthians 5.10, "For we must all
00:03:06.640 | appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
00:03:11.080 | so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in
00:03:16.840 | the body, whether good or evil."
00:03:19.640 | Revelations 2.23, "I will give to each of you according to your works."
00:03:27.960 | Ephesians 6.5, "Bond-servants,
00:03:31.800 | do the will of God from the heart, rendering service with the good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that"—
00:03:38.480 | this is really important—"knowing that whatever good anyone does,
00:03:45.360 | this he will receive back from the Lord." That's amazing!
00:03:50.920 | Every single good deed gets a special
00:03:55.360 | response from God in the age to come. Or Luke 19.17, "Well done, good servant, because you've been faithful in very little.
00:04:03.840 | You shall have authority over ten cities and then another over five."
00:04:08.000 | Or lastly, Matthew 10.41, "The one who receives a prophet,
00:04:13.280 | because he's a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward. And the one who receives a righteous person, because he's a righteous person, will receive a
00:04:21.600 | righteous person's
00:04:23.680 | reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water,
00:04:28.760 | because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his
00:04:35.800 | reward." So there will be all these
00:04:38.120 | differences among us in the age to come, but all of us will have
00:04:44.720 | fullness of joy. So what's the solution?
00:04:49.160 | Well, here's the textual pointer. You could just philosophically work it out the way Edwards
00:04:56.040 | does, but here's a textual pointer to suggest he's right, biblically right. Luke 6.37 and 38 go like this,
00:05:06.040 | "Judge not that you not be judged.
00:05:08.040 | Condemn not and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
00:05:12.280 | Give,"
00:05:14.280 | like being generous, "Give and it will be given to you.
00:05:18.880 | Good measure,
00:05:21.240 | pressed down,
00:05:22.960 | shaken together,
00:05:24.560 | running over,
00:05:25.880 | will be put into your lap. For
00:05:28.120 | with the measure you use,
00:05:33.120 | it will be measured back to you." What does that mean?
00:05:37.240 | Everybody's lap is full,
00:05:40.240 | but with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Well, here's what Linsky says, that he's right.
00:05:47.400 | In other words, by our
00:05:50.440 | giving, our being generous to people, we build the measure that is the size of our cup
00:05:58.240 | that God's going to use. We build the measure that will be used for giving back to us.
00:06:04.160 | Our own measure is used to measure back to us. By using it
00:06:09.760 | ourselves, we declare to God, "That's what we want you to use at the end," end quote from Linsky.
00:06:16.920 | So, will those who give God a small ladle
00:06:22.520 | be defective or lacking in fullness of joy?
00:06:27.000 | No, they won't, because Jesus says, "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.
00:06:34.640 | You'll be full, more than full. It's all grace.
00:06:38.520 | But your capacity for fullness has been determined, it seems, this is my interpretation,
00:06:44.840 | by your generosity to others." Otherwise, the text seems to lose its point.
00:06:50.600 | So, everyone is full in heaven, but some cups are larger, some
00:06:57.240 | containers are larger than others. Or what about Luke 6:33? "Sell your possessions and give to the needy.
00:07:03.760 | Provide, in this way, provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old,
00:07:10.640 | with treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches, no moth destroys." In other words,
00:07:17.040 | the way you provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old and treasure in heaven is
00:07:23.240 | "give to the needy." The ageless money bags and the treasure in heaven are metaphors
00:07:29.480 | for heavenly joy.
00:07:32.440 | I don't think Jesus means literal money bags in heaven. Who cares? We own everything, right?
00:07:39.760 | Paul says we own everything. 1 Corinthians 3 21, you don't need any money in heaven.
00:07:47.080 | It's a picture of the measure of our joy in Christ as our treasure, and
00:07:53.400 | how do we prepare to experience that joy?
00:07:57.380 | Jesus says, "Give to the needy." We lay up treasure in heaven, and
00:08:03.560 | clearly he meant get about it, because if you don't, you won't have as much. If we lay up treasure in heaven,
00:08:10.320 | that is, we increase our joy in heaven. We do this not by
00:08:15.880 | hoarding treasure on the earth, but by using our possessions
00:08:19.840 | sacrificially and
00:08:22.200 | generously, and if we do that a lot, our treasures are large in heaven. Our
00:08:29.120 | capacities for joy are
00:08:31.600 | greater. So,
00:08:33.400 | yes, I think Edwards and lots of other people are right,
00:08:38.200 | I think, to say that all believers enjoy
00:08:42.000 | fullness of
00:08:44.920 | joy or pleasure in the age to come, but some people will have larger cups, larger
00:08:50.640 | capacities for that joy than others, but no one will be envious, and no one will brag,
00:08:59.400 | because part of the fullness is perfect love.
00:09:03.800 | That's a mind-blowing perspective and motivator for personal generosity. It's very convicting. Thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:11.040 | And that is a great question, Jordi.
00:09:13.680 | These are the kind of questions that we address three times per week on the podcast, and for more information about us, you can find
00:09:19.120 | our audio feeds in our episode archive, and you can reach us via email all through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:09:26.960 | On Wednesday, we hear from a student who wants to know, "Is it possible for him to be faithful to God at school
00:09:34.120 | while also pursuing popularity?
00:09:37.160 | What is the give-and-take? What are the pressures? Is such a balance even possible in the first place, and is it wise to pursue?"
00:09:44.480 | I'm your host, Tony Renke. We'll see you on Wednesday.
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