Today’s reading: Gen 6:1–7:24, Matt 6:1–7:11, Eccles 2:1–11
Today’s Theme: Reward from God
Today’s theme is the great rewards we receive from God, we should focus on serving God and desiring the rewards He promises rather than the wages, false promises and rewards of sin. As we invest in God and His kingdom, the promises of future grace will help us to live well before God and encourage us to endure.
Genesis 6:1–7:24
God’s covenant to save us
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. Genesis 6:18 (ESV)
We can be grateful that God has made a covenant with us through Jesus to save us from the wrath to come. In the same way God made a covenant with Noah to save him from the flood.
Obedient faith
And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him. Genesis 7:5 (ESV)
One of Noah’s distinctive virtues was that he was obedient to God’s commands. We too should be obedient to God.
A global flood
The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. Genesis 7:20 (ESV)
This was not a local but a global flood.
Matthew 6:1–7:11
Rewards from God
so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:4 (ESV)
There is nothing wrong with seeking reward, it is perfectly natural, the issue comes with where and who we seek to receive the reward from. We should seek to be rewarded by God in His time and His way. We do not deserve the reward but we gladly receive it as a benefit of God’s great grace. God’s reward can be a good motivation for all we do in the way we live our lives as believers.
Where is your investment?
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 (ESV)
You will care about whatever you invest in.
Choose to serve God
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
In our capitalist and consumer driven culture we must consciously choose to serve God and not our own temporary pleasures through the pursuit of more money.
Human worth
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26 (ESV)
Humans are worth more than animals in God’s eyes, another blow to the theory of evolution.
Seek God first
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
We should seek God first, this was the word our Pastor Dennis preached at our new years eve / new years day service as we crossed into 2014.
Boldly ask
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:8 (ESV)
We must not be cowardly and quiet but boldly ask God for what we need in accordance with His will.
Ask for good things
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11 (ESV)
Boldly ask God for good things!
Ecclesiastes 2:1–11
Seek Godly reward
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Ecclesiastes 2:10 (ESV)
Solomon’s attitude here was really wrong, he felt his hard work entitled him to any pleasure he desired. This only leads to hedonism and is why Jesus taught us in today’s reading to seek reward from God and store our treasures in Heaven.
Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014