What Is the Reward for Being a Disciple of Jesus?

Why would anyone want to be a disciple of Jesus? After all, doesn’t being a disciple of Jesus sound more like a bait and switch maneuver where Jesus gives you the gift of grace with “no strings attached,” but then he seems to expect you to obey a bunch of rules like reading your Bible, praying, going to church, giving your money back to him, and being nice to everybody? What is the reward for being a disciple of Jesus? Is there a reward or is it all a hoax?

A Familiar Question

The question of reward is a normal question and one which should be asked when we embark upon any endeavor in life. For example, if I had a million dollars which a corporation wanted me to invest in their company, I would want to know what reward I was going to get out of it. I wouldn’t just randomly turn over a million dollars to a group of people because I am a nice person; I would want to know that I was going to get a reward (something of value) for “loaning” them my money.

In the same way, Jesus’s disciples one day said to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”[1] Amongst a few other things Jesus said specifically to those disciples, he replied by saying, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”[2] This part of his response was not just meant for the twelve disciples, but those of us today who are disciples of Jesus.

A Reward of Infinite Value

It’s interesting that the first reward Jesus mentioned was that his disciples would receive a hundredfold of everything they had left behind rather than that they would get to heaven.[3] The idea of “getting to heaven” was not first and foremost on Jesus’s radar; he was first and foremost concerned with the disciples receiving something of infinite value as a reward and merely “going to heaven” wasn’t the reward of infinite value.

So what is the reward of infinite value which Jesus promised to his disciples? In my post last week, I pointed to this reward in Matthew 13. Here’s another passage which points towards this reward:

For [Jesus’s] sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,[4] in order that I may gain Christ… - Philippians 3:8

In this verse, Paul said that he gained something of so much value–Jesus–that everything in which he formerly found value seemed worthless in comparison. In the same way, when Jesus promised his disciples that they would receive something of much greater value than all the things they gave up–their land, their homes, and their families–he was telling them that they would gain him, the treasure of infinite value. And the reward for being a disciple of Jesus is exactly the same today: Jesus’s disciples gain him.

Secondly, Jesus said that his disciples would inherit eternal life. To inherit eternal life doesn’t simply mean going to heaven. Yes, heaven is the name given to the place where Jesus dwells, but it is merely a place which, like every place on earth, was created by him. But heaven and eternal life are not synonymous terms. Instead, to receive eternal life means to be with Jesus for all of eternity since he is the giver of life.[5] Throughout the Bible, the church is referred to as the people who are called out of this world to be disciples of Jesus.[6] These people are referred to collectively as one body[7] which comprise the bride of Jesus.[8] The church, as the bride, will be united together in marriage to Jesus for all of eternity meaning that the two shall become one and the eternal life which Jesus possesses will also be shared by his bride.[9]

Is This the Prosperity Gospel?

There are two strands of the gospel message floating around right now which are equally false gospels: (1) the prosperity gospel and (2) the poverty gospel. The prosperity gospel claims that Jesus wants to make his disciples healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in this life while the poverty gospel claims that Jesus wants his disciples to live in poverty in this life. All the things I have said during the last two weeks about gaining a reward for following Jesus could be misunderstood as a strand of the prosperity gospel when they are, in fact, not even in the same ballpark as the prosperity gospel. Here’s why.

The prosperity gospel teaches that we will be rewarded for following Jesus. The reality is that no matter how we try to twist scripture, we can’t get away from the fact that Jesus says there will be a great reward for his disciples. In this high level claim, the prosperity gospel and what I’ve written are in alignment. But that’s as far as the alignment goes. Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, the teaching known as the prosperity gospel views Jesus as a means to an end. In other words, its adherents ultimately want to worship earthly pleasures such as health, wealth, and prosperity and see Jesus as someone who can give them these earthly pleasures. Their nominal worship of Jesus only serves as a means to get what they ultimately want: earthly pleasures.

The Bible actually tells us that Jesus isn’t a means to an end; he is the end. We’re told that Jesus isn’t a means to get us health, wealth, and prosperity, or even a get-out-of-hell-free card. Now, that doesn’t mean that Jesus calls all of his disciples to literally sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor. This is the error of the poverty gospel. Some of his disciples are given lots of wealth while others are given little wealth, neither of which are a sign one way or the other of the quality of the relationship they have with Jesus. Over and over again, the Bible claims that Jesus is the ultimate valuable reward his disciples will gain, whether or not they experience great earthly rewards in their earthly lifetimes.

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Is the reward of Jesus enough of a reward to make being his disciple a worthwhile investment? What people or things are hindering your desire to gain him?

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[1] Matthew 19:27.

[2] Matthew 19:29.

[3] The Greek word hekatontaplasiona, which is translated “hundredfold” in this verse, is used symbolically in scripture to mean totality or all-inclusive or even infinite, meaning that Jesus’s disciples were promised a reward of infinite value.

[4] The Greek word used here is skubalon. Our English translators were nice when they translated this word as “rubbish” in the ESV. In the KJV, it is translated “dung” and can mean poop, crap, or shit. Skubalon is something that is good for nothing except to be discarded.

[5] In John 11:25-26, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

[6] The Greek word ekklesia is commonly translated “church” in English although the definitions of the two words are not synonymous. Ekklesia literally means “out of a calling.”

[7] See 1 Corinthians 12.

[8] See Ephesians 5:22-33.

[9] Revelation 19:6-8.