Hundredfold Reward, by Grace (Protestant/Evangelical Devotional)

Email from "The Navigators" | 12/16/2020 | Jerry Bridges

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Hundredfold Reward, by Grace Today’s Scripture: Matthew 19:29

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters . . . for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold.”

In the verses immediately preceding the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20, Jesus promised a "hundredfold" reward, or ten thousand percent, to "everyone" who has sacrificed for Jesus’ sake. God’s rewards to us will not only be of grace, but will indeed be gracious—that is, generous beyond all measure.

So the grace of God in our service to him does not negate rewards but rather makes them possible. As R. C. Sproul said, "But the blessing Christ promised, the blessing of great reward, is a reward of grace. The blessing is promised even though it is not earned. Augustine said it this way: our rewards in heaven are a result of God’s crowning his own gifts."

This is the amazing story of God’s grace. God saves us by his grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of his Son by his grace. In all our trials and afflictions, he sustains and strengthens us by his grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the body of Christ. Then, again by grace, he gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve him, he makes that service acceptable to himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace.

In Romans 1:17, Paul spoke of the Gospel as revealing "a righteousness that is by faith from first to last"—that is, from beginning to end. This is also an appropriate term for grace, for faith is no more than the response to and appropriation of the grace of God. (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

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