One of the ways I know the Lord is sending me a message is when I’m reading a familiar scripture and suddenly, something I’d never seen jumps off the page and grabs my attention. That happened Thursday morning of this week.

In a passage where our Lord is urging His audience to turn their focus from the rich and well-to-do toward the needy and helpless, Jesus says, “When you give a party (reception, banquet), do not invite those who can return the invitation. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” These people do not have the means to repay you, Jesus says, however, “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

That line stood out in bold print: “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

All the bells went off inside. What a great promise. Jesus looks into the distant future and sees a time when debts will be paid, when rewards will be handed out, when the faithful will receive the recognition God has promised.

The line from Proverbs comes to mind: “He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord and He will repay him for his good deed.” (Pr. 19:17) Jesus is foreseeing that precise moment when God pays the debt in full. It’s a thrilling thought.

Later that morning, a pastor friend in Kentucky emailed me about his work with a commission seeking to curtail gambling in that state. They also deal with other moral issues, including the control of alcohol and drugs. He sent some pretty disturbing statistics, enough to discourage many a volunteer in this line of work.

I wrote him back that he must not get discouraged, that anything he can do to protect children and families from these scourges is a great work. That’s when Luke 14:14 came to mind. “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” I said to him, “You may never know this side of the judgment just how many lives you save, how much good you do, how many children you bless.” He agreed that it means working by faith, knowing you’re doing the work of the Lord and trusting Him to use it.

That’s tough, as we both know so well.

We live in an age of instant gratification. We want our rewards now. Tell the average person to do a good deed now and they will be repaid at the judgment, and you might as well promise them they will be repaid a zillion years down the road. It does not compute. In fact, anything short of next month is out of the question for most people.

“The just shall live by faith,” declares both the Old and New Testaments. That meant one thing to Martin Luther, namely that the way of salvation is by faith in Christ not in man’s good works. However, it also conveys another line of thought: anyone who obeys the Lord is going to be doing a lot of things simply because he believes the Lord, i.e., by faith. Not because of the immediate payoff, not for the good feelings or public acclaim or fruit that he sees borne from it. He will do it by faith.

Later that same day, I sat at a table with several colleagues, directors of missions from other Baptist associations from this end of the state. As we shared prayer requests, one of the men said he was speaking that evening to a group of college students about a mission trip to Africa.

I said, “I have the text for your message tonight.” He smiled, no doubt thinking I was up to my usual foolishness. But I was serious.

I called his attention to Luke 14:14 and its promise to the faithful: “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

He said, “Talk about delayed compensation!” We laughed. It is delayed compensation, but it is also guaranteed remuneration, backed by no less than the Word of the Lord Himself.

All of which raises several questions for anyone considering working for Jesus Christ:

1. Is that promise good enough for you?

2. Is that motivation sufficient to get you up and into the fields, to do what He said?

3. Are you willing to work today for a payoff that does not come until Judgement?

4. Can you invest yourself even when you see no visible results, knowing that God in Heaven sees and counts, that He knows and blesses and has promised to repay?

The culture we are immersed in wants our reward now or sooner. In a sense, we’re like day-laborers who demand their payment in cash at the end of the working day. Retirement benefits even thirty years from now hold little interest to the average employee. We want the latest model of everything from cars to televisions to game-pods. We are members of a materialistic society where consumer goods are newer and brighter and more interesting–and even cheaper–every year, and we deserve our rewards. Save for the future? Not hardly. We want what we want and we want it now.

Jesus says, “If you invest yourself in helping others, you will be repaid—at the Judgment.”

Can you wait? It’s all about faith in the Lord Jesus.

The culture we are immersed in wants to see results now. We watch a young preacher, seemingly energized with some kind of secret anointing, erect a steel building on an interstate and within six months, run five hundred in attendance and five thousand in two years–and it happens so often, we begin to feel that should be the norm. However, go into a difficult area and begin a new work, then a year later have only two or three converts to show for your efforts and your supporters start looking for a better place to invest their mission dollars. In their minds, God is not blessing your efforts.

Scripture promises us results for our labors, but not necessarily today. “Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap, if you do not quit.” (Galatians 6:9)

Can you work? It’s all about faith in God’s Word.

The culture we are immersed in wants proofs, not promises; it wants money-in-the-hand, not the word of One who lived thousands of years ago. This generation does not do long-range planning or down-the-road investing. Leave them to their own devices and they will rebuild a house in a flood plain because, “What are the chances it will flood here again?” In California, they rebuild on earthquake faults and unstable hillsides. In Central America, on the sides of active volcanoes. In New Orleans, in reclaimed swampland that lies beneath sea level.

Will you be wise? Will you believe Christ?

If you are willing to walk by faith, to work today and leave the results to the Lord, to wait on His timing for the rewards–in short, to be faithful–then I have good news: You can be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.