No. 14. >> I am really glad Eric asked that last question. And I thank you again for tackling such tough material. You just remarked that while the law is useful to me as a redeemed individual, I cannot earn brownie points or merits with God. I'm simply free under the Gospel so that I can serve within the framework of the law. But doesn't the Bible speak of degrees of glory? Aren't we encouraged to lay up treasures in heaven? To my ears this sounds like earning merits. >>DR. JOEL D. BIERMANN: Yeah, you are reading my thoughts, Nick. As I was answering the previous question I was thinking: Oh, the whole rewards thing is going to come up. And yeah, you did it. So you're right on track. Good question. Yeah, the Bible certainly does tell us that God knows what we're doing in the left hand realm. And that he honors these things. And there are blessings that come. It kind of gets to the motive a little bit. You see, I would try to make the case that the best motive we have for serving our neighbor is simply the neighbor's need. And we're not doing things so that we can try to get in good with God or try to earn his favor. One of my favorite theologians, a guy name Gustav ***Vinagren, he even goes so far to say that when it comes to our relationship with God, Christ must rule. You put anything in place of Christ, it's idolatry. Then he says when it comes to my relationship with my neighbor, my neighbor must rule. And if I try to enthrone Christ in my service to my neighbor, what I'm actually doing is using my neighbor is nothing more than a tool or a stepping stone on my way to try to earn favor with God. So then my neighbor becomes a means. And I'm not honoring my neighbor simply because he's my neighbor. But I'm using him as a tool to try to get something more. And that he says is sin. And I would agree with him. So I think the best service we do for our neighbor is simply because my neighbor needs it. Not because: Hey a, if I do enough good things, God will notice and I might get another crown of glory or something. Because Scripture also indicates that when God starts handing out the rewards and the gifts, a lot of us are going to be kind of surprised at who is getting them and how they are -- and how he's doing this. And we really don't know what criteria God is going to use or how he's going to go about this. Now, does the Bible tell us that God does that? Yes. And in fact, Luther didn't hesitate to stress the fact that there are even blessings and rewards that come in this life for doing right things. Think about it for a minute. Some of it is just built in. The man who says: I'm going to follow the Golden Rule. I'm going to follow the teachings of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments, a man who decides to do this, by and large, things are going to go pretty well for him. He's not going to be creating problems for himself. He's not going to be creating all kinds of difficulties and pain. The bulk of the suffering most of us endure is usually self inflicted by our stupid choices. So the person who follows God's law is going to avoid a lot of those kinds of problems. Not always. There are plenty of sufferings who come, even for people who do right. I know that. But by and large things go better when you obey the law. It's just kind of one of these fundamental rules. And God also tells us that ultimately there will be these degrees of glory or rewards in heaven. He talks that way in the Bible. God does. And Christ does. So we know there's truth to this. But we don't know much about it. So I tend to think we should not focus so much on that and focus more on the responsibilities that we have in this world. Let me give you one more piece to think about here. You remember Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats where he separates out the sheep from the goats on the last day. And he tells the sheep: Come into my glory and receive the blessings of the Father. And he says: Because you were faithful and you were good servants and you came and visited me and fed me and clothed me and they said: When? We didn't know we were doing this stuff. And he said: Well, whenever you did it to the least of me. That I think is really significant. Because the faithful, those Christian people, those sheep, were not running around serving their neighbor because they wanted to try to get in good with God. They simply saw needs and met them. They didn't even think about the fact that Christ was in the neighbor. They were just doing what the neighbor needed. And Jesus had to tell them: You were actually doing that for me. And then it was like light bulb. Oh, I see. We didn't get it before. We were just doing what needed to be done, Lord. And he smiled and said: Exactly, you're just being good creatures. Just do what needs to be done. Don't worry so much about the rewards or the motivations. Meet the needs and take care of those who are around me.