“For I tell you the truth, whoever gives you a cup of water because you bear Christ’s name will never lose his reward.”

This is my second message focused on the value of small things. Previously, I spoke about the psalmist saying he would rather stand at the gate of the temple than be elsewhere, and I used that to illustrate the value of even little service—something small you are doing for Jesus, for God—and how you will not lose your reward, but with the warning: do not do it for human accolades; know that God sees it.

Here, Jesus says, “Whoever gives you a cup of water…”

Someone might say, “What is even that? If I don’t climb a mountain or do the big thing…” No. He is saying even a cup of water. A cup of water—something people can regard as insignificant. That giving, the effort you have made to do that, is valuable. The fact that you have done it is valuable.

And the focus here is reward.

A lot of things in the Bible are focused on reward. We don’t know when the reward is going to come, because we don’t know when the kingdom of God will fully arrive in visible form. But everyone is supposed to think in terms of the fact that Jesus is coming soon and has said, “My reward is with Me” (Revelation 22:12).

When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, he said all of us are working—“each will receive his reward according to his own labour” (1 Corinthians 3:8). He uses pictures: all of us are running a race, but there is a prize at the end (1 Corinthians 9:24–27). All of us are like farmers; we are sowing, but there will be a harvest at the end.

There is that orientation toward the end. Many of Jesus’ parables focus on the master going away, leaving servants to do certain things while He is gone, and then returning to settle accounts (Matthew 25; Luke 19). The reward is not here.

I want to charge you: stop thinking the reward is here. The Bible says, “Here we do not have an enduring city” (Hebrews 13:14).

Stop bringing your paper and saying, “God, look at what I’ve done for You.”

People say, “Hezekiah prayed that prayer.” You are not Hezekiah. God has now given a full revelation of Himself in Christ. Do not pretend that has not happened. It has. God has revealed Himself in Christ, and Jesus is coming back, and He says His reward is with Him.

So He is saying: do not think, “Until I do something extraordinary, I won’t get a reward.” He is saying here: a cup of water. A cup of water.

“I tell you the truth”—this is guaranteed. You can take it to the bank: when He comes back, you will not lose your reward.

Again, I want to beg you: do not start calculating, “If I do this, I will gain that in this world.” No. “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). You should see everything you have as a gift. James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Jesus also said that God “is kind to ungrateful and evil people” (Luke 6:35). He gives good things even to His enemies.

So, first, know that your little things—the little whatever it is, what you are giving—are valuable before God.

Second, let us not say, “God, look at what I’ve done for You. What are You going to do for me?”

When Peter asked about what there would be for those who left everything, Jesus said, “Each of you who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for My name’s sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life,” and also mentioned persecution (Matthew 19:27–29; Mark 10:29–30).

But look at someone like Paul, who experienced many difficulties in this world. He did not say, “Because I have suffered, I will get a mansion in that corner.”

No. He said, “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). That means his effort in this world was working for him something in the world to come. That is the thinking.

Somebody told me, “If it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense.” That is unfortunate, and that was a pastor. He said, “If something does not make sense to me, I am not going to be a Christian.” “If it doesn’t give me an advantage, why am I even a Christian?” That is carnal thinking—thinking like men.

The point is: let us not despise little things. But while we are not despising the little things, let us also not pull out our calculators and say, “God, look at what I have done—what are You going to do?”

The woman who poured ointment on Jesus did not calculate (Matthew 26:6–13). Yet Jesus said, “Wherever this gospel is preached, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” That was her reward.

It is not something you script; it is not, “If I do X, I will get Y.” Let us not have our heads filled with a transactional approach to relationship with God. However, let us embrace the value of little things. Here the little thing is what you are giving. God is not ignorant of it.

God bless you. See you later.