The Demand Of Christmas

“Behold this child is destined  for the fall and rising of many in
Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce your through your own soul also ) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  Luke 2:34-35

Through all the Biblical portrayal of the Christmas story one cannot miss the emphasis on the various responses to this helpless baby born in Bethlehem.  And, of all the responses, the one of note is that of Herod.  Herod is approached by strangers from a strange country. They tell him a most fascinating story.  They saw a star and they want to know where the “King of the Jews” is to be born.  Herod, instead of rejecting their story as some sort of astronomy gone too far, actually believes it.  He not only believes it, it threatens him, and he makes plans to eradicate this child less than two years of age.  Herod hears about Christ, believes it, but cannot accept the moral consequence of what the birth of the Messiah means.   He does not challenge the Magi, he does not have a shred of doubt about the validity of their claims, but he rejects the Christ.  Why?  It is because Christ challenges his position.  His must now submit to the authority of another. There is born a King who demands the resignation of his autonomy, and the submission of his conscience and that is unacceptable to Herod.  I suspect that that is often the case in many rejections of Christ.  Christ is rejected not because He is unbelievable, but because the implications are unacceptable. 

Simeon, on seeing the Christ child said of His birth, “that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  Christmas has always demanded a response!  When we are faced with the fact of Christmas, that God in flesh came to die for man in sin, hearts are pierced, and they must respond.  Whether we respond like Simeon and Anna in reverence, or like Herod in abhorrence, is more a revelation of our hearts than of anything else. 

When John the Baptist was fulfilling his mission of preparing the way for the Lord, His message was “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near.”   When Peter recognized Jesus, he fell at his feet asking Jesus to depart from him, a sinner.  When God comes near, our hearts are exposed, and the correct response is repentance.  I pray that this Christmas you respond to the call of Christ.

Danesh Manik

God In Place Of Us

 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

In the previous posts (Click here for ‘God For Us” and here for “God With Us”), I mentioned that the resounding message of Christmas was that God was for us, and that answers the heart’s question of purpose and meaning.  God is not just for us, but Christmas asserts that God is with us; and that answers the heart’s question of loneliness.  But there is a question that has burdened every human heart since the fall, and it is the question of guilt.  Every person who has honestly considered the facts has to admit that there is something fundamentally wrong with our hearts.  No matter how hard we try, our thoughts are often impure, our actions less than gracious, and intentions often wicked.  What am I to do with all that I have done that I cannot undo?  How do I deal with the guilt of my sin?  What do I do with this overwhelming power of sin?  To all those questions, Christmas declares “He will save His people from their sins.”  How?  The Bible reveals that this babe in
Bethlehem was born to die and would do that by dying for us.  God for us is encouraging, God with us is cheering, but Christmas declares God in place of us!  He will save us from our sins by dying in place of us.    Why will He save?  Should I not be responsible for my own sin? Can I not do good to pay for my bad? The common responses to guilt are to either deny it or minimize   it by comparison to other greater sins.  All of these responses minimize the gravity of sin, and the pervasive nature of sin.  Sin is not simply occasional wrong action offending no one in particular, it is a systemic problem in man and offends the Holy God.   Amy Carmichael who translates of the struggle of HA Krishna Pillai the famous Tamil poet of the 19^th century, quotes him “I tried to put away everything I knew to be wrong in my life … Nevertheless though an outward transformation took place to some extent, there was no inward cleansing.”  It is something man ought to, but cannot do.  Man may be able to do good, but that is required anyways. Man may effect outward transformation but what about the tendencies of the heart?  We are in essence corrupted.  All our inclinations are corrupted.  You can clean a dirty pig, bit you cannot keep him clean long. His nature is to lie in the mud.  And God answered that question of guilt once and for all at Christmas – “He will save His people from their sins.”   

The angelic choir sings, “goodwill toward men.”  It tells me of God for us, and it gives me purpose and meaning.  The prophet says, and the angel affirms, “they shall call Him Immanuel.”  It tells me of God with us, and that liberates me from the prison of my loneliness.  The angel pronounces, “He shall save His people from their sins.”  It tells me of God in place of us, and that takes my burden of guilt.   Christmas was not simply unusual events surrounding the birth of a homeless baby born in an unknown stable in Bethlehem, it was God lifting the veil of Heaven, entering the fabric of humanity to meet our deepest needs, and to give us life!   

Danesh Manik

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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.  If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org .  The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org.  To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org  with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church, 3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI 48864

God With Us

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  Matthew 1:23 

Previously, I mentioned that one of the resounding message of Christmas is that God is for us (Click here for the previous message).  God for us! O, that is a happy thought, but it is still a distant thought.  It tells me of God’s support, it assures me of His sympathy, but at Christmas, God went further.  He not only showed sympathy with us, He showed solidarity with us.  In the encounter with the angel, Joseph is reminded of the ancient promise announced by the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us”.    Immanuel!  God with us!  Unlike the ogre in the popular story of “Puss in Boots” who assumes any form he likes, the incarnation of Christ was not some magical illusion.  It was God becoming man with all the limitations and frailties of Adam, but without the sin of Adam.  As Immanuel, God in Christ identified with man.  Jesus hungered, wept, and thirsted.  He was tempted, and felt pain.  It is hard to worship a concept, and Christ revealed God as more than a concept.  But Immanuel meant more than simply identification with humanity.  It was also God’s intervention on behalf of sinful men.  God in Christ assumed the problem of man. The problem of man became the problem of God.  Like a father makes the problem of a child their own personal matter, God made our problem, His problem, and Christmas was not only God for us, but God with us.   Yet there is something more to Immanuel than identification and intervention.  I think that is what makes Christmas so significant to you and me today.  Immanuel was an answer to the human heart’s isolation.   Frank Boreham in his essay, “Our Desert Islands” writes, “We each one are hopelessly cut off isolated and insulated.  Each separate “I” is without counterpart in all eternity.  No man can enter into the soul of another man.  He further quotes, “In the chief matters of life we are alone – we dream alone, we suffer alone, and we die alone.”  We all yearn for understanding.  Recently, I read the pen of a teenager describe the feelings that are universal – “I feel all alone.  I have many people surrounding me but I am all alone.  No one seems to understand me.”  Ultimately our hearts are lonely.  There are some things that we realize that no one will ever understand.  Not even our most intimate friend.   And Immanuel, God with us, was an answer to this plague of the loneliness of the human heart.  The last words of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew are, “Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.”   God with us!  God identifying with man.  God intervening for man.  But the greatest of all, Immanuel is God’s perpetual presence with man.  And on that those who trust will find a never failing friend.  Space will not permit to recount all the events in his life, but it is worth reading the biography of David Livingstone who staked his whole life on this promise of God’s presence.  His prayer was “Send me anywhere, just go with me.”  And in his heart he heard the words of Christ, “Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.   And, his journal records, “It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor, so there’s the end to it!”  Through all the lonely journey’s, hostile natives, physical hardships, and the emotional pain of losing his wife, it was this promise, “God with us” that became his anchor in life. 

Every Christmas heralds the message that in the darkest dungeons, in the loneliest times, in the deepest recesses of our heart, there is one who understands, and promises to us His perpetual presence.  “It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor, so there’s the end to it.”  

Danesh Manik

God For Us

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Luke 2:14

“God Hates Us All” was the title of the record released by “Slayer”.  Coincidentally, it was released on September 11^th, 2001, a day that will be forever etched in our memory.   Due to the tragedy, and the implication of title, the promotional posters for this album were taken down almost immediately.  The refrain in the title song speaks of its general message:  “God hates us all, God hates us all, you know God hates this place, You know it’s true he hates this race”.  Though this group may seem to be a fringe, the fact that the record climbed in the top 30 hits in the US and the
UK resonates to some degree the pathos of this generation.  But there was another musical chorus that two thousand years ago declared a message of a baby born in an obscure stable in
Bethlehem.  This angelic choir proclaimed to humble shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  “God loves us all” was the resounding proclamation of Christmas! 

“Does God love us?”  “Does He love me?”  “Is God for me?  Is He on my side?” This is a question that has plagued the human heart.  Christmas says He is!  Christmas says He loves you, and the babe born in
Bethlehem is His testimony.   He is on your side!

I remember the event distinctly when I was in sixth or seventh grade.  My cousin, a self-proclaimed palmistry expert, agreed to look for my future as etched in my hands.  I had one desire in my heart, and therefore one question in my mind.  I wanted to explore the world.  I wanted to travel.  So I asked her if there was any indication of this in my hand.  After a few minutes of intently gazing at the criss-crossed lines from every angle I could conceive, she very authoritatively proclaimed that “in this matter God was not on my side.  My fate was sealed.  I would never get on a plane, I would never travel.”  I had not planned this, but incidentally as I write this, I am sitting in a plane traveling to
Dallas.  I am glad that the times are not in my hand, but the Bible declares, “My times are in His hands!”.  I am glad for the message of Christmas –  it is goodwill toward men.  God is for us!     May you see God’s love this Christmas!

Danesh Manik

Christmas Apathy

When Herod… had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:  ‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’   Matthew 2:1-3 

Understanding and responding are two separate things.  In the Gospel of Matthew we are told of the long journey of the wise men in search of Jesus who come to Herod to ask for more specifics of the birth place.  We are told “all
Jerusalem” was troubled, which gives a good basis to assume that the chief priests and scribes were aware of the wise men’s witness of the star when they were called by Herod.  When Herod gathered these “experts” to ask them the whereabouts of the Messiah as prophesied in scripture.  With amazing insight into scripture, they join the strand of past prophecy to present reality, and reply that He is to be born in Bethlehem.  And then, they simply dissappear from the rest of the story.  It is generally not a good idea to assume things from their absence  in scripture, but in this case I think their absence is telling!  The shepherds saw a vision, had no insight, but knew the location, and went to worship Jesus.  The wise men saw a star, had some insight, but did not know the location, and made travel plans to find Jesus.  The scribes and chief priests heard, had insight and knew of the location, simply expounded on it, and then went back, perhaps, to their temple potlucks and weekly fellowship meetings!  What happened to chief priests and scribes?  Were they not a least bit curious that they would want to see the Messiah they had been preaching about?  Of all the people they would be the first ones we would expect to go to Bethlehem to see this “Desire of all Nations,” the Immanuel, God in flesh!   

This absence simply highlights the fact that the amount of  knowledge in the head does not always translate to the ardor of the heart.  There is a wide gulf between penetrating insight into the things of God, and passionate worship of God, and it is filled with apathy.    In the four hundred years of silence that preceedes the coming of Christ, they had succesfully imprinted the coming Messiah in the national consceince, but had obscured Him from their individual conscience.  He had become an object of study instead of the subject of worship.  And, I fear we in this century stand close to the same danger today.   It was interesting to read the religion page last week in a major newspaper.  It was a testament to our acceptance of apathy as the normal posture for all things religious. There was a advertisment, apparently a combined effort from the local churches, and the title in big letters said, “Welcome Back” and then followed below by “In this season of Incarnation”.  I suppose the ad meant that the religious clergy is expecting Christmas to perhaps revive some interest in Christ in the otherwise apathetic hearts.  What happens after the season is over? Wait till the season of the Resurrection in April?   

I wonder if we have heard the Christmas story so much that it fails to fill us with awe anymore.  I wonder if the hymns of Christmas remind us of only the shopping we have left to do, the story of the angelic visions, hurrying shepherds and the gift-bearing wise men only conjure up images of exotic costumes of the innumerable Christmas plays we have seen, and the birth of a baby in a manger of whom it was said that “He came to save them from their sins” is simply old news.  I wonder if betwwen the head and the heart is a chasm filled with apathy.   The only antidote to apathy is anticipation.  In contrast to the chief priests and scribes, Luke gives us a view of a godly man named Simeon who waited eagerly for the “Conosolation of Israel”, and was promised that he would not die until He saw the Messiah.  Dr. Joe Stowell tells a story about visiting the Shepherds Home and School for children with Down’s syndrome. He remarks that the founder of the school told him, “Joe, we always share the Gospel with these kids. We tell them that Jesus Christ died on the cross for them, and that Christ will forgive their sins, and not only that, but the day is coming
 when Christ will come back and take them to heaven.” This educator went on to explain the school’s biggest maintenance problem: dirty windows. The windows of the school stayed dirty, he said, “Because our kids spend time every day at the windows, hands pressed, faces and noses pressed to the window, looking up to see if this might not be the day that Jesus, the One who loves them, comes to get them and take them to heaven.

Perhaps that is why the primary occupation that Jesus left us with was to watch.  ”Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”  Mark 13:35-36 May we celebrate Christmas this year with anticipation of our soon coming King!

Danesh Manik 

A Cheering Lesson From Genealogy – 2

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham Matthew 1:1
 
Yesterday, I mentioned that there is a cheering lesson in the genealogy of Jesus with which Matthew begins his gospel (Click here for yesterday’s post, “A Cheering Lesson from Genealogy”).   As I read the genealogy, I see God as the Lord of history and the God of planning.  There is yet another striking thing I notice in the genealogy.  God is not only the God of planning, but His plan cannot be hindered and is all inclusive.   In other words, God’s plan was not and is not restricted to perfect people.
 
Look at the genealogy once again, will you?  The Bible makes no attempt to hide what one would think are embarrassing facts.  The list has names of the godly who failed, like David, of the carnal like Judah, drawn into the dragnet of an adulterous act with his own daughter-in-law, of the irreputable like Rahab, the harlot, of the outsider like Ruth of Moab, and as if that was not enough, it has a sprinkling of the decidedly wicked like the cruel and murderous king Manasseh.   If this list tells me anything, it is this – that God’s plan is all inclusive, and it is cannot be hindered even by those who actively oppose it. 
 
God is immutable. He is the same today, yesterday and forever.  And looking at the genealogy of Christ, I am assured that God’s plan can include me, and that nothing can stop His plan from being fulfilled.  You say, “You do not know the many sins I have committed.  God cannot look upon me.”  But the Lord says, “Come let us reason together, even though your sins be scarlet they shall be as white as snow.”  You say, “I am not in the right family, the right class, or the right caste.  I am just not born to pursue spiritual things.”  Let me tell you – God’s plan includes you.  If it included a harlot, if it included a Moabitess, it includes you. 
 
On that holy night in that obscure stable in Bethlehem, hardly anyone recognized that the cry of that baby was the cry of God incarnate demonstrating that nothing could hinder the plan of God.  Three decades later, as the Cross approached near, the same God incarnate would cry out, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” and declare that “Whosoever believes in Me shall not perish.”  The plan of God was for “all peoples”, and “whosoever”.  C.H. Spurgeon once said that he would have had doubts had the scripture read his particular name instead of “whosoever”.  He would have wondered if there was another Charles Spurgeon.  The word “whosoever” however leaves no wiggle room.  It is all-inclusive, and therefore it included you and me, and the only thing asked of us is to believe! 
 
Danesh Manik

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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.
If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org .  The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org.  To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org  with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church, 3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI 48864

A Cheering Lesson From Genealogy

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham
Matthew 1:1

Writers are taught to put a lot of thought in the first few words of their writing to captivate the reader.  The Gospel of Matthew would, at least in this generation, fail on that account. 

In Mark’s Gospel, by verse 24 in the very first chapter, we are reading of Jesus’ first miracle, but Matthew in contrast, begins the Gospel with a long list of tongue-twisting names in a genealogy that occupies seventy percent of the first chapter; a genealogy that could be quite meaningless, especially if you did not know the people, or pronounce their names.  But I have come to realize that in the Word of God nothing is superfluous.  Someone has very rightly said, “Bible may be man’s theology, but it is God’s anthropology.”  If the Word of God is inspired, which it is, then, all of Scripture reveals the nature of God.  Apart from the purpose of presenting to the Jewish nation the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy recorded thousands of years ago, the genealogy gives us some cheering insights into the nature of God. 

The genealogy of Jesus tells me that the Bible reveals God as the Lord of history, and a God of planning.  What we know as history in the past tense, God was looking as a plan in the future tense.  It tells me that God meticulously and flawlessly planned the first Christmas.  It tells me that when God told Abraham to get up and leave Mesopotamia, and that He was going to bring forth a nation from Him, that He had not forgotten the promise of the redeemer that was given to Adam when the serpent was cursed. It tells me that when Abraham wondered how this would happen since he was 90 years old, God still had the power to accomplish His plan.  It tells me that when Jacob was running away from Esau, God was seeing Jacob become
Israel.  It tells me that amidst the horror of Joseph being sold to the Egyptians, wrongly accused and sent to the prison, God was simply writing the beginning of another chapter in His plan.  

But most of all it tells me that He, who could plan and wonderfully execute His will in forty two generations, has not lost His ability or His will to do so in my short generation.  Over the twists and turns, amidst the seemingly meaningless circumstances, in the chaotic times, and the wonderfully purposeful times, stands the towering figure of God, the meticulous plan of His hands, and the flawless execution of His will.  And, on that Person I can confidently stake my life.

When we trace genealogy, we hope to find our roots.  When God inspires Matthew to record it, it simply shows the brilliance of God’s plan.  Is it not wonderful to know that we serve a God who plans, and nothing escapes His attention?  Many times Christmas is referred to as “Christians celebrating the founder of their religion – Jesus Christ.”  That is a flawed statement.  Christmas is simply the eternal plan of God fulfilled in His perfect timing in what we know as history.  Jesus was not the founder of Christianity in the sense that He was born, and then through serendipity, His ingenuity, or simply a collusion of random events, became its leader.  No, it was planned by God. Jesus came into the world at the time God had intended it all along from the beginning.  Christianity is not as old as Christ – it as old as Adam.  The first Christmas was just a plan unfolding and becoming a reality – God progressively making known to man His love.  The physical birth of Christ we call Christmas was set forth in motion at time of Adam, brought into focus with the covenant of Abraham, fortified in David, and fulfilled in Christ of whom Isaiah prophesied – “A virgin shall be with Child and He shall be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God” 

Many would have you believe that your humanity was simply a chance event, and history, a collection of random events.  They would lead you to think that your very life is a cosmic accident, and that your destiny is to disintegrate into material good only as a fertilizer.   The Bible says otherwise!  God is the author of humanity, and He has a right to it by creation.  So when the God of the Bible says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope,” it is not mere pep talk, it is the promise of the author and planner of history, and the genealogy of Christ is a simple resume’ of His previous accomplishments.

I pray that this Christmas when we read the genealogy in Matthew, we will not skip over it, but cheer our hearts in the knowledge that Christmas is simply the reminder that we worship the Lord of history, and the God of planning, and our life and its joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams, do not escape God’s attention! 

Danesh Manik

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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.

If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org .  The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org.  To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org  with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s
Anchor, India International Church,

3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI
48864

What Will I Get?

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” Matthew 19:27
 
There are some people who are utterly honest, and not afraid to speak their minds.  Peter was one such man.  He had the zeal, earnestness, and impulsiveness about him that is hard to miss.  We often see him saying things when others are quiet.  This is one such time, and his question – “We have left everything for you Jesus, so what shall we have?” 
 
Peter had just observed the tragic encounter with the rich young ruler.  Tragic, because in all of the Bible I do not read a story of someone who comes so close, yet is so far from the Kingdom of God.  If you remember,  the rich young ruler came inquiring about how to enhance his lifestyle by adding to his good life, some godly favor for the after life.   Jesus stunned him and told him to sell all and follow Him.  He returned sadly, and Jesus made an intriguing comment, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”  Peter, like every good man, applies the message to himself.  And if I may presume upon Peter’s mind, he seems to be thinking, “This rich young ruler refused to give up his stuff – so he cannot obtain eternal life.  Now we have given up, maybe not as much, but whatever we had, to follow you Jesus, so what is going to be our reward?”    Peter is asking the question, “What will I get from following you, Jesus?”   
 
It is a brave question, to some an almost blasphemous question.  Consciously or not, I contend we have all in some fashion considered it.  Is there anyone who has not at one point or another said, “Why?, Why me?”  Are they not simply saying, “I don’t deserve this, I have done everything right, yet I see no reward.”  It is an important question Peter asks on our behalf, “What will I get?” 
 
Jesus does not reprimand Peter for this unabashedly selfish question, but gives a forthright answer.  He first tells him personally what he and the other 11 disciples can expect to get – authority in the glorious Kingdom.  He then in general what all His disciples can expect to get – an exceptional return on investment.  But that they will have no misunderstanding, Jesus concludes his answer with a parable of the workers that provides a fascinating insight into the principle of reward in God’s kingdom. 
 
You may read this parable in Matthew 20, but in essence, the parable is this:  A landowner goes out and hires workers who are in the unemployment line.  He hires them during the day at various times, so some work twelve hours, some six, some three, and some one.  At the end of the day, the landowner pays them all one denarius, the fixed price for a day’s work to all of them.  The ones who have worked all day are incensed.  They forget that they were unemployed with no hope of making anything, but now others have more, so they expect more.  They expect pay in proportion to their work.  And then Jesus puts forward the principle of reward in the kingdom of God, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good. So the last will be first, and the first last.”
 
The principle is worth noting.  Jesus is saying, Peter, it is true you will be rewarded, and it is true that you will be rewarded abundantly.  Your expectation of reward is not wrong, but be careful lest you think that you deserved the reward.  “What will I get?” is a good question to ask, but tread carefully – to ask this based on what you have done is like being the workers who suddenly expected more because they worked more. 

In the Kingdom of God, we don’t get a reward because we gave up so much and we deserve it, we get it because of the goodness of God.  If we were to receive nothing we have still received everything.  It is all of grace!  It is grace that gives us salvation, it is grace that enables us to respond to Jesus, and it is of grace that we are added to the vineyard.  In other words, the sufficient reward is Jesus Himself. 

I believe Peter learned this principle well for it is recorded in the book of Acts that “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” 
 
Friend, what will you get for following Jesus?  YOU WILL GET JESUS!  A friend that sticks closer than a brother, almighty God who promises to never leave you and forsake you, the peace of God of the Heavens and the Earth with you, and an anchor in the storms of life! 
 
And, yes, I almost forgot, that reward in Heaven!
 
Danesh Manik