Ezekiel 33:33
When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Truth: The rewards of ministry, from an earthly point of view, will follow a ministry. They should not live alongside the ministry.
We live in a society, even in the Christian culture, that is in love with compensation, reward and public acclamation. Child want to know what they will get, before they do something, rather than wait for "a" reward to follow. The enticement aspect of our motivation is unparelled in human history. In the prophet Ezekiel's day God wanted the prophet to avoid that same trap. He wanted the prophet to know that the suffering he was experiencing as a messenger of God was not unnoticed by God. God wanted Ezekiel to know that God would reward him and that his legacy would be remembered. But, the emphasis on the reward was that it would be something that followed Ezekiel, when his ministry was completed. It was not something he should expect WHILE he ministered. The rewards for ministry are not to be considered in the midst of ministry. This is the plight of the modern day mega-church pastor ... and, even some in lesser size ministries. They believe their "compensation" out to be commensurate of the "Lord's work." Yet, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea and the other prophets, seldom had any favorable conditions, and certainly less reward in this life. Abraham and Moses, in Hebrews 11, are said to be so focused on the life of God in the future that they both saw the riches and comfort in front of them as temporal and meaningless. Note what the writer of Hebrews says about Moses:
Hebrews 11:24-27
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
We need to be careful that we don't expect rewards for ministry as we are ministering. Our reward for serving God is the legacy we leave others and the blessing we have eternally with God.
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