Most of us are very familiar with the concept of incentives. Perhaps where you work there are incentives for achieving certain goals or objectives. If you, say, make a certain number of sales, then you get a salary bonus, or even a vacation. Professional athletes often have ‘incentive clauses’ in their contracts. A quarterback who throws a specified number of touchdown passes, for instance, will earn a big check at the end of the season.

An incentive is an encouragement, or stimulus, to do something and to do it well. And all of us need such inducements in various contexts and forms. An incentive to get in shape might be that your cholesterol level will drop, or that you might have more energy, feel better, or look younger. Incentives help us by providing the motivation we need to keep going, especially when things are difficult.

Well, the reason I bring up this subject is because we discover in 2 John 1:8 that there is a grand incentive for remaining faithful to the truth of Christ and to the constant practice of Christian love. There, the Apostle John says,

“Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.”

The ‘incentive clause’ in this verse is discovered in that word “reward.” And as you can see, the incentive has both a positive and a negative aspect. The negative motivation is that we might not “lose what we have worked for.” The positive aspect is that we might “win a full reward.” It is most obvious that John is attempting to move, or incentivize, his people toward greater faithfulness and loyalty to our Lord. And this should be understood within the context of the hard things he exhorts them to do in view of the persistent threat of false doctrine. Note verses 9-11:

“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”

So, what is this “reward” that comes to the Church for practicing faithfulness and love, while resisting evil in all of its forms? When is it given? Who gets it? And how is this incentive connected to our salvation, which we know is all of grace? If we cannot earn our salvation, then how can we earn this “reward”? And then, what about this possibility of losing the “reward”? How is that which has been “worked for” lost?

This Lord’s Day we will dive into these inspired Words. And with the help of God’s Spirit, we will discover more about one of the strongest incentives there is for staying faithful to our beloved Savior.