Are There Rewards for Good Deeds and Punishment for Sins?

As we studied Hebrews, verse 6:10 sparked some conversation if not debate.

Hebrews 6:10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 

The issue is, after you have accepted Christ and thereby assured your place in heaven, do you get “extra points” (pardon my choice of words) for doing good deeds while you are still here on Earth and, if you continue to sin as Paul confessed in Romans 7:15, will you pay for it while you are still on Earth?

Romans 7:15  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” 

PUNISHMENT

The verse that made me wonder if continuing to sin costs you while you are still on Earth is 

John 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This, seems to say that sinning costs you. 

It can be argued that the man who was healed was not a believer and, As Chuck Kinney pointed out, “People have been trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people for a long time.” Why, for example, do bad things happen to babies. The answer seems to be, as pointed out in the book of Job, we can’t know what God’s plan is.

REWARDS

A case can also be made for extra rewards in heaven in Matthew 16:27. 

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

But consider Matthew 20 in which it is written that the workers who only worked in the vineyard for a little while got the same pay as those who worked all day. The point in context is that the last shall be first to enter heaven… that is, perhaps the Gentiles will go before the Jews, but you can also make the case that once we have been promised eternal life, we all get the same eternal life regardless of how much good we did here on Earth.

There are references to Crowns as rewards. In 2 Timothy 4:8 the crown is given to all who eagerly look forward to Jesus’ return - that seems to me to include all Christians. In James 1:12 we are told that if we persevere we will receive the crown of life but that crown is promised to all who love the Lord and in Revelations 2:10 we are advised that if we are faithful even when we suffer for Christ, we will be given life as a crown - yet all Christians receive life.

While I haven’t found an answer, I am persuaded by the fact that you cannot earn your way into heaven by good deeds and, if that is so, I find it hard to imagine that I can get something special when I go to heaven because of what I have done.

As you can see, we don’t know the answers for sure. Any contribution on this subject would be appreciated and until we figure it out a good strategy would be to stop sinning and do good whenever you can. Note: Thanks to Chuck Kinney for the references.