Blomberg makes some good points about whether there are distinctions in eternal reward. However, I am trying to make the point that the rewards ought to motivate us. Perhaps later I'll deal with how the rewards could motivate us if there are no eternal distinctions, but that's not what I'm dealing with now.
First, I think the parable of the workers in the vineyard ought to be taken at the same time as the discussion about the rich man who was turned away, directly before in Matthew 19. There it says:
Mt 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”There are distinctions even in this passage that indicate Jesus connected what people did in this life with their reward in the next.
Mt 19:27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Mt 19:28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mt 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
Mt 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
1. You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
2. You who have left things will receive a hundred times as much.
So, Jesus clearly associates following Him and losing this life with a reward, commending then that we ought to follow Him and lose this life because of the reward. I think it's appropriate to say that Jesus understood that we are motivated by reward(so I use the word 'because'), and used that motivation to encourage us to give up our lives and follow Him.
But, many who are first (and I think he meant first in this life, as with the rich man) will be last when the Son of Man sits on his throne. And many who are last in this life (you who have given up your riches and your life) will be first when the Son of Man comes to sit on his glorious throne.
So this is my point, that at least in general, it is not wrong to be motivated by reward.
Heb 11:26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
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