I’m pretty certain that our rewards will be our status in the world to come. Christ will be Lord of Earth. Based on our devotion and sacrifice to Him, some will be given kingdoms to rule. Some may be dukes, and some just land owners. To my understanding “crowns” are given to royals. After the population increases again, and Satan again gains a foothold, during the millennial kingdom, a final war breaks out. After this there will be a new world with potentially new physics, our biology will change and we will be adjusted accordingly.
Hey! Hungry... PTL!
Each of the faithful will be kings and priests forever after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus being our eternal High Priest and our King of kings; who are to offer themselves as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. We'll be made to be one with the Lord, by Jesus' being one with his body the church, whose members were each individually baptized into that body by one Spirit. Now it is true that there will be a permanent ranking between us, where many that were first, shall be last; and many that were last, shall be first. I've assumed that the reward of the ten cities or five cites would be fulfilled during Jesus' Millennial reign, and then after that we'll all move to New Jerusalem, where we'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever; though admittedly, it doesn't say that the reward of ten cities will ever actually come to an end. But to make the ten or five city reward for those who were the more faithful in life, to extend on into the time of the new earth, means that the new earth will have to be populated or at least, become populated with beings who will have no place of residence within the walls of New Jerusalem, where only righteousness dwells.
As far as how our eternal rewards will be tallied by the Lord, I imagine several categories:
Who had more faith?
Who had the greater love?
Who served more faithfully?
Who had more fruits of the Spirit?
Who led more to Christ and have their eternal gratitude?
Who suffered more patiently?
Many say that the Lord will take away our memories, so that we'll have no more sorrow, but if Jesus learned obedience from the things that he suffered; how can I use the things that I have suffered, to learn obedience; if my memories have been taken away? How will we be able to take the comfort wherewith the Lord has comforted us, and then use it to comfort others; if our memories are removed? I suspect that the Lord rewarding us with himself will be what soothes our hurts and comforts our worldly and therefore temporal sorrows.
Maranatha!