For what is our hope or joy or
crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? Yes, you are our glory and joy!
1 Thessalonians
2:19-20
Paul was the original “Little League Dad”. Any time the thought of Jesus’ second coming,
and the throne of rewards crossed his
mind, he could just picture all the wonderful brothers and sisters of
Thessalonica standing before the throne; he could envision them being crowned
by King Jesus. And Paul would break into
his pastor’s song: What’s my idea of glory, a
crown? Hey, beloved, it’s YOU! YOU’RE my crown!
Talk about a cheerleader!
Paul understood that souls won to faith in
Jesus, and service to others in the name of Jesus will be the centerpiece of
the judgment seat. Now, to make the
distinction, remember that there are two judgment seats:
One – the Great
White Throne is like the Great White Shark – you don’t want to be
there. That is the place where God will
reject those who have rejected His son, Jesus.
Two – is the Bema seat, the judgment seat of rewards, where Jesus will hand out
crowns of victory for all those who are faithful to Him. Souls won; faith in Christ, service to Christ
– these are the measuring sticks of worth in the Kingdom of God.
As a Pastor I am charged with the responsibility
of helping to equip those I serve to better-navigate and serve in the
Kingdom. My priority, like Paul, is to
see you stand at the Bema seat, crown in hand.
That is graduation day. And the rewards are based not on how good you
look, how much of a fortune you amassed on earth, or if you knew all the right
doctrines and could quote the Westminster Confession or John Wesley’s sermons
by heart.
It’s a faith and service thing.
Faith is an internal thing – it has to do with your trust level with
Jesus.
Service is an external thing – it is driven by your
internal faith, but finds its way into the everyday of life, touching
others.
And so, my priorities are to teach and preach
the Word of God so your faith develops around internal allegiance to the King –
as well as to organize to serve others. I
teach and preach that we are to serve, not be served. Faith and works; trust and serve!
My crown as Pastor would be to see any
faithfulness I exhibit in preaching and leading grow in you – so much so that
on judgment day there are crowns all over your heads for loving Jesus, and
loving others in His name by serving them and bringing them to faith and
service.
Yeah…pastors are a little like
cheerleaders. When one of the flock
scores a big faith thing, or serves a winning blessing into someone else’s
life, or takes some other step forward toward the Master…well, we just can’t
help it……GLORY, GLORY, and GLORY!
For You Today
We know there are
plenty of crosses to pick up and follow; but there IS a crown waiting.
Keep stepping, church
member, choir singer, outreach leader, faithful mother, dad, uncle and
aunt. Keep moving all you children of
God. Some day we will all stand before
Him, and it will be time for the
exchange.
Now, I can’t sing it
(especially like he could), but just imagine Bev Shea’s voice:
To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true, it’s shame and reproach
gladly bear;
Then he’ll call me some day, to my home, far away, where His glory
forever I’ll share.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay
down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross, and
exchange it some day for a crown.[2]
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