The Christian's Crowns

 

                    Title and Other images courtesy of Pixabay.com

“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Blessed are those who wash their robes.  They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.  Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.  “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches.  I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne.  I am the bright morning star.”  Revelation 22:12-16

God is moving history to the conclusion He has planned.  History has its beginning; we are now within the limits of the beginning and ending.  It is natural, and the time is coming, that God will determine to bring the chapter of time and space as we know it to a close.

Life is difficult enough.  If you don't sense any meaning in life, or at least a light at the end of the tunnel, it can be an impossibility to enjoy, or even cope with life.  Sitting in the sixth-grade assembly at the end of the year, I was suddenly shocked to find that they were going to hand out awards for achievements.  I can remember thinking to myself, Why didn't somebody tell me?  I would've gotten better grades!  This morning we will put that excuse to rest. 

The meaning, or light at the end of the tunnel that we deal with this day is:    

What about God's awards ceremony?

The text, particularly verse 13, mentions the reward of Jesus.  The word literally means wages.  The Bible is full of information about these WAGES or CROWNS.

Certainty of Crowns

The reality that Jesus is coming again to the earth is hard to miss in the New Testament.  But the text says that He is coming soon.  From  our perspective, two thousand years is not what you would really call soon!  But, as Einstein pointed out, time is relative.  Factors such as speed and gravity have their effect on time.  God moves in a dimension you and I have little knowledge about.  He is above time and space, which He created.  The greater includes the lesser (as a quarter has a dime-and-a-half within it)  God is greater than time, but operates within His creation. 

There are two possibilities, and they sum up what will happen in our lives:

A.    He is coming at our death. 

For some, like my Grandmother, death carries us to see Jesus.  As Paul wrote, absent from the body is present with the Lord. 

The other possibility:

B.    He is coming back in the clouds. 

At Jesus’ arrest and trial, the religious leaders wanted Jesus to confess to what they considered blasphemy, that he was God’s Messiah:

Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

Jesus said, “I am.  And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.  Mark 14:61a-62

Jesus was talking about the parousia, the second Advent or coming of Christ.  Atheists laugh, skeptics explain it away, and agnostics refuse to think about it, but the Bible simply declares its reality. 

Either way, at death, or in the clouds, the Lord is coming TO us!  That is a great comfort and hope to me.  And, since God never lies, we can count on what the angels said to the disciples ^{(Acts 1:11)} as they watched Jesus' ascension into heaven, promising He would come again in the same manner.  So whether by our death, or trumpet sound, we should be prepared. 

A family moved to a new neighborhood, and the mother was registering her little boy for school.  At 6 years-old he was a hyper sort, always getting into mischief.  The mother filled out all the required information on shots, Doctor, and previous school.  But when she came to the large open space for "COMMENTS," she simply wrote in huge block letters:  BRACE YOURSELVES. 

That’s what the apostle meant in our text about coming SOON.  John records the words of Jesus:  Brace yourselves, I am coming again soon!

When Scripture says something repeatedly, it’s wise to pay very close attention.  And Jesus did mention this several times before they crucified him. 

Our crowns are a certainty, so we want to know…what kinds of crowns?

Catalogue of Crowns

I'm certain one could make a more exhaustive list of crowns that are going to be a part of God's awards ceremony; however I will list only four:

1.  The Soul Winner’s Crown

…for those who participate in bringing people to Jesus.  Old Testament Prophet Daniel talks of those who lead others to righteousness. 

Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.  Daniel 12:3

The writer of Proverbs^(11:30) says it clearly that...he that winneth souls is wise. 

How do you participate in soul-winning?  There are many ways, praying, giving, going, and living a holy life, ready to tell anyone who will listen why you do.  Paul reminded Timothy, an inexperienced young pastor:

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.  2 Timothy 4:2

Is it your desire to see souls saved?  That desire doesn’t quite hit the mark!  The soul winner's crown is for participating.  When you have a strong enough burden to be involved, you will find a way. 

A denomination, a church, or a believer not involved in efforts to win souls is not wise.

 

2.  The Crown of Glory

…is a pastoral crown for those elders that feed the flock ^{(1 Peter 5:4)}.  Beloved, you don't have to be a pastor, or a deacon to win this crown.  You simply must be willing to pass the bread and butter down the table. 

When I was young Thanksgiving was always at our house for the extended family.  While Mom was in the kitchen preparing the food, Dad, my brother Thom, and I would do the other stuff.  We would set the table; get out the extra chairs; dust, and get ready to gripe about doing the dishes.  All this was necessary.  My mother cooked the food....but we helped. 

The fact that today is Mother’s Day ought to ring loudly in your ears, Dads, and children – a crown of glory means being a servant…not a king.  But being a servant, like so many mothers choose to be, always means a crown.

If you would receive the crown of glory just as pastor Peter and John and Paul will, then pass the bread of life on down the table!  Feed God's flock.

3.  The Crown of Life

…is for being faithful in trials. 

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

John wrote in a day when faithfulness meant death.  Roman emperors expected the worship of all the people.  To worship Jesus sometimes meant that you died the way Jesus did.  Before the Great Tribulation begins that concept may well come full cycle back to an everyday concern about being a Jesus-follower!

4.  The Crown of Righteousness

…means God's approval of your response to His claim on your life.  Paul told Timothy, in his last letter to the young pastor, that his fight was over, and the crown of righteousness was awaiting him in heaven.  Listen to what he said:

And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.                             2 Timothy 4:8

Paul had been faithful to answer the call of God, giving his whole life for the purpose of that call.

We must not miss the significance for you and me here:  God calls each of us...it is our responsibility to fulfill that calling.  Has He called you to be a policeman, or to witness to your neighbor?  Has He called you to be a faithful steward?  The crown of righteousness is God's smile over the fact that you have been willing to turn your back on your own desires and the allure of this world, and follow Him instead! 

In Chicago years ago the great evangelist D.L. Moody was preparing for a service inside the church.  Outside it was thundering and lightning, with torrents of rain.  A little girl ran in from outside and told him excitedly:  Mr. Moody, the world is coming to an end.  Moody said:  That's all right, Honey, we can live without it.

The very first thing God called you to is the salvation of your soul.  To win the crown of righteousness, you must accept the fact that you are not entitled to it, and that only Jesus' blood can purchase it for you. 

There is a certainty of crowns, and the catalogue of crowns....and finally,

Crowning of Christ

Two simple facts:

A.    THOSE WHO HAVE, WILL!

Those who, in this life, have been faithful to win crowns from Christ will, in heaven, then place them at His feet in heaven's glory.  It is the natural response of a thankful heart to give praise.  Blessed are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.  Saved people will act like it!

B.    THOSE WHO HAVEN'T, CAN'T!

No matter what we have done in this life, if we have not placed a crown on Jesus' head, inviting Him to be Lord of our life, over our actions and thoughts, will not be able to do so in heaven.  Much of the Book of Revelation contains a list of those who have not invited Jesus to be Lord over their life.  Instead they have made it a practice to invite the baser things of this world to be their lord.  The consequence of a life lived apart from Christ is spending eternity that way….in Hell.

The question becomes, What are you preparing for....Who is your Lord? 

Boxer Joe Frazier said: 

You can map out a fight plan or a life plan.  But when the action starts you're down to your reflexes.  That's where your roadwork shows (the discipline of training).  If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, you're getting found out now under the bright lights.

Time for Resolve

How do you feel about crowns?  Will you live this day, and every day with the expectancy of Advent...that our Lord may come back today?

Charles the Great was what the name Charlemagne means in French.  He was the builder of empires, and conqueror of the world.  He spoke, and it was done, in all the earth.  His riches rivaled Solomon's. 

On Christmas Day, 800 AD, he was crowned the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

He was a man.  He died. 

A thousand years later his tomb was opened.  To the shock of the archaeologists, they saw the corpse of Charlemagne sitting upright in a chair....the long, petrified finger of his right hand pointing to a verse in the Bible on his lap:

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  Mark 8:36    

If you are to receive the crowns of Christ, YOU must first crown HIM King!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

 

 

Walking Wet with the Woman At the Well

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The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!  Could he possibly be the Messiah?”  So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!”  When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village.  So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe.  Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves.  Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”  John 4:28-30, 39-42^(NLT)  

Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship.  

Before the townspeople came out to see, hear, and believe in Jesus, they only had the possibility of religion. 

Brother Loose stands as the singular example.  It was the first day of revival services at the Big Red Brick Baptist.  Everyone was surprised when Brother Loose, the church’s most backslidden member showed up.  They were even more astonished when he stood up, just before the second hymn.  He raised his hand, Brother Pastor, kin I give a word o’ testimony?  The Pastor took a deep breath and said OK…nervously. 

Now, folks, began Brother Loose, y’all know me here.  You know I ain’t been inside this here church for thirty years.  You know I done some pretty mean things to most o’ ye, an’ I done my share o’ drinkin’ an’ fightin’ and all sorts-a sand raising.  But I want ye t’ know, one thing I ain’t never lost my religion.

It would be a wonderful thing for people to lose their religion, and, in the process, find relationship with Jesus. 

I would like this morning for us to note what that was like for the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well that day.  She walked away from the encounter with Jesus covered with the “wet” of baptism’s faith and transformation. 

She was a changed woman for three reasons:

1.  She found out you can have a Personal Relationship with god

(You must not settle for someone else’s experience)

The Bible is very clear that we are personally responsible for our own souls.  Because we have been so blessed in this country with affluence and ingenuity, there is a general feeling always that things will work out.  We don’t have to get too concerned about things like the future...it’ll all work out.  That may be appropriate optimism about your high school football team’s record, or a math test; but when it comes to your soul, there’s too much at stake to leave to chance. 

Notice what the Bible says about our personal responsibility to take care of our souls:

All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.  Jeremiah 31:30^(NLT)        

The Bible is also quick to tell us how to take care of our personal responsibility for our sins:

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.  Romans 10:9-10^(NLT)

Being saved is like being revived from the dead.  A man once asked the 19^th century evangelist Gipsy Smith how to have a revival.  The evangelist asked him:  Do you have a place where you can pray?

The man answered that he did.   

Tell you what you do, Smith said.  You go to that place, and take a piece of chalk along.  Kneel down there, and with the chalk, draw a complete circle all around you.  Then pray for God to send a revival to everything inside of the circle.  Stay there until He answers... and you will have revival. 

Revival begins in an individual soul.  Churches don’t get revived; Cities don’t get revived; Nations don’t get revived – PEOPLE GET REVIVED! 

So it is with salvation. 

If you are counting on an experience someone else had, or your family, or your church, or being born in a so-called Christian nation – remember, it is only a personal relationship with Jesus that saves. 

Like the Samaritan woman who met Jesus personally and discovered God, you also must not settle for someone else’s experience.  Also,

2.        She discovered god wants a Perpetual or growing Relationship

(You must grow beyond the initial experience)

When the woman got back to town she didn’t waste any time telling her neighbors.  And when they heard about Jesus they pleaded with Him to stay around awhile; they wanted to know more.  They had a hunger for what He was sharing. 

It is a dangerous thing to get saved and think that everything’s set.  Billy Graham once compared this to immunization shots.  An immunization is a small dose of the virus, just enough to protect against the real thing.  We call this cheap grace – salvation without anything further.   You don’t have to pray, read your Bible, witness, give, or even go to church; you’ve got your ticket to heaven and that is all you’re after.

What does the Bible say about getting saved, then treating your Christianity as if it is a cherished treasure, locked away in some Swiss bank account?

Rather you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 3:18a^(NLT)

We are to grow up in the Lord.  When you’re first saved, it is like being an infant, a spiritual baby.  Without nourishment, discipline and encouragement a person can be a Christian for many years yet remain spiritually immature.  

Did you know it's entirely possible for a new believer to be far more grown up in the Lord than someone who has been saved for 40 years?  A good example of this is found in an incident described by Ethel Barrett in her book It Only Hurts When I Laugh.  She said that when D.L. Moody became a Christian, he developed such a hunger for God's Word, spent so much time reading it, and was so quick to obey it that he became a menace to some believers.  His rapid spiritual growth was an embarrassment to certain people who, though they had been saved for years, never grew up in Christ.  Week after week in the church Moody attended, he would share a new experience he had with the Lord.  Finally, some of the older saints who just couldn't stand feeling humiliated by his exemplary life went to Moody's uncle and urged him to quiet down his nephew. 

Ethel Barrett drew this conclusion about D.L. Moody: 

His robust spiritual health and bounding energy disturbed their napping; he was just too much.  So, while they were sucking their thumbs, he was growing until he left them far behind; he grew more in a few years than they did in thirty.

It’s a personal relationship, not settling for someone else’s experience, and a perpetual relationship, growing beyond the initial experience, and...

3.        She also came to understand god wants a Productive Relationship....

(God wants YOU to lead others into the experience of knowing Him)

The woman told her town.  There is a personal responsibility that we each bear to not settle for someone else’s experience – to confess our own sins, and be saved.  There is also a personal responsibility to grow in grace, go beyond the initial experience of salvation. 

But there is something that applies far more to the crowd gathered here today.  Most of you are believers, having given your life to Christ.  You didn’t settle, you repented of sin, asked for salvation, and were born again into the kingdom of God.  And that is a good thing!

Many of you have grown in grace, and are mature in the Word of God.  And that is a very good thing!

But one other thing that many of you probably share:  most of you have never led a single other human soul to Jesus Christ.  And you are in the majority among Christians. 

Estimates are that 95% of all Christians have never even tried to witness.  The question begs to be asked:  

Is this the majority to which you WANT to belong?  Or do you really desire deep down to be used of God to bring others into the kingdom?

It is my belief that the primary reason most believers don’t witness can be found in a misplaced sense of priority. 

Notice the excuses: 

·       I just don’t know how.  With proper priority you would ask to be trained.

·       I let the way I live my life be my witness.  With all due respect to your holy lifestyle, nobody was ever won into the kingdom without somebody telling them how to be born again. 

A backslidden lifestyle on the part of a professing Christian may keep someone OUT of heaven, but if you don’t tell them how to be saved, how will they know to confess their sins, repent and receive Jesus?

·       I’m just not made that way.  Beloved, when you say, I just can’t do that, it reveals a basic problem with your relationship to Jesus.  He may be Savior, but you’ve never made Him Lord over your life.  When the Lord speaks, a servant must move.  And the servant’s comfort level has little to do with it.

Scripture is unbending about our need to tell others:

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me.  Psalms 66:16^(NLT)

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.            1 Peter 3.15^(NLT)

Can a person truly be saved, yet never witness?  Never even try?  Probably so, but I think that’s the wrong question. 

When Jesus Christ was beaten, scourged, mocked and hung on a cross for me, so I could spend eternity with God, why would I be asking how little I can do for Him and still retain my membership?  I ought to be asking, Master, what more can I do?

What is missing in so many Christian lives that we never even attempt to lead someone to the Lord?  Is it motivation?  I don’t know why some people have to be highly motivated before we will stretch beyond our comfort zone and witness. 

Doug Green had all the motivation he needed to make a difference when he got saved.  Doug was fifteen, his younger brother only twelve, when Doug got saved.  Doug came home and led his little brother to know Jesus.  Only a few weeks later Doug’s little brother drowned.  Had it not been for the instinctive sharing of his new faith, Doug Green’s brother would have spent eternity in Hell. 

A number of years later at the First Baptist Church of Bellview, Florida, Doug Green was being ordained as a minister of the Gospel.  Doug’s father took part in the service and he talked about how Doug witnessed to his younger son only hours after becoming a Christian. 

He ended by saying:

We’re ordaining Doug here today – but God ordained him the day he got saved to witness of the love of Jesus to a boy who only had a few days left on this earth. 

People, look around you with a keen eye – people are drowning everywhere!  Tell them how to be saved.

Some people settle for someone else’s experience, they have no personal relationship – and are lost. 

They don’t know Him.

Some people are saved and fail to go beyond the initial experience; theirs is not a perpetual relationship. 

They do not grow in Him.

Some people are saved and growing, but never attempt to lead others into faith in Christ, they do not have a productive relationship. 

They do not go for Him. 

We are to know Him, grow in Him, and go for Him.   

Do you know Him? 

Are you growing in Him? 

Will you go for Him? 

Good questions!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen!

Go to VIDEO

Notes                               

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[i] Title image: Angelica Kauffman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

John Wesley; Plain Preacher

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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

And my message and my preaching were very plain.  Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:4 (NLT)

John Wesley, the 18^th century founder of Methodism, had a penchant for “plain preaching”.  Though his written sermons were theologically brilliant, logically-organized and academically-powerful, his so-called field preaching was so “user-friendly” to field hands, factory workers and the poorest, uneducated common person.  But that was not natural for Wesley; he had to work at learning to put aside the big words!

James Kiefer has a story that survives about Wesley which helps us understand why Wesley’s personal charm and commitment to reaching the least of these turned into a powerful movement for Christ:

The early Methodist meetings were often led by lay preachers with very limited education.  On one occasion, such a preacher took as his text Luke 19:21, "Lord, I feared thee, because thou art an austere man."  Not knowing the word "austere," he thought that the text spoke of "an oyster man."  He spoke about the work of those who retrieve oysters from the sea-bed.  The diver plunges down from the surface, cut off from his natural environment, into bone-chilling water.  He gropes in the dark, cutting his hands on the sharp edges of the shells.  Now he has the oyster, and kicks back up to the surface, up to the warmth and light and air, clutching in his torn and bleeding hands the object of his search.  So Christ descended from the glory of heaven into the squalor of earth, into sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven, His torn and bleeding hands a sign of the value He has placed on the object of His quest.  Twelve men were converted that evening.  Afterwards, someone complained to Wesley about the inappropriateness of allowing preachers who were too ignorant to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on.  Wesley, simply said, "Never mind, the Lord got a dozen oysters tonight."[2] 

John Wesley obviously understood the nature of priority – putting aside the trivial in favor of getting the job done.  That’s usually a matter of pride losing when it would rather win.

In a day when many Methodist established churches go literally years without seeing a single soul come to Christ, the story of an uneducated, but Christ-honoring layman leading a service in which 12 people come to their knees in conversion should either stir us or shame us into getting back to why we are sent in the first place; we are sent to proclaim the saving message of the cross wherever and to whomever we encounter, with the express intention of winning them to the Kingdom.

For You Today

A good question to ask while facing the mirror today is: 

What am I doing about this first kingdom-priority of winning souls for Christ?  

And a second question then becomes unavoidable:

Am I comfortable stopping there…or will I press on with plain preaching to win more “oysters”?

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[1] Title Image: By Adam Davenport, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] James Kiefer on Mission St Clare