Crowns, No. 2

Colossians 1:15-20

COL-142

2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

1 Corinthians 2:9-10: "Just as it is written, things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."

1 Corinthians 2:14-16: "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually understood. But he who is spiritual understands all things. Yet, he himself is understood by no man. For who knows the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him. But we have the mind of Christ."

Philippians 2:15-16: That you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word life, so, that in the day of Christ, I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain, nor toil in vain."

Matthew 4:4: "But He answered him and said, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

This morning we proceed to consider the Word of God as it is found in Colossians 1:15-20. Our subject is "Hymn in Honor of Christ," number 32.

We have seen that the Christians in the city of Colossae were under satanic attack by false teachers who were denigrating the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man; the Son of God; and, the Savior of mankind. These false teachers were reducing Jesus Christ to a mere superior angel being. The false teachers were challenging the primacy of Jesus Christ in the universe.

The apostle Paul, therefore, in these verses, lays out the superiority of Jesus Christ over angels. Jesus is declared to be deity, the preeminent Person of the universe, which He Himself created. Jesus is declared to be the One who created the various ranks of angelic beings. Jesus is the One Who was before anything existed. And what now exists in creation, he holds together by His omnipotent power.

The apostle Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, also points out that Jesus Christ is superior because he holds a special relationship to a special group of people. He is the Head, Colossians 1:18 has told us, of the body of believers which are called the church. We have pointed out, and we have explored Scriptures now for several weeks that have demonstrated very clearly that the church is not Israel, nor in any way related to Israel. That is a fundamental fact, miscalculated, not in the early centuries. For the first 250 years of Christianity, they knew this clearly. But after the spiritualizing method of St. Augustine came in, based on Origen's truth under the word system, this truth was lost, and Israel became the trunk, and the church became the branch. Thus they were the same, and they were interrelated, and they had the same things that apply equally to the other. That is entirely false. It will distort Scripture from your heritage as a Christian.

So, I think we have, hopefully, established at that point. The church did not replace Israel in God's plan of the ages, because of their rejection of the Messiah Jesus Christ. That is a pure human assumption without biblical ground. All of the covenant promises of God to the nation of Israel are still in force. What was promised to Abraham is still in force. What was expanded at the Abrahamic Covenant with the Palestinian; the Davidic; and, the New Covenant are still in force. But all of this has been postponed for Israel until after the church age is completed. Those covenant promises were never applicable to gentiles; they were never applicable to Christians; and, they're not applicable to gentiles or Christians today, but to the nation of Israel only. Therefore, a special body of believers intimately related to Jesus Christ was brought into being on the day of Pentecost with the arrival on the earth of God the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had promised He would come. The believers in Christ were fused together by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which had never taken place in Israel under Judaism at all, into a new body of saints, which is called the church, "the called-out ones" from the body and the mass of humanity, the church age will end with the rapture of the church to meet Christ in the air, and will be taken then into heaven. Then God's program for Israel will begin again.

The End Times

Here's the progression. When the ministry of Christ was completed, 40 days after His resurrection, He ascended to heaven. Then began, on the day of Pentecost, the church age, which has now been going on for almost 2,000 years. When this age of the church is over, the rapture of the church will take place. Christians, dead and alive, will be caught up to be Christ in the air, as per 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. And He will not come to the earth, but He will take them right back to heaven. John 16:1-4 describe that. Then will begin the final years of God's timetable, which was revealed to Daniel. We've gone over this in detail. But seven years was left unfinished, because the Jews rejected Christ on Palm Sunday, which was the end of the 483rd of the 490 years allotted to complete God's promises to Israel.

So, this seven years now begins. It's the worst time in human history. And you will understand this period, I guarantee you, in the most dramatic form, after the service tonight, than you've ever understood it before.

At the end of the tribulation period, shortened somewhat, Scripture says, "Because of the terrible things that are going to be happening in nature, and to the environment, and so on, that humanity would be wiped out if it were not shortened. Christ will return. This is the Second Coming. Now He comes back with the church, who is now His bride, and comes to this earth, and brings to an end man's kingdom on this earth. And the kingdom of God begins for 1,000 years of the Millennial Kingdom.

At the end of that millennial kingdom, Satan has his one last opportunity, and some people still do join him – those who have been born during the millennium. The millennium will begin with all people saved. Then, at the end of that final battle, eternity begins, with all of its glories, and all of its wonderful things that are in store for us.

Now, that is the divine plan of history. If you understand that, you're head and shoulders over the average Christian.

Israel

So, the Word of God makes it very clear that God has not turned His back upon the Jewish people. In the Millennial Kingdom, He will fulfill everything He ever promised to Israel as a nation. But the church is going to be ruling with Christ: a separate body. The Jews will be under the church's authority, not the other way around.

Furthermore, we pointed out that the way of life of Israel was the Mosaic Law, and it was pursued by human effort. That's why the apostle Paul bemoaned the fact that the Law was holy, just, and good, but nobody could keep it. It was weak through the sin nature, and through human flesh effort. Therefore, it was a bust all the way.

The Church

On the other hand, the way of life of the Christians in the church, the body of Christ, is a way of life of grace, and empowered by the Spirit of God. That's why Christians can live a godly life like a Jew never could. The Jew always had to do it by self-willed self-determination. But here, suddenly, God said, "I'm going to give you a special group of people. You'll be so close to Me, and you'll have such powers that nobody ever dreamed of.

It is a great tragedy when you mix Israel and the church together, because you lose what you really are, in Christ, as a member of the body of the royal family, the church.

Expository Preaching

The doctors pertinent to the church age, of course, are found in the New Testament epistles. The local church has been provided by God with a pastor-teacher-elder to explain church doctrine via (and you should be able to yell out at me what the technique is) expository preaching – explanatory preaching of the Word of God. Expository preaching by the HICEE technique is a method of communicating Bible doctrine, verse-by-verse, through a book of the Bible. That should be your first clue that you have a problem in a church – when the preacher is a topical preacher. He jumps around the Bible, from verse-to-verse, and he gets off on some topic. That is much easier preaching, but very little spiritual growth. He should go through a book of the Bible, verse-by-verse, based upon the Greek and Hebrew languages, and based upon the principles of interpreting the grammatical structure of Scripture, and based upon the historical background of the particular text. All of that is important, and we've gone through the HICEE technique – what those letters stand for, and we won't do that now.

The Pastor-Teacher

We've also walk you through Ephesians 4:11-12, that indicate that church-age believers must be trained for spiritual warfare by the pastor-teacher in the local church services, as was done in Acts 2:42 of the early church with the apostles' doctrine. The pastor-teacher explanation of Scripture, we're told in Ephesians 4:11-12, will equip the Christian with a knowledge of doctrine for combat in the angelic warfare. Consequently, when he has done that, the church-age believer is able to serve God successfully with the spiritual gifts which were allowed to see him at his salvation, and he will be successful in that service in the devil's world.

Consequently, when the second thing has been done, the body of Christ is developed. It is expanded by grace salvation, and spiritually matured through the Word of God.

So, if the pastor-teacher fails to deliver expository instruction verse-by-verse, from Scripture, the whole training plan of God collapses. The whole system of the church age collapses. Christians easily become spiritual casualties. They are neutralized in their service for God, and the loss of rewards to them in heaven is enormous. And that is a great tragedy.

Christians who are denied systematic, expository preaching, based on the meaning of the Greek and Hebrew texts, will never secure a grasp of what Paul calls the full counsel of the Word of God, as revealed in Scripture (Acts 20:27). Thus, they will never possess what Paul calls the mind of Christ, to guide them in church age living and serving.

The differences between Israel and the church are so enormous, it is unbelievable that that mistake could ever have been made, and certainly never corrected early on when it was discovered. I must remind you again that God will hold every believer accountable to Him for money that you give to support a local church ministry, which is not based on a pastor-teacher doing his job of expository preaching. We've walked you through in detail 1 Timothy 5:17-18, and 1 Corinthians 9:11-14. They make it very clear that that is what the purpose of the local church is all about.

Churches which do not provide expository preaching to the congregation will always be identifiable by the fact that they provide programs instead. They have programs of various kinds to fill the lives of people. They have little study groups; they have little gathering groups; and they have little sessions in which Christians can meet together and share their mutual ignorance about the Word of God, because they don't have a basis of authoritative instruction from the one person that God gave the local church, to be able to bring you in connection with the mind of God. And that's the pastor-teacher. What these churches do is that they will try to make you feel close to God, but you will remain in spiritual immaturity, and you will remain spiritually incompetent, and you'll pay for it for all eternity in the loss of rewards which could have been yours.

These are human viewpoint inventions that men in the pulpit have devised. They're devoid of doctrinal divine viewpoint. Since the Word of God tells us that man cannot live without every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, if the pastor-teacher does not inform his congregation of what that word is, then they could never fulfill Matthew 4:4, and live by the Word of God. People who have believed the gospel, and have entered the body of Christ, furthermore – they're in the church, and they do not need to be taught the gospel every week in the church services.

Now, I'll admit to you that if I had a congregation of hundreds of people, we would add something to the service that is not routine in our smaller setting. Because I would not know people in such a large group, it would be necessary at the end of every service to say, "Now, we have been speaking to Christians, but some of you are without God; without Christ; without hope; and, without any destiny in the world, and you are headed for the lake of fire. And I have a closing comment to you. At the close of the service, the gospel would be presented, and that would be to those people. But I would not send my congregation, the sheep of God, out starved because I never fed them the Word of God. They are first choice in the church service. Then they go out, and usually they're the ones who tell the gospel to the unsaved, because they're equipped to do it, as per the system of Ephesians 4:11-12. So, people who believed the gospel should go on to the full counsel of the Word of God – the deep things of the Spirit of God.

Israel vs. the Church

First, the figure of Jesus Christ as the great Shepherd who cares for His individual church-age sheep. There was no such relationship under Judaism – a personal shepherd to a sheep. Jesus Christ, secondly, is the vine whose divine, eternal life flows through His branches, the church-age saints. There is no such union between God and a believer in Judaism. Third, Jesus Christ is the chief Cornerstone of His temple, made up of the living stones of the church saints. There is no such living temple under Judaism. It was a beautiful pile of rocks, stone, and metal, but it was not a living temple. Fourth: the figure of Jesus Christ as the High Priest, and all church-age believers are His royal priests, representing themselves before God. There certainly was no such arrangement under Judaism. Nobody can debate that. If you were not of the Aaronic line, you weren't a priest. And you couldn't get to God without going through that priesthood. That was one of the great things the Reformers did get right. They sounded off the priesthood of the believers. And suddenly, that transformed Christians everywhere, when they realized: "I am personally my own priest before God, and I represent no one else but myself. Then fifth, Jesus Christ is the Head of the church body made up of Christians as the body parts serving God. There was no such relationship with God under Judaism – that God was the Head, and you were His body, serving Him.

Now, knowing and enjoying these special relationships, and the two more will yet pursue between Christ and church-age believers, is entirely dependent on the pastor-teacher faithfully delivering expository preaching every service. It is not "hop, skip, and jump" topical preaching. Christians who do not receive expository instruction of Bible doctrine are easily manipulated emotionally, and they try to live their lives on the basis of the experiences they have. And Satan easily defeats them spiritually. These emotion, experience-oriented Christians (untaught believers) – Satan sends them off, chasing rabbits. The charismatic movement is a great example of that – of things that God does not have for them, and things that do not exist, and the work of the Lord is not done. That's the tragedy.

You cannot beat God's training program. And the very first phrase is a military term in Ephesians 4: 2 when it says, "The pastor-teacher equips the saints. That is military language in the in the Greek. And it means that He gives them the tools for the combat. That's doctrine.

Crowns

One area of grave loss, we have pointed out – we have stopped for a moment here, before we go on to the other two, to an area of grave loss to a Christian who is not taught doctrinal principles, but is operating on emotions and experience and what he thinks it means. One area of great loss is that of crowns of honor, which are given for spiritual victories above and beyond. These are crowns of victory. As I pointed out to you, they are not diadem crowns such as a reigning, ruling king has. This is a victory you have achieved – above and beyond. There are four of them. All of you are qualified for three of them. One, or maybe two, of us are qualified for four of them.

The Crown of Joy

First of all, we pointed out to the crown of joy. I want to I want to read these Scriptures, because I'm not sure I made this clear to you last week. I get kind of excited about the potentiality of these crowns. The verse there was Philippians 4:1: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I longed to see, my joy and crown, to stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." That is the crown of joy.

Also, the other verse that teaches this is 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20: "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation. Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming? For you are our glory and joy."

We pointed out to you that this crown deals with the product of your divine good service. Paul is rejoicing with joy over these people that he has served, and responded with positive relation to the doctrinal instruction they've received. This is given to a believer who has spent his life in God's service, doing divine good works through the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is maximum use of your spiritual gifts and fulfillment of one's life mission in God's plan. That's why I tell you that it is a very significant thing that our friend Jack Smith, former guard at the Kentucky State Prison, said that he wakes up every morning, and the first thing he does is look up and say, "Sir, what is your mission for me today?" This is a person who understands the principle of earning the crown of joy by living maximum life in divine good production. This is not just as it comes – they're here and they're not here, one way or another. They're always constantly aware: what is my life doing in terms of eternity? Wouldn't that save us from a lot of sinning?

The Crown of Righteousness

Secondly, was the crown of righteousness. This one was to be found in 2 Timothy 4:7-8: "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is light up for me the crown of righteousness. I've kept the faith. I've been obedient to the principles of godliness. The crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. This is awarded to me – not grace-given, like salvation. This is something I've earned (awarded to me): "On that day, and not only to me, but also to all those who love His appearing. And people who are looking forward to the crown of righteousness are really looking forward to the Judgment Seat of Christ, when they stand there, and that crown is placed on their head, before all the believers of all ages. This is given for a life which is spent in godly living.

I can't go into detail, but just to connect your thinking and your orientation of what we're saying, we can illustrate this with two concentric circles. Here is the inner and outer circle – one of the most valuable concepts God has ever given me (I feel) of understanding a relationship between being saved (and never being lost again), but walking with God or being out of fellowship with God. Here at the point of salvation, you trust in Christ as Savior. You reject human good. You accept only the good that Christ provided by burying your sins on the cross. You enter an outer circle, which is called eternal fellowship. That's an eternal relationship of salvation. You also come into an inner circle, which is temporal fellowship. This is your day-by-day experience.

In this inner circle, you are a spiritual Christian. When you sin, you step out of that circle, and you are now controlled by the sin nature. You become what the Bible calls a carnal Christian. When you exercise 1 John 1:9: you admit; you confess; and, you come back into the inner circle. Here is where you produce divine good works. Here is where you live the life of godliness. No place else. When you're out here, you're producing human works, and you're producing what the Bible calls filthy rags (human righteousness). To be in Christ is to be saved. To be controlled by the Holy Spirit while in Christ is to have your life maximized for divine good production. Here's where your prayers are answered. Here's where the prosperity comes into your life. Here's where there's a sense of destiny; of future; and, of purpose. Here's where you receive the ability to carry on, even under adverse conditions.

This crown of righteousness is given for a life spent in godly living in temporal fellowship, in the inner circle – a life in maximum compatibility with the integrity of God. How do I know the integrity of God? Because some pastor-teacher taught that to me out of Scripture. It is not what I think. You can see where our society is going on the basis of what people think is OK to do, and what is right and wrong.

I was at Payless Cashways the other day. I returned an item. The lady owed me a dollar. She reached into the register and handed me a bill. I started to walk away, and I stopped for a moment. I was puzzled, because on the bill was Benjamin Franklin's picture. I looked down. I thought, "This is a hundred. Yes, it does say 100. I had a $100 bill that she gave me instead of a dollar change. She kept my dollar, but I got $100 and I walked out – $100 richer, for the Lord's work. God needs the money. We had lots of things to pay for. You know that. Finally, when I got over my shock, I knew what I had to do. I knew what the integrity of God required. So, I made a big scene of it. I just held it up in front of her. She looked, and her eyes widened. She took it, and she ran to the register, and she said, "Oh, thank you. Thank you. Somebody put a $100 bill into the one dollar compartment. I understand that Payless Cashways is filing for bankruptcy. I think I know what part of their problem may be. I don't know how widespread this is, but I'm going to enjoy shopping there are a lot more than I ever have in the past.

Do you want a crown of righteousness? Then do right. If you do right, you're in the inner circle. If you don't confess those known sins, you're not going to be there. You're going to be out there, where you're going to be slammed around by the devil in every little way. You're just going to be the wimp and the winner the Christians often become. You will fall back on your emotions and your experience. And that's not going to cut it for you. It's not subjectivity that carries you to a crown of righteousness. It is the objectivity of knowing the Word of God – maximum experiential sanctification with Bible doctrine knowledge applied by the Holy Spirit – living in that inner circle.

The Crown of Life

James 1:2: "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." Now you know, just from that English verse, you know very well, that this verse cannot be saying that if you persevere, and act right, and do good, you'll go to heaven. A lot of people use that verse to say that. That's not what it's saying, because we know that the rest of Scripture would be contradictory of that. You go to heaven on the basis of what Christ has done. This is talking about Christian living again, and a certain aspect of that living: persevering under trial. This is the kind of a life that can persevere under trial. This is not some wimpy, little elementary school kid starting off in life. You will receive a crown of life. And it's good to go to everybody that loves to see Him. Who's going to love to see Him? The people who have been playing square with God. The others are not going to be too happy to see Him at any time. They're going to have a great deal of reservations about saying, "Hey, the Lord is come. We're all ready to be evaluated." They have too many doubts in their minds as to how their scorecard is going to come out.

We also have Revelation 2:10: "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. This, again, is not works for salvation. This is stability of the maximum kind under attack for being a Christian. The Greek word for "life" looks like this: "zoe." "Zoe" means life as a quality such as God has – eternal life. This is a very specific, identifiable kind of life. All the capacities for mature Christian living are found in Jesus Christ. That's His life, and that's the life that God is going to honor and recognize. This is a life where we have maximum freedom to walk with God, with all of its consequent blessings and prosperity.

Such a life is illustrated for us at the dawn of human history. In Genesis 5:24, we read about a man named Enoch: "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." These other people of the antediluvian civilization we're living for hundreds and hundreds of years. I appreciate more and more what we learned in our study series on creationism and evolution that the early Christians had. The early believers had so much information because they lived hundreds of years, technologically, and in every other way. They were really smart. The older I get, the more I appreciate that: how much perspective I have, that people younger than I am don't have. They can't make connections. And it's not IQ. It's that experience of age.

So, Enoch, while he had a great deal of information, he didn't make it beyond 365 years. God said, "Enoch, I can't wait. I want to honor you. Come on up to heaven right now. I want you with Me. You don't belong on this earth. I'm about ready to rub this earth out, and I want you up here with Me."

Jude 14-15 make reference to this same man – this man which represents life at its maximum maturity (spiritual maturity). Jude 14: "And about these also, Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones." Enoch is looking down the course of history, and he's predicting here the rapture. He's speaking about Christ coming with many thousands of His holy ones: "to execute judgment upon all." He will execute judgment upon the tribulation world – that seven-year period that we just showed you: "and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and all of the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (against God). That's speaking about what Christ is going to do at His Second Coming. And he's talking here about Christ coming – not the rapture – but Christ coming at the Second Coming with the saints, returning to this earth.

This is maximum freedom to walk with God, with integrity and blessing. Satan's world thinks that a person comes alive when it enslaves itself to the sin nature evils. They're the living dead, calloused all over their souls. Yes, Ellen Degenerate is making a big hit with her coming out of the closet. And Disney is very proud of its programing on ABC, relative to that, thinking that: "Here we're coming alive. This is life. This is freedom. This is the sorriest enslavement imaginable.

Please remember that when expository preaching is not done from the pulpit, from grace gospel to spiritual maturity through doctrine, people will become pigs – even Christians. Only those who are believers fed on the Word are going to be the princes. So, here is the world being so proud of the very thing that God says, "This does not reflect reality, and it does not reflect My purpose for a man or a woman." The life built in the image of Jesus Christ is what we're talking about, and which a believer takes into eternity. A believer takes this life into eternity. Maximum spiritual maturity development is what this is all about. It honors the Christian whose mind was occupied with Christ, so he matured spiritually all the way to the super-grace, cup-overrunning level of maturity.

We cannot get into this today. I just want you to look for a moment at what the Bible constitutes (James refers to) as super-abounding grace life. It includes a mastery of the details of life. You know how to control your money and your material possessions. They don't control you. You have the capacity to love. You have the capacity to have love for God; for your mate; and, for other people – that mental-attitude, goodwill "agape" love. You have the capacity of a relaxed mental attitude – that emotional love toward other people, such that you can deal with them in a very relaxed, mental-attitude way. You have that inner happiness, which is not based upon people, circumstances, or things. Then you have that grace orientation.

In Ephesians 12:10, the apostle Paul says, "When I'm weak, then I become strong in these vibrant aspects," and he goes down the line with it. But this is what constitutes super-grace living. And the Christian who moves toward that by learning doctrine, and letting the Spirit of God run his life, is going to move toward maximum spiritual maturity in the image of Christ. And the Lord says, "I'm going to recognize you with a special crown, because you have demonstrated, with that maturity, your unable to resist temptation.

In 1 Corinthians 10:13, the apostle says, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, will provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it." You have great capacity because of great maturity.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 also refers to this. Paul says, "And He (God) said to me (when God said, 'No, I'm not going to take away that thorn in the flesh from you') – He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness (maturity is perfected in weakness). Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weakness – that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well-content with both weaknesses, and insults, and distresses, and persecutions, and difficulty for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I'm strong." Each of those words connects here to one of these five facets of the spiritual maturity structure. This is what it's all about.

James 4:6 is a verse that talks about this life. James says, "But he gives a greater (super-abounding grace is what the Greek says). Therefore, it says God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. The crown of life does not refer to salvation, since this is something you earn. You have to merit this, and you don't earn salvation. Expository preaching of the pastor-teacher is the means for developing spiritual maturity, not religious hustling or inspirational preaching. That doesn't cut it. And you will go no place with that inspirational, challenging type of preaching.

John 6:63: "It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and our life." The Word of God is alive and active. The crown of life, then, honors the believer who stayed with learning doctrine; had a positive volition to what he heard; and, he built up steadily a solid spiritual maturity structure in these five facets of the structure. This is a prerequisite to living fully under the grace of God. A child does not have the capacity for mature living. He has to grow up (Ephesians 4:11-16). We went over that in detail. We're not going to be tossed around by every wind of doctrine. We're going to go up into the maturity that represents Christ Himself.

Christians who grew up in spiritual maturity have real maximum capacity for living. They live God's life, even unto martyrdom.

The Crown of Glory

Now, to understand this crown, we have to go back to the beginning of chapter 5, where Peter is dealing with the ministry and the duty of the pastor-teacher-elder in the local church: "Therefore, I exhort the elders (the pastor-teacher's) among you, as your fellow elder, and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but providing to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." What does he tell the pastor-teacher? They're commanded to shepherd the local church clock of God's people, the believers, by feeding them doctrine, and by expository preaching, to give them the mind of God without which they cannot survive. The pastor-teacher is to supervise the spiritual life of the sheep under his authority in the local church congregation, with courage, and without being intimidated by people who don't like what they hear, or who want a different kind of program. He is to lead. He is to protect. He is to care. He is to encourage and discipline the sheep.

Furthermore, these three verses say that he is to serve the flock willingly as a divine call, and not under a sense of compulsion. He accepts his mission as from God. Nothing is harder than the pastor-teacher mission. He's the drill sergeant. It's tough work. He's the DI, the Drill Instructor. But this is God's plan of the sheep cannot make it. The pastor-teacher's supervision is to be guided by the will of God for the ministry of his particular congregation, not for personal ambition. And he is to serve with a sense of that eagerness, not a sense of compulsion.

I once had a professor at Dallas Seminary say that when he prepared for his church services in his study, he came to the point where he was so eager, he couldn't wait to get up there. I have come to understand what he means by that. Sometimes we go out the door, and Mrs. Danish says to me, "Are you eager to go?" She means: "Are you primed? Are we ready?" And when you have the great Word of God to give to people, it is an enormous motivation.

A man called me who lives some distance away. He gave me his name and he said, "Dr. Danish, do you remember me?" I said, "Yes, I remember you." He said, "You do?" He said, "I have every one of your tapes. I just feel before God, I wanted to call you and tell you, that I've searched far and wide, and I cannot find anything of biblical instruction of the quality and the nature that are on those tapes. And I think that I'm going to pray, and that you should get some people to pray, that these things can be put in hard-copy form." He means like in books – printed. He said, "This would meet a need in human history and experience of society, at this point in time." He said, "And I just felt compelled from God to call you."

Now, how do you think that makes me feel, knowing that there are years of takes up there that can't even get edited, because we don't have the money to have a crew; to have the staff; to have the means; and, to have the freedom to be able to do that? But that's the job. At least we've done that part of it. His supervision is to be guided by the will of God – not by his own personal ambitions. He's not to walk across the back of his congregation to bigger churches. The pastor-teacher is not to serve on the basis of how well he is paid, but with an eagerness to step into the pulpit and proclaim God's doctrine, the Word of truth, to tell God's message.

A carnal pastor-teacher plays to the desires of the crowd to gain their personal benefits. And he literally devours the flock. So, the pastor-teacher, furthermore, is not to lord it, Peter says, over the flock by strong arming the people. But he is to treat them tenderly and with sympathy when they stumble, like he stumbles; to lead them in love; and, to be a good biblical example for them to imitate for their personal blessing.

So, in 1 Peter 5:4 he says that: "The faithful pastor-teacher who does the job of expository preaching, feeding the flock of God, not with topical jumping around nonsense – he is promised a crown of glory honor in all eternity – honored by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, honoring certain of His under-shepherds. The pastor-teacher receives an unfading crown of glory in contrast to the fading earthly prestige that many pastor-teachers settle for one who does not feed the flock when he does not do the hard work of studying, learning, and putting it together; one who plays to the crowd; one who plays for the money; one who plays for the prestige and the fame. He gets, as Jesus said to the Pharisees: "You boys enjoy what you have. You're not going to get any more. You have the praise of the crowd. That's all you're going to get. When you get to heaven, you're not going to get My praise, if you get there.

So, people praise – you can settle for that if you want. This is a victory crown to honor, for all eternity, the pastor-teacher who fulfills his mission – expository preaching and explaining the mind of God. This crown is exclusively then for pastor-teacher communicator's. This indicates to me that there should be a crown for a specialized person, just for certain people. Doesn't that tell you something? What I've been trying to pound away here is that in the church age, the importance of people being taught the doctrine principles of Scripture through systematic walking through the Word of God. God highly esteems the role of the pastor-teacher, an exclusive crown of honor for this kind of specific service. The pastor-teacher who earns the crown of glory does so by simply fulfilling his divine calling. His service I can't describe as above and beyond, those sacred words of the Medal of Honor in military terms. For him, it is not service above and beyond. This is what he's expected to do. However, what pastor-teachers are doing is beneath and not anywhere, let alone to be above and beyond.

Today, I suspect, that there is such a monumental unfaithfulness by pastor-teachers, in doing their job in the pulpit, of expository preaching, and because Christians don't know any better, they let them get they let the preacher get away with it. They don't tell them to go there; study; get prepared; come out; and, you explain to us what God thinks so that we have His mind, so we can make it in the devil's world, because people are being played on their feelings instead of on the Word of God, and because there is such widespread failure on the part of pastor-teachers to do the job, I have a feeling that there are a lot of surplus crowns of glory in heaven that are going to be left over.

Which one is yours? Which one will be yours? Which of these are the ones that you will probably walk up and accept? Please remember that you're all on the way out. Everything you have now is going to be left behind. But what you have up there is unfading for all eternity. Live for up there, not for down here. Pour yourself into preserving the opportunities of what God gives us as a local church. Let nothing stand in your way.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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