Mystery of The Reward - Steve Zehr

Well, good morning. I want to greet in the name

of Jesus, bring greetings from the Palisades midday night church

over in Mandress. And it's really nice to be here

with you, to visit, to see you all familiar faces.

Some of the visitors that were referred to, I know

some of the Schwartzeneruberg girls. It's good to see you again.

And you know, it's just a blessing to be here.

I'd invite you to turn to One Corinthians thirteen because

we're going to be taking the message from primarily that chapter.

And while I was driving, my wife and I were

driving over here, we were thinking about the fact that

Brother Ernie was not going to be here. It's been

something that I enjoyed coming and visiting with Brother Ernie,

seeing him in the pew, seeing him nod his head

appreciatively at things he agreed with. Someone else is gonna

have to do that this morning, so I'm gonna be

watching for that, and he he's a long line of

people that are no longer here with us. I got

my wife listened while I begin to go over the

names of people that are no longer in here on earth.

It goes way back, you know, probably before a lot

of you would remember, but there's always been that people

that have that have been here and we miss them.

We miss them today. But this morning, I would like

to think about the Christians reward. Now this wasn't this

was being thought about long before Ernie passed away, but

I thought it was fitting. And when we think about

the Christians reward this morning, the discussion is not going

to be simply about what happens when we die and

we go to heaven, like we often talk about, although

that is included. Often we might say, well that a

man has went on to his reward, and I think

that's that's scriptural. This morning, I would like to think

a little bit about an aspect of this that maybe

we don't think about very much, and that is it

has to do with the incentive to be everything that

we should be for Christ, to be everything that we

can be and should be in our Christian life. That

is what's I'd like to think about what we seem

to find in scripture that referred to as different levels

of rewards for Christians based on what they have done

on earth. And I appreciated the thoughts there for the Norman.

We're not talking about karma. Be very careful to stay

within the bounds of scripture here. But I think when

we get to Onst. Corinthians thirteen, you'll see what has

through my personal reading. I begin to really wonder about

this familiar passage. But the goal here is to inspire us.

That's what I want you to inspire us and myself

to be to not just to be conquers, but like

Roman says, to be more than conquers. Not. The thing

that I'd like you to think about is how do

we overcome the idea in our personal Christian life that

we can just make it through to glory. We're all

going to get to heaven, and we might as well

do it on the minimum amount of effort possible. That's

the problem we want to address a little bit. The

word reward has found something like one hundred times in scripture.

There's quite a few different variations, a number two or

three different variations of the word. If you count all those,

that's around one hundred times most to them. I believe

her in the New Testament, and it means in general,

and I know you can find different variations of the meaning,

but in general, just to keep it simple, it means

payment for work. So that's what we're talking about, a

payment for work, and a couple of parables that just

to help us to corral this idea a little bit.

There's a thought in the Bible, a very true thought

about the idea in Matthew twenty is there's parable of

workers in the vineyard where the master came, the owner

vineyard came and he needed helpers. And so each one came.

They came at different times of the day, and at

the end of the day, each of them were paid

according to what they deserved, and it was all the same.

It was all the same. And we could say, well,

that's the baseline born again believers experience. We will see Jesus,

we will be saved from the wrath that is to come.

And I believe there's a clear distinction about that in

the Bible. That is the initial phase of salvation, a

man that is born again. We're not here to judge

who and how who all that fits, but it is

a baseline of the simple reality of salvation, the new birth,

the grace that is freely given to each man who

decides to come to faith in Jesus Christ, no matter

what stage he is in life. That's what I believe

that parable is showing. Then we have the parables. There's

a parable of the pounds, there's a parable of the

one with the cities in it. We could call it

the parable of the talents. And these talents hint at

the idea that a man will be rewarded according to what,

not only what he was given, but what he did

with the things he was given. What he was, we

could say what he was responsible for. So those with

much responsibility, that more was required to them and there

was more of a reward given to them. Now on

Matthew chapter sixteen, I'm just going to turn over to that.

Jesus is talking to his disciples and he tells him

the closing verses of that chapter that if any man

will deny himself, they let him take up his cross

and follow me. And we could say that is the

first parable we talked about. That is the baseline of salvation.

You cannot be a follower of Christ without taking up

your cross and follow him. And then he goes on

and he talks about this prophet and loss statement, and

it's counterintuitive. He says, if you try to gain your life,

you're going to lose it, and a man that loses

his life will gain it. And he says, what is

a prophet of man if he gains the whole world

and loses his soul. But the verse then at the

end says that the son of man shall come in

the glory of his father with his angels, then shall

he reward every man according to his works. And I

want to give just a couple of quick examples that

show both a positive and a negative idea of this

thought of reward, both from Revelations, one for the wicked,

one for the righteous. The first one in Revelation eighteen

verse six, is talking about the wickedness of the Harlot

the city of Babylon, and it says, reward her even

as she rewarded you, and double under her double according

to her works, and the cup which she hath filled

filled to her double. And then in Revelations twenty two,

verse twelve, it says, and behold, I come quickly, and

my reward is with me, to give every man according

as his work shall be. And so this this thing

of reward seems to be a variable. It's not just

a simple matter of baseline salvation of heaven and hell,

but one Corinthians, chapter three, and I want to just

read these verses starting in verse eight. There's quite a

few verses that we could we could think about there,

but for now, as we read verse Corinthians three, verse

eight through, I'm going to stop at I think I'll

just stop at verse fifteen. But notice especially verse eight

and fourteen for now, and then we're going to move

to a couple other verses in here. But verse eight. Now,

he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And

every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor.

For we are labors together with God. You are God's husbandry.

You are God's building, according to the grace of God,

which is given unto me as a wise master builder.

I've laid the foundation. Another build it. They're on. But

let every man take heed how you build it? They're on?

For other foundation? Can no man lay then that is laid,

which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon

this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, would hey stubble. Every

man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall

declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and

the fire shall try every man's work of what sort

it is. If any man's work abide which he hath

built there on, thereupon he shall receive a reward. If

any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,

but he himself shall be saved. Yet so as by fire,

I think if you are paying attention to read this,

you see some of these ideas that must surface in

your mind as you read this. A man is able

to have salvation and yet have his life's work destroyed

by fire. And that's the conundrum. That's the problem we

want to look at here. I don't understand at all.

I don't. I'm not even going to pretend that I

do here, but I do want to explore it. And

the two issues we have here in the red A

Scripture we have we just read. There's two things that

we want to bring out. There's the thing of the foundation,

and then there's the building that goes on top of

the foundation. So you have the foundation and the building,

and what we need to choose the foundation, and I

want you to just try to grasp these ideas quickly here.

But what we need to choose the foundation that we're

going to build on is wisdom. What you need to

have to decide what you're going to build on top

of that foundation is discernment, because you have the foundation

and you have the building, and you need wisdom to

choose the foundation, and you need discernment through life to

know how to build on top of that foundation. Now,

of course, the most important thing is your salvation. That

is the baseline. Talked about that the salvation that we needed,

and I want to just expand on that a little bit.

There is no other foundation that you can choose and

be saved. We have that here in verse eleven. For

no other foundation can man lay than that is laid,

which is Jesus Christ. So choosing the correct foundation is

a matter of wisdom. You remember that song the wise

man built his house upon the rock. Well, that's from

Matthew chap to the Sermon on the Mount. The wise

man chose to build his house upon the rock, and

the foolish man chose to build his house upon the sand.

And so there's no variation there. There's no Everyone that

is going to be saved will choose the foundation of

Jesus Christ and build his house his life upon the

foundation of Jesus Christ. So it's the wisdom, it's wisdom

it's a wise man. Jesus was bringing that out in

Sermon on the Mount. It is a wise man that

chooses Christ is his salvation. We call this the initial

This is the new birth. This is and we see

this idea of wisdom and foolishness all throughout the first

three chapters of First Corinthians, the Book of First Corinthians,

the wisdom of the of God and the wisdom of

the world. And in order to understand this idea of

discernment and building materials, we must we must have this idea,

a clear idea, this clear understanding of Christ is the

foundation and the wisdom of God that a man needs

to have to have the decernment to go through life

building on that foundation. And I want you to just

go through this a little bit. I'm going to go

through it really, really briefly. But in the first chapter

of One Corinthians, verse twenty one, it says that for

after that in the wisdom of God, the world by

wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness

of preaching to save them that belief. In verse twenty seven,

same chapter, it says, but God hath chosen the foolish

things of the world to confound the wise, and God

hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound

the things which are mighty. If you go to chapter two,

verse seven, it says, but we speak the wisdom of

God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God

ordained before the world, unto our glory. And then in

verse let's see, I think I have the wrong verse here.

Let's let's look at verse yeah, and ten and eleven.

I believe, but God hath revealed them unto us by

his spirit. For the spirit searcheth all things. Yeah, the

deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things

of a man, say, the spirit of man, which is

in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no

man but the Spirit of God. So the things of

God a man cannot know unless he has the Spirit

of God. This is wisdom, This is a wise man

now in order. This wisdom of God and this wisdom

of the world are completely opposite, their opposite language. I

always wished that I was bilingual, that I could talk

Spanish and English or some other language. I wish I

could talk two different languages. Lord Willings, someday I'll master English,

right now I'm working on that, and maybe I can

try something else later. But this is not a matter

of being bilingual. You cannot be bilingual and the wisdom

of God and the wisdom of the world. A lot

of people want to do that. A lot of people

want to be fluent in both to be worldly wise

and be a Christian to at the right time, in

the right place, know a lot have a lot to

say about the things of God. Be theologically fluent and

yet be able to speak the language of the worldly

people around him as well. These are opposites and they

cannot coexist. Ah. I remember when I grew up here

in this area, and I know I know that I

know it well. There's two stories at least, and the

first one right right here in Halsey. I think I

could walk to the spot within a few square feet

on a sidewalk here in Halsey where I met a man.

This is probably over twenty years ago, and he was

an ex mena knight, and he was a He was

a friend, but he was very confused. He didn't he

made a lot of poor decisions in life, but he

was he was congenial and he wanted to visit We

talked about the Bible. He had a lot of questions

about I don't remember what all. They were, a lot

of different questions about maybe maybe questions to help justify

what he was doing, where he was headed, choices he

was making. But I remember very clearly what I pointed

him to, and that was First Christians, Chapter two. Is

that simply this that you know, I can sit here

and explain the Bible and give you all the answers

that I feel are the right answers, But until you're

born again, you ain't gonna understand any of it. And

it was interesting just this summer, I was over here

and I met him at a dealership. He just walked in.

I happened to be there. We had a good visit.

I don't know where he's at in life, for sure.

I think he's he's stabilized quite a bit. I think

he's trying to do it's right. I hope he's a

wise man now. He's been through a lot. But wisdom

isn't just an accumulation of lived experiences that make you

more leery about sticking your finger certain places and doing

certain things. It's a transition from the world to Christ

and starting that foundation and wisdom starts with the fear

of the Lord. It starts with a conviction of sin.

It happens with the confession of Christ. It's the rock,

it's the start, it's the new birth. Until that happens,

a man is a foolish man. Now I want to

go to the second phase of a man's life. We

could call this the second phase of the Christian life.

And for most people, I would say most of us,

especially if you're young and you're born again in Christ.

As your foundation, this is where you will live most

of your life. Most of your life will be spent

building in some form or fashion upon this foundation that

you started, maybe years ago. And this brings us back

verse ten and chapter three. It says, there, according to

the grace God of God, which is given unto me

as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation

another building they're on. But in the phrase I want yours,

but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.

That means you, and the and the and the ladies. Here,

let every woman, let every man, let every believer in Christ.

You should take you should you should think about how

you're going to live your life on that foundation. He

says in verse twelve. Enough, any man build upon this foundation,

this experience of Christ. He's a born again person, he's

a Christian. But if he builds gold, silver, precious stone,

wood hay, or stubble, every man's work will be made manifest. Now,

this is the part that's a little hard to understand.

It seems as we read this that a man there's

three three ways to build here, at least in this example,

that will be destroyed by fire. Everything that you do

in this category will not survive the test of time.

It will be completely wiped out, either at your death

or at judgment. The Bible describes it as wood, hay,

and stubble, flammable materials, and gold, silver and precious stones

whatever those are. And I'm not really going to go

too much into trying to explain what all those things are,

maybe a little little bit, but those three things will

survive the fire, and they will go with you into glory.

They will be rewards. We could say those type of things,

the gold, silver, precious stones. I'm not sure about prescious

stones so much, but gold and silver are refined by fire,

made more precious, more purified by fire. But they do

survive the fire. Now, the question I want to circle

back to is why should a man put out more

effort than necessary to get to heaven? Why should a

man in this world we're living the Christian life being

separate from the world. Why is there any motive for

a man to build with gold, with silver and precious

stone when he'll get by just fine building with stubble.

This is the question that has been in my mind

for weeks prior to the first time I preached this.

I pondered this as I read it. I even asked

some very people smarter than me do how should we

interpret this? What? How do we incentivize our people, the

people were responsible for, to live a deeper life. When

you think about the Christian life, and maybe even being

a conservative Mennonite, why should you Why should you be more?

More of what you already are? Why should you try

to be more obedient, more submitted, more committed, more sacrificial,

more unselfish, more separate from the world, more obedient to

the word of God? More? For what reason? If we're

all going to make it to heaven anyway. Here's this

song more Holiness Give Me. I really like that song,

but the first verse has more holiness, give me more

striving within, more patience in suffering, more sorrow for sin,

more faith in my Savior, more serve, more sense of

his care, more joy in his service, more purpose in prayer.

And the whole song is about more, asking for more

in my Christian life, more gratitude, more trust, more purity, more,

more strength, more more pain. I think at what what

grieves grieves him? More, more fit, more used, more meekness.

Another example, Uh, and this happened just not far from

here at all. Also in the town of Halsey. I

was working with a man and it was right across

I think it's right across the tracks, loading loading box

car h and he was he was a Christian. I

was a I was a Mennonite, young, young guy like

like you all over there. He was probably more of

a Christian than I was at the time. And but

we got into this discussion. I don't remember who initiated it.

I don't know why it got started, but he began

to There was this back and forth about the the

Mennonite women's head veiling, and of course he was against

it and I was trying to be for it. And

we would go back and forth and he would always

conclude that discussion with the with the the dismissal that

you know it, well, we'll continue this discussion in heaven.

And the plain insinuation is that this issue is so meaningless.

We're all going to be in heaven anyway, what's the point.

Let's just discuss it when we get to heaven. And

I'm not I'm not here to make judgment on where

he is and all that. But it's that attitude of

why should I be more obedient than I already am?

What difference does it make? And can we can all

just discuss it in heaven? Details are not important. I

can live a sloppy Christian life and still make it.

So if we think about this logically just a little bit,

you think about the motivational systems. Motivational systems are part

of the human experience. You all operate under the reward system.

You're all motivated by something, You've all worked hard all

summer hoping for a reward for that work, and a

lot of it really defies logic, but they work, that's

the thing about it. In the human experience, they work.

So why would a man strive for a blue ribbon?

You get a Blue Ribbon or or let's say military service,

all the medals, the medals of honor that are given

to soldiers, the pride of serving a country holds no

real logic. Why is it that out of all the

countries in all of the world, through all of the

ages of all of human history, and you think about

all the governments and all the armies that have ever

marched the face of the earth, all the men have died,

why would you be willing to die for this particular

country in this day and age? And yet men and

women do it, and we do it all the time

in our own personal life. We want to win the bid,

we want to get the promotion, we want the acres

of the business. We're motivated by reward. And yet all that,

all that reward, a lot of it is going to

end at the edge of the cemetery. It's not going

to go it's going to be burned with fire. It's

going to be destroyed because it's gold not gold, if

you see what I mean, what we're calling gold is stuble.

So the logic I'm trying to use here in this

discussion is why not by faith get involved in a

reward that we don't understand that this preacher is not

going to be able to convey to you in a

way that maybe logically you can grasp. But since we're

all pursuing reward that most likely and we know, is

not going to follow us to eternity, why not by

faith begin to pursue a reward that Christ says we

can take with us into eternity. That's the logic we're

trying to work with here. Now. One of the objects

to this whole idea of the reward system in our

Christian life is that people can begin doing it for

a toior motives. It supersedes the love of Christ. We're

not really doing it because we love Christ, but we

come somehow become greedy and we're chasing after this reward

in heaven for alterior motives. I'm not going to spend

a lot of time exploring that objection other than to

say two things are true can be true at the

same time. The Bible commands that we love the Lord

our God with all our hearts and soul in mind,

and it also says that we should strive after the reward.

So I'm going to leave it up to you to

figure out how to do both. Those things at the

same time. Just a few verses for second John one,

verse eight. Look to yourselves that we lose not those

things which we have wrought, but that we receive a

full reward. And that many type places we're told we're

encouraged to run the race, to strive for mastery, to

fight the good fight, to be diligent, to win the prize. Now,

one of the ways we do this, I want to

come back to this idea that most of your life

is spent choosing materials to build on the foundation with.

And this requires discernment. It's kind of like wisdom. You

have to be discerning man to choose the right materials

that allows for eternity. One Corinthians two, verse thirteen and fourteen.

He says, which things also we speak not in the

words which the man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy

ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual that's a discerning person.

And it says, but the natural man receiveth not the

things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness

unto him. Neither can he be know neither can he

know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Okay, So you

follow the lesson here. You need discernment to choose the

right materials to build your house with. Okay, I'm not

going to go into I'm not going to go into

a lot of speculation on what these rewards are, but

I do want to stay with what I know the

Bible says, and so we are going to focus a

little bit on what the Bible says about rewards. I'm

on safe territory, then at least at least at least

at least at least we're there, and so we're going

to shift your thinking just a little bit. It's going

to be on the rewards, and I'm going to allow

you to buy faith at some point hopefully ponder your life.

You can desern what's gold, what's double, and you can

strive for the reward. One of these things is the crowns.

The Bible talks about five crowns that we have the

opportunity to win as Christians. I don't know for sure,

but it seems like in reading there there's at least

the possibility that not every saint will have all five crowns.

I'm not even trying to pretend that crowns as you

understand it are comfortable to wear, and that you have

a great longing for some star studded jewel studded gold,

twenty pound weight on your head. But like I said,

this is a spiritual exercise by faith. Whatever this crown is,

the Bible says that we should long for these things,

we should strive for these things. Now, the Greek word

for crown is my name is the Greek word for crown.

Stephen Stephan knows that is. It is Greek for the

word crown. And it was a victory wreath, it was,

it was woven laurel, it was it was a plant

oftentimes given to athletes for their their wins, civic honors,

for performances, and so on. And I just want to

look at these five crowns that the Bible talks about

and what it takes to win this this crown. Second

Tampathy two, verse five says and if a man strive

for mastery, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully? Okay,

So the first one wants to look at is the

incorruptible crown. And you have the opportunity to win this.

It's on Corinthians nine, verse twenty four. It's just Later

on in the in Paul's writing here to First Corinthian

the Corinthian Church, he says, know you not that they

which run in a race run all but one received

the prize. So run that you may obtain. And every

man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Now they do have to obtain a corruptible crown. But

we are incruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly

so fight. I not as one that beateth the air,

but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection,

lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,

I myself should be a castaway. Now this crown is

maybe a little more common, but it is. It is

given for a person that doesn't give up, a person

that doesn't despair, a person that is determined. He's disciplined,

he keeps going even when things are that. You know,

the temptation to give up is so real, and so

far in life it hasn't really it. It still comes up. This,

this the temptation to give up, that when the dark

clouds of like discouragement of despair come down on us.

You know, the one thing that defines a runner and

I've I've tried to run a little bit. Running is

is a pain. Running is is hard. Running is not

in my opinion, it's it's a horrible way to spend

a day or apart ten minutes. It's it's really hard.

I am. I mean, you can get used to it,

and can get used to different distances. The the ability

to be temperate and to be determined. It it's something

that happens in the head somewhere along the line. And

but it's it's it's a it's a person that lays

aside the weights, lays aside the desires, the things that

he wants right now. And it doesn't have to be fast.

It just it just can't be backwards. It can't be stopped.

I remember when I was running, and I'm I'm still

no good at it. I just do it because my

back hurts, and some people think it might help and

sometimes I think I might stay in shape. I don't

know why. I do it, get fresh air sometimes. And

so one one friend of mine is like like, like

he's trying, like, let's just go run, Let's run for

two miles. I was like, let's not, that's let's go

for I mean, that's too far. Let's just go for

little ways. And he was saying, this is like, well,

we don't have to run the whole time. Like that's

a new thought to me. Like it's like running is running.

It's like no, like it's not cheating, just a walk.

When you get tired, you can walk part of the

time and then start honey again. And so that I

mean that, just don't stop. That's the idea. And the

Christian life is to keep going, to not give up

in your Christian life. The second one is the crown

of life. And I believe this one. I'm not sure

that everyone is going to win this one. I could

be wrong here. I'm not the judge of all this.

But James says that blessed is the man that endures temptation,

for when he has tried, he will receive the crown

of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that

love him. Now, maybe if that means a traditional sense

of enduring temptation, but the idea there seems to be

in my study of a man that has suffered intensely

for the name of Christ, maybe even especially as a martyr.

Revelations two verse tend says fear none of those things

which shall thou shalt suffer. Behold, the Devil's shall cast

some of you into prison, that you may be tried,

and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful

into death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

I'm not sure what all to make of this. I

do not think everyone is suffering the same way. When

I think about my life, the life of majority of

the people I know in North America and Canada, we

have it so good, we have it really good. I'm

so inspired by my namesake, by Stephen, or maybe i'm his,

I don't know how you say it, but person that

I share a name with. Isn't it fitting that he

won the crown of life as a martyr. That's what

his name meant, is the crown. He was a winner.

And at the very least, I believe this should help

us in some small way and motivate us in our

Christian life. And we're ashamed for what we do when

maybe we're a tempted to be ashamed to speak up

for why we're head covering, why we're non resistant, why

we're separate from the world. At the very least, it

should inspire us in our maybe our mission efforts. Two

put everything we can into it up to the point

of martyrdom. If we need to to be tested like Job,

I know that there's been a lot of tests. A

lot of you have had tests. I have had tests.

God make sure we all have tests. But I was

thinking about if we were tested like Job, where he

lost everything, he lost the thing that made you feel secure.

Maybe that would be your job as men, your security,

everything that you depended on. What would happen if you

would The Bible says that they shall receive a crown

of life. The third one is the crown of rejoicing.

And I like this one one Corinthians two, verse nineteen

and Flippians four. I believe that we all, even here

in North America, especially maybe here in North America, we

have the opportunity to win this crown. I'll read it

and explain it just a little bit. First Thessalonians two nineteen,

for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing?

Are n y even in the presence of our Lord

Jesus Christ at his coming? And then Flippans four talks

about this as well. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and

long for my joy and crown. So stand fast in

the Lord, my dearly beloved. And I believe this crown

is given to the person that pours himself into another

man's life. When I was a young struggling teenager, and

it was preteen, there was a certain man in the church.

I was at the Tangent church. There was going to

that for some inexplicable reason, And I still have no

idea why befriended me. He was years older than me.

He took an interest in me. He took an interest

in me. As I grew up, he took an interest

in me. Through some very difficult times in my teenage years.

He moved thousands of miles away, and he continued at

times to take an interest in me when we'd meet.

He took an interest in me. I believe that man,

some day, at some point in eternity, will receive the

crown of Rejoicing. You, ladies, with all business, you have

the opportunity to take some young struggling girl under your wing.

You men to counsel to talk to some young man,

to take an interest in somebody that has generations different

than you. An age that's what Paul rejoiced about. He

poured himself into people. And you can read this in

the New Testament, how he longed for people. He said,

I would die for these people. I believe Paul will

receive the crown of rejoicing. Apostle John said, I have

no greater joy than to see my children walk in

the faith. The fourth crown is the crown of glory.

And I'm not sure what to think of this. It

seems like this crown of glory is reserved for church leadership.

Maybe there's other applications, Maybe there's other ways to receive

this crown. Maybe just being a leader in its own

right you receive this crown. But Paul is saying he's

counseling the ministers, the bishops, I suppose, the deacons, and

the leadership of the church. There in his epistol he

says that henceforth there is laid up for me. Wait

a minute, that's an I got to look this up.

I don't have this down first, Peter, I just wanted

to look at this real quick. I didn't write this down.

So one Peter, in the context here I should just say,

is he is exhorting the elders to feed the flock

of Christ, and to not do it because you're forced

to not do it because you're paid to do it.

But of a ready mind. And then he says in

verse five, in verse four, and when the chief shepherd

shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that

fadeth not away. And when I think about faithful ministers,

there's a lot of names that come to mind, and

I want to be one of those faithful ministers. I

don't know. Sometimes I wonder how successful I'm being in that.

I think it's easy to be a leader for the

wrong motive. It's easy to get sidetracked. He said, don't

do it for filthy lucre's sake. I know that we

don't get paid, but the warning there still stands it.

If we get sidetracked, get preoccupied with other things, we

can forfeit this reward. And then the last crown is

the crown of righteousness two Timothy four. It talks about there.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which is the lord the righteous judge shall give me

at that day, And not to me only, but to

all them also that love his appearing. Now, this crown,

I believe it might even be necessary. It's a crown

that every one of us should get, and it's a

crown given to anybody that is looking forward to the

second coming of Christ. Now you think about your life

a little bit, would you like the Lord to come back? Soon?

Come back today? I know for me, in my human

flesh was there can be a little bit of a conflict.

And I'm not condemning that. I know that, I know

that we're human. I remember when I was young, I thought, well,

I'd at least like to get married first and see

how that is, and then the Lord can come back.

And today I'm still tempted with well a few things

I'd like to do tomorrow yet, and yet the crown

is given for those that look forward to and love

the appearing of Christ. Now, I just want to go

back to First Corinthians in closing, because this verse. I

get things on my mind, and I'm sure like you,

I think about them. I puzzle over them, especially if

I feel like I don't understand it very good. And

as I was contemplating these verses, especially the ones about

the fire destroying every man's work. But He's going to

be saved, and trying to wrap my mind around this

whole idea of rewards. One night I was either waking

up or going to sleep, I can't remember which, but

this verse came to mind, and so I looked it

up the next morning, and it was right here in

the middle of all the verses that Paul had been

writing about this. But it helped me understand why we

must take this by faith. We don't understand everything about it,

but there'll be an immeasurable reward. It will be worth

it for those that die as martyrs, for those that

are evangelists, those that are faithful leaders, and so on,

and the verses this it says, but as it is written,

I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered

into the heart of man the things which God hath

prepared for them that love him. So we have told

you that we will not be able to comprehend in

this life what the rewards are like, what these crowns mean.

We're told we will not know what these things mean.

But it says that there'll be something for those that

love him. Now. John Lennox, I don't know if you

know him. He was interviewed in an interview with Stephen

Bartlett and John Lennon is Lennox is one of the

most brilliant Christian apologists that I know of, and he

was asking this interview. He said about God's justice. If

a man a serial killer, he goes out and he's

just an evil person all his life, he plunders, he kills,

he murders, harms people. At the very end of life,

he repents and he gets to go to heaven. And

then you have another man. He's a perfect gentleman kind

in every way. It's the milk of human kindness to

everyone he meets. He's a doctor, even he helps people.

He saves the lives of children. But he's not a believer.

And you're telling me that he goes to hell at

the end of life. How's that fair? You don't have

answers for that. I don't have answers for that. John

Lennox didn't have an answer for that. We just know.

According to this verse, there's a mystery and a promise

that anybody who loves Christ, God hath prepared a reward

for them of some kind. Lord, bless you