Crown of Righteousness

Yes, I did fail to mention that we would plan to have our meal afterwards next week, and we look forward to hearing from Monica and Micah to be able to sing the special music that they've been preparing here for some time. But again, it's very wonderful to be able to be here, wonderful to be with you, and very fitting with what Mr. Jackson has already covered.

He covered a topic that's very similar to what I want to cover, and he mentioned the crown of life. And clearly you can read that in the book of Revelation. It talks about that. I'll mention a couple of other verses that also deal with a crown. And yet, I wanted to start out, most of you realized that last weekend, the Royals in Kansas City, that's why I have my nice, not red, cardinal tie-on like Mr.

Jackson has, but my nice blue Royals tie-on today. Yes, royal blue. And the thing I want to mention about that is that last weekend, actually Sunday night, the Royals did win the World Series. And on Tuesday, there were, they estimated probably four to five, maybe 800,000 people who came down and participated in a World Series championship victory parade. Now, I was smart enough to watch that on TV, because you can, you know, you just, you know, that's, you know, a third of the people around the Kansas City area, you know, a quarter to a third of the people who were, you know, trying to get down there over a two-hour period when this was happening.

And, of course, it ultimately concluded at Union Station, which is kind of down in the central part of town with a rally. And as I wrote down here, gridlock for so many people who wanted to join in this celebration. And, of course, it kind of culminates, the Royals had done very well throughout this year, and then getting into the World Series and ultimately winning the World Series in five games, for winning four out of five games against the New York Mets.

In many ways, that was very improbable. But it did actually start last year, where they were getting better. I'm talking about the Royals baseball team. They were getting better. They improbably won several important games right at the end of the year and ended up getting into the World Series.

And then getting to game seven, which would be the final game, three and three, for San Francisco and Kansas City. And then the Royals lost with the runner on third and behind by one, I believe. So, I mean, they got so close to winning the World Series last year, and people really didn't give them much of a chance to win that. And so they kind of anticipated or thought they would do a little better this year. And yet, of course, this year they did.

They did do a great deal better. They were crowned World Series champions after a convincing and often come from behind. That was the way, in many ways, that this team won the World Series crown. That they were often behind, and behind even in late innings, and yet would keep going. They would keep going, and even in the bottom of the ninth, sometimes, you know, they did end up with a run that either caught them up or got them ahead. And actually, what you find about this team is there are a number of pretty good qualities that they put together.

They've got a lot of camaraderie. Of course, any Major League Baseball team, the people are young. I mean, they're 20s, 30s, you know, for the most part. And so they're, you know, they have a nice camaraderie on this team. They've been seemingly pulling for one another. They really have an incredible defense.

And you could see whenever you watched, if you watched anything about them this year, they kind of, you know, they kept the line moving was what they kept saying. They were a contact hitting. They weren't hitting as many home runs as many of the other teams. But if you hit a number of singles or doubles in a row, then you ultimately end up scoring runs.

And then they had a great bullpen, as far as their pitchers that they could bring in. Once you got to the sixth inning, you pretty well knew the other team wasn't going to score much. And so they had a lot of things going for them.

And the headline of the Kansas City Star, I guess it must have been Monday morning, was royalty crowned. And of course, a big picture of a baseball player, one of them on there, probably swinging the bat, but then royalty crowned. And interestingly, even the, you know, the baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, has as a logo, you know, that what do you do for a royal? Well, they've got Mr. Jackson's crown. It wasn't a horn crown, it was a real crown, and that is a part of their logo.

And actually, if I think back a number of years back, when the Ambassador College teams played, you know, their logo, I guess, or their, what would you call it, it's not really a mascot, I guess logo was the Royals. And, you know, that was what they were using at the time. And of course, there is a significance to that that we want to study and think more about. We've already had a great introduction. I want to be able to go into a little more detail about how it is that we're seeking this crown from God.

That's going to happen at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, we need to be anticipating, we need to be developing here in 1 Corinthians 9. This was referred to, but I'll read at least a part of what was mentioned here, because you see something that the Apostle Paul writes in connection with Christianity, in connection with a Christian life. And he describes our lives as a race, as we've had mentioned. And I want to cover this a little bit here in verse 24. He says, Do you not know that in a race, this is 1 Corinthians 9.24, in a race, the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize.

See, if you're running a marathon, or if you're running a even a mile race, or even a hundred yard dash, that dates me, doesn't it? A hundred yard dash, it's meters now, as far as the way they use them. But see, Paul was writing this description, he was writing this analogy because he was familiar, even during his lifetime, of the Olympic Games that the Greeks had promoted.

And I would say, being a tentmaker, which he was, he was very familiar and maybe even involved, at times in preparation for some of the temporary dwellings that the Olympic athletes would use. So he was pretty familiar, and he uses this kind of a description, not only right here, but in others of his writings. But here, in verse 25, oh, he goes on in verse 24, that say that we should run in such a way that we can win. And so we need to be able to be anticipating success.

And looking forward to that, he says in verse 25, athletes exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, or a perishable wreath. You remember seeing the wreath around, a wreath of some kind of a plant. I'm not sure exactly what the wreath was made of, but that would be the garland that would be given to the winner in an Olympic event. But it says athletes, if they're competing in a race, they do that to receive a perishable crown, but we, an incorruptible or an imperishable crown.

And so I do not run. This is what he said about himself, and he was encouraging the Corinthians to understand this. I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though I'm just beating the air, but I punish my body. I bruise and enslave it so that after proclaiming to others, I myself should not be disqualified. Now he makes a number of points in that short section. It's not simply about a race, but about how to prepare for the race, how to endure the race, how to achieve the race. And that is, of course, what I want to focus on for all of us today. You know, Paul truly had a glorious hope. Now we have read to you verses dealing with a crown of life, and clearly that is what we will receive. A crown that will be, in essence, eternal life.

And yet another description that we find is here in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Paul is writing this at the end of his life. 2 Timothy chapter 4.

He says, verse 7, I fought a good fight. I finished the race. And so again, he's making another analogy of a race, of our lives being not aimlessly blundering through year after year, but purposely looking forward to the end, to the end of the race. He says, I fought a good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith. And from now on, there is reserved before me the crown of righteousness. See, the righteousness that we are to be growing in is the type of life that we want to live for all eternity. He says, I'm looking forward to this crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all. All who long for his appearing. See, now Paul died 2,000 years ago. You know, we are living in a time that we see or feel is approaching the appearing of Jesus Christ. And yet he writes about us seeking that crown of righteousness. You actually see it also stated as a crown of life in James 1, verse 12.

James 1, verse 12, it says, blessed is anyone who endures temptation.

And so again, our lives are going to be, you know, we're, they're not going to be a piece of cake. They're not going to be just, you know, like, you know, tripping into something and falling into success. It says, blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. So again, another, another description. So I want to just discuss several things here regarding how we can ensure that we receive the crown that God wants to give us. He wants us to be in his family. He wants us to be given this crown of life or this crown of righteousness. And I think it's important, and of course we want to be guarding, the statement was read earlier in Revelation, about let no man take your crown. You know, don't allow yourself to be sidetracked by men or by anyone. Our focus has got to be on Jesus Christ. Our focus has got to be on the fact that he must live in us. Our focus needs to be on his appearing and on him being the one who will give, you know, the crown of righteousness. But also, I think it's important that we're reminded that our time of judgment, our time of judgment is right now. See, we know from understanding certain verses in the Bible, and we have information that gives us understanding of the understanding of the plan of God and what appears to be time frames that are in front of us and how that so many people are going to be given an opportunity to know God at those times in the millennium of white throne judgment, you know, times that are yet in the future. But see, do we really recognize that our time of judgment is right now? See, too many times that can evade us. That can, you know, we can forget. And whenever I read a verse about standing before the judgment seat of Christ, when is that? When is that? Is that at a given time whenever Christ returns? See, what we believe is as He returns, He's going to change us into spirit beings. Now, it could be right at that point. But I think we should also perhaps think, well, the time of judgment before Jesus Christ, a period of judgment that I'm experiencing is during this physical lifetime. And that's the same for you. So each of us have to understand and be motivated by, you know, that fact. So I want to mention four things here, and I'll see how many of these I can get through. But four things that athletes, as Paul was describing a Christian life as a race, you know, what was it that athletes had to be doing in order to be successful? And how is it that those can be applicable to us? I think we could say, certainly there needs to be motivation. We need self-control. We need to be trained. And finally, we obviously have to endure. Motivation, self-control, training, and endurance. Now, if anyone's going to run a marathon, I know we've got some of you who do running. I don't know if you've run marathons before, but perhaps you have. I do know several people who have run marathons that doesn't appeal to me. That appears to be 26 miles of pain to me. I couldn't even consider running the .3, not the .26, the .3, without a lot of suffering right now. And yet, see, motivation, self-control, training, and endurance are all an aspect of, if someone runs certainly a long-distance race, and I think that's perhaps the type of race we could think of most easily, we don't want to think that our Christian life is a hundred-yard dash. You know, it's just flashing the pan and it's over, and we're done. You know, it's the long race. It's the very long race. So let's look at the first of those four points, the importance of motivation.

See, now, the royals are motivated in Kansas City. They're motivated, first of all, by money.

I believe I heard, or at least I was told, I don't know whether it was accurate. I think every one of the players on the team made $400,000 just for playing in the World Series. So they're motivated by money, but they're also motivated by fame and glory and recognition, and of course, this huge trophy, or a very beautiful trophy. They had a huge one in a truck, which was a mock trophy, but the trophy itself is a, you know, extremely, I'm sure, valuable and very attractive World Series trophy. And yet, whatever motivation they have, it's all temporary. You know, the crown that they receive is temporary. Actually, even the trophy itself kind of looks like a crown as well.

And so, you know, whenever we think about what Paul said, he said, you know, I fought a good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. And so a crown of righteousness is laid up for me.

See, Paul had a vision. He didn't say, I hope that I receive a crown of righteousness. That's not what he said. He said, I am confident that I have striven to yield myself to God in such a way during the period of judgment of Jesus Christ that I am confident, confident of receiving this crown of righteousness. Peter actually mentions over here in 1 and 2 Peter, he mentions, you know, how it is that we can be motivated. See, what is it that motivates you? What is it that motivates each of us? You know, our ages vary. You know, we probably at different times in our lives have had different motivations. And yet, what is it that motivates us toward the kingdom of God? What is it that motivates me toward eternal life? Well, I think it's good for us to think of that. Here in 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 3, you actually see Peter writing about and in a sense kind of pointing out that Christians need to be motivated toward what God is offering. They need to have a vision of what God is offering. It says in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by His great mercy. He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. See, because Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, He lived His physical life. He died. And He was resurrected. We have hope of being resurrected as well. He goes on to say, and we have this living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance. And so here He's describing our crown of righteousness or crown of life as an inheritance from God, an inheritance that is imperishable. It is undefiled and it is unfading. Captain Heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And in this, because we know what God is offering, because we are motivated by the privilege of being a part of God's divine family, you know, we rejoice. Verse 6, in this we rejoice, even if now for a little while you've had to suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith being more precious than gold that perishes is tested by fire, it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus is revealed. And although we've not seen Him, we love Him. And even though we don't see Him now, you believe in Him and you rejoice with an indescribable and joyous or glorious joy. You're going to receive the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. See, what's the purpose of living a life of faith? What's the first purpose of having faith now? Well, there is benefit to obeying God and receiving His blood benefits and blessings, but that's not really the prime motivation. The prime motivation is what God holds out before us. If we drop down a little further here in 2 Peter chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3 says in verse 11, since all of these things are to be dissolved, talking about the earth and the heavens, what sort of person sought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire.

But in accordance with His promise, we wait for new heavens and new earth where righteousness is at home. And he goes on to say, therefore brethren, while you're waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. See, this is what we are looking forward to. We look forward to, we honor God, we obey God, because we certainly want to turn from sin and we don't want to re-crucify our Savior through our sins, but we look forward to a salvation that God holds out before us. And again, if we back up one page here in 1 Peter chapter 4, this is what I was mentioning.

I was mentioning how it is that we are living in a period of judgment today. Too many times that can not be in our focus. That cannot be, it should be a motivating factor. It should be an inspiring and uplifting factor to realize, you know, God has blessed me with some knowledge and He has blessed me with the Spirit of God. He wants me to be inspired by His Word. He wants me to be led by His Spirit. And yet I need to be motivated to keep that in mind. I need to be motivated to that here in 1 Peter 4. It says, starting in verse 15, Let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or a criminal or even a mischief maker.

So those of you who have been making mischief, you know, this says don't do that. It says something else in the New King James, I know. But see, that's what this translation says. Don't let any of you suffer as a murder or a thief or criminal or even a mischief maker.

Yet if any of you suffer as a Christian, don't consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear His name, this name of Jesus. For the time has come, in verse 17, for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? See, if judgment is upon the household of God today, I need to keep that in mind. I need to think about that every day. I need to consider that fact. I need to be motivated by not just the fact of what God holds out before me, but the fact that I understand that I am under judgment now. So the first thing that we mention about running our race and seeking the crown of righteousness is the importance of motivation. Secondly, the importance of self-control. Now, this is a part of what Paul mentioned. He mentioned self-control. He mentioned exercise or training. He mentioned enduring. We're going to go through all of these, but you know, is self-control important? Well, unfortunately, we often think and then we often say things that should have been edited. Should have been edited prior, but, you know, unfortunately, we do know that God is merciful and He is able to forgive us. But see, as Christians, should we not have self-control? Do we not have to be aware of what God says to do and what He says not to do? And then we have to make decisions and judge. Here in 1 Peter 2, back up another page.

In verse 11, he says, Beloved, I urge you, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles so that though they malign you as evildoers, that they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when He comes to judge, when He comes in this day of His urn. See, people ultimately are going to be able to reflect on our actions, but here he tells us to have some self-control, to abstain from things we know that are wrong. And acts wonderful to see here in Romans chapter 8.

I won't say a whole lot more about self-control except that it's very clear that, you know, if we're going to be running the race and doing it well, then we're going to be properly motivated. We are going to have to be abstaining from things we know are wrong. But here in Romans chapter 8, of course, this whole chapter talks about the Spirit of God and how it is that God has not left us alone. See, this is what Jesus told His disciples. He says, I'm going to leave, but I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to send the comforter to you. I'm going to send the Spirit of truth. I'm going to send the power of God to be able to help you do what you have come to know I need to do. See, I can't do this on my own. I need help. And so here in verse 11, it says, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, so if the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of God, what kind of power is that? What kind of authority is that? What kind of aid or help is the power of God? If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will give you life. He will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you. So that, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if we live according to the flesh, we'll die. But if we live by the Spirit, if we live with the help of the Spirit of God, understanding it's available, understanding as we learn more about the Creator God, how powerful He is, and how much He is. You read verses of, well, with man it is impossible, but with God it is all possible. Man has limitations, but God has no limitations. He is all powerful, and He is able to dwell with us. So in verse 13, if we live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, then you will live. And all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. See, God wants us not just to keep from doing wrong. He wants us to thrive with His Spirit living in us. He wants us to be nurtured that way. And we're, as we do that, then we're able to put to death the deeds of the body. That's how we can do it. It's not that we're so much better people than everybody up and down the street. It's that with the help of the Spirit of God, we can have self-control. So motivation is important. Self-control is important. What's the importance of training? Well, here in 1 Timothy 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1, wherever Timothy is. I know it's in here. It was in here yesterday. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Paul gave Timothy some instruction as a younger minister. He wanted him to be a good minister of Jesus Christ.

He told him, verse 6, to put these instructions before the brethren. If you do, then you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and the sound teaching that you have followed. And so, you know, he had set an example. He wanted Timothy to follow it. He said, remind the brethren to do this as well. Have nothing to do with profane myths and wives' tales. Train yourself, verse 7, in godliness. For while physical training and if you're going to run any kind of a longer distance race, certainly any kind of marathon, you're going to need to do training. You're going to have to train. But here he says, train yourself in godliness. For while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. So it's a wonderful benefit to pursue godliness. Not only now, but as it says, in our future crown of life or crown of righteousness. And if we back up to Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, you've got an entire list of things that we should do that would be training. Training us.

It says here in Romans 12 verse 9. Romans 12, starting in verse 9, he says, let love be genuine, hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good. Let love be genuine.

Now, can love be not genuine? Well, it says, let love be genuine. That's saying that we want to be pure. We want to be sincere in our love, as he's going to say, for one another. Verse 10, love one another with mutual affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor. Verse 11, don't lag and zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope and be patient in suffering and persevere in prayer.

Now, these are all aspects of our training. Consistently drawing close to God in prayer, consistently studying the Word of God, and in essence, not just studying but being inspired by the Word of God and led by the Spirit of God. If we do that, then our love is going to be genuine.

Our love for one another is going to have mutual affection, rejoicing in hope and patient and suffering and persevere in prayer. See, those are products.

Of training, products of drawing close to God.

Verse 11, or excuse me, verse 13, contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to strangers. See, how does this apply to us? Well, this is our training. This is part of the training that God is wanting to see in us. He's wanting to see us grow in this. He goes on to say in verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. See, we have opportunity all the time. We find out way too many times of people who are needing comfort and encouragement and healing, but we can weep with them. We can rejoice whenever we hear of success and improvement and abundance that God has provided.

Rejoice with those who rejoice. Verse 16, live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take nothing for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. And finally, down in verse 21, he says, don't overcome or be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. See, now that's a part of our training. It's a part of the training that we are participating in as we are drawn close to God. It's not just something we need to do. It's not just something we have to do. It's something we should want to do in order to ultimately have the crown, to have the crown of righteousness that God holds out before us. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, we go over to Timothy again, you also see Paul telling Timothy how it was that he felt he was in training. In 1 Corinthians 9, he mentioned that I bruise my body, I control myself, I determine what I do want to do, and I then say or shun what I don't want to do. I know that's a struggle, but I know I have to do it. And here in 1 Timothy 1, Paul acknowledges that he clearly was not without sin. He was not sinless, but he certainly deeply appreciated the mercy of God.

Here in verse 12 of 1 Timothy 1, he says, I'm grateful to Jesus Christ our Lord, who strengthens me. We read that in Philippians. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Here, he writes it in a little different way, I'm grateful to Jesus Christ our Lord, who has strengthened me because he judged me faithful and appointed me in his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemy mirror and a persecutor and a man of violence. But here in verse 13, he says, I received mercy. See, that's where all of us should be. We have to be reminded of that, but that is clearly what God has done in drawing us to be a part of the Church of God today and understanding that judgment is upon the house, the household, the Church of God today, that if we understand that, then we understand we've been extended mercy. He says, I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. See, he had been deceived, even as all of us have been deceived in the past, and we are brought to an awareness of that deception and come out of that. He says, I've received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that is in Jesus Christ. And this saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. That was how he looked at himself. He wasn't looking at all the other sinners per se. He understood them to be sinners, clearly, and yet he says my focus is the fact that, well, you know, I need to work on me. God needs to purify me. God needs to continue to help me understand the value of his mercy. But in verse 16, for that very reason, because I was a sinner, for that very reason I received mercy. So that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example of those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

If Paul understood that, you know, my example, if God can do this, if God can turn me around and head me in the right direction instead of the wrong direction, doing that by his mercy, then he can do that for anyone. He can do that for all of us. And so he understood, and this was a part of his outlook, a part of the training as far as drawing close to God, drawing closer to Jesus Christ, living by faith, he understood that that was to be an example to others, and that that was going to benefit them, those who would believe in him in order to have eternal life. And he kind of closes this opening section here in verse 17. The king of the ages, the immortal one, the invisible, and only God be honor and glory forever and ever. So he was not looking at himself in a derogatory way. He was looking at, you know, God has been merciful. I need to be reciprocating that glory and praise and honor toward God. And so, you know, as a part of our training, you know, we are simply drawing closer to God. We are focusing more on God's plan and purpose for us. And then finally, the fourth thing I mentioned was that we want to endure to the end of the race. We want to finish our personal race. Now we don't know what we're going to go through between now and the time Christ returns, or we die. I have to look back over 66 years and say that there are about 66 years that were pretty good. I don't have a lot to complain about. Now there's been a lot of ups and downs and difficulties, but I have very little to complain about. I don't know what 66 to 80, 85, or 70, or 68, whatever that is, I don't know what that time frame is going to be like. None of you do either. Whether you're in your 80s or whether you're in your 20s or 30s or 40s. We just don't know. We don't know what we're going to go through. But God just tells us, endure to the end.

And even we read in the sermon at Revelation 3, and Christ was stating to the church in Philadelphia, maybe we could go to that and read it again. Revelation 3, verse 7, he says to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right?

And he says in verse 8, I know your works. In the latter part of verse 8, he says, you have kept my word, and you have not denied my name. Clearly, we want to fit into that kind of a description. And we want to be faithful. We want to be persevering. We want to be persistent.

Yet he goes on in verse 9, I will make... well, let's drop on down to verse 10, because you have kept my word. Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, and I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming in the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. Now, we certainly want that blessing. We want that benefit.

But he says, well, I need to keep his word. I need to continue to be persistent.

And he goes on in verse 11, I'm coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one, no man may seize or take your crown. So we don't want to be sidetracked by people.

We want to keep our eyes on the one who is able to help us, the one who is able to empower us.

And of course, that is Jesus Christ. He's the one who's got to be the focus of our endurance.

And you find this very clearly written here in Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12, of course, follows right behind a listing of people of faith.

People that God worked with and that lived faithfully throughout their lives. But all of them died, it says in verse chapter 11, verse 13, it says, all of these died in faith without having received the promises. But they, from a distance, they saw those promises and they greeted them. See, that's what all of us as Christians can do. That's what all of us, you know, we can have the motivation of an eternal crown and a crown of life or righteousness. So it's talking about a crown of eternal life. And yet here in Hebrews 12, he says, therefore, in verse 1, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely. And we want to be on guard against sin and the fact that we have failings every day, every hour. You know, there are limitations that we have. But he says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. And so here he pretty well tells us exactly what we need to do. You know, don't give up on the race, just continue. Continue. To faithfully endure. But then he says in verse 2, even more importantly, don't just think I need to continue, that I need to be persevering or persistent. He says in verse 2, you need to look.

Look to Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of your faith, the one who started it and the one who is able to finish it. So look to Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of your faith, who, for the sake of the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. See, do we, you know, we can think back and we obviously rehearse the life of Jesus and the death and resurrection of Jesus during the Passover time. We think back, we go through these things every year. This needs to be an everyday awareness that I can look to Jesus Christ who can absolutely stabilize me because He's God. He's at the right hand of the Father. He is in, you know, the capacity to make us successful. And He goes on to say in verse 3, consider Jesus, consider Him who endured such hostility against Himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. See, we don't want to give up. We don't want to fail in our approaching the accepting of the crown. But He says, consider Him who endured such hostility against Himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you've not yet resisted the point of shedding your own blood.

We haven't. You know, we're all still alive. We're all still in process. We're all still growing.

But in essence, we're all still enduring. We're enduring to the time of the end the coming of Jesus and the time when a crown of life and crown of righteousness can be bestowed upon us. So having the right motivation, having self-control and having training are all going to be helpful for us. And finally, knowing that we simply want to endure. See, that's what Paul said. He said there in 1 Corinthians 9 that I don't want to, what we read in verse 24 to verse 27, I think it's verse 27, he says, I don't want to fail after I've preached to everybody else what they need to do. He says, I want to keep going. I want to be persistent. I want to endure.

And you find this similar thought reflected here in Philippians 3.

So we will conclude this description or discussion of crowns in Philippians chapter 3.

Because here in Philippians 3, you see, we've been given instruction as far as being properly motivated, setting the right tone of training, and being desirous of enduring, and knowing that we can do that because Jesus is the one who's able to help us. But Paul says here in Philippians 3, verse 12, he says, not that I have already obtained or have already reached the goal.

You know, he wouldn't be writing that if he had. He could reach the goal when he died and simply then await the crown of righteousness that God had laid up for him and that God would bestow upon him whenever Christ returns. But he says, I've not already obtained this or I've not already reached the goal. But he says, I press on to make it my own because Jesus Christ has made me his own. See, he has brought us into a unity and a union with the Father that is impossible on our own. He's the one who is able to enable, empower us to seek the crown of righteousness. Beloved, he says in verse 13, I don't consider that I've made it my own, but this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ. So he says, I'm going to continue to keep these things in mind. I'm going to continue to do the work God has commissioned me to do. I'm going to continue to write letters that whether he understood or knew, they would later be a part of what we would read today. He says, I want to press toward that goal, press toward the goal, the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ, and let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind.

See, this was his objective. This was his, in a sense, kind of a driving force that he wanted to achieve. He says, we've got to hold fast. We've got to continue to be persistent. But he says in verse 17, brethren, join in imitating me and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. So he says, others would like to take you away from that. Don't do it. Don't let anyone do that. But keep your eyes on Jesus Christ, the one that he says in verse 12, the one who is able to empower and strengthen and inspire us.

So I think it's significant that we think about the crown today, the crown that God holds out before us. A crown of gold that Mr. Jackson had on, not the corruptible crown of horns, but the crown of gold, the crown of life, the crown of righteousness that God holds out before us. He wants us to be a part of his divine family. He wants us to be his children. He wants us to have glory like Jesus has today. And yet the way we're going to do that is, I think, pretty easily spelled out as we trust, as we have faith, as we grow in our race for eternal life. So keep those things in mind. And I'm glad that the royals now have a crown. But that crown is going to be dismantled. You know, the team is going to be broken up. There are going to be, you know, people who will leave and others who will come in and they'll try again next time, and then we'll count for virtually nothing except we can say we did it. And yet all of us have a crown that's not temporary, not perishable, but a crown that is eternal.