Let No One Take Your Crown

As a baptized Christian, God's people have as an inheritance the hope that we will receive a crown given to us by God. But will we value that hope and ensure that we continue in the faith? That crown can be lost, but that's up to us.

Transcript

This transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors. It is provided to assist those who may not be able to listen to the message.

Well, it's good to be with you this afternoon. Always good to come to other areas and meet new people, a new brethren. It's great to get to know some of you and have an opportunity to meet you.

I often get some interesting comments when people meet me for the first time.

It's not usually, well, Mr. Myers, you give amazing sermons. You are just a fantastic presenter.

Eh, don't usually get that. Do you know what the number one comment is that I normally hear?

You're a lot shorter than I thought you'd be.

So that's usually the comment that I'm used to hearing. And you're right, I am. I guess the only solace I have in that is Gary Petty's no taller than I am. So when you meet us together, we're on the same level in that regard. Well, it is good to be together. I bring greetings from the home office. You heard some of the events that are coming up.

We just recently had our Council of Elders meetings that wrapped up just a little over a week ago. And so appreciate your prayers for their guidance and getting planning going. Certainly one of the things that we're already beginning is our planning for this next year's strategic planning, which would be the Operations Plan and the budget, all of those kinds of things. So appreciate your prayers and inspiration on them. You heard about our Winter Family Weekend that's coming up in Cincinnati. How many of you are planning to go over?

A number of you planning to go over? All right. Right, there will be. Looks to be the biggest event in the United Church of God, at least for the last 13 years or more. So it is going to be at a beautiful facility. If you've been online and looked at the facility, it is a fantastic venue with the hotel right there, with the sports facilities.

And it is, I think, going to be remarkable. And so I think you'll really enjoy the Winter Family Weekend. Of course, as you know, one of the reasons we're here, of course, is we have our Southeast Regional Pastors Conference. It's going to be beginning tomorrow, and we'll be getting together with all the pastors in the Southeast.

We've had an ambitious schedule to try to meet with all the pastors across the United States within nine months. So we're well on our way to doing that and hope to be finished with those in the United States by the end of the summer. So we're looking forward to that and it gives us an opportunity to serve our pastors, to be able to have better communication together, get to know each other a little better, as well as our President, Mr.

Shabie, getting to know all our pastors even better, as well. So we're really looking forward to that. And as you heard, appreciate your prayers. That all would go well. We've got a number of seminars that we'll be presenting as some educational opportunities. We'll also have many opportunities just for open dialogue, which we really look forward.

Lots of question and answer time and opportunities just to discuss things and be together and make sure we're speaking the same thing and that we're on the same page. And so we're certainly looking forward to that. So appreciate your prayers in that regard. Also, appreciate your prayers for what's coming next for a number of us. Mr. Darris McNeely, Mr. Rick Shabie, and I were traveling to the Philippines right after the Ministerial Conference here in the southeast.

We're going to have an all-Asia conference there in Manila. Looks like we'll have well over 50 individuals that will be attending. So that's all of our pastors and elders from the Philippines, as well as representatives from Myanmar, from Thailand, from Sri Lanka, from India, as well as we're praying for Bangladesh as well. A couple of the individuals are having some troubles with their visas, and so we're certainly praying that that would come through and they'd be able to attend. And so this will in a way be a sort of a first for those able to attend.

And it definitely seems God is doing something in Asia. He is moving, I think, very, very powerfully. And so your prayers in that regard that the elders and those that are able to attend will be able to come, and that God will certainly bless the conference we'll have there. And that one will last an entire week. And then from there, Mr. Shabie is going to be going to Hong Kong, Mr. McNeely is going to be going to Singapore, and we'll be going to the south of the Philippines in Mindanao to visit some members there and spend that Sabbath, last Sabbath of the year down there as well.

We're looking forward to the opportunity to meet Jed Tsai, if you remember hearing that name before, a lady who has been imprisoned with her brother in the south of Philippines. Part of it because of her beliefs, talking about standing up for what you believe, she's been persecuted for that and a number of other things because of that. And so we're really praying that that would work out, that we'd be able to see both her and her brother as well down there in the Philippines.

So thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for remembering all of those various things that are going on. Of course, we're excited to be here as well. There is a lot going on in the world today, isn't there? More recently, you might have watched a little bit of the series of programs that were recorded on Beyond Today.

We did a number on Satan in Your Church. We did another series on The Real Jesus. And Mr. McNeely did a series of programs on Joseph's birthright and the promises. And of course, that all was surrounding the coronation of the new king in Britain, King Charles.

And so, interesting that, I don't know if you realized it, that they put up Prince Charles' picture, since he was just about to become king, all over Britain. In fact, it's all over the internet as well. Do you know why they did that? You know why they were able to use his likeness in that way? Because he got royalties from it. Yeah. Yeah, you may have heard that he had to pause some of the activities there and go to the dentist. Because you know what he needed.

There you go. A crown. He needed a crown. All right, now I'm using those really bad jokes as a means of an introduction to my message this afternoon. If you want to turn with me over to Revelation 3, verse 7. Revelation 3, verse 7. Not just bad jokes all by themselves, but actually kind of connected with what I want to zero your attention on here in Revelation 3, verse 7. Here we're in the back end of the messages to the churches. Seven churches each have a message here in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3. Verse 7 is where Christ focuses on the message to the church in Philadelphia. So the message to the church in Philadelphia. And as you look at this message, not a lot of negative things going on here as with the other churches that were mentioned. But he does say something interesting as he comes down to verse 11. So notice Revelation 3, 11, the message to the church in Philadelphia. Christ gives this message. He says, Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

Interesting to look that passage up in other translations. If you looked it up in the English Standard Version, it says, Don't let anyone seize your crown. Or the message says, Keep a tight grip on what you have so no one distracts you and steals your crown.

Sounds pretty ominous when you consider those translations. Why? Why give that caution?

I mean, are there really people out there that are going to sneak up on you and grab that crown away from you? Is there some kind of contest for crowns that if we can pile them up, there's only so many available, so I better grab yours to make sure I've got one.

Is that part of what might be referred to?

The topic of crowns in the New Testament is an interesting one. If you've ever had an opportunity to study the different references, there are definitely quite a few of them. In the New Testament, there are five different crowns that are referred to, just in the New Testament. Now, leaving out the crown of thorns, that's one that they jammed on Christ's head at the crucifixion, not counting that one, there's a crown that's called the incorruptible crown.

You can find that in 1 Corinthians 9.25. There's also a crown of rejoicing.

That's found over in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 19. There's also the crown of righteousness.

Righteousness. That's found in 2 Timothy 4, verse 8. So how many are we up to so far? Okay, that's three. A fourth one that's mentioned, a crown of glory, 1 Peter 5, verse 2, a glorious crown. And then finally, in James 1, 12, also found in Revelation 2, 10, they refer to the crown of life, the crown of life. Now, you know what's interesting about these various crowns? It's not really five different crowns.

These are all referring to the one and same crown. Now, it's looking at different facets to that crown, different qualities of that particular crown. Some of the characteristics of that crown are referred to in different ways, but all the same. It's all the same crown. In fact, it's the same one that I think is referred to the one that we will receive. I know we're familiar, if you're still there in Revelation, turn over just a couple of pages to Revelation 5, verse 9. Revelation 5, verse 9, we find they're singing a new song to Jesus Christ. And notice the reference here how we're included in this particular passage in Revelation 5, 9. It says, they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. You were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God. And we shall reign on earth.

Now, a familiar passage, probably one that you heard at least once, I'm sure you heard it at the Feast of Tabernacles, because it points to that time of what? The time of the Feast of Tabernacles. Of what? The first resurrection. The time when Christ will return. That time when the millennium will be established right here on earth. And those who are in the first resurrection will be kings and priests, or literally a kingdom of priests, and they will receive a crown. And that one same crown is the crown of life. It's also the crown of righteousness. It's the crown of glory. It's the crown of rejoicing. It's the crown that is incorruptible. It can't fade away. It's not going to wear out.

And that word for crown, every one of those references is from the same Greek word.

And that's the word staphanos. Staphanos. It's S-T-E-P-H-A-N-O-S. Staphanos. And that appears a number of times throughout the Gospel. So it would certainly probably cause us to step back a little bit and ask, well, what exactly is a staphanos? What is a staphanos? Well, literally, it referred to something other than this crown of incorruption, this crown of rejoicing, this crown of righteousness.

Literally, the Greeks referred to a staphanos as a wreath or a laurel that would be put on someone's head after they were victorious in the games. And of course, you know the Greeks are famous for their games, famous for the Olympics, for one. The Ismian games for another, those games took place near Corinth, the Ismian games. The one and only victor of whatever event it would be would be given a staphanos, a wreath. Sometimes it would look like something like wilted celery in a way, this laurel that they would put on their head. In Corinth, in the Ismian games, oftentimes it was like a pine-type wreath that they put on their head, that they wove together into kind of a crown-like head cap. And so it was, I mean imagine as strange as that sound, something that looked like pine on your head or something like wilted celery was so sought after because it meant everything for those who would be the winners, for those who were victorious, because that was the ultimate emblem of victory. That meant you were the one and only victor. And so when you look at the way that it's used in the Bible, there's definitely a connection here. When you look through almost the entire New Testament, only the Greek word staphanos is used for crown, a staphanos.

In fact, you can get all the way up to the first half of the book of Revelation, and staphanos is the only word for crown. So with that in mind, when you read that word, an incorruptible crown, a crown of rejoicing, think victory, a victory crown that's incorruptible, a victory crown of righteousness, a victory crown of glory, all of those things, because it's expressing this honor that comes through victory. And a staphanos is awarded to all those who are victors.

So no wonder the Apostle Paul used this concept of the victory crown, the staphanos, as a representation of what's going to happen to us, for those of us who are in the first resurrection, for those of us who are there when Christ returns and are changed to spirit.

Notice what the Apostle Paul says. In fact, if you want to hold your place in Revelation, we'll come back and take a look at a prophecy here. But in the meantime, turn with me over to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 4, in verse 7, I'd like to read one of the references to this staphanos. And notice how Paul gives it the importance that was connected and really is kind of used as this metaphor of the games, of the victor, the one who would ultimately be victorious. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7, you probably know this passage. Paul says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. Oh, wait a second. Doesn't that sound interesting? What's the metaphor that he's using there? The games. He's using the games as the metaphor because in the games, they had races. In the games, they had wrestling, boxing. And so he uses that metaphor to bring home a spiritual point. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith.

So here's the agent, Apostle Paul, coming to the end of his life, having been faithful.

And what does he say? Verse 8, finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. And so here, the Apostle Paul is saying, I've been victorious in remaining faithful to God. I've been loyal to his ways. I've been loyal to my calling. I've kept the faith. I've run that race of faith all the way to the end. And he says, that crown is laid up. That victory crown is there. And so he's focusing on all, all true Christians who are loyal and faithful, they are going to be victorious. And it also tells us something else interesting about a crown. With my bad jokes at the beginning, you think of a crown. Do you think of a piece of celery on your head? No. You think of a royal crown.

That's not the kind of crown Paul's referring to. You see, a stefanos is not about royalty.

A stefanos is not about authority. It has nothing to do with those. Instead, it's being given the victory by God. God is honoring the victorious because those who are there will receive the victory through Jesus Christ. And so God has laid up that crown for all of those. That stefanos of life that we achieve, real life, eternal life, through Jesus Christ. So it's a stefanos of life. It's a stefanos of righteousness because we've achieved the victory in righteousness because we put on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

It's the stefanos of glory because in pursuing this hope of the glory that God set before us, God gives us that victory. And of course, what a time of rejoicing that will be, having lived the faith, having followed through, having integrity before God, and having fulfilled that calling. And so what an amazing scenario that the apostle Paul paints for us. Just reminding us that when you see that word crown in the New Testament, don't think royalty, don't think authority, but think winner. Think winner. Because that's what God wants for all of His people. He wants us all to be victorious. He wants us all to succeed.

God is a God of love and mercy and grace and wants every one of us to come to repentance and be a part of His family, ultimately. And so that's what we can begin to think when we see this word crown.

Now we better take just a moment and look at one other word. If you held your place there back in Revelation, go to Revelation 12, verse 3. This is the one other word that's used in the New Testament. You see it's all the way at the end of the book. The one other word that oftentimes is translated crown. And I think we'll notice something quite different about this word as opposed to Stephanos. So Revelation chapter 12, verse 3, here's that other word that's only here in the book of Revelation. Revelation 12, 3, it says, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. Now most translations say seven crowns on his head. That's not the word Stephanos. We know the dragon here that's being referred to is Satan the devil. And here we see this prophetic symbolism that's used here in Revelation 12, 3. These crowns that it refers to are, well here in the New King James it says diadems. And that's literally the Greek word, diadema. Diodema is the Greek word spelled just like diadem, a diadem. And so a diadem is on each of the seven heads, which we recognize represent world-ruling empires throughout history. So one head of Babylon, another head of Persia. We have four heads of Greece, and then we've got Rome, represented here with one more head. So crowns a diadem on each of those heads.

In fact, similar thing referred to just a chapter later. So if you turn the page to Revelation 13, notice what it tells us here. Similar kind of thing. It says, then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. So here is the beast power, that world-ruling empire at the very end time, described much like what we read in Revelation 12. And it has crowns, and that word once again is diadema, diadem, on the ten horns of this seventh head, which we recognize represents the ten revivals of the Roman Empire throughout history. And so, different kind of crown on Satan's head. Now it's also interesting, if we look to Revelation 19, we have one last occurrence of this word crown.

Quite different than the last two that we looked at. We saw Satan taking authority unto himself, and having these crowns. Revelation 19.12, a little bit different. Revelation 19.12, notice what it's describing here. It says, his eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. Who is this describing? In fact, it tells us then, he had a name written that no one knew except himself. Well, this is referring to Jesus Christ. It's referring to Christ, and here he has many crowns, many diadem, many diadem. So, we don't want to automatically connect diadems to evil. Yeah, Satan certainly is an evil ruler, and he's been the ruler of this world for, you know, centuries, right? And yet, at the end, here Christ has many crowns. Also kind of interesting to see that diadema is never singular in the New Testament. It's either seven, ten, or many.

And so, one of the things I hope we begin to see here, those two words, diadem and Stefanos, are not the same. They're not interchangeable. They're not synonymous.

And I believe God very deliberately didn't inspire the word Stefanos to refer to Satan in the book of Revelation. The diadema actually came, it seems, through the Persian kings, where they would have a turban with a blue band that would hold on this kingly type of turban or crown. And for them, it did signify authority. It signified royalty. It signified regal power, you might say. And so, interesting, that status that went along with it is what that diadem was all about. In fact, if you study the way the use of diadema came about throughout the centuries, yeah, it went from the Persians and morphed many different ways throughout the centuries, so that even today, if you're in the military, you've probably seen the pictures of the different officers who have these boards that indicate their rank on their shoulders. Those have a connection, similarly, to this diadema, where it had the rank, the authority of a general or a colonel or a major. Those shoulder boards seem to be connected in their development to the idea of a diadema. And I think one thing does become obvious when you consider the use of this word in the Bible. It becomes very obvious a diadema is not a reward. It's not a reward for anything.

We, as Christians, are not promised a royal crown. We're not promised that crown.

In fact, Revelation 12 has an interesting reference in it. Take a look at Revelation 12, verse 1.

Here we have a reference to God's church. Notice the reference here at the very beginning of chapter 12. It says, Now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun.

Now, it's interesting in Scripture, a woman often is representative of a church. It could be a false church. It could be the true church. Well, here this woman is the true church. Notice her clothing.

This woman, the church, is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Or some translations, New King James says, a garland of 12 stars. That garland, right, that laurel, that wreath is on her head. Guess what word garland is?

Stephanos. And on her head a Stephanos of 12 stars. So here we find the church of God is pictured with a Stephanos on her head. And then verse 3 switches to Satan, and we're told he's got the authority. He sees the authority to himself. He's ignored God's supremacy and tried to rule on his own. And so interesting that God makes it very clear Stephanos does not apply to Satan, not in any way. But on the other hand, it does refer to Christ. It does refer to Christ. Christ has both the royal crown that we read about a little bit earlier that diadem many of them.

Revelation 14.14 reminds us that he also has one golden Stephanos, one golden crown. And so Christ carries both authority and royalty. He is the ultimate ruler. And so it identifies him as King of kings and Lord of lords who exercises righteous authority and power. And so very interesting that the way the word is used. The fact that Stephanos is always associated with victory, and also the fact that the prerequisite, what has to happen before we're a part of God's kingdom, is that we have to be given the victory before we're kings and priests in the kingdom of God.

We have to receive that victory crown. And of course, we recognize here evil people never achieve victory before God. Okay, well, what does any of this have to do with where we began this afternoon? Well, we began back there in Revelation 3.11. If you're still in Revelation, you could flip the pages just to remind yourself where we were. That's where Christ said to Philadelphia, Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. I have to ask the question, how can I assure the fact that I will be victorious? How am I going to be able to win this race? How am I going to be able to finish the course the way that the Apostle Paul had said he had? Well, we have a key right here. Hold fast. Hold fast. I mean, it means carefully and faithfully continue to hold on. You know, like seize it. Don't let go of it. You know, if you're going to have the victory, you've got to hang on, spiritually speaking, with all your spiritual strength that you've got through the help of Jesus Christ, which means I've got to take personal responsibility. It's nobody else's job. It's what God's called me to. I'm accountable. Each one of us individually are accountable to God. It's our Christian duty to do just that. And if we do, He says, we are assured of that crown. Now, it is interesting then, right after saying hold fast, He says that no one may take your crown. Some say, no man take your crown. King James says that. Well, is that implying then somebody else could sneak up behind us and grab it and take it away from us? No. I mean, some might say, well, Satan could get to us or some other powerful demonic force.

Well, no doubt we are fighting a spiritual battle. And Satan, I mean, his dream is to trip us up and make us fall. He is the destroyer. He's the accuser. He's the deceiver. Yes, that's something we certainly have to be aware of. But is it possible that he could even take it from us? I don't think so. I don't think so. Now, I'm not saying one saved always saved, but I'm saying the responsibility is ours. The responsibility is ours. If you look up the word take in the Greek here, let no one take your crown. This is the Greek word lambano, L-A-M-B-A-N-O, lambano. And it can mean to take, but it can also mean to receive, which almost seems exactly opposite. There's a big difference in English between taking and receiving, isn't there? Yeah, if someone's receiving, we're getting it from someone else. If someone's taking it, they're grabbing it from us, and it's almost like you're willing to give it away. Now, the interesting thing, in Greek, that distinction is not there in the language. And so lambano covers both receiving and taking. And so it's interesting, if you were to read this passage in Young's literal translation, basically a little literal translation of the Greek, it says this in Revelation 3.11, you could follow along, it says, Beholding fast that which you have, that no one may receive your crown, that no one may receive. That almost sounds a little funny, doesn't it? What do you mean, someone else received my crown? Well, we could say, with all your strength, hold on to what you've got, what God has laid up for you, so that no one else receives your stefanos, your symbol of victory. Well, if we don't hold on to our crown, if we don't live the way of righteousness, we're giving it up to somebody else. We're the ones giving it up. So it's certainly a misunderstanding to think that some other human being has the power to take what God has ordained for us. They can't take it. God's prepared this. That's what Paul said. There's laid up for me a crown. It's laid up. He was ready to receive it. Could he have disqualified himself?

Absolutely. Could Satan automatically disqualify Paul? No. Paul would have to fall to his impressions, to his deceitfulness, to his sway. So it's interesting to think this crown can't be stolen. It can't be bought. It can't be sold. It's impossible for any other human being or even Satan himself to take it from us. We can give it up by following after him, certainly. But whether or not we end up actually receiving the crown that's set aside for us has always been a matter between us as individuals and God. I think it's so important for us to recognize God's called us to succeed. He hasn't called us to fail. He has called us to succeed. And now it's up to us to submit ourselves to God's Holy Spirit and let him rule in our lives. And that makes all the difference because we could risk giving up our crown. And it can happen in a number of ways. We could give it up. We could not hang on to it. I think sometimes we risk giving up our crown by putting our faith in others rather than putting our confidence in God. Can people get tripped up that way? Yeah, all too often we may put some up on a pedestal. We idealize someone as a Christian. We overly admire them. We look to them, and it could be anyone in the congregation, could be a deacon, an elder, a minister, a pastor, whatever.

Because sometimes we fall into this idea that, wow, they must be perfect. And then when we find out they're not, it really brings us down. We set ourselves up thinking, wow, if they're vulnerable, I probably am too. And so we have to be so careful of that. Didn't the apostle Paul tell us about that? You might just make a note of 2 Corinthians 10-12. That's where Paul said, don't compare yourselves among yourselves. Don't measure yourself by other human beings.

What is our only measure? Christ. Only the measure and stature of Christ. That's what we're striving for. So we don't want to fall into the trap of idolizing anyone else and then have that potential when we see, oh boy, it's kind of rough. Yeah, we could even get in a bad attitude when we see things like that. No, he says, don't do that. Don't do that. Instead, hold fast. Hold fast because you're individually responsible. It's your job. So if we always look to the standard of Christ, that's the right perspective. We don't want to look to the best man, the best that man has to offer. That's not the goal. That's not the standard. And so I think really understanding our personal responsibility to overcome and grow in the grace and knowledge and the stature of Jesus Christ will certainly help us so that we don't allow that crown to come off our head. Because sometimes it seems the silliest things can get us off track if we're not careful.

Sometimes we might be offended by someone. Someone has hurt us. Yeah, sometimes it's real. Other times, maybe it just seems like that. Someone hurt me. Someone caused offense. It might be just a perceived kind of thing. Maybe when I was really counting on someone, they seemed to turn their back on me. And yeah, well sometimes we can fall into that attitude that, wow, I got offended. Now my feelings are hurt. Now I'm upset about this. And if I allow that root of bitterness to grow, it could take me right out of God's way. And so what a great reminder that Christ wants us to continue to watch and be ready always. You remember the example that he gave in Luke 12, verse 39.

Luke 12, 39 is a powerful example. In fact, maybe we should turn there for just a moment. Luke chapter 9, verse 39, here Christ is giving a parable. And in this particular section, he talks about being taken in and not taking personal responsibility. Notice the difference here in Luke chapter 12. Let's see where we should pick this up. He says in verse 37, Luke 12, 37, blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.

Yeah, they have that crown laid up and they are spiritually awake. They are spiritually connected to God the Father and Jesus Christ. He says, surely I say to them, sit down and eat and I will come and serve them. And if you should come in the second watch or come into the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants. You see, they're continuing to live God's way no matter the timing.

But, verse 39, know this, if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready. Be ready. So I think that certainly is a reminder. Are the challenges going to come?

Absolutely. Is Satan going to try to undermine our faith? No doubt. Will others offend us along the way? Probably. Yeah, Satan's out to destroy us any way he possibly can get a foot in the door.

But when we recognize this, it's our duty to watch and stay close to God. Go to Him immediately.

With any of those things that might come about that could undermine our faith. Don't let an offense linger. Let's work it out. Let's go to our brother. Let's make sure that we use the spiritual weapons that we've been given and really fight the real enemy. The real enemy himself. That's ultimately Satan the devil. And so I think we begin to see some interesting aspects in making sure we don't give up that crown that's been laid aside for us. I think it speaks such a positive thing as well. Does God expect us to be there? Yes. Yes, He does. Now it's up to us to follow through. And the great thing about it, God's given us every opportunity and every spiritual tool that we need so that we can overcome. And I think something that goes importantly with that is that we have to be careful not to let anyone else define us. Because I think in a way we could give up our crown if we allow others to judge us and define who we really are. Have you ever been in that situation before? Anyone ever looked at you and decided, yep, that's who they are. They're not what they're cracked up to be. Perhaps you've been told, yeah, you're not good enough to be a part of God's way. Maybe you're not smart enough. You're not spiritual enough. You're not tall enough. Don't take your crown off. Don't allow that kind of negativity to bring you down. Don't let anyone else define who you are. You see, when we focus on what we're not, we focus on the mistakes that we've made, we focus on how we've fallen short, or maybe what somebody else is saying about us, I think that's where we could be at risk of giving up our victory crown. But Christ was the master at dealing with this. Did He have to deal with that kind of treatment? Boy, did He ever! He absolutely had to deal with that constantly through His earthly ministry, didn't He? There's an interesting example back in John chapter 5. Let's take a look there. John chapter 5, here in this section of Scripture, He's confronting the Jews.

And in this particular confrontation, it's an interesting one, because they are criticizing Him. They are putting Him down. They are trying to trip Him up. And as they're doing this, they're telling Him, you can't possibly be the Son of God. They're totally putting Him down.

And look at where He comes to. He says, interesting in verse 39, let's say we'll start there, John 5, 39. He says, you search the Scripture for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me. So He points to Scripture, but you're not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. You don't have the love of God in you. He's saying, don't let others define. You're not going to define Me. You're not going to tell Me who I am. I don't need praise from others. I don't need praise from people. That's not what counts. He's saying, men's disapproval or men's approval doesn't mean anything to me. I don't care what the crowd thinks. That's not what affects me. He says, I have God's approval. I have God's approval, and you don't even have God's love in you. Talk about a powerful example for all of us. He's saying, I know who I am. Nothing you do, nothing you say is going to change that. Your opinion doesn't really count. He's saying, you can honor me, or you can crucify me, but I'm keeping my crown. I'm not giving it up.

I'm not letting it go. I'm not going to give it away. You see, any points to the fact how fickle people can be? And boy, during His ministry, they certainly were. One minute, they're cheering for Him. The next minute, they're putting Him down. One minute, He's riding a donkey into town, and people waving palms, and cheering, and yelling, and celebrating Him as a coming king.

And then the next minute, they're yelling, crucify Him.

Yeah, people are fickle. You don't need people's approval. You see, God's called you. He has chosen you. He's called us to be in His eternal family.

We don't need other people's approval, because we have God Almighty's approval.

And that should be the attitude that rules our thinking. As Christ said, you can be for me or against me, but that is not going to sway my perspective. You can honor me or criticize me, but one thing's for certain, never give away your crown. And so God's intended us to win.

God's intended us to be victorious. That's the amazing news. Is God set us up for success? We know who the one is who wants us to fail, but God wants us to succeed.

Beautiful passage in James chapter 1 that I think that speaks to this very point, because we can think the same thing. We should say the same things. This should be on our mind, as what was on not only the apostle Paul's mind, but on James' mind as well. If you turn to James chapter 1, right at the very beginning of the book of James, some powerful things he mentions here.

Notice what he says in verse 12. James chapter 1 verse 12. He says, Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Ever broken down that particular verse? We personalize that you have been promised the crown. God's promised it to you. He wants to give it to you, like Paul said in 2 Timothy 4. He's laid up this crown of victory for you.

Now, yeah, I could mess it up. I could disqualify myself. But if I stay close to God, if I stay repentant, if I stay justified before him, if I'm on my way to putting on the character of Jesus Christ, he says that crown is waiting. He says, that's it. He will receive. It doesn't say, well, maybe I'll think about giving you a victory crown. No, it doesn't say that. He will receive. He will.

It's not in doubt. It's not in doubt. You know, as Philippians 1.6, he started a good work in you.

Is he going to give up on you? Is he going to change his mind about your calling?

Absolutely not. God will see it to completion. God will not fall short on what he has promised. And he has promised to never leave us, to never forsake us. And he's given us the power of his Holy Spirit to overcome, to overcome the wiles of Satan the devil. He's given us the power of his spirit to overcome our own human nature. So the good news is, this amazing potential that God has called us to is one that he can't wait to give us. So when we think of what it reminds us of in Revelation, let's never jeopardize our crown. Let's never jeopardize that. Let's never put others on a pedestal or compare ourselves among ourselves. Let's never get in that kind of an attitude and base our faith on someone else or someone else's example. Other than Jesus Christ, he's the only one. And we should never allow a perceived offense or a hurt to throw us off track.

And of course, we certainly want to be determined and have faith, have that confidence that we will never allow others to define us because God has defined us as victors. And he's promised us such a great inheritance. He's promised us a great victory for those who overcome, for those of us who hold fast in obedience to him, for those who submit to his spirit and allow God to rule in our life. He can't wait. He can't wait. And so Christ's admonition is such a powerful one for all of us.

He says, Behold, I come quickly. So with all of your strength, hold on to that calling that you've got so that no one else receives your victory crown.

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Steve is the Operation Manager for Ministerial and Member Services of the United Church of God. He is also an instructor at Ambassador Bible College and served as a host on the Beyond Today television program.  Together, he and his wife, Kathe, have served God and His people for over 30 years.