In continuation of the article in the October issue, entitled, A Word of Counsel, the writer would like to enlarge on the subject of CROWNS, which was briefly alluded to at the end of the article.
There are two kinds of crowns brought before our notice in the New Testament. First there is the monarch’s crown (Greek, diadeema). This the Lord Himself has the only right to wear. We read, “On His head were many crowns” (Rev. 19:12). Then there is the victor’s crown (Greek, stephanos). This is worn by the Lord Himself. We read, “Thou crownedst Him with glory and honour.” This crown the Lord earned as a dependent Man; though ever “God manifest in the flesh.” The stephanos is also awarded to the Christian, who is faithful.
Of course we must guard against a merely materialistic use of the word in this connection. The thought is spiritual surely, the word “CROWN” indicating the reward and honour to be bestowed in the day of glory because of faithfulness in some way or other during this life.
Let us enumerate the crowns.
THE CROWN OF LIFE
“Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him” (James 1:12). “Be thou faithful to death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
Here is a blessed incentive to the Christian to steadfastness. We are bound to find the current of the world against us. Further, we still have the flesh in us, and we have to deny the temptations that come from the flesh. The current of the world at present does not carry us to the length of martyrdom. If the current were as strong as that, what an incentive to stand firm to the end is the prospect of the crown of life. The current was strong enough in the days of the Smyrna church, to whom was addressed the words in the second of the texts just quoted.
The Lord has promised this crown to them that love Him. Those who love Him will find out that the world does not love Him, and would crucify Him afresh, if He were presented to it, as He once was. Thus they will find themselves against the current.
THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
The Apostle Paul at the end of his career of ardent service for Christ wrote, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 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” (2 Tim. 4:8). This is the reward given for faithfulness.
The Apostle could say that he had fought a good fight, that he had finished his course and had kept the faith. He was at the finish, we are in the midst of the fight. Do we sleep on beds of ease? Are we taking our place in the fight of faith? Sure it is, that we shall never earn the crown of righteousness save by faithfulness.
Alas! too many Christians, perhaps all of us in measure, are content to be assured that our souls are saved for ever, and are not very concerned as to taking our place in the Christian warfare. Oh! that we might be stimulated to greater earnestness in the things of the Lord, and not lose the reward.
THE CROWN INCORRUPTIBLE
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every one that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (1 Cor. 9:24-25).
Here the Apostle uses the illustration afforded by the athletic games of the Corinthian Isthmus. We all know of the strenuous training the athlete will subject himself to. How he will abstain from foods and drinks that would impair his fitness. In other words he is self-restrained, for that is the meaning of the word “temperate” in our text.
Are we gratifying our appetites, considering our ease, or are we exercising self-restraint? One earnest nobleman sold the family jewels, his carriages and horses, in order to spread the gospel in Russia. What an example for us all! We often give what we can spare of our time and money, but where is there the denial and self-restraint that will win this reward?
THE CROWN OF REJOICING
The Apostle writing to the believers at Thessalonica, to whose conversion he had been used, writes, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19-20). There is no joy like that of winning souls. No crown of rejoicing will there be like that which is the fruit of having been used, under God’s hand, in the salvation of an immortal soul. Have you tasted this joy? Have you sought to reach another soul for Christ? Pray about it. I heard of a young sister who wrote a very simple letter putting the way of salvation before a dying man, and it was used to the conversion of both husband and wife. The Lord stir us up in this matter.
THE CROWN OF GLORY
“When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away” (1 Peter 5:4). Here the Apostle Peter is addressing the pastors of the flock of God, and telling them of the unfading crown of glory that the Chief Shepherd will award to faithful under-shepherds. It is an unfading crown, unlike the laurel crown of the Corinthian games, that began to fade as soon as it was placed on the head of the victor.
Is there not in this an incentive to all of us. A girl of fourteen gets converted. How happy if a young Christian woman, but three or four years older in the Christian life, were to care specially for the soul of the young convert. Would she not be an under-shepherd? One thing is certain if we are faithful in little things, God will entrust us with greater. But the one who despises the little things, and who wants to do the big thing right away, is not the one to succeed.
A young medical student had his heart touched by the homeless condition of two lads, who were sleeping under an arch in the Whitechapel district. Little did he dream that that pity was the little acorn that was to grow into the mighty oak of the immense Dr. Barnardo’s homes, which have been the means of the salvation of many homeless, derelict lads and lasses.
OUR JOY! HIS JOY!
What joy will be ours, if we receive any of these crowns! But we may be assured that the Lord’s joy in awarding them will be infinitely greater than ours! What an hour of rejoicing it will be!
Alas! there may be many who will miss this joy, either in part or in whole. Are any of us doing all that we can in the way of winning souls or in caring for the sheep of Christ? Are we as steadfast and faithful and self-controlled as we might be?
The Lord stir us up as to these matters. One thing is certain, it is not human effort that will count, but it is in the strength of the Lord and in the power of His might. and from the springs of love and faith and hope, that we can go forward on these lines.
And further, when the believer is rewarded by receiving a crown or crowns at the judgment seat of Christ, there will be no flesh to be puffed up, but the crowns will be used to cast at the feet of Him who awarded them, and whose grace it was that worked in the believer this fruit for His praise.
So we read, “The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that lives for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne saying Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they were and are created” (Rev. 4:10-11).