The Crown of Rejoicing
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:54
0 ratings
· 1 viewFiles
Notes
Transcript
Intro: What brings you joy or rejoicing? What is that delights your soul, makes you want to celebrate?
Is it your children when they accomplish certain tasks or achieve certain honors?
Is it getting a job promotion you were seeking?
Is it grandchildren?
All of these should bring us joy and cause for celebration. But even then this rejoicing is only temporary.
Paul speaks of a “Crown of Rejoicing” that is eternal, one that won’t fade away, but this crown is one that is hard to earn and not all will receive it because it is the “Soul Winners Crown”.
Text; 1 Thes.2: 19-20
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
20 For you are our glory and joy.
Context; Paul had founded this church on his second missionary journey. And just like at other places, Paul was dogged and harassed by by Jews, which brought undue burdens upon the new congregation. So Paul and Timothy left for Athens to calm the chaos. Paul sent Timothy back to encourage the church and remind them of how much they mean to Paul.
Paul considered the greatest blessing he could possibly receive at the judgment seat of Christ was the rejoicing at the presence of those led to the Lord under his ministry. They were everything that was worth anything to Paul.
They were his hope; their development was what he lived for as a parent lives to see his children grow up to maturity, to produce and reproduce.
They were his joy; they filled his life with sunshine as he thought of what they used to be, what they had become, and what they would be by the grace of God.
They were his crown; they themselves were the symbol of God’s blessing on his life and ministry.
You are “our” glory and joy; not just Paul, but all who are his fellow laborers in the Lord with Him.
1. The Privilege of the Crown; 19
1. The Privilege of the Crown; 19
Privilege- a special right granted only to a particular person or group of people bringing about a particular pleasure.
Only the saved are privileged to share the gospel!
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
“I Love To Tell The Story” [pg. 626 The Worship Hymnal]
I love to tell the story of unseen things above; Of Jesus and His glory, Of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, Because I know tis true; It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story-tis pleasant to repeat, what seems each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet;
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard, the message of salvation from God’s own Holy Word.
I love to tell the story; For those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting, to hear it like the rest.
And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song. Twill be the old, old story, that I have loved so long.
I love to tell the story! Twill be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love!
2. The Priority of the Crown; 20
2. The Priority of the Crown; 20
Rejoicing and evangelism go hand in hand for the Christian!
The greatest joy in the world comes from seeing someone you’ve been praying for and witnessing to receive Christ.
But this means you have to be sowing or watering seeds!
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
How do we sow and water the seeds of the Gospel?
With our life; we are to live that others may see Christ in us
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
With our mouth; trusting the Holy Spirit to give power to the spoken word
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
With our giving; tithes, offerings, missions
15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
Make it a priority; winning souls should the priority of the christians life
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
3. The Persecution for the Crown; 18
3. The Persecution for the Crown; 18
Remember I told you that this is a crown that is hard to earn and few will receive it. One of the reasons why is Satan will do everything in his power to hinder us.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,
14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
It’s seems hard enough to share our faith on a good day but when Satan gets started on us it makes it even harder! But our suffering can result in others getting saved! God has promised that your work will not be in vain.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Close;
Let me ask you a question.
How many souls have you led to the Lord?
How many people have you invested the Gospel in through planting and watering?
Is anyone going to be in heaven that will come up to you and thank you for having a part in giving out the Word of God that changed his or her life?
Will it be said of you at the Judgment Seat that often there was joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents?
The most important reward after the “Crown of Righteousness”, which we will look at next Sunday night, I believe is the “Crown of Rejoicing”, the “soul winners crown”, because it proves our love for Christ!