Rules For The Crown - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Join me in the word of God, please, in the book of second Timothy in chapter two. One verse this morning. Verse five. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Father, you've heard our voices already. But one more time we ask, give us the spirit of wisdom and understanding. Help us unpack the truth of this single verse. Lord, again, shield us from anything that would interfere the reception of divine revelation, And give us the grace to not just be intrigued or interested or impressed, but Lord, to obey, to truly obey. Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

We ask that you would help us do that this morning. We look to you now in Jesus name. Amen. This morning, we are continuing to unpack three metaphors. Three metaphors that the Apostle Paul, by the spirit, gives to believers of all ages of what the standard of a truly successful and spiritual Christian life looks like.

And last week, you and I explored the concept, the imagery, the principles of being a soldier for Jesus Christ, And we understood the practical implications of what it means to be a soldier for Christ, and even what that means theologically. But now Paul switches from the idea of being a soldier to the world in the realm of being an athlete. And if you know your bibles very well, you know that the apostle Paul loves to use athleticism and the ideas behind it and the disciplines behind it and the goals behind it to parallel spiritual truths. One of the most famous passages are found in first Corinthians nine twenty four to 27. You don't have to turn there.

But Paul speaks about a runner who runs and a boxer who boxes, and he brings up these things so that he can illustrate and he can try to highlight the understanding that there must be resilience and there must be a focus in our Christian walk in order for us to see fruit and reward at the end of it all. But in his final letter, second Timothy, he brings up the athlete again not to speak about the necessity of discipline. Self discipline is important, but that's not why he brings up the athlete here. The reason why he brings up the athlete is so that he can highlight the possible the possible disqualification that believers can enter into for doing one thing, failing to obey the rules of the game. Failing to obey the rules of the game.

Unlike society today, brothers and sisters, heaven is not gonna dish out participation ribbons for everybody. Salvation is free. Everybody who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ is equal at the foot of the cross. But if you and I have this impression that we're all going to be commended and praised equally, that is just not true. And if that offends people today, then perhaps that is evidence that we've allowed culture and this super sensitive society affect us.

No. I have to tell you this. The missionary that sacrifices love and and spilled his blood on foreign soil will be praised differently than the Christian who spent most of his time playing call of duty. I'm sorry to disappoint you. The scriptures tell us very clearly in first Corinthians three fifteen that if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

So it's possible to be saved, but it's also possible to enter into glory just with your salvation. And so the imagery here is imagine somebody in a house that is burning, and you being able to safely jump out of that burning house you know and everybody outside knows that that house is coming down. You escape the fire, but everything else turned to ash. And Paul is saying that's how many professing believers will experience their entrance into heaven. They will be saved because of their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, but they will enter in empty handed.

And that's not really a popular teaching because again, it offends us. But Paul was not afraid to offend us. The shocking truth is even more than that. It's more astounding than just what I what I said. It's possible even for a person to to live their whole lives presuming and believing that they were doing the work of the Lord, but as we read here in the surrounding context, when they enter in, when they come to the finish line and stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and their work is evaluated, they will learn in that moment that all that they have done is as though they've done nothing for Christ.

I want you to understand something. He will suffer loss. Again, we have this false impression that when Christ returns and brings his church to him, that we're just all gonna just run-in, give Jesus a high five and and celebrate one another. That's gonna come eventually, but there is a time of evaluation. There's a time in which Christ will personally examine our lives and to call us into account what you've done with your gifts, what you've done with your time, what you've done with your future.

Now before moving on, we have to understand that it's possible for a message like this to absolutely do nothing for people sitting in here. And the reason why is because they're not really concerned about this concept of rewards. And innocently, they might argue, brother, I appreciate this, but to be honest, salvation in itself. I I can't imagine adding more trophies and and adding more prizes to the fact that I am I'm saved from hell, I'm saved from sin, I'm saved from not being in the presence of God forever. And that is that is a nice thought and it sounds noble and it sounds humble, but that is evidence that perhaps you don't understand the nature of such rewards.

And Paul speaks here in our main text that there is an idea of being crowned. And that's not poetic, that's not hyperbolic, that's literal. I believe it's literal. And I believe the scripture speaks about at least five different types of crowns that will be available on that day. Just listen to these crowns, you don't have to turn to these scriptures but keep this in mind.

In the same book in second Timothy, there is the crown of righteousness in second Timothy four eight. When you go later on into first Peter five, there's the crown of glory. That crown is reserved for pastors. I never understood why pastors had a separate crown until I became one and realized, okay, I understand why there's a crown just for pastors. But you guys make it a joy.

There's the crown of rejoicing. In first Thessalonians two, Paul speaks about a crown of rejoicing. There is in revelation to the crown of life, and I believe that crown speaks of those who endure suffering and persecution. And in first Corinthians nine, there is the imperishable crown. So there are crowns and different types of crowns.

And Paul speaks about that concept here. He's saying, well, wonderful. What's the idea? I'm gonna have nicer headwear than another Christian in glory? No.

It's more than just being beautified. It's more than just having some jewelry. I only see one purpose in the entire New Testament for crowns. I only see one thing being used, these things being used for in the life to come. And I would wanna show you in Revelation four ten, we read we read what crowns and their roles have in heaven.

The 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. And what did they do? They cast their crowns before his throne. They cast their crowns before his throne saying, and they explode in praise and adoration to God. Here's a thought to consider if you don't have a daily ambition to live your Christian life according to the rules.

Do you have the desire to have something to bring to the feet of the king of kings when you see him? Or do you risk living your life in such a way where while the saints have something to offer those pierced feet, you're empty handed? Oh, yes. You're clothed with a robe of righteousness, but there's no crown to give him. If you're a man or a woman who takes delight in exalting and magnifying the Lord, then do not take a casual approach to your potential crowning.

Paul says, you will suffer loss. Think about that language. As a Christian who's saved by grace, I can suffer loss? How will I suffer loss? Well, I look at something like Revelation four and presume that perhaps I would miss out on the experience of being able to beautify the feet of the king of kings while I stand in the presence of his throne with all the saints of the age ages who were crowned with a reward on their redeemed brow.

I don't wanna miss that. Give me as many crowns as possible. Call me proud if you want. I wanna worship him when I see him with crowns. Motivated?

I hope so. Because Paul wants us to be motivated. The Holy Spirit wants us to be motivated. I wanna be ready for that day. I wanna be ready for that moment.

And as one preacher said, I don't want a papier mache crown. I don't wanna come with an with an with emptiness. I wanna come with something. But you gotta do it according to the rules. There are rules that must be submitted to.

There are regulations that must be studied. There are guidelines that must be honored in order for that to be true for each of us. And I wanna use this time this morning to speak about, to speak about, at least in part, why many people will will miss their crown because they didn't know the rules. Perhaps out of ignorance. Perhaps secondly, that they've taken some rules out of context.

Perhaps some, out of selfish ambition, twisted and maligned certain rules. And there are some who even dare come up with their own ideas because it's not found in the rule book, not realizing that they are disqualifying themselves. And potentially their entire ministry will be found ineligible because they didn't follow the rules. There are a lot of people that come up with rules these days. A lot of Christians, professing Christians, I'm talking about Christians.

I'm not talking about false Christians, Christians who come up with ideas. You have many pastors who come up with ideas of how the church should run. They want to come up with their own rules. They don't want to honor the the concept of being elder rule. They don't want to they don't want to follow the rules that there are different roles for different genders.

No. That's offensive. Well, you're you're breaking the rules. They don't want the word of God to be the centrality of the church experience. They want entertainment.

You're coming up with your own rules. You got you got board members that want to do it their way, not according to the Bible. You're coming up with your own rules. You have Christians who decide their own rules for personal holiness and how they should live their lives and how should they should treat money and treat other people and treat the opposite sex. You're coming up with your own rules.

And I want to speak about a couple of them, couple of subtle things that people don't consider. Consider this this morning, number one, a misunderstood rule. I am in competition with other Christians. I am in competition with other Christians. I must say that this is for many believers, a fuel for their Christian service.

A misguided passion and pursuit. See when Paul speaks about imagery concerning an athlete, when he speaks about that example, we have to be careful that he's not implying that you and I are competing against one another. Paul speaks about one crown, one trophy, one reward in first Corinthians nine and that all the runners race for that one prize. And if if we're not careful, we can think that I'm looking to my left and to my right and seeing other Christians running the same race, but I have to beat them, be better than them, overcome them, overstep them in order for me to have that one prize. I want to comfort you.

You have a crown with your name on it. It's solely for you and you're not in competition with another Christian, you're in competition with your flesh, with this world, with a devil. And so, you have to be free from this idea that you have to outshine another believer. Be free this morning. The qualifying standard for your reward will not be determined by the results that you have in comparison to another.

In fact, I wanna show you, I believe something so encouraging. I pray that this blesses you as much as it blesses me. Go to second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. This is not a spiritual competition among ourselves and that should be a liberating truth. Listen, as you're turning there, two different pastors who preach the word of God faithfully will not be commended differently when they stand before God because one preached to 50 every Sunday and the other preached to 5,000.

The missionary who traveled many countries and preached to many thousands will not be appreciated differently in the corridors of heaven in comparison to the mother who knew that she was called by God to raise up children for the glory of Christ. The theologian who earned three theological PhDs will not be celebrated more than the person who simply had a Bible and lived it. Look what Paul says in second Corinthians 10 verse 13, but we will not boast beyond limits but will boast only with regard to the area of influence, pay attention, God assigned to us to reach even to you. What an astounding revelation. Paul himself understood this truth that God providentially provides the proper sphere of influence to each of his servants.

And he knew that the Corinthian church was in within the boundaries that God has allowed him to to to minister. And he also knew that there were limits. There were limits. There was only so many people he can reach. There was an audience that God had in mind.

There were nations that God had placed sovereignly for him to impact. And so, God is the determiner. He is the determiner of the recipients of our service. He is the one who determines the breadth of our influence. He is the one who even ushers in the specific resources for our for our ministry to be just as effective as he wants it to be.

And that should cause us to to exhale because the size or fame of our efforts is not considered by God. Since he draws the line of how far our investments go. In fact, Paul says that he will only boast in the lane that he is in. He will not give the impression to others. He will not exaggerate the the fruit of his ministry.

He he will not try to, tweak his newsletter so that he can he can show people who donate, look how look what we're doing for the glory of God. No. He's like, I'm not gonna boast beyond what God has called me to and what has God allowed me to minister to. And so where is the boasting? Where is the concern?

Where is the jealousy? Where is the envy? Where is it with this kind of truth resonating in your heart? A dear brother and I were talking last Friday about A. W.

Tozer and his writings and how this pastor Tozer was from Chicago. I'm curious, who here has ever read one book from Tozer? If you haven't, pick one up. Great mind, sharp mind, great spiritual insight, poetic in his writing. And this man's writings have been blessing people for generations.

Multi generational fruit. But what's so amazing about Tozer was that he was a pastor of a small humble church in the South Side. Didn't have a grand building. He didn't have this this this vast array of equipment. He didn't have the latest and the newest.

He didn't have any of the glare or the No. He was just this humble pastor that shepherded a small flock and God determined how far his influence would go. He would determine who would be in his church. He would determine where his books would go. And so what's the call here?

The call is simply to faithfulness. Just be faithful. And doesn't mean that you can't pray big prayers and believe that God can use you to touch as many people as possible. What it does mean is this, that you are content. You are content and free from the unnecessary pressure of the worldly standard of what success looks like.

More more more. Numbers numbers numbers. That should not be true in your heart. Because you see, if you're not convinced of this rule, listen very carefully, if you're not convinced of this rule, it will breed and open yourself up to so many other vices that God will hold accountable at that day. It will open you up to jealousy.

It will open you up to pride. It will open you up to cancerous envy and comparison. So much so, that you will now begin to look at those who are supposed to be your allies as your enemies. You want proof? Here's an old testament proof in number 16.

Turn there in number 16. The sons of Korah, rather Korah himself. The sons of Korah wrote many Psalms, but Korah was their father. Unfortunately, Korah was not known for his worship. Korah is known in the scriptures for one thing, rebellion.

Rebellion against authority. Rebellion against what God has instituted. And Korah challenged Moses and Aaron because he wanted their position. He wanted their authority. He wanted to be on the same level of leadership as them.

And so he he causes an uproar. He gathers some people to join his efforts and he faces this man of God, this man of God that God used to even save him out of Egypt. And not just saving him out of Egypt, Korah has been given a wonderful assignment to actually deal with the holy things in the tabernacle. They were in part transporting some of these things when they would move from place to place. It's not like he was doing nothing.

He had a privilege in himself to be able to minister and to become close to the things that no average Israelite could. See the problem is when you have a lust for power, what you have is not enough. You need more, you want more. You're never satisfied or content where God has placed you. Now look at what Moses says.

Moses as a discerning man, as a spiritual man, calls out the root cause for why Korah is acting in this way. And it's in number 16 verse eight. And Moses said to Korah, here now you sons of Levi. Is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? You see what he's saying?

Is it too small a thing for you? Where did it start for Korah? He saw his ministry as too small of a thing. He thought it was insignificant. He looked at it with contempt.

He did not evaluate it in the way that we are called to evaluate the privilege and honor of serving God, whatever capacity he grants to us. And so as he studied his own ministry, he began to think to himself, this is no ministry. This is a joke. This is a joke. And what happens is when you begin to see how what God gives you listen, this is a rule for all things whether materially, spiritually, relationally.

When you see what God has given you as a too small of a thing, that's where it becomes dangerous. Because what happens over time is that kind of assessment gives birth to ingratitude. You heard me say at the conference for a brief moment that if you do not learn how to be grateful, you will enter into many dangers. But if you learn how to be grateful in all things, you will save yourself from much trouble. In gratitude, what is this?

And I'm not talking about not longing again to be used by God in greater ways and not praying big prayers, Lord, widen my influence, widen my ministry, please Lord, I want to touch as many people. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this attitude that if you don't have that, then I'm not gonna do anything at all. If I don't have that, then I'm not gonna do this. That kind of attitude.

What does that what does that produce? In gratitude, a failure to see the blessing of his role and the privilege of serving God at any level and his lust for this authority, for Moses' authority produces another thing. Listen, you want to know danger? Alright. You want to be you want to be ungrateful?

Let that simmer long enough. I don't care what it is. Ungrateful for your house, ungrateful for what God has given you in terms of income, ungrateful for whatever it is. Stay there long enough and this could potentially be birthed in your soul. Psalm one zero six tells us another insight about Korah.

And Psalm one zero six verse 16 tells us plain and clear, when you read number 16, you know it's ingratitude. When you go to Psalm one zero six, you see what the ingratitude will lead to. Psalm one zero six verse sixteen and seventeen. When men in the camp, oh, there it is, were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.

Jealousy. It started with, this is too small of a thing. And they stayed there long enough and then it produced jealousy. And you know how ugly jealousy is. Right?

Jealousy is spiritual cancer. It will eat you up inside and destroy you from within. And that's exactly what happened to these men. They begin to feel as though now Moses is standing in the way of what I believe I need and want in my life. And so if Moses is in the way, then we have to get Moses out of the way.

And so, you have to understand that instead of just fulfilling what God had ordained for his life, he sabotaged his own calling and was disciplined by God. What a waste. And the scary thing about people who crave, again, position and titles and and influence, when God didn't give them those prerogatives, is that you will come crashing down in one way or another. And this can be known in the opposite way. Listen, we learned it here with Korah from people who wanted authority, who people who wanted who wanted whatever, influence and wanted fame and wanted praise.

That's that's wanting something something higher apparently in your view, but it can be known in the opposite way. It can be known with those who are in authority and see those who might challenge their influence as a threat. Who might see those who might get more than what they have or be recognized more than they are and then see them as an enemy as well. Give me the name of somebody in the Old Testament that did that. Very good.

I heard it whispered, Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul. You've been coming to bible study, haven't you? Because we're talking about Saul. Yeah. And I see this description of Saul's ministry summed up in one obscure place in the bible.

Would you like to know it? First Chronicles thirteen three. What a sad commentary of this man's ministry as a king. In first Chronicles thirteen three, we read the words of David. When he became king, Saul was taken out by God.

And we read that when David became king, he had one priority in mind, and this was it. Let us bring again the ark of our God to us. Now look at this. This is sad. This is heartbreaking, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.

For we did not seek it in the days of Saul. Saul was a king for decades, and Saul had equal opportunity as David did to do something with the ark of God, that chest piece that symbolized God's throne on the earth, God's dwelling place with man, God's manifest presence among men. It was tucked away in some country house, and it stayed there for years and years and years. And interestingly enough, you see the spirituality of David in comparison to Saul just in this verse. When David became king, the first thing he had in mind was, let's get God's presence.

Let's have a dwelling place for God. We have to put in its rightful place. And so he started a campaign, and he started a project to go and fetch for it. You see what was in a man's heart. He longed for God's presence.

He longed for God's fellowship. He longed for God's glory and honor. How can I become king and live in this palace when my God lives in a tent? And scripture tells us that David would not even sleep at night until he knew that he could build a house for God. What a man of God.

What a man of God. But Saul, years went by, and not once made an inquiry of getting the ark and doing something with it. Do you know why? Do you know why you never see Saul? I never read a Psalm by Saul, by the way.

Did you? Because he wasn't a worshiper. He didn't have a relationship with God. You heard it Friday that when Samuel confronted Saul about his sin with the Amalekites, he tried to justify his lack of obedience by saying, well, we brought these animals that we're supposed to slaughter to give as a sacrifice to the Lord, what? Your God.

He didn't say the lord my God. He said the lord's your God. Talk about the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Yeah. He wasn't your god even though you were king, even though you were anointed.

And he never searched for the presence of God when he had equal opportunity to do so. Why? Why? Why did he not chase after God's presence? I'll tell you why, because he was too busy chasing David.

Here's this king pathetically wandering in the wilderness with troops trying to kill his son-in-law, and he's not doing his job being king or being a worshiper. And that is a sad commentary for many people in their lives because their eyes are not on God's glory. They don't live before the Lord alone, and they're too busy looking at what other people are doing and what they're accomplishing and who talks about them and what they wrote and how this and that. And they're so busy looking at others that they're not looking at God. And stay there long enough, and what you'll realize is that you could have missed out on so much.

You did miss out on so much. What would have Saul's legacy been like if he didn't get riddled with jealousy? What if he was not concerned that people are saying David killed his 10 thousands, but Saul only is who cares? Write all the blogs you want. Compare me to that preacher all you want.

I could care less. I live before God. I live for his smile. I'm not in competition with other Christians. But I must say, Paul does encourage a competitive spirit in one sense.

And you guys know this if you're at one particular bible study. See what happens when you come to bible study? You get the sermons in advance, sometimes. Paul does encourage a competitive spirit. Paul actually tells you to be in competition with other Christians in one place, at least one place I see it.

That might be shocking to us. And some of you who were there on Friday, you can't say it. You're not allowed to. I want you to think if you haven't thought about it. Paul does say, yeah, I want you to actually excel better in this more than your fellow believer.

In fact, I want you to never ever ever ever have a believer beat you in this. This is something that you must be in first place in. And when you feel like you're in second or third, you have to fight for first place again. Would you like to know it? Romans chapter 12 verse 10.

I like how the ESV places it. If you want any competitive spirit with a fellow Christian, be in competition with this. Romans twelve ten, love one another with brotherly affection. Now look at this. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Outdo one another, not in getting honor. That's how people interpret it. No. In showing honor. What does it mean to show honor?

At least in part, to express admiration and appreciation to someone else in a sincere way. I'm not talking about flattery where you give praise for a personal agenda, nor am I talking about hypocritical praise. I'm talking about genuine, loving, spirit led honor. Honor. Isn't that just an amazing verse among many other verses that prove that our faith is anti flesh?

That verse is literally the reversal of what humans want in this life. They wanna outdo others in getting honor. I want more likes. I want more followers. I might want trophies.

And Paul, by the spirit, says, no. Do it the opposite way. Let it be your appetite. Let it be your craving to actually give that an extent to others, and the more people have, the happier you'll be. We need the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit of God. These commands are discouraging if we don't have supernatural assistance with a verse such like this. Outdo one another in honor? How can you do that genuinely? God, open my eyes to see how awesome my brothers and sisters are.

Open my eyes to see that apart from them, I can't do what I am doing. Help me to see that without their friendship, their relationship, their godly influence, I will be less of the man of God that I am today. And then the Lord will begin to inspire appreciation and desire to honor, honor. Man, if we all obeyed a verse like this, we'll put a lot of gossip to death. Put a lot of slander to death.

Put a lot of clicks to death. You can't have those things in an atmosphere where people outdo one another in honor. I see you as more valuable than you see yourself. So let's let's get rid of this fake rule that you and I are in competition with one another if we wanna crown. Because like Saul, like Korah, we'll end up not doing what God called us to do faithfully because we're too busy trying to beat others.

Misguided rule number two. Motives don't matter in ministry. This overlaps with our last point, but it deserves to be looked into a greater detail. It is astounding to see the reasons why people enter into Christian service. It is amazing to realize why people enter into kingdom activity and stay there.

And if it's not centered on a personal pursuit of pleasing your God, then know this, as Paul said, it will turn to ash. It will turn to ash. I'm speaking about those who want to serve God. I'm not speaking about those who are lazy and just wanna hear sermons every week. This message isn't for you.

You need to repent and wake up from your Christian laziness. I'm talking about those who are doing things for God and we want to get serious now. I want to tell you that there are people who occupy places and positions that have different motives. And I can't stress how important this rule is. You can argue that it is the most important directive for us to comprehend and practice in order to secure our crowns.

Many of us have been in school in different levels and I'm sure that you've been in many classes that demanded you to have an exam. And if your teacher was gracious enough, they would not have you guessing what you're supposed to study. I didn't appreciate those teachers. Textbook this big, you said, what do we have to study? All of it.

Thank you so much. Then you get to the test and it's like a sliver of the textbook and the rest of it is stuff that you it's not even in the book. But there have been teachers who are gracious enough that when they prepared you for the exam, they would tell you the specific chapters you need to focus your energy on and if they were extra gracious, they would even tell you and give you hints of the questions that you will have to face on that day. Why? Because I'm sure that teacher wants you to be best prepared for that evaluation.

They are not setting you up for failure. They're not wanting you to be surprised when it's too late. God is gracious. Very gracious. And God has given us the subject to study, the thing to focus on the most, the thing that we should be praying about continually, the thing that we should examine and and and and monitor, the thing that we should bring before the presence of the Lord and focus on above all else, and that is motive.

Because he doesn't want you and I to fail. He doesn't want you and I to to be surprised, though men will be surprised who do not understand this truth. And the truth is this, God will not judge me only for what I did, but why I did it. And here's a text that proves that in first Corinthians four. Would you meet me there?

You know this, I'm sure. In first first Corinthians four, let's begin here in verse three. I love the apostle Paul. What a man. If I get to glory, I would like to spend at least 1,000 years talking to him.

First Corinthians four three, but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. Fascinating. Fascinating. But with me it is a very small thing to be judged by you.

I wonder how many Christians can say the same. Many people boast in that to try to showcase some kind of courage, but their hearts are not really convinced of it. You know what Paul is saying? What he's not saying is, I'm not open to construction criticism nor am I above any correction. He's not saying that.

What he is saying is, I am not swayed by either praise or the condemnation of of others in their evaluation of my service to the Lord. I'm not. Bless me, curse me, it doesn't matter. It's a very small thing. See that's where serving God with the right motive begins.

You have to see what other people think about you as a very small thing. If it doesn't start there and if that's not conquered, then then pure holy righteous ambition will not be able to live healthy and with longevity in your in your soul. But here this man says, he sets the basis, I am not doing it for that. I'm not moved by that. I'm not shaken by that.

Nothing is gonna influence me whether it's positive or negative. I'm staying right here in my lane and doing it because I know why I'm doing it. And that is so crucial because I don't think Paul Can you imagine this? Paul was bothered when he heard Christians talking about the preaching of Apollos and how it's better than Paul. You think Paul was nervous?

Oh, they like Apollos' preaching better than mine. Think Paul was intimidated when he knew that other apostles were writing epistles and they were benefiting from them? Oh, they they like what Peter wrote too. Oh, no. Can you imagine?

That's so flesh, like you're laughing, but that's how most Christians live. We think it's silly, we think it's ridiculous and good because it's not of the spirit. Paul could care Paul was just like, he was focused. He wasn't moved. He was just so consumed and compelled by the love of Christ, that it didn't matter what was happening around him or even against him.

In fact, I believe the reason why Paul wrote this is because there was chatter about Paul's sincere or lack of sincerity in his motive to serve God. It could be very possible. I don't know what the rumors were, but there were false apostles criticizing the credentials of Paul. You know, Paul makes a lot of money doing this ministry stuff. Have you ever wondered why he left that Pharisee position?

Look at all the donations that are coming in. Makes you wonder if he's doing it for money. I think Paul has like this desire to be an authority over people and that's why he plants churches. So when he comes in, people recognize him as someone. Maybe that's why he does this.

Paul says in verse four, for I'm not aware of anything against myself. I've done my research. I've scanned my heart. I've scanned my conscience and I am not aware of any intentional wrong or false ambition in why I do what I do. But look at this, but I am not thereby acquitted.

It is the Lord who judges me. Hey, even though I am on the clear in my own conscience, I gotta tell you this, I don't have the final word of why I do what I do. God will be the final word. God himself will be able to go into the deepest parts of who I am and will tell me why I really did it. That is quite amazing.

And then he goes on to give instruction, this kind of confidence that I have, this kind of discipline that I have, this kind of security that I have, I'm calling you as Christians to have it. Verse five, therefore what is therefore therefore? Well, what we just read. Therefore, based on what you just learned about me, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes. Let me just pause there.

You and I must refrain from trying to judge the motives of ministers and ministries when God is calling for us to leave that to himself. It's a tempting thing, isn't it? You look at a popular podcast, you look at popular preachers, and you begin to wonder what are they doing this for and sometimes you even tell others what you believe what they're doing it for. Listen, unless there's obvious sin or false teaching, we gotta stay away from that kind of activity. Paul says it.

Don't judge before the time because you will be embarrassed when the Lord praises somebody that you condemned. Do not judge before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Now look at the equation, he will disclose the purposes of the heart, then each one will receive his commendation from God. The reception of reward is motivated and evaluated by the reason for the service. Then each one.

So it's not the service, it's the heart behind the service. It's not the the results, it's the reason for the results. That's what that's what's being said here. That's why a lot of people are gonna be shocked when they come before the Lord. And I have to say this, the main point is that there is a time when God will come and he will enter into our hearts, walk down into the room called deepest motives, and he will have a key that only he has, he will unlock that door, open it, turn the lights on and everything will be revealed in that room.

And base what he finds in that room will determine the crowning. The crowning. Now, what I just said, I sympathize with those who are very introspective. Because like any command in scripture, we can look at something and it can cause us to fear so much and we don't wanna break that command, so we go to another extreme and we don't even walk in that command unless we break it. You see what I'm saying?

That's how the Pharisees were produced by the way. The Pharisees you can't find the Pharisees in the Old Testament. You can't find synagogues in the Old Testament. That was during that silent period of the last book of the Old Testament and the first book of the New Testament. The Pharisees were a school of thought that were developed when the people returned from Babylon, came to Israel, and were so terrified of the concept of being exiled again.

So what did they do? They raised up certain rules and regulations that would surround and pillow the main commands of God. So before we break the real command we would have to break all these other commands. And that's how traditions of men were developed and Jesus condemned those things. And that's where they focused on these surrounding commands that were made up by man instead of focusing on the weightier matters.

So the danger is to look at a verse like this and be so afraid because all of us realize what our thoughts are. We know in part. And so, God is gonna judge me for my motives, and then what begins to happen is Satan lies to you, tempts you, reminds you of those erupting thoughts and then you begin to convince yourself not to serve God at all. I don't want to give in to this temptation so I'm just gonna back away from this ministry. I remember when I first got saved, and I'm sure you've experienced the same thing, you just wanna tell everybody about the Lord.

You wanna tell everybody about you wanna tell people who walk by you about the Lord. You wanna tell the birds about the Lord. You wanna talk about everything concerning Christ to anyone that you come into contact with. And I remember my heart was so overflowing that I would, when I had social media time, write things on social media, just little comments, little things on verses or even even verses and I began to feel to myself, you know, I don't I don't want people to question why I'm doing this. I want people to think, oh, he's doing it for that or he's doing it for this.

And so I talked to a dear friend who loved those posts. He was so encouraged by them. And I I I opened my heart to him, see why we need community? I opened my heart to him and I began to explain my real feelings about it and and why I'm hesitant to do it and I pulled back and he looked at me and says, don't you ever do that again. I said, but you know, like, I don't, even the fact that there's likes and then there's there's more likes on this one than that one, I just I don't like this idea that it's so visual and so obvious, praise is so is so forefront in all of this.

He goes, look, let me give you a rule and never forget it, and I haven't. It's been years. When you serve God at any capacity and men crown you, they might crown you with many crowns throughout that day, throughout that week. Make sure you do one thing. Make sure you discipline yourself in one way every single night.

You take those crowns, you come to the feet of the Jesus of Jesus, and you lay those crowns at his feet. And you say, Lord, these belong to you. You do that every night and you'll be okay. You'll be safe. Because we can't control what men say about us and that includes praise, but what we do with that praise is what God calls us to be careful with.

And so, don't be tempted by Satan to bury something because you think that he's a harsh master. And when he comes to see what you did, failing to invest it, he will be more upset with that than you thought. Don't bury it. But for those for those who don't have a concern about their motive, because see, I wanna free you today. If you are a Christian who loves to serve God, and you are continually concerned about whether you have the right motives or not, don't you realize that you just answered your dilemma?

What do I mean by that? A person with the wrong motive in serving God isn't concerned about their motive in serving God. If you are concerned, if you pray about it, if you ask God to cleanse your heart from anything that is false, anything that is off based, Do you not realize that that is the evidence in itself that you are a person that's doing it for the right reason? So be free and serve God. And when those thoughts come and when you begin to itch in the flesh, just realize that as long as you come before the Lord and let him kill it, that you are doing the right thing and he will honor you and he will reward you.

But here are some questions for those who might be serving God and they are totally motivated with no sense of conviction, no sense of contemplation. I want you to ask these questions and we're gonna close here. Number one, does my righteousness have any privacy or is it only alive in public? Does my righteousness have any privacy or is it only alive in public? Matthew six one.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. See that's why earlier he can say, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works. He can say that and then say this because in order to be seen by them is a dangerous part. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people. So is there a reality of righteousness when people don't see my righteousness?

Can and then he begins to talk about prayer, he begins to talk about fasting and giving. Can I pray? Can I fast? Well, let's put that under the category of worship. Can I be charitable and not feel the itch to want to tell somebody that I did something for God?

Can I can I do things? Can I can I donate? Can I can I do a favor for somebody? Without feeling the need to trumpet it to at least one or two or maybe five people. Can I live in righteousness and others not know about it?

Yes, shine your light before men. But if you're doing that shining so that they can see it, it's wrong. And there will be times where God will test us to see, are you willing to serve me without any recognition? Right? If you can do that, what a healthy sign of a heart that has pure motives.

Question number two, is God's response to my service the ultimate motivation for my service? Is God's response to my service the ultimate motivation for my service? First Thessalonians two four, listen to what Paul says, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who test our hearts. See Matthew six one, this is all related to the reward. Matthew six one, he says earlier, but to please God, this is in sec first Thessalonians, but earlier he says, then you will have no reward from your father in heaven.

First Thessalonians, who tests our hearts, who examines our hearts. See, this is all related to that day. And he says here, I don't preach to please man. I preach to please God who tests my heart of whether or not I do it for him. And we limit that listen, we limit that to people who fearlessly proclaim the gospel because they would be offended by objective truth.

Here's Paul, he preaches to people who have all these false ideas but he is not afraid to to proclaim divine revelation. True. But there's another temptation in the realm of preaching, in the realm of ministry, in the realm of standing for godliness and righteousness, that you would want to be known as a man who is godly and courageous, and you would wanna be recognized as a voice of truth, as a prophetic voice in this generation. You see the you see? See how the temptations there's two there's always two lanes.

There's always two pitfalls. Paul's like, I'm not concerned if people hate me because I've preached, or I'm not concerned if they're gonna love me as a man of God when everybody else is compromising. I'm doing it for God. I want him to be pleased with me in what I say and how I do it. So God's response, like, you can know that in your heart.

You can know it when you sin. When you sin, where does your grief lead you to? Does it lead you to the fact that you just fractured fellowship with God? You talk about people when they confess their sin and their minds immediately go to their reputation, not because they represent God, but because they will have a chance to further in their sin. Oh, now people aren't gonna trust me.

Aren't people gonna do this? That's worldly sorrow. The first sorrow that should be known in the heart of a person who sins is, god, I broke your heart. I failed you in this. I misrepresented you in this.

It's God's response to my service, the reason for my service. Lastly, this is a tough one, but it's a great litmus test. Question number three. I'm sure there are many others. Am I able to rejoice in the success of others' promotions and giftings?

Am I able to rejoice in others' promotions and giftings? Philippians one eighteen. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Somebody a little birdie came to Paul and says, you know, these preachers are happy that you're in prison, are happy that you're afflicted because now they'll have greater opportunity to be invited to conferences and to be sought after and to have their ministries flourish now that you are you are paralyzed in chains.

And you know what Paul says? Look. Preachers have different ambitions. They're in competition with one another. But if they're preaching Christ, I'm happy.

I'm happy. That's why what he says in first Corinthians four, we can trust he meant it. It's a very small thing to be judged by you. How do we know? Well, look at this.

He rejoice, like, he rejoice as though he was the preacher because Christ is proclaimed. So what does that mean in a practical sense? If I see somebody's gifting, exalting Christ, if I see somebody blessed by God and that blessing is blessing others so that God is blessed, then how can I look at that and and be eaten up by who does this person think they are? I I could do a better job than that. My voice is better.

My insights are greater. My cooking is better. Whatever it is. How? How if you're a person that's concerned about God being glorified?

If you're concerned of God being glorified, then whatever means glorifies him, you rejoice in. And you say, blessed be the name of the Lord that he has raised up such vessels unto himself. And if you can answer that, if you can look at those questions and say, you know, it's a battle. Sometimes I can't rejoice, but I know that I can recognize it and bring it before God and he deals with it. But if you can overall say, yes.

This is true of me, then I wanna declare to you on this Sunday morning, there's a crown waiting for you. There's a crown waiting for you as you serve God. And don't give up when some days it's more difficult than others. Don't give up when your motives from the flesh try to overcome the the motives of the spirit. Keep fighting.

God is so gracious. The fact that he's willing to reward us in the first place on top top of our salvation is mind blowing in itself. And so God wants us to know from our text in second Timothy that as long as you follow the rules, and there are so many other rules I'm sure. But let me end the message this way. Here's the rule book.

Get into it yourself. I was telling my a brother, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, this is what I'm gonna be judged by. That's it. God's revelation, not man's ideas, not traditions, not even what church fathers said if it contradicts this book. At the end of the day, this is what I'm gonna stand before God with and saying, Lord, I did it as you revealed it here.

And as long as I stick to this rule book and how to plant a church, how to raise a congregation, how to serve in different ministries, my motive behind those ministries, what I'm supposed to do in my private as long as I do that, I can know this. I will have a crown to lay at his feet. I will have a crown to lay at his feet. And so scripture says in Revelation, let no man take your crown. Jesus said that.

Let no man take your crown. So don't give up in ministry either. Don't throw in the towel. You want another rule? Don't give up and let somebody serve in the ministry that God has called you into.

And then you come to find out at the end of the day, that's supposed to be my crown because it was too hard, and the attacks were too great, and the criticism was too severe. Let's consider it a small thing, not like what Korah did in seeing his ministry as a small thing, but what Paul did in seeing the estimation of man as a small thing. You and I do that, and I wanna tell you this. Whether you're recognized from this microphone by name or not, whether blogs talk about you or your Twitter followers blow up, there is a crown unfading, imperishable that will decorate the throne room of God because of your service to him and faithfulness and humility. We are athletes.

We are athletes, not just soldiers. But if we wanna see a reward, we have to do it according to the rules. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the simplicity of service unto you. We thank you that you have determined the boundaries of our influence assigned to us, that you've given 10 talents to some, five to others, and one to another.

And yet the reward is not dependent upon the numbers or the knowledge of our name, but what we did and why we did it. God, for the different ministries that are represented here, may this bring fresh joy to them, fresh faith. For those who have no concern of how their lives are lived out for the glory of Christ, convict. Convict. Convict and let that scene ever play in our minds that there is a day where we will cast our crowns at the feet of the lamb.

And we wanna join in that worship experience with a contribution of our own reward. Lord, we pray that you would motivate us again by this word to remain in our post, to not give up so easily. And God, we want your motives. We want the spirit to kill everything of the flesh within. Cleanse us from all things that are not of you, and be blessed and be pleased with what you see within us.

Lord, we wanna worship you for not just saving us, but being willing to reward us. For something that you called us to and empowered us for, we bless you, Lord. There is no God like you. Receive our worship, and may this be a foretaste of what is going to come. And, Lord, though we may not crown you with a physical crown, we crown you with our words, and we crown you with our praise.

And we tell you this morning while the world hates you and blasphemes you and curses your name, would you see a remnant in this room that will honor you and exalt you? Lord, be blessed by the fragrance in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Can we stand as we worship the Lord together?