The Crowns #8
Earlier
I have introduced and defined the topic and tell us that from the time immemorial people have been receiving reward for what they are doing, and one of the reward people received is crown in the first article. In the second article I write about the positive and negative usage of the word crown and some of the uses of crown as found in the bible. In this article I desire to write on some other crowns mentioned in the bible and how they are related to believers.
5) Crown of Righteousness
Believers righteousness comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not a righteous we have by ourselves, as he says that our righteousness is like filthy rags before the Lord.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isa 64:6)
This form of crown is said to be available to those who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus.
“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 unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim 4:8)
Some people for the pleasures of the world which they are enjoying they are not looking forward to the appearance of the Lord in all they do, such people though believers may not be given such crown when the Lord comes.
Let us see the words used for righteousness in the bible.
Few Word on Righteousness
The Hebrew word for righteousness is “צדק”, romanticized form is tsedeq (pronounced as tseh'-dek) which means right (natural, moral or legal), equity, justice.
While the Greek word for it is “δικαιοσύνη”, romanticized form is dikaiosunē (pronounced as dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay) which means equity, justification.
From the bible we know that humans cannot have a righteousness by himself, because since the fall of our fore parents in the garden of Eden all that has been in humans is evil always. But to possess the righteousness that God wants that is why God sends his son to the world to save humans and to bequeath on us the acceptable righteousness of God.
To have this form of righteousness we shall have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Php 3:9)
Because Jesus died for us, we have been made righteous in him when we believe him. However, there are Christians who are righteous before God, as a result of their salvation (which is called justification) but those people are not living righteous lives, in their actions, words and behaviors among the people. Living righteous lives is called sanctification.
Therefore from the above we shall see that though we have been justified and have imputed righteousness of Christ on us, but God still wants us to make a deliberate attempt at living a life that is worthy of the Gospel he still wants us to distance ourselves from evil and all appearances of evil in our lives. Doing this is when we shall be known and acknowledged by Yahweh to be living a righteous life.
Thus, those who will receive a crown as this are those who love the appearance of the Lord they are those who conscientiously live their lives for the Lord daily, they eschew evil and any appearances of it and embrace what is good.
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thes 5:22)
If you want this kind of crown, you need to live a life of righteousness, a life worthy of the Gospel always so that people will know that you are a Christian.
6. Crown of Glory:
This sometimes is called pastors or Ministers of God’s crown. It is the crown of all those who feed the flock of God, the crown for those who educate others about the way of salvation and how to grow there in.
Jesus commands us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every man, but after preaching the gospel people need to know more about the word of God, they need to be educated about that God so that they would not remain babies perpetually.
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
“Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” (1 Pet 5:1-4)
God knows the importance of this he is being our heavenly father. Those of us who are earthly parents know what we pass through to educate our children and bring them up. And after bringing them up, tutoring them we expect that a day they would appreciate what we do for them.
The importance of bringing people up in the way of God not allowing them to remain babies perhaps is what the Lord looks at for making the promise to those who faithfully do this while on earth.
These are the crowns promised for believers when we leave the world, and we should strive to get ourselves qualified for these crowns when we see our heavenly father.
Link for crowns #1 - http://hub.me/amteU
Link for crowns #2 - http://hub.me/anEce