Beyond this life the people of God will have eternal life. An imperishable crown will be given to everyone who overcomes this world. But how can you obtain this crown and what knowledge can we gain from the Bible. Join Pastor Mark Finley in this sermon on eternal life.

<p>Beyond this life the people of God will have eternal life. An imperishable crown will be given to everyone who overcomes this world. But how can you obtain this crown and what knowledge can we gain from the Bible. Join Pastor Mark Finley in this sermon on eternal life.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

The Only Crown that Matters

Here's Paul's point in this illustration.

If they were willing to spend so much time, if they were willing to spend so much effort, if they were not lethargic, if they were not careless, if they were not complacent about receiving some wreath to put on top their head when those flowers would fade, where the flowers would wilt, they become brown.

How much more should we be diligent in seeking for the imperishable crown.

From 1995 or 85 to 1990, our family lived in England.

Albans, England which is about 45 minutes outside of London.

London is 1 of the, my favorite cities in all the world as I've travelled.

And 1 of the things we used to like to do is go to the Tower of London.

Now kings and queens have stored their crowns and their robes and their other items of ceremonial regalia at the Tower of London for over 600 years.

Now since the 1600s the coronation regalia itself has been stored there, so if you see the coronation of a king or queen of England and our current queen is getting a little older, so we will see a coronation probably quite soon.

They will take the crown jewels from the Tower of London and bring them to Westminster Abbey where that crowning will take place.

Now it's amazing that over 30 million people have seen the crown jewels, probably the most visited objects maybe in all the world, certainly the most visited objects in London, in England.

Now most remarkable of all, this is a working collection.

It's not just a collection in a museum, but you take those crown jewels and they are used on ceremonial occasions and for example the Imperial State Crown is usually worn by the monarch for the opening of Parliament.

The most expensive crown in the world is in the Tower of London.

This crown was worn by the royal family for many, many years.

Now here's its estimated worth if you want to try to purchase it for your wife.

But they wouldn't sell it anyway because it is priceless.

But the glory of the crown jewel fades into insignificance in the light of 5 heavenly crowns the Bible describes.

The Bible describes 5 heavenly crowns in the New Testament that the people of God will wear.

And it describes 2 crowns that Jesus, 1 of them he has worn and 1 of them he will wear.

So this morning we want to probe the depths of the New Testament and study these 5 heavenly crowns.

They speak with relevance at a time when people are looking for purpose and meaning in their lives.

The first crown we find is in Revelation chapter 2.

5 crowns that the people of God will wear.

5 crowns that give us purpose and meaning in the 21st century.

5 crowns that have eternal lessons for the people of God awaiting the second coming of Christ.

The first crown we find is in Revelation, the second chapter in the tenth verse.

Do not fear any of those things which you're about to suffer.

Indeed the devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, that you'll have tribulation 10 days.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you a what?

Now these words were written to the church at Smyrna.

The city of Smyrna, the modern-day city of Izmir in Turkey, is a beautiful seacoast city.

I visited that city on numerous occasions.

Now the chief god of that city was Dionysus.

Dionysus was the god of festivity and the god of fertility.

When the priests of Dionysus died, they placed a death crown upon that priest's head.

So when John writes Revelation he contrasts the death crown on the head of the priest of Dionysus who didn't have eternal life with the crown of life that the people of God are going to wear.

Now the crown of life is presented to those who face trials, to those who face difficulties, to those who face suffering, to those who face death itself for Christ's sake.

John contrasts this heavenly crown with the earthly crown placed on the head at death of those priests.

He places it on the head of those that are victorious in the midst of suffering over evil.

It's the vision of a crown, the crown of life, given to the overcomer who inspires these faithful believers to endure facing death itself.

Receiving this crown of life has motivated believers through the centuries.

When the journey is long, when the road is rough, when you go through the dark valley of suffering, remember this, there is a crown of life for you at the end of the road.

That the grave is not a dark night with no morning at the end.

Now the church at Smyrna existed at a time of great, great suffering.

In fact, it means sweet smelling incense.

The very word Smyrna means about a people who face suffering, who face difficulty, who face hardship for Christ.

During this time, the Roman government had a festivity that happened once a year.

All citizens had to come to the center of the city and burn incense to the gods.

If you were living in Smyrna, you'd have to burn incense to Dionysus.

Polycarp, 86 years old, old man, grey hair, deeply etched lines on his face, was 1 of the pastors of the church at Smyrna.

Polycarp was taken at 86 to the center of the square in Smyrna.

And there he was urged to give up his Christian faith.

He stretched out his hands before the crying crowd and he said, how can I deny my Lord, who for these 86 years has been so faithful to me, he was burned at the stake that day?

What gave him such confidence in the midst of such incredible suffering.

He believed that 1 day he would have a crown of life.

It has been this concept that life is not the end, but beyond this life there's an eternity, and believers can look forward to that crown of life.

Some of you have read the story of John Hus, a faithful man of God.

In the Middle Ages he was an excellent example of loyalty in the face of suffering, imprisonment, and death.

He was tried for his faith at the Council of Constance.

He had been imprisoned for a year in a dark, damp, dingy, cold dungeon.

He was feeble in health, taken out of that dungeon and brought to the council of Constance.

He was brought before nobles and priests and prelates.

In the sentence in which they sentenced him to death, he had been a Catholic priest but he had left Catholicism and now faithful to Christ.

They clothed him in his priestly vestments and they began ripping off those vestments 1 at a time.

And finally they put a mitre on his head.

It was like a paper bag miter, a paper mache miter actually.

And on that miter they had pictures of dragons and all kind of hideous pictures.

And they said on that arch heretic, And this is what he said, he said as these vestments were moved 1 by 1 and they were condemning his soul to eternal torment, which they believed, which of course is not a biblical doctrine.

They put the cap or the pyramidal shaped miter of paper on his head.

I'm reading from Wiley's history of the Reformation in the book Great Controversy, page 109.

They put on his head a cap, a pyramidal shaped miter, on which were painted frightful figures of demons with the word arch heretic conspicuous in the front.

And as they put this mitre on his head he said, Most joyfully I will wear the crown of shame for thy sake O Jesus, who did wear the crown of thorns.

And he said, Jesus wore this crown of thorns.

The thorns from those kind of bush that must have been jammed upon Christ's head and then pounded down and you can just imagine the thorns going into the skull, the blood bleeding down Christ's face when Jesus said, I will take the crown.

And Jesus took the crown of thorns so you and I could wear the crown of life.

Hus wore the crown of shame looking forward to wearing the crown of life.

The crown of life motivates us in times of pain, suffering and sickness when facing death itself to understand that 1 day we will see Jesus the life giver.

1 day we'll experience life with Christ through all eternity.

The crown of life speaks to us in the 21st century saying don't give up, hang on, keep the faith.

You may go through trials now but death is not the end.

There is a crown of life waiting for you, hallelujah.

Death will be a thing of the past, and you'll live life to the fullest through all eternity.

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The Only Crown that Matters

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