CrownsPhil 3Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but ONE thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.Tonight’s message is called CROWNS!What do we know about crowns?They are worn to represent authority and power. They are worn as a means of immediate identification. They make a statement about the individual under the crown. They also symbolise opulence and grandeur. When you see a crown you usually think of royalty and monarchy: Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses.But these are not the kind of crowns I am going to discuss with you tonight. We have just read the amazing resume of Paul the Apostle. He has made it quite clear that he was and could still be the man. If anything was worth achieving than he’d done it.He says that if anyone else thinks he has a confidence in the flesh than he more so. And before the whole thing diminishes into a squabble over who has done what, Paul lays it right out in front of everybody so that everyone can see that he has no equal when it comes to achievement.
§Circumcised the eighth day.§Of the stock of Israel §Of the tribe of Benjamin§A Hebrew of the Hebrews §Concerning the law, a Pharisee §Concerning zeal, persecuting the church §Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless
No one even had a chance when lined up against this guy…Yet he goes on to say the he counts it all loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. He goes on to call all his hard work and achievements skoo'-bal-onwhich is translated here as rubbish but in fact means what is thrownto the dogs, refuse, dung; manure; excrement.He says that all he had worked so hard for and so long for isn’t just useless but is in fact TURD!!!Now how would you feel if that revelation came to you? All you had worked so hard for, so long for all you had scrimped and saved and borrowed. All the things you went without just to achieve it. Everything you had become and were becoming, absolutely everything you had ever lived for since you started living you could see was worthless and not just worthless but was comparable to excrement?This was the place Paul had arrived.He had trained all his life and worked more hours than he could probably remember to achieve what was viewed as success. He was a Pharisee which meant he had to be able to recite the first 5 books of the Old Testament. 190 chapters in total could be spat out at will.I want to tell you tonight that these things were Paul’s crowns.…………………………………………………………………………...The Greek word for crown is stef'-an-osfrom an apparently primary “stepho” (to twine or wreathe); a chaplet (as a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honour generally; but more noticeable and elaborate than the simple tiara or headdress, literally or figuratively:—crown.You see we all wear crowns. Not ones physical in nature because that would be too obvious but we certainly wear crowns that carry our positions, status and ranking. They proudly display our achievements, attainments, successes and our triumphs. They may tell of our riches & fortunes our fame & popularity. They may simply carry a name of someone famous we’ve met or know. The name of the school we went to or the name of the club we belong to.But this one thing they have in common: Our crowns are designed to carry our reputation and image to everyone we meet. We all wear crowns!!!Some people are more candid and up-front about it than others. You’ll only be 2 minutes into the conversation ad they have given you the guided tour of their big and lavish crowns, arrayed in all their fine achievements. You’ve met them haven’t you? They’re the ones who haveBeen there…Done that…Met them…Seen it all before…And the kid’s only 12! Others are much more subtle. They don’t want to just shout out what they are so they whisper it in your ear.But the truth of the matter I this: We all wear our little crowns in the hope that we can finally be somebody!Most of us probably have a few.You can’t be totally blamed because that’s the way the world works. You have to be somebody to actually be somebody. To get any respect you have to have done something to be liked you have to have achieved something.But can I tell you the truth tonight that these crowns that we wear are an affront to Christ and to His kingdom.They are worse than rubbish they are manure and dung and good for nothing.They are actually your stumbling block and not your ticket to prominence. …………………………………………………………………………...Disabilities and burdens quickly become crowns.Let’s look at Moses Moses had a powerful encounter with Jesus through the burning and He tells Moses that he’s been chosen to deliver God’s people from their oppressors.And can you guess what the 1st thing Moses does to God?Moses starts showing off his crown. His words were “Oh BUT GOD I can’t speak properly!!! Didn’t you hear I am the guy who stutters and is far from eloquent?”Well God was not impressed one SCRAP; He gets angry at Moses for trying to hang on to his crown. God said “Go I will be with your mouth and show you what to say.” But Moses still tries to get out of it. And the bible says that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.Now we have no record of Aaron ever speaking but Moses was the one who spoke.Acts 7:22 tells us that he actually wasn’t that bad at talking at tall, in fact it says that he was powerful in Words and deeds. He just didn’t want to discard his crown.You’ve met people like that haven’t you? It could be some severe disability or they just have no confidence and it makes a great crown!!!………………………………………………………………………….These crowns we wear are;§Heavy but we don’t notice because it’s our security. They bear down on us and sap our energy, we can see life would be easier without them but than who would notice us.§It’s expensive but we don’t mind because we’re willing to pay whatever we need to keep it. Crowns are the most expensive items you own. They take your innocence and purity. They steal your integrity and individuality.§It’s distracting but that’s its purpose, hopefully they won’t have to see who you really are. You don’t see it but while you’re sporting this crown you can’t actually see the destiny God has for you. In fact the crown covers your eyes so bad you can hardly see God.They are such a burden to us day by day but we could never imagine life without them. Such a sense of nakedness and unworthiness would envelope us and we would never subject ourselves to that.No one knows what you paid to get that crown?But I plead with you tonight to take a long hard look at yourself and realise that the crown that you think offers you security, protection and acceptance is the very thing that is going to disqualify you from completing the race set out before you.In fact Paul describes people who walk around life wearing their crowns high and mighty as enemies of the cross and their end is destruction!!!He says in verse 19 whose end is destruction??? Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things. Belly means (“Hollow”); a cavity, that is, (specifically) the abdomen; by implication the matrix; figuratively the heart.A person whose god is their belly means people who have a hole in their heart and thus try to fill it with earthly things.Trying to be satisfied with the love and appreciation of mere men and ignorant of the love of God.Setting their minds on earthly things and trying to just get ahead and be somebody.Look at you; you’re a big shot now aren’t you? You got yourself a crown! Finally you’re somebody aren’t you? You’ll be satisfied until you see someone with a bigger one. Than the fight, race will start over.………………………………………………………………………….Can I tell you tonight that the bible says that He (Christ) is crowned with many crowns! “His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.” Rev 19:12I believe He is crowned with all glory, power, honour and majesty and wears crowns that transcend our imagination. Every corner of the heavens and earth has brought their crowns to Him for Him to wear. From the greatest powers and principalities to the most humble and contrite eternal beings. They all bought their crowns for Him because He is the One and Only True God the Living God. Even Satan has forfeited His crown of sin and death through the cross but there is still a crown that He’s after.Your crown had become His most desired possession. He is already crowned with many but He desires yours above all.One of the greatest feelings in the world is to finally take them off. He has already searched you and He knows you entirely, every motive is known by Him, every mask He sees behind, every masquerading behaviour He pierces through with His eyes of fire. Its time you just took off that crown & come clean.You may just realise it was the heaviest burden you have ever carried. When God dropped this revelation into my heart in prayer one night I fell to my knees and wept as I realised that my whole life had been taken up in one way or another seeking crowns. Crowns to be displayed so the world would know I could be somebody too. I deserved respect like everybody else. I was acceptable. I desired so hard to be strong, unbreakable, masculine, commanding, impressive, respectful and all the while wearing silly disgusting little crowns that just made me a disappointment to heaven and the cause of Christ in my life. I remember as I fell to my knees I actually took them all off symbolically. One by one I threw them at His feet and confessed I don’t want to wear them anymore.Simply His, He can wear the crowns.Now I can be free & truly useable.It doesn’t matter what man thinks of me anymore I don’t serve him but the creator of the universe is my crown. ………………………………………………………………………….Not an empty headGenesis 15:1“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”Why does God really care???Why should He be so bothered that we wear our little crowns. Why should He desire them for His own? Does He crave to be recognised by men? Does He think He’s look better in them?No! The reason why He wants you to be free of these hang ups is because He is your exceedingly great reward…-He is the prize at the end of the race -He is the award at the finish of all your striving-He is the trophy you will receive when the lights come down and the competition is over.He says when all is said and done He will be your reward. Exceedingly and Great!!!
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Craig C. Ireland
craig@impactcc.com.au
www.myspace.com/thehighvoltage
Blessings
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