Our Hope, Joy and Crown of Rejoicing

Introduction: Paul's Yearning for the Thessalonians

0:02 Chapter 2, and we will be concluding our studies in the second chapter this morning.

0:10 First Thessalonians, Chapter 2. Just briefly, to set these verses in their larger context of the entire letter, the Apostle has declared in the first chapter his clear conviction and understanding that the formation of the Church at Thessalonica was due to the sovereign operation of the Spirit of God, that God worked sovereignly and powerfully in establishing a Church at Thessalonica. Then in Chapter 2, the first twelve verses, he tells us the kind of people through whom a sovereign God generally works

0:55 to bring to pass such wonderful things as came to pass there at Thessalonica. Then Paul was wrenched away from these people very suddenly, and soon after his being taken from them, he receives word that the persecution which they began, to endure while he was with them, has intensified. And he's deeply concerned about this, lest on the one hand they misinterpret his leaving as maybe Paul's a fair-weather apostle. Things are all right till the going gets hot, then he's going to blow town.

1:28 And he wants to correct any impression, false impression along that line, and then he wants to assure them that just as his attitudes and his motives were pure when he was in their presence, he did this in the first twelve verses, so now in... his absence, his heart still yearns over them.

1:46 We studied in some detail verses 17 and 18. I shall simply read them now, and then we will look in detail at verses 18 and 19 and 20. But we brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, I, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us.

2:12 He tells them that his separation is merely physical. He's separated in presence, but not in heart, unless they might think he's just talking off the top of his head or using profuse words of affection. He said, now this is not idle talk to prove to you that my separation was merely physical and not in terms of my heart's longing over you. I've made many attempts to come and see you.

2:40 I've been hindered, but I still have made those attempts to come. Now in verses 18 and 19, he's going to tell them why he has such a regard for them. Why is he still yearning to be with them, though providentially severed from them? Well, he's going to answer that precise question in verses 19 and 20.

3:01 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming? For ye are our glory and our joy. Paul, why did you long so to be back with those people at Thessalonica?

3:25 And he'd say, well, because those people are my hope and my joy and my crown of rejoicing. That's why. So as we study these verses, we are seeking to answer this question, why a man like Paul would yearn over a people like those at Thessalonica, and we will see that it's basically because of the regard that he had for them described in these following words. So to think our way through verses 19 and 20, consider in the first place what these Thessalonians were in the estimation of the servants of Christ.

Defining Paul's Hope, Joy, and Crown of Rejoicing

4:03 For what is our hope, or joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye? Verse 20, For ye are our glory and our joy. The people at Thessalonica were, in the estimation of Paul and his companions, their hope, their joy, and their crown of rejoicing.

4:29 Now let's look at those words and see what they mean in a biblical setting. Now the word hope to us basically means a strong wish or desire. I hope that I'll get a raise next year, you might say, or I hope that it won't rain on Saturday. Now you have no grounds to have any confident expectancy that it will not rain, but you can have very strong desires and wishes that it might not rain.

4:59 Now the word hope, in the sense that Paul used it, did not mean hope in terms of I hope it won't rain on Saturday, but it's hope in the sense that George Doxy had hope yesterday. It was my privilege to join them, George and Anne, in marriage, in a little country town a little north of Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday morning at 10.30, and as I came out with the other minister and George and then his brother Paul and then his brother Alan and then another friend, and as I watched George out of the corner of my eye, fixing his gaze at the back of the church where Anne was going to come, George was hoping for Anne's appearing.

5:42 Now he was not merely having strong wishes that she might appear there, he was hoping in the sense that he was confident she was going to appear there and it was just a matter of time as to when she would appear. Now see the difference between hope and hope? Now if he was merely hoping she'd come, like hoping it might not rain on Saturday, you see he wouldn't be there in the first place. You settle that question at the proposal.

6:09 You might say, I hope she will say yes. That might be hope in terms of rain on Saturday. But you don't stand at the front of a church hoping for the bride to come unless it's the second kind of hope. Some measure of confident expectation based upon some solid facts that give you a ground to hope, to confidently expect.

6:32 Now that's what the word means here. It speaks of a confidence and joyful expectation of something which God has promised will come to pass. Now in an absolute sense, Jesus Christ himself is the hope of every Christian. He is called that in 1 Timothy 1.1.

6:52 Paul says, Jesus Christ our hope. He in the glory of his person and all the perfection of his work is the focal point of our joyful and confident expectation. For he said, if I go, I will come again. But the apostle says, not only is the Lord Jesus his hope, but the people of God at Thessalonica are his hope.

7:21 They are the object of his confident and joyful expectation. In what sense, we'll see later on. We just want to define the word hope. For he says, the reason we have you in our hearts and we wanted to come back to you, and our hearts yearn over you, is because you are our hope.

7:40 Secondly, he says, you are our joy. Now the word joy simply means happiness. Happiness not of a low, sensual nature, but of the elevated, more spiritual, aesthetic nature. And so Paul says, you people are the cause or the occasion of our happiness.

8:03 They were the source of the happiness and sheer delight of the servants of God. So they are his hope, confident expectation, joy, source of happiness. And then he says, our crown of rejoicing. Better translated, our crown of boasting.

8:21 And Paul apparently uses a figure from the athletic world. Some commentators conjecture that since he was at Corinth, maybe Paul unbent the bowl one Saturday afternoon, or some Wednesday afternoon, and went out to the Roman games, and perhaps had seen one of the victors in one of the games with the wreath, the victory wreath placed upon him. You remember he says in 2 Timothy 2, the athlete is not crowned except he strive or contend lawfully, except he keeps the rules. Now what is that wreath to the athlete?

9:01 Well it was to him what a gold medal is at the Olympics today. Now you take a man who has spent three, four hours a day, week in and week out, perfecting how he is going to push a 16 pound ball as far as he can, or how he is going to throw a javelin, or someone else who goes out and runs 10, 15, 20 miles a day, as some of the long distance runners do. Everything in his whole thinking geared to that time when he is going to enter the race at the Olympics, and he is going to be pressing for that gold medal. Now if he takes first place at the Olympics and he is called to that stand that is like building blocks that the children use, two equal height on each side and one in the middle, first place, second place, third place,

9:46 when that medal is placed in his hand, that becomes his medal of rejoicing. It is the symbol of the attainment of that for which he has striven. Now that is what the crown of boasting or the crown of rejoicing was to a Roman athlete. It was the symbol that he had attained, that which he pursued with all of his might and with all of his effort, and then from that time to the time he died, when anyone would come to his home and go to his trophy chest, he will sit down and tell you all the details that surrounded that particular event and how he won it.

10:22 Just like some of you may do with some kind of medal or some kind of a trophy you have won, until a great grandfather will, with trembling, shaking hand, make that thing his crown of boasting, his crown of rejoicing. Now Paul says that is what these Thessalonians were. They represented to Paul all that the gold medal represents to an athlete, all that the wreath placed upon the brow or the neck of the victor in the Roman games, all that that represented to him. Now that is how Paul regards and regarded them, his occasion of boasting,

The Timing: In the Presence of Christ at His Coming

11:04 his joy and his hope. Now the second thing our text tells us is when these Thessalonians would be in a peculiar sense revealed as Paul's hope and joy and crown of rejoicing. For notice the text, he says what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. Oh yes, right now, you are our glory and our joy, you are all of these things to us now, but in a peculiar sense you will be that in the fullest expression in the presence of the Lord Jesus

11:49 at his coming. Now this word presence is the word translated many times in scripture before. Same word used by our Lord when he said, whosoever will confess me before men in the presence of men, I will confess before my Father which is in heaven. Jesus said, let your light so shine before men in the presence of men.

12:15 So whatever Paul is thinking of here, whatever event, it is tied in to being in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in a literal physical sense. You are our hope. Our joy, our crown of rejoicing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. In the presence of the Lord Jesus.

12:40 And in the original it is interesting. Literally it says this, in the presence of our Lord or the Lord of us who is Jesus Christ. Paul identifies himself and all Christians as people who are in a relationship of subjection to Jesus Christ as Lord. Who confess him to be Lord and who take their place of submission before him as Lord.

13:10 And then he says, this will be particularly revealed in the presence of this one who is our sovereign and our savior at his coming. Now this theme of the coming of Christ was touched upon in chapter 1 verse 10 to wait for his son from heaven. Whom he raised from the dead and will be increasingly unfolded in our study of 1 Thessalonians. And the peculiar word that Paul uses here is the first time he uses it in all of his letters.

13:44 This was one of Paul's earliest letters. It's the word that literally means presence. Sometimes it's translated that way. Philippians 2.12

13:53 As you have obeyed in my presence now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling. The word presence. In the secular world it was used for the arrival of some dignitary to pay a visit to a certain place. Here's a man who has great standing or station in the Roman Empire and when he would pay a visit he was spoken of as coming.

14:21 As manifesting his presence. And this is the word that is peculiarly identified to the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and in glory. It's used three or four times in Matthew 24. It's used in 1 Corinthians 15 when it speaks of Christ's coming and at his presence those who are his being brought to be with him.

14:47 Now we'll unfold more of the teaching of the coming of Christ when we come to it in its fuller treatment in chapter 4. A little bit more in chapter 3 and verse 13. Just this much this morning. Paul considers the people at Thessalonica his hope, his joy and crown of rejoicing in a peculiar way when the Lord Jesus comes back again to be glorified in his saints.

The Purpose: Judgment of Saints' Works

15:21 Now why does he tie this matter of their being his hope and joy and crown to the matter of the coming again of Christ? For this reason. That at this point Paul was thinking of the coming of Christ and its reference to the judgment of the saints of God. For at that coming there would not only be the glory of being caught up together to be with the Lord but the scripture says behold he cometh and his reward is with him.

15:53 This will be the time when 2 Corinthians 5.10 will be fulfilled. We shall all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive in his body the things he hath done whether good or bad. And in a special way Paul knows that as a Christian worker as an apostle that day will be a day when God will conduct a qualitative analysis of his ministry.

16:22 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 14. Verse 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Paul looked upon the presence of the Lord Jesus at his coming as a day not only of joy but as a day of testing.

16:57 When the quality of his work would be brought to light and would be revealed as either wood, hay, and stubble or gold, silver, and precious stone. This is what John the apostle had in mind when he said in 2 John and verse 8 Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward. John was conscious that he was going to undergo scrutiny and judgment for his labors in the gospel. Now I hope this has not been boring to you but we can understand what the Holy Ghost is saying till we understand the words

17:40 the Holy Ghost used. Now I hope we have a basic understanding of the words, what they mean. What were these people to Paul and his associates? His hope.

17:51 The object of his confident and joyful expectancy. His joy, the source of delight. Crown of boasting. That in which he would delight and boast.

18:02 That which represented the attaining of all for which he labored. When would they be that? Well they were that now in some sense. Ye are right now, verse 20, our glory and our joy.

Relevance for Today: The Kind of People Who Bring Joy at Christ's Return

18:14 But in a peculiar way they will be that at the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you say that's fine. That's what the people at Thessalonica were for Paul two thousand years ago. But let's get relevant.

18:30 That's the relevant word today, relevant. We must be relevant. There's nothing much relevant here for people standing in the mid 20th century. So let's just fold this up and have a lecture on politics.

18:43 Alright? Let's just close our Bibles and have a dissertation on the problems and ills of society. No, that's what decadent religion has done. Simply because, well on one hand people are spiritually blind and don't see that this is packed full of relevance and on the other hand because preachers have been unwilling to dig until they see the relevance.

19:03 Now what does this say to us? This has much to say to us and if time permits I want to show God helping me three or four things that Paul and his companions estimation of the people at Thessalonica has to say to us with tremendous relevance sitting here right this morning June 16, 1968. First thing it says to us is this. Note the kind of people which make the return of Christ to judge a source of joy and confidence.

19:37 Paul could say as he thought of the Thessalonians you people cause me to look forward to that day when my works will be tried. You cause me to look forward to that day with great delight and great expectancy. Now what kind of people were they? Well you just go back and you read the first and second chapter.

19:59 They were a people first of all who manifested a true deep work of converting grace. He said in verse 9 of chapter 1 just to remind you of that for they themselves report of us what manner of entering in we had unto you how that ye turned from idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his son from heaven. Why could Paul look forward with great delight to that day when his work would be tried? Why because these people gave evidence that they were something more than mere professors of Christianity who quote made a decision for Christ and went out and lived for the devil.

20:41 No they turned from their idols to serve the living and the true God. They had all the marks of an initial deep work of grace but more than this more than this they were manifesting growth in grace against great obstacles. He had heard the report that in spite of this in spite of all the opposition their faith was growing their joy was growing they were a testimony to all of the existing churches in the area when Paul's companions excuse me brought back these reports he was delighted in fact he says in chapter 3 in verses 7 and 8

21:24 therefore brethren we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith for now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. These people gave evidence of converting grace and of persevering grace and when a man is privileged to see people brought to the profession of Christianity in a context in which it's obvious they're dealing with sin they're bowing to Christ as their Lord and then stands back and sees them go on with God he has reason to believe he's got some gold some silver and some precious stones that are going to be there in the day of Christ

22:08 as a witness to the fact that he had not run in vain or had not labored in vain for what did Paul labor for? now get this he didn't labor simply to have a good statistical report I got it out for the church back at Antioch Paul was accountable to the church at Antioch after his first missionary journey he comes back to that church now was he laboring simply to have a good statistical report that will impress the people at Antioch so they'll up his support and pledge to take him on for another three years or five year term is that his goal? no, no his goal as clearly as the goal of a man who goes to the Olympics

22:52 as representing our country in the mile race he has one goal to make those four laps around the track in the quickest time possible and to beat everyone across that finish line Paul's goal was to see men brought not just into a profession of Christianity but to see them step over the threshold of profession and go on in a life of increasing sanctification and conformity to Christ and persevere therein against wind and storm and difficulty until they stand complete in Christ at last and as he saw these tokens that this is what God wants and what God was doing for the Thessalonians he says what is my hope or joy

23:37 or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming 2 Corinthians 1.14 is a commentary on this same thought 2 Corinthians 1.14 as also ye have acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing even as ye also are ours in the day of our death and in the day of our death and in the day of our death and in the day of our death and in the day of our death and in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ now there's another side of the coin there are certain kinds of people that will cause Paul to weep and he speaks about them in Philippians he talks about people and he says I've told you often and I tell you weeping now

24:21 that they are enemies of the cross of Christ they profess to know God he says in Titus but in works they deny him when Paul had to think of those who made a fair profession and thought of those who then fell by the wayside he could not call them his hope his joy his crown of rejoicing because he had failed at his goal he longed to see them from profession to go on into a life of maturity now I want to make it very personal will you be someone's joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ or will you be somebody's tears

25:02 and sorrow will you be somebody's wreath of triumph or somebody's ashes of failure what will you be do you profess to be a Christian what will you be what will you be you will be one or the other oh to be able to say with Paul what is our hope for joy and crown of rejoicing are not even ye what will you be you see if your profession of Christianity has been attained in some other way than the Thessalonians you have gone

25:46 through some process of making some nebulous kind of decision to live for God or something and there's been no radical cleavage with sin and with self-will and utter abandonment to God in Jesus Christ turning from your idols to serve the living and the true God you can't be anybody's joy in the day of Christ and regardless of how spectacular your conversion seemed to be if it hasn't led you to go on persevering in holiness and obedience against wind and storm then you cannot be anyone's cause of rejoicing that's the first thing I see in this text the kind of people that make the servants of God rejoice at the thought of that

Relevance for Today: The Kind of Things That Should Be Our Hope and Joy

26:31 qualitative analysis of their work the second thing note the kind of things which should be our hope and joy and crown of boasting and this struck me so forcibly sitting under a huge tree that probably has been standing for close to two hundred years down in the middle in the yard there outside of Atlanta in the little town of Athens as George and Ann were going in late Friday night to visit a grandmother who's ninety-five years of age and I was mulling over the words of this text and the thought struck me what was Paul considering his hope

27:15 his joy his crown of rejoicing was it anything that could be touched by time and eroded by the world of sense and of time absolutely not follow the parallel for the athlete it's that gold metal that is his hope his joy his crown of rejoicing and everything in life is governed toward the attaining of that crown everything Paul says that in 2 Corinthians 2 Timothy 2 he that striveth for mastery is temperate in all things have any of you ever read the account of how a man like hmm you can see his face

28:00 out in the midwest who has burned up the tracks Jim Ryan over the past couple of years you read how this fellow trains and you say can a man a man must be out of his mind punishes himself running sometimes 20 miles a day I read about Herb Elliot the Australian one of the first to break the 4 minute mile would go out into sand dunes in Australia up a steep bank maybe 20 30 percent grade and run up into sand and come down and the world has gotten into these fellows well one thing they're out to get that crown and everything in life is focused upon now Paul says I'm out for a crown make no bones about it I've got to go

28:44 and that crown is to have stand with me have standing with me when the Lord Jesus comes again the fruit of my labors a crown that is not corruptible for the fisherman for the hunter what is the crown the hope the cause of rejoicing it's his prize catches stuffed and hung up on the wall or mounted that's the hunter and the fisherman's prize crown of rejoicing for the lecture for the immoral man it's telling about his conquest of lecturing for the covetous man telling you his gains his material acquisitions

29:28 oh how foolish he is foolish to have as our joy that which will appear as foolishness in the presence of Christ now follow me close what is your hope or joy or crown of rejoicing what is the pursuit of your life right now not what should it be but what is it is it sensual pleasure is it maybe having no goal at all some people look upon having no goal as the goal to attain their goal that may be your goal no goal

30:13 maybe it's getting a college education in order that you might secure a good job in order that you might acquire things in order that you might enjoy things so your goal is things some of you parents your goal is see your children grow up and be nice young men and women get married have family have grandchildren have nice little time get together a few times a year all right now take whatever your goal is young person adult grandparent whatever your station all the way from the youngest to the oldest what is that thing that you press toward

30:56 all right now take it right now and see what it will look like when you're holding your hands when Jesus comes back again what will it look like then what will it look like in that day when you look up from that into his face that's a pretty beautiful little quite an important thing from me it's about this this

31:35 this this this this this this this this this this this and this brought that day down here and I'm living now in the light of that day. See? He brought that day down into this day and He covered everything this day in the light of that day. That's the only man who lives sensibly.

32:10 Who brings near the day of the coming of Christ so near that He lives this day in the light of that day. And He has no values now that will appear foolish then. He does not pursue now what will appear as absolute insanity then.

32:34 Well, do you see now what that shuts us up to? If your crown of rejoicing, that to which you press in life is anything less than knowing Jesus Christ and serving Him in the will of God and being an instrument to touch other lives for His glory. If anything else is the dominant motive of your existence, you're a fool.

33:00 Because you're living for that which will come to naught in that day.

33:07 Paul was no fool. He was called a fool.

33:11 But every man who called him a fool will in that day when Paul comes into his rightful inheritance realize that Paul was wise and they were the fools. You see, that's why the world should look upon true Christians as fools. And the whole driving passion of modern day Christianity is let the world respect us. Let's parrot what it's saying.

33:36 Let's get it out of the way. Let's get it out of the way. Let's get involved in what it says we ought to get involved in. No, we don't.

33:42 We take our directive from Holy Scripture and the world says, oh, that's pie-in-the-sky religion and all the rest. Well, you may want to call it that.

33:51 But that's what Paul had. He said, I've got pie-in-the-sky by and by. My hope, my joy, my crown of rejoicing is coming then. It's coming then.

34:01 He said it in other words in 2 Corinthians 4.18. He said, while we look not on the things that are seen, but the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

34:14 I speak to you young people this morning. What's your goal? What is your goal right now?

34:22 All right, shoot it upwards to the day of Christ and look at it from that perspective. Is that goal worth keeping? Will it be something you can cling to then? If not, pass it away now as an unclean thing.

34:36 You parents, what is your ambition for your children? Oh yes, you want them to be nice children and nice Christians, but you want them to be successful. Make a name for themselves. They've been brought to the place where you say, oh God, my one ambition for my children is that they'll know you and knowing you will be used of you to the fullest extent to bring home many to yourself.

34:59 And if I must kiss them goodbye for five years at a time and see them buried in some bush down in the jungles of South America, so be it, Lord.

35:13 So be it. The kind of things which should be our hope and joy and joy of life. The crown of boasting are those things which will still look important in the presence of Christ.

Relevance for Today: The Kind of Things That Should Motivate Our Labors

35:29 And then in the third place,

35:32 note the kind of things which should motivate us in our labors.

35:38 As Paul labored, and he did labor in the gospel, he met opposition everywhere he went. Dale Carnegie hadn't appeared on the scene, and if he had, Paul would have snubbed him anyway. He didn't learn that unholy art of being a religious chameleon or chameleon. Chameleon.

35:57 I hear it pronounced both ways. I always thought chameleon was right until I heard people whom I respect say chameleon, and I haven't looked it up in the dictionary, so I'll be a compromiser and say both. But he hadn't learned that unholy art of adapting himself to his religious environment. He went in with a terribly offensive message to the Jews.

36:16 He said there's no salvation in anyone but Christ. Salvation's not in your old temple worship. It's not in the law. It's in him.

36:23 He went to Gentiles who prided themselves in other things. When he went to places like Corinth, they would like to philosophize. They'd like to chew the philosophical rag with Paul. He said, I would not do it.

36:35 I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And the preaching of the cross became an occasion of stumbling in defense. And again and again, Paul got active opposition both from Jew and from Gentile. Now, what in the world drove him on?

36:51 Well, modern psychologists, they would psychoanalyze him and they'd have all kinds of foolish reasons as to why he went on. But Paul tells us why he went on. He tells us right here. The thing that motivated him was the recognition that in the midst of all the conflict, in the midst of all the struggle, in the midst of all the opposition, God was weaving for him a crown of rejoicing.

37:19 And he says, you people are that crown of rejoicing. So he's able to look through and see through the veil of present joy. Durance and stress. And look to that point beyond.

37:33 Isn't that what he says in 2 Corinthians 4? His sort of last will and testament. He says, I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand.

37:41 Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day. Not to me only, but all that love is appearing. You see, as Christians, we need to be continually stirring ourselves up to be motivated by the right perspective Our Lord was. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 says that we are to lay aside every weight in the sin that doth so easily beset us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.

38:17 That which sustained our Lord in the hours of His deepest grief was looking ahead to that day when He would stand in the presence of His Father and present all of the redeemed. Think of it. Some out of every one of us in every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation. Men who by nature and practice were sinners, defiled, deserving the wrath of God.

38:39 And now He would present them as the elder brother amongst His brethren and present them to His Father pure and spotless and holy. And as He thought of that, the joy set before Him sustained Him in His present trial. And that is the thing that sustained Paul as the pressure came as he preached to the things Thessalonians. He said, Ah, but right amongst these Thessalonians God is doing a work that will be part of that crown of boasting at that day.

39:09 And that eternal perspective enabled him to be stable in the midst of temporal adversity.

The Christian's Problems and Perspective

39:19 And I trust as God's people we learned that lesson. God never said that becoming a Christian is the solution of one's problems. Thank God it's the solution of some problems. But, the terrible problem of how can I as a guilty sinner face a holy God.

39:35 That's the worst problem any man will ever face. And listen to me dear friends who have visitors here today. I say to all of you indiscriminately until that problem has become the greatest problem you've ever faced. You're not ready to live nor to die.

39:49 The problem of how can I a guilty sinner stand before a holy God my creator and my judge. Well if Jesus Christ is ours and we are His the scripture says there is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ. That problem is solved. Thank God for that problem.

40:07 Thank God that other problems are solved. But there are other problems that just begin.

40:13 How can I pursue a life of holiness and obedience in a world that is absolutely unfriendly to such a pursuit. I don't find signposts on the avenues encouraging me to go on in grace. I don't find society planning its whole mood and striking out its course of activity in terms of this question how can we assist the saints of God in their Christian pilgrimage. Now there's a mastermind prince of the power of the air according to Ephesians 2 who is ordering everything even in the structures of society to militate against the ongoing of the work of grace in the hearts of God's people.

40:56 Well that causes problems at every turn. So what do you do? In the midst of those problems you need to keep that perspective that Paul said. You're right now my glory and joy yes but in being that I've got tremendous problems so in a very real sense you're my hope and joy and crown of rejoicing then when he comes back again and sets things right.

Relevance for Today: The Kind of Affection That Should Bind Ministers to Their People

41:19 And then the fourth lesson and we could enlarge upon this but I don't think it's necessary in the light of what is preceded notice the kind of affection that should bind the servants of Christ to those to whom they minister.

41:34 You see it's an affection that is not not human in the sense that it's not natural. It's an affection that has eternal perspectives. Because these people were Paul's hope and joy and crown of rejoicing in the light of eternity he had to say things to them initially that wounded and hurt them. He had to tell them they were sinners.

41:57 He had to tell them their idols were just what they were nothing but idols. Told them they needed to repent and yet the affection that was a holy affection as opposed to human sentiment enabled him to say things and do things as we read later on in this letter in the second letter where he had to deal with them quite sharply. Why he's dealing with those that he says are his joy yes but he does not want to have them temporally happy at the expense of eternal happiness. Nor does he want temporal happiness at the extent of eternal happiness.

42:33 He has an affection that moves him to deal with his people on the ground. The basis of principle rather than the basis of sentiment and that of course can be enlarged throughout the letter. Well, I hope you see that this is not an irrelevant thing but it's very relevant. Just as relevant as whether or not as you sit here this morning you are someone's joy or crown of rejoicing or someone's cause of grief.

Conclusion: Living in Light of Christ's Coming

43:01 Just as relevant in terms of what motivates you what is your goal what is the thing to which you press bring near the day of Christ and ask yourself what would it be like what will it look like in that day.

43:17 May God grant that as we hear the apostle saying for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even he in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming that we shall have the same motivation as he had and live with the same perspective and if so then I am confident God will see to it that we will have some that at least indirectly are our hope and our joy and our crown of rejoicing at that day. Let us pray.