THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN I Cor. 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. How much are we worth? How much is your service worth to the Lord? I know we could never match up to how He has served us, and how He continues to serve us, but over and over again God s Word reminds us of our responsibility and our privilege to serve Him. Paul delighted to be known as a servant of the Lord Jesus (Rom. 1:1; Titus 1:1), as did many others of the saints such as James (1:1), Peter (II Pet. 1:1), Jude (v.1), and John (Rev. 1:1). To be a servant of the Lord is to be counted among such a prestigious company as these. However, being a servant of the Lord is on account that He has chosen us. We are priests. The apostle John wrote, Rev. 1:6 He hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; the apostle Peter also tells us we are a royal priesthood, an holy nation (I Pet. 2:9), and priests serve, - that is their duty, - and the privilege originally belonged to the sons of Levi alone, - out of all the twelve tribes, - to come near unto the Lord for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him (Dt. 21:5). We are in the Lord s service, - it is a holy service and a work carried out wholly unto Him. It is a responsible and a time-consuming service. It requires one hundred percent commitment and dedication. It overrides every other responsibility and demand placed upon us. It is a privilege to be in the Lord s service, and each person whom the Lord has saved has been made a servant. It is such an exclusive privilege we ought not to even expect a reward, never mind the incorruptible crown Paul writes about in I Cor. 9:25. Eternal salvation is reward enough! It is a reward we do not deserve and we never could hope to achieve through any of our efforts. Surely we must feel totally unworthy of such a reward as the incorruptible crown that awaits us in glory. I cannot see why the Lord has promised me such a reward. Neither can I see why He has promised me such a beautiful home in Heaven. I know He has promised me eternal salvation and I know it is given to me all because of His own sovereign grace and He is far too good to me, far better than I deserve.
2 But what I understand of Scripture is that in saving me and in all the preparations He makes for my eternal homecoming I understand He is doing it for my benefit, yes, but in doing it for me and all His bloodbought children, - He is doing it ultimately for the glory of His own wonderful and precious Name. Rather than look at ourselves to consider how we come to be obtaining this incorruptible crown, let s consider one of the greatest saints who Christ ever saved. God saved him for service, and his service for the Lord brought him across many lands and many seas. This particular man often found himself in the midst of the work in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling (I Cor. 2:3), and yet also in such times, the Lord granted him to know the demonstration of the Spirit and of the power of God (vv.4,5). The man is Paul, and in our study we are not glorying in the man, but we are glorying in how the Lord used the man, and how the Lord reserved an incorruptible crown for him in recognition of his faithful and humble service. Perhaps the most difficult of the all the mission fields in which the apostle Paul served was the city of Corinth. Paul was born around 1AD, and his original name was Saul. Saul means asked for, and it was the name of Israel s first king. Perhaps the name Saul, - asked for, - implies a very special set of circumstances in which the apostle s parents had sought the Lord for him to be born. Like King Saul, the young Saul of Tarsus belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5). Saul was born in the Roman city of Tarsus (Acts 22:3), the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia, in south-eastern Asia Minor. Being born in a Roman city he was a Roman citizen. He therefore had dual citizenship, - a Jew and a Roman. We do not know how his parents came to be living in Tarsus, but there is a story outside of the Biblical records that says Paul s parents emigrated from a village in Galilee. It is very possible, but it cannot be verified. What we do know though is that there was a church in Cilicia (Acts 15:23, and that Paul and Silas went to visit them (Acts 15:41).
3 Growing up in a Jewish family Paul was trained in the Jewish scriptures and traditions beginning in the home with the celebration of the various Jewish holy days. He was reared strictly in the beloved faith of Judaism. At an early age he would have entered the synagogue day school where he enjoyed learning to read and write Hebrew by copying selected passages of Scripture. As part of the larger community in which he lived he would have spoken Greek. Coming originally from Israel his parents native language, - and the language spoken in their home, - would have been Aramaic. Being a Roman, he would have spoken Latin fluently. This was a clever young man, forward-thinking and highly-motivated. He learned the art of tent-making in order to finance himself (Acts 18:3). He left his home and parents in Tarsus and moved to Jerusalem to study under the famous rabbi Gamaliel, - this probably happened following his bar mitzvah when he was thirteen, and most likely continued until he was eighteen years of age. Gamaliel was the best teacher of the day, and Paul became very zealous for his Jewish faith and also wanted to be the best. He rose to become a member of the most hyper-jewish societies in Jerusalem so-much-so that it was his boast, Phil. 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Then, one day, the Lord met this man so religiously hardened against the Gospel and the Lord did a work of grace in his life the old things had to pass away and behold, all things then became new for him through Christ. The Lord followed him up the road from Jerusalem towards Damascus and saved him by His irresistible grace. Yes, if the Lord had not saved him, Saul of Tarsus might possibly have become one of the rising stars of the Jewish religion. He could possibly have won many accolades and many honourable titles but when the Lord saved him, - in his own words, - he wrote, Phil. 3:8 I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 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: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
His service for the Lord took him further than his service for Judaism ever would have taken him. His service for the Lord gave him great joy and also brought him deep sorrow. One of the greatest longings he had was for the salvation of his own beloved people, Rom. 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. In the earlier part of his missionary travels, every new town and city he visited, he always sought out first of all the local synagogue and went and preached Christ to them. However, he received more opposition from the Jewish religion than any other system, of religion. They hounded and chased him wherever he went. They made up stories about him, they reported him to the local authorities and accused him with all sorts of lies. Even from among the churches he established and helped, he took all kinds of cruel abuse and unsubstantiated accusations. Paul would have given up the work the Lord had called him to except for the fact the call of God was as a burning torch on fire in his heart. Yes, he served all the many churches he visited and established. He dealt patiently and lovingly with all them. He did it because he was doing it for the Lord. They came to him in Corinth and accused him of abusing his standing as an apostle. They accused him of thinking too highly of himself, - their accusation proved they did not know him at all! These were people who were well-educated and well-read. They reacted against many of the words Paul was saying. They looked down upon the way he spoke and carried himself. They walked tall and proud Paul didn t! They spoke fancy words to impress Paul didn t! Their eyes were so clouded with their own achievements they could not see clearly how God had blessed them with this man in their midst. And did their nastiness affect Paul? Oh yes, it did and very much-so. It was in Corinth where he met Aquila and his wife Priscilla, - they were also tentmakers, and fellow-jews. He attended the local synagogue and sought to see Jews and Greeks brought together in Christ. However, the heavy weight of the burden of evangelism in a city such as Corinth bore a heavy toll upon him. He wasn t getting through and he was considering moving on and giving up the work of the Gospel there in Corinth, Acts 18:6 he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. 4
From that time in his ministry, - whilst he still retained a deep, deep love for his fellow-jews, - he turned his attention to bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. He realised this was the work God had called him into, Gal. 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. In Corinth, he moved next door in the home of a Gentile named Justus and he saw many Corinthians won to the Lord, including Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue (Acts 18). God does not call you for no reason. He had a reason and a purpose for Paul to be in Corinth. But it was so difficult it was soul-destroying. He was pressed in the spirit he did not feel able to achieve for the Lord. I can do more for the Lord somewhere else. No matter how faithful he tried to be, it was as if he was not gaining any substantial fruit for his labour. Maybe Lord, I should be no longer here, I should be somewhere else. The whole matter was discouraging him and getting him down. However, one night the Lord spoke to him and addressed his spirit, Acts 18:9 Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. Keep doing what you are doing, Paul, and you will know the blessing! And he stayed, and he preached the Word of God faithfully and tirelessly for a further eighteen months. He never weakened or changed the message. He never tried to make the Gospel more Corinth-friendly so that the people could accept it easier. He simply taught God s Word as the Lord had made it known to him. He had a difficult time there in Corinth but nowhere was easy for him. He had to keep focussed everywhere he went. His friends came and went, II Tim. 4:16 no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. He had a work to do for the Lord and no one or nothing would hinder him because the burden was so real, it was his burning ambition that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear (v.17). 5
6 It was the purpose for which the Lord placed upon this earth and saved him. It was the reason he met him and changed him on the road to Damascus. Saul of Tarsus, as he was, could have continued to parade around with his fancy clothes belonging to the Pharisees order. He could have won a name for himself as being one of the most forthright Jewish leaders in Jerusalem but when the Lord saved him, the Lord gave him the new purpose for his life, to serve Christ. Yes, II Cor. 11:24 five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Why did he continue to do it? Because he loved the Lord, and the highest service he could be in was the service of the Lord. He was a living sermon to the Corinthian church to be faithful, I Cor. 4:2 it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. He described the believers in Colosse as the saints and faithful brethren in Christ (Col. 1:2), and Epaphras as its faithful minister (v.7), as was Tychicus and Onesimus in the same epistle (4:7,9). But Paul was grateful to the Lord for claiming his life for the work, I Tim. 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. You see, we could look at the incorruptible crown from many different aspects, and we could preach on it in many different ways but here is just a simple illustration of a life lived for the Saviour, and a life that would be rewards with an incorruptible crown. Even you know you do not deserve it, are you nevertheless working so that when you do achieve it you acknowledge the Lord s leading in your life that had prepared you for it? He has given you a burden for His work. You have a longing to see souls saved, and to see the people of God built up in their most holy faith, and to bless the Name of God in how you live. It is wonderful to be saved. It is a privilege to be counted as His servants. Yes, He rewards us on earth, but earthly rewards fade away. It is only because of His grace, - for we cannot see how we should deserve it, - but He has the heavenly reward already prepared and part of it will be the incorruptible crown, the privilege of the children of the King of kings.