In order for us to maintain the victorious standard of the church, we must be lovers of God; the Lord promised to give the crown of life and the inheritance of the kingdom to those who love Him, and we aspire to get the incorruptible crown as a prize at the end of our Christian race. Amen!
There is a close relationship between loving the Lord and His appearing to be rewarded by Him at His coming.
If we want to enjoy the Christ as the reward of the kingdom in the coming age, we must love the Lord and love His appearing.
We may love the Lord deep within, but do we love His appearing?
The Lord’s appearing is His manifestation to us today and His presence with His people at His second coming.
Today we need to live in the Lord’s presence and have His manifestation.
We need to come to Him again and again and stay in our spirit, being fully one with Him, to enjoy His fresh appearing.
If we love the Lord’s appearing today, He will reward us with the crown of righteousness at His coming.
Loving the Lord’s appearing has much to do with our daily living. In our daily living we need to be aware of the Lord’s presence and live and do all things in His fresh presence.
Especially as this age becomes darker and the decline of the church worsens, there are many lovers in the general Christianity today.
There are lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasures, and there are also the lovers of God and the lovers of the good of God’s economy.
What kind of lovers are we today? It is so easy to love ourselves or love the world, and the love of money is in all of us.
Even in the church life, as we enjoy the Lord, meet with the saints, and practice being in the one accord under the ministry of the age, are we lovers of the self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasures, or are we lovers of God?
We need to come to the Lord in His word daily to have His fresh appearing.
Loving the Lord is something that is initiated by Him; He loved us, He poured out His love into our heart, and now we respond to Him in love, even we respond to Him with the love that He has put in us.
The more we set our whole being on the Lord, the more we love Him.
The more we set our being on anything in this world, including our self, the more we love that thing.
Whatever we love, our whole heart with our entire being is set on, occupied with, and possessed by.
May we set our whole being on the Lord day by day.
May we start in the morning by loving Him, opening to Him, and loving His appearing, and may we continue throughout the day to open to the Lord and enjoy Him, remaining in His presence.
The Lord Promised to give the Crown of Life and the Inheritance of the Kingdom to those who Love Him
Whatever we love, that is what we focus our whole being and everything that we are and have on.
If we love something in this world, we will focus our whole being with all our heart on it.
However, if we love the Lord, we will focus our whole being with all our heart with our mind, emotion, and will, on Him.
May we be those who love the Lord with all our heart and soul and strength, and may we set our whole being on Him day by day.
May we never lose our first love for Him but rather, ask Him to rekindle our love for Him and keep our love for Him burning brightly (Rev. 2:4).
For us to maintain the victorious standard of the church, we must be lovers of God for the fulfilment of God’s economy.
We need to be the lovers of God, those who love God to the uttermost, for God to have a way to fulfil His economy.
We don’t just love God with no purpose or goal; the goal of our loving God is His goal in loving us, the carrying out of His eternal economy. If we love the Lord, we will be given the crown of life.
James 1:12 says that we are blessed when we endure trial, because when we have become approved by testing, we will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
The Lord promised the crown of life to those who love Him.
On the one hand, there are trials and tribulations, and there are sufferings and tests; these will come, for the Lord disciplines those whom He loves.
On the other hand, we need to love the Lord. Only those who love Him will be rewarded by Him with the crown of life.
We have the eternal life of God, for we received it at the time of our regeneration, but there is also the crown of life, which is a reward at the Lord’s coming back.
We need to endure trial and become approved by testing, and in all these things, we need to love the Lord.
Just love the Lord. Don’t care for anything else. Just give yourself to love Him.
When trial comes, when the tests are here, just love the Lord.
Everything is for our good, for we love the Lord; all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
![Listen, my beloved brothers: Did not God choose the poor in the world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him? James 2:5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Listen-my-beloved-brothers-Did-not-God-choose-the-poor-in-the-world-to-be-rich-in-faith-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Listen, my beloved brothers: Did not God choose the poor in the world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him? James 2:5")
James 2:5 says that God chose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.
Wow, God promised the inheritance of the kingdom to those who love Him!
We may be poor outwardly, that is, we may not be as gifted or we may not have that many material possessions, but the Lord chose us to be rich in faith.
When we have faith, when we’re organically joined to the Lord in spirit and therefore receive His riches into our being, we are rich in faith.
By believing into the Lord at the time of our salvation, we were saved by the Lord; however, we need to go on and overcome by loving the Lord.
Being saved satisfies ourselves, for it meets our needs; however, loving the Lord satisfies God, for it meets His need.
God is not satisfied with us merely being saved; He is happy when we love Him and are one with Him for the fulfilment of His purpose.
As we live today in the age of the church’s decline, when the church as a whole has been defeated and has failed, the Lord needs a group of saints who return to the victorious standard of the church.
Such ones love God to such an extent that they are the Lord’s overcomers, and they will receive the crown of life and will be rewarded with the inheritance of the kingdom.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We give ourselves to just love You. We want to be lovers of God today, in the age of the decline of the church. Oh Lord Jesus, may You gain a group of saints who maintain the victorious standard of the church by being lovers of God for the fulfilment of God’s economy. Amen, Lord gain those who love You even through tests and trials. May we be those who are approved by testing, those who love You in all things, so that we may receive the crown of life. Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You! No matter what happens outwardly, we give ourselves to love You! Thank You for choosing us to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Thank You for promising the inheritance of the kingdom to those who love You! Lord Jesus, we love You! Make us Your overcomers. Gain a group of overcomers who love You to the uttermost and who make themselves ready to receive the kingdom reward from God!
The Lord will Come as a Righteous Judge to award the Crown of Righteousness to the Triumphant Runners in the Christian Race
The incorruptible crown in 1 Cor. 9:25 is a symbol of glory and beauty given as a prize, in addition to the Lord’s salvation, to the triumphant runner of the Christian race (1 Pet. 5:4; Isa. 28:5).
When people contend in the games or run the race, they exercise self-control in all things; they do this to obtain a corruptible crown, but we do it to receive an incorruptible one.
For instance, they exercise regularly, they are strict with their diet, and they make sure they get enough rest in order to be able to contend in the games.
How much more we, who want to gain an incorruptible crown – the crown of righteousness – do we need to be strict with ourselves, even exercise strict self-control today!
The crown of righteousness, the incorruptible crown, is nothing else but the Lord Himself becoming our glory and our beauty.
Anything that we can gain on this earth such as riches, reputation, and glory from others are corruptible and perishing.
But one day, if we triumphantly run the Christian race, the Lord will become a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty in the coming age.
This prize is neither of grace nor by faith, as salvation is (Eph. 2:8), but of righteousness through works (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10).
On one hand, we have salvation freely by believing into the Lord Jesus; salvation is by grace, through faith, not of our works or endeavours.
We don’t need to pay the price; we simply need to turn to God, repent, and believe into Him; by faith, salvation is ours.
As soon as we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and He has been raised from the dead, we are saved. But reward is different from salvation.
After being saved, we have begun the way of salvation; we are now in a lifelong process of organic salvation, the full salvation of God.
If we remain in this process and live Christ, we will receive the reward at the Lord’s return.
The crown of righteousness is of righteousness and through works.
We are not justified by works, but we are rewarded for our works done in righteousness.
One day, the Lord will return as the righteous judge and He will repay each man according to their works.
Paul was assured of this; he testified that the Lord, the righteous Judge, would recompense him on that day with the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8).
The crown is a symbol of glory and is given as a prize, in addition to the Lord’s salvation, to those who are triumphant in running the race.
On the one hand, we need to love the Lord and love His appearing.
On the other hand, we need to take the Lord’s coming as an incentive and as a warning, for He will not return as a gracious Savior or as our Redeemer but as the righteous Judge.
When the Lord returns, on one hand, we will be ecstatic, for He will rapture us, His loving seekers, to Himself.
On the other hand, the Lord’s coming is a solemn matter, for He will come as a righteous Judge to be the Judge of all.
He will judge both the believers and the unbelievers, and we all as God’s servants will give an account to Him.
As seen in Matt. 25:21, 26, He will say to some, Well done, good and faithful slave, while to others He will say, Evil and slothful slave.
The Lord will decide in His righteousness whether or not we will receive a reward.
The Lord’s coming and HIs kingdom are solemn matters; therefore, Paul gave Timothy a solemn charge in 2 Tim. 4:1-8. He charged Timothy by the Lord’s appearing and His kingdom.
![For the Son of Man is to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay each man according to his doings. Matt. 16:27 For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things [done] through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad. 2 Cor. 5:10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/For-the-Son-of-Man-is-to-come-in-the-glory-of-His-Father-with-His-angels-and-then-He-will-repay-each-man-according-to-his-doings-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "For the Son of Man is to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay each man according to his doings. Matt. 16:27 For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things [done] through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad. 2 Cor. 5:10")
We need to be solemnly warned concerning the Lord’s coming and have the living that He requires in order for us to gain the reward, the crown of righteousness, at His return.
The Lord promised in Rev. 22:21 that He comes quickly, and our prayer is, Come, Lord Jesus!
His coming, however, will be for judgment, to give the reward or punishment to us and to all men.
We will all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ and we will give an account to Him concerning the things we have done in the body, according to what we have practices, whether good or bad.
This is indeed a very serious matter.
We are saved and will be saved eternally, but we do not know whether we will receive the reward, the crown of righteousness.
We are looking forward to the Lord’s coming, we eagerly await His return, and we love His appearing; however, we need to realize that His second coming will be for judgment, a very solemn matter.
He will come as the righteous Judge to give out the crown of righteousness to those who have triumphantly run the Christian race.
We need to pass the test and withstand the trial, and we need to endure to the end. It is good to pray to the Lord in this regard and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to run the Christian race with endurance so that we may obtain the prize. Amen, Lord, we love You and we want to gain You as our prize, as the crown of righteousness. Thank You for regenerating us with Your life and bringing us into the process of God’s organic salvation. We want to remain in this process and cooperate with You so that You may gain in us what You are after. Oh Lord, may we be those who will receive the incorruptible crown at the end of our triumphant Christian race! We give You our daily living and our works. We want to live by faith, live You out as our righteousness, and love You and love Your appearing. Amen, Lord, we want to live today in the light of Your appearing, being aware that You will return as a righteous Judge. May Your coming be a warning and an encouragement to us today. May we be prepared for Your return so that, when You come, You will usher us into Your joy and grant us the crown of righteousness as a reward.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Timothy, 2nd ed., pp. 60-61, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (2024 ICSC), week 5, Receiving the Kingdom Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The Ministry of the Spirit and of Righteousness (1) – From chapter two of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant, via, Shepherding Words.
– The New Testament Crown, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– A crown of righteousness, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 38, by Witness Lee.
– Message 9: The Second Coming of Christ, message by brother Lee, video via LSM.
– Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming – 2023 International Chinese-speaking Blending Conference – Loving the Lord’s Appearing, quotes via, Having this Ministry newsletter.
– The word of righteousness – the believers’ crown, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
– Great Resolutions Podcast #42 – A Prevailing Witness, via, AgeTurners.com.
– God’s Government and God’s Grace, via, Shepherding Words.
– Christ executing His judgment over the world, a portion from, Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 36, by Witness Lee.
– The word of righteousness: the righteousness of God, article via, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– Soon our Lord will come His servants to reward; / Those who love Him then the crown will share. / Watchful we must be and treasure not the world, / Love and serve the Lord, His burden bear. (Hymns #956 stanza 3)
– We praise Thee for Thy righteousness; / Thy justice, Father, we confess, / And fully testify. / Thou art the judge of all mankind, / In Thee injustice none can find, / Nor wrong to Thee apply. (Hymns #21 stanza 1)
– In order for us to enjoy Christ / As our kingdom reward, / We must love the Lord’s appearing, / Which is His appearing / And manifestation to us today / And His presence with His people at / His second coming. (Part of song on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness)
About aGodMan
![Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner [man] is being renewed day by day. 2 Cor. 4:16](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Therefore-we-do-not-lose-heart-but-though-our-outer-man-is-decaying-yet-our-inner-man-is-being-renewed-day-by-day.jpg?fit=178%2C100&ssl=1)
Life-study of 2 Timothy, 2nd ed., pp. 60-61, by Witness Lee
The Lord’s coming is a solemn matter, for He will return not only to rapture us but also He will come as a righteous Judge to give each one according to his works. Oh Lord Jesus.
May we be those who love the Lord, love the Lord’s appearing, and live out Christ as our righteousness so that, when He returns, He would reward us with the incorruptible crown, the crown of righteousness.
Aaaaameeen! Brother, the Lord has promised to give the crown of life to those who love Him!
These ones will also inherit the Kingdom and will be recompensed with a reward not according to grace nor faith but according to His righteousness!
Amen, brother. We need to exercise self-control if we wish to obtain an incorruptible crown.
This prize is not of grace & faith but of righteousness through works.
The Christian life is not merely a life of enjoying Christ as our grace & faith but also a time to be faithful to the Lord’s ministry.
Our Jesus will not come back as the merciful God or as the gracious Saviour but as the righteous Judge.
He will decide if we receive a reward. May we all give heed to this solemn warning.
Amennnn. The Lord’s coming and His kingdom are solemn matters, Paul gave a serious charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-8.
We should not think that the Lord’s appearing will merely be a time of rapture and excitement.
It will also be a time of great solemnity for every believer in Christ.
07/16/24 Receiving the Kingdom Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (Week 5, Day 2)
James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who endures trial, because having become approved, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.” James 1:2-12 deals with trials. Trials come from the believers’ environment to prove their faith (vv. 2-3) through suffering (James 1:9-11). The believers should endure the trials with all joy (James 1:2) because of their love for the Lord that they may receive the blessing of the crown of life.
In 1 Peter 4:13, Peter says, “”But inasmuch as you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice exultingly.” Although persecution is a trial that purifies us through burning, Peter says that by experiencing such a fiery ordeal we share, participate in, the sufferings of Christ. If we were not Christians, we certainly would not suffer the kind of persecution described in 1 Peter 4:12 and 13. Such persecutions are due to the fact that we are Christians, men of Christ.
In James 1:12, the word “approved” refers to the approving of the believers’ faith (James 1:3). Actually, the Lord already knows how much or how little our faith is. On the negative side, the proving and approving of faith is towards Satan and his angels, as portrayed in the Book of Job). On the positive side, trials and sufferings instigated by Satan causes us to realize our inability and incapacity to endure and to overcome.
Upon realizing our weaknesses, we then turn to the Lord’s unsearchable supply for our strength and endurance. Passing through such an experience causes us to grow in faith and endure to the end until we eventually shall finish our course and receive the Lord’s promise of the crown of life (Mak 13:13; James 1:12).
The crown of life is the glory, the expression, of life. The believers endure the trials by the divine life, and this will become their glory, their expression, the crown of life, as a reward to them at the Lord’s appearing for their enjoyment in the coming kingdom (James 2:5).
James 1:12 says that the crown of life is promised to those who love the Lord. To believe in the Lord is to receive the divine life for our salvation. To love the Lord is to grow in the divine life for maturity that we may be qualified for a reward—the crown of life—to enjoy the glory of the divine life in the kingdom.
The crown of life mentioned in James 1:12 is also the incorruptible crown mentioned in 1 Corinthians 9:25, the crown of glory in 1 Peter 5:4, and the crown of righteousness mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:8. They are not many different crowns that the Lord promised to give us as our reward when He comes as the Righteous Judge, but they are one and the same crown, having many aspects. It is the crown of life because we have attained the maturity in life at the final stage of our salvation (Eph 4:13). It is the incorruptible because we have overcame incorruption. It is the crown of glory because we are glorified together with the Lord when He returns in glory. It is the crown of righteousness because of our works of righteousness.
We must take heed of the solemn warning that when the Lord comes in His second coming, He will not be the merciful God or gracious Redeemer, but the Righteous Judge to judge all the believers in Christ, that is, to render reward to the faithful believers and to render punishment to the slothful believers. The faithful believers will receive the crown of righteousness in order for them to reign with the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom, but the slothful believers will be cast into the Outer Darkness, where they shall weep and gnashing their teeth for a thousand years (Rev 20:4, 6; Mat 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30).
If we are faithful to the Lord’s ministry, we will receive the crown of righteousness as our reward.
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/W0_6Hf9QWTo
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v575sut-christ-will-return-as-a-righteous-judge-to-give-the-crown-of-righteousness.html
Footnotes taken from, Recovery Version Bible
James 1:12
Blessed is the man who endures trial, because when he has become approved by testing, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.
–
HWMRW5D2
“Receiving the Kingdom Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness”
My dear brother, I have enjoyed this portion, especially when you admonish us to just love the Lord. I agree. We should do all things from a genuine heart of love. All things. This includes every facet and detail of our lives. Every thought, every action, every reaction.
The Lord warned me, a few years back, that motive is everything. Not just what we do, but why we do it. It is more important than our works. It is the whole point for our works. Remember the verse that says there is a reward for just giving a cup of water to one of these.? This is not a punisher God. This is a God of love.
Yet of course we know that when Jesus returns, it will be as a judge, first to His own house and then to the rest. Should we fear this? Should we now be adding fear to our already clouded set of motives?
We are so blessed to have a God of Grace, who loves us so much more than we could ever understand, than we could possibly reciprocate.
Those of us who are especially involved in church works will see church works as the key to reward. If we are devoted to prayer ministries, we will see prayer as the way to reward. If we perform works of charity for the needy, we will see that as the key, etc. This is human nature to use ourself as the yardstick. So now, should we, out of fear, increase these activities that our Lord will not smite us with a heavy stick upon His soon return?
Our Lord is our lover. He will be examining our hearts. Regard them. Love one another as we are all His appearing. Practice His appearing by smiling and welcoming and embracing each other. Reacquaint yourselves with your first love, do all things from the right source, and leave fear to the enemy whose specialty it is. Preach the gospel, share the Lord, be light wherever your path leads, for it is upon the unbeliever, the denier, the scoffer of Truth that the judgement will fall. Have compassion on them and endure their contempt, for His sake, and leave worries of your just rewards to Him.
In His love, saints. Love you all.
[Excerpt from HWMR-Wk. 5 Day 2]
Amen … “But of Him (The Triune God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (30) That as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) … Hallelujah!
Christ Himself, our righteousness (from our regenerated spirit, having been made alive unto God), and sanctification (of our heart and soul, through our being transformed into His image, and conformed into His likeness) and redemption (the redemption of our bodies into glorious ones), all to become the many sons of God corporately and in reality, as a greater expression of Himself, but not in the Godhead. Hallelujah! …
“And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith, (10) To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:9-11) …
“According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. (21) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20-21) … O Lord Jesus!
Amen, thank you Jesus for being our objective righteousness, we pray for grace to live out our subjective righteousness.