I just made passing reference to the crowns of heaven in my message, and had a slide with references directing you to passages which spoke of the crowns.  I would have liked to spend more time on the topic.  It may well work its way into a sermon series next year.  

I named five crowns of heaven, the incorruptible crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory and the crown of life.  

The Crown of Righteousness,  will be given to those who have lived a good and righteous life for God while living down here on this earth.  Paul mentions it in II Timothy 4:7-8.

The Incorruptible Crown is mentioned in I Corinthians 9:25 as a reward for faithfulness in completing the race Christ has set before us.

The Crown of Life is sometimes called the Martyr's Crown because of its mention in Revelation 2:10.  But the same crown is mentioned in James 1:12 as going to those who persevered under trial, with no reference to death.

The Crown of Glory is mentioned in I Peter 5:2-4 as a reward for leadership within the local church.  This crown has sometimes been called the Shepherd's Crown and some suggest that it is only available to pastors.  I believe the context would indicate that this crown is awarded to leaders in the local church.

The Crown of Rejoicing, from I Thes 2:19-20 is perhaps the weakest argument for a crown in heaven.  In the context Paul is merely saying that those he has won to Christ will be his crown, his joy or his hope.  Some have called this the Soul Winners Crown.  It may just be Paul's way of saying when he observes those in heaven who point to him as the one who directed them to Christ, they will make him happy.

SMJ 

As a part of Sunday's message I referenced ten passages which contain the phrase (or something like) "be strong, be courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged."  If these verses are meant to be Biblical commands it strikes me that we as believers are in a world of hurt.  Well, actually it is because we are in a world of hurt that these verses, interpreted as a biblical mandate, are so difficult (I would suggest impossible) to obey.  

Fortunately, a quick reading of the passages where the scripture says do not be discouraged, reveals that in each of those references the speaker is seeking to encourage the people of God to recognize that God is with them and that although they would be facing very difficult times in accomplishing their tasks, they were encouraged to not lose heart.  The words, I believe, were intended to help the people in situations where discouragement is very likely.  See what you think:

When the spies went into the promised land.  (Deut 1:21)

When Moses handed the leadership of Israel to Joshua.  (Deut 31:8)

When Joshua entered the promised land.  (Joshua 1:9)

When the people of Israel were set to attack Ai.  (Joshua 8:1)

When the Israelites faced the five Amorite Kings.  (Joshua 10:25)

When Solomon was preparing to build the temple.  (I Chron 22:13, I Chron 28:20)

When Jehoshaphat defeated Moab and Ammon. (II Chron 20:15&17)

When Hezekiah defended Jerusalem from Sennacherib.  (II Chron 32:7)

SMJ

 When I am preparing my messages, I often will read the chapters around the text for the next weeks message as part of my devotions (as well as checking for larger context issues.  Since I will be preaching from Matthew 20 next Sunday, I was reading again from Matthew 19.

The question asked of the rich young man in verse 20 seems like something I would ask.  What do I still lack?  The question is predicated upon a fairly high view of his own righteousness, since he claims to have kept all the commandments.  But even more so it shows a tendency I have, and which I think many of us have.  A tendency to want to be able to control our own destiny.  

I'm doing everything I can to get this right.  What do I still lack?  I am keeping all the commandments, and have embraced another - try harder!  I want to ask God to just let me know what else I can do to control my destiny, and I will do it.

But God responds to us with the most difficult of responses.  Give up your security (in the case of the young man, his riches) and just follow me.  It makes me question again the source of my security, as well as challenging me to accept that it is my faith which God finds attractive, not my ability to "do the right things."

SMJ

A quote I referred to but didn't actually show on screen during Sunday's message:

A recent article by Dr Richard Freeman, calls into the question the whole equation of parental influence and their children’s receptivity; specifically the question of “should good parents be blamed when kids go bad?” As goes conventional thinking, parents are most often to blame when their children degenerate — whether it is a toddler in full tantrum mode or a young adult exhibiting antisocial behavior. Fingers of accusation almost always point squarely at the parent for everything from spoiling the child to neglect, but as Freeman puts it, “…while I do not mean to let bad parents off the hook, the fact remains that perfectly decent parents can produce toxic children.”

SMJ