Many people, as I say, don't finish their assignment. You give them a task to do, they don't even finish the task, let alone finish the ministry call, or finish an assignment in an area. That requires, because there's difficulty, that you maintain faith, and you develop a good character. So whatever assignment is entrusted to people, it's not just the outcome of it; it's what happens in them, as they do it, is the key thing; and sometimes we overlook. We sometimes think people come ready, but they're not. People don't come ready. They'll come broken, and they come needing help to grow, and a lot of the work I do now is helping people understand what God is doing, and how to respond, in the pressure they're in, so they grow.
Notice it says: Crown of Righteousness. What a great thing to end your life saying: I've finished. I got to the end. I'm looking forward. My next step is a crown, which the Lord has prepared for me. Isn't that exciting? Imagine being able to get to the end of your life, and you're still full of ‘oh yeah’! I'm just about to graduate, the best is ahead for me yet. I've qualified! Isn't that great to finish your life like that? You see that with Roger Galbraith in the funeral the other day, and he finished strong, and in faith, and just positive to the end. I love seeing that! Just that brief period of pain, and now there's glory - what an amazing thing! What a great hope.
Crown of Righteous - Paul said: not just for him, but for all who love His appearing. What does it mean to ‘love His appearing’? To ‘love His appearing’ means to live your life in expectation of the Lord coming; and live, or behave, like it's today. You live your whole life with the fact that He is coming again; you live every day like it could be today. It’s like it refers to a bride, preparing herself for when the groom is about to come.
Here's four things that, to me, explain what ‘loving His appearing’ might mean...
1) If you ‘love His appearing’, the first thing is, you want to make sure you're pursuing intimacy. There's got to be a pursuit of intimacy. If you're going to win that crown, then the first priority in your life is: I want to deepen my relationship with the Lord. We saw in Matthew 25:6, how the wise had oil in their lamps. They took oil in the vessels, and they got that oil because they built time building their relationship. They spent time, they paid the price, to have that ongoing connection with Him.
2) If you know that someone important is going to come, and you know when they're coming, you'll dress up your very best to meet them. So I think the second thing is, to commit your life to preparation, or transformation. That means, you're letting God heal the places you're wounded, letting Him set you free; claiming freedom, and possessing your own life and freedom; letting God shape your character, and grow you through adversities. It's important we commit our life to letting God shape our character; so every assignment you get is not just a job to be done - it's about the character to be formed in it. Sometimes that might just be perseverance; it might be just loving the unlovely; being kind to people that are just nasty and difficult people. Sometimes it's standing up and confronting; or ruling over spirits. Every assignment you get, regardless of what that assignment is, within it is the opportunity for you to grow - if you can see it.
3) To make seeking the Kingdom of God our priority. I think that to ‘love His appearing’ means you're putting Him, and His kingdom, first. We're waiting in expectation, for a coming kingdom, and all that goes with it. I make the priority of the kingdom now, not one day. Many people have other priorities. The Lord and His kingdom is not their priority.
Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness”.
Colossians 3:2 – “Set your affection on things above, not things of the earth”.
The Bible is very clear: decide that your focus, your priority, is always about Jesus and His coming kingdom; and about your affection being on the things that are eternal, not things that are temporal. You still have to deal with daily things, but you're not fixed on them. If you listen to people when they talk, you'll find what they're fixed on, because they'll talk about it. Sadly, with many old people, they're fixed on their sicknesses, and aches and pains, and problems. When you get with them, that's all they want to talk about! What you really want, is to be talking about the things of God: what is God saying? What's God doing? What's the latest testimony? In other words, our life is centred around Him.