“But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.”
1 Thess. 2:17-20, ESV
I began thinking about this passage nine years ago. It was a beautiful morning and Pam and I were in the Poconos with some dear friends, Mike and Heidi Reed. As we were preparing to go out to breakfast, Heidi asked what I thought our rewards in heaven—what our crown—would be. It got me thinking…
I knew that the word “crown”—like the one in 2:19—was a laurel wreath, a symbol of victory used in the Greek Olympic games similar to the gold medals that we’re familiar with in our Olympics.[1]
I also knew what those crowns weren’t:
- They weren’t about material things—getting starry-eyed over “streets of gold.”
- They also had nothing to do with gaining favor or impressing God.
Whatever these crowns were—they were only gifts of grace that we could not take credit for. If God gave us anything it would be something that that we would then just turn around and cast at His feet—kind of like our appreciation or love gift to Him.
And so, that morning before we left, I did a brief search of the word “crown” on my iPhone to share a few thoughts in the car on our way to breakfast. There was one verse in particular that stood out vividly and stayed with me all year. It’s also something that started me on a journey toward a more missional focus (a term we’ll define later in Part 3) in my personal life.
- So what is the prize, friends?
- What will cause God to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
- What is our best life now—according to God?
- What’s at the center of a joyful and meaningful life?
- What will give us a life of no regrets?
- In a word or phrase, what will be heaven’s proud reward and crown?
In I Thess. 2:17-20, we learn:
- Heaven’s proud reward and crown is relational. (Part 1)
- Heaven’s proud reward and crown is hated by Satan. (Part 2)
- Heaven’s proud reward and crown requires a missional focus. (Part 3)
First, heaven’s proud reward and crown is relational.
Relationships are so central to life. It was Abraham Lincoln who observed that the best part of a person’s life consists in his or her relationships. And a significant theme that runs through Paul’s letter but especially 2:17-3:8 is friendship. The particular topic related to that friendship in the specific passage before us (2:17-20) is Paul’s unsuccessful attempt to revisit them.
The verb here translated “torn away” literally means to make someone an orphan. It can indicate parents deprived of children or more generally “deprived” or “separated from.” What is key for us here is the involuntary nature of the separation and the emotional distress it caused Paul.
Paul had no children of his own but his capacity for parental affection seems to have been well satisfied or amply employed in his relationships with his new convert friends. As parents rejoice in their children and cherish high hopes for them, so it is with Paul and the new Thessalonian believers. Note the mention of “joy” twice. This reveals as well his strong feeling toward them. Nothing can disguise the pride and delight which he takes in these friends who had become so dear to him.
We forget that relationships are far more important than tasks in God’s economy and here’s why:
“The story that is the Sacred Romance begins not with God alone, the Author at his desk, but God in relationship, intimacy beyond our wildest imagination, heroic intimacy. The Trinity is at the center of the universe; perfect relationship is at the center of all reality… One early mystic says we were created out of the laughter of the Trinity.”
John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance
Next week, we’ll see how heaven’s proud reward and crown is hated by Satan.
[1] I also knew that this was athletic imagery that Paul used elsewhere: 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:12-14.