Pursuing Crowns

'I have always been taught in Bible classes that I should pursue the crown, but I always thought that it was just a matter of living a Christian life. I never thought that I could be more intentional about it.' That was the rather surprised reaction (paraphrased) that I received from one of my students as we began this study. A missionary who visited our church attended one of these lessons and immediately asked for copies of my instructor notes to take back with her to her congregation because she felt it would be very beneficial to her ladies’ group. The pastor who mentored me felt the same way and is currently using my instructor notes for this study among his commentaries as he is preaching. Having received that much encouragement over this study, I decided I might as well put my notes into a book and publish it.  This is an expositional Bible study in which we will explore the theme of pursuing a place and reward in a heavenly kingdom, and it will seem odd at first considering we are tackling the theme from the Old Testament book of First Samuel. The New Testament speaks of pursuing crowns in rather vague terms, but the narrative of First Samuel gives us some very practical, tangible ways to approach the task which we discover through the comparison of three sets of people: two brides, two priests, and two kings. Each group presents us with as set of decisions that must be made when pursuing a legacy or crown. There are right and wrong kings which whom to align ourselves; there are right and wrong crowns to pursue (how we define those makes a difference); and there are right and wrong ways and reasons to go about pursuing them. As we work through the text, we consider what the characters model for us and what New Testament principles are derived from their examples. In addition to the application part of the study, I have included extensive discussion on the theme of ascents and descents that the author incorporates into the narrative, as well as the author’s extensive use of chiastic structures, comparative pictures, parallels, and other narrative devices to draw out themes, lessons, and pictures of Christ foreshadowed in the characters and events.