Is Jesus Your King?

One of the greatest stumbling blocks in the lives of the American Christian is found in the concept of Kings and Kingdoms. America was founded on rebellion, particularly rebellion against the king. Yet, to call ourselves Christians, demands that we relinquish our prideful desire to be independent and to humble ourselves in submission to a king, that king being Jesus.

We had a guest preacher come to our church yesterday and preach on Psalm 2. Take a moment and read that Psalm.

Psalm 2:1-12
 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,  "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.  Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,  "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."  "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"  Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

You might want to read that through several times because it runs quite contrary to the typical description we often hear preachers use in describing Jesus. And there is no question that what we are reading here in this psalm is a pre-incarnation picture of Jesus.

As we heard yesterday in our sermon, Jesus is not your “buddy”, He is your King. That Jesus loves you is a wonderful truth, and in His work on the cross we have been adopted into God’s family. But we have far too often made Jesus out to just be someone we can treat like we do our best friend. Yes, we have been adopted into His family and we can have an intimate relationship with Him now, but we can never lose sight of who He is and Psalm 2 is a stark reminder of the dangers of not humbling ourselves in reverent submission to His Kingship.

Look at a few quick points we hear from the psalmist.

Verses 1-3 tell us that the world’s leaders plot against God and call on us to break away from God and His Word. We are certainly seeing that today. Just look at America and its rejection of God’s moral law. And the people are more eager that ever in our history to change laws that give approval to things that God and His Word call sin.

But listen to what God’s Word in this Psalm says about those who plot against Him.

Psalm 2:4
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

As they think they are breaking free from God’s sovereignty and power, God is laughing at them.

The day is coming when the world leaders and those who follow them, are going to hear from God.

Psalm 2:5
 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury…

Jesus came the first time with salvation, not to judge the world, but to warn us that we must repent and follow Him. But the second time He comes, and oh yes, He is coming, He will come to judge. He will be coming with wrath.

Psalm 2:7-9
 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

God has given His Son, Jesus, the nations. And to those who have sought to be free of God’s fetters and cords, Jesus will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware.

That ought to change how we see Jesus and how we preach to the lost. There is a judgment coming to those who refuse to bow before the King.

What do we do? What do we say to them?

Psalm 2:10-12
 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

We must warn them of the imminent danger of the return of Christ. We must “Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son.”

As far those who are willing to place themselves under a King, the sovereign King of Kings? How blessed are we, for we have our refuge in Him.

This is serious business. There are only two choices in this life. Have Satan be your king and follow him. Or let Christ be your King and submit yourself to His Kingdom.

Be careful what you choose.

The bad news: His wrath may soon be kindled.

The good news: How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

I pray you take refuge in the King.

The Obedience of Faith

I began studying the letter Paul wrote the Colossian Church yesterday. Though my first reading and subsequent study, dealt only with the first eight verses, which would be considered merely the greeting of the letter, I have already learned something new and vital to my understanding of the life of a Christian in respect to faith.

My newfound knowledge came in the area of the word faith.  In verse three, Paul is telling the Colossians how he thanks God for them, whenever he prays for them. He then explains why he thanks God for them, saying in verse four, it is “because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.”

In my study I learned that the Greek word used for faith is pistis, which is derived from the Greek word peithō. A deeper study of the Greek word peithō tells us that one of the meanings it carries is to obey. So, when we define faith, we find that it involves a belief that the object of our faith is something that we can have so much confidence in, that we are compelled to obey its source. And what is the primary source of our faith? It is Jesus who we place our faith in. Thus, our faith, as defined in the scriptures, demands our obedience to the object of our faith. In simple terms, we are to have such a strong confidence in Jesus, that we are led to believe that what He says to us, is true and we can rest confidently in obedience to Him. We are to obey what Jesus has said to us.

The very reason that Paul opens his letter by telling the church at Colossae that he thanks God for them, is because they are obedient to Christ’s call on their lives and that is demonstrated to all by their love for each other. Remember that in the New Testament, every single Christian is called a saint. When Paul says they love the saints, he is speaking of the love they have for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Every single person who has entered into the family of God by their faith in Jesus, is called to love their fellow saints in the faith. 1 John 3:14 gives us the litmus test for true faith in Christ saying that “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”

If we do not love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then our profession of faith is a farce and a lie. Unless that love exists, we are not Christians. This confirms the idea of faith demanding obedience to Jesus.

As I pondered this thought over the course of my day, the Holy Spirit began to work on me. By evening I had moved on to other thoughts and had as usual, went back to the everyday things of life. But at 3:00 a.m. this morning, I woke up with a bit of a headache. As someone who stumbles through with the struggles of what the shrinks call bi-polar manic depression, I often cannot sleep. What happens is my brain won’t turn off. It’s sort of a sensory overload, I guess, and it can be quite frustrating, as it just becomes impossible to rest.

So, here I am awake in the early hours of the morning. But rather than fight the battle to go back to sleep, this morning I could hear that quiet voice of God speaking. First of all, I took a few minutes in prayer just to praise and thank God for the blessings of my life. Then I simply let God speak and what I am hearing this morning is Jesus preaching the sermon we all know and call the Sermon on the Mount. As the Holy Spirit brought that sermon back to my mind, I began to ask myself questions. Questions that center on my faith. This morning I am sharing those questions with those of you reading this. The questions are to be answered in the context of faith, meaning that I am to obey my Lord, Jesus, for that is what saying I have placed my faith in Him means. It means I trust Him so much that I am willing to do the things He calls me to do. My prayer for each of you is that you will take some time to open your Bible and answer some of these questions in your own heart.

For me, this morning, my questions come straight from what we call the Beatitudes.

Am I poor in spirit? Do I mourn? Am I gentle? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Am I merciful? Am I pure in heart? Am I a peacemaker? Have I been persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Have people insulted and persecuted me, saying false, evil things against me because of Jesus?

Those are powerful questions that honestly, bring strong conviction to my heart. I don’t think I can say yes to most of those questions, so in them I have a lot of soul searching to do.

The reward for living the life that Jesus describes there, which goes completely counter to the culture we live in, is that we will be blessed. Blessed here brings the connotation of happiness. Look at the rewards of such a life.

Matthew 5:3-12
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”

Even in the early morning, when my eyes are fuzzy and my brain tired, I can see clearly the power and blessings of an obedient life of faith.

How about you?

I hope and pray your faith and my faith will reveal itself to each other and, to the unsaved world, so that Christ will be glorified, and His love will be on display for all to see.

I’m tired now. But having spent time this morning in God’s Word, causes me to simply rest in Jesus. I hope you also will do the same.