If Jesus is Lord, like so many people casually say, that would mean that those who serve Him, truly serve Him. "Lord" and "King" imply that we are dealing with a monarch, an ultimate ruler who not only expects obedience, but demands obedience as protector of His realm.
But what American has the least concept of living under a true and absolute monarchy? Isn't that what we fought our revolution to be freed from? We think of absolute rule as equivalent to tyranny, dictatorships, injustice, virtual slavery. It's in our blood to reject the thought of giving anyone absolute power over us.
As wonderful as it was, the independence we won in 1776 has had an unexpected by-product over two hundred years: the loss of respect for our true King. We have become a people that has an innate sense of cynicism towards leadership of any kind, and feel it is our duty to "punish" leaders who do not conform to our wants. This of course is the bedrock of democracy, a great right that we will defend to the end. But try to transfer that attitude towards God and you destroy your faith, breaking the bond with the Lord you claim to serve. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy - it's an absolute monarchy.
A true subject treats his King with unwavering respect.
The wishes of the King are not to be questioned, but obeyed.
Whatever his King requires, he gives, and considers it a privilege.
If an enemy threatens the Kingdom, a true subject considers that enemy his own.
Sacrifice, servanthood and even death for the sake of His King is a high honor.
I know… these statements make you squirm, right? They smack of injustice, don't they? But that's because we have never known a GOOD King, who loves us and who is PERFECT! It makes complete sense to obey God without question, because He is good and perfect. He is God, and will never fail us or harm us, even when we don't understand what is going on at the moment. If it feels we are blindly following Him into the dark and over the edge of a cliff, we can trust that He will not only catch us, but lovingly lift us to a higher plane. But we'll never get there without obedience.
Is there any equivalent to that form of extreme servitude that exists in our modern culture? Nothing close, which is why (in my opinion) modern Americans have no idea how to live out their claims that "Jesus is Lord." Church goers have no sense of shame to worship God on a Sunday morning and then indulge in gossip and backstabbing when they get home, as if the wishes of their King are meaningless. Promises made by their Lord to protect and heal them if they live in submission to Him, are disregarded because they feel that submission is too demeaning. To add insult to injury, they then criticize their "Lord," accusing Him of not caring because their demands aren't fulfilled to their satisfaction.
Jesus proclaimed, "The Kingdom of Heaven has come!" The question is, do you want to live in His Kingdom? Then serve as His subject. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy. Get used to it.
10 comments:
Just read the 2 November posts and this one. I must say, you are hitting it out of the park. This Thanksgiving, Gina and I were talking about why so many who were in the J-sus Freak movement in the 70's became so lukewarm. I could have just pointed to these posts. Good job.
Red Dog Rover
Thanks Red Dog Rover!
And when we stand before Him on the judgement day, there will be no vote taken on whether we are admitted to heaven or consigned to hell. If we have accepted the gracious kindness of the King of heaven Who sent His own son to pay the price of our sins, only then will we hear His voice, saying, "Enter in," and hopefully the words, "Well, done, good and faithful servant." If we have not repented of our sins and accepted His free gift in this life, then will we hear the words, "Depart, for I never knew you."
Thanks Uncle Don, you're right, repentance of our sins is the first requirement of entering into His Kingdom. Without that, we are completely lost...
An amazing and very strong posts Mrs Evelyn. I enou reading it a lot, I actually never thought of it like that " the Kingdom of God isn't a democracy, it's an absolutely monarch.
I just ran across this from a post on Reddit. I just wanted to say that you do a wonderful job of explaining the kingdom and a king in so few words. It's always a tough subject to properly explain when I teach it.
Perfect i was just thinking about this!!! Do one on Gay Marriage! Explain the Last Adam(son of God) and the last Eve(messiah's wife) the union of man and woman male and female!!
The messiah is the last Adam and we need the last eve!!
Male and Female of the church marrying God is the same as HOMOSEXUAL RIGHT TO MARRY BC THAT TO SYMBOLIZE THE GAY UNION BTW MALES WHO US MARRIED TO GOD!!
God don't agree w gay right so he wouldn't have his son to marry a church of same sex as him. He will marry a female woman and they will be the head!!
I believe they would not had mention him being the Last Adam if their was not a last eve to. I read Psalms 45, Revelations12, and Revelations woman in white represents the saints! I believe god would not tell us because she would be in great danger here with Satan in charge!! The messiah is still human he has human hormones still. Adam and eve were perfect and they had sex to you know!! Bride of Christ not church, but a woman under the chalupah.Hebrew jewish marriage of the lamb!
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