Who's YOUR King?

 

“Life is about making your own happiness and living by your own rules.”  Aimee Mullins

 

It’s a plot often found in history and portrayed in movies of having two monarchs vying for the same throne. Alexandre Dumas, in his final installment of the Three Musketeers series, The Man in the Iron Mask fictionalizes a tale of the powerful and corrupt King Louis XIV. According to his book,  Louis XIV had a twin brother imprisoned deep in the Bastille. This twenty-three-year-old prisoner known only as Philippe was forced to wear an iron mask and had been imprisoned for eight years. He has no knowledge of his true identity or told what crime he’s committed. He’s imprisoned by the king to protect his throne. There can only be one king.
  This morning as we continue our series in 1 Samuel, we find King Saul hunting down David, for fear that David will attempt to take his throne. There can only be one king. Today is also Palm Sunday. David’s future son, Jesus Christ, entered Jerusalem as Israel’s Messiah. He is the one true king. With more than one king there is chaos and anarchy.
  Ours is a world of chaos because when Jesus is not king, there is misery. Yet, there are many false kings in the world. You could call them idols. That false king philosophy is what Aimee Mullins is purporting, “Life is about making your own happiness and living by your own rules.” It’s a worldview that ultimately leads to despair. False kings promise everything yet leave us empty in the end. There can only be one king.
  The conflict of the ages is to have other kings, any king but Jesus. Luke 19:14 records this insurrection against having Jesus as King, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Yet, you’ll quickly discover that if Jesus is not King, we enthrone a false king. Even Christians who have sworn allegiance to King Jesus do this. Here are some of the more common ones:
  Self. Our culture is awash with selfishness. Too often it seeps into the church with what Eugene Peterson describes as the “replacement trinity,” my wants, my needs, and my desires. While those have their place, they’re usurpers who ultimately steal our joy.
  God created us. Jesus died for us and ransomed us from the slave market of sin. The only king who will bring fulfillment to us is the One who knows us and loves us. Self must be dethroned. It’s a cruel tyrant. Only when Jesus is Lord is selfishness dethroned.
  Money. All around the globe wealth is thought to be a savior. We encourage young people to go to college and get an education. That’s good yet the motivation is so that we can get money to have all of the things that we believe will make us happy. We have a terrible struggle with preventing money from being our king.
  Living for money is a cruel taskmaster. Money is a good gift from God, but it is not God. Our retirement accounts, stock portfolios, and benefits packages don’t save. Only Jesus can save. Wealth leaves those who serve it empty. They find, to borrow a term from Mick Jagger, “can’t get no satisfaction.”  When we look for fulfillment or measure our worth by what we have, we’re trusting a king who promises much yet can never deliver.
  Power. Power is intoxicating. Power and authority were granted by God at creation. He made us humans to serve under His rule in a way that imitates His rule of justice and order. But humans have a strange tendency to twist power for their own ends rather than exercise power with justice. And when power slips through our fingers, we go berserk. Why? Because we’ve deified power. While power is a gift from God, it is not God. Power only works if we have submitted ourselves to the Lord and His care first.
  Sexuality. Sex is God’s idea. He made human beings inherently sexual. It’s God’s beautiful plan for a man and a woman to unite in marriage and have sexual intimacy. But sexuality is a tyrant when we make it a right, not a gift. God’s good gift devolves into a source of pain and frustration, far away from God’s original design. Outside of God’s plan, it leaves us broken, scarred, and in spiritual and emotional shambles. Those of us who have experienced the brutality of unrestrained sexuality, know that pain from its wounding. Sexuality is a fantastic gift, yet a cruel master.
  Relationships. God designed us to have relationships as He does in the Godhead in the Trinity. He created us so that we could relate first to God and then to our neighbor. Too often a relationship is enthroned in the false belief that it will make life wonderful. But human relationships can never fill the hole in our soul because of sin. While we’re made for relationships, relationships with others (romantic or fraternal) can never replace the primary relationship of the God who loves us and made us! Relationships put on the throne in place of God are fraught with anxiety and frustration.
  Family. With the fragmentation of marriage and the redefining of family in western culture, it’s tempting to enthrone family as a defense against this cultural erosion. The conjugal family—one man and one woman whose covenant union produces offspring—is God’s plan. It’s profoundly good, and a necessary and foundational element of God’s creational design, but it is not ultimate. A spouse, a child and even a grandchild must be secondary to King Jesus. Yet even churches can enshrine the family. A church can become so focused on families that they ignore singles and gear everything toward married couples or those with children. Somehow we forget that even Jesus was single and never married.
  Couples who prioritize their children or grandchildren, yet not a relationship with the Lord or their spouse, will find that choice sows seeds of future destruction in their marriage and ultimately leaves their souls empty. When children are the glue for 18-plus years, a couple finds the empty nest is an empty relational cave. Statistics show that the divorce rate jumps once the children are grown. The marriage was allowed to wither for lack of attention. and they have little in common anymore.
  The Enemy of our souls entices us to choose fake kings. It’s tempting to divert our focus from the one true Lord who gave His life for us. Even good things can cause Christ to lose preeminence in our lives and become an idol. Tim Keller writes, an idol “is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” 
  Palm Sunday is a reminder that Jesus is the one true King. Is He your King?

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

 

Saying "Good-bye" to the Super Woman Syndrome

“I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.”   John Wesley

  Mother’s Day, though a good holiday, isn’t a biblical one. In our day of cataclysmic change, the role of mothers specifically and women in general has radically changed since 1914 and that first Mother’s Day. God’s Word and the standards of what it means to be a godly woman though will never change. Yet, there’s tremendous pressure to “conform” to the standards of a godless world when it comes to the roles of women. Sadly, these false standards of what it means to be a woman often invade the church.

  Fortunately, the derision of stay at home mothers seems to have abated in recent years. Probably, the cultural disparity hasn’t changed much since Hillary Clinton’s demeaning remark about stay at home moms in 1992, “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas….” Rather, it’s so rare today to find a stay at home mom, it’s a moot point. The Bible doesn’t commend either working women or stay at home ones. The woman of Proverbs 31 was definitely a working woman, though within the then acceptable confines of an agrarian society. Yet, there are many other areas where a Christian woman feels pressure to conform to the standards of this world that have nothing do with being a godly mom.

  One of the most flagrant is appearance. From Madison Avenue to Hollywood, all showcase women of flawless beauty. It’s ironic that even female newscasters of conservative Fox News, for the most part, look as if they’ve walked off the stage of a beauty pageant. Rachel Maddow couldn’t get a job at Fox even if she was the next Sarah Palin. Fortunately, there’s been push back with the featuring of oversize models. Every woman feels the pressure to focus more on her outer appearance than her inner one.

  Closely related to our obsession with appearance is sexuality. Last week The Wall Street Journal carried an article, asking if lovers should reveal to a new partner how many sexual partners they’ve previously had. A Texas State University study found that the average number of sexual partners was eight. (Results weren't broken down between men and women.) Lisa Mattson, who’s sex life is used an example in the article felt she’d greatly upped her morality standards when she met her now-husband, 11 years ago, in that she dated him three to four times a week for a month before she had sex with him. Sexuality is the cultural currency that makes one valuable. High schools are attacked as prudish if they dare to tell a girl her dress is too revealing for prom. Wives, married to men addicted to porn, feel pressure to commit acts they feel are revolting. All of this is passed off as normal. A woman committed to purity and holiness is ridiculed as old fashioned and hopelessly out of touch.

  Then, pity the mother who confesses that her brood is not taking music lessons, dance lessons, involved in after school sports, on a traveling team, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church youth group, FFA, etc. Everyone “knows” a good mom fills her children’s lives with activity. A mom who seeks to maintain some sanity in the family schedule is caricatured as nearly being neglectful and possibly should even be reported to social services.

  Then, in this physical beauty crazed, sexually charged, frenetic activity parenting culture, a mom is only successful if she’s also a dietician. Good moms give their family “good” food. Add to that, some have nearly spiritualized that it must be “natural.” Visit a Christian bookstore and prepare to be assaulted by countless books on “biblical” diets like Slim For Him; More of Jesus, Less of Me; The Daniel Plan; Made to Crave…to name just a few. To suggest Scripture has a biblical diet is akin to suggesting that the opening lines in Macbeth, “Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble” indicate Shakespeare meant his play to be a tale about cooking. Mark it down, a moms isn’t going to be scolded at the Bema Seat because she served her family GMO foods.

  All of these, and there are others, are all manmade values. While at some level, they’re good things to practice – they have little to do with godliness. A pagan Buddhist could have these same values. There’s no spiritual merit here and they do little for your family in the Kingdom.

  So what does contribute to being a godly woman? What are some biblical values a woman who loves the Lord should focus on?

  Stay submitted to Christ. Loving obedience and humble surrender before the Lord are actions that put our lives in right perspective before Him. Neglecting time with Jesus will only result in following a wayward, self-focused heart that often forgets the lordship of Christ. Our lives are not our own; we were bought with the blood of Christ.

  Stay in Scripture. God’s Word is the only sure guide for being wise, godly and a good mom. It tell us the inerrant truth and acts as our guide. As with counterfeit money, Christians can discern counterfeit messages because we are so thoroughly familiar with truth and the original.

  Stay in Prayer. Prayer is part of our submission to Christ, as we realize our need for communing with the Father of all truth. Gaining wisdom through prayer is like grocery shopping: shop on an empty stomach and you’re more likely to make poor decisions that suit our immediate needs. The person who fills up on a hearty meal before shopping makes wiser decisions and can discern options more clearly. When we stay in prayer and Scripture, seeking wisdom and discernment, we’re more likely to see life with a clearer understanding of Biblical, gospel-centered truth.

  Stay in the local church. The Church is Christ’s bride and His instrument for accomplishing His will and spreading His glory to the world. The Church is comprised of individual believers who, when submitted to Christ, in His Word and in prayer, can teach and encourage each other in all truth (Colossians 3:16). The local church is one of the few places that will encourage you to be a godly Mom, based on truth from God’s Word.

  “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). 

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