“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?
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.
Yes, Pastor Scott, He is!
ReplyDeleteFantastic!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words!
ReplyDelete