While I know I’m a Gentile, I’m quite certain that I very often live like an Israelite. I know this because in spite of the fact that I am a citizen of heaven, a follower of King Jesus, I’m still in the crowd demanding a king be anointed, crowned, empowered and enthroned. I have a heavenly Father...but my flesh wants a king.
This world is not my home. This kingdom is not where my first allegiance lies. So, as I lay here this morning in the silence I wonder how many others are asking themselves the same question: Which king am I going to serve? Which battle am I going to fight?
The battle I'm fighting is the evidence of which king I'm living for.
I think I often forget that this great country we live in is really still a pretty fresh experiment. That said, I believe it’s one of the greatest civil experiments in history. And yes, millions have fought and bled and died to keep this idea going. But it’s really not about a place. It’s about a principle: freedom. The experiment started because men and women refused to bow any longer to an earthly king. They sold all they had, left all they knew, and bravely broke those chains of bondage. Understanding this, it comes as an even greater shock that many of us have now unknowingly chained ourselves back to the earthly throne that ruled over us not so long ago. We have a heavenly Father, but our flesh still wants a king.
This is nothing new.
"But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.... And "the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” (1 Samuel 8:6-7, 19-22)
We fled a country with a king. Now...we seem to just call it by another name.
No matter what side of the fence or the aisle you sit or stand on, if your President is your king, then he is King Saul. It's not about who got your vote; it's about who or what gives you hope. If your hope in this world is in the democratic republic of the United States of America, then make no mistake: Saul is your king.
Yes, we have a duty, responsibility and privilege to vote, to participate, to listen, and to engage. That's what people fought and died for. That's the principle - not the place - that makes America what it is.
But we also have a calling and command to first seek the Kingdom of God - to first love our brothers and sisters as Christ loved us - to be ministers of reconciliation, not division and condemnation. That's what King Jesus lived, died, and resurrected for.
If you don't think there's a tension in the life of a Christ-follower in America, you need to think again. For instance...
As an American, someone fought and died for your right to protest.
As a Christian, our Savior says, "If you want to follow me, you must lay down your rights." Jesus lived and died that you might no longer be a slave to your "rights".
That sounds like tension. That sounds like there's a decision to be made.
Paul told the Ephesians: "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." This is the truth of who the people of God should be and what it is we should be doing. But we must understand: When we get consumed with the lusts and loves of this world and we begin to think our hope lies in King Saul, we ultimately wind up wrestling against flesh and blood. We wind up tearing each other down. When we wrestle against flesh and blood, the spiritual forces of evil have distracted us from realizing that the true enemy over this present darkness is getting just what he wants. He wants us to want King Saul.
As Christ-followers, I exhort you that we should listen to Peter's letter to the persecuted and scattered believers as if he was writing directly to us: "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." (1 Peter 2:11-12)
This world is not our home. We have a Heavenly Father and a King Eternal. We fix our eyes not on what is temporary, but on those things that will not pass away. We are ministers of reconciliation. Jesus said, “The world will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another.”
Friends, the last year has been filled with one season of trial after another. We are all weary. May we all cry out to our King to give us strength, humility, and courage. May we bear one another’s burdens and carry one another during the weariness.
May we always remember that our only hope is in our crucified and risen Savior.
And may the anthem ring through our hearts and from our lives: “Glory, glory, we have no other King but Jesus, Lord of all!”
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