"Jesus as King"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now let's get to the Word of God. We want to talk about the kingship of Jesus Christ over your life and my life as his followers and what that really means in terms of our everyday behavior. And we're going to use an incident right out of the life of the Apostle Paul to spring us into that discussion. So if you brought a Bible, I'd like you to open it to Acts chapter 17.

While you're turning, let me remind you kind of where we are. Paul is on his second missionary journey along with his teammates, Paul, of course, Silas, Timothy and the Dr. Lou. They've crossed from northwestern Turkey, modern day Turkey, across the Aegean Sea to the northern Greek town of Philippi.

From here, Paul and Silas have walked 100 miles south down the Ignatian Way to the town of Thessalonica. And here in Thessalonica, Paul has gone for three weeks into the synagogues and he has been sharing about Jesus as the Messiah. The result is lots and lots of Jewish people and Gentiles have given their lives to Christ.

Now, that's where we've stopped. So let's pick up the story in verse five. Verse five says that they, the Jews, were jealous.

You say jealous of what? Well, they were jealous of how many people were believing Paul's message and were giving their lives to Christ as the Messiah. And so they, the Jewish people, rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house. Jason was a Jewish believer who had put the apostle Paul and Silas up in his home. And they rushed there in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they, the mob, did not find Paul and Silas there, they dragged Jason and some of the other believers before the city officials. Now, here's a picture of the marketplace, the Agora in Thessalonica.

Here's the raised platform, the Bema, where the city officials would have been. And here's the area right in front of it where they would have dragged Jason and would have presented him and the other believers to the city officials here in Thessalonica. Now, these city officials, the actual name in Greek for them is Palatarks, and this word Palatark lies at the heart of a long-standing criticism against the accuracy of the Bible that I want to tell you about. You see, the word Palatark never appears in any piece of Greek literature anywhere.

As a matter of fact, even to this day, there is not a single reference in all of Greek literature that we have to this term Palatark. So critics of the Bible for centuries said, you see there, obviously, Paul and his team were never in Greece. The Book of Acts obviously is a total fabrication. The Bible is historically unreliable. And if the Bible is historically unreliable, then ipso facto, it is spiritually unreliable. Well, not so fast, Sherlock, because in the last 50 years, we have actually unearthed 64 inscriptions that contain the word Palatark.

You say, wait a minute, you just said that even to this day, it doesn't appear. No, what I said is to this day, we still don't have the occurrence anywhere in Greek writings. These were inscriptions dug out of the ground by archaeological work. As a matter of fact, more than half of them come right from the archaeological work in Thessalonica itself. And what we find out is that indeed, at the time of the Apostle Paul, the city of Thessalonica was ruled by five city magistrates at any given time.

And they were referred to in the local term, the unique term Palatark that was only used in this section of the Roman Empire. And so rather than the Bible having been wrong all these centuries, the interesting thing is that all these centuries the Bible has been right. And all these scholars, depending on Greek literature, have been wrong. Friends, only a person who was actually in Thessalonica in the first century A.D. like the Bible says Paul was, only that person would have known that the local rulers in this town went by the title Palatark. You could never have figured it out any other way from all of Greek literature. And once again, the Bible has outlived its critics. You know what we love to say, the more they dig out of the ground, the more the Bible proves to be right.

Well, let's move on. Verse six goes on, and the mob shouted, these men who have caused trouble all over the world, literally, who have turned the world upside down, these men, the Bible says, have come here now. Now, what an incredible compliment. They didn't mean it as a compliment, but what a compliment to be referred to as the people who've turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ. Wouldn't it be great? You know, that's our goal in this city is to rock Washington. Wouldn't it be great in this city if we became known as the people who turned this city upside down for Jesus Christ? If you were sitting at work and people asked you, what church do you go to? And you said, I go to McLean Bible Church, and they all go, McLean Bible Church. You're the people who've turned this city upside down.

Would that be a great thing or what? That's what we're looking for here, friends. I can't think of something better. If I die tomorrow, you put that on my tombstone. This man helped turn the city upside down. And there is no higher compliment.

You could pay me. They go on to say, and not only have these guys done that, but Jason has welcomed them into his house. And they, Paul and Silas, are defying Caesar's decrees.

How? By saying that there is another king besides the emperor, a person named Jesus. Now, as we know, in the Apostle Paul's time, the Roman emperor was worshipped as a god.

If you valued your head being on your shoulders, you better acknowledge him as a god and you better worship him as a god. So what Paul and Silas were saying here was treasonous, and for the Palatarks in town to do nothing about Paul and Silas saying it was also treasonous. And so here's what they did.

Verse 8. When they heard this, they were thrown into turmoil. So they made, the Palatarks did, Jason and the other believers post a bond, and then they released them.

Now, what kind of bond is this? Well, Jason and these other guys had to put up their homes and their personal bank accounts and guarantee these local rulers something. What they guaranteed them is, number one, Paul would stop preaching and causing trouble in town. And number two, that Paul and Silas would leave town right away. You say, I cannot believe that the Apostle Paul would agree to get run out of town like that. Well, friends, let me remind you, he didn't agree.

He wasn't there. Jason agreed for him and put his house up, and these other guys put their houses up. So when Paul found out about it, I'm sure he wasn't thrilled, but what could he do? If he stayed in town, all these well-meaning believers lost their homes, lost their fortunes. So reluctantly, the Apostle Paul was outflanked a little bit, and he said, well, you know, not much I can do now.

And so verse 10 says, as soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to the little nearby town of Berea. And we're going to come back in the weeks to come, and we're going to talk about what happened there at Berea. But this is as far as we want to go in the passage. It's time instead to ask our profound question. And you know our profound question, so everybody ready?

One, two, three. So what? Right. You say, Lon, so what? You say, Lon, I've always wanted to know about politics. I really appreciate you answering that for me, but what difference does this make to my life on Monday morning? Well, let's see if we can answer that.

You know, and I'm sure you're aware of this in our world, there are always some people who just don't get it. I'm reminded of the story of the Jewish mother who was at the country club, and she was comparing sons with some of the other ladies there at the country club. And so one lady said, oh, she said, I got the most wonderful son you could ever imagine. She said, you know what my son does? My son every week sends me flowers. And with the flowers comes a note telling me what a wonderful mother I am and how much he loves me. The second mother said, oh, she said, my son, better than that. My son, you know what he does? He calls me faithfully every week, every Sunday, no matter where he is in the world.

He calls me to tell me how much he loves me. What a great mom I am. The Jewish mother said, ah, she said, ah, you think you got a son? You should see my son. She said, my son, you know what my son does?

She said, my son, three times a week, every week he goes to see his therapist and all he ever talks about is me. Some people just don't get it now. Now, that is kind of cute, isn't it? But but let me tell you, the reason I bring that up is because these people in Thessalonica, they got it. You say they got what? They got exactly what Paul was talking about. They were crystal clear about what Paul was preaching in town. Verse seven says he's preaching that there is another king besides Caesar, a fellow named Jesus.

Well, they got it. And, you know, we spend so much time talking about Jesus is our Messiah and Jesus is our savior that I think sometimes we're guilty of glossing over the fact that the Bible also says Jesus is our king. Nathaniel, one of Jesus's disciples, put it well. He said in John Chapter one, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. When Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, yes, it is, as you say. And you might say, well, Lon, that's wonderful, but I'm a gentile. So what difference does that make to me?

Oh, wait a minute. We're just starting here to talk about what Jesus is the king over because he himself said in Matthew twenty eight, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus said, if you live in heaven or you live here on earth and oh, by the way, that pretty well covers the only options there are.

If you live in any one of those two places, I have all authority over every single person that lives in either one of those two locations. I'm the king of everybody's life, which is why the Bible calls in Revelation 19, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. Now, the fact that Jesus Christ is king over every life in the universe. What that means is that we therefore can divide every human being into one of three categories. And if you're here today, I promise you, you're in one of these three categories. As we go through them, I want you to figure out which one you're in and if you're not in the right one, we want to try to help you get there. Now, category number one are people who have made no surrender whatsoever to the lordship, the kingship of Jesus Christ over their life. These are people who say, hey, we're going to live the way we want to live. We're going to do the things that we want to do. And there's no king anywhere that's going to tell us how we're going to live and the choices that we're going to make.

Now, folks, if you're in this category, let me say this is a most dangerous position to be in. Here's why. Psalm 2. Why are the nations in an uproar and why do the peoples devise a foolish plan?

The Bible asks. And what is this foolish plan? The kings of the earth take their stand against the Lord and against his Messiah. And here's what they say. Let us break their reign over us. We don't want them ruling over us. We don't want them being king over us. Now, he who sits in heaven laughs at them.

He scoffs at their foolishness. And here's what God in heaven says. He says, I have installed my king in Israel. I have given him the nations as his possession. Therefore, O kings, be wise and be warned, you people of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and kiss the son, the Lord Jesus.

Lest he be angry with you and you perish in the way that you're doing things in your way. You heard the old saying, you're either on the train or on the tracks. You remember that old saying? Well, friends, if you've made no surrender to the lordship of Christ, you're on the tracks.

It's just that simple. And the train's coming. And this is a dangerous place to be. And if you're here and you've never trusted Christ in a real and personal way, I beg you, I implore you, friends, get off the tracks and get on the train before the train hits you.

Because it is coming and you don't want to be standing on the tracks when it gets there. Well, category number two is the next category. And these are people who have made a partial surrender to the kingship of Jesus over their life. You say, well, how does somebody do that?

It's real simple. These are people who embrace Jesus Christ as their savior, but that's as far as it goes. In other words, they want Jesus to be king over their eternal destiny, but they don't want Jesus to be king over their everyday life, over the choices they make, the lifestyle that they live. These are people, you may have heard it put this way, these are people in whose lives Jesus is a resident, but he is not the president, if you understand what I'm saying. Now, what about people in this situation? Well, here's what Jesus says to them. Revelation 3 verse 15, he says, I have this against you, Jesus said, that you are neither hot nor cold. You're in the middle, you're in never-never land. And I wish you were one or the other, but you are lukewarm.

And because you are lukewarm, I am ready to spit you out of my mouth. So be earnest and repent. Be earnest and change your mind.

Be earnest and make a U-turn. Now, these are very strong words that the Lord Jesus speaks here. But friends, it shows us about some of the intensity that he feels about people being in this category. And if you're here today and you're in category number two, our goal every single week here at McLean Bible Church is to help you understand the importance and make the step of getting out of never-never land, getting out of lukewarm land, and getting into the real important place to be, and that's category number three. And these are people who have made a total surrender to the lordship, the kingship of Jesus Christ in our lives. Now, these are the people that Jesus is looking for, friends. These are the people that God always has and that God always will bless, honor, and use. Think about the people who have been in this category down through the years.

Abraham, Moses, David, Joshua, Ruth, Esther, Deborah, the Apostle Paul. This is the category where the honor of God rests. You say, well, Lon, if I wanted to be in this category, what does it really mean?

Put some handles on it practically. Love to. Paul said, Romans 12, one, I urge you, brothers, to present your bodies to God as living sacrifices, for this is pleasing to God. And here Paul explains to us what's involved in being in category number three. There are three quick things I want to point out to you. Number one, he says that God is asking us to present something to him.

The word literally means to yield something, surrender something, to turn over control or relinquish control of something. Second of all, what is it that God's asking us to relinquish control of? It says right here, the issue is our bodies. You know, I've been a pastor for 22 years and I have people that come in my office all the time and they've messed up, they've disobeyed God, they've gotten themselves in a peck of trouble. And yet I'll tell you the most common sentence I hear in my office for 22 years. Wonder what it is?

Here it is. Lon, I know I messed up, but my heart was in the right place. It was. God knows my heart and my heart was in the right place. Well, that's wonderful that your heart was in the right place. But the problem with that is people out in our world can't see what's in your heart or my heart. All they can see is what we do with our bodies. And friends, it's with our bodies that we are either going to honor Jesus Christ in the eyes of an onlooking world or it's with our bodies that we're going to disgrace Jesus Christ in the eyes of an onlooking world. God is happy as can be to have your heart.

But you know what? God's not satisfied until he gets your body, which is why 1 Corinthians 6, 20 says, honor God, therefore, with your body. It's why 1 Thessalonians 4 says each of us should learn to control our body in a way that is holy and honorable before God.

The issue is not just our heart. It's our body, our feet, our hands, our tongues, our eyes, our brains. And what does God want from our bodies? How much of our body does God want?

That's the third thing Paul says in Romans 12. He wants enough of it that we become living sacrifices. The imagery here grows out of the Old Testament, where a person would bring an animal to the temple. The priest would take that animal, kill that animal and utterly burn it on the altar. Hey, how much of this Old Testament animal did God ask for?

Friends, he asked for all of it. And how much of you and me is necessary for us to become living sacrifices? God didn't want you to slit your throat and become a dead sacrifice. He wants you alive, but he wants you as sacrificed to him as that animal was. And how much of us does it take to be as sacrificed as that animal?

Friend, it takes a hundred percent, a hundred percent. God is not interested in a limited partnership with you. God is interested in a complete takeover. But remember, God doesn't do hostile takeovers. You got to be willing to present yourself to him.

You got to want this to happen. And if you do, God will take over. But you've got to give it to him.

You've got to give your body to him. Now, what this means practically, the lordship of Jesus Christ, is that we make a deliberate decision to crown Jesus as king over every area of our life. It means that we endeavor to bring every single area of our life into conformity to what the Bible tells us our life ought to be in those different areas. This includes our sex lives, our dating habits, our attitudes and the language we use. This includes the way that we treat our spouse, the way that we treat our children, the way we talk about other people, the way we forgive other people, the way that we use our money and the way we drive on the beltway.

Ouch. Yeah, it does. Friends, the lordship of Jesus Christ means when God tells you there's a way he wants you to do something, you do it that way. And it doesn't mean we always get it right. None of us ever gets it always right. And thank God for his forgiveness, because we don't always get it right. But people who are committed to the lordship of Christ totally, they're never satisfied to rest on God's forgiveness. They're always coming back and saying, but Lord, I want to get it right for your sake and everybody's sake and the sake of the kingdom of God.

I want to get this right. I love the definition of the lordship of Christ. The Jimmy Draper, the great Southern Baptist preacher gave best one I've ever heard. He said the lordship of Christ means when we turn to God and we say, God, the answer is yes. Now, what was the question? And Lord, you fill in the question and it doesn't matter what the question is. I'm going to give you the same answer.

I'm under the kingship of Jesus. And the answer is yes. I had a lady in my office recently telling me about her husband who was unfaithful to her. And she said, but he's come back and he's asked to be forgiven and he wants to put the marriage back together, he says. So I said, well, what are you going to do? She said, well, I know what God wants me to do. God wants me to forgive him and put the marriage back together. So she said, no matter how bad he's hurt me, I'm sticking in this marriage and we're going to put it back together.

Now, what you just heard is a lady who's made a total commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ in her life. I was talking to a high school student the other day and he said, do you realize every single person in high school cheats? Everybody cheats. They all cheat on the test.

They all cheat on their homework. And he said, but I know that's not right. And I know God didn't want me to do that. And he said, I've made up my mind, pastor, that I'm not cheating. Even if I get lower grades, I'm not cheating because I believe God will still get me where I need to be. What you just heard is a teenager who's made a 100 percent commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

This is as practical as it gets, friends. The lordship of Jesus Christ is right down where you and I live every single day. I know for some of us here, this is a really hard thing to do. Some of us here have had domineering fathers and abusive mothers and controlling husbands who've taken the submission we gave. They've taken the release of control we gave them and they've abused us with it. They've dehumanized us.

They brutalized and hurt us. And we have sworn we would never, ever give up control of our life again to anybody to that degree. Hey, I understand that.

I came from that kind of home. I know exactly what you're talking about. But friends, just let me say to you, don't take what those people did to you and extrapolate that to God. God is not a human being who takes our surrender and turns it into an ego trip. That is not God. God takes our surrender and he turns it into green pastures and still waters and restoring our soul.

I came, as I said, out of a home like that. But 31 years ago, I yielded full control of my life to Jesus. And he has never abused that in 31 years. And he won't abuse it with you. He'll use it to bless your life.

So I understand completely if you're there. But friends, be careful. Don't extrapolate to God what doesn't belong to God. You can trust him and you can give him control.

He will never hurt you with it. Well, let's bow our head and close our eyes together, shall we? If you're here today and you're not in category number three, but as a result of listening to what we've said here, you're ready to be, you're willing to be, then I want to give you just a moment for you to tell God that before you walk out of here today. So if you need to do business with God, you take a moment and you do it. Lord Jesus, thanks for reminding us today that your kingship over our life is the most practical, everyday concept there could possibly be. It applies to golf balls and golf clubs and tests in school and marriages and dating relationships.

It applies to everything. And Lord, my prayer is that you would motivate every single person here today to understand why it's so important to be in category three and then to get in that category. Lord, thanks for your forgiveness because we don't always get it right. Thanks for the Holy Spirit and his power helping us each and every day to get it right. But Lord, the most important thing of all is that we are committed to the lordship of Christ and we have a zeal for getting it right each and every day. So God, honor the people who've prayed here today and moved categories. Help them and all of us with your special strength to go out and honor you in a world that's watching very carefully. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.