Is Christ Your King?
By Pastor Ricky Kurth
Most Christians would answer this question with a resounding yes, but most grace believers would respond with an emphatic no. They know that the people of Israel lived in a kingdom (I Sam. 24:20), and they know that the Lord was born “King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2) and will one day rule over them in the kingdom of heaven on earth. They rightly reason that a kingdom is ruled by a king, but that believers today are members of “the Body of Christ” (I Cor. 12:27), and a body is ruled by a head. Since Christ is our Head (Eph. 4:15), it is easy to see why some say He is not our King.
But the same apostle who tells us we are members of Christ’s Body also tells us that “the Father…hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:12,13). Paul is speaking here of God’s overall kingdom of the saved of all ages, but any kingdom, by definition, is governed by a king.
There are, of course, some dispensational differences. A kingdom has to be governed by law, so God gave Israel a law, a law that said that if your neighbor is hungry you should feed him (Deut. 15:8). But bodies aren’t governed by a law, they are governed by love. When your stomach is hungry, your head doesn’t need a law to tell you to feed it. You feed it because “no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it” (Eph. 5:29). In a kingdom, you have to have laws that say things like “thou shalt not kill,” and “thou shalt not steal,” so God gave the kingdom of Israel a law that said things like that. But our apostle says that laws like “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” are “briefly comprehended in this…Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself…” (Rom. 13:9,10). So after telling the Galatians that we are not under the law but under grace, Paul told them, “by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). Under grace, we don’t kill or steal from one another because we love one another! But what would happen in the kingdom of Chicago if the mayor announced that he was suspending all laws, and from now on everyone should just love one another? It wouldn’t take long for people to realize that love works well when it comes to governing a body, but a kingdom needs laws!
But despite these dispensational differences, Christ is still the king of the overall kingdom of which we are a part. Someday He will “sit upon the throne of His glory” in the kingdom of heaven on earth (Mt. 25:31). In the meantime, does He sit on the throne of your heart? Why not choose to give “the King” the “honour and glory” He deserves (I Tim. 1:17) by choosing to obey Him.
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