Unstoppable Motivation: The Glory of our King

"Kingship"

The Bible contains many truth propositions, but we do not worship an idea.
Our cause is Christ, but we do not worship an ideology.
"We love because He first loved us," but we do not worship people.

We worship the living God; Father, Son, Spirit; who reigns in glory on high, Creator of all, Judge of all, who is coming again to make all things new. And He is our King.

The modern, western phenomenon of the subjugation of the Rule of Man to the Rule of Law, Rex Lex reversed to Lex Rex, is the foundational basis for our system of government and indeed most of the various worldviews which could be called American have this idea at their core. And it did not happen overnight.

In the West, to fight against the evil and suffering wrought by corrupt tyrants, absolute monarchy as a concept was put under siege, and eventually broken. The Magna Carta and other great moments in history demonstrate the wresting away of power from one man and distribution among many. The advent of modern democratic rule distributed the power even further, to normal people, a new citizenry. Now at the onset of the 21st century, even the President of the United States of America, nominally the most powerful man in the whole world, is merely addressed as "Mr. President." From the perspective of history, this is truly a bizarre turn of events. Never before America had the population of a nation had so much control over their lives, and we still live in the penumbra of that blessing today.

Yet with this blessing comes a weakness; on a fundamental level, we do not understand Kingship. Not the charade monarchs of modern Europe, with little more than symbolic power in the current government structures, but a real King: One-man rule, whose will may not be contradicted, and who holds the power of life and death over any of his subjects.

"No one can tell me what to do," is a common American idea, even supposed ideal.
But a King can tell you what to do. It is his role to do so, just as it is the role of his subjects to acknowledge his claim to their obedience. This is acknowledged by Paul in Romans 13 and Peter in 1 Peter 2, even in the context of the evil rule of Emperor Nero.

When honoring Christ as our King, we accordingly set aside our role in the decision-making process of His eternal kingdom that anyone living in an earthly democracy enjoys. There is no democracy of God; there is the Kingdom, and we serve a Risen King at whose Name every knee shall bow. The supreme Ruler and Creator of all things who reigns not only by Right, but also by Might, transcendent and exalted, determining the course of all things by His sovereign command.

A Question: In this context of God's overwhelming sovereignty, why do Missions? (...or anything else?)

When approaching the task of taking the gospel to the world, some have argued that a reformed view of God's sovereignty and election takes away the motivation for our calling. If our eternal destination is ultimately in God's hands and not our own, why bother to go tell people what ultimately won't change their eternal fate? (I don't wish to debate the reformed perspective here, but I think as Christians we can all agree that we do not save ourselves, regardless of how much of a role we may or may not play in the process. Let us proceed for now on that agreement, deal?)

Now some answer this question simply that we go out of obedience, because Christ told us to. That is not a "wrong" answer, but I think it falls short. Another, better answer is that the God who ordains the ends also ordains the means, and we are the means by which God has determined to spread His kingdom. This is necessarily true, but I would argue that this too falls short of the full reason.

Our ultimate motivation for missions, as rightly proclaimed by John Stott, "should not be obedience to the great commission, nor even the loving concern for those who do not yet know Jesus, important as these two incentives are, but first and foremost a burning zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ."


Amen. By no means lessening the first two reasons given, we acknowledge that they must take the second and third place before our ultimate purpose which is derived from "the chief end of man," our raison d'être. So then we have-

An Answer: We seek to advance the Kingdom of God for no lesser purpose than the greater glory and exaltation of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King, among all the peoples of the earth.

Does this kind of language evoke any reaction in you? Western culture seems increasingly and obsessively fixed on the trivial, while mocking whatever is sincere or honored. This soft-sell nihilism can deaden us (or even make us laugh) at things which should command our immediate respect and humility. And growing up in church can, sadly, expose us to some truth so often that its power to affect us grows cold. I believe it is every Christian's duty to stir up these embers with worship and reflection on the person of God, so that what is stale becomes shockingly fresh once again.

In my own life, God has seen fit to bestow on me the priceless gift of tiny glimpses of His glory and majesty. And I am certainly no one special! Just as Moses asked God "show me Your glory" (Exodus 33), for we who are found in Christ, God will reveal His glory to us in our own lives if we ask Him.

I don't know how He will do it for you. For me, those little glimpses put to shame any petty motivations like money or success. There is an eternal reality which will shatter the world's temptations like candy glass before a hurricane in those moments when it breaks into your life. One of those realities is this:
You will die, then you will face the Glorious One. And so will everyone else.

He is a King I would die for; He is a King I will live for.

May His glory be ever before us, that we may relentlessly seek His exaltation in our lives and proclaim His glorious Name in every corner of the world, that all may enter His kingdom.

Soli Deo Gloria.