Oh, Worship the King!

Worship the King on His Throne

Not the Baby in a Manger!

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Galatians 4: 4 & 5

At this time of year, especially, the vast majority of Christians, and even some non-Christians, like to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it seems that many of those like to keep Him in the manger, so to speak, the rest of the year, just like they seem to do over this holiday season!

Most Christians are quick to acknowledge the fact that He IS ruling and reigning, but only in our 'hearts', and that He IS on the Throne, but only in 'Heaven', not on earth; I mean, all you have to do is take a look around you at all the evil in the world, to see that He must not be reigning ( yet ) on the earth, right? WRONG!

Much of the reason that there IS so much evil in the world is that too many Christians do not acknowledge that God, through Jesus, IS ruling and reigning on this earth, and though, at Christmas-time, and even sometimes throughout the year, they celebrate His coming into the world, most of them live the rest of the year as though He is still a baby, not yet having inherited, and not yet reigning in His Kingdom!

Ask of Me, and I will give [ You ]
The nations [ for ] Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth [ for ] Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

 The vast majority of Christians, though, I believe, this number is gradually lessening, stubbornly cling to the traditional and orthodox ( ? ) notion that Jesus has not yet returned to claim His inheritance, and that while He IS King in our 'hearts', He has not yet taken up those 'reins', or that 'rod' that His Father promised He would rule with! Because they believe this way, many Christians live this way, and so have neglected their duty as His people to extend that reign and rule, keeping it to themselves, 'behind the eyes and between the ears', so to speak. Now, this is not to say that ALL Christians who believe, or say they believe thusly, live consistently with their proclaimed beliefs, praise God, but too many, for to long, have acted this way, and allowed the evil to overcome the good!

'Just wait', you might hear these Christians say, 'till Jesus comes back; He will set everything right again!' Has He not already set everything right again, as He promised in the Scriptures? Are we not a new creation, as He tells His people through Paul in that most famous passage, II Corinthians 5:17? 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me', These famous words from Paul's letter to the Church at Philippi are probably among the most over-used, as well as misapplied and misunderstood phrase quoted by many Christians today. We are new creatures, who can do all things ( through Christ ), but we can't overcome evil with good? 'Well, sure', you might hear, 'but we can't force others to do right, we can only live our own lives'. That's true, we cannot force anyone to do right, but by living our own lives according to God's Word, and by NOT keeping 'behind the eyes and between the ears', we, as the people of God, the Body of His Son, Jesus the Christ, CAN overcome evil with good, we CAN do all things through His Spirit within us, and as new creatures, we CAN set things right! In fact, THAT is the whole reason that we were made new creatures in the first place! 

There should be no doubt that we can accomplish this, that through our true worship of the King on His throne, we may influence the evils that beset us on every side, and turn them to good;                                 

The question is, 'will we?'

In the worship and service of the King,

Charles Haddon Shank