King Jesus is All

“These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here…they are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus” Acts 17:6-7

Paul and Silas had indeed caused trouble all over the world—or, as the New King James Version puts it, had “turned the world upside down”.

How did they carry out this act of disturbance? It was through declaring that there was a different King; someone other than Caesar was actually in charge.

Declaring that the accepted order of things is bogus will often cause an uproar. In 2011 Caesar is long dead, but what is our currently accepted order—who or what is now embraced as “king”?

For many people, money is king. Our lives can revolve around getting it, spending it, saving it or investing it.

For others, power fills the slot. We allow promotion and the need for influence to completely drive the way we function.

Relationships demand the key role in countless lives, and people are subtly elevated to a sovereign role.

Still others continue to overvalue the political system, or their nationality, or culture. In this case, Jesus is sometimes used as a way to support a particular worldview or persuasion.

There are many other things that demand the place of king; none of them are worthy of the assignment. But people settle into comfort zones when their lives are ordered around what brings the impression of peace and stability.

Which is why when we preach the true message of the Gospel that Christ must be Lord and King, it can mess people up. As long as Jesus is a nice guy to be followed, or a good example, or even a God we can believe in but still do our own thing, that does not threaten anybody. As long as we can click Jesus’ “follow button” and not really change anything about how we operate, we haven’t upset our lives.

But the call of Jesus demands that we give Him total Lordship; and that will always mess people up—it’s designed to do so. Nobody else and nothing else can be King when you are following Christ. Like that old bumper sticker used to say: Either Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.

When we boldly live and proclaim that message, people will start accusing us of turning their worlds upside down; and they won’t be wrong.

But the real question is, has our world been unalterably turned upside down because of putting Jesus in charge? If not, maybe we haven’t truly made Him King.