|
||||
Visit us at: 30 Good Minutes.org |
||||
Biography
|
_________________ |
|||
"When the King Reigns" So many people have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, made him their own personal savior, because they're conscious they have a need of him and that's where it all begins: this laughing life, this great joy that lifts our spirits and dresses our emotions and makes life worthwhile. But it is when Jesus is king that the whole thing begins to take off. In other words, just to have Jesus as my savior deals with my own personal need and brings me into a relationship with him, but to have him be king of my life means that I become concerned for other people. When Jesus is king of my life, I am his subject. I am a citizen of his kingdom and he is the one that calls the shots. This passage of scripture (Isaiah 32:1-4) talks about when the king reigns. Now specifically the passage of scripture talks about a time in Israel's history when Hezekiah came to the throne. There had been a long line of bad kings. And then suddenly onto the scene comes Hezekiah. And everybody sort of breathed a sigh of relief. He was a king who had the thing in order. He brought his own rulers under him. The rulers began to rule with justice, and all the little subjects in the kingdom began to shape up and do a better thing than they had been doing for a little while. “When the king reigns,” said Isaiah, “everything gets into order.” This passage of scripture, of course, is not only primarily concerned with when an earthly king reigns, but when the king reigns. And it can quite legitimately be taken and applied to King Jesus. For, after all, if when Hezekiah reigned and the whole thing began to get into shape in Israel, how much more when King Jesus reigns in the human heart. Well, our little world, our kingdom, my kingdom, your kingdom, the kingdom over which we have precedence, how much more will that get into shape and things fall into order. Somebody has defined peace as the tranquility of order. Actually, I think that somebody was my husband. He's a neat preacher and he has all these neat definitions. And it was Stuart, I remember, when he was talking about peace. He said, “Peace is the tranquility of order.” And when the King reigns in my life, I have peace. And then the subjects that live in my kingdom: my children, my friends, the people whom I minister to, or seek to minister to, will know that tranquility of order in their own lives. In other words, I can be a blessing. I remember when I first came to Jesus Christ. I was a student at Cambridge at the time. And the girl who led me to the Lord Jesus, said this, “Jill, now the King is reigning in your life. Every day you must get up with this in mind: today I am determined to be a blessing. Because when the King reigns, how can you be otherwise?” So that's how I came to faith in Jesus, understanding that if the King reigned in my life, he would use me as his subject to bring blessings in other peoples' lives. Now in Isaiah 32:1-4 we read three things. Three pictures fall out of the Bible, and when I say pictures fall out of the Bible, let me explain myself. Years ago we used to work with street kids. One of them said to me one day, “Jill, I'd love to read the Old Testament. First of all, I can't read, so that makes it a little bit difficult, but if I could read and I read the Old Testament, I think I would be afraid to go inside.” I asked him, “Why?” And he said, “Because it's so dark in there. I'd need somebody to take me by the hand, to turn the light on, to introduce me to the characters that live there and to make it make sense.” It was my great joy to take that young man by the hand and take him into the house of the Old Testament, switch the light on for him, introduce him to the people who live there. And why I love the Old Testament too isn't just because people like me live there and I can identify with them, and what they learned of God can help me in my walk with him, but I love to go into the Old Testament because it is a book of pictures. And maybe it's because I have a simple childlike heart that I love it so. You know, the Father after all is a father, and after all we are his children. And children love picture books, and that's really what the Old Testament is all about. And in this passage of scripture, three pictures fall out of it in front of us. “When the king is king, each man will be light.” And then there are three pictures. The first one is a windbreak. When the King is king in my life, I will be like a windbreak. Now what does that mean? I think we all know what a windbreaker is. It's the piece of clothing that we can get from the store and put on when we have a Wisconsin winter and it stops the worst of the storm getting through. Now in essence that's what windbreaks are all about. They stop the worst of the storm getting through. And you and I can be like a windbreak for other people. Now, let's get it straight. Jesus is my windbreak, and was my windbreak. God's storm of judgment fell upon him when he hung upon the cross for me. And because of that he stopped the judgment of God falling on me. It really needed to fall on me because I'm sinful. But instead Jesus was my windbreak, and God did not let the judgment fall on me because it fell on Christ, and I can shelter in him, under his wings, and be safe. Because Jesus is my windbreak, that's what makes the difference. It makes me want to be a windbreak for other people. Do you know anyone against whom the storms of adversity are blasting at this moment? A single parent perhaps; a woman who is married to an alcoholic man; someone who is struggling with dark secrets in their heart that they cannot share with anyone else? As a Christian you can be a windbreak because Jesus was your windbreak. That's the thing about really understanding what he did for us. When I was in the Holy Land not long ago, I stood in the place where Jesus Christ was scourged. This is a place called the Pavement where the soldiers played games with Jesus. They played a very cruel game. There it was on the Pavement hacked out in the stones. Wherever the dice fell, the prisoner had to have done to him what it said on the Pavement. In other words the dice fell upon a crown of thorns, so the prisoner had a crown of thorns put upon his head. The dice would fall upon the rough scourge where he would be beaten, and the prisoner would be beaten with the scourge, etc. They only played the game once every year. They played the game there only once because the prisoner usually died under it. It happened to be Jesus' luck or bad fortune—whatever—that he happened to be the prisoner with whom they played the game. So when I talk about playing games with Jesus, I really mean that in those days, they played games with Jesus. This was just the beginning of the time when God's judgment fell upon him.
Listen folks, that's what happened to Jesus when he became a windbreak for me, and that's why I want to be a windbreak for him. Not long ago a lady who was in great trouble in our congregation called a friend. It was the middle of the night and she was in great distress. My friend tried to comfort her. She wanted to be a windbreak. She knew this lady had had lots of trouble in her life, and the blast of adversity and life itself was against her. The lady said that she wanted to commit suicide. And everything that my friend tried to tell her to talk her out of it didn't seem to work. In the end, my friend who was trying to be a windbreak and take some of the blast of the storm of the evil one against this lady, said this to her, “You know, I can't seem to change your mind so why don't you go ahead and do it. But remember, when you do, you have to face Jesus and tell him he wasn't enough.” And it was at that point this lady realized she couldn't do that. She couldn't face Jesus and say, “You weren't enough,” so she decided to stay and face the mess instead of facing the Master, and saying, “You weren't enough.” My friend became a windbreak for that little lady who was in distress. And that's the sort of thing I mean. Would you like to pray tonight, “God, make me a windbreak.” The second picture that we have is that of a watershed. Not only will each man be like a windbreak but he will also be like streams of water in the desert. Now let's get it straight. Jesus is the water. Didn't he say one day, “I will be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life?” Yes, of course, he did. And then another time he said, “Not only will I be in you like a well of water, but I will be out of you like rivers.” In you like a well and out of you like rivers! Doesn't that sound refreshing? Jesus is the water, but I can be the watershed. Could you pray tonight, “Lord, be king of my life and because you are my king, make me a watershed.” What's a watershed? It's a ridge off which water flows. And that's all we can do. Jesus is the water, and I can be the watershed diverting the water to where it is really needed. “But where is it really needed?” you say. It is really needed where people are dry and desperate, where people really need refreshing. Do you know anyone like that? Incidentally, there is a very, very obvious thing here. The water first has to roll over you before it can be diverted anywhere else. You know, I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, I'm a speaker. And it's very easy for me to get a talk out of the Bible and go and give it. Just give it. And you technically learn how to do that OK. But you know, if the water hasn't washed over me first, I might as well save my breath. For example, my mother-in-law was coming to stay. Now I don't know about your mother-in-law. My mother-in-law and I get on fine and that's probably because she went to heaven sometime ago and we're getting along fine now. However, we didn't always get on fine. When she lived on earth, it was all right when she came to visit for Sunday dinner, but my husband wrote to her once, instead of my writing to her, and invited her to come and stay for three months. Three months! Right. I decided he would never write to my mother-in-law again. I would do it. However, mother-in-law came and settled into our house. And it was very, very difficult because she didn't really approve of me, of how I lived, how I dressed, what I did. And I didn't really approve of her to tell you the truth. I thought she was a little old-fashioned, and she thought I was a liberated woman, or whatever. And so here we had these two strong women in one house. I had a talk before mother-in-law came to stay. It was about Ruth and Naomi, and I used to go around and give it. I used to tell all the young women to look up to their mothers-in-law and I used to tell all the mothers-in-law to care for the daughters-in-law. It was a very good talk. It was very scriptural and had three points and they all began with the same letter. I was very proud of the talk. But then, you see, mother-in-law came to stay. I went back to the book of Ruth and I got on my knees in front of the book of Ruth, and I said, “Oh, God, this water is first to flow over me before I can divert it in anybody's direction (any mother-in-law’s, any daughter-in-law’s).” So I lived in the book of Ruth and I read the words that I had to identify with her and love her and I had to say, “Your God shall be my God, your people shall be my people. Even where you go, where you died, there will I be buried.” I had to identify. I had to be steadfastly determined even as Ruth was to go with her mother-in-law, to understand her background, and her people, and her religion, and her God. I had to do that. That was my job as a Ruth. Now I could choose to be an Orpah. She was the other daughter-in-law. I could choose to be like her just kiss my mother-in-law and go my own way. I mean I'd been doing that for years. But God calls us to something greater than that if we are a Christian. You see, if the King is king, I cannot be an Orpah. I cannot do just as well as other people do who don't know Jesus. How can I do that? I have to do better than that. And when the King reigns in my heart and my kingdom, and this was part of my kingdom that my mother-in-law had come to stay in, then I had to be a watershed. And so after living in the book of Ruth and letting the water wash over me and deciding to be obedient, it changed my relationship with my mother-in-law. You see you've got to let the water flow over you first. Did you know that? Oh yes, it makes all the difference. Giving a talk or preparing a message or witnessing to another Christian or non-Christian is a little bit like building a house. You put up a foundation, you get that from the Bible. Then you put the structure up. The structure is what you hang the message on, the points that you want to make. Then you put the windows in because no message is any good without windows. Windows are the illustrations, they let the light in on the talk. Some people have talks made of all windows. That's too light and it blinds them. Other people have talks without any windows, and that's a bit dull. What you need is just a balance of the thing and then you have to live in the house f or a while. Then you will be able to sell it to someone else. I have a friend on Lookout Mountain. She built a beautiful house. Somebody came to dinner. They said, “We like your house.” She sold it to them. She did that three times. Built a new house, somebody came to dinner, and she kept selling the houses. She's in real estate now which might not surprise you. She doesn't need to be, but she is. And you know something, she said, “I just needed long enough to live in the house that I built to be able to sell it to someone else.” You might know a lot of scripture, but do you live in it? If you do, you will be able to sell it to someone else. Right? The third picture we are given is that of a wall. You can be a watershed; you can be a windbreak, and you can be a wall. “When the King is king, each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a mighty rock within the weary land.” Now then—make no doubt about it—Jesus is my rock. Oh yes, Jesus is my rock. He's the one I get my feet on. He's the one who is permanent. He's the one who gives me perspective. He's the one who is solid, solid ground under my feet. Jesus is my wall of rock. But it doesn't say I can be a wall. It says I can be the shadow of the rock within the weary land. Isn't that beautiful? What's a shadow? A shadow is an inescapable companion. A shadow is an image reflecting the light. We're meant to be a shadow, folks. When people look at you and when people look at me, they are meant to say, “You remind me of someone. You're just like...what is it?” What they are trying to say is they are like a rock. They are permanent. They have a position on moral matters. They know what they believe. They can be trusted. We're to be a shadow of our rock within their weary land. Sometimes I see this world of ours as just thousands of thousands of millions of people running through deep sand. Have you ever been on the seashore and tried to run through deep sand? You know how tired that makes you? And sometimes I look around and I see thirsty, tired people who are looking for a rock, or just the shadow of a rock, within which to rest. And you know, he is a rock. If and when somebody presses the button and all other rocks are melted, there is one rock that will never melt, and you and I can put our feet on him and be strong and firm. So I would like to ask you something: Would you be a windbreak? Would you be a watershed? Would you be a wall? A shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land? I'm going to pray a prayer that you can make your own, because when the King is king, it will affect your mind, your ears, your heart, your tongue, your ministry, your world! Join with me:
|
||||
 _____________________________________________________________________ |
||||
|
||||
