The King

“If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base, and sordid creature, no matter how successful.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

We men identify with the King. He is a picture of authority, power, stability, and centeredness. Maturing the character of King in our life provides this, which we all desire. We are all playing the role of “kings” with the influence of a “kingdom” of some kind. Maybe you have a family that you oversee, maybe you are a boss or a manager of employees, maybe you are a coach and oversee players. Even if you are a bagboy at a grocery store who lives alone, you have a kingdom called “your life” and it needs order and stability. No matter the size of the kingdom, we need to rule it well. But how?

What the King Does
Kings pass laws for the land to obey. Laws are for the peace and stability of the land. The first responsibility of a king is to embody the “law” that he is asking his people to live under. The king is a living example of the stability and peace that he expects of his people. If the king does not live this, then the king cannot extend this to his kingdom. He may try to enforce it with stale laws, but if he is not living it himself, he cannot pass it down to his people. If I do not have $20 in my wallet, I cannot give you $20. You cannot give away what you do not possess. If the King does not experience order and peace through his own law, he cannot extend that to his people.

What Kingship Looks Like
We all have a kingdom of some kind. This kingdom is made up of family, friends, work, play, relationships, and responsibilities. I was a youth pastor for a while and I noticed that many parents would drop their kids off so that we could “fix” them. Maybe a little church would do them good. The problem was, we had them for an hour, once a week, and had to give them back to the dysfunctional families that they came from for the remainder.

Why did the kids need “fixing”? We can go into all kinds of debate on social, theological, and economic fronts, but what it really comes down to is this: the parents did not possess the life they wished their kids to receive from church. They did not live it the rest of the week. You cannot give away something that you do not possess.

If we could live our lives as the embodiment of the law that we wish our children and grandchildren to live, we would make more ground than a one-hour per week youth group could ever do. Men need to live out the character of the King.

This is what Jesus did. The Israelites were given God’s pathway to walk down. They called it the Law. In the Hebrew it is “Torah” – the Way. Jesus said that He was the Way, the Torah. He was not saying, “If you want to get into heaven after you die, have faith in me, I’ll get you in.” He was saying, “If you want to know what God’s Law looks like lived out in a human life, look to me and do what I do.”

How Kingship Works
First, we can follow Jesus’ example. If we place our kingship under the rule of Christ, and follow him, we can look to those following us, and say, as Paul did, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” If we do this, then we will be a source of blessing, fertility, stability, centeredness, order, and rule to those within our kingdom. Our wives, kids, employees, friends, family, and even our own selves will flourish with peace. Peace is the sign that a good king is on the throne.

Second, we need to take a good long look at our lives and discover where there are areas of chaos. We need to find the areas that are under the influence of evil, and areas of conflict that needs engagement. We need to identify these areas and start to live differently. We need to live confidently in ways that promote peace, good, and resolution.

Where the King Goes Bad
There is, however, a shadow side to the King, a two faced Tyrant/Weakling. When the king is not living the law, he can become a tyrant who seeks, through his own insecurity and fear, to squelch the peace and prosperity of those in his kingdom whom he sees as a threat. If he can’t live the law, he will enforce one harshly. We have all had bad experiences with those who have abused authority; those who have authority without the character to back it up.

We look down upon this behavior in others, why would we live it? Yet we do when we seek our own gain at the expense of others. A good king lives for the good of the people in his kingdom, not for his own gain. A good king brings blessing to his people and peace to the land. The tyrant seeks to exploit his people for his own benefit. The tyrant seeks to abuse others for the sake of enlarging his own ego.

We hear about the Tyrant everyday. He is seen in the abusive (emotional, physical, mental or sexual) father/husband, the micromanaging boss, the crazy Bible thumper, the narcissism seen in the “my-way-or-the-highway” mentality, and an over sensitivity to criticism that leads to revengeful patterns.

The Tyrant exercises authority out of fear, for his true self is seen in the picture of the impotent king, the weakling. For fear of discovery, the weakling hides behind the tyrant facade. The King gone bad lacks centeredness, calmness, and security with himself. He does not live out a rule or law, but tries to impose one instead with his authority.

The weakling, when he is not hiding behind the Tyrant mask, is impotent, afraid to act, and paranoid. The weakling is actively looking for people to adore and praise him, all in attempts to build up a feeble self-esteem. The weakling needs people to like him and praise him in order to feel stable.

This means that the weakling is not very centered. His approval comes from his environment, which changes often, and not from a security and confidence that comes from the inside. This security is one that only God, the King of kings, can give and bestow to those who have stepped into his rule and reign.

A Biblical Example:
Jesus, the King of kings

The Bible speaks of God as King of kings. We are all kings as men set in charge of some sort of kingdom, and God is the true King of all kings. When we step into salvation through repentance, and start on the road toward holiness, we step inside of God’s rule, God’s kingdom. We become a part of his reign. We are His people and He is our God. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of peace, justice, and compassion. Accessing the king in us means surrendering our kingdom into God’s kingdom, and following God’s pattern of rule. Listen to Paul’s description of our King Jesus:

“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT)

Jesus shows us a centeredness and security that only God can give. It is our responsibility as men to mirror God’s humility, service, obedience, and grace. To live out the character of the King, we need to look to the life and death of Jesus Christ, our model for living, and live “the Way” that he did. We need to look to God’s empowering Spirit within each one of us, for it is the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth. And we need to look to God the Father, a model of love and fathering for us all.

When we can have a spirituality, a practice of faith that reflects the power of the Trinity, and changes us from the inside out, we will then possess an inner authority that comes from God. If we do not possess this, we have only a flimsy authority that needs to be “enforced” with tyranny or re-enforced with the praises of other people. This authority then extends to our kingdom that God has given us to steward, and live out Micah 6:8, which teaches us, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”? (NRSV)