Bunbury
Sun pm
17/07/2011
“Living like a king”
Intro: Living like a king has b/co a euphemism that we are all familiar w/ - it has come to mean that we are living a life of luxury.
I’ve often heard people say when visit foreign lands say how they could live like a king in this place.
And to tell you the truth I’ve had tastes of it myself when I have visited some places.
*** In India a few years ago we had lunch one day at a luxury hotel built back in the British colonial days. It looked every bit like a palace w/ its grand marble floors & ornate structures. The meal was certainly fit for a king, I can vouch for that!
But the thought of living like a king certainly takes on a whole new meaning when we turn out attention to the text spoken by a king.
The king speaking these words? None other than King Jesus H/s – his subject? “Living like a king”.
But rather than this being an encouragement to a lifestyle of indulgence / self gratification His exhortation is for you & I to live the way He – king Jesus lives.
We find His discourse on “Living like a king” in two of the synoptic gospels – Matthew 5-7 & Luke 6.
This was a message so impt that God saw fit to have it laid down in his word at least twice.
The sermon on the mount as someone has said is not a single sermon but the summary of all Jesus’ consistent teaching to His disciples.
It has been called “The manifesto of the King” & “The magna charta of the Kingdom”.
So let’s give our minds for a few moments tonight on ‘Living like a king’.
Text: Matthew 5:1-12 ( NKJV ) 1And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
# 1. U/s the way a king lives.
A. How would you expect a king to live?
a. When we think about the life of a king we generally conjure up images of or extreme wealth & a life beyond imagination.
i. And there’s certainly no doubt about the fact that the great kings of history have lived lives of relevant wealth / opulence.
ii. Even today the facts are evident – the royalty / kings of the world live in the luxury of great riches.
*** QEII although not being wealthy enough to make it into the Forbes Billionaire list a personal wealth of $420 million. Bearing in mind that the crown jewels belong to the British state & not the queen as does Buckingham palace.
Amongst her assets however are Balmoral Estate in Scotland w/ its 50,000 acres of woodlands, Sandringham w/ its 60 acres of gardens & its 20,000 acres of forest.
She also owns a private collection of art / furniture / jewels / horses that are worth a further $110 million.
QEII however pales into insignificance financially in light of her Dutch counterpart, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix is valued by Forbes at a respectable $3.2 billion largely due to her shares in Royal Dutch Shell.
b. The Biblical image of a kings concurs w/ this concept too.
i. In speaking about Solomon we are left w/ the idea that he lived his life in extreme grandeur.
ii. He was once visited by another monarch – the queen of Sheba.
iii. It seems she came to visit largely due to the fact that there had been some rumours going around about the grandeur in which Solomon lived.
1 Kings 10:6-7 ( NKJV ) 6Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. 7However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.
iv. The majesty of this king was so spectacular that it took her breath away!
B. The main thought w/ a king is that he lives a life a cut above the rest.
a. In other words he lives his life at a different level than everyone else.
i. This is what Samuel was speaking about when God spoke to the people through him….. speaking about the grandeur in which the future king of Israel would live.
1 Samuel 8:12-16 ( NKJV ) 12He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest £young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
ii. What does he need all that for? The obvious answer is so that he can live life at a level above everyone else.
iii. So who wouldn’t want to live life like a king does?
*** Prince Wm on an adventure trek in Chile, South America with Raleigh International insisted that he be treated like everyone else. So he took on the task of scrubbing toilets just like everyone else which created a media sensation.
Why did it create a sensation? B/c you don’t expect a king or a future king to be doing things like that!
*** What people expect of a future king is things more like what he did when he borrowed a RAF Chinook Helicopter to go to his cousin’s stag party on the Isle of Wight. William who stopped off on the way to pick up his brother Harry flew the Chinook which costs a staggering £15,000 / hour to run, to go to a drunken stag weekend for his cousin.
On another occasion he landed a Chinook which he was still training to fly at the farm of his girlfriend’s parents – the Middleton’s, now of course his in-laws.
That’s more like what we expect of a king!
One commentator said "It's like a learner driver being given the keys to a Formula One car just because his father owns the racing team."
iv. That’s what we expect of a king, living a life of luxury that others only dream about.
# 2. The call to kingship.
A. Here’s the thought that we want to consider – we have not only been called to a kingdom but a kingship.
a. Now b/4 we go on & process that thought there is one ruling reigning king.
i. There’s no doubt about the fact that He is the King of kings & Lord of lords.
Revelation 19:16 ( NKJV ) 16And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
ii. He alone deserves our worship & adoration.
Romans 14:11 ( NKJV ) 11For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”
b. But ….. we have been called to rule / reign w/ Him.
i. Here’s what the Bible has to say about this in …..
2 Timothy 2:12 ( NKJV ) 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
ii. Even more to the point is what is written in Revelation about you & I.
Revelation 5:10 ( NKJV ) 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
iii. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians & said …….
1 Corinthians 4:8 ( NKJV ) 8You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you!
iv. Again the apostle Paul speaks about the life of those who have been redeemed & says that we are saved to reign in this life!
Romans 5:17 ( NKJV ) 17For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
v. The wonderful truth that we discover in the Bible is that through J/C we have inherited a kingdom & if a kingdom then also a kingship.
Romans 8:17 ( NKJV ) 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
B. So the question that is begging to be asked is – are you living like a king?
a. Could people tell by the way that you live that you are a king?
*** In the movie the Prince & the Pauper based on the Mark Twain novel, Tom Canty a pauper one day chances to meet Prince Edward VI at the palace. When they meet they realise that they both look remarkably similar & so the boys come change clothes & pretend to be the other. In the midst of this a guard discovers that a pauper boy has come into the palace & fearing for his own head he quickly evicts the prince himself from the palace onto the streets.
The pauper of course has to now live like a prince & the prince is forced to live like a pauper. He fairs poorly though b/c although he is dressed in the rags of a beggar he behaves like a prince.
i. Can the people around you see that you are a king?
ii. Do kingly attributes / qualities attend your way of living?
iii. Do people in the world see that somehow there is something wrong & that you somehow don’t fit –
iv. Just like Peter sitting around the fire w/ all the palace servants.
Matthew 26:73 ( NKJV ) 73And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”
b. There is a certain kind of life that a king lives.
i. Its more than expensive restaurants / holiday resorts / unspeakable wealth / respect / honour.
ii. The kind of life has to do w/ the king h/s.
*** Somewhere in the not too distant future a new king is going to be crowned over the UK.
But you don’t just step up to the throne one day w/o having gone through a lifetime of preparation.
Wm for example has been in preparation for his role as the king of the UK from the beginning of his life!
In his early years he was a pupil at Mrs Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in West London. In 1987, he also joined a music appreciation class conducted by Ann Rachlin. Then, he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire, a preparatory school. After passing an entrance exam, he went on to Eton College in Berkshire. Whilst there, he studied geography, biology and history of art at A-level.
Like a growing number of British teenagers, Prince William chose to take a gap year after finishing Eton College. He took part in a British Army training exercise in Belize. He spent the final stage of his gap year in southern Chile as a volunteer with Raleigh International. Pictures of the prince cleaning a toilet were broadcast around the world.
After his gap year, Prince William attended the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland from 2001, graduating in 2005. He embarked on a degree course in Art History, but later changed his main subject to Geography. William earned a Scottish Master of Arts degree with upper-second class honours, the highest academic achievement of any heir to the British throne. In January 2006, Prince William began his cadet course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to train as an Army Officer.
In the autumn of 2005, the prince took two work placements. He initially worked in land management at Chatsworth House. William's second work placement was with the HSBC banking Group in London.
In August of 2006, the Queen appointed Prince William to two patronages of the Royal Navy. William is Commodore-in-Chief for Scotland and Commodore-in-Chief for submarines.
So the pict we see here is that Prince William hasn’t spent his years watching Neighbours, Home & Away & playing Warcraft – he has been groomed for years in readiness for the throne!
iii. And that’s what’s happening to each & every one of us who are going to one day rule & reign w/ Him.
iv. There is a grooming of our lives in preparation for the kingship we have been called to.
# 3. So how does a king live?
A. Our text tells us to live like a king.
a. As Jesus is preaching the sermon on the mount He is in fact giving a discourse on how we can live like kings.
i. We commonly refer to our text as the ‘beatitudes’.
ii. Break the word be-attitude down & you get the idea …. This is the attitude that should be evident in you.
iii. What Jesus is doing here is telling us how we ought to be as kings / priests of our God.
b. Now think about that – a discourse on how to live like a king!
i. When we look at the text it doesn’t seem like anything like the king of behaviour we would expect from a king.
ii. It’s more like a discourse on how to live like Mother Theresa!
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
5 Blessed are the meek,
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
7 Blessed are the merciful,
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you,
iii. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like anything like how to live like a king to me!
iv. But the question we have to ask is –
B. Which world are you living for?
a. Jesus H/self made it plain that His kingdom was not of this world.
John 18:36 ( NKJV ) 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
i. As a matter of fact he left his throne in order to save people like us, living like paupers in a kingdom of darkness.
2 Corinthians 8:9 ( NKJV ) 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
ii. Think about the kind of king Jesus was amongst us…..
Luke 22:27 ( NKJV ) 27 …… I am among you as the One who serves.
iii. He was enthroned on a cross in this world & had a crown of thorns set upon His head.
iv. The night b/4 He was crucified we find Him washing the disciple’s feet.
John 13:14-15 ( NKJV ) 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
b. Everyone has dreamed about living like a king at some time.
i. You see living like a king isn’t about indulging every desire / whim / fantasy that you have.
ii. Living like a king means u/s which kingdom you belong to.
iii. And here’s the entire purpose of our text – this sermon on the mount was not just a sermon but a summary of the way in which our king – Jesus – lived & the heart he as king has.
iv. Do you want to live like a king? This is how you do it –
c. Essentially what Jesus is saying about living like a king is this –
i. B/4 you can be king of anything you are going to have to be king over your own will / desires.
Romans 6:12-14 ( NKJV ) 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
ii. By b/co king over your own will you inherit not only a kingdom but a kingship.
iii. In Vs 3-11 of our text every verse begins speaking about a sacrifice in this world but ends by speaking about a crown in another world!
3 “.........., For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 ........., For they shall be comforted.
5 ........, For they shall inherit the earth.
6 ........., For they shall be filled.
7 ........., For they shall obtain mercy.
8 .........., For they shall see God.
9 .........., For they shall be called sons of God.
10 ..........., For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
iv. So you want to live like a king? …… It’s not an easy life – but its worth it!
