Loaded
Pt. 4 - Benefit 4
I. Introduction
We have been commanded repeatedly to be thankful. Over and over again gratitude is commanded because God is worthy. Because life can be difficult and not everything is always as planned it is necessary to remind ourselves of the benefits that we have due to our relationship with God. So we have talked about the fact that we are loaded with forgiveness (the greatest benefit). We are loaded with healing. God is so good that not only does He deal with the spiritual fallout of sin but also makes provision for the physical fallout of sin.
So let's brag a little today. Realizing that we have been forgiven, healed, and redeemed touch your neighbor and tell them "Hey don't hate me just because I am loaded!"
So, let's go back to our text and continue to examine the benefit package we have due to God's favor on our lives.
Text: Psalms 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits (There is the choice - control your soul - make yourself praise instead of complain) who forgives all your sin and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
We are loaded with a lid.
In his list of benefits, David declares that one of the ways we are loaded is that we have had a crown of love and compassion place on our head. Another version says that we have been crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Upon developing relationship with our Father we are provided a lid, a cap, a crown to wear.
That doesn't seem to be such a great benefit. We would have rather been told that we are loaded with finances, with material possessions, or other tangible resources. However, instead David says we are loaded with a lid a crown that deals instead with our attitude. We don't like that because it removes our excuse. I am just having a bad day. I am just turned this way. The other person caused me to have this reaction.
David's benefit list keeps us from being able to cop out and hide behind our pat excuses. He says we are crowned, covered, and responsible for acting and behaving with lovingkindness and mercy. . . love and compassion.
1. A crown represents authority.
Repeatedly Jesus let us know that all authority was given to Him ... Matthew 28:18 and John 13:3 are good examples of this. We have no issue recognizing the authority that rested on Jesus. However, as heirs and joint heirs the same authority that was given to Jesus was then transferred to us. Therefore, not only did Jesus wear the crown of authority we too are loaded with this lid of authority. Jesus makes the origin of His and our authority very clear. Our authority comes from God alone. He is the only One who can issue the lid and in like turn He is the only One who can take it back. So we have the authority to be loving, kind and merciful.
So in other words, if you are not operating in lovingkindness and mercy you have literally chosen to remove the crown and operate outside of the benefits He has placed on us. God has not recalled or reclaimed the lid. We are crowned but we have a choice as to whether or not we will take operate in and use the authority we have!
So then, if you run into a hateful, spiteful, mean Christian that individual has made a willing choice to behave that way apart from and in spite of the lid with which they have been loaded!
Well I am just turned that way. I am just slanted to anger. I am just slanted to negative. I am just slanted to being hard. No you are crowned! And the worst part of that is that you are choosing to misrepresent the One who loaded you!
The benefit of forgiveness, healing, and redemption is not only supposed to effect and impact our eternal destination, our bodies, and our status it is supposed to also touch our attitude and outlook on life. You can live less or you can live loaded. Wear the crown well! Some of us just need to let Him "King us" again. You have talked to your neighbor let's talk to God this morning. Why don't you just ask God out loud this morning. King me! let this benefit of being loaded with a crown come to rest on my life again. King me! You can't be kinged unless something gets on top of you. Jesus crown me so that my attitude changes! Crown me so that my attitude reflects you more than it reflects me! King me Jesus!
2. A crown reveals reigning.
You don't reign without a crown. There are tons of Scripture that deal with the concept of our reigning. I don't have time to read all those to you but the idea of reigning is
1. royal rule or authority; sovereignty.
2. dominating power or influence
Think about this. God could have talked about us reigning with power, force, fear, signs and wonders but He crowns us - the testimony of the existence of authority - the proof, the identifying sign is that we are operating in the dominating power of and under the influence of lovingkindness and mercy! The word here for crowned also carries with it the idea of "surrounded". We are to be encompassed and surrounded with love, kindness, compassion and mercy. The proof that you are who you say you are is revealed by your crown!
What makes our God famous? He is God He could be famous for many things. He could be famous for wrath, destruction, punishment, power, and yet the one thing that stands above all of that and has become the thing He is known for is that He reigns in mercy. He is so known for mercy that His throne is called the Mercy Seat! Our God is known by His love and mercy. The very season we are in now is so marked by the power of His lovingkindness and tender mercy that it has infiltrated an unchristian and even combative to Christ culture. This culture, even though they want to, has been unable to deny or ignore the power of God's love and mercy as it has been revealed in a baby in a manger.
What makes His followers famous? We could be famous for many things. We could be famous for our legalism. Our power. Our work ethic. But His followers who are crowned with the same authority of their God should be known by the same thing! My question is are we famous for these things? We are not known by our worship. We are not known by our prayer. We are not known by our faith. We are not known by our miracles. We stand out in a crowd by our lovingkindness and tender mercy. By this will all men know that you are my disciples . . . love! We should be reigning and influencing by love. Not by debate. Not by picketing. Not by arguing. Not by hate. We reign by love!
What are you known by today? If we took a picture of you with a crown on your head and left a blank area on the crown so that we could write one identifying word on it what would your coworkers, family, neighbors, and friends write there? Oh they are crowned with bitterness. Mopey? Sullen? Mouthy? Opinionated? Wimpy? Dominating? Proud? Or would they write loving? Kind? Tender? Merciful?
As we celebrate the moment that God's mercy is most famously revealed . . . Christmas . . . may we wear this crown as well. I challenge you to live up to the lid. I challenge you to find ways to show love, kindness, compassion, and mercy this week. May those who know Him best represent Him the best by living up to our loading!
Get loaded with a lid today. Regardless of situation you are facing. Regardless of the attitude you would prefer or with which you receive from someone else. Reign with kindness. Become known your crown!
