Kings at War
Luke 14:25-33
There used to be a Visa commercial on TV that had a young tough telling his gorgeous girlfriend that he wanted everyone to know he loved her. She asks if he is sure that this is what he wants to do. The next scene has the guy sitting in a chair at a tattoo parlor. He is going to express his love for his girlfriend, whose name is Donna, by getting her name tattooed on his arm inside a big red heart, but he remembered about halfway through the procedure that he had not asked how much it would cost. The burly guy giving the tattoo mutters that it will be $50.00. The guy getting the tattoo pulls out all the money he has in his pocket and says, “Oh, I only have $41.” The commercial then cuts to the guy and his girlfriend Donna outside the tattoo parlor on the sidewalk. Donna is storming off, and the guy is yelling after her, “I’ll get it fixed!” The camera then zooms in on the tattoo which reads, “I love Don!” He didn’t count the cost, and he paid the price. If he had listened to the words of Jesus about counting the cost before you do something he would never have gotten himself in that position.
Counting the cost plays a big part in our spiritual lives. There are many people who want to be a Christian, but they do not think about the cost. It sounds great to be forgiven, have the promise of heaven and experience the love of God. And it is all free — given to us without cost. The book of Revelation quotes Jesus as saying, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:6). Having a relationship with God cannot be bought, and there is no way we can earn it. It has to be a gift, otherwise it would never be ours, because there is no way we could afford it. The Bible calls this grace. But there is a great cost in an important sense.
It’s like this. Let’s say that I decided I would like to climb Mount Everest. My understanding is that it costs around $70,000 to make the climb, and I have no way of coming up with that kind of money. But suppose there is a benevolent businessman who is a very close friend and is willing to sponsor me. He pays the airfare, the fees, and buys all the food and equipment. He hires the guides and pays for the training. He knows all the things I will need. It is totally free for me. But if I accept this generous offer, there is still a great cost to me. First of all, I have to actually climb the mountain — I can’t just talk about it. The focus and direction of my life will totally change. I will have to eliminate some things from my life. There will be months of training before the climb and grueling effort during the climb. There will be great sacrifices. I will think about the climb every day. It will literally take over my life. The trip to Mount Everest has been given to me for free, but there is still a great cost on my part.
So many people come to the altar of a church and ask for their sins to be forgiven and for God to come into their lives, and walk away as though that is all there is to it. They have received the free gift, but they have not counted the cost. They think the issue is over when it has only begun. Count the cost before you begin the journey. This is the message of both the parables of Jesus which we have read today.
But I want to concentrate on the second parable. Let’s look at the lessons we find in Jesus’ words when he says, “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:31-33).
I think the first lesson in this parable is: You have to understand who you are. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). That means that there is a King of all the earth, and you are not him. You are part of his creation, not the Creator. God owns the world and everything in it. Anything you have is only on loan. When you die you will leave everything you have accumulated, and someone else will either take it or throw it away. As they say, “There are no U-Hauls behind a hearse.” Your pride will come to an end when you return to dust. You are not a king. You are a subject of the King. It is good to know your place and position. You will run into a great deal of trouble trying to be a king when you are not.
But that is our problem, is it not? We are trying to be a king in someone else’s kingdom. We are trying to rule and reign in the place of Someone who is King of the universe and Lord of all. Claiming the right to rule our own lives is tantamount to insurrection — trying to overthrow the true King. The point is that you cannot find God when you are trying to be God. You are not the one who barks orders to God, you are the one who takes orders. You have to understand who you are if you are going to have a relationship with God, and you have to surrender who you are to who he is. But this One, who is Lord of all, is not a king who wants to put his foot on your neck, or destroy you. No. Your surrender to him will be a surrender to one who is a friend and healer. The wounds from the battle are mostly self-inflicted, and the King who has conquered us is the one who loves us. He is waiting to heal us and to give us life.
Paul Stanley tells this story from his military experience: “As an infantry company commander in Vietnam in 1967, I saw Viet Cong soldiers surrender many times. As they were placed in custody, marched away, and briefly interrogated, their body language and facial expressions always caught my attention. Most hung their heads in shame, staring at the ground, unwilling to look their captors in the eye. But some stood erect, staring defiantly at those around them, resisting any attempt by our men to control them. They had surrendered physically but not mentally. On one occasion after the enemy had withdrawn, I came upon several soldiers surrounding a wounded Viet Cong. Shot through the lower leg, he was hostile and frightened, yet helpless. He threw mud and kicked with his one good leg when anyone came near him. When I joined the circle around the wounded enemy, one soldier asked me, ‘Sir, what do we do? He’s losing blood fast and needs medical attention.’ I looked down at the struggling Viet Cong and saw the face of a 16- or 17-year-old boy. I unbuckled my pistol belt and hand grenades so he could not grab them. Then, speaking gently, I moved toward him. He stared fearfully at me as I knelt down, but he allowed me to slide my arms under him and pick him up. As I walked with him toward a waiting helicopter, he began to cry and hold me tight. He kept looking at me and squeezing me tighter. We climbed into the helicopter and took off. During the ride, our young captive sat on the floor, clinging to my leg. Never having ridden in a helicopter, he looked out with panic as we gained altitude and flew over the trees. He fixed his eyes back on me, and I smiled reassuringly and put my hand on his shoulder. After landing, I picked him up and walked toward the medical tent. As we crossed the field, I felt the tenseness leave his body and his tight grasp loosen. His eyes softened, and his head leaned against my chest. The fear and resistance were gone — he had finally surrendered.”
That is the way it is when we surrender to God isn’t it? At first we see God as the enemy and we fight him, claiming our own territory and the right to our own lives. But in our woundedness, we finally see that we cannot conquer him, and discover that the God to whom we have surrendered is not our enemy. He cares for us and heals us as he takes us captive.
But you not only have to understand who you are when you come face to face with God, the second point is: You have to understand your options. You see, these two kings who come face to face on the battlefield are metaphorical. That is, they represent something. The story is symbolic of another story that Jesus is trying to teach. There are two kings standing off against each other. One is the true King, and the other is a false king who is trying to lay claim to a kingdom not his own. The first king is God, who is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). The second king is you. You have laid claim to a kingdom that does not belong to you. You are trying to defend territory and rights that are not yours. You are trying to rule and reign as though your life belonged to you, and it does not. “You are not your own. You were bought with a price”, the Bible says (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Would you not expect that the rightful King would come to challenge your claims and meet your rebellion? Remember that the King you are facing is much more powerful than you. He is King of the universe and all that is in it, because he has created it. He has unlimited power. This is a fight that you will never win.
When you realize this, you understand that you have very few options. One is to fight to the death. Fight knowing you will die, but never be willing to give in or give up to God. The second option is to surrender, and surrender totally — send for the terms of peace and hear him say, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Those are the terms of peace between you and God. You hear and obey. You make the total surrender. A third option is to try and hide and avoid him, but that doesn’t work either, for he will search you out. The other option is to make the kind of false surrender that took place in Iraq. As the allied forces stormed through Iraq we expected heavy resistance and many casualties. But it turned out to be a quick march to Bagdad with only small pockets of resistance. What we did not understand at the time was that the resistance pulled back, took on the dress and manner of the other citizens and simply waited for the opportunity to show their resistance to the would-be conquerors. That is how some people handle the fact that God is more powerful than they. They act as though they surrender, but inwardly there is secret opposition and hidden resistance that continues throughout their lives.
Julian ascended the throne as Caesar in AD 360. He was the nephew of Constantine the Great who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman empire. But Julian, Constantine’s successor sought to re-establish pagan worship in the Empire and was thereafter known as “The Apostate.” Julian openly began to persecute Christians and withdrew the legal protection granted them by Constantine. Julian had been educated in Athens alongside a committed Christian by the name of Agaton. Although Julian aggressively persecuted Christians, for some reason he invited his friend Agaton to serve in his court. One day, in front of a large group of wealthy Romans, Julian impiously questioned Agaton, saying, “Agaton, how is your carpenter of Nazareth? Is he finding work these days?” Agaton smiled and answered, “He is perhaps taking time away from building mansions for the faithful to build a coffin for your Empire.” Less than two years later, on June 26, 363, Julian lay dying with a Persian arrow in his chest. He had led his troops in an attempt to take the ancient Persian Empire. Julian grasped a handful of dust, red with his own blood, and flinging the dirt heavenward he uttered his last words, “Vicisti Galilaee” — “You have conquered, Galilean.” That is one option, but the option of continued resistance will only bring ruin and destruction.
The third point is that in the end: You have to understand there is only one option. If you finally come to the place where you understand what life is all about; if you finally understand who you really are; if you understand your options; you will understand that to experience real life there is only one option. You can fight God and you can fight life, but if you want to live and enjoy life you have to stop fighting. You have to give up your anger. You have to surrender to the King. And what you discover is that this King loves you more than you can imagine, and instead of ruining your life, he will give you life in its fullness. To resist is to experience ruin. To surrender is to experience life.
In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we give ourselves to Christ in union with his death — we give over our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
The Bible tells the story of Absalom. He was the son of King David — Israel’s greatest king. Through a series of circumstances, Absalom began to despise his father and made plans to become king in his father’s place. He surreptitiously sowed seeds of division and rebellion in his father’s kingdom. In the beginning he did things that did not seem to be a danger, but he was winning the hearts of the people of Israel. The day came when he saw an opportunity and openly led a rebellion against his father David in an attempt to take over his kingdom. David’s greatest fear was that Absalom would be destroyed in the battle, which is what eventually happened. When word came that Absalom had been killed, far from being happy about it, the Bible says, “The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: ‘O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you — O Absalom, my son, my son!’” (2 Samuel 18:33).
David’s heart was not to destroy his son, but to save his son, even if it meant dying in his place — in spite of what Absalom thought. Absalom wanted to be king, and the ironic thing is that David may have eventually made him a king. David was not his enemy, he was his father. He loved him in spite of his rebellion. So it is with God when we rebel against him. It breaks the heart of our Father because he loves us and wants to give us the kingdom. He was willing to die in our place. Our rebellion is foolish and self-destructive.
It always amazes me when people do all the wrong things and then get mad at God because their lives are such a mess. To surrender to the King is to surrender to love. When you love God, live for him and live according to his laws, life works. When you live according to your own rules and go your own way, you invite disaster. The King is coming and he is bigger and mightier than you, but the biggest part of him is his heart.
All the prophets, patriarchs and apostles called people to surrender to the God who wanted to give them life. Moses said, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
I listened this week to a video on CNN’s website on celebrity atheists — people like Bill Mahr, comedienne Kathy Griffin, actress Julianne Moore, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg proclaim the fact that they do not believe in God. I found myself wanting to say to those people: “Do you really think that God is upset that you or other “celebrities” don’t believe in him? Does it make him any less real? I have news for you. You may not believe in God, but he believes in you. More than that, he loves you whether you believe in him or not. And all that you have — your money, your looks, your intelligence, your fame, are all gifts from him. They are all on loan, and the day is coming when both you and I will be asked to return them and surrender all we own and have to the King who is coming to claim us and conquer us. Choose life.”
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 10, 2013
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
