When the Apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos, he had a prophetic vision of the second coming of Christ. He saw Jesus seated on a white horse, leading the armies of heaven. And he wrote:
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).
Today, believers in Christ continue to proclaim that Jesus is King, the one who was given, “All authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). We say it, but most of us, at least in America, have never really leaned what it means to serve a king.
For one thing, serving a king is not a 9-5 job. The King is always the King, and he has the right to command his servants at any time, day or night. Now, a good king – and we serve the best – will allow his servants to get the rest they need, but they still serve at his convenience, not their own.
Those of us who follow Christ are not in the world to live for ourselves. We are ambassadors, agents if you will, of our King (2 Corinthians 5:20). And he has equipped us for that role, not only with talents and abilities and training, but also with the material goods we need. In my case, the King has given me a house and a car and money in the bank. But it’s not my house, it’s his. And it’s his car. And it’s his money.
Paul asked the believers in Corinth, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). He wrote this to warn them against boasting, but it applies equally well to hoarding the gifts God has given.
This, then, is the basis for living generously; that everything we have actually belongs to God. This means, on the one hand, that if I’m actively doing his work and I run out of resources, he’ll provide more. (Or he won’t, and I’ll be finished.) On the other hand, if I’m using those resources only for myself, I’m actually stealing from God. Jesus also warned his disciples against failing to properly use what God had given them (Matthew 25:14-30). This is a radical way of thinking about my possessions, and I can’t say I live up to it as well as I should.
But if serving the King is so demanding, if it conflicts so directly with serving my own best interests, why do it? Well, one obvious answer is that the King knows what I need better than I do, and he’s better at providing it:
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).
It’s also a great honor to be allowed to serve this King. But for me, I think the biggest reason is gratitude. I owe him my life, literally. I am quite certain that I would have died back in 1983 if God had not saved me. More than that, I was already dead in my sins and my rebellion against the only source of life. But Christ rescued me, and I owe him everything:
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
He died for me, so now I live for him. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. What about you? Are you serving the King?