This King We Serve

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: (Exodus 34: 14)

We are continuing with our message ‘taking the Kings message to a king’. I want us to look at His subjects who had connected to Him in such a way that they could accurately and faithfully deliver his message to other kings. Some of them were even kings but they knew who the real King was. As I had intended to address the subject of support and resources, we will also look at that in greater detail. As is my usual way I will just get the lessons out as God releases them.

And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: (Genesis 14: 21 – 23)

Abraham was connected to this King we are talking about. He knew that He was a jealous God and will not want to share His glory with another. And that was the reason he forwent his right to property and rightful wealth to protect himself from poisoning his relationship with this King then and especially later.

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)

To Abraham it was very clear that a right to great wealth was not worth much in the light of his relationship to his King. To him it was even worse because it had a capacity of being an impediment to his witness later. I do not know whether we realize that a gift has a capacity of diverting attention to something so far off our initial focus.

A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. (Proverbs 17:8)

Do we realize that most of these ‘popular’ pastors who have become a shame to the course of Christ did not start that way? Do we not know that most of these pastors who are scared to death of preaching against sin were as zealous for God against sin in their earlier years? I know a number of them at a personal level and realize that it is a miracle, albeit in a negative sense, that they are now destroying what they once built. You can never be able to connect some of them to their earlier sermons or lifestyles. Some cannot even be able to point out sin even when it is visible to the blind. It seems to them that the only abomination is making all these ‘good’ people to feel bad or offended. And we know confronting sin offends. That was the reason Christ was killed by the religious authorities. That was the cause of death also for many prophets.

Yet where did it all start? They decided to access their right as ministers. And this right or privilege may have been so obvious that it may have not required any prayer for confirmation, just like Abraham’s. You see as the one who rescued the four kings it was not negotiable that all the wealth was his by right. In fact the king was pleading with Abraham to take what was his without feeling guilty of depriving those kingdoms of their wealth.

How do I relate with my supporters? Who are they to my ministry? What is the connection of my supporters to the King? Do I ever place myself in the debt of my supporters as I minister? Are they the King’s servants first or are they just my passionate supporters? If they were given the choice between killing for me and dying for the King, which do you think they would choose? Do they give because I say so or because the King says? Is my comfort more important for them than their demand for change in the King’s direction?

Probably it is a church or ministry you head. How many are in direct contact with the King? How do you relate to them as the CEO or so of the structure? What happens when they receive an order contrary to yours? Are you excited or threatened when someone low in the structure seems to hear from the King clearer than you are hearing? Is the King free to bypass you as He runs that structure or is it too rigid even for Him to touch, let alone change? Can the King send a child in the structure to deliver a message to you, the boss?

How are the resources shared in your structure? Are you the head of the pyramid or are you the servant of all as Christ said you should be? Are there people in the structure who struggle with simple resource issues while you are at a loss what to do with all those shopping vouchers and cell phone airtime credit that you can’t exhaust? Do you live in a palace while fellow ministers in the structure you head live in the slums?

Can the King commend you for the manner in which the least in your structure lives? Would you be excited to serve in that structure you head as the least? Would you, like David, prefer to be a watchman in that structure that you head? Would you enjoy being a cleaner or cook in a structure that runs the way you run yours? Would you mind being jobless with a structure like the one you run being around?

Do the orphans celebrate the ministry you head or is it only the ‘orphans’ that have some connection to you and your circles that can access what your ministry can offer? What about widows and refugees (the Bible calls then aliens)? Must someone know you before they can access the ministry you are in charge of? Do people fight for your attention or your structure is such that all are partners, meaning that the accountability that is called on is the accountability to the King? Can a junior member of the ministry see a need and the ministry would trust his spiritual judgment as to commit the resources of the ministry to it? In other words how many people in the ministry you head have a clear relationship with the King?

How do you relate with the persons under you? Can you like Abraham trust them to go to a war on your behalf without fearing any backstabbing or defections? Can you entrust the responsibility of looking for a suitable wife for your son to your slave? Do you share the goodies with them or are they only entitled to the scraps if there are any? You see in this era of plastic money there are no scraps falling anywhere as everything can fit in a wallet or bank account. In fact we are going to the era of them fitting on the forehead or back of the hand!

How do you resolve any disputes as the leader? Are you like Abraham who gave his subordinate the chance to make the first choice without being scared that he will disenfranchise you like happened with Lot?

Abraham was all that because he had established in his heart the place of the King. This King was not subject to anybody or anything. No choice was worth making if it stood in the way of the first place the King occupied.

He is called the father of faith or the faithful because the King was unchallenged in his priorities, in fact his whole life. And that is the reason offering his only son as a burnt sacrifice was not negotiable. The King occupied first place, in fact the only place in his priorities. Everything and everybody else simply fell to a place subject to the decision the King commanded.

…. for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. (1Samuel 17: 26, 45)

David was riled that Goliath defied God. It pained him even more that the people of God and the army that represented Him were powerless to face the giant.

Why was that? They did not have a connection with the King. The King was to them an academic exercise. They knew Him through folklore and historical discourses. His power was therefore subject to their experience and understanding.

David was different. He took the king very seriously. I am sure he faced the lion and bear in the same way he faced the giant – in the name of the King. He knew that he was powerless on his own, but he also had decided to put his academic knowledge about the King to test. And the King had proved His worth. He had come to the rescue of David powerfully in the past and David became sold out to His cause.

It therefore riled him that a simple giant (even if almost 10 ft) would challenge the King’s army. He simply could not stand and watch that happen in his presence. That would have been blasphemy worse than that of Goliath. He had to put the King to work to defend His honor.

The difference between David and the entire army was the reality of the King. David related to the King as living and actively involved in the lives of His servants/worshippers. To the rest He was a once powerful historical figure whose reality was subject to one’s conjecture. None of them could bet on the reality of this King they had heard about all their lives. The King was as real as Moses, their once infallible leader. But He was past tense and therefore could not be counted on to come to the aid of people who had only heard about him.

David put the King to test. And the King responded.

That is where we start with the life of David. He was a person who brought God to his situation on God’s revealed terms. He never went beyond what was revealed. No wonder we see the reality of the King all through his life.

David related with the King as a King who was FULLY in charge and didn’t need any human assistance except obedience. Saul sought to come to God’s assistance again and again and that was how he lost the kingdom as the King is not subject or in need of anything from His subjects except subservience.

That is why we see him sparing Saul when the same Saul was scouring the whole land to kill him. Reason? The King had anointed him. Protecting his life by killing Saul was to him defying the King who had anointed Saul, however evil or dangerous he became.

That was the reason he was able to turn the most hopeless and desperate of people into the greatest army of the times. He sought to connect them to the King he was subject to.

That was the reason why after Uzzah died he sought to know how the King wanted the Ark of the Covenant transported because he realized that the King acted in accordance to His revelation as opposed to the whims of any other king or god. That is the reason we see him placing a very high premium on the scriptures because he was confident that knowing the King and walking according to His revelation was sure to bring His whole reality to our experience. Psalm 119 gives us the reality that he lived by.

… I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing…. (2 Samuel 24: 24)

David did not give by proxy. He did not forbid people to give, but he also did not leave the responsibility of giving to others. Though he called on others to give, he first gave them an example. But even better is that he carried his weight where giving was concerned. Check this

And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house. (2Samuel 6:19)

David celebrated with all Israel, but not at their cost. He bore the cost of the celebration. I can’t imagine the cost of all that he gave to all the residents. How many animals were slaughtered? How many bakeries were emptied of stock? How many wine cellars were emptied? And how much did this all cost David? Yet he could dance with all his strength even with the reality of the depleting of his wealth due to that celebration. I want us to know that not only did he send them home with food, he must have fed them at his cost for at least a week so that the occasion would not have the flaws that had cost Uzzah’s life earlier.

David was excited to help people get to experience of the reality of the King. He therefore pulled no stops in that pursuit.

Like we have seen with Abraham, David did not ask people to give; he just gave them an example. He refused any giving that would have come between him and the King. The King was not only central to his experience but He was at all times connected to the same. The King was his overriding agenda.

Though he was told he would not build a temple for the King, he not only made plans for the same and give generously for the same and challenge his people to give for the same, he even organized for the worship aspect of the same and prepared and made instruments for that worship. Something he will not be around to see and hear!

That is the person who is driven by the reality of the King. It is therefore no wonder that his wars were called God’s wars.

It is from that that we are able to receive the King’s communication through the pen of this messenger. We are able to clearly see that relationship through reading the psalms he wrote.

Do we preach about giving or do we like David give an example for people to follow? Are we asking people to sow into our ministry or is our ministry sowing into the persons we seek to transform? Have we made ourselves Levites, widows, orphans, aliens all in one to take the entire tithe from all over instead of being God’s storehouse to dispense the resources God has placed in our hands? Was David insane to give everybody a piece of meat, a loaf of bread and some wine instead of using his position as the king to require his subjects to fund all the celebrations?

What do we do with all the envelopes of appreciation and honoraria we receive? Are they our right or does God require us to use them to expand the touch of the King? Are our gifts ours or are they the property of the King? Are we really the King’s subjects? If so, how much control does He have in our affairs?

What titles do we use? Is the King pleased with them or are they reflections of our independence?

I hear preachers being called mighty servants. Can a slave be mighty? Some are called reverends. I do not know the real meaning of the word but it sounds like a title that should belong to the King. Has the King approved of some of these titles we celebrate? What does He have to say about them?

Once again I ask, how much control does the King have over our lives?

Loyalty is another thing we consider when we think about the King. ‘Your wish is my command’ was as true with David, probably more than for anybody else. People were not just willing but ready to die for him.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. (2Samuel 23: 15 - 17)

Yet that loyalty was kept in check by the reality of the King. Any loyalty that overstepped the bounds the King placed on His king was an abomination.

That is why you see him rebuking his loyalists for wanting to clear the threat that was Saul. That is the reason we see him killing people who killed to ensure his unchallenged reign. That is why we see him cursing his sister’s family by being overzealous in dealing with threats to his kingdom. Loyalty to David was directly subject to loyalty to his King. He was convinced that he was king subject to the pleasure of the King.

And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? (2Samuel 16:10)

He was therefore as secure as his relationship to his King. And that was the reason he guarded it jealously.

Moses was the undisputed leader of Israel. I find it amazing that he was torn apart by the expectations of both the King and the people. God called Israel Moses’ people and people ranted at Moses when things became tough. I do not think there is any other person who handled the pressures Moses handled. When God seeks to speak to Israel, they become scared and place Moses to handle the King’s presence. When the people sin, God sends Moses to deal with the rebellion.

Yet Moses did not have a rosy past as far as the knowledge of God was concerned. The little exposure to the King was as he was being breastfed by his mother and the conversations going around. For the most part he grew up a prince of Egypt, a godless place. His knowledge of God was therefore more in his subconscious.

How did he get that knowledge out to the point that he left all the comforts of a princely living to ‘comfortably’ live in the desert for forty years? I suspect he decided to challenge the King he barely remembered, leave alone experienced, to show Himself. As he grew in that experience he could then come to the aid of an Israelite when he killed the Egyptian.

I am sure the desert molded him to the kind of person we know. He must have prayed endless times to see God. He had enough crises of faith in those forty years.

He must have been at a crossroads when God appears to him which is the reason we see the arguments he put forth. He was reaching out to have a real experience with God. You see he was Egyptian technically as that was how he was brought up.

But eventually he is able to get real with the King and then everything changes. He starts to run errands for this King and as he does so his experience is enriched from one experience to another.

Two things I want us to see with Moses. With the King growing in prominence, Moses grows in humility.

 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:3)

It is interesting that the word used here is meek. Meek means power under control. The clearest depiction is a yoke of oxen. They are so powerful that they can pull a weight that a pickup truck can’t carry, yet they are so gentle that a child can lead them to do whatever he wants.

I grew up in the farming areas and have seen bulls being trained. No one dare risk to train a mature bull. Even with the small ones the damage that occurs during the training is not little. Bringing all that power to do the thing you want is not easy. Once the training is completed you can literally sit back and wait for the results.

That is what happened with Moses. He became sold out to the King. The King’s agenda became his. His dreams and visions were dictated by the King’s revelation. What comes out of such a life? Meekness. Like John the Baptist Moses lived by what John said.

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

As we read about Moses we are able to see that very clearly. Never once do we see him fighting for his rights or arguing his case. He was either pleading with God for Israel or bringing God’s case to Israel. As you read you are able to clearly see that it was evident even to Israel that Moses was not his own man. They fought against him yet in their repentance we see them repenting for fighting against God. Moses was inseparable with God. No one could tell where Moses ended and God started.

That is what a relationship with the King should produce, meekness of that nature; a meekness that swallows my ambitions into the agenda of the King; a meekness that dissolves my dreams into the revelation of the King; a meekness that disables my selfhood into the power of the King.

It is indisputable that Moses was controlled by the King. It is also indisputable that he was able to accomplish what we cannot even dare dream of. All because he decided to connect to the King in such a way that he was swallowed completely into His purpose.

The second thing I want us to see with Moses is something we have seen with David. He sought to connect all to the agenda of the King. He was not content to speak for God to people. He really desired for the people to have a living relationship with the King.

And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! (Numbers 11:29)

Loyalty to him was not to keep him on a pedestal. It was to connect in a great way to the King. His frustration was that Israel loved to have him listening to God for them. I suspect it is so that they can feign ignorance if a difficult order came.

Do I enjoy being the only person who can hear God directly? Do I derive my joy from having people queuing to hear me declare what God has for them? Am I the only person who can release God’s declarations to the people? Am I feeding off the ignorance of people to hearing God’s voice? Am I protective of the position I occupy because I can ‘hear’ God’s voice?

Am I teaching people to hear God’s voice? Am I investing in programs that will help people learn to identify God’s voice? Do I have forums that help people know not only how to hear, but also deal with that voice? Is the King my all consuming desire? Do I partner with people who can hear that voice? Do I treat them as fellow servants of the King?

Why did Moses not become the priest? How could he prepare and anoint the priests yet not become the one? Why does he become a simple Levite yet he was the one who heard all the orders concerning the priesthood? Was he not infinitely more senior than Aaron and his family? Why then become a subservient to the family he had prepared?

What do we learn about Moses? He was so sold out to the agenda of the King that self never surfaced in all his dealings. Never did he think outside the bounds and revelation God released. I don’t think it ever occurred to him to wonder why God overstepped him yet he was the ideal person to become priest. It could have saved a lot of time and errors as he was the one who received them anyway.

We even see how he deals with the challenges to his leadership. He seems to wonder why all the fuss. Only God comes to his defense.

Elisha made a fortune out of a jar of oil, yet he did not take any ‘seed’ from it. He multiplied food and had miracle after miracle following him. Yet we do not see him as a wealthy prophet. At least we see a lady ministering to him by giving him board and food. I am sure he walked far and wide and may have looked tired and hungry.

He ministered to kings of different kingdoms yet could not afford a chariot to travel by as he transverses the country. Yet unlike his mentor he was revered by all the kings he interacted with.

Yet the clearest we come to the reason he was a poor preacher who ministered to the wealthy is the incident with Naaman the Syrian general. His thinking was similar to what we saw with Abraham. I will not receive any gift that might lead you to mistake the King I serve.

His servant becomes like us and decided that it was folly to leave a willingly offered gift and became a white man (white as snow) instantly. To Elisha witness was the most essential aspect of ministry and a gift should never stand in the way of that witness.

Though he directed a whole enemy army to the king’s city, we never see him asking let alone receiving any favors from him.

Elijah also dealt with kings. Yet his dressing was according to the ministers of today disgraceful. He could be recognized from far because of his rugged dress. Did that not lower his stature in the eyes of the kings he was sent to? Ask the army that was sent by the king to pick him. We see him ordering a drought yet later see him more or less begging for food from a widow in a foreign land.

I do not see any indication that Elijah had any house or property anywhere as we are seeing him moving from place to place. The King’s agenda was his driving force that dictated his whole life and ministry. These two left no legacy as we think as we do not see them with wives and children and lands. The Kings agenda dictated terms all their lives. Even when he was depressed that he wanted to die, he had to get the King’s take on the whole thing.

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. (John 4:34)

That for me is the character of one who can be entrusted with the King’s message to a king.

We will continue to look at other messengers in later posts.

May we be servants who are sold out to the agenda of the King as that is the time we can qualify to be sent to kings with the King’s message