Most days and weeks I find myself doing fairly well in being aware of, and looking to manifest the Kingdom of God/Lordship of Jesus in my life. But I must confess most days, and certainly most weeks, I find myself at some time or other wanting to be lord over something in my life, and therefore upset about something that I am not lord over. These thoughts/anger/exercised emotions can be triggered by something as inane as something hitting the floor for umpteenth time in the day (at my age and with my knees, I don’t like reaching all the way down there to retrieve whatever it is) to something simply happening to me or one of my adult kids or grandkids that I wish hadn’t. Sometimes it may be politics, or dealing with the “that’s our policy” statements of a customer service agent at some company. There is just a lot that I would like to control, or at least “catch a break” for. And, I can’t seem to imagine why God, in His sovereignty, hasn’t made me lord of that situation, or at the very least controlled it the way I would have if I were Him.
In Luke 16, Jesus in outlining some teaching before the Pharisees on the stewardship of wealth and then whacking them a bit about their handling of divorce says this.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Luke 16:13
Because of the context on wealth and money I (and I think I could say we) have often overlooked what I think is the true and more salient point. Note that He makes it clear you can’t be a servant and serve two masters. If you have two masters your devotion will be divided. You must have one. Otherwise, His indication is that you will love one of them and hate the other. Or, at the least, you will be devoted to one and end up despising the other. A choice must be made. In this specific case the choice is between God and wealth/mammon (the riches of this world). But Wealth/Mammon, I think, is simply a stand-in, a personification if you will, or handy example, of anything that we would put before Him. It could be anything that I want, or want to control for my own, and for my own comfort, or for my reputation. And, most often I become the “other or second master”.
The truth is a desire to be His servant, His steward, isn’t in my nature. However, If you would serve Him, His Lordship must take preeminence and priority.
A verse later He says:
15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “The Law and the Prophets [were proclaimed] until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
Luke 16:15-16
In verse 15 what the writer to the Hebrews (3:13) terms the deceitfulness of sin is spotlighted. It is easy for you to justify yourself, your thoughts and actions, and your desires before men and think yourself good. But Jesus makes it clear God sees and knows what is in your heart. And, what may be highly esteemed as a show before men is detestable, some translations say an abomination, in His sight. This points out how easy it is for us to move into man pleasing and that which gets us a good back slapping, and pumps up pride into our self serving in so-called service of Him.
Then, in verse 16, Jesus really gets into an interesting teaching, for me (us) as believers, when it comes to changing this attitude toward being His servant/steward.
Note here that He says the “law and the prophets were proclaimed until John” (John the Baptist). But, since that time “the gospel of the kingdom of God” has been preached. The good news of the rule and reign of God over, in, and through His own, was and it is something new.
Righteousness would not be determined by the rote and legal interpretations of the law and the word of God. But would come by knowing Him and becoming a servant of the King, and living under His Lordship as such.
Then Jesus makes a most interesting statement “everyone is forcing his way into it”. The King James version here has a better rendering, I think, when it says “every man presseth (is pressing) into it”. What does that mean? Pressing into it.
As I consider the context of His discourse with the Pharisees, I think He was dealing with the idea that the Kingdom of God has come and it will be in constant tension with the kingdom of this world.
The war, or battle, for our souls (minds/thoughts/thinking, our will, our emotions) to be subject to His Lordship in serving others is, and will be, very real and ongoing; requiring pressing through opposition and into His service. Will we serve Him in the power of the Spirit having been crucified and resurrected in Him, or we will serve ourselves in the flesh. He will not force us into service, but we will have opportunity to engage in warfare, and in making our choice, like Joshua, pressing into the promise and whom we will serve
14 “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt (symbolic of the world and its ways), and serve the LORD. 15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua 24:14-15
3 Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life (this world’s matters), so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
2 Timothy 2:3-4
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
1 Peter 2:11
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James 4:7-8a, 10
The tension of the pull of the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God is always with us here. Until we realize that everything and everyone in the world stands in opposition to us living in the Kingdom of God, we will have a tough time walking in it. It will seem difficult and often impossible. You must “force/press” your way past the opposition to enter the service of Him and His kingdom.
This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us to “ be diligent” to enter His Sabbath rest.
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:11
You were under the law and prophets until John. Everything was rote cut and dried. Now you are under the authority of the Kingdom of God, the Lordship of Jesus by the Spirit, and there will be a constant battle with the rulers of this world.
In Jesus’ time there were many revolutionaries , even among His followers (zealots) who would love to have taken the rule by force and rebellion. But the new order/covenant is an order of submission and obedience to the King in the kingdom first. God’s new order was to fulfill the law by a different way of expressing power and gaining submission. In the Kingdom submission is gained by love. And, He that would be great becomes a servant/steward to Him and to others.
The world’s draw and pull is to disobedience, and to the same failure and fall as Israel and the Pharisees He was addressing. In the power of Spirit that opposition can be pressed through, forcing our way into the Kingdom, placing us into the rest that is ours in Christ. But, it comes through diligently pursuing the Spirits rule in us.
11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:11-12
This is not a diligence of work in the flesh for God or to establish our own kingdom or righteousness, but a diligence of the heart that comes by faith, and enabling of the Spirit, unto obedience to Jesus as our Lord and as His servant/steward.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:8-11
When we lay the world and our life down, we find resurrection power and glory in life in Him. Lord help us be diligent to break and press through opposition and into the Kingdom and the rest that is in Him. That comes from co-laboring with and serving Him in manifesting His Kingdom to one another, the world around us, and principalities and powers above us.