1. The King’s math
1.1. Christ = King (Luk 23:1-2)
1.2. Love = Loyalty (Joh 14:15)
1.3. Upgrade = Sacrifice (Phi 2:5-11)
1.4. Holiness = Intolerance (of sin) (2Co 7:1)
1.5. My King is King > All other Kings (gods included) (Mat 28:18).
1.6. My King’s reboot > than your best life now. (Rev 21:1-5).
1.7. Serve the King = savor the Kingdom (Phi 1:21-23)
2. The King’s inquiry
2.1. Do you serve the King? (or, I serve the King, who do you serve?) (1Jo 5:19)
2.2. Why would anyone be so stupid not to serve the King? Only the King can offer a life free from pain (Rev 21:4 versus the Atheist/religions of the world = Free from pain at death – not during life. The reality for the Atheist/religions of the world = Rev 20:15).
2.3. What happens to you if the King returns in 2046? (2Th 1:7b-10)
3. The King’s speech
3.1. The King is not your holy toilet.
3.1.1. As long as I confess my sin to King Jesus, I don’t have to worry about consequences b/c He takes care of it. He is my holy toilet. Text often used to support this kind of thinking (1Jo 1:9).
3.1.2. You continue to practice sin (thinking yourself to be immune to its eternal consequences) and you will be guilty of treating the King’s blood as an unclean thing and declared apostate by God (Heb 10:26-30; Deu 29:18-20).
3.2. The King requires more than faith alone.
3.2.1. The mantra of the modern-day church, is “nobody is perfect” (e.g., “We are a church who likes to say, ‘we are not perfect and don’t pretend be.’” – Easter postcard from a church in Centennial, CO)
3.2.2. If God expected perfection, then why did He send His Son to die for our sins?
3.2.3. Though God does not expect perfection, He does expect faithful obedience. IOW: you won’t get to heaven on just faith alone (1Jo 2:4, 3:5-10; Mat 13:41; Jam 2:24).
3.2.4. No excuses. We can be faithful (Deu 30:11-20).
3.2.5. So then, you may not be perfect, but you’d better be faithful.
3.3. To have faith in Jesus means you have pledged your complete allegiance to Jesus as the King.
3.3.1. To put faith in Christ or believe upon Christ for salvation means more than trust or mental ascent to Who He is (the Son of God/fully God/Deity, the son of David/fully man/the Messiah or King) or what He has done (lived a sinless life so as to qualify as our atoning sacrifice and rose again in the third day as proof of God’s acceptance and our justification through Him – Rom 4:25; 1Co 15:1-4) (e.g. faith as trust or mental ascent – 1Co 13:2).
3.3.2. Putting faith/believing upon Christ for salvation also means swearing our complete allegiance to Jesus as our King IOW: We are now loyal to the precepts of our King, not the preferences of people (including self).
3.3.3. Allegiance was the 1st century understanding of the term pistus translated as “faith” and the idea behind belief. It referred to more than mental ascent or trust. It implied also loyalty to that thing/person (Rom 3:3 and Mat 23:23 pistus is translated as “faithfulness” [a synonym for allegiance]).
3.3.4. Examples where translating pistus as “allegiance” makes more sense given the context (Act 24:24-25 [τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν πίστεως] = allegiance to King Jesus [v25 all about allegiance]; Tit 2:9-10 “submissive in everything, well-pleasing not argumentative, not pilfering but showing all good faith [pistus]= allegiance; Rom 1:3, 5, 16:25-26 = Paul’s gospel goal is to bring about “the obedience [pistus] of faith” – i.e. the obedience consistent with our sworn allegiance).
3.3.5. Examples from the 1st century Jewish historian, Josephus: 1) “The inhabitants of this city determined to continue in their allegiance [pistus] to the Romans (The Life 104), 2) “Bacchides troubled not himself with the oaths he had taken, but slew threescore of [the people], although, by not keeping his faith [pistus] with [them] (i.e., by failing to show allegiance to his prior oaths) he deterred the rest who had intentions to go over to him.” (Antiquities 12.396). 62% of the time [pistus] in Josephus refers to allegiance or a pledge of loyalty
3.3.6. Our faith-sworn allegiance/loyalty is viewed as a sacred and binding pledge or vow by God (1Pe 3:21 “pledge” = sacred/binding vow).
3.4. The King’s gift of grace expects reciprocation in the form of allegiance.
3.4.1. Evangelicals are famous for their insistence that our salvation is a gift of grace which means there are no obligatory strings attached. This (however) is a modern understanding of the term grace and gift.
3.4.2. In ancient times (including the time of Jesus and Paul), the ideas of gift and grace – especially when given by dignitaries, always expected reciprocation in the form of allegiance/loyalty (See, Paul & The Gift, John M.G. Barclay).
3.4.3. (e.g. Eph 2:8-10) = The gracious gift was not conditioned on prior acts (“not your own doing, not a result of works”), but does expect future performance (“good works prepared beforehand” – i.e. the Law) in return (“A gift can be unconditioned [free from prior conditions] without also being unconditional [free of expectations of some return].” – John Barclay ibid, p. 562)
3.4.4. This understanding of grace/gift is not a violation of (Rom 4:1-4).
3.5. A Christian not suffering persecution is not a disciple of the King.
3.5.1 When we swear allegiance to the King (i.e., put faith in Jesus) we also commit to suffer persecution from others as we take a stand for His unpopular gospel (Phi 1:27-29; 2Th 1:3-5; Mat 10:34 w/Luk 2:34-35; Joh 15:18-19).
3.5.2. Those who are living in faithful obedience to their former pledge of allegiance are guaranteed to be persecuted (2Ti 3:12).
3.5.3. You are therefore not a true disciple of the King if you avoid such persecution (Heb 10:35-39).
3.5.4. We should count it a good thing when we suffer for our King since this points to us being genuine Christians (Mat 5:10-11; Jam 1:2-4; e.g., of persecution – family/world condemning us for our loyalty to the King over them).
3.6. A Christian without a church is not a disciple of the King.
3.6.1. Evangelicals think it is possible to get to heaven without the earthly covenant community established by our King.
3.6.2. How does a person do that when the key for loosing was given to the church (not individuals)? (Mat 16:18-19 w/Joh 21:21-23).
3.6.3. In Scripture, baptism – where a person is loosed from their sins/saved (1Pe 3:21; Mar 16:16), is never recognized [as saving] when practiced by individuals not authorized by the church (e.g., Act 19:1-7).
3.6.4. The early church believed baptism (as well as the sacrament of the LT) to be given only to the Church and those they approved: 1) “baptism cannot profit a heretic (i.e., individual claiming to be a Christian not recognized by the Church) unto salvation, because there is no salvation outside the Church.” – Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage, 3rd cent.), 2) “Let no one do anything touching the Church, apart from the bishop. Let that celebration of the Eucharist be considered valid which is held under the bishop or anyone to whom he has committed it. Where the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Church. It is not permitted without authorization from the bishop either to baptize or to hold an agape (LT); but whatever he approves is also pleasing to God. Thus, everything you do will be proof against danger and valid. “– Ignatius (Bishop of Antioch, 2nd cent.)
3.6.5. If a person (therefore) claims to be saved yet was not saved in – and continues to belong to a legitimate church, then they are claiming a salvation outside that of King Jesus. (Good luck with that)
3.7. A church without the King’s authority is a church overrun by Satan.
3.7.1. (Mat 16:13-19): 1) the church has been given the authority and power of Jesus’ Kingship (13-17) “You are the Christ/King” w/ Jesus’ response (18a) “on this rock” = On this authoritative ...
