The Marks of Christian Royalty

RV100-02

© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)

God's Royal Kingdom

We are studying Revelation 5:10. John hears the elders in heaven praising the work of God in the fact that He has made of church saints a kingdom of priests; that is, He has made them kings. He has made them a royal family. In the omniscient wisdom of God, He has indeed created a unique body of saints – a body which is unique in human history – called the church. If you know anything about English grammar, you know that you cannot qualify the word "unique." Sometimes we carelessly slip into that, and say, "I had the most unique experience." Well, the word "unique" means that there is not any other kind like it. You must learn to use proper grammar and proper English in order to understand that "unique" means special; separate; and, there is nothing like it. You can't be most unique. It is just plain "unique." That's what the body of Christ is. There has absolutely never been anything like it in the history of the human race.

We are Royalty

One of the great tragedies of our day is that the average Christian doesn't realize that. He thinks that he's just another one of the saints that God is saving, and another one of the people over the centuries that He's taking to heaven. But on the day of Pentecost, when the church began, it was the beginning of a unique body of believers such as the world has never seen. The Old Testament believers (and I mean the greatest of the Davids, and the Abrahams, and the prophets) never by the faintest stretch of their imagination ever dreamed that God would put together a group of people who had the privileges; the powers; the authority; and, the capacity of those who constitute the royal family of God (the church) possess.

So, Jews and gentiles today who trust in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, who paid the penalty for their sins, become part of this unique body. All sins are forgiven completely to these – all of their past, present, and future sins; all of them are regenerated (that is, that they are born again spiritually – their dead human spirits are vitalized); and, they receive the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ at the point of faith. That means that they are justified. They are baptized by the Holy Spirit into union with Jesus Christ so that they become the body of Jesus Christ. He is the head. Furthermore, they are sealed by the Holy Spirit for eternal life in heaven, which means that they can't ever again lose their salvation status. They are permanently born into the family of God.

Union with Jesus Christ, brought about by this method of faith, makes the church-age believer part of the royal family of Jesus Christ, and part of His spiritual kingdom. Christians are church-age nobility. This marvelous fact is proclaimed here in the book of the Revelation by the 24 elders in John's vision. What we've been trying to do is not just to tell you that you are the royal family, and that you are part of a spiritual kingdom, about which everybody says, "That's wonderful. That's nice. I'm glad to hear that. That really is a happy thought." However, the problem is how to put flesh upon that skeletal truth, and how to fill that out so that it means something to you when you walk out of this auditorium; when you deal with people; when you are sitting in the quietness of your own room and thinking in your own mind; and, when you are functioning on a day-by-day basis within the family unit; on the job; and, within your social context. You need to learn how to conduct yourself as befits a member of the royal family of God. That is not easy to do. The first step toward being able to do it is to have some introduction to the application of this truth in our practical living.

That's the way the Bible is always written. For example, look at the book of Ephesians. It has six chapters, and you will notice something very explicit about the first three chapters. The first three chapters of the book of Ephesians are hammering away at one doctrinal truth after another: this Bible doctrine; this Bible doctrine; and, this Bible doctrine. Then he comes to chapter 4, and in chapters 4, 5, and 6, he keeps talking about application of the doctrines that he taught in the first part of the book. That is a marvelous example of the way God thinks. First you establish the doctrine; then you concentrate on that skeleton; and, you fill it out with substance and application of that truth. The Spirit of God has to guide the interpretation of doctrine. The Spirit of God has to guide a true practical application of that doctrine to the experience of the believer, but both are important.

Commoners

Those, of course, who are not born again are commoners. They function on human viewpoint thinking, and they do lack the refinements of divine viewpoint conduct. Christians learn to think and to act like royalty through the learning and the practice of Bible doctrine principles. Therefore, the day-by-day objective of the church-age believer should be to learn to function in Satan's world with a personal dignity and achievements that are befitting a member of God's nobility.

The Marks of Christian Royalty

So, we continue now with looking at the marks of Christian royalty.

Support of Other Members of the Royal Family

One of the ones we should be careful to observe is the fact that Christian royalty is supportive of other members of the royal family in times of their spiritual failure. There are times when the Christians who are part of the royal family don't always live up to their royal status in their failures. No one is excluded from this. Any Christian can go spiritually insane. We call that reversionism. We call that backsliding. There are any number of terms which describe a Christian's failing to live up to his heritage as a believer, and going negative to the Word of God for whatever reason.

So, Christian royalty does have its breakdowns, and other members of that royal family move in and are supportive of that believer. In Acts 20:35, the apostle Paul put it this way: "I've shown you all things, how that, so laboring, you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus – how He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" When you have somebody in the royal family who begins to miss a step; who begins to get off spiritually; and, who begins to suffer personal spiritual breakdowns and failures, then it is necessary to do a lot of giving. He requires a lot of our capacity, and that's what the Lord meant. It is demanding, and sometimes it's even irritating. But it is a blessed thing to give to that person what he needs to get him back on track.

So, what we are saying is that we recognize that all of us can fall into sin and into spiritual reversionism. That is because the power of the sin nature is there in all of us. We have to remember that that sin nature is there. It is very quiet: lying dormant; and, ready to spring when we give it an opportunity. In 1 Corinthians 10:12, Paul says. "Let him that thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. Every Christian in God's royal family has to be aware of the fact that you might fall. That doesn't mean these terrible gross sins. When we talk about Christians falling and Christian failure, we think about these terrible things. Well, those certainly do happen.

However, anybody who is trained in the Word; who loves the Lord; and, who is sincerely seeking to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord is not likely to have that kind of a failure. It's going to be more of a subtle failure. It's going to be more of a subtle deviation from God's thinking. It's going to be a subtle deviation of thinking by some negative attitude or some personal preference that begins to move the Christian off course. The consequences of that, farther down the line, become very great. Sometimes you can't even turn back. Sometimes you go beyond the point of no return. When you go beyond the point of no return, that is what it means. In the Christian life, you may put yourself beyond the point of no return. That is not because God will not forgive, and not because you cannot correct, but because the old sin nature becomes so solidified that it refuses to turn around and say, "Yes, I was wrong. That was stupid. I had it where it was all at, and I thought it was at someplace else. Now I've lost it all." And it's very hard to admit, and to turn around.

However, when that does happen to a believer – when Christians in the family do have these failures, it is very tempting to abandon them, and to wash your hands of them, but that is the thing that we cannot do. We don't abandon members of the family because they have compromised with biblical ideals. It is very easy to do this toward a person who has been instructed in the Word. When it is somebody who hasn't been taught, and who doesn't know better, we are much more inclined to be patient. But when somebody who has had great opportunity, and has had the opportunity to know better, and then they fail, then our inclination is to abandon them. But in Ephesians 4:2, the apostle Paul says, "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love." We do not take the arrogant attitude that nobody is worth our persistent effort to restore.

Failures of personal honor; failures of responsibility; and, failures of performance in service are viewed with the understanding that we have a human frailty. We don't condone those failures. It's not pleasant to have people who are failures when you're under fire. When you're in the spiritual warfare, that's not when you want people to be failures. When you're on the field of combat, you don't appreciate the guy who cuts out. Yet, it is incumbent upon us, as royalty, to recognize that, while we don't appreciate that, that it is a part of human frailty. Someplace down the line, you have to be prepared that you could be guilty of the same thing.

In 2 Corinthians 11:29, the apostle Paul says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I am not ashamed?" The apostle Paul said, in effect, that as royalty, when some member fails, you take it personally. You say, "It's bad, and I'm disappointed. But it also is distressing because I have to share that weakness. I have to share that person's failure because he is part of the body."

So, what royalty does is rally to the support of a failing and weak member, with the hope of getting him back on track. Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." There's a very important qualifying word in that verse in terms of helping other Christians to get back on track when they deviate from the path of righteousness; when they have spiritual breakdowns; when they have spiritual incapacity; or, when they begin chasing emotional rabbits that have appealed to them at the moment. Galatians 6:1 says that if a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual do the restoring. That means that you who are in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit do the restoring. And you do it with the awareness that you could do the same thing. But if you (yourself) are not in the status of spirituality, then you better bug out in trying to help somebody else. But if you're oriented to the Word of God; if you're in full fellowship; if you're filled with the Spirit; and, if there's no fracture between you and your Father, then you're in a position to help, and you will be surprised at the enormous help that you will be.

Royalty suffers together, and royalty rejoices together. In 1 Corinthians 12:26, the apostle Paul puts it this way: "Whether one members suffer, all the members suffer with it; or, one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." That's the principle. If you're suffering; if you're experiencing failures; or, if you're coming short of what you should be as a member of royalty, then we are all injured by it, and we are all disappointed. But if, on the other hand you prosper; you do the job; you faithfully perform; you live up to your heritage; you demonstrate the dignity of royalty; and, you're an achiever in spiritual things, then the Lord honors you, and we are all honored with you. We cannot escape that. So, the principle is that Christian royalty is supportive of other members of the royal family in times of spiritual failure. That's a very important point, and you do not live up to your position if you act in any other way.

Christian Royalty Performs for the Lord's Glory

Another point is that Christian royalty performs its divinely ordained services for the Lord's glory. That's why you knock yourself out in Bible school, and in summer camp, and in Berean academy, and in the youth clubs, and in all the choir and the band ministries and everything else. You do it for the Lord's Glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 lays out the principle this way: "Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do to the glory of God." Christian royalty serves for the Lord's Glory. If royalty serves out of lust for human praise or recognition for achievements, it's going to secure just the opposite.

In Luke 14:11, the Lord Jesus enunciates this principle: "For whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted." It is very tempting, as members of God's family, to be serving out of approbation lust – out of a desire for recognition for praise or for appreciation. But no amount of human praise; no amount of compliments; and, no amount of fame that you may secure is worth anything in terms of eternity. It is amazing how hard it is for Christians to recognize that. I don't care how exalted you are on the human realm, or how many times people call you a spiritual giant.

In our band Saturday morning, some kid in the back row was doing something that was dumb. One of the girls said to me, "I don't understand how someone as brilliant as you tolerate these characters." Well, of course, her evaluation was very near the truth. I recognize that. She recognized my sterling character in tolerating these kids on the back row who don't know enough to have their music right-side-up. But what is that going to be worth ‐ that she had the sense to recognize my brilliance? What's that going to be worth in eternity? Zero – that's what it's worth. But at the moment, I thought she certainly was one of the smarter ones that we have around here. It was a natural reaction.

1 Peter 1 says this: "For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word by which the gospel is preached unto you." That puts it all together. And you can secure glories on earth. You can if you want to work in the local church. If you want to work among Christians, you can work in such a way as to promote a glory status and a recognition status. But that's a human factor, and it's going to wither like a flower that finally dies. But the thing that's going to endure is the Word of the Lord. Do I have to tell you what the Word of the Lord is? That's the technical word for the official proclamation of the Word of God: what God thinks; and, the doctrines of Scripture. That is the only thing you're going to take out into eternity with you. That is the only wealth you're going to have out there. How you have functioned upon that doctrine on this side is going to determine the eternal reward that you have on that side. The most valuable, important thing you have is the Word of God. That's what you're going to take with you.

So, that's how you serve. You serve for the Lord's glory. You don't serve for personal recognition.

But Christians who love the head of our royal family, Jesus Christ, are quite ready to give Him the preeminence in the family. In Colossians 1:18, the apostle Paul says, "And He (that is, Jesus Christ) is the head of the body (the church), who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence." There is only one celebrity in our royal family, and that's Jesus Christ. And it is wrong for you to try to be a celebrity, or for me to try to be a celebrity, or for us to be promoting and exalting each other as celebrities. That doesn't mean that we are not appreciative of what other people do; that we do not thank them; or, that we do not let them know that we're appreciative, but they should not have to have our thanks. They should not have to have our expression of appreciation. Whether anybody thanks them or not, and whether anybody appreciates what they have done – if the Lord has led you to do it, and you're functioning under the direction of God the Holy Spirit, and you're doing it for the Lord's glory, then it is recorded. It is remembered, and you will be rewarded. That's what counts. It is only Christians who understand that doctrinal principle, and who understand the Word of God, that can function in that way. The natural desire of the sin nature is to have preeminence.

So, I don't like to hear people talking about this this man who is a great saint, or this woman who is a great saint. There are no great saints. The only person who's great is Jesus Christ. The rest are nothing but worms saved by His grace. Therefore, it's embarrassing whenever we do see members of the royal family who are pushy; who are show-offs; and, who want to call attention to themselves. That happens in the royal family of God. You get somebody who wants to play the role of the peacock, and it is tempting to do so. But you want to remember that when you do so, you are going to be like the Pharisees in the New Testament who did exactly that. They wanted glory; they wanted a pat on the back; they wanted to be exalted; and, they stood around the street corners conducting themselves in such a way that people would compliment and praise them, and Jesus Christ said, "They've got their reward." What did He mean? You've got somebody passing exaltation. That's it. When they get out to eternity, they're going to have nothing.

So, if you want that kind of recognition; you want to be pushy; and, you want to be a show-off because it's a passing moment of satisfaction and exaltation, just remember that you're not going to take it with you. The only promotion of royalty that counts is that which comes from God – not that which comes from man. 1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." And if you are a member of the royal family of God, then here's a principle that you want to learn well – that you have not been promoted unless God has promoted you. Unless the Lord Jesus has done the promoting, you don't have any promotion. Unless He has elevated you and honored you, you have not been honored. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit calls us to a duty, and we execute it with determination, it doesn't matter whether we are appreciated for it or whether we are understood for it.

I've had some of you come, and you're pretty good workers, but sometimes you're all distressed because people don't understand you. Well, hardly anybody understands me. So, how do you think I'm going to be sympathetic with you when I have the problem worse than you do? Generally, I find that to be true – that any problems you have, I have them worse. So, I'm not too sympathetic. And usually I try to do that to people when they come to me with their problems. I stretch out, and I start talking about the terrible things that I suffer through, and my problems in my life. Pretty soon, they're commiserating with me. And I thank them for coming in to help me.

This is business ludicrous – that if we're not appreciated and if we're not understood, that we're not going to keep functioning. If the head of our family (our King, Jesus Christ) is guiding you through the Spirit of God, and you're functioning in compliance with the Word of God, that's all you have to worry about. You don't have to be understood. You don't have to be appreciated. You certainly don't have to have encouragement from anybody, let alone their recognition.

Now, the encouragement is nice. I don't want to suggest that it's not a good thing to do. It is a good thing. I find it significant. I find very curiously that about the time that I'm getting a lot of flak, the Lord raises up members of the congregation to come out of the blue and say things of encouragement to me that are dealing with the very thing I'm getting flak for. So, I'm getting an orientation as to exactly what the Lord thinks about the matter. When you said those things, you didn't think anything of it. You didn't think it was significant. You didn't even think, "Now, God has led me to say this to you." Sometimes we're just walking in the parking lot, and people say something, and they don't understand it. And I'll come home and tell Mrs. Danish, "Just think what so-and-so said to me today," and it'll be an amazing thing that they should have said that thing, unbeknownst to themselves, of the significance of what they said.

So, there is encouragement that comes from the Lord. You're not looking to people for it, but the Lord uses people to give us encouragement when we need it. Indeed, He does. He does confirm; He does solidify; and, He does strengthen us to keep on with the battle.

So, it's what He thinks that counts. Hebrews 12:3 says, "For consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied, and faint in your mind." Think of what the Lord Jesus suffered, and think of the kind of treatment that He got from the very people He created. They treated Him like scum, and they murdered Him. Who of us have had that kind of treatment?

It's tempting to abandon your vision of service and it's tempting to abandon your calling when people reject it, and they attack us because we're listening to the Holy Spirit, and we're not listening to the preferences of people. When you come under attack, it is very easy for you to want to throw up your hands, and to chuck it all. 1 Peter 4:19 says, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit to keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator." Commit your doing to that Creator. I love the statement of the Word of God that: "We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account of ourselves," because at that point in time, we're going to find out who was right and who was wrong. For some people, it's going to be too late. For some, it will be right on target. Only those: one – who are oriented to doctrine; two – whose minds (whose mentalities) are filled with doctrine that control the emotions of the soul; three – those who are positive to that Word; and, four – those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, are the ones who are going to make it. They are going to be demonstrated to have been in the know.

Heavenly Rewards

Another principle for guiding the duty of the royal family is that the Holy Spirit-directed service of Christian royalty can rightfully be expected to be rewarded in heaven. For what you do for the Lord as a member of the royal family, you may expect the return of rewards. In 2 Timothy 2:12, we read, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." A member of the royalty of the church is alive primarily to be blessed by God, not merely to work and to suffer for Him. That goes contrary to what generally we are told as Christians. We are told generally that we are here alive to suffer and to serve. That is wrong. We are here primarily for God to bless us. If you can shift gears, and get that orientation in your thinking, then you will be well on the road to being able to be in the position to be blessed.

God Wants to Bless Us

In Luke 12:32, we read, "Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." It is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom and everything that is associated with being a member of the royal house. Now, we do have service to perform, and we do have suffering that we experience. But that service and suffering are simply the means to eternal blessing. That is not the prime objective. The primary thing that God is interested in is to bless you and to prosper you.

In Matthew 5:11-12, we read, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Here, again, the principle is: What does God want to do? He wants to bless you. What does God want to do? He wants to give you money. He wants to give you satisfaction. He wants to prosper you in all the areas of your life. He wants to give you a family that is satisfying. He wants to give you friends that are ennobling. He wants to give you a job that is fulfilling. He wants to provide you with everything that prospers your life.

This verse says that, along with that, there will be persecution. There will be people who revile and make fun of you. There will be people who are going to say things against you that just aren't true. They're going to speak falsely in order to discredit you. But the Lord says, "Take it in stride. Be glad, because all of this is just the means for what I want to do, and that is to give you great personal prosperity." That begins here on earth, and you take that prosperity on earth, and you parlay it into eternal reward: "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

You take the prosperity of the money, and you so invest it such that you transfer it into eternal reward. You take the prosperity of all those gifts that God has given you (those human abilities), and you invest them in terms of the Lord's work so that you take that prosperity, and you convert it to eternal reward. The prosperity that you have now of various kinds: your human associations; your time; everything that you possess; and, all of the prosperity you have now, you properly invest it under the guidance of the Spirit of God, and you convert it into eternal prosperity.

If you don't have much prosperity now, it's because you're out of the Word; you're negative to the Word; you're not acting like a member of the royal family; and, you're pursuing things that are unbecoming members of the royal family, so that God cannot prosper you. In other words, you don't have the capacity to receive blessings. Then you have limited your capacity for eternal reward as well, because you don't have the capital to invest for eternity. That's the way it works on earth. Who makes money? The person who's got some capital to invest. That's who makes money, and who invests it wisely and properly. Who gains rewards and prosperity in heaven? The person who has the capital to invest, and who does invest it.

You're not going to have any capital for eternal investment until you develop it through the intake of the Word of God. That, again, is why a gathering such as this is the most important event in this learning of the Word in the life of a believer. I guarantee you, it is the one thing that is under primary satanic attack.

The conversion of earthly divine blessings into eternal rewards is how we glorify God, and how He glorifies us. The greatest exaltation you can express toward God is when you take what you have in terms of your personal prosperity, and you convert it into eternal reward. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 put it this way: "Charge them that are rich in this age (material prosperity), that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy." So, if you prospered materially, don't be a fool. And it is unbecoming a member of the royal family to play the fool – to think that you have that prosperity just because of your cleverness; your ability; or, your hard work. Oh, how people love to say, "Yes, I have become wealthy by a lot of hard work." You dummy! You couldn't have even had the brains to think if God hadn't you given you the breath to breathe, and if He hadn't given you the physical body metabolism, so that that little piece of living protoplasm inside your skull could get two thoughts straight in a row. Who gave you that capacity? It was God who brought the things together so that you could prosper. It is God who gives it to you.

So, after you have it, don't forget who gave it to you. Don't suddenly be like that fool that the Bible told us about who was going to tear down his barns and build bigger barns because he had so much. He told his soul, "Just prosper." Prosper in what? In all the stuff in his barn. That's what he was going to prosper in. And God took it away from him at the snap of His finger – just like that. You have the riches, but you don't forget where they came from.

Israel had the same problem. When they went into the Promised Land, that's exactly the thing that God dealt with in them. Moses was led by God explicitly to warn them, "As soon as you get into this land, you are going to prosper materially. Things are going to go so good for you. You are going to have things that people in all the nations around you never dreamed of having. When that happens, you are going to be tempted to forget where it came from. And you're going to get your eyes off the God who gave it to you, and you will place your confidence in what He gave you.

1 Timothy 6:18 says to those who have material things to keep their eyes on the Lord and to remember where their material things came from: "That they do good, that they be rich in good works (divine good production – that which God the Spirit works out through us), ready to distribute, willing to share." What's he talking about? He is saying that you should not be a fool to leave this world (to die) with your material possessions intact, for someone who inherits what you possess to carelessly squander it. What is God saying? If you are a member of the royal family, you will arrange to take your crown, and your jewels, and your possessions with you, because as much as possible, you have invested them in eternal reward. You are not going to leave excess for somebody else to squander, or even to enjoy. You're going to put it beyond their reach by putting it into God's hands. You're going to do it right now because you don't know what the future holds. You don't know how many days you have left. The conversion of divine blessings into eternal reward is the way we glorify God, and He us. Church believers, through positive volition to the Word, develop capacity to receive divine prosperity on earth to be used (to be invested) for eternal rewards.

Please never forget that earthly prosperity of any kind which is not invested for eternity will be left behind for others to decide what to do with it. Any prosperity left behind when you die, others will decide what to do with it, and it will be beyond your eternal blessings.

Building Bigger Barns

Luke 12:16-21 describe that condition for us: "And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, 'The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. He thought within himself saying, 'What shall I do because I have no place to bestow my crops?' He said, 'This I will do. I'll pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will bestow all my crops and my goods.''" Can you imagine? He didn't even have room – He was so wealthy. He was so prosperous that he asked himself, "What am I going to do with all this extra wealth?" Instead of investing it in the Lord's work, he built himself a bigger barn: "And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be which you have provided?' So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." You couldn't put it more explicitly. You go ahead and leave it to your heirs. Let them squander it; let them live off of it; and, let them enjoy it (beyond what legitimately should be provided for your heirs). But remember that that all is left beyond your capacity to preserve for your eternal reward. You could do it. Members of royalty are very careful how they deal with the wealth that they possess. When you die and leave it behind, it's in other peoples' hands.

Christian Royalty Maintains a Dignified Public Image

Another thing about Christian royalty is that it maintains a dignified public image. Nothing is as terrible as royalty that does not act with dignity in public. Every now and then, we read about royalty on the earthly realm (in the human sphere) that acts in a disgusting way. 1 Peter 4:15 says, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief or, as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." This is talking about conduct unbecoming royalty. What are the things that members of the royal family do not do is that they do not parade their frailties and their failures for public display.

There is a lot of encouragement among Christians to let it all hang out. I'm amazed at how many times I hear these so-called Christian psychiatrists and psychologists encouraging people to find someone that can be your friend that you can expose yourself to. Find yourself a little group.

When I was in Chicago, I was riding along in the car listening to Moody Bible Institute, and they had a program on where this was the topic of discussion. That was the whole thesis, and it was directed toward men: "Men, find someone that you can tell your personal burdens to. Find this man, and tell him: 'My wife makes the crummiest omelets. I don't know what I'm going to do about it.'" I'm sitting there listening to this, and I'm thinking, "I can't believe this." Then he said, "My wife is the kind that when she's down in the dumps, she goes out and buys a new hat. And they look like that's where they came from too – the dumps." They said, "Unload the burden of your heart to some man."

Well, maybe there are certain people that are worthy counselors. We'll get to this a little more in another point. But personal feelings that you and I have are to be taken to the Lord, first of all, who alone (through the Word of God) can resolve the problem. Unfortunately, that is generally the last place that people are pointed to. In Matthew 11:28, the Lord says, "Come unto Me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now, what do you think that means? Well, God the Holy Spirit indwells you, and you are fully capable of receiving directions and leadership from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what you're going to get. You go to Him and you say, "I have this personal problem. I have this personal failing. I have this frailty." You're not going to hear voices. But that mentality of yours is going to begin to receive input from God the Holy Spirit, and a line of thinking will be directed to you, usually upon the basis of scriptural principles, to give you the direction that you should go. Somebody will say something, and it will click. Something else will come to your attention. You may read something, and you'll think that it just so happened. It doesn't just so happen. It is God, as the result of your inquiry of the Lord, giving you the direction to help you to meet the problem that you have.

Personal failings are to be taken to the Lord. You are to maintain a dignified public image. Confession to the Father and application of the appropriate doctrine restores fallen royalty to its functioning under God the Holy Spirit. It is against God, and against Him alone, that we sin, and that we fail. And it is to Him that we go, and we explain, and that we tell where we are, and that we deal with our problems with.

Too Much Talking to Other People

Too much careless talking to people about our personal problems and the crises that we face often hinders the Lord's solution, and it creates subsequent barriers between people when the problem is resolved. Too much talking to other people can open up a can of worms like you wouldn't believe. Furthermore, very often your talking to other people creates problems for them with some of those things that you tell them. It creates difficulties in their own lives. So, you seek to maintain a position of public dignity in your personal problems and frailties. We all have them, and we deal with them privately before the Lord.

Double Blessing

The imputed absolute righteousness from God the Father and the believer's position in Christ Jesus give the members of the royal family of God the unbelievable basis for double blessing in time and eternity. Because you have the imputed absolute righteousness of God, which all the saints of all the ages have had, you have a basis of blessing, because the only thing that God blesses in us is His absolute righteousness, and what it produces. God doesn't bless your good intentions. He doesn't bless your sincere service. He doesn't even bless any aspirations or hopes or ideals that you have. He only blesses what God the Holy Spirit produces on the basis of His righteousness that He has imputed to you. God loves His own righteousness, and God prospers His own righteousness. When His righteousness is functioning in you, you are going to be prospered. That's what He loves.

But for the Christians (for the royal members), there's another thing. You are in Christ, so you not only have the blessings that all saints have always had of God blessing His own righteousness, but because you are in Christ and are His body, you now possess all that He has. Like a wife joined to her husband possesses everything that he owns, so we, joined as the bride of Christ to our groom, the Lord Jesus Christ, possess everything that He has. So, God blesses His own righteousness, and God blesses us with the possession of all that we have in Jesus Christ – all that He is.

Romans 8:17 puts it this way: "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." Because of our relationship to Jesus Christ, we possess all that He is. Christian royalty are born again into this privilege. Royalty on earth is born into the privilege of wealth and position. Christian royalty is born into the privilege of all the wealth that Jesus Christ possesses.

Now, I don't want to stop. We would spend a long time together if we were to sit and think through all that is connoted by what Jesus Christ possesses. I'll leave that up to you – to pursue that on your own. That includes all that He is; all that He possesses with the Father; all the preeminence (just think of that alone – the preeminence that Jesus Christ possesses); and, all the wealth. The Bible tells us that He can do everything through the riches of His glory. There is nothing that He does not possess. He lacks in nothing. There is nothing that we need in any respect that He doesn't already possess.

So, here is an amazing thing. Because you're a member of the nobility of God, you not only have the blessings that God gives to His own absolute righteousness (which you have had imputed to you), but everything that Jesus Christ has because you are in Christ – all of that comes to you. It doesn't come to anybody else in any other dispensation, but it's all yours. And I couldn't begin to describe to you the impact of that. This is one of the big surprises that we're all going to have in eternity, when we get out there and discover what has accrued to us simply because we have been members of the body of Christ – what has accrued to us as Christian royalty that is not true of anybody else. I assure you that you are going to be the envy of all the people in the millennium. You are going to be the epitome of human beings that have ever lived through all the centuries. The glory of Christ will be yours. Do you realize the glory that He possesses? Now that glory is yours. Do you realize the enormity of that position alone? You have double blessing in absolute righteousness and being in Christ.

If we can incorporate the few marks of Christian royalty that we mentioned, as well as a few more that we should cover before we move on, we will have enhanced our lives here in a tremendous way, and we may be able to join the battle which is raging around us in a secular, humanistic world, which is seeking not to be neutral as it claims, but seeking to undermine anything that Christian royalty have to say, because they are the only spokesmen for the living God on the face of the earth today. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us that we learn how to live with royalty; to act as royalty; and, and that we take the position of public dignity and go on the attack as royalty. If we do not live up to our status, they're going to embarrass us, and they're going to shoot us down. But if we live up to our position as royalty, we're going to be tough people for them to dismiss. They will have to listen; people will be impressed; and, the Lord will be exalted.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1982

Back to the Revelation index

Back to the Bible Questions index