Despot or Good Lord

In this series, we’re talking about what it means to say “Jesus is Lord.”

And as Pastor Fumi talked about last week, those words may seem so self-explanatory, you might think “Why waste the time?” But how often do we lose sight of what those words actually mean?

For example, has it ever occurred to you that two words that should never go together are, “No, Lord.” After all, if Jesus is really your Lord, how can you then say “no” to him?

But oftentimes, we do take the word “Lord” far too lightly. It becomes just a title to us. Something that has little practical meaning in our everyday lives. But the truth is, the word “Lord” implies something important: He’s our rightful King. And as such, we are to submit to him in everything.

That said, if we’re not careful, that can become not a joyful thought, but a burdensome one. I remember when I was a college student, my best friend read a famous book about the “gospel according to Jesus.” And it really stressed Jesus’ lordship in our lives. But whether it was because the book wasn’t balanced or my friend misunderstood it, for a while, he found it really burdensome trying to live that way. Now, to this day, he loves God, and I can confidently say Jesus is his Lord. But he had to find a balance in what that looks like.

I believe finding that balance hinges on one crucial question: What kind of Lord, what kind of King is he? How do you see him? That’s what I want us to think about today as we look at his Word. Let’s take a look at Acts 4.

Just to give some background on what’s happening in this passage, not long after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, two of his disciples, Peter and John were going to the temple in Jerusalem. And as they entered the gates, they met a beggar there who had been lame since birth. But instead of giving him money, they healed him in the name of Jesus. And when a crowd gathered to see what had happened, they started preaching Jesus and the gospel.

Of course, when the religious leaders who were responsible for crucifying Jesus saw this, they weren’t happy about this at all. They had thought they had finally gotten rid of Jesus. But now his disciples were out proclaiming Jesus was alive and healing people in his name. Still, they couldn’t deny the miracle, so they strictly warned Peter and John never to speak in the name of Jesus again.

Look at how the apostles prayed in response to these threats. Verse 24.

Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— (Acts 4:24-26)

I want you to notice what these Christians called God here. They prayed, “Sovereign Lord.” The word they use here is very unique in the New Testament. It’s only used a few times in reference to God and Jesus. As Pastor Fumi pointed out last week, the usual Greek word for “Lord” in the New Testament is “kyrios.” But here, it’s the word “despotes.”

Now if you’re like most people here in Japan, that probably won’t mean much to you. But if you know English well, that word will probably catch your eye. It’s where we get our English word “despot” from. What’s a despot? Well, in English, it has a very negative meaning. It has the idea of a tyrannical dictator who rules very harshly and abusively.

But when the Christians used “despotes” of God and Jesus in the New Testament, there was no such negative connotation. That said, “despotes” did emphasize the idea of someone who had the right and power to command. Why does God have that right and power? Because he is the Creator of all things. And as his creation, we are answerable to him.

But many people don’t want to accept that. As the disciples noted in their prayer, people instead rebel against God and his Anointed One. Another word for “Anointed One” is “Messiah” and it means the one God chose to be our King, namely Jesus. And the Jewish leaders with the Romans’ help crucified their King.

Even today, many people in our world rebel against their rightful King. Think about it. If you tell people Jesus is a Savior, they may not believe it, but most probably won’t get too upset with you for saying that. If you say he’s a good teacher, a great religious leader, many can even accept that. But if you were to say, “Jesus is your rightful King, and it is only right and good that you submit to him,” how do you think most of your friends and family would respond? “No way!”

The Christians were quoting King David in Psalm 2 as they were praying. And if you read Psalm 2, you see the attitude of many people today. They say, “let us tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us. God is binding us up. God is trying to control us. God is trying to make us miserable. We need to be free of him!” (Psalm 2:3)

That was the lie that Satan told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. “God isn’t good. God’s lying to you. God’s trying to keep something good from you.”

But is that how the Christians saw God? Is that how they saw Jesus? As a despot? As someone they needed to be free from? No. They rejoiced in the fact that God was their King. They saw God as the life-giver. And their greatest desire was that more people would be set free from slavery in Satan’s kingdom and find life and freedom in God’s Kingdom. So when the religious leaders threatened them, they said, “No, God is our good ‘despotes.’ And we must obey him rather than you.”

So in the rest of this prayer, they asked their “despotes” to give them boldness to keep speaking and to heal and perform miracles through the name of Jesus. The result? God shook that place, filled them with the Holy Spirit and empowered them to keep doing his Kingdom work.

Question: How do you see your “despotes”? Are you like these Christians in Acts, seeing him as a good Lord who loves you and gives you life? Or do you see him as a despot? As someone whose chains and ropes you need to shake free from?

We’ve been talking a lot over the past year about what the gospel is. The word “gospel” means “good news”. What’s the good news? There is a new King. And his Kingdom has already started.

But that is only good news if you believe one important thing: That the King himself is good. If you don’t believe this King is good, you won’t believe his coming is good news. And so I have to imagine that Jesus’ disciples spent a lot of time letting people know just what kind of King, what kind of “despotes”Jesus is. What kind of King is he? And what should our attitude toward him be?

I think there’s a psalm that answers that question, and I want to spend the rest of our time there. Let’s take a look at Psalm 100.

This is just my interpretation, but I call Psalm 100 a Kingdom psalm, a gospel psalm. Because I can easily imagine Jesus and his apostles proclaiming this psalm as they preached the gospel.

So let’s try this: let’s read it together out loud. First in English then in Japanese. But don’t read it monotone like some of my English students reading their textbooks. Read it like you mean it. Especially if you’re a Christian. Think about someone you love who you want to tell about Jesus. And read it as if you’re trying to convince them to follow your King.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5)

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord!” I like the Japanese here: “Turn to the Lord. And as you do, shout with joy!” Why? Because our good King has come.”

And then, “Come serve your King, worship him with gladness. Don’t come with a heart that feels like your King is binding you up in slavery. Don’t come feeling like you’d rather throw his chains off of you so that you can be ‘free’ of him. Come with gladness. Serve your King with a glad heart.”

“Come into his presence with singing. Not with fear. Not shaking in your shoes because you’re afraid he’s looking to bash you for any mistake or failure you make. But with a heart that sings as you see his face.”

“And as you look upon him, know that he is God. The only God. Your good Creator. He made you. You are his. You are people he cares for dearly like a shepherd cares for his sheep.

“So enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Don’t deliberately stay outside the Kingdom in rebellion against your King. And don’t feel like you have to come in on your hands and knees begging him to accept you. Enter in! You’re invited. He wants you to come in.”

You know the interesting thing about this psalm is that it was written at a time when the temple was closed off to all non-Jews. When they could come only to a certain point in the temple but no further, or they would be killed. For that matter, only the Jews could really be called God’s people at that time. Only they were called God’s sheep. And yet, incredibly, the psalmist is telling this whole world, “Enter in! You’re welcome! Not as a prisoner. Not as a slave. But as the beloved people of the King.”

It’s almost as if the psalmist were looking at a time past the cross, reading something the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2. Take a look starting at verse 12.

…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ…For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… (Ephesians 2:12-13, 18-19)

That’s the kind of thing the psalmist is talking about. All the people of the world being invited to join God’s Kingdom. “Enter in! Come in with a heart of thanksgiving. Bless his name.”

And then comes the key part. Why should we accept this invitation to the Kingdom? Why should we rejoice in the fact that God created us and we are rightfully his? Why should we serve him gladly? Why should we turn to him, shouting with joy on seeing him instead of running in terror?

Because he’s good. His steadfast love endures forever. And his faithfulness to all generations.

Ultimately, that’s the point isn’t it? If God is not good, if God is not loving, if God is not trustworthy, is it really good news that the King has come and his Kingdom has started? No. So the question is, “What do you believe?”

One of the things Jesus and his disciples did was reshape how people saw God. Through their ministry, people came to see that God is good, that he is loving, and that he is faithful. And that’s what drew people in. How about you? How do you see your Lord?

Let’s try a little experiment together. Hide and I are going to say some things based on Psalm 100. As we do, say it with us. I want you to taste them in your mouth. See if you can really say it with your whole heart. Even if you’re not a Christian, try it. Taste them in your mouth too. And see the kind of King we follow.

Jesus, I rejoice in you!

I serve you gladly.

You are my God.

You made me.

I am yours. My body is yours. My life is yours.

Everything I have, everything I am is yours.

I gladly accept your invitation into your Kingdom.

I embrace your Kingship in my life.

For you are good.

Your love for me never wavers.

And you are utterly faithful to me.

How was it? Could you say all of that without any hesitation? Or were the areas where you said, “I don’t know.”

I’m not asking if you live these things perfectly. None of us do. One thing I’m wrestling with is “My body is yours.” I was diagnosed with diabetes about 15 years ago, and so ever since then, I’ve had to change my lifestyle. I stopped drinking Pepsi, eating chocolate bars, and I cut down drastically on other sweets. I started walking regularly, and eventually started running. The big problem is I hate all these changes. Especially running. A lot of times when I’m running, I’m literally saying, “I hate running!”

And then recently, despite all this, my diabetes numbers have gone up higher than usual. So I’m having to re-evaluate even more what I eat. And there are times God says to me, “Are you sure you should be eating that?” Recently, I was eating a Big Mac at church, and someone from the morning service said, “Say, how are your diabetes numbers recently?” “Um, well…”

It made me wonder, “God, was that you?”

This isn’t my body. Jesus is Lord of it. At least he should be. So I’m working out what that means for my diet. It might mean I can only eat my beloved Big Macs once every two months instead of once a month. It might mean cutting them out altogether. I’m still praying about it. It may seem a small thing to you, but after all the things I’ve given up already, I’m reluctant.

But the key for me is those last three sentences we said together. “You are good. You love me deeply. You are faithful.” I do believe that. So hard as it is, I’m looking to submit to him in this area. How about you? Can you say those things from your heart?

It’s going to be hard to say everything on that list if you can’t say those last three things from your heart. Just as importantly, it’s going to be difficult to share the gospel with others, to tell them there is a new King and to encourage them to embrace him if you don’t believe these things in your heart of hearts.

Failing to believe those things is what broke this world in the first place. The first people God created, Adam and Eve, chose to believe God was not good, that he was not loving, that he was holding something good back from them. And it led to their rebellion. It caused them to walk away from God, at least for a time.

But like I said a few weeks ago, life apart from the Source of life is not life. It’s death. That’s why we see all the evil in the world today. We’re living in a world where most people are trying to live their lives apart from the one true God.

But the fact that this world is so broken now is what makes the gospel such good news. The King has come to heal this broken world. He died on a cross so that your sins, your rebellion against him could be forgiven. And now he is risen from the dead and he invites you into his Kingdom. There is only one requirement: Embrace your good King. That’s what repentance is: Embracing your good King. Saying from your heart, “Jesus is Lord. Jesus, I acknowledge you as the rightful King of this world and my life. I embrace you as my Lord.”

I will admit that to do that requires a step of faith. All I can say is “Taste and see that he is good. Put your trust in him. Learn to follow and obey him, little by little, step by step, and you will come to see that he is indeed good.”

Some of you might say, “But Bruce, I did try. And things just didn’t work out for me.”

Can I make a gentle suggestion? Maybe, just maybe, you bailed out a little too early. You see, the Christian life is not a sprint. It’s not even a marathon. It’s a life-long journey. It will have its ups and downs. I’ve had them. But I can tell you from almost 50 years of experience, the longer you trust and follow him, the more you will see that he is indeed good.

The good news is that God doesn’t wait for us to be perfect before he accepts us. His grace is greater than our failures even in our own faith. All he asks is for us to keep taking that one step further with him. Step by step. Inch by inch. Millimeter by millimeter. Will you?

What areas are you struggling to bring under his Lordship? Bring them to God. Ask him, “Search me and know my heart. Help me to believe these things we read on that list and to live them.” And I believe he will. Let’s do that now. Take a minute to let God search your heart and then let’s pray.