{"id":78081,"date":"2019-05-10T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/us\/?p=78081"},"modified":"2019-05-08T09:31:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T14:31:53","slug":"the-answer-to-all-our-fears-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.banneroftruth.org\/us\/resources\/articles\/2019\/the-answer-to-all-our-fears-and-so-much-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The Answer to All Our Fears – And So Much More"},"content":{"rendered":"

What makes you afraid? Isn\u2019t it the sense that you are not in control? You cannot determine the outcome of an important election. Or manage the economy. Or keep politicians from making horribly bad decisions. Or guarantee your health. Or prevent terrorist attacks. Or be with your children 24\/7 to make sure they\u2019re always safe. The result? Fear.<\/p>\n

Let me talk to you for a little about the supreme antidote to such fear. It lies in a person. Someone who is <\/em>in control. Of all<\/em> things. Jesus, God\u2019s Son.<\/p>\n

In his letter to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, the Apostle Paul vividly pictures Jesus\u2019 enthronement in heaven. It is the magnificent sequel to the self-humbling and sufferings of his life on earth. God ‘raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand\u2026far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body. . .’ (Ch.1.20-23).<\/p>\n

Six words to help us think through this kingship of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Law:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0In this ever-changing world of ours it seems that all the old moral guideposts are being removed. What was once right or wrong is apparently no longer so. There is an unchanging law, however, by which King Jesus would have us live. It is none other than the ancient law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments. Live by that law and you really are living the right way.<\/p>\n

Love:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Love and law don\u2019t always go together. But they do under Jesus\u2019 rule. For one thing, love sums it all up. If we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love our neighbour as ourselves we have kept the whole of what our divine King requires of us. Or to approach it from another angle, the King\u2019s law shows us what love looks like. I learn what it is to love God and my fellow men as I listen to what the law tells me. To what it enjoins. To what it forbids.<\/p>\n

Liberty:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0If love and law don\u2019t always go together, neither do liberty and law. But again, they do so under Jesus\u2019 rule. Freedom never flourishes more fully than in a society that seeks to order itself in accordance with his laws \u2013 freedom of speech, freedom from tyranny, freedom of conscience, freedom to worship God as he has commanded, freedom to live the most fruitful and fulfilling of lives.<\/p>\n

Life:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Under Jesus\u2019 rule, life is robbed of nothing that makes it worth living. On the contrary, as we cease from our rebellion and become his loyal and loving subjects we enter into a richness of life obtainable in no other way. Would you know the answer to your guilt, your fears, your emptiness, your slavery to sin? Put yourself unreservedly in his hands!<\/p>\n

Purpose:<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>Jesus is working toward a glorious end. The saving of a people for himself from every part of the globe. The final defeat of evil. The creation of a world where righteousness and love hold sway. And in and through it all, the hallowing of God\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Power:<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>But can he do it? Yes he can, for all authority in heaven and on earth is his. He has power to change our hearts and lives. Power to make all things work together for our good. Power to banish all wickedness and death from this world. Power to make all things new.<\/p>\n

A hymn of Charles Wesley begins, ‘Rejoice, the Lord is King’. In the light of all the above, that word ‘rejoice’ is as fitting as it gets.<\/p>\n

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This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of North Preston Evangelical Church.<\/p>\n

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Of Further Interest<\/h3>\n