To all who have read this article before, I apologize, but this post had to be revisited for my own humors sake. It should not be surprising to me that the world wants to be first and that everyone owes them their time, effort, and attention, so that "I" may not be inconvenienced by others actions. "I" might not do anything for anyone else, but "I" expect everyone to do what they can to keep my life happy and uninterupted.
Jesus taught that he who wants to be first must serve. He had to teach this because it was a revolutionary idea, completely contrary to our human way of thinking. This spiritual truth is opposed to the flesh. The point is not what must I do to lead, but that you have a leader, Jesus Christ, so serve. Suffer me and read "Cardboard Crown" and see if you like me must crucify your "rights."
When I was a child I remember going into Burger King and putting on one of the cardboard crowns. I was the burger king, but so were all of my other friends. We all had crowns so I guess that made us all kings. (even though it was of burgers) Who did we rule over? Each other, well obviously not because we all had the crowns. We ruled over nothing. We were just pretending and when we left the restaurant the crown would be either thrown away or dropped in the floor of the car to be thrown away later, all smashed and stepped on. So much for my kingdom!
Funny how people do the same thing with God and expect it to work. It is nothing new. Even as far back as Adam and Eve we see man claiming for himself the rule and reign of his own life that rightfully belongs to God. Today, everyone from the CEO to the independent three year old are making claim on their "right" to do as they please. AKA Rule their personal kingdom.
Just today, on Fox News, there was a story of a tenth grader who posted a website under the name of his high school teacher. A legal battle has begun. The teacher said his "rights" are being violated and the student said he has the "right" to post the site. Sounds an awful lot like this world is wearing their own cardboard crowns expecting everyone to bow to their personal authority. Just one problem, if everyone is in charge than no one is in charge. That however is not the case. It is only a view utterly the product of sin's distortion of reality. There is one who is sovereign, when GOD says it, it will happen.
Taking a look again at Genesis we see a common theme among man. Sin. Though in many forms, are all related in a disobedience to the authority of the soveriegn God and dependence on His word, instead struggling to aquire for ouselves independence.
In a book entitled Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands Paul Tripp brings this point to life. He writes,
This rebel spirit affects the way we approach difficulty and blessing. Independence, self-sufficiency, and self-absorption lead us to think of ourselves first and to climb over fences between ourselves and our desires. We want control and hate being controlled. We want to make up the rules and change them whenever it suits us. Essentially we want to be God, ruling our worlds according to our own will. No matter what else we are rebelling against, our rebellion is ultimately directed at God. We refuse to recognize his authority, robbing him of his glory and usurping his right to rule."
Tripp also brings to light a portion of Genesis chapter one. Read there and you will see the need of man for the word of God. After being created as perfect individuals in a perfect relationship with God Adam and Eve still could not figure life out on there own. They had no direction until, "God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:27) God had to tell them the purpose of life and what they were to do. Adam and Eve, even though they were perfect, were created to be dependent on the word of God. Tripp writes, "They did not need this help because they were sinners. They needed help because they were human." This shows that man is dependent and in need of direction, even before the fall. We were created to receive the word of God.
Now look at Genesis three. Here we see Eve entertaining the deceptions of the serpant. The serpant has taken the word of God and has questioned its authority. "Has God indeed said...?" Then he completely denies it, "You will not surely die." Then Eve began to think and, "when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate." Don't miss the signifigance of what Eve just did! When the women saw, not with her eyes, but when she, considered, thought, decided, then she acted on her own authority. Eve traded her God given gift of dependence on the Soveriegn of the Universe for a burger king kids toy, her very own cardboard crown. Then she gave some to her husband and he picked up his very own cardboard crown fit just for him.
Follow through the rest of the book and you will see, Cain, Lamech, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gommorah, the list goes on and on, each proclaiming the struggle of man to wear the crown and God refusing to allow his glory to be given to another.
This is man's failed attempt at claiming the story for himself. Sin affects us all, no one is exempt. Where in your life are you still touting your cardboard crown. Might I remind you, in the end it will be stepped on, ripped up, and thrown away. You were created to be dependent, independence from God is sin. Remove your cardboard crown, the time of pretending is over. Live the truth.
I leave you with a final illustration from Paul Tripp's book refelcting upon his days as a kindergarten teacher.
One Monday afternoon, the mother of one of my novice academics asked if she could have a birthday party for her daughter in the classroom on the following Friday. The day came, and after the mother's frenetic preparation, we all entered the room. She had turned our little classroom into a birthday kingdom! The walls and table were lavishly decorated; multi-colored streamers hung from the ceiling, and a balloon within a balloon was tied to the back of each chair. At each seat was a ribbon-tied
cellophane bag of party favors. the only exception was the birthday girl, who was surrounded by a huge pile of beautifully wrapped gifts.
At the far end of the table sat Johnny. Johnny kept doing the same thing over and over. He would look at his little bag of party favors, then at the birthday girl's mountain of gifts, fold his arms, stick out his lower lip, and let out an audible humph! Each time the look on his face got a little more ugly and his humphing more audible. Before long he had become the center of attention and was well on his way to spoiling the party. Then one of the mothers walked over and knelt beside him. She turned his chair so that Johnny was looking directly into her face, and she spoke these profound words: "Johnny, it's not your party!"
Here is a great example.
The first trash can had trash in it. This one doesn't. The difference? Someone emptied it and put a new liner in it. It doesn't matter if you were supposed to be the one to do it. If it needs to be done and you see that it needs to be done then do it without griping, without making sure that the one who failed to do a task knows that "I did it for you." Our role is to lift others up and to stand in the gap when they fail, because one day, believe it or not, they will have to do it for you. The moral of the story, serve with all your heart because God is watching and His opinion matters most!
