“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”10.12.13
― Fran Lebowitz,
That's My King - Dr. S.M. Lockridge
Alexander the Great was true to his title, a conqueror.
Queen Elizabeth I was commendable, and admirable.
Charlemagne was commanding, and powerful.
Caesar Augustus was influential and authoritative.
Albert Einstein was a genius.
Christopher Columbus was fearless.
Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler were mighty dictators.
Isaac Newton brought understanding and meaning to the scientific world.
Abraham
Lincoln. Plato. Aristotle. Thomas Edison. Joan of Arc. Napoleon
Bonaparte. Mother Teresa. John F. Kennedy. Martin Luther. Winston
Churchill. Charles Darwin. C.S. Lewis. Florence Nightingale. Marie
Curie. Stephen Hawking. Ludwig Beethoven. Muhammad. William Shakespeare.
Benjamin Franklin. Bill Gates. Steve Jobs. Leonardo da Vinci.
I've
heard many words to describe people like those, whether they were good
or evil. Powerful, influential, intelligent, courageous, significant,
dominant, ruling, leading, prominent, sacrificing, and world-changing
are just a few.
When
it comes right down to it, though, there are many words, names, and
titles that none of those people have ever completely lived up to, nor
fulfilled. A couple include: Sovereign. Invincible. Immortal. Perfect.
All-knowing. Righteous. Forgiving. Omnipotent. Limitless. Eternal.
Impartial. Greatest. Saviour. Unparalleled. Fundamental. All-worthy.
All-sufficient. Healing. Cleansing. Deliverer. Servant. Beautifier.
Wellspring. Everlasting. Never-changing. Sufficient. Indescribable.
Incomprehensible. Irresistible. Unstoppable. Uncontainable. Divine. Holy.
That's
not only a list that has so far never been fulfilled by anyone other
than Jesus, but it never will be fulfilled, nor can it! Since The Fall
of Man, we have been idolizing things, we've been elevating money, we've
been raising people much higher than they should be raised. Ask
anybody, and they are bound to have a favourite celebrity. Actors,
musicians, models, authors, people who are famous are destined to have
worshippers. Everyone on this planet has, or has had at one point, a
king; something or someone in their lives that they followed.
I've
had many different kings: My parents. My teachers. My peers. My dog. My
computer. My ambitions. My money. My talents. Myself. The list goes on
and on. There's been probably thousands of times in my life where I have
crowned an earthly thing or person as ruler over God. In reality,
nothing has ever been higher than God, but in my sinful, wicked mind,
every time I've sinned was a time when God became second best.
Kings are supposed to be influential, powerful, and strong. Good kings should be sacrificial, loving, and courageous. Never, in the history of the world has there ever been a ruler of any sort to completely fit all the criteria needed for the perfect king
. . . except once. You know what I'm talking about. He surpassed every
body's standards! He impacted his subjects thousands of years before He
walked this earth, and he still is changing their lives today, two
thousand and thirteen years after He walked this earth! He was and is the greatest King there every has been, and ever will be.
According
to statistics, only about 10% of the world has acknowledged that. The
rest of the world, including that 10% are serving fellow subjects to
that One Holy King. They are serving material things that are here
today, but will be gone tomorrow! They are serving food, the mirror,
their cars, their homes, and their countries. They are serving people
like Justin Bieber, One Direction, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Johnny
Depp, Leo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and Zac Efron. Maybe
they're even serving TobyMac, Chris Tomlin, Brian Doerksen, Hillsong,
Skillet, Tim Hughes, and Michael W. Smith. Point is, whether the item
being worshipped is considered "Christian," "healthy," "helpful," or
not, why is it taking the place of Number One away from the Only One who
actually deserves it?
I
love listening to this speech by Dr. S.M. Lockridge. It's so powerful.
It's a reminder to me, and hopefully the rest of the world, of the Only
One who commands our worship forever. These temporary role models we've
given ourselves- we may outlive them! They are not invincible! If
they're famous, you can guarantee that every mistake they make is
amplified by the hungry media feeding frenzy that's always watching.
People don't seem to care about the faults their role models show, they
ignore thinking, "Ah well, they're only human."
That. Is. Precisely. My point. They are only human! I'm
just as guilty of praising fellow humans as the next person, but I'm
learning more and more everyday how pointless that is. "That's My King"
is a pledge that I hope I can honestly say. Every word of it is true,
but I hope that, when I say it with my own lips, it will truly be from
my heart, not just a stating of the facts. The most powerful Person in
history and the future, the King who MAKES all kings, the One who
invented time- That's MY King!
I
want to wear the mark of Christianity, and wear it high and proudly for
all to see. I want the aroma of Christ to be evident on me, and
pleasant to all who I meet, that they will join me, I'm on the winning
side! In history, knights and soldiers would boast of their kings
accomplishments- they better the king, the braver his armies, the bolder
their actions. The more famous and powerful the king, the more the
opposing nation trembled in fright. Our King is unstoppable, so we are
unstoppable! There is nothing to fear anymore. We have nothing to lose,
only everything to gain, thanks to Him.
THAT'S MY KING!
Psalm 77:13 ~
Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?
11.11.13
Alexander the Great was undoubtedly a great hero, not to
mention the king of Macedon in the 300s B.C. Though he was a young leader, his
encouraging, heartening words to his followers motivated all to stand firm and
fight hard. This particular dialect comes from Alexander’s pep talk to his
soldiers. He had begun his campaign to recapture the former Greek cities and to
expand his empire. They were unanimously undefeated, and Alexander the Great
had gained control over a massive empire that extended from Greece to Egypt,
and basically what had once been the Persian Empire.
Why settle for
‘enough?’ It didn’t stop there. Though he had in his possession so much, he
decided to go even further. For years and years the battles raged on, and
Alexander and his men pulled through, victorious. At the last leg of the race,
however, when so much had been accomplished and the pièce de résistance that lay before them included an intimidating
encounter with the dread King Porus, and his army.
As a young lad,
Alexander had trained under the influence of the renowned Aristotle. From him,
Alexander acquired his knack at motivating oration, and did not let his
teaching go to waste at such a precarious moment such as this.
I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?
He first addresses his followers
as gentlemen. Whether there is any
significance to the greeting or whether there isn’t, is unknown, but do
remember that these men have been fighting for almost twenty years. These
brutal warriors are tired. They are homesick. Their original burst of
adrenaline and purpose (or, as Alexander describes it, their ‘old spirit,’) has
faded away with time. They’ve proved victorious again and again, but are
feeling unwilling to go the final distance. What may have been good for
Alexander, going the extra five miles, was not good for his men, who were
satisfied with conquering the former Persian Empire.
The admirable
method Alexander attacks this pep rally, is with a straightforward question:
“Are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?” He
doesn’t fail to point out whose advice is whose. This would have brought the
army of men to think about the times that their fearless leader had failed
them. It must have been hard to come up with an example of a time which would
prove that their advice is more trustworthy than Alexander the Great’s. In just
one question, all notions of turning back and giving up are beginning to fall.
One key way to turn an audience to one’s message is to question the opinion
that must be changed… at the beginning.
If you have any complaint to make about the results of your efforts hitherto, or about myself as your commander, there is no more to say. But let me remind you: through your courage and endurance you have gained possession of Ionia, the Hellespont, both Phrygias, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Phoenicia, and Egypt; the Greek part of Libya is now yours, together with much of Arabia, lowland Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Susia; Persia and Media with all the territories either formerly controlled by them or not are in your hands; you have made yourselves masters of the lands beyond the Caspian Gates, beyond the Caucasus, beyond the Tanais, of Bactria, Hyrcania, and the Hyrcanian sea; we have driven the Scythians back into the desert; and Indus and Hydaspes, Acesines and Hydraotes flow now through country which is ours. With all that accomplished, why do you hesitate to extend the power of Macedon--your power--to the Hyphasis and the tribes on the other side ? Are you afraid that a few natives who may still be left will offer opposition? Come, come! These natives either surrender without a blow or are caught on the run--or leave their country undefended for your taking; and when we take it, we make a present of it to those who have joined us of their own free will and fight on our side.
A relatable concept takes shape as
he addresses the reason for the men’s unease: grumbling. An issue that’s been
ever-present since the dawn of time is the issue of man’s proneness to protest.
No one is exempt, it’s a universal issue! The human mind is quick to ignore its
blessings, and even quicker to complain. A simple reminder from Alexander would
bring back the heroic, noble, chivalrous dealings that the men had experienced
as they marched through the land, conquering nation after nation. The
substantiality of the list is enough to turn up any person’s chin! With
memories of dangerous battles and triumphant victories, the men would have felt
their thirst for war and battle course once more through their veins. With all
that to boast about on their rap sheet, does this upcoming skirmish even pale
in comparison? Perhaps similar thoughts were murmured through the crowd that
day. “Don’t you remember how hard it was when we were over in Lybia? I think we
definitely proved ourselves that day.”
So, why, Alexander pleads with his once
energetic, eager gentlemen, why
settle for second best, when the ultimate prize is just around the corner? The
options, through probably drastically euphemized, were blunt and honest. When
persuading someone, as Alexander knew, to get into details is not the way to
win the case. The most basic of the most basic principle is presented: “These
natives either surrender without a blow or are caught on the run.” The rewards
of pressing on suddenly seem tantalizingly alluring. The men’s forgotten hunger
for power is reignited.
For a man who is a man, work, in my belief, if it is directed to noble ends, has no object beyond itself; none the less, if any of you wish to know what limit may be set to this particular camapaign, let me tell you that the area of country still ahead of us, from here to the Ganges and the Eastern ocean, is comparatively small. You will undoubtedly find that this ocean is connected with the Hyrcanian Sea, for the great Stream of Ocean encircles the earth. Moreover I shall prove to you, my friends, that the Indian and Persian Gulfs and the Hyrcanian Sea are all three connected and continuous. Our ships will sail round from the Persian Gulf to Libya as far as the Pillars of Hercules, whence all Libya to the eastward will soon be ours, and all Asia too, and to this empire there will be no boundaries but what God Himself has made for the whole world.
Most of
his next words are somewhat meaningless to the modern day person, but were
really staggeringly impressive. Who could refuse? The good chance that the
boundaries of their empire would be only those that God has set in place for
the whole world? Alexander chose his
words cleverly. It is so much more effective to say that their empire will have
no boundaries, than to say that their empire will be very great. In tone, in
hyperbolical intentions, in intended mental imagery… imagine the prospect of
having a seemingly infinitive, boundless realm! The passion for control and
supremacy, no doubt, was at this point dripping from their very mouths. The
questions they would be asking themselves would follow along the lines of, “And
we thought it would be fine just to waltz on home with just that? Pathetic!” Alexander showed them
what they would be missing out on, and showed them how it made their present
accomplishment seem so diminutive.
But if you turn back now, there will remain unconquered many warlike peoples between the Hyphasis and the Eastern Ocean, and many more to the northward and the Hyrcanian Sea, with the Scythians, too, not far away; so that if we withdraw now there is a danger that the territory which we do not yet securely hold may be stirred to revolt by some nation or other we have not yet forced into submission. Should that happen, all that we have done and suffered will have proved fruitless--or we shall be faced with the task of doing it over again from the beginning. Gentlemen of Macedon, and you, my friends and allies, this must not be. Stand firm; for well you know that hardship and danger are the price of glory, and that sweet is the savour of a life of courage and of deathless renown beyond the grave.
Returning to their once roaming
whiney thoughts, Alexander reiterates them in a way that would, for once and
for all, remove them from the hearts and minds of the now vigorous soldiers.
Their once appealing thoughts of returning home safe and sound now seem like
trash, when the other consequences of those actions are brought forth. “There
will remain unconquered many warlike peoples between the Hyphasis and the
Eastern Ocean, and many more . . . . so that if we withdraw now there is a
danger in the territory which we do not yet securely hold may be stirred to
revolt by some nation or other we have not yet forced into submission. Should that happen, all that we have done
and suffered will have proved fruitless—
or we shall be faced with the task of doing it over again from the
beginning.” None of the options above seem pleasing, any longer.
Are you not aware that if Heracles, my ancestor, had gone no further than Tiryns or Argos--or even than the Peloponnese or Thebes--he could never have won the glory which changed him from a man into a god, actual or apparent? Even Dionysus, who is a god indeed, in a sense beyond what is applicable to Heracles, faced not a few laborious tasks; yet we have done more: we have passed beyond Nysa and we have taken the rock of Aornos which Heracles himself could not take. Come, then; add the rest of Asia to what you already possess--a small addition to the great sum of your conquests. What great or noble work could we ourselves have achieved had we thought it enough, living at ease in Macedon, merely to guard our homes, accepting no burden beyond checking the encroachment of the Thracians on our borders, or the Illyrians and Triballians, or perhaps such Greeks as might prove a menace to our comfort ?
To even further cement his cause
into the brains of his men, he brings forth Heracles, a famous champion and
hero of old. The part of the story that is forgotten in the wave of glory and
triumph is the hardship and struggle involved in getting to that point. Any man would aspire to live like Heracles, or
someone like him, even Alexander the Great. Raising the bar even higher, he mentions other mythical gods,
declares how their stories included not just a few “laborious tasks; yet we have done more”! If the speech
hadn’t been inspirational before, it now surpassed inspirational. Motivated,
encouraged, stimulated, heartened, and persuaded to carry on, they are on the
top of the world! They have done what not even the gods had done before. What
was to fear? As a plus, he even stuck a moment of sarcasm into the mix, when he
questioned that perhaps their reluctance to go fight was because they wanted
their comfort. No man likes to be called a wimp. If none had been listening
before, they would have been now, alert and ready to prove wrong any more jabs
at their manliness.
I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labour and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you; from your ranks the governors of it are chosen; already the greater part of its treasure passes into your hands, and when all Asia is overrun, then indeed I will go further than the mere satisfaction of our ambitions: the utmost hopes of riches or power which each one of you cherishes will be far surpassed, and whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go, either with me or without me. I will make those who stay the envy of those who return.
The last challenge. Their previous
gripes against their commander are covered up, and they must be ashamed that
they even dared think such things. For, who gave them the victories? Who stood
by their side? It was not as though Alexander was commanding them to march into
battle, without having any understanding of what they had been though- he had the
most right to turn around and rest at home than anyone else! He shared in their
exhausting marches, the labour, the danger, and now he will share the reward.
That’s right, he will share the
reward. Never was it stated that these men would risk their lives for nothing. With
imposing, remarkable phrases such as “utmost hopes of riches,” and going
“further than mere satisfaction,” he exceeds even that, by the promise that even those dreams will be far
surpassed.
“Whoever wishes
to return home will be allowed to go.” As if! The choice is still theirs, but
it is a no-brainer. They have so little to lose, but so much to gain, why not
go for the gold? “I will make those who stay the envy of those who return.”
It’s an incredibly impacting clincher. The possibility of being even less
satisfied than before if they choose to leave has been voiced. That is the last
thing anybody wants.
The challenge
is clear even to modern day society. Everyone is given the choice to follow
Christ, or to stay comfortable where they are at. Satisfaction is not enough,
why settle for second-best when the ultimate, dream-surpassing reward is within
arm’s reach? When this speech is read from that perspective, omitting the
specific details concerning lands and territories that have been conquered, it
is quite persuasive. There is nothing to lose, only everything to gain.
Luke
9:24-25 ~ For
whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world
and loses or forfeits himself?
“He is no
fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot
