Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Most certainly our lord King David has made Solomon king. The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. Also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed. Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’” All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way. Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar. Solomon was told, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon; for, behold, he is hanging onto the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’””
(1 Kings 1:43-51)

“So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants and stewards of God’s mysteries. Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don’t even judge my own self. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.”
(1 Corinthians 4:1-5)

Adonijah had decided he was best for next king. His father David was getting old and David had spoiled him. Who could be better for king than himself? So he set about making it happen. He did all the honouring motions and celebratory things. He just did it on his own. He didn’t ask his father. He didn’t do it in the open. He kind of snuck around the whole proper succession thing and tried to make it happen. But when news got to the king, David made sure things happened how HE wanted. And there was nothing Adonijah could do about it but beg for mercy from the new king – his half-brother. Adonijah’s attempt to MAKE something happen failed spectacularly.

Paul was an apostle. Sent by Jesus to teach and preach. Paul started churches all over the world that he knew. He was limited by nothing but what the Lord instructed him to do. Yet people were still picking up camps. Choosing this emissary of the Lord over that one. Paul pointed out that they were ALL going to be judged by the Lord. Their hidden motives would come to light and they would be rewarded or not. Choosing camps was pointless. It was Jesus who was the centre of everything. Jesus who WAS the head of the church. JESUS was the thing. Not Paul, not Apollos, and not whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. They were to be judged by Jesus so Jesus should always be the one directing what they did, be the centre of their teaching, and the model by which they should order their lives.

Summary

People are not our example. JESUS is our example. That means we should be humbly submitting to Jesus. Not to the doctrine of a particular person or denomination. There’s nothing wrong with being part of a denomination. There’s nothing wrong with appreciating the work and getting spiritually fed from a particular person. But all of that should also be pointing us to Jesus – the author and finisher of our trust in God (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus is who we are to be connected to (John 15:5). Jesus is our example in all things (1 Peter 2:21-25). It is in HIM that we function, so it is HE who we should submit to and obey – and when we are operating in love toward Jesus, we’ll find ourselves obeying Him out of that love (John 14:15). When we find ourselves doing our own thing, we’ve moved out of that love and need to get back. It is in obedience that we know we are choosing God over ourselves (Romans 14:23).