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Pastor Jay's Blog

Treating Others As Royalty

 

Sometimes it is not a book or a chapter or a paragraph that really nails you, it is the single sentence. A solitary quote can do you more good than a whole section. I encountered one of those the other day. It has been resonating in my mind. Usually, it is there convicting me of how poorly I measure up. But at the same time, I see the hope that it holds out. This is the quote by Ray Ortland:

“The kind of God we really believe in is revealed in how we treat one another. The lovely gospel of Jesus positions us to treat one another like royalty, and every non-gospel positions us to treat one another like dirt. But we will follow through horizontally on whatever we believe vertically.”

Man, that stings. Treating one another like royalty is far from how I treat others. But the sting is one that acts like antiseptic, burning out what is unhealthy and making way for healing to begin. And the healing is the hope that I spoke of above. That hope is that I am still not really seeing all the glory and riches and power that are available to me in the gospel truth that Christ is mine and I am His.

So, for my sake and for yours, I wanted to try to think through ways the gospel “positions us to treat one another like royalty.”

1) As normal as fellow Christians look and as irritating as they can be, by the gospel they are heirs of the king (Rom. 8:17). As C.S. Lewis said, “The dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” There are glorious things that are happening and will happen in these normal believers and I should treat them accordingly.

2) The gospel makes me into a servant because the gospel frees me to love people as myself. I can do what is best for them because I know God is doing what is best for me. I don’t have to focus on loving myself, because God will love me better than I ever could.

3) My service for people is empowered by the very Spirit of God who indwells me because of the gospel. He supplies me with love and energy to serve needy people. I don’t have to fear being drained because God is an ever-giving fountain of sufficiency.

4) The gospel promises me that even as I give to others, I am storing up treasure for myself in heaven. This frees me to be as generous as I dare to be. It is good news that my present giving will become future getting. This allows me to give to people as though they are kings and queens.

5) By the gospel, Jesus has so identified with his people (Matt. 25:31-46), that as I serve them, I am actually serving Him.

6) The gospel frees me to consider people as more important than myself (Phil.2:3). But not just a little more important, but as if they are kings and queens and I am a humble foot-washer. The eye-opening power of the gospel helps me to see my sin better every day, and produces real humility. It becomes a high privilege to be a lowly servant in the kingdom of God.

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