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THE GIFT OF JESUS AS OUR RULER

In his famous book Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll told the story of Alice in Wonderland. One day, according to Carroll, Alice got into a debate with Humpty Dumpty about his use of the word glory.

“I don’t know what you mean by glory,” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty replied contemptuously, “Of course, you don’t—till I tell you. I meant, “There’s a nice, knock-down argument for you!”

“But glory doesn’t mean “A nice, knock-down argument,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many things.”
“No, the question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “who is to be master—that’s all.”

To Alice, Humpty Dumpty was duty-bound to use words according to their dictionary definitions. But to Humpty Dumpty, he was in charge of defining words any way he chose. Who would be the master to decide a word’s definition—Humpty Dumpty, or some dictionary? For Humpty Dumpty, the answer was clear.

Who is to be master? Who gets to be in charge? This question is asked and answered countless times every day all around the world. Who is in charge at work? Who is in charge in a relationship? Who is in charge at home—parents, or the children? Who is in charge—police or criminals? Who is in charge—the doctor or the patient? Who is in charge—the church or its members? Who is in charge here in this world—the forces of good, or the forces of evil? God—or His great enemy the devil?

Let’s make the question as personal as possible: Who is the master in your life? Who is in charge? Who controls your choices and actions?

This week, with an eye on the rapid approach of Christmas just days from now, we’ve been looking at the original Christmas story recorded in the Bible books of Matthew and Luke. And there, we’ve been considering the Five Best Christmas Gifts to be found in those Bible stories about the birth of Jesus.
Today’s gift focuses directly on this question of who is the master—of who is in charge. Here it is, in Matthew chapter 2, verse 6. “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (NKJV)

And the prophecy came to pass just as predicted. Out of Bethlehem came a Ruler, for the baby born there one night in the manger of an old barn would become the Ruler, the Master, the Lord, the King, over this world and everyone in it.

At first glance, it may not seem clear that having Jesus as a Ruler could be a gift—much less one of the best gifts of Christmas. We human beings enjoy freedom, independence, the right to make our own choices, the sense that we’re in control of ourselves and our own destiny.

But wishing to be one’s own ruler or master is far easier than to actually BE that ruler or master. Millions of us take the controls of our own lives, only to end up making self-destructive choices over and over again. Many of us assert our right to be free, only to end up in slavery to habits that ruin our health and happiness.

The Bible has much to say about God being in charge of all that He has created—our world, and the entire universe. But when Jesus was born centuries ago, one of His names was Ruler. And the gift of Jesus as our Ruler is a personal gift. So it’s fair to ask just what this gift means to you and to me. How is it helpful to us? How does it change the way we live our daily lives?

I have a question for you. If you could go back and live your life over again, would you do that? After thinking it over, many people will say Yes, but only if they could take back with them in time what they have already learned—and what they know. If you could go back and start again, yet know everything that would happen in your future, imagine what an advantage that would be. Imagine how it would affect your choices. How many things would you do differently?

But the truth is, none of us will ever get to go back and live life over again. We’ll never get the chance to know the future before we get there. So we often make choices in almost total darkness—not knowing what the result of those choices will be.

We’re free to make those choices, of course. We’re free to be in charge of what we decide. But what if we could seek the advice—the counsel and guidance—of Someone who knew the future as well as we know our own past? What if we invited that Someone to be in charge of our lives when it comes to these major decisions? What if we chose to let Someone else be the Ruler of our present and future?

Jesus, the Ruler from Bethlehem, will never force His Rulership on us. He has no desire whatever to control us against our will. He will only take charge of whatever part of our lives we invite Him to rule over. But if we choose Him as our Ruler, He promises to guide us in our important life decisions. “I will instruct you and teach you,” He assures us in Psalm 32, verse 8, “in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” (NKJV) Jesus sees our entire future, long before it ever happens. He knows which choice—of all available choices—is the best one for us. And if we choose Him to be the Ruler of our choices, He will help us make the best possible decisions.

I have another question for you now. Would you like to choose to do what is right and then unfailingly follow through to do it? Remember how Paul the apostle admitted that time and again, he would exercise his will—his personal power of choice—to do good things, only to end up doing the opposite? His willpower wasn’t enough. His best intentions were not enough.
But in the seventh chapter of Romans where Paul described his struggle, he also shared how he finally found the solution. Things changed, he said, when he invited Jesus to come in and be his personal Ruler—his Lord and Master. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” Paul wrote in Philippians 2, verse 13 (KJV).

It’s important to realize that God will only be our Ruler if we invite Him to be. He completely honors the free will He gave us when He created us. And if we tell Him, “I want to be in charge—I don’t want You in my life,” He will respect that and give us exactly what we choose. But when we make our own selfish and short-sighted choices, He also lets us live with the sometimes sad and painful consequences of those choices.

There’s another way, too, that the gift of Jesus as our Ruler is such an amazing and priceless gift. When human beings rule each other, one great goal of those who rule is to control the people they rule over. Human rulers, so often, seek to impose their own will on others—to use other people and exercise power over them.

But the rulership of Jesus is completely unlike human rulership. Jesus is love, and His rulership has the goal of doing the most loving thing possible for us. He wants us to be happy and healthy. As He said about His followers in John chapter 10, verse 10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (NKJV)

Consider again the Christmas gift we first noticed in Matthew 2, verse 6: “Out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”

The Ruler would be our Shepherd. A Shepherd watches over the sheep. He protects them. He provides for them. And as our Ruler, Jesus takes responsibility for us. He takes care of us. He provides for our needs. He is our Protector and Defender.

Freedom to choose is awesomely powerful. You and I are free to choose who will be our Ruler—our Lord, our Master. If we want, we can choose to be our own ruler. But it should be clear from what we’ve learned from God’s Word that if we elect ourselves to be the ruler of our life, we must depend entirely on our own wisdom to make decisions. We must often make decisions even when we are completely blind to the future. As our own ruler, we are destined to discover that when we choose to do what is good and right, we often don’t have the power to carry through on our own choices. And as our own ruler, we must provide for ourselves, protect ourselves, and have no one but ourselves to turn to when we run into huge problems.

This Christmas, God has so many amazing gifts for you in Jesus. The Lordship—the rulership—of Jesus is one of the five best gifts the Bible tells us about. Why not claim that gift in your life today—as your Christmas gift to yourself, and to Jesus!

Isn’t it wonderful, friend, that the whole idea of giving gifts at Christmas began with the gifts that came to us in Jesus that first Christmas? We have just one more gift to consider this week, but it’s not a gift Jesus gives us; it’s a gift we give back to Him. Join us tomorrow for “No Room in the Inn.” Until then, this is Lonnie Melashenko reminding you that it’s always true . . . yes, God loves you!

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