King Of The Mountain

I remember when I was a kid, there was a heavily wooded area at the back of our neighborhood. I and a friend of mine played in those woods like it was our own personal forest. We made forts, we played Cops & Robbers, we climbed trees, and skinned plenty of knees.

Then we found it.

For some unknown reason, someone had cleared out a section of trees in the middle of the forest, totally cleared the land, and made a gigantic hill in the process. Oh the fun that he had on that hill! We would carry our bikes to the top and recklessly ride them back down. We rolled down the hill more times than I can even remember. Our favorite game was playing king of the mountain on that old dirt laden hill. I came home filthy nearly every time...much to my mother's dismay. If you've ever played king of the mountain, you know that it is a simple game where the object is to knock everyone else down and be the last man standing. We thought we were gladiators and there was no one who could conquer us if we happened to win the conquest of the day.

As I've grown older, I reminisce about those days...those simpler times. I remember that regardless of who won the game, my friend and I were still just that...friends. While we may bask in the glory of winning one day, it was nearly inevitable that we would lose the next and we would still be friends and enjoy each other's company...that is until we climbed that hill again and the battle raged on. Unfortunately, that isn't how it works often times in the real world.

You see, in the real world, people build the hills for themselves and will fight to sit on their own thrones. People love to build this sort of kingdom and bask in the glory of it all. But the reality is that every kingdom ever known to man has had enemies. The problem with the kingdom of self is that when you become so self-important, you've set yourself up to have somewhere around 7.5 billion enemies. Enemies that are put off by your ego. Enemies that desire nothing but to see you fail. Enemies that would celebrate the opportunity to see you getting knocked off the mountain.

Sometimes people build this kingdom and it overshadows the Kingdom of God. This can look like that person who is so committed to making sure that everything goes their way in church. They cannot stand the thought of their personal preferences not being met. This can also look like someone who is so wrapped up in tradition because in their mind, that is the only way a kingdom can operate. Pastors can get ensnared in this too. For pastors, this can look like boasting about numbers, programs, buildings, and degrees. Often times, people may feel like they are building the Kingdom of God while only building a tall, yet fragile mountain for themselves. I recently read an article which was nothing but a pastor boasting on his own kingdom. He smiled for the camera as the words on the page spoke of his accomplishments. Nowhere in the article was God glorified. Only the man and his mountain.

This is a little side note but I think that it serves as an apt illustration. I have two boys who are two years apart. They absolutely love to get on each other's nerves. One of our favorite vacation spots is the beach and just like most kids, they love to build sandcastles. Another favorite pastime for both of them is to destroy the other's sandcastle. It infuriates both of them, yet they continue to still do it. They watch each other build mountains just to tear them down.

In what is known as the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father and emphasized his unity with the father. As a perfect model of unity, Jesus prayed that his church would be unified. He prayed, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (21). You see here a clear purpose for unity...that the watching world will know that we represent a united Triune God. The Kingdom of God says stuff like, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first." It says things like, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." So I feel just in supposing that we turn our eyes on Jesus and fervently strive to build His Kingdom instead of our own. 

Once in the Bible, Solomon turned his attention away from God's Kingdom and began to focus on his own. As a King, Solomon had much power and that power began, as it so often does, to go to his head. He began to focus on his own desires and pleasures. He felt like he had earned the right to do whatever he pleases with whomever he pleases. He began to build what the Bible refers to as "high places" on mountains in honor of his many wives and their false gods. This displeased God, therefore God said to Solomon in 1 Kings 11:11, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant." You may have built a kingdom for yourself that no man can conquer. You may be ontop of a mountain that noone else can overcome. You may be the gladiator today...but rest assured, if your kingdom stands in the way of the glory of the King of Kings...you will get knocked down.