A Matter of Life and Death
2 Chronicles 21:20 He (Jehoram, king of Judah) passed away to no one’s regret.
Luke 11:1 Lord, teach us to pray.
Jehoram, king of Judah and great, great, great, great grandson of Solomon-the son of King David, died to no one’s regret. One of the Bible’s most lonesome verses, I imagine there are such people around the world who die at no one’s regret, maybe people who have been abandoned for whatever reason; those who have found themselves in really difficult circumstances.
But King Jehoram didn’t have to die that way. He had everything to bless a lot of people throughout his lifetime, but he chose the way of evil instead. This guy wasn’t just stingy.; he was completely vile, killing off his six brothers once he was crowned king. That’s one way to start off a monarchy, eliminate any assassination possibilities.
But let’s also not forget one crucial fact, that this king married into the dastardly Ahab/Jezebel clan, the worst possible influencers known to mankind, I think…right up there with Satan himself. These people were so corrupt that Matthew’s genealogy eliminates three generations down from Mr. and Mrs. Jezebel. Yeah, you read that right, Mr. and Mrs. Jezebel, and make no mistake. She probably died to no one’s regret either and to no one’s responsibility for her burial, “They went to bury her, but they found nothing more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands (2 kings 9:35).”
Why are people so bent on evil? Why are people so contentious, so combative and angry? One reason is nature itself; the human condition has a default system called, Sins of Carnality (Galatians 5:19-21), and most negative behavior can be traced back to that list. The contrast to that evil bend is the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The obvious problem is that carnal sins are so much easier to produce…it’s the default, a slippery slope so easily slid down. To say that the human condition is broken is an understatement. It’s broke! And isn’t this relegated summary followed up without apology, “Oh, well, I’m only human, I’ll never be perfect.”
I would like to offer an alternative option. Aren’t those who are in Christ fully-human and fully-Divine, just like Jesus was? Paul prefaced the spirit-fruit and fleshly sin with some theological truths: Galatians, 3:27 “Don’t you know that when you were immersed (baptized), you received the spiritual characteristics in Christ,” the wooden translation from the Greek text. Other popular English translations render that ‘clothed’ in Christ, as something to put on, rather than something to be received within. The next question might be, what are those spiritual characteristics to which Paul refers? Answer: the aforementioned spirit-fruit: generous concern, joy, peace, clemency, virtue, goodness, benevolence, faithfulness and self-restraint.
When I was immersed, I received that fully-Divine nature, spirit-fruit seed of Jesus to go out and produce His spirit-fruit, rather than fall victim to the sins of carnality. But isn’t that easier said than done. Spirit-fruit is not second nature, it’s spirit nature, not of this world. And that is seriously important to know going in. If I want to produce this fruit, knowing my Twenty Commands and the heart of the Jesus-Walk are all required to live out this fully-Divine lifestyle. Fully-human is second nature; I can do that with my eyes closed. Tapping into my spirit nature and igniting its power takes enormous amounts of dedication and devotion…real intentionality and real prayer.
“Lord, teach us to pray,” is step one in staying well-connected to the power source, for sure. In the prayer that Christendom has labeled The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus nicely and neatly provided the headings within this short prayer to outline the twenty Greek imperatives He dispensed earlier at the Galilean hilltop, AKA, The Sermon on the Mount:
Our Father who is in heaven
Hallowed be your Name (know who you are with)
Desire, pursue, knock, your yes is yes-no is no, go pray in an inner room, fast in secret, store up treasure in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread (trust in God’s provision)
Do not be consumed with thoughts
Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us (the Golden Rule)
Be reconciled, rejoice in persecution, value and pray for enemies, do not judge, go a second mile
Lead us not into temptation (know who the battle is against)
Beware of doing acts of righteousness before people, pluck out a sexually immoral eye, enter the narrow gate, turn the other cheek, give to the one who asks, give in secret
Keeping strict Jesus’ Twenty Commands is more important than memorizing a prayer. Making my life’s goal to keep strict these commands in order to produce the spiritual characteristics of Christ might very well, unlike King Jehoram, increase my chances of a well-attended funeral!
