The Templar’s Prime Directive
“Everything is Always and Only About the Kingdom of God”
In The Spiritual Templar of the 21st Century, I mentioned that loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and having as much love and compassion for all other people as we do for ourselves is our prime eternal directive. As our Lord Master stated, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:40) God defines Himself as Love (1 John 4:8, 16), and everything we do is to be viewed through the lens of that Perfect Love. Everything is about loving God, loving His creation, and serving Him faithfully, selflessly, and eternally. In other words, our Prime Directive may also be articulated as everything is always and only about the Kingdom of God. That statement is the foundation of every Christian life. It is particularly the bedrock foundation upon which every authentic Templar builds their life. While the Templars of antiquity and the 21st century Templars are separated by nearly a millennium, this foundational thesis has not been changed by time. Therefore, consider this:
“For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you would follow His steps, He Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth; and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him Who judges righteously…” (1 Peter 2:21-23)
1 Peter 2:21-23 is the Kingdom’s greatest mystery encapsulated in the entire Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. What Jesus was modeling by His humanly impossible response of willing submission to the greatest injustice ever was the mystery’s most perfect expression – the Kingdom comes first – even before the “wellbeing” and very life of God’s own Son! Even Jesus, the Son of God – God the Son, God the Creator – was entirely and willingly submissive to the priorities of the Kingdom of God because… as He knew very well, everything is always and only about the Kingdom of God. Jesus, “Who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-slave and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8 NASB-CBE)
As mere humans bound up as we are in weak and flawed flesh, we often confuse the strength of our own power with Kingdom power. We are quick to reach for our swords – or even worse, our pens and keyboards – or release our sometimes violent and merciless tongues to move things about on our terms.
On that dark and foreboding Passover, Jesus was God, and He commanded every legion of the Kingdom’s angels, any one of whom could have individually reduced Jerusalem to smoking ashes. And yet, Jesus modeled the use of Kingdom power in our lives for us in His perfect form – emptying Himself and taking on the form of a bond-slave, being obedient even to the point of death.
Was His not the most unjust punishment ever conceived? Yes, it absolutely was. Why then did Jesus as God allow it? Why did He give up His own perfect innocence in torture, humiliation, and death at the hands of His evil, fervently religious countrymen? It seems that perfect justice would have released Jesus in perfect righteousness to destroy those who framed Him in history’s most scurrilous power grab. The answer is so profound that no authentic Templar can ever be effective in their consecrated Kingdom roles unless they understand and employ it just as our Lord Master modeled. The reason Jesus submitted to the ultimate injustice was this:
Everything is always and only about the Kingdom of God. No sacrifice is too great. No other priority in anyone’s life ever rises above this most profound of all truths – not even in the very life of Jesus/God!