 |
 
|
|
Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, 23, 2003 "Christ the King"
Return to the sermon archive.
Revelation 1:4-8 as follows —
John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
Grace and peace to you from Him Who Is, Who Was and Who Is to Come, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Almighty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, your God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
This old world has certainly seen its share of kings. Down through the ages, countless kings have ruled countless kingdoms — some vast in size, others postage-stamp-sized. Some kings ruled for 60 years and more, some for barely 60 minutes. Some were good, some were bad. Some were powerful, some only figureheads. Some did great things and some did terrible things and some did nothing. Some are still honored long after they're gone; some are still despised.
"The king" means different things to different people. If you lived in America 200+ years ago and someone mentioned "the king," you'd think, King George of England. Today, if someone mentions "the king," many people would think of that weird character in the news right now, the so-called "king of pop," Michael Jackson. Baby boomers like me would be more likely to think of Elvis Presley — dead and gone for over 20 years, but for many, he'll always be "the king of rock and roll."
We aren't here today to honor Elvis, who, like all those other kings down through history, is dead. That's what happens to kings, no matter how great or powerful or popular they are . . . they die. There is, however, one King who is not like all the others. There is a King who is (not was but is) infinitely greater than them all. On this last Sunday of the church year we are again invited to COME AND WORSHIP THE KING.
Who is this King who deserves our worship? That's a question that every soul on the face of the earth will have to deal with sooner or later: Who is Jesus Christ? Our reading from Revelation gives us a neat little three-part description of who this King Jesus is. First of all, he is "the faithful witness." You could say, he's the reliable truth-teller. The world is full of people who claim to be truth-tellers. There are so many self-proclaimed truth-tellers and so many different versions of "truth," that people just don't know what or whom to believe. Oh, they believe certain things, but they don't believe anything certainly. "Can you really know for sure?" is the question of our age.
With so many versions of truth and all these so-called truth-tellers, it's mighty hard to sort out what really is true. And when it comes to truth about God and spiritual things, it's even harder because there is no way we can discover that on our own. God, however, has revealed himself to us. He has told us the truth. In fact, God sent his own Son to be the faithful witness, the reliable truth-teller. Jesus tells us the truth about the big things: about God, about us, about life and death, heaven and hell, time and eternity. He tells us the truth about littler things, too, like love, marriage, family, work, money - about living in this world. And, unlike many, this Witness tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Can you believe what he says? How can you really be sure he's telling the truth? Well, how about because he is also "the firstborn from the dead." All those other kings died. Everybody dies. Even this King died. He died on a cross on a Friday afternoon, but he was alive again on Sunday morning. Christians boldly confess, "On the third day he rose again from the dead." The Scriptures had predicted it; Jesus himself said he would do it — and he did it. He says later in this chapter: "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!" Here is the King who has conquered death itself. He is the living death-defeater, and if that doesn't prove that you can believe him, I'm not sure if anything will.
Jesus also is "the ruler of the kings of the earth," also known as, "the King of kings and Lord of lords." He has authority, power, a rule that is above and beyond all earthly power and ruling. He made this claim, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This is the King who is greater and mightier than all kings and premiers and presidents put together; in fact, he's the King who rules over them all. Is he worthy of our worship — this reliable truth-teller, this living death-defeater, this King of all kings?
While some earthly kings have done good and wonderful things for their subjects, none can hold a candle to what this King did. John writes: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins." "From our sins" — that's not a word that is used much nowadays, at least in polite society; it's not politically correct to use the "s" word. The truth is, we live in a culture that is trying very hard to do away with the whole concept of sin.
I mean, people don't "sin" any more, right? They "make mistakes." And if you've made a "mistake" and feel guilty about it, you are told not to worry. You're told that what you did was not wrong in the first place (who's to say what's right or wrong?). Or, you're told it was not your fault; it was your genetic makeup, or your parents, or society, or your "illness" that was to blame...anything but your own personal responsibility.
But God does hold us personally responsible; he says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die." We feel guilty, you see, because we are guilty of sinning against God by our words or thoughts, actions or impulses. "You shall be holy," our Maker says, and we are not holy. Nine times out of ten, we feel guilty because we are guilty, and all the pop psychology in the world will not make that guilt go away.
God takes sin seriously. God seriously hates sin. God was seriously angry with the whole human race, from the king on his throne to the peasant in the field. But God also seriously loves sinners, loves this human race, whom he created to live in fellowship and mutual love with him forever. To this world of men, mankind lost in sin, incapable of freeing themselves from this guilt, God sent his one and only Son. He loves us, too — enough to take our place under the wrath of God.
He loves us, John says, and "freed us from our sins by his blood." What an astounding thing, that the Son of God should become a man in order to bleed for God's enemies! How astounding, that at the cross of Christ, God's love and his justice would come together perfectly. There, as Isaiah wrote, "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." Jesus, the holy Lamb of God, was offered up for the sins of all. Indeed, he freed us from our sins by his blood. By his sacrifice, he got us out from under the wrath of God. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us," the Bible says, and, "We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." The King of kings, the Son of God and Son of Man, our beautiful Savior, laid down his life and then took it up again and now he says to us, "Because I live, you also will live" — in perfect fellowship with God, in mutual love forever and ever.
And you know, the benefits of redemption don't only lie in the future, after you die and go to heave! Just look at what happens to sinners who are turned to Jesus in faith and thus are counted saints in God's sight: "He has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father." Membership, as they say, has its privileges, and membership in Christ's kingdom has out-of-this-world privileges right now. Grace and peace, forgiveness and new life, hope and joy, comfort and confidence, strength and power and wisdom — these are just a few of the privileges we enjoy as subjects of the King, people who participate in his rule of grace.
In this kingdom, we are priests. (Don't think of those guys with the turned-around collars.) According to God's Word, every Christian is a priest, which means that you have direct access to God. You don't need any man to serve as a go-between for you because you're not quite worthy. No, you can go directly to your Father, confidently to the throne of grace, in prayer for all your needs. Being a priest means you can offer him sacrifices (that's what priests do)— the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of service, the sacrifice of obedience. God's Word says that real spiritual worship is your entire life, offered up to God as a "thank-you" for his grace — it's the privileged life of a priest of the living God. All because of what Jesus, your King and Savior, did for you!
"To him be glory and power for ever and ever!" John wrote. In other words, come and worship the King, today and every day, because of who he is: the reliable truth-teller, the living death-defeater, the King of all kings. Come and worship the King, today and every day, because of what he did: freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom and priests. Let's worship him who has put a song in our mouths, hope in our hearts, purpose in our lives. Let's worship the King who has given us life in place of death and a privileged place in his kingdom. "To him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen."