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Today
we’re going to wrap up a series of sermons about following the leader. We
started a few weeks ago by looking at the story of Bartimaeus. In that story we
see a parallel to our own salvation journey and we see that we are all called
to follow Jesus. God’s grace pursues us, calls out to us, and we respond. Like
Bartimaeus we are healed, we’re made whole. And we follow as we continue our spiritual
pilgrimage of salvation.
The
following week, we looked at how we follow. We follow by responding to God’s
grace. God’s grace is “the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in
human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit.” We follow Jesus by
responding to that grace in what we call discipleship. Being a disciple means
learning to be like Jesus. We do the things Jesus did and the things Jesus
taught. Participating in what John Wesley called the means of grace. Ordinary
activities in which we experience God’s grace. Prayer, fasting, searching the
scriptures, the Lord’s Supper. As well as feeding the hungry, helping the poor,
caring for the sick, welcoming the stranger. And we do it all together, as the
Body of Christ.
Last week
we looked at the question of why we follow. First we follow because of God’s
grace, because without the Grace of God, we can do nothing. And we follow
because we are commissioned, we are commanded, and to be transformed and
because we are transformed. We follow Jesus because as we do we experience the
power of the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts and restores us from the
distorted human image we are into the perfect image of Christ we are created to
be.
So we’ve
answered the what, how & why. Now we need to answer the who question. “Who
do we follow?” That’s an easy one. We follow Jesus. Sermon over. Let’s sing.
OK,
that’s the easy answer, but we’re going to delve a little deeper into the
question than that. Let’s start with our scripture for this morning.
John 18:33-37
New Living
Translation (NLT)
33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus
to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.
34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell
you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading
priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it
were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish
leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”
Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born
and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth
recognize that what I say is true.”
This
question of “Who do we follow” is an interesting one for today. Today is
“Christ the King” Sunday or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. It’s the last day of the
liturgical calendar. In terms of the Christian calendar. We’re getting ready
for a New Year’s celebration as we observe Advent starting next week.
Who do we
follow? Well, we follow Jesus. So then, we have to ask, Who is Jesus? Which
leads us to Pilate’s question. Are you the King of the Jews?
We read
of Pontius Pilate questioning Jesus about the charges against him. He is
charged with claiming to be King of the Jews. Pilate’s job is maintaining order
in Judea. It is his job to make sure that Rome stays in control. In other
words, his concern is politics. When he asks Jesus if he is the King of the
Jews, he’s not concerned about any religious implications to the question. He
just wants to know if Jesus sees himself as a political leader.
As I read
the passage, I imagine Pilate’s question to have a kind of scoff behind it. “Are
you the king of the Jews?” As if it
is ridiculous that this man – this poor, itinerant preacher – could be a king.
He’s not dressed like a king, probably isn’t as clean as a king should be. Pilate
has a certain idea of what power should look like. And a king should exude
power.
Christ
the King Sunday was instituted in the mid-1920s. It was a time when dictators
were coming to power all over Europe. The celebration is meant to remind all
Christians that our allegiance is to Jesus Christ and not to any earthly power.
After all, Jesus is the King of Kings. The ruler of rulers.
I think
we all have a certain idea of what a king is as well. Just like Pilate, we have
preconceived notions of a king.
When you
think of a king is it a king who looks like this….
Or this?
We don’t
think of a helpless infant as a king or a man beaten and bruised, dressed
ironically in a robe and a crown of thorns. That is the image of powerlessness,
not power. And yet, this is our king. This is the one about whom we say, “Jesus
is Lord.” This is the king we follow.
To
examine who we follow, I want to talk about two phrases we tend to use. One is
the statement “Jesus is Lord.” The other is the phrase the “Kingdom of God.”
When we
say Jesus is Lord, what does that mean? The easy answer is that Jesus is lord
of all. To examine that, I want to start large scale and move inward. To
proclaim Jesus as Lord we mean: Jesus is Lord of the heavens and earth. Jesus
is Lord of the social order. Jesus is Lord of the church. Jesus is Lord of our
personal lives.
Jesus is
Lord of the natural realm. He is Lord of heaven and earth. Lord of all
creation.
Jesus is
Lord of the social order. In other words, Jesus rules as Lord over all
dominions, thrones, rulers, and powers.
Jesus is
Lord means that Jesus is Lord of the Church. The Bible calls the church the
Body of Christ with Jesus as the head of that body. We are a community of faith
doing the work of Christ in the world.
To say
Jesus is Lord of our lives means that Jesus is our top priority. It means that
we follow Jesus because we are commissioned and commanded. Most importantly,
for Jesus to be Lord of our lives, nothing else can be. Not money, not our job,
not our social status. Nothing else can come before Jesus.
To say
Jesus is Lord, means that Jesus is Lord of all. Not just Lord of Sunday
morning. Not just Lord inside these walls. Jesus is lord of all, always.
Pilate
asks Jesus if he is a king and Jesus replies, “My kingdom is not an earthly
kingdom.” His kingdom is not from this world, and Jesus is not an earthly king.
When we think of earthly kings, like those from the images before, they take
control by force. To rule more, you have to conquer more. But that is not the
nature of the king we follow. That is not the nature of the Kingdom of
God.
So what
is this Kingdom of God? First of all, it’s not heaven. The word typically translated as kingdom is basileia (bä-sē-lī'-ä). It
doesn’t refer to geographical boundaries of a kingdom, but to the reign and
rule of a king or the sphere of influence of a king. So the Kingdom of God is
the sphere of influence of God rather than a specific location. I like the
phrase “reign of God” because it doesn’t imply a location as much as “Kingdom”
does.
The website of the United
Methodist church has this to say about the Kingdom of God:
· We
believe that the kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future
hope.
· We
believe that wherever God's will is done, the kingdom or reign of God is
present. It was present in Jesus' ministry, and it is also present in our world
whenever persons and communities experience reconciliation, restoration, and
healing.
· We
believe that the fulfillment of God's kingdom--the complete restoration of
creation--is still to come.
· We
believe that the church is called to be both witness to the vision of what
God's kingdom will be like and a participant in helping to bring it to
completion.
· We
believe that the reign of God is both personal and social. Personally, we
display the kingdom of God as our hearts and minds are transformed and we
become more Christ-like. Socially, God's vision for the kingdom includes the
restoration and transformation of all of creation.
The reign
of God, I think is best summed up by the phrase “already and not yet.” God’s
reign has been inaugurated, but is not yet fulfilled. Jesus’ life and ministry on Earth signified
the inauguration of God’s reign. Its fulfillment will come when Jesus returns.
But it is as the statement earlier said, a future and a present reality. As the
church, we work here and now to help bring God’s reign to completion.
In his letter to the
Romans, Paul tells us that the Kingdom of God is not “food and drink, but it is
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The good news is that
righteousness and peace and joy are available to all of us through the work of
the Holy Spirit. Let me take a bit of a detour here.
We spend a lot of time
talking about following Jesus and following God. We tend to forget the Holy
Spirit. A lot of times the way we talk about God loses the essence of the
trinity: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, & Sustainer.
God is God. Eternal. Unchanging. Jesus is Immanuel. God with us. God made
flesh. In Jesus we see the full revelation of God. God’s presence on earth. The
Holy Spirit is God’s continuing and continuous presence on earth.
It is the Holy Spirit that
works in us to transform us and works through us to transform the world.
It is the Holy Spirit that
allows us to do the work of the Kingdom here and now. The Reign of Christ is
righteousness, peace, and joy; and most of all Love. That means that we are
called to turn from anything that is contrary to those things. On a personal
level and a social level. We turn from sin. Personal sin, first. And we turn
away from those things that divide society. Things that marginalize others.
Hate. War. Inequality. And we trust Jesus as he leads us to reconciliation and
equality. And we open ourselves tot eh transforming power of the Holy Spirit,
because we can’t do it on our own.
And
so we follow Christ the King. And we await the Reign of Christ. But it is not a
passive waiting. Here’s another quote from
the UMC website: “And
what is our role—to sit back and simply wait for God's kingdom to arrive? By no
means! We are to pray earnestly for the Kingdom to come on earth. We are to
watch faithfully for any signs of its coming. We are to put away our old selves
and clothe ourselves "with the new self, created according to the likeness
of God in true righteousness and holiness". As renewed people, we're to do
"the work of ministry". As Easter people witness and serve, we take part
in the Kingdom's dawning. Thy Kingdom come!”
©2012 - Scott Coats
©2012 - Scott Coats
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