Christ the King

Rust Memorial United Methodist Church
Christ the King Sunday
November 21, 2010
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23: 33-43
Christ the King
Year C

We don’t like being told what to do

Most of us are hardheaded, we don’t like to be told what to do. We like to deny any type of authority. we like our freedom. We want to be in control of our lives. We soon forget that it is our need to be free and do what we want that gets us in trouble. The less we respect the power of authority, the longer it takes us to realize that we are never free. We have to be a slave to something. Either it is something or someone who cares for us, or who doesn’t. Someone or something that has our bet interest at heart or not. Somone is always in control – aware of what it is.
Harriet Tubman – who said that she freed thousands of slaves – could have freed more if they knew that they were slaves. What is it that we are a slave to – who is the ultimate authority in our lives.

Who is Jesus for us
Jesus Christ should be the ultimate authority for us in our lives. Who is Jesus for us?

Colossians says
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.


Last sermon

If I had one last sermon to preach. The sermon to summarize everything. The sermon to say all there is to say about Jesus

What would it say
What would it address
What prayers would it have for myself and the world?
What bible verse would I use?

What Questions would it address
Who or what rules in our life? When you make decisions about your life, who has the most influence on what you do? Where is Jesus in your life? Who is Jesus for you? What had Jesus done for you to make you feel that way?

By the grace of God – work already done this is the last sermon of the year. A good way to end everything and begin a time of reflection. The verses are from Colossians and Luke

Today is Christ the King Sunday – This is a new concept. Not begun in the early church, but started by a pope in 1925. Before the depression, before world war II. Time when pope began to realize that the world was getting overfocused on the material things in life. All anyone wanted to do was to have a good time and party. No one wanted to think, or do what was right, just wanted to be happy all of the time. Pope began to realize that is not what Jesus taught us at all. Wanted those who followed Christ to take some time out and reflect, and to get back to basics.
Chance for us to reflect on our relationship with Jesus – who is Jesus for us? Colossians makes it very clear. Jesus us the image of the invisible God

What has Jesus done for us – Luke makes it very clear. He forgave and reconciled the world. As Jesus is taken to the cross for claiming to be the king of the jews. One thief mocked him and asked him to save himself. And the other had one humble request – remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus last words to the thief and to us – on this day you will be with me in paradise.
In spite of all that he has done wrong – he was forgiven. He didn’t deserve to go to heaven, yet Jesus promised that to him. We like the thief are all sinners, we don’t deserve to be forgiven for what we have done in life. Depends on which sinner we are – the one who mocks our king, or the one who asks for mercy. Jesus is mercy, just as God is mercy for us.

In order to make all things new- mercy god is mercy
David buttrick quote. God's mercy is not merely therapy for a few individuals beset by guilt....God does not dole out mercy like cookies only for good, repentant children. God's mercy is not conditioned by our response. God is mercy. So, wide is wider than we guess.... Our calling is to live in mercy.... Recalling God's unmerited mercy ... we absolve one another, enacting the good news. 'In Jesus Christ,' we say, 'we are forgiven.' So we look into each other's eyes without illusions; we are sinners all. Yet we embrace each other in the mercy, the wide, wide mercy of God.
Source:
• The Mystery and the Passion



Charlie brown
A Charlie Brown cartoon from years ago showed Charlie and Linus coming from Mrs. ?'s house with a handfull of cookies. Linus says, 'I don't know what I did to deserve these!'
Charlie Brown answers, 'You don't have to do anything to deserve them. She gives us cookies because she's good - not because we are!'
And that is mercy!

In order to reconcile –we have to learn to forgive

1 john 4:18 - perfect love cast out all fear
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.


I have noticed that Christmas comes earlier and earlier. Trend in the making for years – no mention of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the beginning of Christmas not end of fall

Christmas time of baby jesus – where we worship the newborn king, and we gift and receive the gifts of God. We remember that Jesus us the reason for the season.

But that is not the beginning of the story for us. We Need to be reminded that our beginning, start with endings. Joy begins with suffering. Our forgiveness begins with sin
The story for us begins not at the cradle, but at the cross. Ends at the cradle.

Christ the king started in world that had gotten comfortable, fat and overindulgent.
We were looking for that king to take care of us. Someone we could look up to, that we could honor.


Story of a king
Bouch, was a waiter at a bar in Chicago. He native country was Morroco. He read an article about his king in the newpaper, he was so impressed, because he say that his king Mohammed the 6th cared for others, did so much for the poor, and even wrote personal letters encouraging his people. If I meet him I will be so happy.
If the king of morocco cares about and takes care of his subject, how much more does Christ our king do for us. We honor a king, not interested in saving himself, but in saving us. We showed power and strength, not by getting down from the cross, but by staying on – so that we would not have to die as a consequence of all of our sins. What kind of King is that?
The UnKing
by John van de Laar
© 2009 Sacredise

We call you 'King', Jesus,
but you're not like any king we've ever heard of;

You don't flaunt your power,
waving your hand dismissively
to change the lives of your subjects;
You don't hoard your wealth,
and tax your people just to grow more comfortable
in your isolated palace;
You don't exploit the weak and unconnected,
or use the ambition of ladder-climbers
to further your control.

No, you are the King who lays down his crown,
to walk among us as one of us;
You are the King who lays down his life,
to bring abundant, eternal life to all who seek it;
You are the King who draws the weak, the rejected, the poor, the child
into the centre of the conversation
and into the heart of where real power lies.

You, Jesus, are the UnKing – the King whose Kingdom,
redefines everything we know
and will continue to do so for eternity.

Amen.

A king who shows us that mercy and forgives is what reconciles the world and brings us all closer to God.

Questions
What Questions would it address
Who or what rules in our life? When you make decisions about your life, who has the most influence on what you do? Where is Jesus in your life? Who is Jesus for you? What had Jesus done for you to make you feel that way?

Is Christ the king of your life?

As the rest of the world enters into the mad dash to Christmas – take another way- and focus on how Christ is king of your life.

Let us pray…..