Christ the King: What Difference Does It Make?

Jer. 23:1-6; Ps. 46; Col. 1:11-20; Lk. 23:33-43

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all I order to reach a wide range of people:  religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized – whoever.  I didn’t take on their way of life.  I kept my bearings in Christ – but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.  I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.  I did all this because of the Message.  I just didn’t want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! (I Cor. 9:19-23, Message Bible, italics added).

Christ the King is often overlooked liturgically, but even more sadly, this celebration of the last day in the church calendar is underappreciated theologically.  If the death of Christ was for our forgiveness of sins, and the Resurrection of Christ was His victory over death forever for our sake, the Ascension of Christ marks his enthronement as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The Servant Leader, our Suffering Shepherd, is enthroned as King.  That truth changed the early church profoundly in how they lived their lives.  In fact, because Jesus is Lord and King, we have power now to change our world!

1. I.                BECAUSE JESUS IS KING, WE HAVE POWER NOW TO CHANGE OUR WORLD POLITICALLY  (Colossians 1:13-20; Eph. 1:19-21)

1. A.              It is not the power the kingdoms of this world offers!

(sword and the shield)

1. B.              It is the power the kingdom of God offers! (cross and the towel)

II.        BECAUSE JESUS IS KING, WE HAVE POWER NOW TO CHANGE OUR WORLD PERSONALLY   (Luke 23:26-43; Eph. 1:15-19; Col. 1:9-10)

“For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.  May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.  He has rescued us from the power of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Col. 1:9-14

1. II.              BECAUSE JESUS IS KING, WE HAVE POWER NOW TO CHANGE OUR WORLD PERMANENTLY (PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS)

1. A.              Kingdom servant leaders have courageous conversation for the sake of others ( They speak the truth in love)

1. B.              Kingdom servant leaders have courageous convictions for the sake of others (They live the truth in love)

1. C.              Kingdom Leaders have courageous confidence for the sake of others (They trust the truth in love)

Christ the King Sunday, Fr. Tony Baron, PhD, Teaching Pastor.  The Way Christian Fellowship.  www.findtheway.org.; www.forthesakeofothers.com

Table Talk Study:

The promise of the Kingdom is that people will at last come to realize divine justice and peace in all that they do.  Jesus made God’s kingdom the center of his preaching (Matt. 4:23; Mark 1:14,15; Lk. 4).  At the end of the Book of Acts (20:25; 28:31), the Apostle Paul was “preaching the kingdom of God.”

The Scriptures, OT and NT, portray God as king of the universe, the fundamental force behind all that is and shall be.  It is:

1. Behind the whole of created life in all time, Psalm 96
2. Transcendent in space and final in time, Ps. 145
3. An insistent force of justice that will ultimately prevail, reflecting God’s purpose, Ps. 10
4. Contingent upon satisfaction of God’s criteria for human entry, Ps. 24
5. Radiates from the people of God to the nations of the world, Ps. 47