November 21, 2021 ~ Christ the King Sunday ~ Sermon & Zoom Worship Video Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/RAMqNYhv8zbv9Lu6V0xUxomDtidK5ClBQTLBsxPC2RBBgskkZrBeb2DwqXIYtEJv.Md6crH9XPPFuhlrw

Reign of Christ                                                                                   11/21/21—Highland—Meute

“My Kingdom”

Psalm 132: 1-12; Revelation 1: 4b-8; John 18: 33-37

Pearl: The nature of Christ’s reign/kingdom.

Function: To bring listeners into the throne room of Christ and to behold that the realm of Christ’s kingdom is in, under, and around us all and is especially good news to the rejected and the dejected, the cast out and the castigated.

At the majestic height of the Christian year on this which we call Christ the King Sunday, Reign of Christ Sunday, we would all like to proclaim for all the world to hear and for all the world to agree that Jesus Christ reigns on high as exalted and glorified Lord, Almighty over all!

1. There is a massive statue of the reigning “Christ the Redeemer” in Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. This massive statue of Christ satisfies our appetite for Christ to appear massively almighty over all.
   1. Our human tendency is to seek bigger and better, to seek much and more. So our imaginations run wild when it comes to the reigning Lord Jesus Christ.
   1. Christ the King Sunday is the zenith of the Christian year. All of the days and all of the weeks build up to this day. It is as if the curtain is drawn back and we catch a glimpse of the immensity of the living God.
   1. This feeds the human hunger for glorious pomp and circumstance.
2. But the testimony of scripture and of our Lord Jesus himself is that the One who truly reigns is not so much a God “on high,” as a God who is down low and in the trenches with the human condition.
   1. This is the drama of the incarnation. That God became human. That God took on flesh. God got down low with the world.
   1. Finding Christ is not so much about looking up into the skies of glory far beyond harm’s way, but about looking down low. It is about looking hard into the human condition with all of its trials and tragedies, and it is about a Savior entering into those very circumstances.
3. This is the nature of the reign of Christ. It is the essence of his power and of his glory—to truly identify with and to dwell with his beloved world.
   1. It is God’s will to walk among us, to live with us, to know us, and to suffer with us in order to redeem us.

This is all because as Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not from this world.”

Pontius Pilate was concerned to diagnose a true threat to the status quo of Roman Rule and domination. It was his job to do so.

1. Jesus was thrown at the feet of this regional Roman ruler Pilate, by his own people, to be eliminated by the brutal Roman machine. The one thing that likely Pilate and all of his ilk could do was measure and diagnose the level of threat to Roman rule in anybody and everybody.
   1. It was his conclusion that Jesus was no threat.
      1. Pilate misdiagnosed the man Jesus standing in is very presence.
      1. Jesus was the true power in the room with Pontius Pilate.
         1. But he certainly did not look like he was the true power.
         1. Jesus had no army. He had no defenders. He had no attorneys. He had no crowd outside demanding his release. Instead he had an angry mob calling for his execution.
2. Jesus was the true power in the room, and in the world but as he said himself, “My kingdom is not from this world” (18:36).
   1. Jesus admitted a reign. Jesus admitted that he was a king.
      1. But it was a different kind of power. It was a different rule, a different reign.
      1. Jesus’ power did not make sense in a worldly way.
      1. Jesus’ rule and reign was not and is not:
         1. Domination
         1. Supremacy
         1. Subjugation
         1. Persecution
         1. Or iron-fisted authority demanding devotion.
      1. Jesus’ power was about entering in and identifying with people, especially people who suffered and who were beaten down by the powers of the world. This was the crux of Jesus’ life: to stand up to the powers that oppressed. Jesus brought about a clash of kingdoms.
         1. Jesus’ power was for relationship.
         1. His power was for uplifting human beings.
      1. Jesus’ power was not about being big and great and awesome but about being with, for, and under the rejected and the dejected.
         1. His power was especially meant for the cast out and the called out.
3. Jesus’ reign, Jesus’ kingdom was not from this world.
   1. Pilate came back at him saying, “So you are a king!” Jesus responded, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth hears my voice” (18:37).
      1. What is the truth about which Jesus spoke?
         1. The truth that real power is the power of love which conquers all.
         1. The truth that domination of others is weakness.
         1. Then Jesus said “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
            1. That is a telling comment.
               1. If you are a person of truth you attend closely and completely to the whole counsel of Jesus.
               1. Jesus is your Lord.
               1. The “red letters” are your focus in your bible. I am speaking of the words and sayings and teachings of Jesus.
               1. If you are a person of truth you listen to, and are formed and transformed by the Way of Jesus.

The nature of Christ’s reign is life. It is abundant life for everyone and for the created living world.

Christ’s reign is a power which is not of this world. It is the power of love.

1. On my school bus I noticed the other day how the kids were picking on the youngest student, a kindergartener. These children are Christian children attending a Christian school.
   1. While alone with an older child who is my first pick-up, I addressed this issue. I said, “I’ve noticed that you are all kind of ganging-up on Jacob.” I said this was not very kind.
   1. It was a beautiful thing to see how the older child responded.
      1. He immediately agreed with me accepting my appraisal.
      1. When I said that I didn’t like it, he agreed it was wrong.
      1. As soon as we picked up Jacob this student welcomed him and interacted in a friendly manner through the whole trip to school that day. The other children followed his example.
      1. This continued into the next day. “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to [Jesus’ voice.]”
         1. Jesus’ reign is not of this world.
         1. Jesus’ power is the power of love.
         1. It is a reign not from this world.
2. Jesus’ reign and Jesus’ power that is not from this world is in the way God enters into the human condition and identifies with us and suffers with us in all times and in all conditions.

Kingdoms are always clashing all around us. Swords are always being rattled and muscles are being flexed.

1. At this climactic day in the Christian year when we proclaim that Christ is King, we at the same time realize the very heart and nature of the reign of God in Christ from the mouth of Jesus:
   1. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:25, 26).
2. The power of God in Christ is seen in his being willing to have his blood shed, his body broken, and his life crushed by this world.
3. In so doing, God demonstrated a power not from this world.
   1. A power available to all.
   1. And a power especially available to the rejected and the dejected, the cast out and the called out.
   1. This is your Savior God who reigns in Jesus Christ.
      1. The truly glorious Lord around whom all the angels prostrate themselves, is the same Lord who enters into your angst so that you are not alone. You are never alone. Because your Lord’s reign is not from this world.