November 25th, 2012

Nov 25, 2012 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

CHRIST THE KING

November 24-26, 2012

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Revelation 1:4b-8

“WOW! WHAT A KING!”

Revelation 1:4b-8 (NIV 1984) “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, ⁵ 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, ⁶ 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.⁷ 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. ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

          I don’t know if you caught it in the news but recently a diamond was sold at auction for a record 21 million dollars. It’s known as the Archduke Joseph diamond and all 76 carats of it have a flawless clarity. Wow, what a diamond! Can’t you just imagine the bidder who paid 21 million dollars taking that diamond and holding it to the light joyfully examining every crystal clear facet? The church’s jewel is Jesus Christ. He’s worth so much more that a paltry 21 million dollars. He’s our Savior. Today as the church observes Christ the King Sunday we hold Him and joyfully examine the different facets of Jesus as King proclaimed in His greeting from Revelation 1.

          The Revelation given to St. John is a beautiful and comforting book for Christians. In visions and picture language it proclaims to us that Jesus wins and all who stick with Him in faith win too. God had John write down what he saw and pass it on to the Christian churches. He greeted them from the Triune God. “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, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ.” Then he held up the jewel of Jesus describing him as,” the faithful witness.”  A witness tells what he has seen or heard. A faithful witness is one who does so truthfully and reliably. What has Jesus testified too? All kinds of things like the glory of His and our heavenly Father. Like the fact that only He is the way to heaven. That the Bible is God’s Word of truth. That He will be with us always. Look at that facet again when the Devil fills your heart with doubts about your Savior or fear at the thought of dying. Let it strengthen you as individual Christians and churches get challenged more and more on what the Bible says. We need to be strong but we aren’t by ourselves. Only with Jesus our King. He is the faithful witness. Wow. What a King!

          Let’s look at another facet. Jesus is described as “the firstborn from the dead.” That refers to the fact that He is the first one who died and came back to life again with His body. He is the first of many. Looking at this facet of our King reminds us of His power over death. This is what we get to look forward to. Our bodies may die physically but our souls live on. Our bodies will be miraculously resurrected and will be like Jesus, glorious. Are you getting tired of your body? Doesn’t work like it’s supposed to? Do you find yourself wishing it was like a car that you could trade in and get a new one? Have you had to watch a loved one’s body slowly waste a way? No matter. We do get to trade in the old for a new and the new will be perfect. Jesus our King is the proof. He is the firstborn from the dead. Wow. What a King!

          He is also” the ruler of the kings of the earth.” What a great truth, huh? Scripture teaches that God establishes all governments and he lifts them up and knocks them down as He sees fit as He carries out His plan of salvation. What arrogance then when kings of the earth act as though they get their position apart from God. Muhammed Ali proclaimed himself  “the Greatest” the king of boxing. And now look at him. For real kings or rulers there are such notables as Genghis Kahn, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar. Getting a little more modern there was Idi Amin, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein…we could go on and on. All thought they were the best and would rule the world. All dead and gone. Except for historians nobody cares. Jesus our King lives. His rule has continued since His ascension to heaven and will continue through eternity. We need to remember that Jesus, our King, is the ruler of earthly rulers especially when we have rulers we don’t like or when rulers across the ocean are rattling their sabers. Pull out the jewel of Jesus, the ruler of the kings of the earth, and take comfort.

          Take comfort because our next facet shows us Jesus as the King of love. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” Jesus who is also the faithful witness said “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Could we go a step further? Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life, even for his enemies?” Yet this king does just that! Think of how in so many of the kingdoms of the world kings expect their people to die for them. Every once in a while you will get a leader who actually makes some sacrifices for his people. Jesus sacrifices Himself for everybody. It isn’t just for those who believe that Jesus died. He paid for the sins of all people. Even those who reject Him, hate Him and want nothing to do with Him. Wow! What a king! And look at the result of His sacrifice. He has freed us from our sins. Do you see what that means for us? In the words of the favorite hymn, “In Christ Alone” it means no guilt in life no fear in death such is the power of Christ in me. What are you ashamed of? What sins you fall into make you so disappointed in yourself? Jesus has freed you from that. You may feel guilt but by the blood of Christ you don’t  need to. And you don’t have to keep doing those sins. You have the power of Christ the King in you. Wow. What a King!

          Listen to what that means. “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!” Jesus the King is a kingdom maker. He takes us that have no claim to greatness or glory and makes us into God’s kingdom. Not a physical place. God doesn’t care about land. God cares about people. We are His kingdom. We get to serve. Wow! What a King!

And while that is a privilege right now it will get even better. As we continue to look at the jewel called Jesus what do we see? “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.” In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “Your kingdom come.” Those of you who remember studying that petition in Catechism class remember that we are praying for the Lord Jesus to rule in our hearts right now and to rule in the hearts of unbelievers. Sometimes that petition is called the Mission petition. A time is coming when no more mission work can be done. It’s when Jesus comes as king in glory at judgment day. Even those who pierced Him will recognize that they were King killers. All those tied to the earth will mourn, wail, kicking themselves for their unbelief. But we won’t. Scripture tells us who believe to look forward to that day.

Look forward to that day because the one we call Savior also says this. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Here Jesus our King assures that He is true God, from eternity, the be all and end all. We lack nothing when we have Him. What a King.

Hold on to Him, brothers and sisters. Value Him. You know we just passed another Black Friday which curiously now begins on Thursday and actually earlier online. People do some crazy things like camping out at Best Buy already starting the Saturday before. All to get a deal. But their joy in that deal won’t last. I saw a great commercial recently that highlighted the temporary nature of joy in things. Maybe you saw it to. It’s the one with the little white smart car wrapped up in a nice red bow. The husband is presenting it to the wife who is so happy until she looks and sees the nice gas efficient luxury Buick driving by. Then the little white clown car doesn’t cut it any more. Funny. Jesus our King will never disappoint. His full worth to us we have yet to see. Are there some crazy things we could do for that deal? How about truly honoring Him with word and worship. Going that extra mile to get to worship? Making sure to listen to Him daily in His word. Wow. What a King. Amen.