Did you get the leader you wanted yesterday?
In Australia we have this great privilege of voting for those who lead our country.
Generally we vote on how we perceive things.
Whether they are true or not?
Our votes are often based on what we want.
Some times we even vote to seek some revenge, even if we don’t fully agree for the party we vote for.
And if we are enticed by the things the politicians will promise us.
Higher pensions, bigger tax cuts, a lap top, better education, cleaner environment, and the list goes on.
How many billions of dollars were promised during this election campaign?
Some of you will also be disappointed with the result.
Well there is something we need to remember.
No matter who won the election,
Jesus is king over everything.
Jesus can never lose his seat as king.
Jesus is even king of the politician who despises him.
He is king of the environment.
He is king of the financial system.
He is king over everything.
Listen again to some of the God’s word from Colossians chapter 1.
All things in heaven and on earth were created by him.
All things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers.
All things were created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.
A question I want you to consider.
How seriously do you take the statement that Jesus is king of everything.
Not just in this hour or two we spend together.
But how seriously do you consider that Jesus is king over all parts of your life,
of everything that is happening in the world.
Take a moment to reflect!!
There a couple of ways to look at this
The first is,
We should Jesus first in everything!!
How often do you do that?
When you are considering anything in your life, how often do you say what is God saying about this or that.
One of the ironies about our relationship with God is that he won’t force himself to be first.
Just look at the way he reacted when he was on the cross.
He could have saved himself, but instead he chose to save me and you.
But if we aren’t putting Jesus first,
we are the ones who suffer.
We are the ones who miss out.
If we neglect worship because of another event, sport, family celebrations we are the ones who will suffer.
We are the one who will miss out hearing God,
on receiving his forgiveness
missing out on the goodness God gives.
We are the ones being distracted away from God and the eternal life he offers.
Putting God first is one way we need to look at life.
Another way is
when trouble happens,
remember God has power over it.
There is nothing God does not have power over.
Now this world has experienced some pretty terrible events.
Some widely known and some not so widely known.
But when we encounter difficulties remember that God is with you.
In a few weeks time you will hear the words as you go through shops and on the radio of many Christmas Carols.
Some of those songs will have the word Immanuel in them.
Do you know what Immanuel means?
It means God is with us!!
The King is with us.
Isn’t that great news…the king is with you!
Imagine if everywhere you went last week the Prime Minister or the Opposition Leader was with you!!
You probably would have had a few free coffees plus a few other things.
Well as Christians we have something far better, we have God.
God is always with us.
Now some of you maybe saying so why do I experience bad things in my life.
The problems in our life are not caused by God.
They are the result of sin.
Sin from others and Sin that we mingle with.
Also remember earth is not our permanent home.
We are visitors to this place.
Secondly and more importantly God’s focus is not just on pleasing us now.
His focus is on salvation.
In John chapter 3 Jesus clearly says he came into this world to save the world.
And this approach from God can be best seen in his interaction with the two thieves on the cross.
One thief was only interested in pleasing himself today.
He said something like this.
‘Come on Lord if you are really the Messiah.
Get us off these uncomfortable things.
Get us down from here.’
There is no doubt Jesus could have done that.
But it was not part of His way.
It was not part of the plan.
Imagine where we would be if Jesus had done that.
There would be no cross, salvation through Jesus.
From time to time we act like that thief.
We want things now, our way.
We want a comfortable lifestyle.
A comfortable religion.
We are not happy with God,
unless God, the church, other Christians live by the position description we have designed for Him and them.
And we get what we want.
But today’s reading is a wake up call,
that Christianity is not about what getting what you want.
Christianity is not necessarily about having a comfortable life.
It is not about participating in worship, church when it suits,
but it is about being involved in a trusting relationship with Jesus, no matter what is happening.
Yes Jesus does help us.
Yes he does provide for us.
But he doesn’t always give us what we want.
But he always gives us what we need.
On the other side of Jesus was the other thief.
This thief recognized that there was something special about Jesus.
That there was something special about Jesus that extended beyond this life.
That Jesus had unbelievable power.
So he simply asked Jesus to remember Him when he came into His kingdom.
On the one hand the thief asked simply to be remembered when Jesus went into his kingdom.
And Jesus’ response sums up his purpose as your king and my king.
‘Today you will be with me in paradise’
‘Today you will be with me in paradise’
In this one sentence the nature of God is revealed.
God does not require perfection.
He requires trust.
God gives eternal life to those who trust he can make heaven possible for them.
And like the thief when we trust Jesus we gain far more than we ask for.
So as you live, here are some questions to consider.
Do you have a relationship with Jesus that is only concerned about today?
Or is it a relationship that has God’s kingdom in mind?
Do you saturate your life with activities, work, your interests, your ways?
Or do you saturate your life with God’s ways, God’s love, God’s forgiveness?
Are you more interested in how you look, how others see you?
Or are you interested that your friends and family will be with you in God’s kingdom?
Now as I said earlier Jesus will not force himself on us as a leader or a king.
And he is the king of everything.
However we have a choice whether we recognise him as king or not.
And the following story may help us.
A person in Africa became a Christian and some of his friends asked him, "Why have you done such a thing?"
He answered, "Well, its like this: Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions. You didn’t know which way to go; and there at the fork were two men-one dead, and one alive-which one would you ask to show you the way?"
Yesterday a number of candidates were elected who had not just been focused on winning an election for the last 6 weeks.
But were focused on winning an election for most of their lives.
One of those elected is now 40, for the last 21 years he has been working towards a life in federal parliament.
He had a long term view.
He encountered many difficulties, but these difficulties were always seen in the light of the long term view.
And as a disciple of Jesus Christ it is important that we have follow God for the long term, with a long term view.
A view that sees problems as little pebbles in the road to salvation and not rocks that prevent us from receiving salvation.
Because unlike every person elected yesterday, Jesus will always be king.
And unlike every person yesterday, Jesus will deliver on his promise to give you eternal life.
Let us pray and give thanks that Jesus is our king.
AMEN
