November 22, 2020 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. 22 For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. 25 For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” 26 Death is the last enemy to be done away with. 27 Certainly, “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Now when it says that all things have been put in subjection, obviously that does not include the one who subjected all things to him. 28 But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.
Thank God for the Monarchy of Our Merciful King Jesus
We are in the aftermath of an election. Millions of people trying to choose one President to lead our country. We’ve been subjected to commercials and talking heads filling us with all kinds of ideas, telling us all of their secret facts and fears. How will you vote? The future of the country depends on it! Half of the country is filled with hope. The other half is filled with despair. And all over what? A sinful president? A sinful party?
What better promise could we have from God than this, that there will come a day when he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power? These words should make us jump for joy! It is authority and power that divides us, that causes us anger and distress. Jesus promises to get rid of the whole concept when He finally steps on the stage, flexes His muscle and says, “that’s it.” No more presidents. No more parties. No more power plays. Just Jesus.
Where does power come from? They say that knowledge is power. The more informed you are, the better decisions you will make and the more power you will have. Take for instance cigarettes. Now that we know that smoking causes cancer, people can make more informed decisions. They will save money and their health by not smoking. But knowledge doesn’t always control passion and desire. If a cigarette promises relaxation of tension in the moment, the desire may overcome the knowledge.
Knowledge is also not power when you can’t act on your knowledge. It can make you feel very helpless actually. A mother may know that her daughter is making a mistake by deciding to get married to a young man who is lazy and has temper problems. It won’t end well. But her daughter won’t listen to her. She is convinced he is the right one. So the mother, with her knowledge, feels weaker than ever because of her knowledge.
I bring up the concept of knowledge and power, because it all goes back to the Garden of Eden. Satan convinced Eve that knowledge was power. She would be like God if she just had the knowledge that God had. But it simply wasn’t true. The knowledge she ended up with only made her a slave to her own passions and desires.
Indeed, it seems the more seemingly knowledgeable our culture becomes the more foolish it becomes. With all of our claims of being “scientific” we can’t even figure out how many genders there are or who is a boy and a girl when the evidence is clear from Creation. Yet, with their power and politics and social pressure, they will try to enforce their foolishness on us in order to fit a sexual agenda. We know it’s wrong, but there’s not much we can do about it. So there are battles within the human system of who is right and who is wrong, and knowledge really doesn’t have anything to do with it. What’s the good news? King Jesus will get rid of all of this.
The powers and authorities, when used in the Scriptures, are primarily talking about the demonic realm. (Rom 8:38; Col 2:15; Eph 2:2) They are the ones behind all this foolishness and these power plays. God’s word calls Satan the “ruler of the kingdom of the air.” It also says how he prowls around, looking for someone to devour. The book of Daniel talks about how Satan especially works behind the scenes to influence governments. God establishes governments in this world. (Romans 13) He tells us to submit to them as they are put there to reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. Yet Satan knows that if he can control the governments and the schools and the powers that be, including the family and the church, then he can enforce evil and punish good, twisting the power system.
Aren’t we witnessing this exact thing? Social media and major companies are outlawing the truth. The Papacy is endorsing same sex relationships. Governments are enforcing lies when it comes to marriage, sexuality, right and wrong, good and evil. The only evil in our world is to speak up for what God’s Word says is truly right or wrong.
This is nothing new. Daniel was thrown in the Lions’ Den, Paul was thrown in prison, and Jesus was put on the cross. But Paul reminds us that King Jesus is going to remove this system. There will come a day when he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. Yes, these words should make us jump for joy. King Jesus is coming.
But what about those who currently HAVE the power? What about me too? Why would I want Jesus to take away my power? Don’t I have some of that power as a parent and a pastor? I have children that can do the dishes and mow my lawn, and God tells them to submit to me. I have parishioners that love God’s Word and love to be fed, and God tells you to listen to what I say as well. You are told to honor and respect your pastors and teachers. I have the authority to work with you in using the keys of heaven, the power to open and close heaven. What power! Shouldn’t I enjoy that and WANT that?
But that power also brings responsibility! God expects me to raise my children to the glory of HIS name. He expects me to give them a GOOD example, not a bad one. He expects me to look after all of you, pray for you, feed you properly. God tells me, “These are MY children. You are supposed to take care of them the way I tell you to!” And that is not always an easy thing! Children are not always the easiest to take care of!
Talk to any parent of a two year old to a teenager to a grown adult. It isn’t easy! Don’t get me wrong. There are LOTS of blessings that come with this responsibility too. But there are also a lot of CHALLENGES! Not every member of this congregation wants to LISTEN to what God has to say. Not every member wants to DO what God wants you to do! And God says to me, “YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE! I put YOU in charge of these people. You’re supposed to go after them, pray for them, correct them, feed them.” Power brings RESPONSIBILITY, great responsibility. It isn’t easy.
You know that too from personal experience. I’ve seen the sadness of parents whose children have gone astray. They are sometimes DEVASTATED and feel extremely GUILTY because of their failures. I’ve felt the failures in my own dealings with the children that God has wanted me to feed and care for.
It gets worse! I’ve heard of the failures within Catholicism and other denominations as well. Children that were supposed to be cared for were molested! Parents that have sold their own children and left them to die under the system because of their own drug problems. Others have openly handed their children over to the lies that are being spewed by our society, doing nothing to correct such thinking. Children also have quickly and openly rejected the work of their parents who did their best to raise them according to God’s Word. God have mercy on us all for the way we’ve abused our power or rejected good power!
Where was the greatest abuse? Go to Jesus! The religious system that was built to welcome Him and proclaim Him; to acclaim Him as LORD; it ended up rejecting Him as their Messiah. They handed Him over to the government. What did the government do? Pilate saw NOTHING wrong with Jesus and even openly proclaimed Him to be innocent, but decided to hand Him over to death anyway! And WHY is Jesus hanging there in the first place? Because WE - His family of humanity - abandoned our brother and wanted to blame HIM for all of our sins and problems. Why was He there? Because we couldn’t loosen the chains of sin and death from our own necks! You might even take a look at Jesus’ relationship with the Father - He turns to the Father from the garden and the cross, and what does the Father do? He abandons Jesus and leaves Him hanging there on the cross! Nobody comes to Jesus’ rescue, not even His own Father! He hangs there on the cross to die. The systems seem to have completely failed Him and abandoned Him!
And what is the greatest enemy - that which the government and the church and humanity used to try and get rid of God - through death?!? As in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. . . he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” 26 Death is the last enemy to be done away with. But what does Jesus do? He uses the very injustices of the system to work out His own justice on the world, by suffering under it, and He comes out alive! This life then conquers the final enemy waiting at the end of it all, the enemy of death. He promises us who believe in Christ, that after all is said and done - we live - because of King Jesus.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. The Holy Spirit wants King Jesus to conquer your fears of government, your feelings of abandonment, your loss of parents or children. He wants to conquer your fear of Covid-19, to know that in Jesus you will live at the resurrection. When you see Jesus as King, there is no room for fear, is there? Don’t forget who rules this world. As we still live under the systems, Paul promises us that there will come a day when he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. And that leaves Jesus with ALL the power.
They say that power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. Tolkien portrays this so beautifully in his trilogy called the “Lord of the Rings.” One ring holds all the power, and no matter who holds it, it always ends up corrupting. Frodo makes it all the way to a huge lake of fire to throw the ring away, and after struggling against an evil desire for its power, even he caves in and wants to keep the power for himself. Jesus, our King, is so different! After conquering the world through a terrible suffering and death and being proclaimed King of Kings and Lord of Lords, what does King Jesus do?
Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. . . . when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.
Jesus doesn’t jealously hold onto His kingdom and claim all the glory for Himself ALONE. He willingly hands it all over to the Father and says, “Here are the children I died for. Here is the Kingdom I earned, all on behalf of you. They are safe. They are yours.” There will be no power struggles at the end of time. This is what King Jesus came here for, on behalf of the Father, in order to rescue us from this world. The Father is proud. He gladly receives us into His kingdom. The Holy Spirit shouts, “This is the Messiah!” We shout, “Amen!” This is what makes God the complete package for us. It shows us how this whole salvation was not only done by Jesus, but it was done with the approval and commission of the Father, according to the Word of the Holy Spirit.
Think about this when it comes to power and authority. In God’s way of working, power and authority aren’t a matter of who is more powerful than the next. We don’t have to sit under God’s dysfunctional feet as we listen to the Father arguing with Son and forcing Him to do the dirty work. We don’t have to suffer under one Person refusing to do what the other One wants. The Son is not dragging His heels. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together for one thing: for our benefit. This is how a powerful Ruler is supposed to rule, not demanding or flexing His might for His own pleasure, but powerfully doing the weak and painful things in order to win our hearts, working together as One for our salvation.
None of us voted for this King. We didn’t ask for Him to rule. We didn’t put Him in charge. God did. The devil hates it. Our sinful flesh bucks against it too. We’d rather have a God who would use His power to make us successful and conquer our enemies here and now with strength and show. But thankfully, this isn’t up for a vote. This King does things differently. He takes over the world through weakness and death, on a cross! He takes over our hearts with mercy, forgiveness, and kindness. He rules this world in invisible ways that we could never understand, and He promises to put an end to it all some day, when He steps out from behind the clouds and says, “Here I am! Bow before me!”
Here is power - to know and confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior. This is no democracy. The devil will have no say in it. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved by the King, and that’s a good thing. Thank God for the monarchy of our merciful King Jesus. We don’t want it any other way, and that proves that Jesus is ruling in our hearts as well, by his most powerful grace and mercy. Amen.
