I have chosen this sermon, because when I told my 9-year old daughter I was submitting sermons, she remembered this one best.
"You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance.
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord;
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk.
You may be the head of some TV network.
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame.
You may be living in another country under another name.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a construction worker working on a home.
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome.
You might own guns and you might even own tanks.
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Might like to wear cotton, you might like to wear silk.
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk.
You might like to eat cavior, you might like to eat bread.
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody."
Bob Dylan sang this song, "Gotta Serve Somebody" in 1979. He states a point of truth. We all have to decide who or what we will serve. Or as theologian Paul Tillich said, we have decide what our ultimate concern is in life. We come together today, because we serve the Lord. Amen?
Today is Christ the King Sunday. We recognized Christ’s Lordship and Kingship.
Christ the King Sunday was instituted by Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the kingship of Christ as a way of combating the destructive forces of this age. It sounds much like our time, doesn’t it? It is the culmination of the church season. Next Sunday will be the start of a new church season with Advent. It is appropriate that the church years ends, points to celebrating the Lordship of Christ.
Our text from Revelation celebrates the kingship of Christ. It begins by saying, "Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come." We come together celebrating the God of past, present and future, knowing that God holds all of these things in His hands.
Jesus is the ruler of the kings of earth, it states, the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 17:14 and "The Messiah").
"To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father" Christ is worthy of praise and honor because of what he has done for us through his life, death and resurrection.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega." Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Christ is complete. Christ is our beginning and end, our all and all.
It reminds us of God’s answer to Moses. "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ’The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ’What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?" God answers, "I AM WHO I AM." Isaiah puts it this way, "I, the Lord, am first, and will be with the last." (Isa. 41:4)
There’s often these various religious symbols that come up that we don’t always know about like Alpha and Omega. It is more inspirational, obviously, when we know what they mean. Just the other day, somebody called me and asked me what INRI stood for. Well, that’s one of those tidbits of information that I’ve known but often forget. So I had to research it. I found it is the initial letters for the Latin superscription on the cross: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, written at the top of Jesus’ cross.
About a year ago, I went to Israel. There were many inspiring and profound times for me and I’m sure I’ll share more with you in time. One of the more striking was when I went to The Stone Pavement or Gabbatha in Hebrew. It was where Jesus’ trial with Pilate was held. It was striking first of all, because the ceilings were so short. Evidently, the people were much shorter then. However, the most significant part of it was our tour guide’s explanation of what happened that day. His name was Zachariah and it explained to us that in Judaism it has always been important to say the God is king over any earthly king. God is ultimate. So what happens at Jesus’ trial with Pilate is very startling. Pilate asks, "Shall I crucify your King?" They respond, "We have no king but the emperor"--not even God!
How can we make Christ king of our lives? How can He reign and rule in our lives? We have a king that is not a dominating, dictator God but one who gently leads us like the Good Shepherd.
Do the things that we do and say attest to whom we serve? Because we have to serve somebody or something. Do we serve ourselves or things or even just others?
If we live as Christ as King, we don’t need to worry about our lives or try to go around controlling everything. Controlling people are usually very fearful. Christian counselor Melody Beattie lists some of the characteristics of controlling people:
Become afraid to let other people be who they are and allow events to happen naturally.
Don’t see or deal with their fear of loss of control.
Think they know best how things should turn out and how people should behave.
Try to control events and people through helplessness, guilt, coercion, threats, advice-giving, manipulation or domination.
See if you find yourself falling in any of these categories. If so, give that need for control over to God. Allow God to be the one in control. Allow Christ to reign. Allow Christ to be the Alpha and the Omega.
