Christ the King Sunday
Proper 29
John 18:33-37
"The Real King?"
33 Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"
34 Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?"
35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?"
36 Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world."
37 Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
While taking a tour of Europe, a tourist visited a lovely estate in Italy. He admired the beautiful garden which had been taken care of in a wonderful way. He walked ground the garden, he came upon the gardener and said, " My, you have done a beautiful job with this garden. How long have you taken care of it.
The gardener replied," 25 years."
How often has the owner been to this estate?"
"Four times."
"When was he last here?"
"Twelve years ago."
"But, he must write to you often with instructions?"
"Never."
"Well, who comes to look after things? To make sure things are kept up?
"I am left pretty much alone. I take care of things."
But you keep the garden so lovely that one would think you were expecting the owner tomorrow."
"Today, sir, today,!!!"
"Studdard Kennedy, the great English chaplain used say, "The judgment Day will be when you stand before God and the throne of heaven and God will turn, look you in the eye and say to you, "WELL.!!"
As you can tell from these two stories, our theme today concerns the second coming of Jesus Christ and the judgment which will come to each of us at this time. The first story reminds us that we must be ready or prepared for this coming since we don’t know the time when he is coming again.
And the saying of Studdard Kennedy tells us that we will have to answer for our lives, God will look at us and ask us, "Well"....
How you answer will be very important.
Will you answer that you have lived a good life and try to impress the Judge with all your acts of righteousness? Will you answer that for most things in your life you were righteous. But honestly, there were a few areas that weren’t so good? Or will you fall down on your knees as the Publican did in the temple and declare that you are a sinner only deserving God’s punishment? Then the King of Kings will stretch out His hand from the right side of God’s throne, lift you off of your knees and declare he has taken your punishment and then he will show you the place he prepared for you in his kingdom.
This morning, we are going to look at these 3 responses to the King of kings and God the Father. We can answer, I am the king of my life, or The king and I together control my life, or the King, not I, controls my life .
First I am king. This is the response that acknowledges that I control my own life. This is the response which is seen very clearly in the old Burger King slogan which said, "Have it your way." Or the favorite song by Frank Sinatra, "I did it my way". The slogan and that song speak very clearly of the thought which is very important in our world that I do and can control the destiny of my life. It is the thought that whatever I want, what ever I do, is okay because I did it my way. It is the thought which says selfishness is okay. I need to look out for number one and no one else. It is the thought that success is good, no matter how I achieve it. It doesn’t matter how many people are hurt or treated unfairly in my quest for success as long as I feel good.
This kind of thought is seen in all areas of society. The million dollar athletes who play only when they feel like it, and who use drugs to make themselves feel good or high. The corporate executive who steps on as many toes as possible to climb higher up the company ladder of success. We could go on and on. All of us at one time or another have shown our selfish side when we are king of our lives. No one can tell us what to do or how to act. We can’t see anything around us but our own needs. The welfare of our family or children take second place to our wants, our needs, our desires.
From history one of the people who epitomizes the highest degree of selfishness, personal comfort and an utter disregard for people was Louis XIV. His monument to himself the great palace of Versailles which still stands as a symbol of what severe selfishness means. Louis became king of France at the age of 5. He took the sun as his personal symbol of his rule. France, Europe and other parts of the world Louis thought revolved around him.
He was the most pampered person ever to live on the face of this earth. No one since has known such elegance.
As you stand in front of God’s throne on that judgment day and God looks you in the eye and says, "Well,"
Will you answer that You had life your way, "I did did it my way??"
The next response is probably the most common and in that I think it is the most dangerous; the response which says the King and I control my life. This one seems good but upon closer examination it is really deadly. This response says that Jesus, the King and I control my life. There are areas in life that I turned over to Jesus, most areas of life, but there are some areas which I kept for myself.
For example, a story from the life of Pastor James Bjorge as told in his book Girded With Truth . He says, "I can remember as a child I liked to play in the town cemetery. I liked to drown gophers among the tombstones. ’’Mom was not too fond of this activity. So she made a rule no more playing in the cemetery. One lazy summer afternoon, I found myself without much to do, so I thought of that forbidden cemetery. Off I went, knowing I was doing wrong but reasoned that I had been doing so much right lately, that just this time, I could be bad, and Mom wouldn’t have to know. When I returned home Mom asked where I had been and I told her at a friend’s house. A week past and my guilty conscious got the best of me and I confessed to Mom exactly where I had been. Now don’t misunderstand, I was normally a good boy. But in this one area, I really wanted to play in that cemetery."
We are all like that small boy. we let Jesus be king of most areas of life, but there are some areas, or maybe just one area where we still want control. We are perceived by most people around us as being good, upstanding individuals, but we know in our heart of hearts that there is that one area which we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.
When you stand before the judgment throne and God says "Well"
Will you say, Jesus was king of my life, except sir, except .................
A third response we could make as we stand before the throne of judgment is the one which Christ wants us to make. It is the response which says, Jesus the king, not I, had complete control of my life. This response says I know that I am a sinner in need of complete forgiveness and the only way that is possible is to fall on my knees at the foot of the cross and lay my sins on the back of Jesus. Then, only then, can I feel the mercy, love and compassion of Jesus as He lifts me up and declares that I am free from sins and stand as a redeemed person in the eyes of God.
This response is made when I can let go of myself, turn over my pride, my selfishness, my whole life to the king of kings. This response is possible when I can acknowledge that there is a part of my life I have withheld from Christ’s power. This response is possible when I turn over every dark corner, every hidden thought, every secret wish to the cleansing power of Christ.
When I know and believe that I stand helpless before the king of kings, when I know that in him I can find a friend and Saviour, when I realize I cannot make it on my own, then and only then can the redeeming and cleansing power of Christ wash away my sins completely and I will stand as white as snow before the throne of God. He will see me white and cleansed and as God turns his head to glance at his Son, he will see the image of one hanging from a cross, bloodied, bruised and broken, red with the blood for my sins and your sins. Then from that throne, a hand will stretch forth, and you and I will be led into the kingdom that was prepared for us from the beginning of time.
This is all possible because as the words of a favorite hymn says, "What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer, Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear-- All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer."
As we get to know Jesus as our friend, as we trust him and his saving power, then, then we will be able to turn over every inch of our lives to his loving tender mercy.
When you stand before the throne of God and he says: "Well"
Amen
