Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Revelations 1:4-8
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  November 25, 2018

Once upon a time, there were two men who had a meeting. One didn’t really want to be there, the other wouldn’t have missed this meeting for the world. One man thought he had all the power in this meeting, the other man knew the power was really his. One man was full of skepticism, the other man was full of truth. One man was acting like a king, the other man was a king. It’s a true story. By now, maybe you’ve know the men? The first man was Pontius Pilate. The second man was Jesus. They met one day as Jesus was handed over to Pilate. Pilate wanted nothing to do with this meeting. He told the Jews to handle it themselves. Jesus wouldn’t have been at any other place at this time. It was for this reason that he came to the world, to testify, to save. Pilate thought he was the one who held Jesus’ life in his hands. Jesus knew that he was offering his life as the atoning sacrifice for sin. Pilate was full of skepticism⸺“what is truth?” was his question. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Pilate was the governor, the ruler, in essence the acting king over Israel. Jesus is the King of kings. And that’s what really concerned Pilate, isn’t it? And it’s a question that all of us have. Now, don’t misunderstand me. We don’t question the fact that Jesus is the King of kings like Pilate did. We don’t doubt that Jesus is a King like Pilate did. But perhaps we do have questions about the kind of King Jesus is. Perhaps there are others who wonder what qualifications Jesus has that make him worthy of the title, “King of kings?” What do we tell them? What kind of King is Jesus?

For those qualifications we turn to the book of Revelation. The Apostle John relays his vision from Jesus in a letter to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Listen again to how John begins: “Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

“Grace to you and peace…”  John says to us. Grace is God’s undeserved love and peace is the result of the forgiveness of sins won by that love. “Grace to you and peace…” from whom? “From him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne and from Jesus Christ.” In other words, “Grace to you and peace from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

If you were going to pick one qualification for the King of Kings, the ruler of the kings of the earth, what would that qualification be? I don’t think there would be too much argument that being the One, True God would top the list. And that’s where John starts. He greets us in the name of the Triune God. And if you look, you notice he gives the most attention to Jesus. When you read the book of Revelation, you discover that the book is full of triads or groups of three. The number three is symbolic for God, for the Trinity. Already here in verses four and five, we’ve had three groups of three. The first group described the Father⸺from him who is, who was and who is coming. The second group is the name of the Triune God himself⸺the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. And we notice that the usual order is switched around here. Normally, we find Jesus in the second place. However, John wants to give special attention to Jesus, so he places him last in his list, so he can describe him further.

We see our last group of three as John describes Jesus: “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” That’s some high praise that’s heaped on Jesus! Perhaps John was a little biased. After all, John was part of Jesus’ inner circle with his brother James and Simon Peter. Jesus had often pulled John and the other two aside and gave them special insight that the other disciples didn’t see. John saw Jesus in his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. John went with Jesus further into Gethsemane to pray. John was the one honored by Jesus to take care of his mother after he was gone. So, maybe John was biased some might say. And it’s not unreasonable to ask that question. For those who might question John’s description, we should look at Jesus’ references. If you’ve had to apply for a job, no doubt you had to list references of people you had dealt with so your prospective employer could, “check up on you.” Let’s just look at Jesus’ references for a moment. Ask Pontius Pilate if Jesus is indeed “the faithful witness.” In the presence of the Roman governor, with his fate in Pilate’s hands, Jesus never wavered. He didn’t beg for his life. He didn’t plead for mercy. He was a faithful witness to the truth. “I am, as you say, a king,” Jesus told Pilate. “For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Ask the women who came to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning if he was “the first born from the dead.” As they approached the grave, they expected the large stone at the entrance to be an obstacle, not the evidence of a miracle. And when they got to the tomb, they heard those angelic words, words they probably repeated hundreds of times, words that will be repeated until the end of time: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Ask the apostle Paul if Jesus is really “the ruler of the kings of the earth.”  Paul had a personal encounter with the risen Lord on the way to Damascus. Only God would have chosen a man like him, a man who had “breathed out murderous threats against the disciples” to use that same breath to proclaim the gospel. All of this led Paul to acknowledge that Jesus is a great and glorious king, that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth, that “God has placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.”

The references check out, don’t they!Jesus is qualified as True God to be the King of kings. But is that the only qualification you’d look for? Just because someone has the qualifications doesn’t mean they’ll know how to use them for the best of the kingdom. We need only to look at ourselves to see how that can go wrong. All of us have been blessed with great gifts that we could be using to serve our God by serving our neighbor. Yet, how often don’t we use them for selfish gain? How often aren’t we concerned what’s best for me rather than what’s best for everyone? How often don’t we fail to use the gifts we’ve been given simply because it’s not convenient or because something else is more important? If that’s how we used the qualifications we have, certainly it can’t be qualifications alone. To be the true King of kings, that person must use his qualifications for the good of the kingdom! How does Jesus measure up? Listen to what John says: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”

It’s not too often that kings are pictured as loving their people. They may value them as a commodity⸺but loving them? That’s what separates Jesus from every other king. He does love us. And it’s not just an emotion. Jesus’ love is displayed in action again and again. That’s why he became one of us. That’s why he was willing to go into battle for us. Jesus isn’t the kind of ruler who stays home while he sends the troops into battle. Jesus went to the front lines for us. Jesus battled sin and Satan for us. Christ our King paid the ultimate price for the people of his kingdom. And instead of planting his flag on the battlefield to declare victory, Jesus lifted up a cross, Jesus himself was lifted up on the cross to save us. He was willing as our king to “free us from our sins by his own blood.”

Many kings are jealous of their authority, and with good reason. The pages of history are filled with plots to assassinate kings and overthrow kingdoms. But Christ our King isn’t consumed with his own power. He isn’t obsessed with self-preservation. Jesus has “made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father.” Christ has made us priests and he calls us to action. We are called to worship, to witness, to speak the truth in love, to forgive each other,  to encourage each other, to bear each other’s burdens, to pray on all occasions, to pray for our enemies, to be cheerful givers. But when a Christian hears a long list like that, it can feel a bit overwhelming. “How can I do all that?” And then the guilt sets in. Sometimes, guilt serves a good purpose. In the same way that pain signals a physical problem, sometimes guilt reveals a spiritual problem. Do I spend my time wisely? Do I reach out to others? Am I a good steward of all the blessings God has given me? Do my attitudes and actions show that the real king in my life is me? So what do we do? There is a remedy for guilt. It isn’t trying to cram more activities into your already busy schedules. It isn’t as easy as increasing your weekly offerings by 3 or 5 or 10%. You won’t get rid of all the feelings of guilt in your life if you just try harder to do all the things mentioned earlier. The key to guilt reduction can be found in one little word, “made.” God has made you his child. God has made you part of his kingdom. God has made you his priests. Your salvation is accomplished. Your forgiveness is confirmed. Guilt may come but the King commands it leave because God has made you his. And on top of that, the King of heaven and earth and everything in it made you to help him do his work! God created us specifically to do good works! This is a privilege and an honor! This is what we want to be doing because one day Christ, our great King, will return!

John writes, “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes. Amen.” Only a few saw Jesus ascend into heaven to rule over the world. But no one will miss his return. Jesus, just as he left with the clouds hiding him from view, so with the clouds he will return. Every eye will see him, everyone who physically pierced him, everyone who pierced him with their sins. And those who rejected him, those who ridiculed and mocked him will mourn. They will wail and cry because the reality of their error will hit them. They will realize they rejected the true King of kings.

John closes out our lesson by letting Jesus do the talking. He says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.” It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t call himself a king here. But then again, he doesn’t need to. He lets his qualification and his actions speak for themselves. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And just as the Father was described, so Jesus is described⸺“the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.” On this last Sunday of the church year, we hail Jesus as the eternal, unchangeable, uniquely qualified, supreme ruler of all. When we meet again next Sunday, we enter a new church year and prepare our hearts during the season of Advent to receive our King again. The seasons of the year are changing. The seasons of the church year are changing. But today we pause to celebrate one thing that will never change. Christ is our King, now and forever. Amen.