Good Morning Friends,
Today’s message is about being prepared to answer the call to fight spiritual battles with truth and grace 24/7/365. Here we are to question our culture’s opinion about Truth realizing that too many reject the notion of a spiritual Truth found in scripture. Most people do not really know what to think and believe because they do not prepare themselves by reading scripture and seeking to encounter God. They keep muddling through. Most people do not realize that the challenge is beyond keeping the ninth commandment. They do not get it that for the Christian Truth is a real person who gives us eternal life.
All the noise of the world seems to want to crowd out the legitimacy and integrity and reality of God. One has to pay attention. So, on this Christ the King Sunday it is not so much about a calendar of first and lasts but more like the experience of Joseph who was the last son and the first to rule. It is more like the first born of new reality in a topsy turvy world of Christ who is to rule first in our lives and who as the last necessary sacrifice teaches us how to be a blessing to others. So, Are You Listening To Offer Of Jesus To Free Us?
Scripture: Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’
John 8:31-38 (NRSV)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:1-7 (NRSV)
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17
Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’
John 18: 33-37 (NRSV)
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.
Ephesians 4:25 (NRSV)
Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Ephesians 6:14 (NRSV)
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. 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, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:5-8 (NRSV)
he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you. You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock.
Deuteronomy 7:13-14 (NRSV)
Message: This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the culmination of the liturgical year…but not so much like the end but more like the beginning. In the upcoming week we have Thanksgiving followed by Advent. So, let me wish you a Happy New Year if you follow the “Church” calendar. But for me it seems like we might be rushing through this time glossing over something important to get to the “feel good” time of the “Holidays.” I for one have more questions. I want to linger just a bit longer to better understand the two Messiahs… the Servant and the King. …Ben Yosef and Ben David. Friends, life is full of questions. They are everywhere and run from the mundane to the heavenly. But as Christians I am convinced that we need to be asked and we need to share answers to some basic questions and even some difficult ones. If we think Hebrew, and we should, then today’s scripture should make us a little uneasy. If God is in Jesus, then we have to ask, why does God do what He does? No, I cannot understand the mind of God. I search for answers and the realization that pulls it all together and find that all I can do is stand in awe of God. All I can do is worship God, praise God, and fall down on my knees before God. And yet here I am also left with the image of a Jesus who left people wondering as to who he was and the reality that despite all the opinions He has somehow made sure that I know Him and His heart. And in this tension…in the binding and the loosing of whatever God has already willed in us, Jesus is revealed. In our obedience to His will His message is proclaimed. Friends, put on the belt of truth for without it…without Jesus your armor and sword will fall even before you get to the battle. Listen and learn from Jesus. His truth holds it all together. Learn to read the Word made flesh.
And So, when we bless Jesus by honoring him as our King, Jesus blesses us the more. But the kingdom of God is not of this world. What is relevant for us today in the world is this…. just as Jesus’ coming in the flesh ushered in a new era with new patterns of heaven and new laws that served to uplift people instead of only to reveal our inadequacies, we are to have a personal transformation. Before Christ the sacrifices were required by the LORD, but they had served their purpose in shadowing forth the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. So too in our time we have hints of the future, and they might very well rock our existence if we are not grounded in scripture. Friends, this time of year, this time of unique history is to be a time of rebirth. We like Mary are to trust in God. And we are to overflow with the hope of the Holy Spirit. Let us encourage each other through sharing study of the scripture. Let us be steadfast and focused on that which holds us together so our endurance would carry us to the finish line. Our old ways will fail us. We need to embrace the perfect promise of Christ. We need to change. Everything eventually comes full circle, birth, life, death, and resurrection. So, realize that Christ is not a stumbling block nor foolishness but salvation. Realize that the incarnation may well be an incomprehensible mystery but that the annunciation might well be one of the best ways to gain insight as God reveals in greater clarity the plan for each of us. We may wonder how this can be and then we are to experience the reality that we are never alone, we are part of a greater plan and that being faithful in this leads to greater opportunities to serve God. But the grace of it, the hope of it, is as old as creation itself and as new as our last breath…the reality that Christ paid the price does free us. Here in this story, history and His story and our stories converge in the compassion of the great commandment… a Jesus in a manger, a Jesus on the cross, a risen Jesus…and now Jesus in us ruling.
Pray that we experience God with awe and wonder and pray that we want others to know God too. Pray that we pass it on. Pray that we find ourselves in the newness of relationships with one another because our relationship with Jesus Christ is constantly being renewed. Pray that we be moral in an immoral world. Pray we tell the truth. Pray that we take up the challenge of revealing God’s truth in us. Pray we have the courage to make a commitment.
Pray we listen for the truth. Pray we speak the truth with love. Pray for the light of truth. Pray for harmony in our lives between God’s mercy and truth. Pray for the truth of God’s grace. Pray we respond to the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus. Pray we embrace the central truth of His love that brings us together in the promise of salvation. Pray we belong to Jesus. Pray we speak truth to power. Pray we appreciate when the time fully comes for society to be on the cusp of a new era and the hope of God sending forth his son to come into our lives to transform us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 