Sunday 01/06/13 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “King of
Kings” (The Natures of Christ Series, Part 1 of 5)
Scripture Lesson: Ephesians
3:1-12
Gospel Lesson: Mathew 2:1-12
Welcome
and good morning to this first church service of this new year in the Lord. The
year of our Lord, 2013. As hard as it is to believe, the year 2012 is no more.
It is over, and it will never return.
During 2012,
we all saw a multitude of events and a multitude of leaders make countless
decisions. Some of our recollections of this past year’s events have been
joyous and some have been quite painful. For many of us this past year, we have
put our faith and our trust in our leaders, or our modern day “kings” if you
will. These kings have often let us down. Leaders that we thought were flawless
were caught in scandals and lies. Men that we thought were good men were
reviled to be murders, liars, cheats, and scam artists. Some of us might have even
had those days in 2012 where we thought as the famous quote goes, that the
world was going to you know where in hand basket. I know over the course of my
life time, I have been disappointment when leaders and other people have failed
me. When some of the people that I held in the highest of all esteems feel from
grace, it was crushing for me. I had there poster on my bedroom wall after all.
I remember
when I was a little boy; I remembered thinking that my father was a super hero.
He was indestructible, he was smart, and was the best. While I still hold my
father in the highest esteem today and have tremendous respect for him, he is
not perfect. He has flaws, and as I learned this I felt some of the innocence
of my youth die. I think on some level here on earth, we look to people to be
like Jesus Christ. We often then get frustrated, hurt, or let down when they
don’t measure up. For this reason over these next six weeks I will be preaching
a series called the “Natures of Christ” series, so that we may understand more some
of the different ways Christ comes to us. These ways include for example,
Christ as a miracle worker, Christ as teacher, and Christ as a prophet. This
series will have a break next week, as Arnold Stevens will preach a sermon in
my absence.
On this first
Sunday of the year 2013 though, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus. We
celebrate the visit of the three wise men, which came to Jesus, bringing gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. You see those three magi didn’t visit just any great leader. They
weren’t going to visit General George Patton, President Ronald Reagan, Mother
Theresa, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rather they went to see the Christ
child. He was and is “the Christ,” the savior of the world. The one who came to
remove the sins of the world. The one in whom there is no darkness, no death,
and no let down. This baby comes to us a king. We then know him as the “King of
Kings”. We will soon come to know him in this series as a teacher, a healer, a
prophet, the messiah, and etc. The three wise men however, they went to see the
“Kings of Kings”. The highest king on all of the earth.
Our scripture
reading from this morning comes to us from the Apostle Paul’s letter to church
in Ephesus, and people of Ephesus were called the Ephesians. In the letter,
Paul said, “I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—for
surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given
me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation.” The
Apostle was unique in that he ministered to the gentiles, those whom the Jews
at the time thought were outside of the grace of God. Certainly the Jews would
say though, that Godly leadership could only be found amongst the high priests
in Jerusalem. After all, like our leaders today, they can never be wrong, and
they never make mistakes right? Our leaders never mess up right?
The Apostle Paul went on to say that,
“the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers
in the promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel”. Paul went on further to explain
that God’s grace through Jesus Christ was for all people. That this “King of
Kings” was truly an unwavering and unfailing King, for all time.
In our gospel of Mathew reading from
this morning, we hear the story about the wise men coming to Jerusalem to
behold the Christ Child. As the gospel says, “When King Herod heard this, he
was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief
priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to
be born”. Herod having dark ambitions told the three wise men when he met with
them, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him,
bring me word so that I may also go and pay homage”. The wise men of course
caught on to King Herod’s intentions and after seeing the Christ child they
left Jerusalem a different way. As far as we know Herod never saw them again.
The “King of
Kings” was not going to be killed by the likes of King Herod, for he was and is
the Messiah. The Messiah would decide where he would die and how . Of all the leaders we have ever learned
about, or will ever learn about, none of them is like Jesus, or will ever be
like Jesus. In this New Year, let us resolve to put our trust in Jesus, the
King of all of the earth and all of its people. The one who gave up everything
that we may live. Let us resolve to love more, to care more, and to put our
trust not in the kings of this world, but in King Jesus.
And you know
with all the scandals and all of the hardships of this past year, I have found
that many people find it hard to trust God. Folks that we talk to about Jesus
and church sometimes have a problem believing in Jesus, because they feel like
that he is too good to be true. They say, “I can’t really be forgiven, can I?” They
say, but won’t he fail me to? All the other leaders and people in my life did? You
mean to tell me that this King is truly the one that will not fail us? How can
this be possible they say? Many of these people want concrete scientific proof.
They want unshakable evidence that if they put their faith in the “King of
Kings” that he will never let them down. When I see such folks finally
surrender to Jesus and fully realize that their sins are forgiven, what a
transformation I see. They are freed from the anger, the hurt, the jealously,
the deceit. While we all have a tendency to then pick back up those things, we
have been forgiven. This concept for many after a year like 2012 is a hard
thing to accept and believe though. That Jesus is perfect, that his love never
fails, it never gives up, and it never runs out on me. That there is no greater
love. That this love was worshipped by three wise men who beheld the Christ
Child, on this Epiphany of the Lord.
Let me end this this morning with a
story called TASTE MY JESUS. Here is how it
goes: At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they
have what they called "Baptist Day." On this day each one is to bring
a lunch to be eaten out of doors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist
Day" the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the
Theological Educational Center. One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr.
Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours "proving" that the
resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after
book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the resurrection, the
religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo,
because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who in fact never
rose from the dead in any literal sense.
He then
asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, an old dark-skinned
preacher with a head of short-cropped wooly white hair stood up in the back.
"Doctor, I got one question." All eyes turned toward him. He reached
into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. "Doctor
Tillich ... CRUNCH, MUNCH, my question is a simple question, CRUNCH MUNCH ...
"Now I never read them books you read. CRUNCH MUNCH ... "and I can't
recite the Scriptures in the original Greek ... CRUNCH MUNCH ... "And I
don't know about Niebuhr and Heidegger ... CRUNCH MUNCH. He finished his apple
"All I want ta know is: This apple I just ate ... was it bitter or
sweet?" Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary
scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that message, for I haven't
tasted your apple."
The
white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper
bag, looked at Dr. Tillich and calmly, "Neither have you tasted my
Jesus". The 1000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The
crowd erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and
promptly left.
You see
brothers and sisters, we still have many doubters in this world, but if they
tasted of him, if they tasted of the “King of Kings” then they too would bow
down. They too would surrender and be changed forever. In the name of the King
of Kings, our savior, our Lord, Jesus the Christ, Amen.
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