Sunday
11/24/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “That Simple!”
Old Testament
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-6
New Testament
Scripture: Colossians 1:11-20
Gospel Lesson: Luke
23:33-43
Friends, welcome
once again on this our Christ the King Sunday, and also this our UMC Student
Sunday.
On this Sunday, we celebrate our Lord, our King, Jesus
Christ, in a special way. The history of this special Sunday Christ the King Sunday
is this:
“The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King or Christ the King Sunday, is a
relatively recent addition to the Western liturgical calendar, having been instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI for the Roman
Catholic Church. In 1970 its Roman Catholic observance was moved to the final Sunday
of Ordinary
Time. Therefore, the earliest date on
which it can occur is 20 November and the latest is 26 November. The Anglican, Lutheran, and many other Protestant churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the
King, which is contained in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Roman Catholics adhering to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite use the General Roman Calendar of 1960, and as such continue to observe the Solemnity on its
original date of the final Sunday of October. It is also observed on the same
computed date as the final Sunday of the ecclesiastical year, the Sunday before
the First Sunday of Advent, by Western rite parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. In 2019, the feast day is celebrated on 24 November”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Christ_the_King).
So this holiday or special Sunday in the life of many
Christians Churches, is one that we have only celebrated for about 100-years,
and in many Christian liturgical calendars, including ours, this Sunday is the
last Sunday of the year in Christian calendar. Specifically, in most Christian
Calendars, the Christian year begins on the First Sunday in the Season of Advent
that we will start next Sunday.
In this being the last Sunday of many Christian calendars,
why not celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus existed before time,
came to earth to die for us, and will return in the end of days. Today is the
last Sunday of the Christian calendar, so I can see the connection of how this special
Sunday came about almost 100-years ago.
Starting next Sunday, we will move into the season of
Advent, a season of preparation for the birth of Christ, which occurs of course
on Christmas. On this Sunday, we celebrate that Christ always was, is, that he
came, died for us, and will return one day in glory. As I said, since we begin
Advent next Sunday, we move into a season of the preparation for the birth of
Christ, follow by the season of Christmas that celebrates the birth of Christ.
This Sunday is also a special giving Sunday in the life of
the United Methodist Church called United Methodist Student Sunday. We have
special giving envelopes in our church bulletins for this morning, and you are
invited to give to this special giving Sunday, as the Holy Spirit moves you to
do so. To explain a little bit more about this special giving Sunday, from
www.umcgiving.org, it says about United Methodist Student Sunday:
“Across
the country, the people of The United Methodist Church are serving the people
God loves in Jesus’ name. We’re doing it at home, but so often we’d like to do
more. We want to serve those in other places who are suffering. We want to
offer spiritual words of hope and life. And we want to be well-equipped to do
both! But the reality for most of us is that our responsibilities—home, family,
work—don’t allow us to engage with every need we’d like to meet. Right now
there are UMC young people—who might not have had the resources to attend a
school of their choice, or, for some, any school at all—who’ve been sent by you
into the world God loves because of your giving to United Methodist Student
Day. When you give generously you are supporting these students as they prepare
for a life that unites faith with knowledge. What no one person or
congregation can do alone, we’re doing together”
So once again, there are giving envelopes in your bulletins
for this special giving Sunday. Feel free to put checks or cash in these
envelopes and drop them in our collection plates during our offering for this
morning.
With all of this said, on this Christ the King Sunday, my
sermon is called “That Simple!” I picked this sermon, because I wanted to talk
about on this last Sunday in the Christian calendar, the significance of Christ
and our eternity with him.
To best explain this, I want to reread the last two verses
of this morning’s gospel of Luke reading. In these last two verses of
scripture, Jesus is speaking to one of the criminals on the cross next to him.
This criminal repents to Christ and asks him for salvation and eternity with
him. Once again the last two verses of the gospel of Luke from this morning
says:
“Then he said, “Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you,
today you will be with me in Paradise”
(Lk.
23:42-42, NRSV).
This criminal never went to a worship service with Christ,
was never baptized, never broke bread with Christ, never share the gospel, but
was promised eternity with Christ in an instant. My sermon title for this
morning therefore once again, is called “That Simple!” It’s called this because
Jesus give us freedom, forgiveness, and eternity if we turn to him. If were
broken, guilt or shame laden, Jesus know all about this. He loves and died for
us. If we repent of ours sins and wrong doings, if we turn to Christ as our
savior and Lord, if we follow him, we will live with him for life eternal. How
do I know this? This is promise of Christ himself.
Now hopefully, we go to church, get baptized, or baptize
our children, receive communion, serve others, love our neighbors, give, and
care for each other out of the great love that Christ has put in us.
On this last Sunday in our Christian calendar we are
reminded that Christ is our King, our hope, our light, and the love we share. He
is the one that are look to and to live like. We are to be like Jesus, to love
and love like he did. When we love our neighbor, serve one another, care
deeply, and help each other, we are living as Christ lived. Being in eternity
with Christ, being in heaven, is a free gift through Jesus Christ, but we are
also called to be Christ’s ambassadors on earth. There is a lot of bad things
going on earth, and what is Christ calling us to do about them.
We can’t earn salvation or heaven, it is a free gift
offered openly and freely through Jesus Christ. We are all broken, all in need
of God’s grace, and on this Christ the King Sunday and always, it is freely
offered to us all.
My primary function, among many many other functions as a
pastor, to tell people of the saving grace found in Jesus Christ. I pray that this
love and this graces changes people, so that they may intern change Sidney and
the world.
In our reading for this morning from the Book of Jeremiah,
we have prediction of Jesus coming to be born and reigning. Once again, it says
in Jeremiah 23:5-6:
“The days are surely coming, says
the Lord, when I will raise up
for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and
shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be
saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be
called: “The Lord is our
righteousness” (Jer. 23:5-6, NRSV).
Jesus is
coming soon, to be born, to teach us, to love, to heal, to forgive, to die for
us, to be raised to new life, and he will return again in glory.
We are
reminded of the love and the glory of Christ in our reading from Colossians for
this morning. Once again it says:
“May you be made strong with all the
strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure
everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who
has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the
light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the
kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins” (Col. 1:11-14, NRSV).
Through Jesus, we have new life, new
hope, and this family of faith. Share this love with the world. Invite friends
to join us, and let’s build God’s kingdom here in Sidney and world together.
Our reading from the Book of
Colossians for this morning then ends with telling us, on this Christ the King Sunday,
about the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Once again it says of Jesus:
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and
on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for
him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him
all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased
to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making
peace through the blood of his cross” (Col.
1:15-20, NRSV).
Jesus is King, and through him we have
freedom, love, hope, new life, eternity, and the opportunity to live this life
in great love for others. Our circumstances, our past, our hurts, our sins, our
mistakes don’t define us. God defines us, and Jesus wants to forgives us and
renew us. All we need is faith, and that is enough. Some might say though, so
what about works? Many of us know that in the Book of James that it says that
faith without works is dead. So what of works. Well the great reformer Martin
Luther had this to say about good works in his writing “on Christian Liberty”:
“Good works do not make a good man, but a good man
does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does
evil works” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/735033-good-works-do-not-make-a-good-man-but-a)
Luther also
said of good works:
“God does not need your good works, but your
neighbor does”
(https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/794373-god-does-not-need-your-good-works-but-your-neighbor).
So what is the take away here? Jesus Christ, the
Lord of life loves us so much that he came to earth for us. All we have to do
is trust him, follow him, and love him back. It is “That
Simple!” So why do we help and serve others? Why are part of the church? Not
for salvation, not to earn heaven, but because we are living like Jesus. We are
loving like Jesus. Heaven is free, but there is plenty to do here on earth. Are
we happy with how things are going in the world today? May God use us to bring
people to Christ, and the live like Christ.
This leads me to our
gospel lesson for this morning. On this Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday
in our Christian calendar, we have a gospel reading of the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ. We have some of the horror of what Christ suffered, and we also have a
criminal on a cross who is forgiven, restored, and offered eternal life.
Once again the gospel
lesson for this morning says of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ:
“When they came to the place that is
called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one
on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for
they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his
clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him,
saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of
God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him
sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There
was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews” (Lk.
33-38, NRSV).
I don’t know about you, but if I was
tortured, whipped, and then crucified, it would probably be hard for me to
focus on everyone around me. Amidst this horror that Jesus experiences, Jesus
prays to God the Father to forgive those who are harming and killing him. Jesus
is mocked, is suffering unimaginable pain, and is thinking of everyone else, of
us.
During this account of the crucifixion
from the gospel of Luke, one of the criminals cries out to Jesus mockingly and
one cries out in love and repentance. The gospel lesson for this morning once
again ends with theses criminal crying out to Jesus. This is once again how our
gospel of Luke reading ends for this morning:
“One of the criminals who were hanged
there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save
yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God,
since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been
condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this
man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be
with me in Paradise” (Lk.
23:39-43, NRSV).
The once criminal cries out to Jesus
for forgives, love, and hope, and Jesus says once again:
“Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in Paradise”
(Lk.
23:43, NRSV).
Christ is our King, our savior, our
leader, the one who we should seek to be like, and he will forgive us just like
that if we ask him to. It’s “That Simple!” Since we
can offer Christ our guilt, our shame, our brokenness, our past, our sins, and
our burdens, then we can be set at liberty to love God and others. Jesus came
to free us, so that might free others and together transform Sidney and the
world.
We can do this through feeding people,
clothing people, and serving and helping them. Jesus came to save us, but he has
called us to live our lives like him. May we seek on this Christ the King Sunday
and always to live and love like Jesus Christ. Amen.
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