“Crown Him”
Christ the King Sunday 2009
RUMC
This is Christ the King Sunday. What do you think of when you think of a king?
I came up with a few images:
FROM MY CHILDHOOD:
- Fairy-tale kings: usually powerful with a wicked queen
- King of the hill: the game where the strongest pushes everyone else of the hill
- "king me": checkers king jumps in all directions, taking over and winning
FROM MY ADULT YEARS:
- "The" King - Elvis Presley - of which no more needs to be said -
- King crab, king-sized ..., - the biggest, and best
- King o' the road - a wanderer with no cares
- A chess king - one of limited movement and power to protect
- Historical kings- Henry the VII, George, you know all the others.
The point is when we say “king” it means different things to different people. When we say “Christ the King,” it means different things to people in the church as well.
We might talk about the relationship between our dependence on God and our obedience to God. We might talk about how we can’t begin to be obedient to the King until we understand that we are completely and utterly dependent on Him.
We might talk about the Kingdom of God. What is it? Where is it? I read a beautiful passage this week that said that the kingdom of God is a triangle. The three sides are made up of us, our neighbor, and God. At the intersection of this divine- human- neighbor relationship lays the kingdom of God. Pretty cool. We’ll talk about that sometime.
But today it only seemed appropriate to talk about the coming King.
Do you know why?. . . I have had several people want to discuss with me the movie that has come out called 2012. First, I have to say I haven’t seen the movie. I may when it comes to Grundy, or I am sure it will be on TV eventually, but it just does not interest me all that much. I am therefore not really talking about the movie itself. I do want to address the premise of the movie, which is that on December 21, 2012 at 11;11 am the world will come to a cataclysmic end.
My answer is maybe, but there is nothing any more significant about that date than any of the other 220 dates on which the world was supposed to have ended, but it didn’t. There is nothing more significant about 2012 than the years 2016, 2034, or 2047 during which the world is also supposed to end.
Personally, I believe the world will end in 2011. You see that is the arithmetic mean of all the previously predicted dates for the end of the world; multiplied by Jesus age when he was killed; divided by the weight of the earth in Egyptian debens; times the number of dinosaurs I believe lived on the earth; divided by the number of calories I plan to eat over the thanksgiving holiday. Further, I predict it will be on April 14th just to mess with the IRS.
Does that make any sense to you?
I tell you- from a Biblical perspective, my April 14th 2011 makes just as much sense as December 21st 2012 or any date you might choose. I encourage you to take all of these predictions with a grain of salt.
You can watch all the movies you want. You can read all the books you want. You can even store up food to take care of your family in time of crisis. None of that will hurt a thing. As long as you understand a few things about what God says about the end of the world.
First. It will happen. 2 Peter 3:8-10 says
do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
The New Testament writers, along with Jesus, believed that someday all of this would end. Matthew chapters 22-25 contain many words of Jesus regarding the end times. For instance
1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
That sounds like the end of the world as we know it right from Jesus’ own mouth. You all recognize the book of revelation as being a book with the same message. I think the Bible is clear “IT WILL HAPPEN”
Speaking of The Book of Revelation I want to warn you. Many have gone through the poetic book of revelation and assigned each verse to an historical event or person. Be careful about tying the poetic verses of Revelation to specific, concrete, recordable, historical events. Jesus in the verses just after the ones I just read says,
36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father.
If Jesus doesn’t know the day or the hour, how presumptuous is it to proclaim December 21st 2012 as the end of the world, or for me to calculate April 14th 2011. All of those predictions pretty ridiculous.
The passage from 2 Peter clearly cautions us that he will come like a thief in the night. A thief doesn’t write books, produce movies, make predictions and work off a 4000-year-old calendar before he breaks into a house. A thief sneaks up when you least expect or he isn’t a very good thief. 2 Peter cautions us that the end will sneak up on us.
That is the second thing I want you to know not only First --IT WILL HAPPEN- but second, WE DON’T KNOW WHEN.
All of this 2012 stuff is predicated upon the Mayans observing that the axis of the Milky Way and the axis of our solar system have been twisting closer and closer to parallel. Granted it is amazing the Mayans who existed from 2600 BC (that’s about the time of Noah) to 250 AD even noticed this. Let me tell you, however that’s not as amazing as how the media, the publishing houses and opportunistic businesses who are trying to turn this into a frenzy. Not to mention how some politicians and religious leaders will undoubtedly profit from it. DON’T BELIEVE IT. It is not Biblical, it is not scientific, and it is not even rational. Maybe December 21, 2012 at 11:11 am will be the end of the world, as we know it. But maybe not.
So first I want you to know that the world will end. Second, we don’t know when. Third don’t worry, just be ready. 2 peter ends with these words.
14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
When you hear me preaching read your Bible, pray, stay close to God. Grow in faith. Take risks. This is the reason. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. But we do know that we will be held accountable for our relationship with God and our neighbors. It is not something to worry about. The left behind books, movies and other things you read may scare you about the end times. But the Bible doesn’t make it something scary it says Don’t’ worry, just BE READY.
So IT WILL HAPPEN, WE DON’T KNOW WHEN, WE NEED TO BE READY BUT NOT WORRY BECAUSE finally- in the end God wins. Behold I make all things new.
That brings us back to Christ the King Sunday.
See that crown on the bottom of the cross there. That represents Christ the King Sunday- today. It is the last Sunday of the Christian year. That is why today we talk about the end of time. We talk about the consummation of the earth because this is the end of the Christian year. It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?
The final- ultimate- world ending- apocalyptic- most fundamental truth in all of this is- no matter what you believe. No matter who you are. No matter what we have done. No matter where we have failed. No matter when the world ends or doesn’t end. . . IN THE END, CHRIST IS KING- and GOD WINS.
The near the end of the book of revelation we read,
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
In the end my friends no matter what, God wins and Christ is King- no matter what.
AMEN
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