500: Years of Christ

“Hail to the king!”

Jesus looked up - focusing with the one eye that wasn’t bruised and bloodied shut.
Before him stood of group of men – faces filled with mockery and sheer vileness.
He heard a raucous laughter coming from behind him.
 
“What a fool!  Can you believe this guy thinks he’s a king? Why did his own subjects hand him over then? Why do they want him dead? And why don’t they stop me from doing this?”

His question was followed by a heavy THUD as he brought his make-shift wooden scepter down upon the back of Jesus’ shoulder.
It caused the Messiah to fall into the ground.
After a moment, his arms pushed to hold him up as he wallowed in blood and dirt.

To be fair – the soldiers were right: He didn’t look like much of a king.

The crown he was wearing wasn’t of gold, but of old, dried up thorns – penetrating the circumference of his head.
The robe he was wearing wasn’t made of expensive purple dyes, but a muted blood red from a rag that had soaked up the last prisoner’s wounds.
The scepter – it wasn’t a scepter, but an old stick.
And it wasn’t in his hands – but (THUD)…
 
…the make shift-scepter came into contact with his body once more.

This was the King of the Jews?
The was the Monarch of Millenia?
This was the ruler of all eternity?
 
You better believe it was.

Today we’re finishing up our 500 series by looking at an important truth that was reinvigorated through the work of Martin Luther. At a time when political infighting led to various rulers and influences throughout Europe, a time when the Pope claimed ultimate authority in church matters, a time when the people prayed to Mary and Barnabas and Ignatius and all kinds of dead people for help controlling their lives -- Luther rediscovered one precious truth:

There is no king but Jesus.

Today we learn why Jesus is the real king and how subjecting yourself to him is a blessing in our temporal and eternal lives. Before we dig in, join me in prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The King of Life
Take a look with me at 1 Corinthians 15. It’s a letter written by one of the apostles, a pastor named Paul – who actually saw Jesus in a much more glorious light than we talked about before. He saw Jesus after he died and came back to life. He saw him in his resurrected glory. Listen to how he describes Jesus’ kingship in verse 20:

…Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
 
A couple of notes:
 
First it says Christ has been raised from the dead. Two implications: (1) Jesus was dead. That’s something that those soldiers we heard about earlier ensured and (2) he had come back to life. Something that over 500 people witnessed and saw in real life – including, but not limited to the guy who wrote these words down.

And if Christ ahs been raised from the dead, then implication (3) Nothing can keep him down…because death tends to take down even the greatest kings in history.
 
Julius Caesar? Killed by conspirators. Stayed dead.
Alexander the Great? He caught typhoid fever.  Died and Stayed dead.
Genghis Khan? He fell off a horse. Died and stayed dead.

Jesus? He died on a cross, but then three days later he came back to life.
 
But Jesus won’t be the only one to conquer death. The next part says that Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

“Firstfruits” is a harvest term. It refers to the very first of the crop that appears at harvest time. So – from a Thanksgiving perspective – it’d be like the very first piece of pumpkin pie that appears at the table. Granted – even if that first pie piece goes to Uncle Herb – at least you know that there’s pumpkin pie. The sight of it is good news.
 
Jesus’ resurrection was the first fruit resurrection. He was the first to brought forth from the ground – alive. He won’t be the last. He promises that all who believe in him will be raised as well. In fact, Scripture continues:  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
 
Two things:

Adam, the first human, is like the king of death. He sinned and passed on sin to his children. We are sinners, too.
And since the wages of sin is death, he died and every human after Adam has died. We will die, too.

Unless…we follow a different King.
Unless we follow Jesus.

Because He is the king of Life – not death.
That’s why when he died – he came back to life.
He will bring all who believe in him out of death to life in heaven.

You get this picture of a king riding his white stallion out of a dark valley and into a beautiful field of light.
If you’re following Jesus, that will be you too. Your king will lead you out of death.

He will lead you out of cancer.
He will lead you out of old age.
He will lead you out of any death including thing in this world.

He will lead you out of death to life! Because Jesus is the king of life. 

II. The King of Conquering  
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
 
Remember – the pronoun hasn’t changed. It’s still talking about Jesus. And essentially the next point is pretty logical.

If human kings and authorities are more powerful than the humans they rule over…
And death is more powerful than any human king or authority…
And Jesus is more powerful than death, then…
 
Human authorities versus Jesus isn’t even a match up really…
It’s a blowout.

That’s why the Bible says a time will come when Jesus will destroy all dominion, authority and power.
 
No matter how evil.
No matter how powerful.

He’ll overpower terrorism.
He’ll overpower racism.
He’ll overpower nuclear weapons.
He’ll overpower chemical weapons.
He’ll overpower suicide bombers, bomb vests and mass shootings.

Jesus will conquer all of this evil –
because He is the king of conquering.

In fact, he won’t have finished his reign until he defeats all authority. The next verse says this: he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
 
Who are His enemies?
Sin.
Death.
The devil.

The things that threaten to separate you from Him eternally.

But Jesus beat sin on the cross.
He already defeated death on Easter.
He overpowered and shackled the devil by his victory.
One day – on the last day – he will conquer death – once and fall all. 

Which…hopefully isn’t you.
Because sin is nothing more than a rebellion against your King.
If have sinned this past week, you’ve rebelled against the undisputed King.
You’ve done what his enemies do.
If you keep it up, He will conquer you.
 
But if you lay down your weapons…
If you stop fighting your King…
If you humble yourself at the feet to the Undisputed Champion...
If you follow Jesus, He will fight for you.  

That temptation that you can’t seem to beat? Jesus will conquer it.
That guilt that keeps you up at night? Jesus will destroy it.
That fear of death that you have will be punched square in the face and knocked out cold.

III. The King of Humility
How do you know that the Undisputed King will share victory with you?

Most kings are too powerful to care about the common man.

But not Jesus. Jesus humbled himself.

In fat that’s exactly how this section finishes via some very theological language. Read with me: For he “has put everything under his feet.”  That’s talking about Jesus taking complete control at the end of the world. Then it continues: Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, (aka God the Father) because God the Father put everything under Christ. Meaning Jesus is the ultimate authority, but he doesn’t hold authority over God the Father.

He’s not like some evil prince who can’t wait to use his authority to throw his Father, the King out to pasture.
No.
Jesus, who has all authority, submits his authority to the Authority of the Father.

He humbles himself.

In fact, look at what will happen next on Judgment Day:
 
When he has done this, then the Son himself (again…that’s Jesus) will be made subject to him who put everything under him (That is The Father), so that God may be all in all.
 
God the Father humbly gives up his authority to Jesus.
Jesus, the Son humbly subjects himself to the Father.

Perfect Trinity.
Perfect Authority.
Perfect humility.

That’s the same kind of humility that Jesus showed in our opening scene.
Because if he had the ability to conquer death, to conquer sin, to conquer the devil, to drive out thousands of demons, stop storms, and walk on water – make the lame man walk, the blind man sea and drive out the deadly disease of leprosy –
 
You’d think a couple of Roman soldiers would be no big deal.
And they weren’t.

But Jesus humbled himself.
He completed God’s plan.
He did this to save you.

Even as the King of Life itself.
Even as the King of all Conquering.
Even as the Undisputed Champion with authority…
 
He humbled himself to your needs.

He humbled himself that you might be with Him.
He humbled himself that He might call you brother.
He humbled himself that He might call you sister.
He humbled himself that he might call you FORGIVEN.
 
To be fair – that’s how politicians tend to be elected. They make all kinds of promises to the common people.
They promise to lower taxes.
They promise to make life better.
They promise to protect them.

And they deliver on about 3% of these promises.

Jesus delivered on 100% of His promises.
He promised immense blessings for you.
He won immense blessings for you.
Even if it took his own death to accomplish it, Jesus would not be deterred.

He loved you – that much.

IV. WHAT NOW?

​Follow the ONLY King  
One simple truth this week - Subject yourself to your King!

Here’s a few simple truths:

Jesus is the King of life.   
If you prefer eternal death, keep following your own sinful desires. That’s where you will end up.
If you prefer eternal life, stop following yourself – follow the King of Life.
Follow Jesus.
 
Jesus is the Undisputed Conqueror.
If you prefer to be conquered, go ahead and keep challenging him. He will have no problem destroying you.
If you prefer to have your spiritual enemies defeated, follow Jesus – follow the Conqueror.

Jesus is the King of humility.
If you prefer to be humiliated, continue to seek glory for yourself on this earth.
If you prefer to be glorified, humble yourself – follow, trust, and subject yourself to Him.

This is easier said than done.

For instance, Martin Luther…he certainly had plenty of reason to think of himself as king.
He had a growing movement of thousands of Protestants behind him.
He had rejected the authority of the Pope.
People were looking to him for the next steps it the Reformation.
In fact, people began to identify themselves as Lutherans.
 
Luther could have let this go to his head.
He didn’t.  Instead:  

I ask that my name be left silent and people not call themselves Lutheran, but rather Christians. Who is Luther? The doctrine is not mine. I have been crucified for no one. St. Paul in 1 Cor. 3:4-5 would not suffer that the Christians should call themselves of Paul or of Peter, but Christian. How should I, a poor stinking bag of worms, become so that the children of Christ are named with my unholy name? It should not be dear friends. Let us extinguish all factious names and be called Christians…
 
That’s a good reminder.
Because we are Lutherans, we remember we are Christian first.
Because Christ alone is king.
Christ alone is our Savior.
To Jesus be the glory! Amen.