{"id":11044,"date":"2025-11-17T15:07:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11044"},"modified":"2025-11-17T15:08:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:08:55","slug":"christ-is-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11044","title":{"rendered":"Christ is King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 23:33-43<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does it all end? We are at of the church year. We are looking back and also forward. I remind us that \u201cthe end\u201d has two meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One meaning of \u201cthe end\u201d is termination; it\u2019s over. The other meaning is goal: The end, the goal, has been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ask ourselves both: It\u2019s all done? And we ask ourselves what does it all mean and ultimately where is it all going?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In detective stories there\u2019s a puzzle, a detective, and at the end, the person who committed the murder is caught and punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, there are some detective stories where the criminal escapes. Those stories aren\u2019t satisfying. You want it to work out in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course this is basic to the way we think. Fairy tales have a particular form. They start out: \u201cOnce upon a time,\u201d and they end: \u201cAnd they lived happily ever after.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true for Westerns. And the same is brought out in religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the dying and rising God. Of course, there are problems, obstacles, but it all ends up in some positive way. In other words, God is nice, we are nice, and that\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a famous line from Shakespeare\u2019s play Macbeth, and it comes in Macbeth\u2019s soliloquy after he\u2019s learned his wife has died and his enemies are closing in. He says: \u201cLife is . . . but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life starts out with a big bang and ends with a whimper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that cheery note, let\u2019s see what texts the lectionary committee has given us for this final Sunday of the church year. They give us Jeremiah 23 about the false prophet. A prophet, of course, is simply a preacher. A real temptation for the preacher is, as said often in the Old Testament: \u201cTell us smooth things. Make us feel good. Give us a positive message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the New Testament the pastoral letters talk about another problem, which is that people have \u201citching ears.\u201d We want something interesting. Something different. Entertain us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The preacher\u2019s problem is often called the \u201cNoah problem.\u201d You remember Noah. He built this ark out in the middle of the flat lands, the prairie, and the people scoffed at him. That\u2019s a dumb place to build a boat. But he said: \u201cThere\u2019s something happening; there\u2019s an end coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people scoffed: \u201cShow me! The proof of pudding is in the eating. When it happens, I\u2019ll believe you, but until then, you\u2019re just a religious nut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same thing is happening in this text in Luke 23. \u201cJesus, you say you\u2019re the king? Well, come down from the cross. Save yourself and save us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the Noah problem, the preacher\u2019s problem: \u201cWhy should I believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s even a greater problem than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important places in the Old Testament talks about false prophesy. That place is in Deuteronomy 13:1-5, where it speaks to the fact that some preachers, some prophets will give you a sign. Such a prophet will say: \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll show you,\u201d and it says here that prophet then gives you a sign, does something, and it actually comes to pass, and then he says to you: \u201c\u2018Let us go after other gods\u2019 which you have not known and \u2018let us serve them.\u2019\u201d That one, that preacher, that prophet, is a false prophet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is: It\u2019s not a matter of the sign, the proof. Don\u2019t get fooled by that. The question is: Is it about the true God? That\u2019s what the test is. Not: \u201cProve it to me; show it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then in the end of this text in Jeremiah 23, it says: \u201cWhen the right one comes, when the king comes, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely, and this is the name by which he will be called: \u2018The Lord is our righteousness\u2019\u201d (Jeremiah 23:6). That\u2019s the test. The Lord is Lord. The Lord is the one who makes things right, and anything else that pretends to, that deceives you into thinking that it is, is false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the task of the preacher. It\u2019s not something that I can tell you that you can prove by whatever\u2014some kind of logic, or feeling, or even a miracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, the question is: Is the Lord, Lord?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that we come to this text in Colossians 1:13-20, where it says: \u201cHe is the very image of God.\u201d He is the fulness of God. He is the one who created it all. He is before all things. And the reason he did it and is the one is because he made peace by the blood of the cross. That\u2019s verse 20. That\u2019s why he is Lord, and that\u2019s what righteousness is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s parallel to what Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11. Those verses are a hymn sung by the early Christians, and they go like this: \u201cHe is the one who emptied himself and even took on death, even death on a cross.\u201d And then in verses 9-11: \u201cTherefore . . . at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a different way in 1 Corinthians 15:28, it says that at the end God will be all in all, King of kings and Lord of lords. It says that also in the Book of Revelation and in Handel\u2019s Messiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that mean for you and me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s give this question cosmic perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say that the observable universe is about 93 billion light-years in diameter. How big is that? It\u2019s ginormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We fall into two temptations, two ditches. When you thing of how enormously big it is, who am I? I am so small in comparison that I think I can escape judgment. I am a minute nothing, a tiny grain of sand, so I can do my own thing, because it doesn\u2019t matter in the grand scheme of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, that is corrected by the fact, as it says here in the text, that he came and took on our flesh and our history, that which happens here and now on this earth with you and me, and made it all infinitely valuable and precious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sent his own Son here. That means whatever happens here is really important. It\u2019s not only that he watches over every bird that flies and every blade of grass, but every moment of our lives is precious. He is Lord of that and is concerned about that because of the making him flesh, the incarnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then we can fall in the opposite ditch, which is to say: \u201cMy little kingdom is important.\u201d It\u2019s important to keep here in mind what is said in Mark 13:31: \u201cHeaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the perspective, and it\u2019s there in the Bible. There was the great kingdom of Egypt, and it rose and fell. There was the great kingdom of Assyria, and it rose and fell. There was the great kingdom of Babylon, and it rose and fell. And there was the great kingdom of Persia, and it rose and fell. And there was Alexander the Great. After him there was the Ptolemaic kingdoms. They rose and fell. Then there was Rome, and then after the New Testament there is the great Emperor Charlemagne who came and went. There is Spain which rose and fell; France rose and fell. England rose and fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kingdoms rise and fall, but his word continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true for our little kingdoms, for whatever kingdom you\u2019re building. All of these things come and go. They\u2019re important, but always in perspective. The perspective is that it is his kingdom, and he is Lord. The question is, as in Jeremiah 23:26: \u201cThe Lord is our righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the text and the context, the perspective under which everything comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, recall another place, Psalm 118:6, which says the same kind of thing: \u201cThe Lord is on my side, what can man do to me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parallel to that is in Romans 8:31: \u201cIf God is for us, who is against us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s our comfort, but we remember, too, the flip side is not whether God is on my side, but whether I\u2019m on God\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not my kingdom, me, me, me. But rather: He is Lord and he will be Lord. We may fool ourselves sometimes that he isn\u2019t Lord, and we think we can get by building our own kingdoms and being Lord ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the comfort is: He has made himself Lord by his blood on the cross and that makes everything well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 23:33-43<\/p>\n

A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday<\/p>\n

How does it all end? We are at of the church year. We are looking back and also forward. I remind us that \u201cthe end\u201d has two meanings.<\/p>\n

One meaning of \u201cthe end\u201d is termination; it\u2019s over. The other meaning is goal: The end, the goal, has been reached.<\/p>\n

We ask ourselves both: It\u2019s all done? And we ask ourselves what does it all mean and ultimately where is it all going?<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a> for a pdf version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11044"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11050,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11044\/revisions\/11050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}