Pastor Sherry’s message for November 24, 2024

Scriptures: 2 Sam 23:1-7; Ps 132; Rev. 1:4-8; Jn 18:33-37

Many of you met my houseguest, Elizabeth, last weekend.  She is a therapist I befriended at Honey Lake and had been recruited by them from Vermont (we’ve both since stopped working there).  When I learned she had never been to a major college football game, I invited her to attend last week’s Gator game against LSU.  It was a great game!  UF won in a surprise upset.  We both wore Gator shirts and hats, and I was amused to see her get so into the game, the cheers, the big crowd atmosphere.  We joked that the 90,000+ fans present outnumbered the entire population of the state of Vermont!

I must say, however, I became a bit frustrated by the lyrics to the UF alma mater, which I had never before really noted.  We were singing along to the words posted on the stadium “jumbotron.”  The last line states, “There’s no other name so glorious, all hail, Florida hail!”  It immediately hit me, “I love the Gators, but just a minute…there’s no other name so glorious?”  Are you kidding me?!!  How about the name of Jesus?

Similarly, if you follow professional fights, the announcers invariably use all kinds of hyperbole to introduce each fighter.  You’ll see them grab a mike lowered from above and shout out something like… 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are liiiiiiivvvveeee! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Iiiiiiiit’s TIME! Introducing out of New York City, he is the reigning, defending, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the one, the only, the infamous [fill in the blank] !!!” The crowd goes crazy.”

But let your imaginations go and consider what if he instead shouted this: “Ladies and Gentlemen, kings and lords, nations of the world, we are liiiiiivvvveeeee! This is the moment you have all been waiting for. It’s time! Introducing out of Bethlehem of Judea [having endured death on a Cross for our sins, and having risen from the dead 3 days later, we have the one, the only Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, our Savior!!!]

(Concept and dialogue borrowed fromproclaimsermons.ccsend.com, week of 11/18/2024)

Wouldn’t that be something to amaze us and to applaud?  Today, the Church does just that.  Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday.  It’s the final Sunday of the Church calendar.  Next Sunday we begin Advent, the time of commemorating the birth of Jesus, the “starting place” of the Christian Church.  No jumbotron/fight announcer proclaims it…but all of our readings today acclaim Jesus as greatest King of all times!  Follow along with me to see or hear how this is so.

A. Our Old Testament reading comes from 2 Samuel 23:1-7. These are the last words King David spoke publically.  They are prophetic and humble words.  King David reminds us his father was not a king, but a farmer and sheep-breeder.  He expresses gratitude that God raised him up to become Israel’s 2nd king (reigning after Saul for forty years, from 1010-970 BC).

In verse 3, he acknowledges that the Holy Spirit anointed him as a prophetic spokesman for God.  The Lord told him how a righteous king was to rule, and that he and his descendants would continue to rule over Israel until and unless they stopped worshipping and obeying God.  David says in verse 5 that he knows his family is not worthy—and they weren’t—all but 5 became idolaters!  So, his dynasty died out when Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians in 587BC.

Instead this last public statement becomes a prophesy of the One Who is worthy.  Many generations after King David died came Jesus, David’s descendant, the One King David called “Lord.”  God had promised him (2 Samuel 7:12) that the Messiah would come from his lineage.  (Both Jesus’ mother, Mary, and His step-father, Joseph, were poor descendants of David’s.)  Jesus would be the King that Isaiah will later call, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (think “Halleluia Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah).

B.  Psalm 132 celebrates God’s faithfulness to King David.

The psalmist is unnamed, so not King David.  In verses 1-5, he describes David’s greatest ambition as king: to build a house, a Temple, in Jerusalem for God.  He recalls for us in verses 6-9 how the ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem, how the Temple was built (by Solomon), and how God, who is omnipresent, made His particular presence felt there.

Next the psalmist reviews God’s covenant with David:  His line shall continue as kings of Israel provided they do not stray from God—which, as I said earlier–they did.   Unfortunately, most of David’s descendant kings became disobedient idolaters so God brought their reigns to an end.  But, as Isaiah prophesied (in 11:1, NLT)—Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 

Then he culminates with this assertion in verses 17-18—…My Anointed One [Messiah, Jesus] will be a light for My people…He will be a glorious king!  Like King David, the psalmist–who celebrates David’s relationship with God—prophesies that David’s most famous descendant will the greatest king of all!

C. The Apostle John wrote Revelation (1:4-8).  It is a narration of what he saw in a Sabbath-day vision.  Late in his life, he was on the prison island of Patmos, praying, when the Lord Jesus appeared to him.  He obediently wrote what he was shown and now addresses this revelation to the churches in Asia Minor with whom he was associated (as Bishop of Ephesus).  The revelation was given to him by Jesus Himself. 

In it, Jesus tells John that He is (v.8)—the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end.  Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Jesus is saying He’s the A to Z, the complete package, all we have ever needed for salvation, blessing, and peace.

Earlier (v.5) John tells us that Jesus is—the faithful witness to these things [what is to be revealed], the first to rise from the dead [and not die again, like Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the widow of Nain’s son], and the ruler of all the kings of the world.  There it is! John is stating that there is no king greater than Jesus.

D. Finally, we have Jesus’ own words in John 18:33-37.

King David, the psalmist who penned Psalm 132, and the Apostle John all testified that Jesus is the greatest of all kings.  Now Jesus Himself, on trial before Pilate, states that He is a king, but not a political one (v.36)—My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.  If it were, My followers would fight to keep Me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders.  But my Kingdom is not of this world. 

Pilate, a cynic, probably didn’t know what to make of this, but he appeared to realize Jesus was not a threat to Roman rule—but rather to the authority of the Jewish religious establishment.  This side of the Cross, we know that Jesus is King over a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.  And that His rule will manifest all over the earth when He comes again in all of His sovereign majesty. 

While today is Christ the King Sunday, we also celebrate Thanksgiving this week.  This is a good time to remember to thank God that Jesus is our King.

Just prior to this sermon, we sang the hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God.” 

“This particular hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. [The 30 Years War was a war fought between Catholics and Protestants over which brand of the faith would take precedence in Europe.  I cannot think that Jesus would have ever commended Christians for fighting Christians.]  The hymn’s author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony

“Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue.

“In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg’s agony, he was able to write this hymn:

Now thank we all our God,

with hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom the world rejoices

…[So] keep us in His grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

“Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God’s love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God’s promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell.”

(Erskine White, Together in Christ, as shared by www.sermons.com, 11/18/2024)

If this man can celebrate God and thank Him in the midst of death, famine, overcrowding, and chaos, can’t we do the same?  By comparison, our lives seem relatively trouble-free.  Let’s remember all we have to thank our God and King Jesus for as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams