Good morning. Turn with me to Matthew 28 in your pew Bibles, page 835.
This morning is the third week in our mini-sermon series on the person of Jesus as prophet, priest,
and king. Broadly speaking, in the Old Testament, the priest came from the tribe of Levi, the kings
came from the tribe of Judah, and God raised up prophets when and how He wanted to. And occasionally,
one individual would come close to embodying all three roles in one person. Think people like David
or Samuel or Moses, but what we see in Jesus is that He embodies these three roles completely.
The prophet who speaks and reveals God's Word to us, the priest who intercedes for us,
and represents us before God, and our King who rules over us with justice and mercy.
And so, this morning, we're focusing on that final theme, the theme of Jesus as our King.
We'll be looking at a few different Scriptures, but let's start by reading the end of Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 28, starting at verse 16. Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee,
Galilee, and the eleven disciples went to Galilee, and the eleven disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
So, I have a very simple outline for this morning. Number one, why we need a King. Number two, how Jesus
has become our King. Number three, why that's good news for us. So, first, why we need a King.
And I want to start by saying we need a King for two reasons. Number one is we flourish when we live
under an authority above ourselves. If you look back to Genesis 1, Genesis 1 presents God as the
sovereign Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, the one by whom and through whom all things were made.
And as our Creator, God is infinite. We are finite. He is the eternal Creator. We are His creatures.
And therefore, we're responsible to love Him and obey Him. Now, of course, when we hear that,
we are responsible to obey something outside ourselves. Many of us object, right? Isn't there
something inside us that says, I don't want someone else telling me what to do. I want to be my own King.
I want to rule my own life. I know what's best for myself. Obedience is oppressive. And, you know,
this isn't just a modern American attitude. It goes, according to the Bible, it goes all the way back
to Adam and Eve, a long-standing human tradition. God had set the boundaries in the garden. You can eat
from any tree in the garden except one. But Eve decided that she should take the decision into her
own hands and decide for herself what was wise and good. And Adam went right along with that,
was in agreement with that. They chose to make themselves the center of order and the source of
wisdom instead of living under God's authority. But let me ask this question. All right, we have
this instinctive reaction that we don't want someone else to rule over us. But when we behave
as if no one should have authority over us, as if the meaning of life is ultimately determined by
ourselves, do we really flourish as human beings and as a society? I mean, young children don't
flourish if they're allowed to stay up however late they want, watch as much TV as they want,
eat as much sugar as they want. You learn that pretty quick as a parent. All right, a workplace
doesn't function well when every employee acts as if they have personal veto power over any decision
that involves them. And a marriage won't be very happy if one or both partners think that the
primary goal of the marriage is to maximize my individual happiness. A single person will tend to
be shallow if they focus on maintaining their freedom from external commitments. Single people
flourish when they link themselves to and play vital roles in a broader community. Now, in our modern
Western world, sometimes this ideal of being our own king, ruling our own lives, individual autonomy
is idealized. But, you know, I think it's not as satisfying as it's made out to be. A couple of
years ago, David Brooks wrote a New York Times editorial on this topic, and he said this. He said,
in commencement speeches, college graduates are routinely told, follow your passion, chart your own course,
march to the beat of your own drummer, find yourself. But this mantra misleads on nearly every front.
College grads are often sent out into the world amid rapturous talk of limitless possibilities.
But this talk is no help to the central business of adulthood, finding serious things to tie yourself
down to, like a spouse, a community, or a calling. Graduates are told to be independent-minded and express
their inner spirit. But, of course, doing your job well sometimes means suppressing yourself,
being part of a team, following the rules of an institution, going down a checklist. Graduates
are told to pursue happiness. But when you read a biography of someone, it's rarely the things
that made them happy that compel our admiration. It's the things that they did that were hard
and even miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred, yet in the end,
were worth it. It's excellence, not happiness, that we admire most. And he concluded his editorial
by saying this, the purpose of life is not to find yourself, it's to lose yourself.
Now, even though we make great against it, I think the reality is we're designed to flourish
under an authority greater than ourselves. And we don't do well when we try to make ourselves
the ultimate authority. So, that's the first reason we need a king, is because we flourish when we live
under a good authority beyond ourselves. The second reason we need a king, according to the Bible,
is that as we live under God's authority, we're also meant to exercise authority in God's world.
Again, if you look back at Genesis 1, verse 26, God said,
let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the heavens, the livestock over all the earth. In the ancient world, it was common to
describe the king of a nation as the image of God. But the Bible says not just the king of a nation
bears the image of God, but every human being, male and female, bears the image of God and is called
to exercise authority in some way or other over God's creation. But of course, just as in our rebellion,
we sometimes resist the idea of someone else ruling over us, in our reticence, we sometimes refuse
to take responsibility to rule rightly in the world. And isn't that also what Adam and Eve did
in Genesis 3 when they disobeyed God's command? God had said to them, have dominion over the earth
and its creatures. God placed them in the garden and said, work it and keep it. Take care of it.
Guard it. Exercise authority within it. So when that sneaky little serpent came to them
and started twisting God's word and mocking God's goodness and denying God's reliability,
what were Adam and Eve supposed to do? They were supposed to take up their God-given authority and
kick him out and say, you don't belong here. You are not living, and we have the right and authority
under God to say, no, we are not going to follow you. But what did they do instead? They held back.
They engaged with him on his own terms. They were gradually swayed by his distorted perspective
that maybe God really wasn't that good after all. And finally, they yielded to him when they should have
exercised authority over him. What's the point? The point is humanity's original failure and the way
that we continue to fail as human beings is both a matter of rebellion against God's authority or pride
and also a refusal to accept our responsibility and authority in God's creation. We might call that
sloth. Now, sloth is an old word, and most of us think when we hear sloth, we think laziness,
being a couch potato, right, laying in bed all day for no good reason. But sloth is actually bigger
than that. It's more like apathy. And so sloth can be expressed by an idleness, staying in bed all day
for no good reason, but also in a frenzy of meaningless activity or constant distraction or
avoidance of responsibility. And when we think about it, aren't we often reticent to take up our
authority and responsibility, for those two things are always meant to go together, over the world that
God has put us in. Perhaps the first part of God's creation over which God makes us responsible is our
very own physical bodies. But how often do we allow our bodily desires, our cravings for food, our desire
for sex, to rule us rather than us taking responsibility for our bodies and presenting them to God as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him? Or how often do we let our emotions control us and drive us and overwhelm us?
Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, he said, most of our unhappiness in life is caused by us listening to ourselves
instead of talking to ourselves. He said, take the example when you wake up in the morning and all the thoughts
that come into your head. Anxious thoughts, fearful thoughts, distorted thoughts. Maybe I don't want to get
out of bed after all. He says, you have to take yourself in hand and preach to yourself. Question yourself.
Say to your soul, why are you cast down? Exhort yourself. Hope in God instead of muttering in this depressed
and unhappy way. And then he says, remind yourself of God, who God is and what God has done and what
God has promised to do and then defy yourself and defy other people and defy the devil and the whole world
and say with the psalmist, I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
But, I mean, how often do we really do that? Right? Most of us fall short of that.
Often. Another example. What about the decisions that God has placed within our responsibility to discern?
Decisions like whether and who to marry or what kind of career to pursue. All kinds of decisions that are
that require wisdom and discernment. But there's not a particular biblical command
that tells us exactly what to do one way or the other.
Are we wanting God
to be like a GPS
and tell us exactly what to do
and exactly where to go and exactly
when to turn and leave nothing unclear or
ambiguous?
But God has not promised to be our GPS.
He's promised to be
our Heavenly Father and He wants us to grow
into maturity and
take that responsibility
to, within His boundaries,
discern what is best.
When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden,
He didn't say,
when you wake up in the morning,
you need to listen to my voice and I'll tell you which tree to eat from that day.
No, He said, you can eat from any of the trees in the garden.
You have this wonderful freedom
to eat from all the trees in the garden
except one tree that belongs to me,
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
that represents God's authority
to determine
and set the boundaries
and determine what is right and wrong.
Represents God's sovereignty.
But sometimes we,
right, we don't want to,
we are reticent to take up
our responsibility to make hard decisions
and make courageous choices
within the framework of God's revealed will
even when it's not totally clear.
Or another example,
right, where we can sometimes
hold back.
What about leadership opportunities
that present themselves
in our workplace
or in our family
or in the church?
Now, there's an important discernment process.
Right, we shouldn't immediately,
immediately accept
any leadership opportunity
that comes our way.
There's an important discernment process
about whether that's wise,
but do we sometimes hold back
and shrink back
because we want to preserve
our own comfort
or we don't want to deal
with potentially awkward
or messy situations?
Right, we naturally
have this,
have both this tendency
to rebel against God's authority
and say,
I don't want to live
under someone's authority
and also this tendency to say,
I don't want to be responsible
for anything else.
But you know,
we're not only unwilling
to rule over God's world,
we're also unable.
According to the Bible,
we live now under the power
of sin and death
and the devil.
In Ephesians,
the apostle Paul says,
we're in a spiritual battle
against rulers
and authorities,
cosmic powers
over this present darkness.
God's good world
has been taken over
by hostile forces
and our hearts,
too,
have been corrupted by sin.
Paul says in Romans,
we're under sin,
under the power of sin.
And so when we do
take up authority
in this fallen world,
we're often prone
to misuse it.
Isn't that part of why
we sometimes don't want
to take authority
or responsibilities?
Because we know
how prone human beings are
to misuse authority
in destructive
and harmful ways.
And so we don't want
anything to do with it at all.
And finally,
we live under
the shadow of death,
which in 1 Corinthians,
Paul calls the last enemy.
That none of us,
no matter how desperately
we hard we try,
none of us can overcome.
We're born into a world
that's under the power
of Satan,
sin,
and death.
So this is why
we need a king.
Because we're meant
to flourish under
a good authority
greater than ourselves.
Because we're meant
to rule over God's world
and yet we're often
unwilling and ultimately
unable to do so.
So that's why
we need a king.
Second,
how Jesus has become
our king.
One of the core messages
of the New Testament
is that Jesus
has become
our king.
And that is good news.
Earlier we read
Jesus' statement,
all authority
in heaven
and on earth
has been given
to me.
But that statement
doesn't come out of nowhere
at the end
of Matthew's gospel.
It's a theme
that runs throughout
the whole gospel.
So turn to the gospel
of Matthew.
I want to give you
a seven-minute overview
of the gospel
of Matthew
showing how this theme
goes through the whole book
to put this statement
in perspective.
So flip back
to Matthew chapter 1.
Matthew begins,
Matthew chapter 1
begins with a genealogy
in three parts.
The first part
goes from Abraham
to David the king.
Second part,
David the king
to the deportation
to Babylon.
That was when
the kingdom vanished
and never reappeared.
It collapsed.
And the third part
is from the deportation
to Babylon
to the Christ.
And that word Christ
means anointed one.
So right from the beginning
Matthew is showing us
Jesus is
in the line
of King David
and he has come
to restore
God's kingdom
that had collapsed.
and had failed.
He's come to rule
over God's people
to bring us
back home from exile
and to save us
from our sins.
Chapter 2.
Verse 1,
after Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days
of Herod
the king.
Behold,
wise men
from the east
came to Jerusalem
saying,
where is he
who has been born?
King of the Jews.
What this chapter
shows us
is Jesus
has come
to be king
in the midst
of a hostile world.
Right?
If you read
the rest of the chapter
Herod is not happy
that there's this report
about a new king
who could potentially
displace him.
And so Herod
tries to get rid
of Jesus
first secretly
and then openly.
And so Jesus
and his family
have to flee.
So Jesus
has come
to establish
God's kingdom
in the midst
of a hostile world.
Chapter 3.
Jesus is publicly
anointed
and confirmed
by God
as king
when he's
baptized
by John.
Chapter 3
verse
the end
of chapter 3.
Back in the Old Testament
when the prophet
Samuel
anointed
King David
in 1 Samuel 16
it says,
the spirit
of the Lord
rushed upon
David
from that
day forward.
And
when Jesus
was baptized
in the Jordan River
verse 16
the spirit
of God
descended
like a dove
and came
to rest
on him.
And a voice
from heaven
said,
behold
this is my
beloved son
with whom
I'm well pleased.
So God
was publicly
revealing
through Jesus
baptism
that he had
anointed
Jesus
with the
Holy Spirit
and chosen
Jesus
to be
the king
and endowed
Jesus
with everything
necessary
to fulfill
that task.
Chapter 4
chapter 4
verse 17
Jesus begins
to preach
and what does
he preach?
From that time
Jesus began
to preach
saying,
repent
for the
kingdom
of heaven
is at hand.
So the
first four
chapters of
Matthew
what we
basically
see is
that
God
has sent
Jesus
to establish
his kingdom
in this
world.
To be king
in the midst
of a hostile
world.
But then the
question we
might be asking
is,
okay,
so what
kind of
kingdom
is this
going to
be?
What
kind of
king
is he
going to
be like?
And that's
the question
that Matthew
reveals to us
in the rest
of the
gospel
through
Jesus'
teaching
and through
his actions.
Now if you
read the
gospel of
Matthew,
there are
five major
sections
of Jesus'
teaching,
which I think
is not
coincidental.
I think
there are
five books
of Moses,
right?
Moses'
teaching was
sort of
divided into
five parts
and Matthew
is sort of
highlighting a
parallel,
saying,
look,
Jesus has
come to
complete,
to bring
a new
kingdom.
The first
part is the
Sermon on
the Mount,
chapter five
through seven.
So if you
look at
chapter five,
the beginning,
chapter five,
verse two,
he opened his
mouth and
taught them,
saying,
blessed are the
poor in
spirit,
for theirs is
the kingdom
of heaven.
Again,
more kingdom
language,
right?
But who does
the kingdom
of God
belong to?
It belongs
to the
poor in
spirit,
in other
words,
the humble.
The people
who realize
their need
for God.
And Jesus
goes on
in the
Beatitudes
and says,
my kingdom
belongs to
those who
mourn,
to the
meek,
to those
who hunger
and thirst
for righteousness,
to the
merciful,
and the
pure in
heart,
and the
peacemakers,
and those
persecuted for
righteousness'
sake.
So Jesus
is describing
the character
of his
kingdom,
but you
know,
Jesus is
also describing
his own
character
as king.
Because as you
see in the
rest of the
gospel,
Jesus
mourns.
Jesus mourns,
he weeps over
Jerusalem,
and he weeps
over our sin
and our
brokenness.
Jesus is meek,
he is all
powerful,
and yet he is
completely self-controlled.
That's what
meek,
being meek
means.
It means being
powerful and
having that power
under control.
Jesus is a
king who
longs for
righteousness.
And Jesus
is a merciful
king.
Jesus is a
king who is
pure in
heart.
Jesus is a
king who has
come to make
peace between
us and God,
and Jesus is
the king who
is ultimately
persecuted and
crucified for
righteousness'
sake.
So the
Sermon on the
Mount shows us
about Jesus'
kingdom and
shows us who
Jesus is as
king.
Now there's
more of Jesus'
teaching in
Matthew.
The other four
parts, the other
four major blocks
of Jesus'
teaching are
chapter 10,
where Jesus
sends out the
disciples to
proclaim and
demonstrate his
kingdom power as
they preach and
heal.
Chapter 13,
Jesus tells seven
parables about how
his kingdom grows in
the midst of the
hostile world.
Chapter 18, he
gives instruction
about living in
the kingdom with
one another,
particularly about
repentance and
forgiveness, and
how forgiveness is
the mark of
people who have
been brought into
his kingdom and
who have been
forgiven by him.
Chapter 24 and
25, the last
section of Jesus'
teaching, he speaks
about the glory of
his kingdom to come
in the final
judgment.
Okay, so that's a
little bit about
Jesus' teaching, which
again, all focuses on
his kingdom.
Now, but it's not
just through Jesus'
teaching that Matthew
shows us about
Jesus' kingdom, it's
also through his
actions.
So let me highlight a
few of Jesus'
actions that Matthew
points out for us.
Chapters 8 and 9, if
you look at chapter 8
and 9 of Matthew, there
are ten little stories.
Okay, the Sermon on the
Mount is a whole bunch
of teaching.
If you've got a red
letter Bible, it's all
red.
Chapter 8 and 9 is a
whole bunch of action.
Jesus is healing
lepers.
He's forgiving sins.
He's delivering people
from demons.
He's calling disciples.
He's even raising the
dead.
What is this showing
us?
It's showing us that
Jesus has come to
overthrow the hostile
powers that have taken
over God's good world.
He's come to forgive our
sin and set us free from
the guilt and burden of
it.
He's come to deliver us
from Satan and all evil
forces.
And he's come to
overcome death.
And isn't that good news?
That we have a king who
can set us free from the
things that hang over us
and that we will never be
able to overcome by
ourselves.
Chapter 14 and 15, again
another section in Matthew,
we see that Jesus as the
king has not just come for
his own people, the people
of Israel from whom he
was descended, but for
all the nations of the
world.
That's why in chapter 14,
Jesus feeds 5,000 people
in Jewish territory.
And in the next chapter,
he feeds 4,000 people in
Gentile territory.
Sometimes we might read
those things and you
think, is that the same
story all over again?
I mean, did they just
sort of, you know, maybe
there were 4,500 people.
And once they rounded up,
and once they rounded down,
right?
Is that what's happening?
No.
It's actually very
intentional.
Jesus is feeding and
teaching the Jewish people
and being their shepherd,
and he's feeding and
teaching the Gentiles and
being their shepherd.
He's come for all the
peoples of the earth.
Chapter 21, another high
point, Jesus rides into
Jerusalem on a donkey to
fulfill the prophecy of
Zechariah that Matthew
quotes, behold, your king
is coming to you humble
and mounted on a donkey.
He's a humble king who's
come to offer us peace.
And finally, here's the
climax.
26 and 27.
The climax of Matthew's
gospel where Jesus' kingship
is most dramatically and
also most ironically revealed.
What happens in these chapters?
Jesus is crowned, but he's
crowned with thorns.
Jesus is hailed as king
by mocking voices.
He's closed with a scarlet robe
that is then stripped off him.
He's symbolically enthroned,
lifted up on a cross with a sign
above his head that reads,
this is Jesus, the king of the
Jews.
You see, this is, of course,
the great irony of Matthew's
gospel and all the New Testament
gospels that Jesus' kingdom was
ultimately established through his
death on a cross.
through his substitutionary
sacrifice.
That means his sacrifice in place
of others.
When his body was broken and his
blood was poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
When he died, he destroyed the
power of death.
And by his faithful and solitary
obedience, he broke the power of
evil in this world.
This is ultimately how Jesus
established his kingdom among us
and how he came to forgive our
sin and deliver us from death
and the devil is by taking those
burdens upon himself and conquering
them on our behalf.
And so when Jesus says after his
resurrection, all authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me,
it's a fitting conclusion to
Matthew's gospel.
It's a fitting conclusion because
Jesus has come to be the king as was
announced in the beginning.
And we see what kind of kingdom he's
come to bring.
And finally we see how he's
definitively accomplished that through
his death and through his
resurrection.
So that's how Jesus has become our
king.
Third part of the sermon, why is this
message good news for us?
And I want to say it's good news for
us for two reasons.
First, it's good news that Jesus has
come to be our king because he is the
king under whose authority we flourish.
Why do we fear coming under someone
else's authority?
Don't we often fear that they will
oppress us and stifle us and smother
us and confine us, make us less than we
could be on our own?
But look at Jesus.
Look at the people who come under his
authority in the gospels and what
happens to them.
They're liberated.
Look at how Jesus treats the downtrodden,
the outcast, the children, the blind,
the lame, the sinners with mercy.
If you've experienced Christianity or the
church as something oppressive and
stifling and confining, you have not
encountered the real biblical Jesus, but
rather some distorted version.
It's sort of like if somebody tells you
about the burger and fries they had at
Prime 16, and they assume that you're
talking about a McDonald's hamburger
that's been sitting uncovered in the back
of the fridge for 10 days.
There's a big difference between the
authentic biblical Jesus and the kingdom he
came to establish and the distorted, bland,
or even counterfeit versions that have grown
up over time.
Don't reject the real thing just because there's a
lot of bad imitations out there.
No offense if you like McDonald's, but nothing's
good 10 days later in the fridge, right?
Now, the other possibility, there's actually one
other possibility.
If you've experienced Christianity as something
oppressive or stifling or confining,
there's a possibility that you've encountered the
real Jesus, and Jesus is calling you to surrender
completely to him, and you are still trying to sit on
the fence.
You want to have Jesus, but you still want to be
your own king, at least in some parts of your life.
You don't want him messing with some things.
And Jesus did say, if anyone would come after me,
you must deny yourself and take up your cross and
follow me.
And it's only on the other side of self-denial and
self-sacrifice that we find the fullness of
resurrection joy.
Jesus said, whoever would save his life, if you're
trying to hold on to your control, save your own life,
you're going to lose it.
But if you lose your life for my sake, you'll find it
again.
You see, the promise of Jesus is in my kingdom, every
death you experience will lead to a resurrection.
Everything you are called to sacrifice will one day be
repaid a hundred times over.
But you can only know the full reality of that promise when
you actually deny yourself and take up your cross and follow
Christ, when you actually surrender to Jesus as king.
So don't sit on the fence.
Jesus said, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Jesus promises rest.
Rest from our enemies.
Rest for our souls.
When we accept his yoke, when we learn from him.
So come to him today.
Surrender to him as your king.
He is the king under whose authority we flourish.
But the second reason it's good news that Jesus has come to be our
king is that Jesus is the king who restores our ability to rule
rightly in God's world.
We need a king because we don't do well at being our own authority.
And we need a king who will teach us and equip us and enable us to exercise the
authority that God gave to humanity in the beginning.
Way back in the Garden of Eden, when we refused to submit to God, we lost our
ability to rule rightly over the world.
But in Jesus, we have a king who submitted to God perfectly.
And in him, our ability to rule rightly over God's creation is restored.
He sets us free from pride, and he sets us free from sloth.
Now notice what Jesus says in Matthew 28, after he says,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
He doesn't just say, therefore come to me and take my yoke upon you.
He already said that.
Right?
That's a wonderful promise.
Come to me.
You will find rest.
Don't delay.
But he also says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.
Jesus the king commissions us as his followers to be his royal representatives in the world.
And to call all people to find freedom and to find salvation in him.
So on the one hand, knowing Jesus is our king humbles us as we take his yoke upon us and learn
from him and find rest for our souls.
But on the other hand, knowing Jesus is our king gives us boldness.
Boldness to step up.
Boldness to exercise responsible, loving, life-giving authority in our families.
For the good of our families.
For the growth of our churches.
For the health of our neighborhoods.
For the well-being of our workplaces.
Jesus is king.
And he delivers us from pride and presumption.
And also from sloth and apathy.
Now, of course, exercising authority over creation begins with offering our very own physical bodies to God.
We'll see this theme in upcoming weeks as we return to 1 Corinthians.
We'll be looking at what it means to glorify God in our body.
Especially as that relates to sex and marriage and singleness.
And all kinds of other topics.
Now, later in the year, 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, we'll look at the topic of spiritual gifts.
How we can use our gifts for the glory of God and how to build up each other in the body of Christ.
And both of these topics, glorifying God in our physical body and glorifying God as we build one another up in the body of Christ.
Both of them are ways that we exercise responsible authority for the good of others in God's world.
You know, Jesus' last words in Matthew point us not just to our physical bodies.
And not even just to the local church.
But beyond that.
Go and make disciples of all nations.
It's a call to extend Jesus' kingdom.
His life-giving authority to the ends of the earth.
Because the whole world rightfully belongs to Jesus.
As Abraham Kuyper once said,
There is not one square inch in all creation.
Over which Christ as Lord does not cry,
Mine.
And so our commission is to go wherever He sends us.
And live under His authority for the good of those around us.
And to call others to come under His authority as the rightful King.
The one who sets us free from our enemies.
The one who gives us rest for our souls.
The one who equips us to rule with justice and righteousness and love.
So let us boldly proclaim that Jesus is Lord.
Let us pray.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And let us rejoice for Jesus is King.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus,
We thank You that
When You saw us
In our state of
Pride
And rebellion against You
In our state of sloth
Fear
Escapism
Clinging to idols
We thank You that You came into this world.
We thank You that You came into this world
To defeat our greatest enemies.
To defeat sin
And Satan
And death.
We thank You that You
We thank You that You established Your kingdom among us.
Not by
Simple
Force
But by Your
Self-giving
And saving
Love.
We thank You that You
Have proven
To us
That Your authority is good.
That You have come so that we might flourish.
That You are that King promised in that Psalm
Who will reign to the ends of the earth
And under whose rule
We flourish
For You are the God who
Has shown mercy to the needy
And to those who have no helper.
Lord You have become our helper.
You have
Saved us
When we couldn't save ourselves.
So Lord we pray that we would
Joyfully
Live under Your authority
And see that it is for our good.
We pray that we would
Wisely
Exercise the authority You've given us
In Your
In this world
That we may use it
To bless others
And to glorify Your name.
We praise You
That You are our King.
And we love You Lord.
In Jesus name.
Amen.