I was thinking about the American history
with kings and realizing it's not very good.
The thing that first came to mind was the flag during the American Revolution,
don't tread on me.
We don't like kings here in the United States.
I know a few of you are from countries and worlds where kings are much more accepted
than even celebrated.
But here in America, we have a pretty bad history with it.
And how we respond to kings is something pretty deep in the American psyche.
But you know, it's interesting because when you think about the great stories of history,
there are an awful lot of kings that come up in different ways.
For example, for those of you who are Disney fans,
if you've ever seen the Robin Hood version of Disney, it's great, right?
Robin Hood leads this band of merry men.
And what they're doing is trying to help the poor while the real king is off on a crusade.
And in his stead, his brother, Prince John, too late to be known as John I,
he's sure to be known as John the Worst, a pox on the phony king of England.
If you've ever seen it, if you haven't, go pick it up, order Disney+,
get your free seven-day trial and do it.
So, it's one of their best.
It really is.
It's great fun in this story to hear the humor and to think about how it's based on the courage of these men
to fight against a false king while they wait for a true king to return.
Or maybe you think about the Lord of the Rings and the story of Aragorn,
the king who is hidden, who slowly...
Sorry, spoiler alert.
You can't get out of here.
So, here it's going to go.
He's the king.
He's the king who's coming.
And he's going to sit on the throne.
And one of the great plot lines of the Lord of the Rings,
particularly in the later parts of the Two Towers and the return of the king,
is how will people respond?
Will they doubt him?
Will they resist him?
Or will they embrace him and follow him?
And, of course, as Tolkien writes that story,
he draws on the richness of Christian theology and the biblical storyline.
Because, of course, Christmas is a story as well about a king who's coming.
It's about a king, Jesus, coming to earth.
And it puts before us the question, how will we respond to him?
Who will we recognize?
The true king.
And so, we turn to Matthew, chapter 2.
We're going through the birth narratives in Matthew, this Advent season.
And we're turning to Matthew, chapter 2.
That's in page 757 in your Pew Bible.
And as you're turning there for us to read it,
I'm just going to read...
The first line is now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
And then it goes on to tell this story.
And one of the things we need to do is we talk about these wise men or kings coming.
And we're saying is that I was actually at my kids' Christian school.
And they have a crash scene out in front.
And there's baby Jesus.
And there's Mary and Joseph.
And there's the animals in the stable.
And there's the sheep and the shepherds and the wise men.
And they're all there at the same time.
It probably didn't work that way.
Pretty sure that this episode is quite a while after the birth of Jesus.
There are a couple of clues where it says Jesus is no longer referred to as a baby,
but as a child in this passage.
It is not in the stable that they come,
but they come to the home or the house where Mary is with the baby.
And also you recognize later that as you see King Herod respond,
his time frame is not, did this happen in the last two weeks?
His time frame is, did this happen in the last two years?
So we'll unpack that as we go along.
But just so you know, our normal crash scene is a little misguided.
It's a mashup of biblical stories.
And it doesn't quite get the timeline right.
So having said that, let's read this passage together.
Now, 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?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people,
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him in Bethlehem of Judea,
for so it is written by the prophet,
and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
And then Herod summoned the wise men secretly
and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying,
go and search diligently for the child.
And when you have found him, bring me word
that I too may come and worship him.
After listening to the king, they went on their way.
And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose
went before them until it came to rest
over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly
with great joy.
And going into the house,
they saw the child with Mary, his mother.
And they fell down and worshiped him.
And then, opening their treasures,
they offered him gifts,
gold and frankincense and myrrh.
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country
by another way.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you this morning
that you have come to be our king.
And Lord, we ask this morning that as we look into this passage,
Lord, that we would understand your kingship more
and that we would understand our own hearts more.
Lord, that as we think about this Advent season,
there is a new opportunity and an invitation from you
to respond,
to bow down and worship you.
Lord, I pray that your spirit would be with us this morning
as we look into your word.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Who will recognize the true king?
We're going to examine the story
through the lens of the characters.
There are three main characters in this story.
There's Jesus,
there's the wise men,
and there's Herod the king.
There are a few other ancillary people,
but those are the key people in this story.
So we're going to look at it through the main characters,
and as we look through each one,
we're going to hopefully fill out our own understanding
of the Christmas story
and think for ourselves about how we respond to the true king.
So first, we want to think about Jesus, the true king.
So part of what we've seen in the last two weeks,
if you've been here,
from Matthew chapter 1,
one of the points that Matthew is trying to convince us of
is that Jesus is the heir of David.
You see this in the genealogy,
which begins with Abraham,
but then David is the next major break,
and that this one who's coming,
this baby,
is in the line of David
to whom God has given a promise
that he would have a throne
and he would reign as king forever.
His descendants would reign forever.
And so there's this Davidic claim that comes in,
and even Joseph,
when the angel comes to him,
he says,
you are the Joseph in the line of David.
We see that clearly.
And so that's one of our major clues
that as we're coming in,
Jesus is being presented as a king in the line of David.
Of course, the Magi also come and they say,
where is he the king of the Jews?
Interestingly, this is a term that Jews never use
for the people who rule over them,
only for people outside.
And so, and it's interesting to play that out
throughout the whole gospel,
but they're looking for a king as well.
And interestingly,
God himself is doing something special
to point the world to this child, right?
And this is the part that we wrestle with
because God put a star in the sky.
He literally moved the heavens
to announce the coming of Jesus to the world.
And he was doing it particularly to speak to
these kinds of men
who probably practiced astrology,
who were looking at the stars
as portents of what's going on in the world.
And God spoke to them and said,
something amazing has happened.
And they knew it enough to say,
there's a king who's come
and we want to find him.
Now, those of us in our 21st century age
with our astronomy and our physics
are wondering, really?
And so the commentary spend lots of time
talking about the Halley's Comet
coming by earth around 10 BC or 6 BC
or something like that.
Or maybe there was a convergence of planets
that happened
or maybe there was a supernova.
Maybe God used these natural events
as a sign,
but he was using these natural means.
It's certainly possible.
God does that all the time.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
God is not limiting his power
by using natural means to do his revelation.
But when you look at verse 9,
it seems to suggest that the star that rose
that first brought them to Jerusalem
then moved and then came to rest
in a unique way over the place where Jesus was.
Suggesting to me at least
that there was a supernatural element
to what God was doing here.
And if that's hard for us to swallow, friends,
just go back to the end of chapter 1
where a virgin gave birth to a baby.
And let's go,
in light of that,
the star isn't that hard to believe, is it?
If we can deal with the virgin birth,
we think the star can be maybe
a little bit easier to handle.
What we really want to see
is that the God of the Bible
is a God who works within
the reality of our natural world,
but is also able to work beyond it
in supernatural ways.
And we can worship him as both.
And in this story,
so clearly God is moving
the heavens to say,
I am coming,
I am bringing someone to earth
who is worthy of your attention,
those who are far off.
And it's fascinating to think about
who these people are too, right?
He spoke in the language
not of religious Judaism,
although he did all those things, right?
But he spoke here
in the language of astrology
and astronomy.
He spoke to people
who weren't looking in the temple
for the fulfillment of the Messiah's prophecy.
He went to people
who were looking at the stars.
And he said,
you who are looking,
I'm here.
And I want to point you
in this direction.
I want to point you
to something greater
than you even know
what you're looking for.
It reminds me of what Paul does
in Athens in chapter 17 of Acts
when he goes in and he says,
you preach to this unknown God,
but what you worship,
I'm sorry,
you worship an unknown God,
what you worship in ignorance.
Now I'm going to tell you
what it really is
that you're longing for
because God has made you
to know the creator
of heavens and earth.
And the way that he made you
to know this is through Jesus.
And at the end of that sermon,
he says,
and now he commands
all people everywhere
to repent.
And this is what God is doing
as he puts a star in the sky.
Jesus didn't just come
to Israel,
but God made it clear
from the very beginning
that God came
for all people everywhere.
And this has always been God's plan.
Think with me just for a moment.
We just preached through Genesis.
Do you remember Nick's sermon
on Genesis 12?
That God would bless Abraham
and he'd make him
the father of great nations
and that he would bless him
and he would make him a blessing
so that through you
all the families
of the earth would be blessed.
Or listen to the words
of the psalmist
in Psalm 22, 27.
All the ends of the earth
shall remember
and turn to the Lord
and all the families
of the nations
shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs
to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
Or Psalm 67, 1.
May God be gracious to us
and bless us
and make his face
to shine upon us
that your way
may be known on the earth,
your saving power
among all the nations.
Even in the Old Testament
as God was working
with a particular people,
his goal was always
to shine a light
to all people.
And Matthew himself knows this
because this story
at the beginning
with the birth of Jesus
then gets tied up
at the very end
when the early church
worshiping a resurrected Christ
is told this by Jesus.
All authority in heaven
and on earth
has been given to me.
Go therefore
and make disciples
of all nations
baptizing them
in the name of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit
and teaching them
to observe all
that I have commanded you
and behold
I am with you always
to the end of the age.
The beginning story
in Advent
and the end of the story
the post-resurrection Jesus
Matthew sees
tying them together
in this grand purpose of God
that Jesus isn't coming
just as a tribal God
for a little people
but that he has come
for all people everywhere.
And friends
we need to stop
and recognize
that this is hard
in our world today.
There is a strong desire
in our culture
and our world
because of the conflicts
and because of the evil
that's been perpetrated
in the name of religion
to minimize distinctions
or to give people
safe places.
You stay there
I'll stay here.
We can worship God
as long as we don't
make global claims
as long as we don't
say this is for everybody
everywhere.
But if we do that
we domesticate
the God of the Bible
and we minimize
his glory.
Because when God
put that star
in the sky
to point
wise men
from other countries
to come
and to lay their gifts
and to honor him
God was reminding us
that he lays claim
to the whole world
and that as this king comes
he does command
all people everywhere
to repent.
He calls all people
to respond
not just in Christendom
not just in the west
not just
in the places
where that's acceptable
but in all places
Jesus says
I have come
to be your king.
And we know the promise
Philippians 2
that one day
every knee will bow
and every tongue
will confess
that Jesus is Lord.
Some will do it
by compulsion
as God reveals himself
fully
and it will be terrifying
and some
they will do it gladly
because they have
already worshipped him.
And so the question
before us
as the true king
is revealed
in this story
is how do we
respond
to him?
Let's look at these
two other characters
in the story
to think about
what the responses are
in his original advent
and his coming.
First of all
let's look at Herod
who is a false king
and a false worshipper.
Commentator Archie France
says this about Herod
Herod's concern
was understandable
as an Edomite
that is a non-Israelite
but outside of Israel
as an Edomite
and a Roman appointee
he was vulnerable
to the claims
of a king
of the true
Davidic dynasty.
He said
his later years
were plagued
by fears
of rivals.
when the story
that a king
of the Jews
has been born
as the Magi
come and bring
this account
to him
in Jerusalem
he is troubled
and not troubled
in the sense of
oh
I haven't heard
about that
I wonder what
that's all about
I should find out
more
he is unsettled
his insecurity
is exposed
he feels vulnerable
and as he responds
you see the depth
of his unwillingness
to receive
a true king
his insecurity
leads him
to insincerity
with the men
he had hoped
not to honestly
find this
new king
and worship him
as he said
but he hoped
to destroy him
as we see
further on
we didn't read this
but if you just go on
to verses 13
and following
in chapter 2
what we see
is that Herod
finds out
that the wise men
never let them know
where he was
where the baby was
and so
in rage
and in fear
Herod
commits infanticide
throughout the land
killing the babies
under the age of 2
in order to remove
this kind of rival
he showed his worst
in his insecurity
he did not want
this king to come
and rule
over him
now the story
lets us know
that at the end
of the day
Herod dies
that's verse 19
and Jesus lives
and the story
goes on
but what we see
is
in Herod
someone who
desperately clings
to his kingdom
at the cost
of innumerable
of unbelievable
evil
and suffering
that he perpetrated
and it's easy
to denounce Herod
as an evildoer
and to scorn him
as a fool
how could he do that
how could he be
so selfish
and so
so evil
towards other people
in order to protect
his own little kingdom
but I wonder
how easily
we decry Herod
while doing
the same thing
in our own lives
and the kingdom
of our own hearts
every day
Jesus
comes
to lay claim
to our life
Jesus comes
to be king
to have the right
to rule
over us
to determine
what is right
and wrong
to determine
truth and error
to give us
commands
for us to obey
and to follow
to assert
his authority
for our good
and for our blessing
but to claim
authority
over our lives
as king
and I wonder
how well
we actually do
when he does that
when he puts
his finger
on our life
and says
I'd like to reorder
this part
today
when God says
I'd like you
to give up
that
how do we
respond
so often
like Herod
we cling
more tightly
our fist
becomes
stiff
in light
of his command
to release
and to let go
when he asks
us to
give up
our desire
to control
a loved one
when he asks
us
to give up
our good health
and walk
in illness
disease
when he takes
away a job
or a career
a position
in our community
or family
when he threatens
the security
of our present
worldly
well-being
financial
personal
physical
when he
starts meddling
with our
entertainment
how we eat
food
and what we
do with our
sex
and what we
watch on our
screens
he steps in
and he says
I'm the king
and I want
to order
all of these
things
according to
my kingdom
and of course
he comes
as a good
king
he comes
as one
who wants
to bless
us
and to love
us
and he
comes
as one
who wants
to lead
us
in paths
of righteousness
where we
will flourish
and live
and yet
so often
we like
Herod
resist him
we only
want a
king
if he
will leave
well enough
alone
with the
things we
don't want
him to
mess with
we only
want a
king
when we
get to
choose
him
not
when he
asserts
his
authority
over us
we only
want a
king
when he
meets
our
standards
and our
requirements
and so
often
we
in our
independent
21st
century
individualism
say
Jesus
don't
tread
on
me
so
before we
throw
Herod
into the
eternal
lake of
fire
let us
be careful
to
recognize
how often
we are
very much
like him
but thankfully
the story
is not
just about
Herod
and there
is another
way to
respond to
the king
there is
another
character
here that
we see
in this
story
and ironically
it is not
the respectable
religious
person
in the
story
it is not
the one
that we
expect
to be
ready
to receive
the king
of Israel
but instead
it is these
men from
far away
these outsiders
who show us
the way
to respond
to the true
king
and so
our third
point
the third
character
is the
magi
the true
worshippers
now
we use
these words
magi
that is
just a
transliteration
often
we talk
about
kings
we
three
kings
of
orient
are
right
bearing
gifts
we
traverse
afar
and so
on
so
forth
why
who
are
they
exactly
what
what's
their
story
well
the reality
is
this is
all we
know
of
them
right
this
story
tells us
everything
we know
which
isn't
very
much
they
probably
came
from
the
east
maybe
Babylon
maybe
Persia
maybe
they
were
from
another
Arabian
tribe
we
don't
know
likely
magi
is
often
related
to
astrologers
the
reason
why
we
call
them
kings
is
actually
from
the
old
testament
psalm
72
verse
10
says
may
the
kings
of
tarshish
and
the
coastlands
render
him
tribute
may
the
kings
of
sheba
and
seba
bring
gifts
may
all
kings
fall
down
before
him
and
all
nations
serve
him
and
then
the
passage
we
read
earlier
in
this
service
that
Kelly
read
reminded
us
of
this
prophecy
where
he
talked
about
the
nations
shall
come
to
the
light
and
kings
to
the
brightness
of
your
rising
they
will
gather
together
and
the
wealth
of
nations
shall
come
to
you
and
those
from
sheba
will
come
they
shall
bring
gold
and
frankincense
and
they
shall
bring
good
news
the
praises
of
the
Lord
and
so
in
the
tradition
of
the
church
as
we've
read
these
stories
and
these
old
testament
passages
that
seem
to
allude
to
the
coming
of
Jesus
and
this
light
dawning
on
the
darkness
and
this
light
announcing
the
coming
of
the
king
and
the
nations
coming
to
worship
him
they
thought
oh
well
these
are
kings
so
there
are
three
kings
yeah
maybe
it's
hard
to
know
it's
hard
to
know
what
role
astrologers
would
have
had
in
some
of
these
other
kingdoms
they
might
have
had
some
measure
of
prominence
they
certainly
had
wealth
it's
likely
they
were
representative
of
the
peoples
that
they
came
from
given
the
way
that
they
came
but
it's
really
not
clear
what
is
clear
is
this
they
were
men
who
were
watching
the
stars
and
they
were
men
who
responded
by
coming
from
far
to
find
this
one
this
king
and
interestingly
the
Bible
has
a
lot
to
say
about
astrology
none
of
it's
good
it's
not
a
positive
thing
in
the
Bible
for
us
to
be
looking
at
the
stars
we
shouldn't
be
looking
at
our
horoscopes
to
think
this
is
what
God
has
to
say
to
us
today
these
are
not
places
where
we
normally
look
but
interesting
this
story
never
has
a
word
or
hint
of
condemnation
all of
that
is
reserved
for
Herod
the
king
of
the
Jews
the
king
of
Judea
right
here
what we
have
is
men
who
seem
to
be
honestly
seeking
and
as
they
were
seeking
they
go
of
course
to
Jerusalem
because
that's
the
center
in
the
capital
where
else
would
a
king
be
born
and
they
show
up
and
they
ask
this
innocent
question
where
is
he
and
through
all
the
mechanisms
of
Herod
they
find
out
that
there's
through
a
prophecy
in
Micah
Bethlehem
is
the
place
and
it's
ironic
because
if
you
go
back
and
you
read
in
Micah
5
about
this
passage
comes
in
an
oracle
of
judgment
against
Israel
because
of
their
disobedience
and
yet
with
this
thread
of
a
promise
through
it
that
a
shepherd
king
will
come
and
will
restore
God's
people
and
yet
Herod
and
the
scribes
and
the
elders
couldn't
receive
this
news
read
this
passage
in
Micah
and
say
maybe
this
is
the
one
maybe
this
is
how
God
is
actually
going
to
fulfill
this
prophecy
instead
they
feel
threatened
but
the
magi
receive
this
news
well
and
they
turn
and
they
go
and
they
head
towards
Jerusalem
and
the
star
that
they
had
seen
at
first
now
led
them
more
specifically
they
were
being
led
by
the
maker
of
the
universe
to
a
baby
to
a
child
and
when
they
found
him
oh
before
they
found
him
look
with me
again
I love
this
verse
10
when
they
saw
the
star
they
rejoiced
exceedingly
with
great
joy
when
we
read
that
the
carol
service
Eli
looked
over
me
and
said
that's
really
redundant
dad
why
did
he
write
it
that
way
and
I
said
that's
the
point
it
is
redundant
rejoiced
exceedingly
with
great
joy
is
redundant
but
he's
doing
that
to
say
when
they
saw
that
the
God
of
the
universe
was
continuing
to
lead
them
to
the
very
place
to
the
very
one
whom
they
had
to
come
to
they
were
filled
with
a
joy
and
what
does
it
look
like
to
rejoice
exceedingly
with
great
joy
it's
like
when
your
team
wins
the
Super
Bowl
and
the
last
second
and
you
rejoice
and
you
jump
up
and
down
and
you
throw
your
popcorn
all
over
your
living
room
because
you're
so
happy
that
your
team
won
or
it's
what
happens
when
you
get
down
on
one
knee
and
she
says
yes
joy
overflowing
overwhelming
it
captured
and
filled
their
hearts
because
the
star
was
leading
them
to
the
one
that
they
were
looking
for
and
when
they
found
him
they
went
in
and
they
worshipped
they
bowed
their
knees
not
resisting
that
this
one
would
come
with
a
claim
of
kingship
they
bowed
their
knees
honoring
him
and
lavishing
upon
him
expensive
gifts
that
honored
his
particular
place
as a
coming
king
now
is it
clear
that
these
magi
understood
that
this
was
the
incarnate
son
of
God
the
word
become
flesh
now
come
to be
the
savior
by
dying
on
the
cross
for
their
sins
and
rise
from
the
dead
probably
not
it's
not
clear
that
they
knew
all
that
they
were
worshiping
as
they
bowed
down
but
Matthew
knows
exactly
who
he's
talking
about
and
he's
saying
these
men
are
an
example
for
us
of
what
it
looks
like
to
receive
and
honor
the
true
king
to
bow
down
and to
bring
our
riches
of
our
life
and
our
love
and lay
them
at
Jesus
feet
as
the
true
king
of
our
lives
so
friends
this is
the story
of the
magi
for us
how
will you
respond
to the
coming
of the
king
how
will
you
respond
today
two
thoughts
on how
we might
apply this
to us
today
first
of all
do you
really
believe
that it
is
God's
purpose
for
all
people
everywhere
to
hear
of
this
king
and
to
bow
their
knee
do
you
believe
that
is
actually
his
purpose
in
the
world
don't
let
this
gift
be
only
about
you
and
your
personal
happiness
don't
let
this
gift
be
just
about
your
family
but
consider
that
what
we
celebrate
when
we
celebrate
Christmas
is the
coming
of
one
who
lays
a
claim
to
the
whole
world
and
the
call
for
us
to
go
and
make
disciples
of
all
nations
is
real
and
embedded
in
the
Christmas
story
itself
and
may
we
take
that
to
heart
when
we
think
about
how
are
we
investing
our
lives
so
that
Jesus
might
be
known
everywhere
so
that
he
might
be
worshipped
so
he
might
be
worshipped
by
people
from
every
tongue
and
tribe
and
nation
as
it
says
in
Revelation
7
the
vision
around
the
throne
room
of
what
eternity
will
be
like
is
that
God
is
gathering
people
from
every
tongue
and
tribe
and
nation
that
his
glory
may
be
multifacedly
recognized
and
honored
by
the
breadth
of
humanity
consider
this
Christmas
investing
in the
Lottie
moon
offering
consider
this
Christmas
inviting
your
neighbors
to the
Christmas
Eve
service
consider
this
Christmas
praying
that
God
would
allow
you
to be
a part
of
telling
the
world
about
this
Jesus
and
secondly
maybe
more
fundamentally
may
we
be
those
who
bow
our
knees
before
King
Jesus
we
recognize
that
he
is
the
one
who
has
come
and
as
a
king
to
be
our
rescuer
born
thy
people
to
deliver
born
a
child
and
yet
a
king
born
to
reign
in
us
forever
now
thy
gracious
kingdom
bring
by
thine
own
eternal
spirit
rule
in
all
our
hearts
alone
by
thine
all
sufficient
merit
raise
us
to
thy
glorious
throne
may
this
be
our
prayer
that
Jesus
alone
would
rule
in
our
hearts
this
Christmas
season
let's
pray
Jesus
you
are
the
king
Lord
you
are
great
and
mighty
in
your
love
and
wisdom
in
your
power
and
grace
Lord
I
pray
this
morning
that
you
would
help
us
to
see
you
as
you
are
so
that
we
might
respond
rightly
by
bowing
our
knee
to
you
Lord
I
pray
for
those
this
morning
who
may
be
seeking
maybe
are
realizing
this
morning
that
they
have
never
truly
allowed
you
to
be
king
in
their
lives
Lord
will
you
turn
them
to
you
this
morning
that
they
might
surrender
their
lives
and
bow
before
you
as
king
Lord
this
morning
for
some
of
us
we
may
realize
that
we
have
bowed
to
you
and
said
that
many
times
and
yet
you've
put
a
finger
on
a
part
of
our
life
where
we
don't
really
want
you
to
be
king
Lord
may
we
surrender
that
to
you
this
morning
and
Lord
as
we
do
these
things
Lord
may
we
know
the
joy
of
the
Magi
Lord
that
we
would
be
filled
with
joy
inexpressible
Lord
that
you
have
come
to
be
our
king
and
our
savior
we
pray
this
in
Jesus
name
amen
well
friends
it is
fitting
as we
continue
our
service
it's
fitting
that we
would
come
to
the
Lord's
table
you
know
one
of
the
most
remarkable
things
about
the
gospel
is
that
the
king
who
came
did
not
come
on
a
great
horse
with
an
army
at
his
back
to
conquer
Rome
and
to
free
Israel
and
to
enact
a
political
revolution
but
the way
that he
came
was in
humility
and he
came
in
obscurity
and
the way
that he
established
his
kingdom
was by
offering
himself
up
on
a
cross
for
us
and
we
see
his
power
in
that
he
was
raised
from
the
dead
having
lived
the
life
that
we
could
not
live
having
died
the
death
that
we
deserve
he
was
then
raised
to
new
life
and
this
is
the
king
that
we
worship
and
this
is
what
we
celebrate
when
we
come
to
the
Lord's
table
this
is
the
implements
by
which
Jesus
rules
his
body
and
blood
broken
and
shed
for
us
what
an
amazing
king
one
that
we
in
our
human
wisdom
would
never
create
and
yet
here
it
is
the
real
king
and
this
is
the
kind
of
king
that
we
worship
here
at
Trinity
we
invite
all
who
have
bowed
their
knee
to
Jesus
who
have
put
their
trust
in
him
and his
life
and his
death
and his
resurrection
on their
behalf
put their
trust in
him
as their
lord and
savior
we say
come
eat
together
let us
enjoy
the
fellowship
if you're
here this
morning
and you
have not
done that
if you're
here this
morning
and you're
seeking to
understand this
Jesus more
there are prayers
in the
bulletin
I point
them to
you so
that you
could pray
with them
but we
encourage you
don't take
the cup
don't drink
or don't
eat the
bread
for that's
an expression
of faith
as we do
it together
but instead
consider
consider the
call that
Jesus is
putting on
your life
this morning
he comes
to you
and he
says
I want
to be
your king
will you
receive him
this morning
let me invite
those who are
serving to
come forward
thank you