WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.200 Thanks, Chris. And do keep the sheets open in front of you. We're actually just going 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:10.500 ! to be looking at just the last three verses of it. I wanted it all read, but we're just 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:16.080 ! going to focus on the last three verses. And you'll see on the front cover, I'm calling this 00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:23.420 series Resurrection Colors. And today's talk is Jesus the Risen King. What do I mean by Resurrection 00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:29.839 Colors? Well, with Easter not too far in the rearview mirror, it'll be good for us to think 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:36.340 for a few weeks about the resurrection of Jesus. And in fact, the resurrection is a really 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:41.899 important teaching in the Bible. It's actually the reason Christians gather and worship every 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:50.600 Sunday. It's because the resurrection of Jesus is so central to the Bible. The Bible is insistent 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:55.480 that if you want to understand the world that you live in, not just the Christian faith, but 00:00:55.479 --> 00:01:01.979 the world you live in, you need to know that Jesus Christ is risen. And it's not just that 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:07.340 he resuscitated back from death, like many stories in the Bible, but it's more like Jesus went 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:15.099 into death and he came out the other end. He went beyond death. And while the Bible does 00:01:15.099 --> 00:01:20.659 spend a little bit of space trying to back up this assertion, it's actually far more interested 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:26.420 in showing you what it means for Jesus to be risen. What it means for Jesus to have gone 00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:32.879 through this resurrection. And if you were with us just a few months back now, we did an 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.959 overview of the Bible. I did it in seven weeks. We looked at different parts of the Bible. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:41.920 And I used the image of a tree to describe what it's like to read the Bible. You might have 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:46.759 even got sick of it. A number of times I used it. But it is a really useful image and I'm 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:51.680 going to use it again today, but in a different way. I explained that when you read the Bible, 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:56.620 it's like watching a plant grow and it starts as a seed and then it grows to maybe a little 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:02.219 stalk and then a big trunk and you've got flowers and leaves and everything at the later stages. 00:02:02.800 --> 00:02:07.300 You've got all this kind of variety later on and less at the beginning. And throughout the 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:12.520 whole thing, it's the same DNA. So it's one thing and then by the end of it, you've got 00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:18.120 loads of variety. Well, so it is with the New Testament. When you get to this later stage, 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:23.580 explaining this final stage, you've got loads of different colours. They've got loads of 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:29.620 variety. And so we've got four different Gospels, not because they disagreed on what happened. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:35.860 We deliberately have four Gospels to give us a variety of perspectives and colours on Jesus' 00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:41.180 life, death and resurrection. So we've got lots of different colours. And so we're going 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:45.219 to look at the different colours of the resurrection. So over four weeks, we're going to look at 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:50.379 the four different Gospels and what they say about the resurrection and see what kind of 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:56.000 colours we get. So what we're going to do this week, we're going to look at Matthew's Gospel. 00:02:57.140 --> 00:03:03.400 And you might remember from an even earlier series we did in Matthew 13, that Matthew often emphasises 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:09.800 the fact that Jesus is King. So from the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, we've got his genealogy, 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:14.500 which emphasises the royal line that Jesus came from. And all throughout the Gospel, we've got 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:19.020 Jesus saying, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. We have those series of parables we looked at 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:24.460 about what the Kingdom of Heaven means, what it means for Jesus to be King. And here we've 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:32.600 got the same emphasis at the end, Jesus as King. It's all throughout. Because here in these 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:38.819 last three verses, that is what Jesus is saying the resurrection is about. He says, all authority 00:03:38.819 --> 00:03:47.139 in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That is his announcement at the end. He's saying 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:52.759 the resurrection was not just a happy ending to the story. It was in a sense his coronation 00:03:52.759 --> 00:04:00.459 as King. There's obviously a sense in which Jesus as God has always been King. He has always 00:04:00.459 --> 00:04:06.259 had all authority. But he is saying now that having become man, he has earned this status 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:13.239 of King. He has earned all authority. A man has now got to the top position, has managed to 00:04:13.239 --> 00:04:19.319 earn this position of King of all things. And so he has now gone from preaching the Kingdom 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:26.219 of Heaven is at hand to saying, I now have all authority. The Kingdom is here. Mission 00:04:26.219 --> 00:04:32.459 is accomplished. So that's the announcement he gives. All authority has been given. And 00:04:32.459 --> 00:04:37.060 then he gives a commission to his officers, his apostles, the eleven that are remaining. 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:43.360 He gives this commission to go and announce this good news to the whole world, all nations, 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:50.520 and to get people to follow the King as disciples. And he gives them two basic steps on how to 00:04:50.520 --> 00:04:56.040 make disciples. The first one is to baptise them. So go and make disciples of all nations. 00:04:56.180 --> 00:05:01.540 First of all, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:07.980 He's saying bring people into the community that acknowledges that I am King. Bring them to 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:14.860 acknowledge this. Excuse me. It's a community that belongs to God. He is associating his Kingdom 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:20.640 with the Kingdom of God. And he's saying the name that you put on the people who come into this 00:05:20.640 --> 00:05:25.800 community is the name of God. And here for the first time he reveals the name of God as Father, 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:32.319 Son and Holy Spirit. And this is the first point when we can look back and see, ah, it now makes sense. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:39.860 Now we understand who God is. So he baptised them. He brings people into the Kingdom, is what he's 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:46.980 telling his apostles. And then teach them. Teach them what? Teach them to keep or observe or obey 00:05:46.980 --> 00:05:56.100 everything I have commanded. So bring them into the community and teach them to keep everything. 00:05:56.100 --> 00:06:04.320 And so first by God's great mercy and kindness, bring them in and then raise them to be followers 00:06:04.320 --> 00:06:11.740 of the King. And then he concludes his announcement with a promise. I am with you always to the end 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:18.100 of the age. You'll see that in verse 20. Now here's how one writer summarised what it means 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:26.660 for Jesus to be King. The Kingdom comes when the Gospel is spread. Hearts are changed. Sin and error 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:35.540 overcome. Righteousness cultivated. A living communion with God established. The Gospel is spread. People 00:06:35.540 --> 00:06:43.340 hear the news that Jesus is King. And so hearts are changed as they hear it. Sin and error are overcome. 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:50.119 People come to obey Jesus. Righteousness is cultivated. They live more like him. And a living communion 00:06:50.119 --> 00:06:56.799 with God is established because he is with us everywhere. Now most of that is pretty straightforward. 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:05.279 I hope you'll agree. But I think the tricky thing for us to see this is the so what? I'm not 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:11.219 one of the 11 apostles. So what on earth does this have to do with me? So I want to think just 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:18.060 with the rest of our time on just a few things to highlight the so what of this announcement 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:26.660 that Jesus is the risen King. And I want to do that by asking you some questions. So you've 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:34.100 seen that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So what are 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:44.240 you living for if not for him? What are you living for if not for him? If you've known me for 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.020 even a short while you will you'll probably find out that I'm a big fan of the West Wing. 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:54.180 It's just got some amazing writing in it. And there's a brilliant scene in a debate where 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:59.460 the president is running for re-election and nobody knows how it's going to go because sometimes 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:03.799 he's great and sometimes he's not so great. And then he finally gives the clinching argument 00:08:03.799 --> 00:08:09.000 that just completely wins the debate. And during this speech he gives he says I'm the president 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:16.579 of the United States not just the president of the people who agree with me. Well Jesus here 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:23.459 says he is the king of heaven and earth. That's pretty much everything isn't it? He's not just 00:08:23.459 --> 00:08:28.839 the leader of Christians. Not even the leader of Christians worldwide. Not just the founder 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:35.919 of a big religion. He is the king of everything. He is what everything is about. Whether or not 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:44.579 everything agrees. It means that your life is about Jesus. It means your life is not actually 00:08:44.579 --> 00:08:52.159 about you. And now we live in an egocentric world that is trying to persuade you at every 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:57.959 point to be offended by that idea that your life is not about you. It wants you to think that 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:03.200 anyone who says that your life is not about you is being unkind to you. That you can make your 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:11.040 life about you. Go ahead. But I think if my life were just about me it wouldn't really be much to 00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:18.879 write home about. It would be cruel to put that kind of pressure on me to live a life that is worthy of 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:25.899 being all about me. Just look at these sort of big superstar celebrities with their entourages where 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:31.700 they are they buy into this idea that their life is all about them. It's no wonder they go crazy. 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:38.279 That they get these breakdowns and end up getting drunk driving or arrested somewhere or whatever it is. 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:42.840 Because they're surrounded by people who make their whole lives about them. They're convinced their lives are 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:49.720 about them. And it's just too much pressure to bear. And so Jesus comes along and says no your life isn't 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:56.019 about you and that's great news for you. Your life is about me is what Jesus says. So what are you 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:04.300 living for if not for him? The king of everything. Jesus here is offering what one writer has called the 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:12.820 freedom of self-forgetfulness. The freedom of obeying the king of everything. That is what it means for 00:10:12.820 --> 00:10:19.620 Jesus to be risen. It means that your life is about him. So what are you living for if not him? 00:10:21.140 --> 00:10:31.580 He called his apostles then to make disciples of all nations. He called people to get the world to follow 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:42.140 him. So who are you following if not him? Who is guiding you? Who is setting the agenda for your life? 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:52.180 Or what is setting the agenda for your life? This is the king about whom your life is. You exist for 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:59.780 this king. It's not just you can opt into living about this king. Your life is about this king. And so who 00:10:59.780 --> 00:11:06.880 is directing your life if it's not the king who you live for? You might think you're better off without 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:12.480 him. The world around us would love for you to believe that you are better off without him. But how can it be 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:21.919 possibly better to live for anyone other than the king who is the king of all things? He calls his apostles 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:30.000 to baptize everyone. It's not just go and put a badge on everyone. It's bring them into the community. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:39.360 Put the sign of Jesus' followers on them. He's inviting people to come home. And so where do you belong if 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:46.320 not here? We are made to belong somewhere. We are made for someone. We are made to belong with a 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:55.720 community. And so where do you belong if not here? Who is defending you if not him? You might think I don't 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:01.960 need defending. I'm fine. I don't need any protection. I don't need a king to keep, to take care of me. 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:07.379 Well I think you'll all agree we sometimes even need defending from ourselves. So we're not doing 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:14.600 that well are we? We do need somebody to whom we belong and who will take care of us. So where do you 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:25.320 belong if not here? Jesus is announcing very simply that he is the king, that your life is about 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:34.240 him. He's not just offering for your life to become about him. Your life is about him. He is the one who 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:42.000 will teach you the truth. He is the one to whom you can belong and who can be with you forever. 00:12:45.520 --> 00:12:52.040 And so who do you live for if not for him? Who are you following if not him? And where do you belong 00:12:52.039 --> 00:13:00.099 if not here? If you'd like to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus as king, to belong to him, 00:13:00.219 --> 00:13:05.159 then we've got some Mark's Gospels, Matthew's Gospels on the back table. Do take one and read it. 00:13:06.079 --> 00:13:13.259 Read what it means for Jesus to be king and come and belong to his people. He doesn't call people just 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:18.840 to follow Jesus on their own. The whole point of the baptising is to come into the church, the community 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.120 of people who belong to him. As wonderful as it can be to come here every Tuesday and make friends here, 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:30.080 this isn't the church. This is just a nice gathering of people to whom everyone is welcome 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.059 to come and hear some teaching. But the church is where Jesus is gathering his people 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:37.980 for them to belong to him. So if you're not part of a church, 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:44.700 where do you belong if not to Jesus? Let's pray to close.