Christ, Our King  

Posted by Shawn in , , ,


The following is the text from the Scripture reading given on 1/18/09

(Unfortunately, church was cancelled due to heavy snow. Fortunately, however, I was able to make some minor, but important, feedback-based edits to the introduction to help remove myself from the text as well as provide a more positive and appropriate consideration.)

Introduction to Scripture reading:

Two major public events occur in chapters 11 and 12 of John’s Gospel, the first leading directly into the second; Lazarus is raised from the dead and Jesus, having displayed His complete power over even death itself and word of it having spread far and wide, enters triumphantly into Jerusalem. 

Despite this, huge numbers of people, if not the majority, neither understand nor believe. Each of them remains entirely wrapped up in themselves and in their own desires; completely unable to respond properly to the recent miracles. 

Caiaphas, having previously received a direct prophetic revelation from God, twists the revelation of truth into something perverted and sinful; using the revelation to boast of his own intelligence and justify sin. Judas’ conscience is shown to be made of Teflon in that he continues unflinchingly with his thievery, obviously never realizing or appreciating that he’s in the presence of one who sees into the heart of all men. For all the hoopla and ceremony, the throngs of people that witnessed or heard first-hand accounts of these recent events are immediately revealed to having been completely overtaken and actively walking in the exact darkness that Jesus speaks of and they never seem to realize it; Jesus is clearly referring to himself as “the son of man” but because He also prophecies of His own crucifixion they can’t accept it. He is revealed as the author of the Law and to have all authority over death, and yet they cling to their own understanding of the Law, believing Him to be another John the Baptist or some such. 

The verses that we’re reading from today cover a whole lot of ground, touching several important topics regarding faith, death, hypocrisy, and so on. We’ll need to dedicate several full-length messages or personal study time in order to address them all, of course, but with the few minutes available to us this morning we can examine some of what this text and the context surrounding it reveal in particular about our King to help prepare ourselves for the rest of our worship of Him as well as provide fuel to our hearts and minds.

Scripture Reading  Text:


Lessons from text:

Our King…
  1. …will use His servants to lead men to Him.
  2. …is not sitting idle on some throne overlooking his kingdom, He is active and fruitful in leading men’s hearts.
  3. ….desires us to be near Him in everything.
  4. …serves His Father. When we serve the King we serve the Father also.
  5. …is King above everything. There is no room or forbearance for any other ruler.
  6. …is the beacon of light in the darkness of the world through His Word.
  7. …will not be a light into a dark world forever.
  8. …came into the darkness to save the sinful men from being overtaken by the darkness. The light of His Word will judge men.

Application/Conclusion:

We’ve got to be careful not to think of our King in medieval terms. We’re not peasants out scraping a living in abject poverty while the Lord of the land sits ignorant of our plight in some a high ivory tower drinking fine wine, eating succulent dishes carried in on our worn-out backs and throwing around edicts and laws based on some whim, fancy or political consideration.

Our King is a willing and humble servant himself, with a very specific purpose and goal in mind; the glorification of His Father. He’s elected us as not simply as His servants, meant merely to please His fancy, but as His fellow countrymen and brothers.

God has intended men to be led to the Christ through us, through our associations with them, just as the Greeks at the feast did through Philip. And again like Philip, we’re not necessarily meant to toil each on our own. Philip sought council with Andrew; we’re to actively seek council among one another. God will see to it that His Light, His Word, is seen by men walking in a dark world. He has purposed that His light will shine through us, so that men seeking Him will know where to turn.

As high priest under the Law, Caiaphas enjoyed a particular closeness with God, and so the light of God’s Word reflected itself through his office. Caiaphas himself was in utter darkness, of course, and so was completely unable to lead anyone to anything but a horrifying fall. Unfortunately, however, no one around him, not even those authorities that believed, shone any light at all on Caiaphas’ ignorance.

We’re to speak up boldly when we witness liars leading people into destruction, regardless of the worldly cost. This isn’t hypocritical or judgmental or any such thing. Just be careful to hear what I’m saying, I’m certainly not suggesting that we engage in arguments or legalism or anything beyond speaking the Word that God has given us with boldness, sincerity and clarity, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture and God’s Word to judge the truth from a lie. If you hear a lie, speak the truth; nothing more, nothing less.

This entry was posted on Jan 17, 2009 at Saturday, January 17, 2009 and is filed under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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