Christ's Kingdom

A king has been born. That's the story that we're hearing told tonight through Bible readings and through songs sung. He's a king whose coming had been prophesied for thousands of years, all the way back to Genesis, the first book of the Bible, when God told Eve that her offspring would bruise the head of the serpent. And the rest of the Bible's Old Testament goes on to say more and more about this promise of a coming king. And that promise meant quite a lot to the Jews. That was the nation of people who worshiped God and who read the Old Testament. For most of their history, the Jews had been ruled by many cruel and wicked kings. Some of those were kings from foreign countries who came in and took over. Some of those bad kings were from the Jews own number. So it was with great hope that many Jews, including the characters we've been reading about tonight, would have received the news that God's King had arrived. For this segment of tonight's service, we're gonna be going back to two verses that were previously read, taking a closer look at how an angel delivered the promise of Jesus' birth to Mary. From Luke chapter one, verses 32 and 33, the angel said, He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. As we can see, Jesus is being born with the promise of becoming a great king. Now, many of us here in this room tonight are Americans. And it's not quite so obvious to Americans that we should be getting excited about a king, especially Americans here in Charlottesville. This is the hometown of Thomas Jefferson. And we live in a free country. We think we outgrew the need to be subject to a king sometime around July 4th, 1776. But even if we don't have kings in our government per se, we still care a great deal about who sits in power in our government. You may remember something that occurred about a month ago. We had a presidential election. And it's probably safe to say that many of you have rather strong opinions about how that election went. Now, Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace, so I won't ask any of you to share what those opinions are. But the point is, whether we call them kings or call them presidents, it matters who leads us. In the United States, when our candidate wins the election, we easily get very excited about all the stuff he or she is going to fix, how they're going to fix what the last guy screwed up. Or when the person we voted for loses, we immediately start counting down the next four years, looking forward to the day when we can vote the new leader out. It's actually a very frustrating cycle. Every winning presidential candidate or member of Congress starts their term on a ticking clock. So we know that even when our preferred party is in power, none of their policies are guaranteed to last past the next election cycle. And that's assuming that these policies that our elected officials promised to enact for us are even actually implemented in the first place. There's no guarantee that that's even going to happen. It's not something we can count on. But the kingship of Jesus is different. As the angel told Mary, he, Jesus, will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And that most high the angel is talking about is God. When Jesus was born into this world, it was a signal that God himself is establishing a kingdom on earth. and the policies of God's kingdom will be greater and more effective than what any earthly monarch, dictator, or legislature could ever accomplish. For instance, we're used to hearing politicians who rule our earthly government talk about designing complicated policies aimed at stimulating the economy. Well, God is the creator of everything, and he's able to give abundantly to his people in need out of any of these resources he created. Earthly governments also try to enact laws that ensure equality and stop discrimination. Well, God's king, when he sits on his throne, can actually end racism and sexism of any kind, for real, in the hearts of people who perpetrate them. Earthly governments also try to limit crime and terrorism. God's King has the power to end violence of any kind. When we consider what Jesus' kingdom will look like, it should fill us with great joy and anticipation. Every good thing will be fulfilled completely, and every bad thing will be completely wiped away. Everything we hope for a good earthly government to do, and remember, these governments, they always disappoint us, at least in some way. Everything we hope our earthly government to do is gonna be accomplished in God's kingdom, for real, and it's gonna be permanent. As the angel promised Mary, Jesus' kingdom will last forever. There are no term limits when it comes to God, and God can never die. So, sounds great, right? And it is great. The rule of Jesus on earth is a great thing. But there's also a problem. You see, if we accept that King Jesus is going to deal with every evil, every sin that opposes his good and perfect purposes, then we've got to at some point realize that he's going to come after us. That's because deep down, none of us lives a life that measures up to God's standard. Every one of us has done something, said something, or thought something that disqualifies us from having a right to be a part of Jesus's perfect kingdom. Let's think about this for a second. How many of us has ever lashed out in anger towards another or harbored hate in our hearts for people we don't like? There's no place for this in Christ's kingdom. Who among us has ever lied or deceived someone in order to gain something for ourselves? The Lord God desires truth, not lies. Have you ever abused a substance? Have you ever been drunk? Have you ever entertained lustful thoughts or acted upon them? I think you get where I'm going here. God requires perfection, and we are all far, far from perfect. And this is a significant problem for us. Thankfully, it's not a problem that God is incapable of solving. Because of God's love for his people, he's devised a plan for imperfect sinners like us to enjoy full fellowship with his perfect self in his perfect kingdom. And that plan starts with the character of Jesus Christ, which is clearly seen in the Christmas story that we've read through tonight. As we'll see in a moment in the reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is God made flesh. That is, God, the infinitely powerful creator of the universe, turned himself into a human being. complete with all the weaknesses and pains that we as human beings experience. This action alone reveals Jesus' humility. Being God, no one could force Jesus to do anything, yet he took it upon himself to become something as lowly as a man. And not just a man, he was born as a baby, the most fragile and weak type of human there is. And it goes even further. When he became a human, Jesus, who, remember, was born to be king of this earth, was not born in a palace, he was not born to a wealthy family. Rather, he was born in a barn for animals because there was no other place for his family to go. His first bed was a manger, a trough for feeding animals. My wife and I have recently had a baby daughter and I can only imagine my wife's reaction if I ever suggested letting our daughter sleep in a manger. It's not a place that we want to put babies. This is where Jesus slept his first night. The Christmas story clearly shows us how Jesus' willingness to, it shows us Jesus' willingness to humble himself. But that humility of Jesus alone doesn't solve our problem of being unfit to gain access to God's kingdom. To get that, we have to look ahead to the events we typically celebrate at Easter, when Jesus, the only human being ever to grow up living a sinless life, the only human to actually deserve citizenship in God's kingdom, willingly gave up his life by dying on a cross. Death is meant to be the natural consequence of sin, God's penalty for those who oppose him. Yet Jesus on the cross took that penalty on himself completely undeservedly. And in that action of dying on the cross, a wonderful transaction has taken place for us. As Jesus gave up his life, God says to the sinner, you sinner who deserve only punishment for the sinful things you have done, said, and thought, do not have to pay the penalty of death for your sin. Jesus has paid that penalty for you by dying on the cross. Therefore, I count none of your sins against you, and you have the right to enjoy eternal life with me in my perfect kingdom, as if you had lived a perfect life that Jesus did. Praise God for this wonderful gift. It's a gift that none of us deserves, but yet has been freely offered thanks to the humble work of the King, Jesus Christ. Three days after Jesus' death, God raised him to life again, and Jesus now sits in heaven as the King of kings and Lord of lords. And one day, Jesus will return to earth to at last establish his kingdom here in full. Each of us will one day stand to face him, either on the day when he returns or when we die, and that meeting can go one of two drastically different ways. For those who put trust in themselves or put trust in other gods, who consider themselves worthy of God's favor on some merit other than what Christ has done for them, they will be judged by Christ according to the sins they've committed. Everyone who meets Christ with this misguided attitude and mindset will be declared guilty, deserving of death and not given citizenship in God's kingdom. But for all who put their faith in Jesus Christ, the king who humbled himself for our sake, they will obtain the place in God's kingdom that Jesus purchased for them. These people will enjoy eternal life with Jesus as their king. They will experience what it is like to live in a world completely without suffering, where everything good about this life is amplified and everything bad about it has been washed away. Again, entry into this paradise is not something that any of us can earn on our own. But if we turn to Jesus, confess our sins to him, ask him to help us turn away from those sins and follow him, he will transform us into people fit to spend eternity with him. If you're already a believer in Jesus, this message tonight is a reminder of what he's done for you. May the hearing of God's word tonight spark renewed thankfulness and praises in your heart. But if you have not put your faith in Jesus, or you aren't quite sure about him, tonight is an opportunity to consider where you stand with God. When you face Jesus on the day of judgment, what leg will you have to stand on? We invite everyone here who's a visitor, who has questions about Jesus and salvation, what all this means, we invite you to stick around after the service, ask a member of this church about what Jesus has done for them. Everyone here would be happy to explain that to you in greater detail. We invite you to go home and read the materials that we've gifted you, which all have more to say about who Jesus is. We also invite you to visit us again for one of our regular Sunday morning services, which happen here every week at 10.30 a.m., including on Christmas and New Year's. This gift of eternal life that we're speaking of tonight is open to you, regardless of what bad things you have done or think you might have done, because it doesn't depend on you to earn it yourself. Our only hope is in Jesus, who earned that gift for us. He is our Savior and our Lord.