WE ARE ON THE KING'S STAFF
- We are part of his kingdom
- We are priests of God
Whenever a new president takes office in this country he is allowed to appoint any number of different individuals to fill various government positions. He chooses his own staff; he decides who he wants to sit on certain committees and boards and judge’s seats; he determines who the administrators and representatives and ambassadors will be in many different areas; he is even able to select who he wants on the staffs that are under those whom he appoints. A president has a lot of control over who he wants working for him and he naturally expects that those he appoints will carry out his will and do the things he asks them to do. These people owe him, after all! Their jobs and promotions are based solely on the fact that the president has hand-picked them. And so most people want to do all they can to prove to the president that he made the right decision.
This morning we are celebrating “Christ the King” Sunday. We praise him for being the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the author of our salvation who has defeated our enemies and now sits on his throne with all things under his feet. This King, the Almighty Ruler of all things, also appoints people to fill positions under him. He chooses his own staff. And he considers every one of the positions he fills extremely important. Listen to how the apostle John describes whom this King appoints and to what positions he appoints them. “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” Jesus Christ is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” and he has “made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” The King appoints us! We are on his staff! We have been chosen to serve under the administration of the Lord God Almighty! In fact, we as believers make up his kingdom!
The kingdom of God is composed of believers. We have been hand-picked by God himself to serve under him, to carry out his will, to do his bidding, to follow his commands. He has appointed us to be administrators and representatives and ambassadors in many different areas of life. And he expects that because he is responsible for the positions we now hold, we will do everything we can to follow his directives and do whatever he asks us to do.
Of course, that doesn’t always happen, does it? We don’t always want to do what the King wants us to do. We don’t always have the motivation and we don’t always make the time to carry out what we have been appointed to carry out. We are not always loyal subjects to the King. We have our own agendas and our own ideas and our own personal objectives that we would like to get done instead of God’s will. Because let’s face it: the 10 Commandments are not always all that convenient to keep sometimes. Loving our neighbor just as much as we love ourselves is a little too time consuming and much too self-sacrificing to be enjoyable most days. Sharing the Word of God with others is usually a bit embarrassing and all too often more stressful than what we want to deal with. What the King wants us to do isn’t always what we want to do - and so we just flat out don’t do it half the time! And because the King does not immediately strike us dead for disobeying his commands, we become all the more bold each passing year because we know that we will not have to suffer instant consequences for our actions. And so we go about our lives, doing our own things, and taking the King’s order into consideration only if they happen to match up with our own plans.
When a president appoints a particular person to a specific position, the president expects that his directions and plans will be followed by the person he has appointed to that office. The president might tolerate a few mistakes. He may overlook a stupid decision here and there. But if that person he appointed begins to do things directly against the president’s wishes and orders, that person will not hold his position for long. That kind of insubordination will not be allowed. The president will not hesitate to relieve that person of his responsibilities and give the position to someone who will do what the president wants him to do. If an appointed member of the president’s staff decides to do his own thing, he will be replaced.
We should be replaced. We should be replaced as members of Christ the King’s staff. Because we have decided to do our own thing for the majority of our lives. We ignore what the King has written down more often than we would admit. We have pretended not to hear what he asks of us on quite a few occasions. We have often times determined that what we want is a little more important and little more pressing at the time than what the King wants. We should have been replaced along time ago! Someone else, who actually follows the King’s commands a little more carefully and honors the King’s wishes a little more faithfully, should have taken over for us almost immediately.
But here we still are. The King hasn’t replaced us. And he isn’t going to. Because unlike presidential appointments, Christ our King does not base his decisions on our qualifications or abilities or past record or potential. Christ the King appointed us to positions on his staff because of his mercy and compassion. Christ the King chose us not because of anything he saw in us, but because of all the love in him. And so not only will he never replace us, he has even given us a promotion! On top of being made a part of his kingdom, we have also been given the title and the unbelievable privilege of being his priests. “He has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” And he calls us his priests for a very important reason.
In Old Testament times the priests stood before God on behalf of the people. They were the ones that were allowed to come into God’s presence when no one else could. The priests were the ones through whom God gave forgiveness to those he loved. And now we have been appointed priests of Christ the King and have been given the very same duties. We stand before God on behalf of the rest of the people in this world - praying for them, pleading for their salvation. We are the ones allowed to come into Christ’s presence when no one else can - because unbelievers are separated from God on account of their lack of faith. We are the ones through him God gives forgiveness to those in this life - by sending us out with the words of the gospel and urging us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and his salvation to all people. We are priests of Christ the King. We hold special positions on his staff that are essential to God’s plan of salvation for all of those lost souls throughout this world. Even though we are sinners and even though we have failed to carry out our priestly duties time after time, we are still the perfect people for the job. We are the perfect people to be appointed as priests of Christ not because we are so godly, but because we are so sinful. We are the perfect people to be God’s priests because of our sinfulness - we know exactly what the King has done for us! We know what he went through to save us from the enemy, we know what kind of sacrifice it took to win us back, and so there is no better group of people than saved sinners to share this exciting news of salvation with others.
Don’t forget how hopeless it once was for us: We were confined in the chains of sin and rotting away in a dungeon of spiritual darkness until Christ the King came. When Christ the King had his hands and feet nailed to the cross, the chains of sin that held our hands and feet broke free. When Christ the King gave up his life into the hands of his Father, our death sentence was lifted. When the first rays of light pierced through the blackness of the empty tomb when the stone was rolled away on Easter morning, the light of the gospel filled up the dark prison where we had been lying and dying and gave us life. Christ the King came and he was victorious. He rescued us from our enemies: Death the Consequence, Sin the Instigator, and Satan the Accomplice, and brought us into his kingdom, into his castle, into his arms. And we know this from experience. We understand what the King sacrificed to pay the ransom for our souls. And there are so many more people need to hear that. They need to hear that Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” They need to hear that he “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” And they need to hear it from those of us who used to be in the same situation that they are in now! They need to hear it from the priests of Christ the King - all of us who are appointed to the task of spreading the gospel! That is how we can serve the King! That is how we can thank and praise him for choosing us to serve on his staff and in his kingdom. Sharing this gospel message is how we can glorify his name not only for appointing us to these positions but also for making our positions permanent.
Usually, an individual appointed by the president is able to keep his/her job as long as the president who appointed them remains in office. But as soon as someone else takes over the presidency, those who had been previously appointed are replaced by new people in a new administration. But there will be no new administration now that Christ the King sits on the throne. There is no term limit with the “Ruler of the kings of the earth.” He will never be defeated. And he will never die - he will never die again anyway. The reign of Christ our King will last forever and so the appointments that he has made will last forever as well. We will not be removed because of a new administration taking over. We will not be replaced by anyone else. And we will always be forgiven when we don’t do justice to the office we are honored to hold. And all of these truths about Christ and his rule motivate us all the more to work as hard as we can to honor, thank, serve, and obey him. Because there is no other King who could possibly show us so much love. There is no other King who could have saved us from where we were confined. There is no other King who would want to give up his own life for people like us! There is no other King. Period. Christ the King really is the only Ruler, the only Emperor, the only Leader, the only President. All others serve him. And so whether the rulers of this earth believe in Christ as their King or not is inconsequential. Because the King of kings will make sure that every one of their decisions and every one of their actions will work out according to his ultimate plan for his chosen people. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’” says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Christ our King is the Almighty. He is the Beginning and he is the Last. He is the one who always has been, the one who is right now, and the one who will always be. And we have been chosen to serve on his staff. It is a privilege to be where we are. It is joy to know where we will one day be.
Amen.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” - 1 Timothy 1:17
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