Hello, friends! Welcome to Christ the King Sunday, a day which reminds us that in the coming Advent season, we look for both a baby and a king. Click the video below and let us acknowledge and worship King Jesus…
There is perhaps no better hymn for this day than Crown Him with Many Crowns:
For a contemporary song, it is appropriate today and every day to Sing to the King:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
Stained glass window at the Annunciation Melkite Church in Roslindale, Massachusetts
Christ the King Sunday is intended to help us see the cosmic reality that Jesus reigns over all creation as the only rightful Sovereign of the universe. This Sunday always comes just before Advent so that we remember to anticipate both a baby and a king.
Christ as Lord of all exposes three problems humanity faces:
Building our own petty kingdoms and setting ourselves up as masters over our own small worlds. People who have been hurt (all of us) often attempt to seize power for themselves in order to avoid ever being hurt again, or in the belief that wielding power could have prevented others from being hurt. The classic villains of movies and literature are ones who seek to destroy the earth so that they rebuild it in their own idea of how the world should operate. It is protection of self and loved ones from pain. The irony is that much hurt is inflicted to alleviate such pain.
Bowing to other kings besides King Jesus. When we are distressed, we might rely on alternative authorities to address our hard circumstances. We might expect other people to give us only what Jesus can. Instead of repentance and faith in Christ, we may run to the politicians or pastors we have set up in his place to cope with whatever is going on in our lives.
Lacking awareness of the power we possess as subjects of King Jesus. Christians possess authority in Jesus Christ. As believers in Jesus, we reign with him and can exercise authority over every dominion that exists, especially the dominion of darkness.
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers provides God’s design for the church. It is a plan for believers in Jesus to know their spiritual blessings and exercise the power they have as Christians united to Christ. God wants us to understand this power and authority, and to actively use it. We will know King Jesus better by availing ourselves of his authority given to us as believers. (Ephesians 1:15-23)
We have a clear understanding from Ephesians of how to pray: To know Jesus better. There is probably no higher prayer. Paul prayed that believers in Jesus would know the hope to which we have been called and the incomparably great power accessible to us.
The word for “power” in the New Testament (Greek dunamis, pronounced “doon-a-miss”) is where we get our English word “dynamite.” When I was a kid, we had a neighbor who had a fondness for playing with dynamite, especially when he drank too much. Even though he lived a mile down the road, when he blew up a tree stump or anything else on his property, it would shake our house and feel like the windows were going to break. One stick of dynamite is nothing compared to God’s power, an incredible might without equal.
This divine power is for us who believe in Jesus the King. It is the same power used to raise Jesus from the dead and which exalted Christ as Lord of the universe. The rule and reign of Jesus is far above any other existing authority – including powers and authorities of the dark domain.
When it comes to dealing with the powers of darkness, we have the authority of Jesus Christ. We have a vital and inseparable union with Jesus Christ, because of his resurrection and exaltation. Jesus redeemed us and we belong to him. We are adopted children of God. Since all earthly and spiritual powers are subject to Christ, they are also subject to us. The imagery of Jesus as Head, and believers in Jesus as the Body of Christ means we have an inseparable union together. Since we are united with Christ, we share his authority over all spiritual powers.
It is one thing to know this information; it is quite another thing to use it. God wants us to experience Christ’s power through exercising our authority as believers. We are to pray in a way which links faith and knowledge together in a confident use of spiritual authority. We have unimaginable rights as blood-bought children of God.
The 118 feet high Christ the King statue in Świebodzin, Poland
Tackling the forces of darkness needs to be a communal activity; going it alone is dangerous. So, let us pray the following prayer together, united in Christ and with one another in spiritual bond a million times stronger than superglue. This is a prayer that boldly exercises authority in Jesus Christ. So, let us come confidently before the throne of God’s grace.
God Almighty, we bow in worship and praise before You. We thank you that the Lord Jesus Christ is King over all creation, and that he is the rightful Sovereign of the universe. We thank you that because of this truth, we have power together with Jesus. Since Jesus is King, we surrender ourselves completely in every area of our lives to You. Since Christ’s authority extends over every dominion, including the dominion of darkness, we now take a stand against all the work of Satan that would hinder us now in prayer. We address ourselves only to the True and Living God and refuse any involvement of Satan in our prayers.
Therefore, Satan, we command you, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to leave our presence with all your demons. We bring the blood of Jesus Christ between us.
Sovereign God, we recognize You are worthy to receive all glory, honor, and praise. We renew our allegiance to You and ask that the Holy Spirit will enable us to pray. We are thankful, Lord God, that You have loved us from eternity past and that You sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to die as our substitute. We are thankful that Christ has completely forgiven us; You have adopted us into Your family; You have given us eternal life; You have offered Yourself to us to be our daily help and strength.
Glorious God open our eyes so that we will see how great You are and how complete Your provision is for today. We are thankful the victory Jesus Christ won for us on the cross and in His resurrection has been given to us and that we are seated with the Lord Jesus in heaven. We take our place with Him and recognize by faith that all wicked spirits and Satan himself are under our feet. We declare that Satan and his demons are subject to us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are thankful for the spiritual armor You have provided. We put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace and the helmet of salvation. We lift the shield of faith against all the fiery arrows of the enemy; and we take in our hands the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We choose to use Your Word against all the forces of evil in our lives. We live and pray in complete dependence upon You, Holy Spirit.
We are grateful the Lord Jesus Christ disarmed all power and authorities, triumphing over them by the cross. We claim all victory for our lives today. We reject all the insinuations, accusations, and temptations of Satan. We affirm that the Word of God is true, and we choose to live today in the light of God’s Word. Almighty God, we choose to live in obedience to You and in fellowship with You. Open our eyes and show us the areas of our lives that do not please You. Cleanse us from anything that would give Satan a foothold against us. We stand into all that it means to be Your adopted children and we welcome all the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.
By faith and in complete dependence upon You we now put off the old sinful person and stand into all the victory of the crucifixion where the Lord Jesus Christ provided cleansing from the sinful nature. We put on the new person and stand into all the victory of the resurrection and the provision Christ has made for us to live above sin.
Today we put off the old sinful nature with its selfishness and put on the new nature with its love. We put off the old nature with its fear and put on the new nature with its courage. We put off the old nature with its deceitful lusts and put on the new nature with its righteousness, purity, and honesty.
In every way we stand into the victory of Jesus Christ’s ascension and glorification, in which everything was made subject to Him. We claim our place in Christ as victorious with Him over all the enemies of our souls. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would fill us with the righteousness of Christ. Break down every idol and cast out every enemy of our souls.
We are thankful, mighty God, that You have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We are grateful You have given us new life into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We are thankful You have made provision for us so that today we can live filled in the Holy Spirit with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. We recognize and affirm that this is Your will for us and so we reject and resist all the attempts of Satan and his demons to rob us of God’s will.
We are thankful, Blessed Holy Trinity, that our spiritual weapons have divine power to demolish demonic strongholds, arguments, and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Therefore, we tear down the strongholds of Satan and smash the plans of Satan that have been formed against us. We affirm You have not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. We choose to make right decisions of faith.
Powerful God, show us the ways Satan is hindering, tempting, lying, and distorting the truth in our lives. Help us to be aggressive in prayer and faith. Help us to think rightly, and actively practice Your Word. Help us to give You Your rightful place in our lives. We now cover ourselves with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and pray that You, Holy Spirit, would bring all the work of Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and all Your work of Pentecost into our lives today. We deliberately surrender ourselves to King Jesus. We refuse to be discouraged because You are the God of all hope. You have proven Your power by resurrecting Jesus from the dead, so we claim this victory over all satanic forces in our lives, our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our faith communities. We pray in the Name and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Amen.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? (NIV)
In the wake of the Day of Pentecost, Christians are mindful of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s power certainly brings strength and courage for witness and ministry. That same power is also found in the travails and tribulations of this life. Spiritual power can be discovered in the dark places of our lives, in the times of loneliness and doubt, and in the constant need for prayerful intercession.
The Spirit is both a mighty wind and a gentle breeze.
Perhaps you, like me, grieve the loss of over 100,000 Americans to the deathly enemy of COVID-19. Our collective lament is an awful groaning expression of our pain. We need the Holy Spirit! The good news of Pentecost is that when we are not powerful, the Spirit helps us in our weakness – that is our hope and our quiet strength.
In today’s New Testament lesson, the Apostle Paul used the experience of childbirth to illustrate what the experience of the Christian life is often like. Growth, wonder, expectation, hope, patience, pain, and joy are all words to describe pregnancy and childbirth. When it comes to the Church and the Christian life, we are in the gestation period. Our salvation has not yet come to full term. Meanwhile, we must remain encouraged and healthy, keeping our future hope always in front of us so that we will not lose heart. When we are limited in what we can do and where we can go, we pray. And there are times when we are flat on our backs, overwhelmed with our circumstances, not able to utter any words in prayer.
As Christians, we are awaiting our complete redemption. If we lack patience and see little hope, we will find it difficult to persevere. In such times it does no good to be like Eeyore and feel sorry for ourselves. Yet, on the other hand, it also does no good to always be smiling, positive, and upbeat as if nothing is worth grieving over. To take such a posture toward the awful effects of living in a fallen world with disease and death is, at best, to ignore the power of lament, and, at worst, to live in abject denial. We can neither fix nor control most of what is going on in the world around us. To lament is to acknowledge the reality that something terrible happened. Lament causes us to stare down a painful event and face it in all its ugliness.
In such feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, God comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit resides with us and strengthens us with Pentecostal power. We not only celebrate the Spirit’s mighty power to blow a violent wind and upturn history; we are also grateful for that same power in coming alongside us and providing the inner strength to face yet another day of hardship and difficulty as we seek to heal.
We live in an awkward time. Nothing is as it was. And, yet, it has always been this way – a time of spiritual pregnancy in which we possess salvation but do not yet possess it in all its fullness. There is so much groaning going on because we realize there is such a large gap between where we are and where we want to be. If women could have babies without nine months of struggle, limitation, and pain I think they would opt for that instead of the way it is now.
There is a time coming when every tear will be wiped away and unending joy will rule.
All of creation groans because where it is now and where it will be seems like such a long time in coming. Every creature and every living thing will experience decay and death. The world is not yet redeemed from its cursed bondage. So, the earth produces disasters and diseases because we live in this fallen world that is not yet redeemed.
Humanity groans because we fall victim to circumstances beyond our control. We also groan because of our own poor choices that give us grief. Although we have been delivered from sin, death, and hell and experience spiritual power… we still must wait eagerly for the redemption of our bodies. We are keenly aware of the terrible disconnect between where we are as people and where we want to be. It is something of feeling like Pinocchio, not yet a real boy who has to deal with strings and other puppeteers who do not care about him; and, who feels the need to lie because of his situation and pays the consequence of his nose growing.
Yet, a deeper thing is happening under the surface: Our frustrations, longings, lusts, jealousies, and escapist daydreams, things we might be ashamed of to take to prayer, are in fact already lifting our hearts and minds to God in more honest ways than we ever do consciously.
If carrying heavy burdens, it is spiritually appropriate to offload your worries onto the Holy Spirit who is waiting to intercede for you right now. And if there is no immediate relief, we are to persevere and keep engaging in prayer without giving up. Pentecostal power may be available, but it is not cheap; it requires a commitment of abiding prayer and waiting patiently for the Spirit to accomplish his purposes in his time.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Kindle in me the fire of your love. Send me your gentle breeze, and I shall be renewed. Spirit of the living God, I invite you to wring the death out of my heart and saturate my soul with your life-giving breath of faith, hope, and love through Jesus Christ, my Savior. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 