The Servant King
John 18:33-37
In Today’s Gospel, Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews. Jesus’ answered that he was not the world’s kind of king.
His Kingdom certainly is different. Andrew Daughters points out in the Kingdom of Jesus (CSS Publication) that his Kingdom has no castle or palace, no military presence, no revenue service or taxation, no currency and coinage with his name on it. In Jesus kingdom we don’t have to fill out income tax forms each year with certain penalties administered if we don’t fill them out and pay what we owe. Yes, Jesus kingdom is quite different.
In fact the Kingdom of God is not a place. It is wherever God is recognized as being the ultimate authority in our lives and in the world. It is wherever love overcomes self interest. It is wherever the well being of people is chosen over mere ego power. It is wherever the light of creative altruism is chosen over the darkness of destructive selfishness. It is whenever and wherever we are able to respond to life’s most persistent question, “What are you going to do for others?” It is when we follow the way of Jesus who is known as the Servant King.
The hymn The Servant King by Graham Kendrick.
From heav’n you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served but to serve,
And give your life that we might liveThis is our God, the Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King
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Today is the last Sunday of the long Pentecost season and is named the Reign of Christ or Christ The King. It is a time to ask ourselves how the Servant King reigns in our lives. Do we merely give assent to Christ’s way of servanthood or do we really believe it. To truly believe it means giving your life in this world as servants.
I have a book on my book shelf The Call to Conversion by Jim Wallis, the founder of a community called Sojourners. He is an Evangelical pastor who has a passion for a new social order based on the Gospels. He believes that our willing to work on justice for the poor, and peacemaking, and all the other things that we find in the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, is the test for the depth of our conversion to Christ. He says in this book:
“Perhaps never before has Jesus’ name been more frequently mentioned and the content of his life and teaching so thoroughly ignored”.
For some reason his main teaching on the Kingdom of God has been ignored by many people who say that they believe in Christ. Our commitment has to go beyond going to church and being involved in church activities. It has to go beyond merely our personal salvation. We have to remember that we have a purpose that is to be involved in Christ’s Kingdom. It is not just pie in the sky when you die by and by. It is to be a part of ushering in the Kingdom of God – God’s new order – a new order based on Love, Peace, Justice, Freedom, and the well-being of all people. It is following Jesus all the way.
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I have read or listened to most of the major speeches and sermons of the late Martin Luther King Jr. And even though some people have attempted in recent times to discredit him because of rumors in regard to his lifestyle, I still believe that he was a true prophet of today. His words sting our hearts.
In his last sermons before his death, I See the Promised Land , he talks about that kind of involvement in the world and of working toward the realization of God’s Kingdom here on earth.. It is a sermon preached before a congregation of the Church of God in Christ, one of the largest African American Pentecostal groups in the US. He says:
“It’s all right to talk about long white robes over yonder, in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here.”
Now that stings because we know that poverty is increasing in our world and the hungry are increasing even in our own city. There are hungry children in our schools today and hungry young people and older adults on our streets, even though some of our leaders do not like to use the word ‘hungry’. They would rather refer to these people as people with “very low food security” as if to hide from the stark reality. King’s words still confront us that that reality and our responsibility:
“It’s all right to talk about streets flowing with milk and honey, but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here….. . It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day God’s preacher must talk about the new York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee.” … “Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor.”
In another of his speeches entitled I Have a Dream Martin Luther King Jr. gave us a vision of what he hoped for, what he worked toward, and what kept him going.
“And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up the day when all God’s children – black (men) and white (men), Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants – will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, free at last, free at last thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
That is a vision that we all as Christians should be hoping for and working toward. It should be that which keeps us going. It is the vision of the kingdom. It is the vision of Shalom – love, peace, justice, freedom, salvation, and total well-being for all.
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They say that there are at least two conversions that we have to go through. One is from the world to Christ, and the other is to the world with Christ. Many make the first but do not make the second.
Let us not stop at the first because it it a wonderful privilege and mission to be involved with Christ in the world. It is the way we recognize Christ as the Servant King. It is the way we crown him in our lives. It is the way we worship God – taking on Christ way of life in the world today:
So let us learn how to serve
And in our lives enthrone Him
Each other’s needs to prefer
For it is Christ we’re serving.This is our God, the Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King
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