Trinity Sermons

Who Is Your King?

Nov. 26, 2006 Rev. David C. Huffman John 18:33-37

One of my favorite jokes is from Jack Benny, arguably one of the funniest men ever to have walked the face of the earth. According to the joke, Jack was walking down the street and a thief came up behind him, stuck a gun in his back and said, “Your money or your life!” Jack froze and stood there, and did nothing. The thief shouted, “You heard me: your money or your life! What’s it going to be?” Jack replied, “Alright, already; I’m thinking it over.” Jack got a lot of mileage out of his fondness for his money. And we loved to laugh at his obsessive attachment to it. Remember the vault in the basement with the moat and the alligators?

But at some level, I think there is a little Jack Benny in all of us. We live in a nation where the Pilgrims came to this country to set up a Christian commonwealth and to do good, and found a land so full of natural resources that they did very well. And over time our national obsession for God and religion was replaced with material wealth and worldly success. We would do well in this season of Thanksgiving and Advent to remember that Jesus said we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time.

I must confess to you that I joined America at the mall on Black Friday and was swept up in this tidal wave of commerce. Ironically, the church used to call Good Friday, Black Friday, because they crucified Jesus on that day. Now, they call the busiest shopping day of the year Black Friday. Go figure. As you know, I have lamented for decades the fact that Madison Avenue has stolen Christmas from the church and turned it into something that Jesus would not recognize if he returned to earth. Today is Christ the King Sunday, which is the Sunday that celebrates Jesus’ true identity and the mission God sent him to fulfill. Our passage is the one where in the wee hours of Good Friday Jesus is hauled in before Pilate, who was Roman governor of Judea.

As you know, Pilate was somewhat sympathetic toward Jesus and even tried to get him acquitted of the charges. He began by asking Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. If he said yes, this would have been treason, because Pilate had been appointed governor or regent over Judea, and he had direct authority from Caesar to settle such matters. But you know rabbis, they never answer questions directly. Someone once asked a rabbi why they always answered questions with a question and the rabbi replied, “Is that so?”

So Jesus coyly answered with his own question, “Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me?” Then, without ever saying yes to the question, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were … my servants would fight that I might not be handed over.” And Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus said “You say that I am a king.” Then Jesus told Pilate why he had come: to bear witness to the truth and that everyone who is of the truth hears his voice.” No wonder Pilate washed his hands of the whole affair. He couldn’t get a straight answer out of Jesus!

Did you know that the word Christ in English, which is christos in Greek, is a translation of the Hebrew word, meshiak, or messiah in English, which literally means anointed, which really means “king” because kings were anointed when they were crowned. Did you get all that? So, when we say Jesus Christ, we are really saying Jesus the King, which is another way of saying Jesus the Lord. When we are confirmed or join the church by profession of faith, we profess to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. We really ought to reverse the order and say the Jesus is Savior and Lord, because that is the proper sequence. Accepting God’s grace and forgiveness through the work of Christ is what saves us from eternal separation from God (the shorter term for that is hell). We do this through faith and faith alone. That is not all that difficult. But making Jesus our Lord – our king, our master, the one we follow and give ultimate allegiance to – that is another matter, and takes a lot of effort and discipline. That is what the Christian life is all about: making our walk to match our talk.

For better or worse, you and I live in the richest country in the world that tempts us daily to follow lesser lords or kings. And so we constantly have to chose between following Jesus or following Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Calvin Klein, or the latest hot thing out of Hollywood. As Paul wrote, it’s a daily struggle. I have to tell you, at the mall, I saw an amazing thing. It was an incredible throne housed in a two story structure elaborately adorned with greenery, lights, and beautifully colored ornaments and ribbons. It was a throne fit for a king! Since Christ theKing Sunday was coming up and since Christmas is just four weeks away, I naively thought might see Jesus sitting on that throne. But guess what? Instead there was a jolly fat man dressed in a red suit with a white beard and a belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly. And a long line of children were waiting to sit on his lap and tell him a long list of what they wanted for Christmas. Imagine that! It seems that we have exchanged the three kings’ gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for Jesus with I-Pods, Play Stations, and Razor Phones for us! You see why preachers get frustrated with the way our culture celebrates Christmas. It is, after all, the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, and we ought to be celebrating by giving him gifts, not asking him to shower us with gifts. O, now I have stopped preaching and gone to meddling.

Even Thanksgiving has been neutered. Someone on TV this week said that Thanksgiving was all about the three F’s: family, food, and football. Seems to me it was about the Christian Pilgrims gathering in Plymouth to give thanks to God for their safe passage across the North Atlantic and their first harvest, and for the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ through the grace of God and the neighborliness of the natives. But I guess I’m old fashioned.

III

This is also the time of year churches talk about stewardship, and we make pledges of our time, talent, and treasure to fund the work of the church. Stewardship is about priorities; it answers the question who or what is king in our lives. It reveals where our ultimate allegiance lies. Someone once said that if you wanted to see what is really important to a person look at his or her checkbook. Remember, Jesus said, we put our money where our hearts are, not our mouths. The Bible says faithful people of God will gladly, cheerfully give a tenth of their blessings to God as a thank offering, not as a tax or reluctantly, but freely and joyfully. I can safely say that I get little joy out of the monthly checks I write for the mortgage, car payment, or to Progress Energy or Bell South. But I can also say that writing my check to Trinity Presbyterian Church every month does bring me great joy and satisfaction. Why? Because the bills are a fee for a service, which I am obligated to pay. But my check to the church is a thank offering, expressing gratitude to God for the many blessings in my life: for God sending Jesus into the world to reconcile us to God; for giving us a new life in Christ, and for good health and my beloved family, this church, my ministry, and a host of friends I do not deserve.

Friends, we live in a world where millions of people travel to Grace Land to pay homage to the one they call the King. Even more travel to Florida and California to worship a mouse, and a duck and silly looking dog, named Goofy. Our culture celebrates and worships money, power, and fame. I never have understood why a baseball player gets more money per game than a school teacher gets in a whole year and why CEO’s make 450 times the workers who make the products that allow them to live like kings. Have you ever thought it strange that our religion’s chief symbol is a cross, not a crown or a throne? Many religions have martyrs, people who gave their lives for their faith, but how many religions have their founder being crucified as a common criminal?

The problem with being a Christian in America is that making Christ our king has a lot of competition: the malls and the great entertainment complex of music, movies, drama, dance, and sports, some of great value and others that are trivial: from Beethoven to Friday Night Smack Down. Surely Jesus must shake his head when he looks down on our land and sees how we spend our time and money. As my extended family gathered in the kitchen in a large circle on Thursday, holding hands and reflecting on our many blessings, we didn’t talk so much about our comfortable homes, prosperous jobs, new cars, or ample food and clothing; we talked about each other – about family, memories, the bonds that have held us together for decades. We laughed, we cried, and we prayed, giving thanks to God for the good food, yes, but more importantly for each other, that we were all there and in relatively good health, and for the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God.

Friends, we are masters at majoring in minors, missing the point, making mountains out of mole hills, and as my daughters like to say: not getting it. Christ the King Sunday begs us to pause and reflect on what really matters in life. It asks us if we really want to spend 95 or 98% of our money on ourselves. It asks us do we really want to spend all that money on Christmas that looks more like self indulgence than celebrating Jesus’ birthday. It asks us to consider spending more time with our families and friends. It asks us to make Jesus our Lord and our king. Because, in the end, we probably won’t have chiseled on our tombstones: “I wish I had spent more time at the office,” or “I wish I had made more money” or “How about those Heels, Wolf Pack, Blue devils or hurricanes!” Hopefully, they will read, “In God We Trust” or “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” You see, life isn’t really about money, power, and fame; it is about faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is …..