The famed minister Dr John Sutherland Bonnell, who preached at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, told of a minister on the west coast who was invited to address a group of college students in their fraternity house. At the start of the meeting he turned to the chairman of the meeting and asked “What are you living for?” The student replied, “I am going to be a pharmacist.” The minister said, “I understand that is how you are going to earn your living. But what are you living for?” The youth bowed his head for a moment, and , then, looking up with clear, true eyes said, “Sir, I am sorry, but I haven’t thought that thing through.” It was discovered that of the thirty students present only two had asked themselves this question. They all knew how they would earn their livelihood, but only two had discovered the central purpose of life.

This Sunday is called Christ the King. Any Sunday is a good day for thinking of why we are here – which is one reason the Reformers in the 16th century said Sabbath worship trumps everything else -- but this particular Sunday is probably better than any other because, as the last Sunday of the church year, it asks us, in effect, what is it all about, where are we headed, and why are we here in the first place? The confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is the central affirmation of Christian Faith. The very first creed of the Church was a simple two word statement: kurios christos, Christ is Lord.

We have just heard two powerful readings from the New Testament. In the gospel Jesus is mocked by the soldiers and a sign was put up “This is the King of the Jews” What was meant as mockery became the hallmark of Christian faith. He is King of kings and Lord of Lords.

On the cross Jesus promises forgiveness to the penitent thief . Christ on the cross did what only kings and governors do, he pronounced pardon. As has been well said, there were two thieves on Calvary with Christ. One was forgiven, so that all might have hope, but not both, so that none might presume.

Then in Paul’s letter to the Colossians it is said of Christ “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him….He is the head of the body, the church….” It is an absolutely mind-blowing and mind-expanding understanding of Who and What Jesus Christ is: Lord of all and Divine Savior.

Two recent writers from Pittsburgh Seminary have written that the affirmation “Jesus Christ is Lord” is the principal affirmation of the New Testament. Every page of the New Testament stems from this conviction. More than 100 times in the gospels Jesus is designated as Lord. The early church used a symbol of the fish and it stood for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”, as a clear proclamation of his Lordship over all. In the first century, as the Christian community claimed new adherents, it was up against paganism and the various gods of Greece and Rome. Those gods are not around anymore, but there are other “gods” such as money and power and fame. We can also make a “god” out of our family, or our children.

Money, we have said often, is not evil in itself. In fact it can be used for a lot of good. Instead, it is the “love of money” according to the Bible that is the problem. So also, there is nothing in itself wrong with fame. Many famous people deserve to be famous, and some deserve to be more famous than they are. On the other hand, there are many are famous only in their own minds! And fame can be as fleeting as the petals of a flower on a windy day in Spring. Power can also be used for good and is not of itself wrong, neither of course is the family. The Bible speaks often of the blessings of family life, of the duty of children to honor their parents and parents to care for their children. There is nothing in and of itself wrong with any of those things, only that they should not become all that we are living for.   

The New Testament says clearly Jesus is Lord. It also tells us what kind of Lord and King he is. We should be clear he is not Lord by our permission. He wasn’t “elected” by the people. The democratic way of doing things is much beloved by Americans and by Presbyterians – it is our form of church life, as we will see at the coffee hour, but it has nothing to do with Christ as Lord. The Bible says God made him Lord by raising him from the dead and God gave him power over all things, and in him and in him alone all the fullness of the Godhead bodily was pleased to dwell. He is the effulgence of the divine splendor, as Hebrews says, the firstborn of all creation, the head over all things and over his body, which is the church.

But He is also the Lord who gave his life for us. He is also the Lord through whom we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins. He is also the Lord who is the good Shepherd, who calls his own to him, and promises to us his faithful love. As the late Shirley Guthrie said, He is the Lord who exercises his power without taking away any of our freedom and humanity. He is for us, not against us. He is not for us in a paternalistic way, like a dog owner with his dog, keeping us dependent, but rather He wants us to make our own way in the world, discover our own potential for good and live into it and grow into free maturity of our own. This is quite different from any other king or Lord, or in fact from any of the other so-called gods out there. What makes his rule different is that he is the Lord of love.

Now what better options do you see out there as claims on our life’s purpose and direction?

In the Apostles’ Creed we assert that we believe in “Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” The Presbyterian catechism asks “What do you believe when you confess your faith in Jesus Christ as “our Lord” and the answer is: “That having been raised from the dead Christ reigns with compassion and justice over all things in heaven and on earth, especially over those who confess him by faith. By loving and serving him above all else, I give glory and honor to God.” (underline added).

Church history is filled with the names of people who confessed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and paid for that with their lives. In the early years there was a bishop named Polycarp who in the second century in Smyrna, now Izmir, Turkey, died at the stake for refusing to give first place to the emperor. In the 16th century Thomas More was imprisoned in the Tower of London and then beheaded for refusing to do the will of Henry VIII and putting his conscience first. It is said even his wife was upset with him for his refusal to compromise with Henry, but he could not live with his conscience if he had. In the 20th century a group of German Christians met at Barmen and declared in the face of Nazism that Jesus Christ was the only Word of God that people are to hear, trust, and obey. That was a clear repudiation of Hitler. Many of them were martyred for their faith.

In Africa many Christians, such as Jawani Luwum of Uganda, were likewise martyred for their faith in Christ. In defiance of Idi Amin, archbishop Luwum boldly declared Christ is Lord. Likewise in Latin America such people as Oscar Romero in El Salvador were martyrs and said in defiance of oppressive forces that Christ alone is Lord. The list goes on and on. We honor these people as part of the great cloud of witnesses, and they come from many different backgrounds, but they have in common that every one of them had answered with clear conviction the question: what are you living for?

Thankfully, we in our circumstances are not called to be martyrs. But we are called to ask ourselves what the Lordship of Christ means to us each one. No one can answer that question for us. Each must answer it for himself or herself. But each of us must ask it, lest, like the college student, we answer, “I’m sorry, I just haven’t thought that thing through.”

Jesus himself said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

What are you living for?

 

Acknowledgements

Andrew Purves and Charles Partee, Encountering God: Christian Faith in Turbulent Times, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2000, pp. 33 ff.

Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, John Knox Press, p. 270 ff.

James W. Cox, The Minister’s Manual, 1988, p. 317

The Study Catechism, Confirmation Edition, Presbyterian Church (USA), p. 13