Sermon on Lord’s Day 12 Q&A 31c, 32c⤒🔗

Q. Why is He called Christ, that is, Anointed?
A. Because He has been ordained by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit,[1] to be our chief Prophet and Teacher,[2] who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption;[3] our only High Priest,[4] who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us,[5] and who continually intercedes for us before the Father;[6] and our eternal King,[7] who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us.[8]
[1] Ps. 45:7 (Heb. 1:9); Is. 61:1 (Luke 4:18; Luke 3:21, 22. [2] Deut. 18:15 (Acts 3:22). [3] John 1:18; 15:15. [4] Ps. 110:4 (Heb. 7:17). [5] Heb. 9:12; 10:11-14. [6] Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; I John 2:1. [7] Zach. 9:9 (Matt. 21:5); Luke 1:33. [8] Matt. 28:18-20; John 10:28; Rev. 12:10, 11.

Q. Why are you called a Christian?
A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith[1] and thus share in His anointing,[2] so that I may as prophet confess His Name,[3] as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him,[4] and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life,[5] and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.[6]
[1] I Cor. 12:12-27. [2] Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:17); I John 2:27. [3] Matt. 10:32; Rom 10:9, 10; Heb. 13:15. [4] Rom. 12:1; I Pet. 2:5, 9. [5] Gal. 5:16, 17; Eph. 6:11; I Tim. 1:18, 19. [6] Matt. 25:34; II Tim. 2:12.

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 17:14-20, Matthew 20:20-28

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 72:1,2
Hymn 19:1,2,6
Psalm 21:1,4
Psalm 8:1,4,5
Psalm 110:1,2,3

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Story books abound of the pauper who became a prince and the pretty peasant girl who married the king. The theme sparks the imagination; everybody is somehow attracted to the notion of being royalty, enjoying the perks and privileges of being on top of the ladder. In real life, so few make it.

We confess in Lord’s Day 12 that the Christian, by virtue of sharing Christ’s anointing, is a king. The concept is fully Biblical. Peter says that the saints of God are "a royal priesthood" (I Peter 2:9) - royalty! John adds that the Lord Jesus Christ "has made us kings and priests to His God and Father" (Rev 1:6). That couldn’t be clearer, beloved; He "made us kings." That’s our God-given identity today.

But what, brothers and sisters, does this identity mean for real life? How does our identity as kings (and queens) affect our daily living? This is the material we need to address today.

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

God made us kings so that we might serve 

1. The task of the biblical king.
2. The fulfillment in the eternal King.
3. The mandate of the modern king.

The task of the biblical king←⤒🔗

As we seek to understand the Lord’s will for us as kings in our modern society, we shall need first to come to grips with the Lord’s meaning of the word ‘king’.

It pleases the Lord God from heaven above to govern affairs on the earth beneath. In His governing of things amongst men, it pleases Him in His wisdom to use authorities, governments, kings. That is: God ordains certain persons to be tools in His hands through whom He is pleased to govern others. These persons, then, receive authority over those under them. But these authorities themselves are not the top of the pile. They are themselves under authority, ie, they are under God. That, in turn, determines the way they are to exercise their authority over those under them.

In the world of Israel’s day, the position that most epitomized the notion of authority was ‘kingship’. According to the passage we read from Dt 17, it was OK to God if Israel should desire a king, a man "over" the people (vs 14). God added straightaway, though, particular restrictions for any king in Israel. Said God: this king may "not multiply horses for himself", nor may he "multiply wives for himself", "nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself" (vs 16f). Were a king to multiply horses for himself, he’d have the capacity to give expression to his ego and so to triumph over other nations and make himself emperor of a large kingdom, and God said No to that. If he’d multiply wives for himself, he’d be acting as Pharaoh did when Abram and Sarai came to Egypt, bullying women away from others for personal satisfaction and reputation – and so feeding his own ego. Greatly multiplying silver and gold again was not on, because that revealed a self-centered spirit. You see, beloved, that’s the common denominator in it all; the king in Israel was not to be selfish, not to be egocentric. That’s to say: God did not give him his position for his own benefit (so that he could demand of the people under him that they stroke his ego); instead, God gave him his position so that he might be a fitting tool in God’s hands to rule the people on God’s behalf. So there was no place for selfishness; there was place only for service. That is the critical word in understanding the biblical notion of the king: service! It is service first to God, and in serving God it is service also to the people of his realm.

This notion goes very much against the popular notion of what a king is. We hear the term ‘king’, and our thoughts go to palaces and servants and comforts and riches. And together with palaces and servants and comforts our thoughts go to giving instructions, getting things done for you, being pampered. Our thoughts go to people giving you homage, people looking up to you, people kowtowing to your wishes. We confess in our Lord’s Day that we are ‘kings’, and it’s this sort of thing that have in mind. But that’s distinctly not the picture of Dt 17.

In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ underscores the instruction of Dt 17 in the passage we read from Mt 20. The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with a request for her two sons. She knew Jesus would bring in the kingdom of heaven, knew that in this kingdom Jesus would be the King, on top of the pile. But wouldn’t it be nice if her sons could have the second to top positions! Please, Lord, "one at Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom" (vs 21)…. The one Prime Minister, please, and the other Treasurer…. Top of the pile…. How human, and how worldly….

Of interest to our point today is the reaction of the other disciples. Vs 24: "when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers." That the two tried to get those top positions before the others could put their hats in the ring, heh, that wasn’t fair! And we say: the ten are right. For we all somehow want that top position. To have authority, to call the cards, to be served: it sits right with all of us!

Listen, then, beloved, to Jesus’ response. Vs 25:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.…

You see, congregation: here’s the same theme as God impressed upon Israel in Dt 17. The attitude the king has to cultivate within himself is not: how can I compel others to serve me? The attitude he needs to develop in himself is rather: how can I serve others?

Let’s go back for a minute to Dt 17. After God forbade that a king in Israel should multiply horses and wives and riches for himself, the Lord gave this instruction:

Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life… vss 18f

What, do you think, is meant by "this law" that the young king had to copy into a book? That phrase, congregation, refers to the whole word of God as it existed at the time. That’s what a new king had to do: write out for himself a personal copy of the whole word of God. Then he had to read it, day by day. Why? Said God:

"that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel" (vss 19f).

You see: the king in Israel did not receive his throne for his own benefit, but God gave him that throne so that the king might be the means God was pleased to use to care for His people. So the king had the responsibility to govern under God, to govern the people in the way God would govern them. That’s why he had to be busy with the Word of God day by day; it was through the Word that God had revealed who He was. And who was He? What did the Word of God reveal about God and God’s approach to His people? Certainly, it contained commands to the people about how they were to serve their God, yes. But these commands came after God had first shown His people what He in mercy did for them! That is, the commands were instruction to a sinful people how they were to show their thankfulness to God for the redemption He in mercy had given to them. And how had God given redemption? By emptying Himself for the sake of the people!! The sacrifices of Leviticus proclaimed the gospel of the forgiveness of sins, a gospel possible only because God would give His only Son to crush the seed of the serpent. How God emptied Himself for the good of the unworthy: that’s what the king of Israel had to learn daily by constant study of the Bible, and that’s the attitude he had communicate to the people by the way he carried out his office. He was there not to be served, but to serve.

That is why a king like David could receive compliments from the Lord. Certainly, he was a sinful man, and he failed miserably to be the perfect king-under-God that God wanted him to be. But he repented of his attempt to multiply wives for himself, and he returned to that spirit of service, of self-denial in carrying out his office. Solomon did the same, in the first part of his reign. But toward the end he gave away God’s instruction to the king, and followed the dictates of his sinful heart – with all the misery that followed. Horses, wives, riches: he multiplied all for his own gratification, and the result was that the Lord took the kingdom from him…. For God’s definition of a king is not a man who demands to be served, but rather a man who serves.

We come to our second point:

2. The fulfillment in the eternal King.←⤒🔗

Our Lord Jesus Christ was ordained by God the Father and anointed by the Holy Spirit to be our eternal king. And see: He was the perfect example of the king God described in Dt 17.

Directly after Jesus was anointed to the office of king, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness "to the tempted by the devil" (Mt 4:1). The third of Satan’s temptations zeroed in specifically on Christ’s office as king. "The devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me’" (vss 8f). That is: ‘You were anointed to be king, isn’t it? But look, God hasn’t given you a kingdom! See now, I’ll give you all of this if you but bow the knee to me.’ And indeed, beloved, Jesus would have become king over all, king of kings – at the right hand of Satan, had he bowed the knee to the devil. But you and I would have received no salvation, would not be redeemed from Satan’s power, would not be made children of God! So Jesus responded to Satan’s hellish offer with His word of command, "Away with you, Satan!" You see, Jesus obeyed the instruction of Dt 17, He did not seek to be served, did not seek to be king to be on top of the pile; He rather sought to serve, sought to empty Himself for the benefit of others. That’s an attitude totally foreign to Satan, but fully characteristic of the Lord God.

In the course of His public ministry the Lord Jesus Christ was once asleep in His disciples’ boat when a great storm arose. He spoke one word, "Wind, be still," and there was a great calm (Mk 4:40ff). His disciples were amazed; "who is this that even wind and sea obey Him!" Such was His kingly power; top of the pile indeed! Shortly thereafter He came to the land of the Gadarenes (Mk 5), and a demonic met him from the tombs. Jesus cast the demons out of the man, sent them into the pigs…. The demons protested, didn’t want to go, but such was Jesus’ kingly authority that they had no option…. He came across dead people and raised them, came across sick people and healed them, came across hungry people and fed them, and so on. Miracle after miracle showed the infinite power this King had, with authority over every aspect of God’s creation – man and beast, wind and sea, devil and demon alike. But where, brothers and sisters, where was Jesus’ palace? And where were His servants who did His bidding?? "Foxes have holes," Jesus told His disciples, "and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Mt 8:20). That is: though Jesus had so much power, was king over all, He did not use His kingship for His own benefit! Here He obeyed perfectly the command of God in Dt 17. King He was, and the evidence was there for the taking, but in no way did Jesus use His position for Himself. As Jesus said it in Mt 20: "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (vs 28). So the King "laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself," knelt before the disciples and "began to wash the disciples’ feet" (Jn 13:4f). Behold the Scriptural picture of a king.

Our Lord Jesus Christ presented the same picture when Judas and the chief priests came to arrest Him. Peter pulled out a sword to fight for His master, and his point was that Jesus –King as He was!- should follow that example and fight also. But Jesus’ reply was this: "do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53). The point: ‘I have infinite angels at My disposal. One word from Me, and the chief priests are no more.’ But you see, beloved, that was not the spirit of Dt 17! So Jesus the King, in obedience to God’s command for kings, looked not to His own advantage but emptied Himself for the good of His subjects. He let Himself be arrested, molested, crucified, killed – though it was all injustice to the extreme. The justice side of it He left to God, while He Himself laid down His life in order to benefit those over whom He was king.

Pilate hung a sign over the crucified Jesus: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." The human eye saw only that this was a most disgusting joke; surely, He was anything but a king! But the believer knows that precisely on the cross Jesus was King. He emptied Himself to serve – how kingly!! And He fought, fought against sin and Satan, and won – how kingly! He satisfied the justice of God against our sins, and so could majestically arise from the grave on the third day – king over death itself! Forty days later He rode the clouds of God into heaven, and there received from God a throne at His right hand – King over all the kings of the world! From there He rules even today over man and beast; nothing on this earth is outside His control. Yet even now this King does not govern in order to be served! Well does the Catechism say it: from heaven on high our eternal King today "governs us by His word and Spirit, and … defends and preserves us in the redemption [He] obtained for us." There’s the purpose of His reigning today: to defend and preserve His church! That is: from heaven He serves His people; from heaven He does not milk His people for all they’re worth, but He abundantly provides for His people.

From this material, brothers and sisters, it becomes clear to us what, according to the Bible, a king is. We learned before that the Lord has anointed us also to be kings. What, now, does all this mean for our office as kings? That’s our third point:

3. The mandate of the modern king.←⤒🔗

This much is clear straightaway: God has not anointed us to an office where our sinful selfishness is allowed free reign! Kings we are, yes, and so we are to rule. But it’s to be a ruling geared to serving the other.

When the Lord decided to make man, He described the function He would give to mankind. Said God: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Gen 1:26). Here is the kingly position God has given to man from the beginning; we were created to have dominion over all creation, to rule over all creation, to be kings and queens. When the Holy Spirit says in the New Testament that we are today kings, the point is that we rule over all God’s handiwork. Snails and snakes, fish and fowl, plants and planets: all are put under our feet, God gives us dominion over all.

From this reality flows our cultural mandate. That is, exactly because God made us kings over all creation are we to develop this creation, dig out of the ground the minerals God has put there, explore the plants to know what potentials the Lord has put in them (be it for food or for medicine, etc), learn how to farm the ocean to supply food for mankind, etc. But this kingly position God has given over creation does not mean that we are allowed to exploit the creation. Where Christians in the past –or even today- use their power over animals or plants to exploit these animals or plants, these Christians transgress the will of God caught in our function as kings. For kings, remember, serve; kings, according to the Bible, are not to be self-centered.

This Biblical teaching about our kingship has a direct bearing on today’s discussion about the effects of industrialization on the environment. Some of the negative effect of industrialization was due to ignorance (think of salination of the soils); people just didn’t know what the effect of removing too many trees might be. Others of the negative effects were due to sloppiness or greed. Either way, we remain kings and therefore are to be sensitive to what we do with God’s world. We hear sounds to the effect that our environment cannot continue to sustain the standard of living we demand from it in our prosperous western world. If that’s indeed the case, congregation, our office as kings means that we lower our standard of living, deny ourselves in order to take good care of the environment God has entrusted to us. For kings serve.

God makes us kings in Christ. That means, brothers and sisters, that we exercise dominion first of all over ourselves. How, though, can we lose control over ourselves? One example is by losing our temper. God has made us kings, we’re to have dominion over ourselves, and so giving up our self-control through rage is not according to God’s will. This is the point of the psalmist: "be angry, but do not sin" (Ps 4:4).

We can lose control over ourselves also through abuse of alcohol or drugs. That may feel good, and we might see benefits for ourselves (at least for the short term), but the fact that God has made us kings over creation means that we need to rule over our urge for a fix, and not let the urge rule over us. So say it differently, we need to rule over the bottle, and not permit the bottle to rule over us. This point, of course, is valid for every urge. We are kings, and so it is the Lord’s will that we control our urge to binge, and not let our urge to eat control us. We are kings, and so it is the Lord’s will that we control our sex-drive, and not let that drive control us.

The same concept is true in our relation with other people. Some of us have an obvious position of authority over others, be it as parents in the family, as teachers in the school, as office-bearers in the church, as managers at work, etc. Others of us have positions of authority over others in a less obvious manner. I think of the influence a strong personality can have in one’s peer group at school or at work. I think too of the influence an older sibling can have over younger siblings at home. It is so natural to use that position of authority or influence in order to serve the self, be it in getting another person to do what you want, or even imposing your line of thought over the other. Either way, this position of authority and influence is used to serve the self, to promote your own way. And that’s not right, neither for parents over the children at home nor for teachers over the students at school nor for office-bearers over the congregation nor for strong personalities over weaker personalities. That’s being king in the worldly sense. According to God’s definition of kingship, we are to use the positions God entrusts to us –be it of authority or of influence- in order to serve those under us. To fulfill our office as kings in the world today, the Lord would have us to empty ourselves for the benefit of the other.

How, concretely, shall we empty ourselves to benefit the other? How shall we rule well in our modern world – be it at home or at school or in church or at work? The instruction the Lord gave to Israel’s kings remains valid for us today too: be busy with the Scriptures! No, we need not write out a copy of the Bible, simply because we all have copies. But study the Scriptures we must, so that we might keep learning how our God emptied Himself for the benefit of His people, how He time and again in the Old Testament contained His wrath, sent His prophets again and again, how in the fullness of time He sent His only Son from the glories of heaven to the humiliation of the cross for the redemption of the unworthy, how He poured out His Holy Spirit to enable His broken and sinful children to be kings nevertheless, etc, etc. Here is God’s Handbook for Kings for our modern times, and so it’s this volume we need to continue to master.

Can we be kings in this modern age? Granted, beloved, it’s always been difficult, difficult because "the devil, the world, and our own flesh do not cease to attack us." So we need to fight, always to fight against sin and the devil, and that’s not so easy. But our ascended King, brothers and sisters, has poured out His Holy Spirit so that we might be anointed, and that’s to say that with the office comes the ability to carry out the office! If God calls us to be kings –and He does!- He also gives the strength!! That’s His promise, a promise we need to work with as we seek to exercise God-centered dominion over ourselves, our homes, those under us at work, and yes, over creation itself. God has ordained us, so it’s for us to believe that we’ve been anointed to the office, to believe that God gives us strength to be kings. And therefore to be what God made us to be. Amen.