Word of Life Church Podcast

The Gospel of John tells us that "no one has ever seen God until they see Jesus." The revelation of God is given to us in Jesus Christ. And so we must ask ourselves: Does the view of an angry sadistic monster God look like Jesus? Do we see examples of Jesus pouring out vengeful wrath upon people? Of course we don't! And so, we must reject the view of a monster God. Yet people still struggle with the vision of an angry, vindictive God. God's attitude towards you is one of unwavering fatherly love. God knows you and God loves you. God as your father is responsible for you. He is not a neglectful parent. Our Father is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. God doesn't view you as an enemy, but even if he did, he would love you. God is kind!

Christ is the new day. If we think only in terms of Christ bringing a new day then we sit by passively and wait for Jesus to forcibly bring the new day. This is the way most of us have been misled to think about the kingdom of Christ. But if we think a bit more creatively, deeply, and scripturally, we discover Christ is the new day and that to be in Christ is to enter the day now! This was in the Bible all along, but somehow we managed to miss it. To believe in Christ is to be baptized into Christ and his kingdom, which is to enter into the new day that is Christ!

The good news of great joy is that the world's true king has been born! This Savior-King is going to free us from our chains and lead us out of the dark. Christmas is the time of year when Christians are called to repeat the sounding joy. The world’s true King didn't come to reign over the old politics of fear. Christ the King came to lead us out of fear and into the politics of love. Jesus invites us into a new kind of politics. It is the way of peace. There is no way to peace, peace is the way. Jesus is peace. Instead of predatory, our stance is benevolent. We don't have to hate. We don't have to fight. We don't have to fear. We can have goodwill toward our sisters and brothers, and toward all of our fellow humans!

A long time ago, the church made the cross mostly about private and individual sin. From there the cross eventually became largely sentimental. What was left out was its prophetic critique and divine condemnation of the religion and politics of the world. Religion has been largely about using blame to make ourselves feel better. Politics has been mostly about using power to get what we want. The crucifixion is where God exposes and shames our religion of blame and our politics of power. The cross is where love triumphs over blame through forgiveness. The cross is where love triumphs over violent power through suffering. The cross is the triumph of God's LOVE over the world!

In the early first century, declaring a new religion wouldn't cause much trouble. The world was awash in varied religion, but it had one political scheme: the Roman Empire. For the early Christians to declare a new political king was a very dangerous proclamation. The early Christians dramatically and radically re-imagined the world with a new king, a new Caesar. This is precisely what the gospel is a declaration that the world now has a new emperor: Jesus Christ of Nazareth! The early Christians were accused of being "people who are turning the world upside down" because they were part of a strange movement that worshiped a crucified Galilean Jew whom they claimed had been raised from the dead and was now the world's true emperor. This new king would reorganize humanity, based on a system of reconciling love, not avenging power. This new world is the Kingdom of God.

The book of Daniel sets forth a vision of a king who is not like warrior-conqueror kings of world history. The dominating rulers throughout history were warriors, known for their rage and mercilessness in conquering the kingdoms of the world. But Daniel reveals a king who will rule humanely and not beastly, who's reign is known for its peace and everlasting shalom. We worship a different kind of king: King Jesus!

When Jesus left his quiet life as a carpenter to launch his career as a prophet and preacher, he first had to walk from Nazareth to Capernaum. We to tend to look at the life of Jesus as being filled with wonder and miracles. But in the Incarnation of God, Christ entered into the tedium of human life. But Jesus made it holy. All of the unremarkable bits necessary to living are made holy in Christ. Ordinary living is elevated to a sacrament. When we see the Incarnation for what it really is, life itself becomes a kind of Jesus Trail. In the ordinary activities of human life we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

The theme of Jesus Christ as king is the predominant theme of the Christmas Carols. We sing "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her king" and "Hark! The herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king". But what do we mean when we sing about Jesus being king? Is Jesus just a “spiritual” king? A king in heaven? Actually the answer is NO! When the apostles first called Jesus King, they meant it in the most literal and political way! The gospel is the story of how Jesus of Nazareth became King of the world. The gospel is not primarily about going to heaven, self-improvement, or even personal forgiveness. Though these things are related to the gospel, the gospel is primarily the royal announcement that Jesus Christ is now King of the world!

John describes Jesus as "the light that has come into the darkness." All of us have been impacted by the darkness of the world's system and we have seen the effects of this darkness in the lives of the next generation. It is up to us to bring this next generation, our children, into the light of Christ and each of us have a part to play.

The "kingdom of God" is Jesus-language. Jesus began his public ministry by saying, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." He continued to proclaim the kingdom and demonstrated the kingdom throughout his ministry. After his resurrection he spent time with his disciples, talking to them about the kingdom, but did they see it? Do we? For all of our worship and devotion to Jesus, do we see the kingdom he proclaimed? A glimpse of the kingdom of God changes everything. It changes how we live, how we love, and how we pray. Seeing the kingdom is possible, but it requires new eyes. We must be born again if we are to see this kingdom which has come.