Word of Life Church Podcast

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.

At the core of being an authentic expression of the Kingdom of Jesus in the 21st century is following King Jesus. As we follow him, we hear him calling us to go and make disciples. We are followers of Jesus who are called to make followers of Jesus. We invite people to follow Jesus and welcome them into the family through baptism. From baptism we continue the disciple-making process by teaching them the ways of Jesus. He enables us to make disciples by being present with us. He has promised to be with us by his Spirit, transforming us into the kind of people who want to follow him.

To be a Christian is to confess faith in God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and is himself God. Part of the ongoing ministry of Jesus is to baptize us or immerse us in God's life-giving Spirit. The picture of this baptism is not so much of individuals getting the Holy Spirit within themselves. Rather the picture of full immersion in the Holy Spirit is Jesus gathering his church together and plunging us into the depths of the Spirit. We need the Spirit like our body needs each breath and as we live immersed in the Spirit we find a life of righteousness, peace, and joy.

Christianity is inherently full of mystery. Christianity is not an explanation, it is the confession of a sacred mystery. At the heart of the Christian faith is the great mystery of the Incarnation. Most Christian heresies come from trying to relieve the tension of the Incarnation. In trying to lessen the tension we either diminish the deity of Christ or the humanity of Christ. We must learn to enter the mystery and live within that tension, that Jesus is fully human AND fully God. The flesh and blood of Jesus is both human flesh and blood and divine flesh and blood. When Jesus offers us his human flesh and blood, he offers us divine, life-giving flesh and blood. Don't try to explain this mystery, don't resist this mystery, don't balk at this mystery... Enter The Mystery!

One of the primary goals of spiritual formation is to become your true self. The real you is calm, content, wise, and unafraid. It is only the false self, the shadow self, that is agitated, grasping, foolish, afraid. You may have had very little contact with your true self. The self who is calm, content, wise, and unafraid is who you really are deep inside. Why are we more often agitated, grasping, foolish, and afraid? We have been distorted by sin. The fallen world has marred the image of God in our life. And so, we lift up our soul to God that we might recover the proper image and that we might escape our false self and find our true self. The psalms are meditations that bend the soul toward calm, content, wisdom, courage. This is one of the primary purposes of daily praying the Psalms: to lift up our soul to God and discover and recover our true self.