SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
Commentary by Walter Albritton
April 1, 2007
Blessed is the King of Heaven who Calls Us to Serve
Him
Revelation 1:8; Luke 19:28-40
Key Verse: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! – Luke 19:38
Jesus preached a lot about the
John the Revelator describes Jesus as the First and the Last or the Alpha and the Omega. He was. He is. And He is to come. Once we begin to grasp the meaning of these words, we understand reality in a new way. We see that Jesus is reality. He is more real than anything else in the world. Someone put it this way, “Jesus is the only real thing that has ever happened.” Except for the reality of Jesus Christ, nothing else really matters.
Some things are optional. We can study the lives of great men and women and learn from them. But we need not worship them. If, however, we sincerely study the life of Jesus, we feel drawn to worship him. Sooner or later we must decide how we shall relate to Jesus.
Shall we admire him as a great teacher and one of the wisest men who ever lived – and leave it there? If we do, we shall miss the joy of salvation. We shall miss the thrill of serving him as our Lord and King. If we miss that, we shall miss knowing the very reason why Jesus came. He came so that we might know God and discover the reason for our own existence.
Worship Jesus and things change. Worship him and life is new. Light and joy displace the darkness and sadness of your life. Worship him and your heart is set free from guilt and the burden of your sins. Worship him and you feel more like singing than complaining. Worship him and you realize – wonder of wonders – that you are on your way to heaven, saved by grace.
Worship Jesus and you realize that he needs you. Yes, you. He needs you on his team. He needs what you can do in his service. He needs your skills, your resources, and your influence, actually all that you are and have.
How remarkable – to think that the God who created the heavens and the earth needs you and me. He has the power to do all things by himself, but that is not his plan. He wants you and me to partner with him. Imagine – you and I can become, by worshipping Jesus, his partners in the gospel!
Like the humble donkey we may not have a big role to play in the Lord’s plan. But when we worship Jesus as our King we are in the game. We gladly serve where he assigns us for in the King’s business there are no insignificant places of service. When this is our attitude, our joy is magnified by our obedience.
Every Palm Sunday we are reminded what Jesus said about rocks on the roadside: “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (Luke 19:40). He made this comment in response to the Pharisees who told him to make his disciples stop shouting praise for their King.
What a ringing endorsement Jesus gives to those who refused to remain silent in the presence of their King! Jesus gave his approval to their shouting. In doing so, he challenged the timid souls to speak up or else be embarrassed to hear stones begin to shout!
Our culture insists that Christians keep quiet about their king. Yet that is exactly what our culture needs to hear – the good news about how life is changed when Jesus is recognized as the king of all things, not just church stuff.
Too many Christians are tongue-tied in public because they have not yet owned Jesus as Lord and King of their lives. Too many believers leave it up to the preachers to speak of Jesus. Surely God wants engineers, architects, teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, welders and carpenters to find effective ways in their own arenas to make known their allegiance to Jesus as King and Lord of their lives.
Of course God is not honored by witnessing that is obnoxious or absurd. Calling attention to oneself does not honor Jesus. We honor him best when both our lives and our lips make others aware that Christ is our King and we value nothing so much as to serve him in every way possible.
As we approach the celebration of the Resurrection we need to pause at the Cross. On that ugly hill we need to reflect upon our Lord’s crucifixion. There on that cruel cross Jesus earned the right to be King of our lives. There the Great Deed of God was done. Fail to see that and you fail to see the only true Reality in the universe.
One of the great hymns about the passion of our Lord says it best:
King of my life I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be.
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to
May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for thee.
Even Thy cup of grief to share
Thou hast borne all for me.
Lest I forget
Lest I forget Thine agony,
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to
This Palm Sunday promise yourself to become more intentionally a servant of Christ the King – and to become more vocal about how his Lordship continues to change your life!
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