My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!"

08 October 2005

The Proverbial King

Tomorrow night, I'll be preaching on Proverbs 16:1-15, the last six verses of which deal with the king whose "mouth does not sin in judgment." I'll be making the argument that these verses are best understood to describe the perfection of Christ's current and coming reign over this, His kingdom.

No believer would deny that Christ is King, yet many today deny that His kingship extends over all. Many deny that nations have a duty to recognize Christ as their head, others say that Christ is king, yes, but just over the church. But if you look at the first ten verses of Proverbs 16, you'll see that they focus on the sovereignty of God, and then lead into these verses on the righteous King. Christ as King and God as Sovereign are not two different things; Christ as King is the redemptive evolution of the sovereignty of God. It makes God's sovereignty no less worldwide or powerful; but it focuses that sovereignty, even more, on the building up of His church.

In session meetings, we often end our prayers in the "name of Christ, who is King and Head of His church." This is why we follow Christ, because we are His and He is ours. We are His sheep, He is our Shepherd. We are His family, He is our provider. We are His subjects, He is our King. That is a fact worthy of celebration.

2 comments:

Tamara said...

Amen! I hope to hear that sermon.

Anonymous said...

Jared:

I agree with everything you wrote here. God's sovereignty and Lordship is critical to the way we see everything that is happening in the world - everything that has happened and will happen.

I think even Christians tend to forget that history and current and future events all revolve around God's plan to redeem his people. All of the other stuff - wars, politics, the rise and fall of nations - all of it is part of God's plan to redeem his church. That is His ultimate goal - the reason that all things happen.

Many in the world have no room for God in their thinking. But, even Christians, I think, tend to put God's sovereignty in a box, assuming it deals with the church and God's people, but neglect to see the overall working out of His plan in history.

And, as always, we'll be looking forward to hearing your sermon.