A Kingdom is Launched (God vs Empire) // Ty Gibson

good morning everybody you are no doubt aware as this year comes to an end that Billy Eilish is the breakout artist of 2019 without question and arguably the best songwriter to come along in decades her album where do we go when we all fall asleep is the best-selling album of 2009 teen named so by Forbes magazine billboard Apple music and everybody else who cares about music now Billy Eilish accomplished all of this at the age of 17 years old she just turned 18 a few days ago in fact on December 18th she is wildly popular everywhere you go in this nation and most of the Western world right now Billy Eilish has a unique lyrical style that I find fascinating she specializes in parody or irony she's saying things in order to not say things or she's not saying things in order to say things she's setting up as it were ideas and concepts with a wink and a nod as if to say no that's not the way it is the girls never been to school a day in her life she's a homeschooled vegan who is an environmentalist who also wrote and recorded the entire best-selling album of the year in her brother's bedroom in a space 9x9 with their computer the bed and that's where the whole thing was recorded with her older brother phineas and fellow co-songwriter billy Eilish specializes in irony one of the songs on the album is called you should see me in a crown and the subject of course of the song is monarchy the subject of the song on a deeper level is what would it be like if you had unlimited power what would it be like if I had unlimited power so one of the lyrics in the song for example you should see me in a crown I'm gonna run this nothing in town watch me make them bow one by one by one you should see me in a crown your silence is my favorite sound watch me make them who's them well everybody the whole human race everybody's going to bow before me with a weakened a nod the question in the subversive text subtext of the song is what kind of person would I be what kind of person would you be if you or if I were crowned king of the world or let me ask the question a different way what would it be like if I had unlimited power what would it be like if you had unlimited power would I be good or evil if I had absolute power over others I mean if I could get away with anything what would I get away with if I wasn't accountable to anybody if I was at the top of the food chain like the shark as the apex predator of the ocean what if I were the apex predator of land and sea over the whole earth what would I do what kind of person would I be if I was in fact the most powerful person in the world where we have embarked upon a three-part series that I've entitled God versus Empire not God and Empire but God versus Empire we're engaging a little bit of irony ourselves with this title we began last week with a child is born and we saw how Isaiah prophesied that when this child would come into the world through human lineage the Messiah the Christ when he would come he would be YOUnique he would be different he would establish a whole different order of things you remember the words in Isaiah that government shall be upon his shoulders he's gonna take upon himself all the power of the world that is misused and he's going to reframe power he's going to launch a kingdom he's going to inaugurate a empire that operates by different principles than human beings are used to that was Isaiah chapter 9 now in part 2 of our series today we are titling the message a kingdom is launched a child is born and a kingdom is launched in the person of Jesus Christ we have before us the most astounding thing imaginable and it is this that in Christ we see the most powerful person in the universe holding and wielding power by love and love alone this is a complete overturning of every conception of power down through history what kind of Kingdom does this newborn babe in Bethlehem lunch what kind of empire is it that he has set in motion these are the questions hanging provocatively before the world in the universe when Jesus is born of Mary in Bethlehem now this season that we're in right now December in the church calendar I don't know if you're aware of this but the Christian Church down through the ages has its own calendar it's called the litter genic calendar the church calendar some people call it the gospel calendar and it doesn't begin like our calendar begins with January begins with December and so actually right now in the month of December I could say to you in all legitimacy with the Christian calendar I could say Happy New Year because the new year begins with Advent season on the church calendar now the word Advent simply means coming and this is a word that triggers within the gospel the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ born of Mary in Bethlehem it also triggers the idea of the second Advent or the second coming of Christ at the end of human history but we're in Advent season right now where people around the world are thinking about the birth of Christ people who don't even believe in Jesus are thinking about the event that changed the course of human history and will ultimately uproot from human hearts and from the world and from the universe every vestige of self interest and establish a kingdom that for all eternity goes on and on and on and on and on and on and is sustainable for eternity by love and love alone this is the seismic event of not only human history but of universal history one author that some of you may have read Ellen White suggests the idea that even the unfallen angels who have never sinned are not kept from apostasy except as they look to the birth and life and death and resurrection of Jesus that there is a stabilizing influence there that there is a brilliant revelation of love in Christ that is so powerful that it will sustain for eternity future so that only lovers in the gospel live forever everybody who hates everybody who lives for themselves is winding down to an infinite nil and nothing nihilism is ultimately true for anybody who chooses not to integrate with the principle of other centered love into eternity future only love lives forever and only those who live in love will live forever now the Advent season in the church calendar is associated with expectation longing a sense that something's wrong with the world and it needs to be rectified the entire Old Testament is basically a narrative of Messianic expectation messianic referring to Messiah or in the Greek Christ the entire Old Testament is prophet after prophet after prophet saying hey he's coming a child is going to be born he's gonna be different than anything that you've ever seen before he's going to launch a whole new Empire a whole new Kingdom a whole new way to be human a whole new social order is going to be inaugurated in the coming one this is the expectation this is the longing this is what's going on in the prophetic heart of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hosea and all of the prophets are pointing forward to this coming Messiah who will inaugurate and launch and set in motion a whole new way to be to be human to be in relationships to be husbands and wives to be parents and children to be members of a community to be employees to be employers to be anything at all that involves two or more human beings intersecting and having a relationship Jesus came into the world to launch a whole new way to relate one to another and this is the expectation this is the Messianic hope this is what the prophets are foretelling and longing for the Advent the coming of the child who will break every bondage and oppression and mold of being that we're accustomed to and launched a whole new way to be human but there's a problem and we need to pan out in order to take in the history of this Israelite nation it's prophets foretelling the advent with great expectation of a new kind of King a new kind of ruler because Israel was called by God out from among the nations for the very specific purpose of bearing witness to this new way to be human over against and in contrast to the ways of all the other nations you could say it this way that Israel was a controlled study a group of people pulled out from among all the others in order to establish habit patterns of covenant to love and then to invite the rest of the nations through the rest of the world into that covenant system that was the experiment that was Israel but Israel having been pulled out from among the nations God said to them through Moses hey I'm going to govern you through prophets through teachers through educators not through monarchs not through Kings not through Emperor's that's the way of the world that we're separating from the world operates on the premise of power over others but I'm gonna show you God says through Moses a whole new way to be in its power under its coming under people in service in love in other centeredness so that every relationship is on the premise of voluntary exchange now Israel with that beautiful vision set before them insisted at one point of their history and for Samuel chapter 8 verse 6 give us a king there speaking to Samuel the Prophet I mean this is the prophetic voice the teacher the educator that is the source of God's mind and heart through the Prophet to the people this is the way you live this is the way you be this is the way you treat money this is the way you treat the earth this is the way you treat other nations this is the way you do relationships and the people said No we're looking around us out there and we see we see a different way to be we see monarchy mono one we see one ruling the many we like that system give us a king we want to be like that we want to operate the way they're all operating well samuel resisted and said no you can't have a king god is fundamentally against monarchy god is leading you in such a way that if you'll listen to his voice through his prophets you will develop the discipline of self giving love and you will become people who are self governed you don't need a king you need knowledge you need information you need the mind of Christ before his advent you need the Covenant imprinted oving in to every nook and cranny of your thinking and feeling and relating process that's what you need and a prophet can give you that because a prophet is a conduit of knowledge of information of Education God is trying to educate you toward the goal of self-governance without a monarch this was the plan but the people said no we want a king we like that system so God told Samuel well explain to them what it will be like to have a king so literally you can read in the passage I'm giving you one verse of the first samuel 8 go home and read it today it's just absolutely mind-blowing so God through Samuel says okay I don't want you to have a king but if you have a king let me just tell you what its gonna be like a king will take your sons off to war your daughters as concubines and will tax your lands producing a cycle of poverty and what did the people say that's cool give us a king and history unfolded before Israel with such horrific disaster that they began to long for turning back the clock and going back to the time when they said give us a king and now they're saying we don't like Kings we don't want a king we please we don't want to see anybody to quote Billy Eilish in a crown nobody on a throne well just so we understand what God had in mind let's back up in the history now prior to the point at which they said give us a king you remember we just mentioned that moses had told them what god's plan was now there here's a place right before the sinai event in chapter 20 of exodus the ten commandments are given we're back in chapter 19 now if you're tracking with me in the trajectory of the history okay and back in chapter 19 before the ten commandments are given god is now through moses explaining to the people there colleen and and in kind of their job description and what kind of people they're going to be now therefore this is verse five of Exodus 19 now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my what's that word everybody say it out loud covenant if you'll keep my covenant if you'll keep my covenant then this is what's gonna happen you will be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine now watch this watch this and you shall be to me a kingdom of what's that word priests you'll be a kingdom of priests a holy nation these are the words which you this is God speaking to Moses these are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel hey Moses tell them that they're a different kind of Kingdom they're not like the other nations they're a covenant Kingdom covenant Kingdom now for those of you who are with us here on a regular basis you know that I'll bring up this word covenant a lot now for our purposes today we don't have time to go back in the biblical narrative and demonstrate to you with actual texts what the word covenant means but suffice it to say that within the biblical narrative the word covenant should trigger and those of you who have been here with us often I mean you hear the word covenant you automatically think these things because we've just set it over and over and over again the word covenant in biblical speak in in biblical lingo the word covenant means relational integrity in all directions it means other centeredness as opposed to what everybody self-centeredness it means faithful love in all relationships now God is in the covenant history of Israel revealing himself to be over and over again he reveals himself to be a god of covenant that is a God who is in his character defined by faithful love by other centeredness by relational integrity the idea here is so high it's so lofty it's so magnificent that I have said often here that the word covenant is the best idea going in human thinking it is the best idea that has ever graced human awareness it is the most profound and lofty and elevated and Noble idea that we can contemplate it is the idea of two or more people living together in such harmony that each one lives for the others and can forget about themselves because all the others are living for that person who's forgotten him or herself it's astounding that's what covenant means so when God says to Israel back in Exodus 19 hey if you'll keep my covenant what is he saying if you will master habit patterns of relational integrity with the earth with money with your neighboring nations with your children with your if you will master patterns of relational integrity and other centeredness and faithful love here's what's going to happen you will be attractive relationally and morally socially to the rest of the nations they will all look on and say what in the world is going on over there in that little nation called Israel those people really love one another they treat one another with respect they're really really careful about how they do there business deals they don't there's no predatory lending over there Moses in the Covenant forbade it there's the all that's happening there is prosperity and prosperity and prosperity it's a it's a cycle of upward mobility on all levels by the application of the principles of the Covenant and that's why God said okay if you'll obey the Covenant you'll be here's what you'll be you'll be a kingdom of priests now what's a priest the word priests should trigger in your mind the concept of mediator or representative or communicator so so so if you'll obey my covenant of relational integrity and faithful love well you will position yourself before the whole world as kind of like the pastor of the world the priest of the world the representative of the world the whole world will look on and say wow this is amazing and you will have the opportunity to bear witness and you'll be able to say in all humility hey we're not great we're not any better than you are Israel's not a greater nation we're not a greater people it's God Yahweh his principles are superior because they only operate by love and any of you can be a part of this come on let's live in covenant till faithfulness together that was the mission of Israel basically Israel was to be a non-violent kingdom of teachers teaching the ways of love that was the mission that was the charge that was the job description can you think of any better job any better calling than that and can you imagine a whole nation a whole people group living together in this way and communicating to the world what it's like to love like God loves that was Israel's mission but now they said give us a king we want to keep we want monarchy we we want to be dominated we don't want to think we want to obey we don't want to process reality and go through the hard work and the hard knocks of saying I'm sorry please forgive me in our relational dynamics if somebody throws punches our way we're gonna throw punches back give us a king if violence comes our way from another nation we're gonna marshal our forces and we're gonna come against them with our forces of course your brain is probably fast forwarding to when Jesus comes and lays down his Kingdom manifesto called the Sermon on the mountain says when people throw punches turn the other cheek when someone takes your coat give them your cloak when someone forces you to go a mile go to forgive your enemies love your enemies well that's for a future message we'll go there next week but as for now the people are saying listen we don't want this covenant system what we want is a king we want a king and so they got a series of kings first they got Saul and they picked him basically because he was tall I mean literally that's what the story says he was tall because he was tall and he was apparently kind of good-looking and he just looked the part he looked the part of a king and so they got Saul and and Saul was just a humble guy he was of the tribe of Benjamin I believe he was a humble guy he he didn't you know he didn't have any claim to fame but as soon as he was put in the position of king remember Billy Eilish you should see me in a crown I mean come on put a crown on my head and see what happens I'll make you bow to me one by one by one I will rule the world if you make me a king well that's what Saul did power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely a human being cannot handle psychologically and socially being in possession of that level of power it corrupts well then they got David who was himself a piece of work and yet he became the model for messianic kingship because of certain attributes that he manifested he send and rather than hardening his heart he repented he was sensitive he was soft toward the voice of the Lord and he always always turned to the Lord rather than from the Lord even in his failures and God said you're a man after my own heart but then came Solomon who's called the wisest man who ever lived I mean in Scripture and he was in fact the wisest man who ever lived except when he wasn't for example when he decided you know what I have a great idea I'm just gonna start taking daughters and wives and women at will and he ended up with something like what are the numbers like 700 wives and 400 300 concubines something like that this is totally I don't even know why this game in my mind but years ago I was trying to think of something to write to sue on Valentine's Day and so I this is bad theology don't do this guys but I wrote on a card I generally make cards rather than buy them they're lame but it's from me so I write on it so you know why Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines , because he was looking for a girl like you I'll let you use that guys you can have it no charge at all no royalties it's good but it's bad theology it's bad theology Solomon ended up demonstrating that he human beings should not possess monarchical power and this is what God had warned and then the kingdom divided with Rio bomb over Judah in the south and Jeroboam over Israel in the north the kingdom divided between Israel and Judah Judah became the dominant power and Israel began to basically integrate with the world the other nations around them and began to be completely erased in its unique identity as the Covenant people of God when they said we want a king and they got a king they essentially said we want to operate by principles of rivalry self-interest in war we want to operate the way the other nations operate we want to be like them and yet there were the prophets who just kept prophesying over and over again about the coming one about a different kind of King about a coming anointed one which is what the word Messiah means somebody's going to come and and when he comes he's gonna occupy the throne of David and when he the coming one occupies the throne of David his kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom and it will go on and on and on now we tend to think that okay when Jesus comes of course his kingdom will be the one that is eternal and goes on and on and on because he's God and he's more powerful than everybody else our default mode is to think that ultimately God's kingdom is forever because he's just more powerful and everybody else he can finally pull rank in a way that nobody else could pull rank I'm gonna suggest to you in our series titled God versus Empire I'm gonna suggest to you that God's kingdom goes on and on forever and ever not because he's just more powerful than anybody else but because he is fundamentally better in character than all the other kings and kingdoms in other words the sustainability of the kingdom of God arises out of the fact that it elicits the voluntary allegiance and loyalty of its subjects in the end what God is trying to accomplish with you and me individually and us as a group in the whole world is that we would worship Him as king not because we have to but because we want to and why do we want to because he's beautiful that's why we want to there is goodness in him that we discern that you can put all your trust upon you can put all your reliance on you can give yourself entirely to this king and he will never abuse his power over you you should see him in a crown his big goal is not to bring us into subjection to his will but to change our hearts at the deepest level so that our hearts become like his heart and we begin to love the way God loves this is the king that all the prophets said was coming one of the prophecies in Isaiah 60:1 we're going to examine in our time together and we're going to compare it with the New Testament parallel to the passage and we're going to see that Jesus offers a complete parody and irony in his interpretation of the prophecy he does a kind of Billy Eilish lyrical move in order to communicate his point so let's begin with the Old Testament prophecy tract with the language very carefully Isaiah 60:1 starting with verse 1 the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me this is the Messiah speaking through the Prophet pre-incarnate Jesus before he comes he is speaking through the prophet Isaiah the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the lord that's Yahweh always when it's all caps in the Old Testament because the Lord has anointed me anoint for an Israelite King is equivalent to crowning for a Gentile King the Israelite king is anointed with oil and set apart to the position the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor okay he has sent me the Messiah says to bind up the brokenhearted those who have suffered emotional and psychological traumas in life through broken relationships he's going to come with empathy and he's going to mend people's broken psychology to proclaim freedom for the captives and to release from darkness for the prison and release from darkness for prisoners not just prisoners behind bars but that's included but prisoners who are in prison to their own obsessions and addictions the things that we run to in order to escape the reality of our shame and guilt when this Messiah comes he's going to deal with people as we said last week you remember they should call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins when they were expecting to be saved from the Romans Jesus said I want to deal with your heart what about the Romans know your heart I want to save you at the internal level from your sins from the fundamental brokenness and dysfunction of your soul I'm going to save you everything else will be rectified out of that premise so when the Messiah comes he's going to release people from prison the prisons of our own minds and shame and guilt to proclaim now watch this to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor yay praise God amen but and the day of the say it out loud vengeance of our God hmm now watch this verses two and three to comfort all who mourn really all and provide provide for those who grieve we're in Zion the prophecy at this point is focused on we're the people of God and when Messiah comes the Messiah is going to relieve us of our burdens and he's coming for those who mourn in Zion to bestow on them on Israel on Zion a crown of beauty instead of ashes and the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair it's so beautiful this prophecy right right yes but then the King comes Jesus comes into the world he's born of Mary and Bethlehem he grows up and he launches his public ministry announcing repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent is Metanoia change your way of thinking do a 180 in your thinking the kind of King I'm going to be is not the kind of king you've been longing for the kind of Kingdom that you have been wishing for to conquer the Romans and elevate Israel to the pinnacle of military and political power you're going to be disappointed so first repent changed the entire trajectory of your Advent longing the king is coming and Jesus launches his ministry and after going into a certain region populated not by so much Jews but Gentiles people who are not a part of the chosen people after performing miracles there and healing people Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside he was teaching in their synagogues and everyone say the words what do they do they praised him they were like wow this is the guy he's the one this is the Messiah this is the one we're looking they're happy they're praising him and then he went to Nazareth where he had been brought up and on Sabbath day went into the synagogue as was his custom so Jesus is is back home now this is this is home boy himself coming back to Nazareth he's there now and all the people are applauding him and praising him man wouldn't it be amazing if if the if the coming king of the Messiah of the Promised One was from our town be incredible so he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him a picture unrolling it the scroll they didn't have books they had Scrolls unrolling the scroll of what book of the Bible Isaiah he found the place hmm I think I'll read right here he found the place where it is written the Spirit of the Lord is on me pictured Jesus in his hometown in Nazareth in the synagogue on the Sabbath what is he doing he's reading he's reading the prophecy that we just read didn't we did we read it yes we did and Jesus is now reading it he's got it open there he's reading the Spirit of the Lord is on upon me because he has anointed me he's what anointed I yes I am the Messiah you've been longing for he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor so good so far so good he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor now you all know as do I because we read the prophecy what the next words are I had you say them out loud because expression deepens impression I hope you remembering them to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and vengeance from our God the implication against them because we're God's favorite people the favor is for us not for the infamous them but you know what Jesus does at this point he just stops reading mid-center to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor Jesus stops at that point in Isaiah and then what did he do I mean it's kind of dramatic he rolled up the scroll gave it back to the attendant and he sat down can you imagine the feeling in the air the very part they longed for the most you get what about the Vengeance part I mean we are in bondage to the Romans we hate the Gentiles the Samaritans we can't even breathe the same air they breathe what about the Vengeance part Messiah he rolled up the scroll gave it back to the attendant he sat down without reading the Vengeance part and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him of course they were like wow what's going on here this is what we would call in the world of literature a subversive reading of the text Jesus is engaging in an intentional act of communication by what he doesn't say well then what happened he began by saying to them now the conversation ensues you'll want to track with us he began by saying to them today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing they're thinking in their mind but what about the vengeance part and all spoke well of him they were like okay well he did perform all those miracles and Wow he's pretty impressive and they spoke well of him you remember in the previous verses they praised him and they were amazed at his gracious words I mean wow he's pretty gracious he didn't read the vengeance part they were amazed at his gracious words that came out of his lips and they said isn't this Joseph's son you know there one is this okay they're trying what are they doing they're trying to put the pieces together and Jesus said to them surely you will quote this proverb to me he knows what they're thinking physician heal yourself and you will tell me do hear here in your hometown here in Nazareth here with your own people do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did over there in Capernaum with all those people we hate with all those Gentiles with all those people that the Vengeance part is about we're not quite sure what you're doing here your words seem pretty gracious you closed the scroll a little too soon but if you'll perform some miracles here we'll let you off the hook would-be Messiah truly I tell you he continued no prophet is accepted in his hometown oh why is he doing this it's a subversive reading and enactment of the text I assure you and then he tells two stories from their own Old Testament Scriptures I assure you that there were many widows in Israel what is their request do some miracles here for us why are you out there mingling with these people we don't mic I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the sky was shut up for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land I mean there were lots of widows in Israel yet Elijah was not sent to any of those Israelite widows but to a widow what a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon this is a Gentile widow do you hear what Jesus is saying do you know what he's doing he's saying they're all kinds of widows in Israel but uh Yahweh sent Elijah to perform an act of kindness for someone who was not an Israelite and then he quotes another story from the Old Testament text and there were many in Israel here's the point of the story there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet yet not one of them was cleansed that is of their leprosy but only named the Syrian do you see what Jesus is doing with he is playing with their minds with a theological paradigm shift that they need to make but they're not prepared for all the people in the synagogue were now what Oh what had they said what did we read in the previous verses they praised him he's amazing he's our hometown boy he's probably the Messiah we produce good kids here in Nazareth and now everyone in the synagogue is furious when they heard this when they heard what everybody that Yahweh God loves everyone that he intentionally left out the vengeance of our God part to make a point they got up they drove him out of the town they took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him off the cliff they flew into a murderous rage why because theologically psychologically emotionally they couldn't handle the idea of God's love and favor being Universal for everybody including the people they hated but he walked right through the crowd and went on his way as they were planning to end him Jesus set in motion a new way of perceiving and exercising power he launched a kingdom on the premise of a universal grace that accepts without discrimination Jesus was the cosmic civil rights movement before there was a civil rights movement Jesus was the French Revolution or the good parts of it and the russian revolution and the american revolution that toppled kings and brought down empires monarchy reached its end pretty much they're still playing dress up in Britain but monarchy reached its end in 1798 with the French Revolution you know what happened there Marie Antoinette and Louis the sixteenth in all of their gorgeous celebrity opulence occupying the pinnacle of power you should see me in a crown all of France was descending into starvation while they were having portraits painted of themselves and buying and having furniture made and imported from all over the world and building Versailles which I've visited and it's impressive it is the house a house the size of approximately Eugene Oregon and as they were shutting themselves away in their opulence basically taking the resources from the people in order to justify their monarch achill narcissism well you know what happened the people flew into a rage themselves and revolution ensued and both of them were put to the guillotine and executed and that was the end of monarchy in France what followed slightly before and after was the American Revolution the Russian Revolution and all of this I'm going to suggest to you and the history books demonstrate this although it's not obvious at first glance because we deal in in micro visions of history but if you pan out far enough it is the Messiah Christ Jesus who set in motion the principles that eventually toppled empires and caused human beings to have enough courage to believe that all men are created equal and endowed with in a Lia Beloit's the American Constitution itself which this nation itself has not lived up to that's four previous sermons and ones to come the American Constitution the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence are essentially and I built a case for this in the past are essentially the gospel of Christ enshrined in governing documents there would be no American experiment with freedom as poorly as we have conducted it the principles themselves would not have been brought to the table if Messiah had not come Jesus shattered all conception of what power ought to be question what did why did monarchy fail and fall and disintegrate in the West in human history answer because power that is not held with love is oppressive and human beings designed for freedom psychologically emotionally and even biologically will not endure oppression forever wherever those in power use their power to amass obscene amounts of wealth for themselves to the disadvantage of the people revolution is around the corner and in the French Revolution the end of mark monarchy also gave rise to atheism for those of you who know the history there was a correlation made in the minds of not only the French but of much all of Europe between the abuse of power that they had witnessed for centuries and they said well all of these monarchs are ruling by what they call the Divine Right of Kings they all claim to be on those Thrones and wearing those crowns by God's sovereign will it was a grand masquerade God's always been against monarchy gods never wanted human beings in any society to have a king as his best first will when he gave Israel a king yet was basically God accommodating their backsliding in their rebellion God has always been against monarchy but the people could not at that early stage of human Revolution and the toppling of monarchy the people could not understand that you could separate the character of God from all the abuse of power but Jesus is the answer Jesus holds before us the possibility of something radically different and that radically different thing that the Christmas season that Advent season is trying to whisper into our hearts is it the only legitimate exercise of power whether it's in your marriage your child raising your office your business your church your community the only legitimate exercise of power is the exercise of love and the putting of others first above self-interests Bono has gone on record the lead singer and principal songwriter for you too Bono has gone on record saying over and over again to the public press I worship Jesus Jesus is God in the flesh well this just rankles all of these I mean this is a rock star who says I worship the babe born in Bethlehem and so finally a journalist is like what Jesus really and here was his answer this child vulnerable who would grow up so strong well he came to teach us all how vulnerability is the route to strength watch this and by example this child Jesus he came and he came to show us how to love and serve the birth of Jesus brings me Bono the rock star who has endless Grammys and is worth in excess of 500 million dollars the birth of Jesus brings me to my knees which is a good place for me lest I harm myself or others you and I are called in Christ in memory of his incarnation and his birth during this Advent season in whatever degree we hold power you and I in the person of Christ are called to vulnerability as our strength we're called to service we're called to love exercise whatever power you have in any relational dynamic always and only for the best good of others and then when you say Merry Christmas it'll mean something hey thanks so much for watching we hope that message was a blessing to you God's Word is powerful it penetrates into our minds into our hearts brings about transformation in every aspect of our lives listen we don't want you to miss any content so again we want to encourage you to click on subscribe and track with the content going to be coming out week after week and if you'd like to partner with us in this global ministry of taking the gospel of Christ to the whole world we want to invite you to become a partner in this ministry click give and join with us

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Length: 53min 14sec (3194 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 07 2020