Christ is King
The Kingdom of God is within you.
There is a Throne. And Christ is King.
This is not an ornament or a slogan. Not a phrase to embroider onto the flags of earthly power. Christ is King because every other throne is temporary, every empire is mortal, every proud ruler shall be made humble before the Ancient of Days, and every human must eventually answer to the living God.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation… for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” That is not soft. and it is not subtle. It is one of the most dangerous sentences ever spoken aloud. It means the Kingdom is not merely some far-off place we hope to enter after we die. It is not some hypothetical future event we wait for while the world devours itself. It is a reign that begins in the hidden chamber of the human person, where pride, fear, cruelty, mercy, repentance, and love contend for the Throne.
The Kingdom of God is within you.
If Christ is King, then His Throne must be established first in the place we least like to surrender: within ourselves. The real Heart. The one that envies. The one that judges. The one that loves comfort more than truth. The one that can quote Scripture while stepping over the wounded man in the road.
True Christians know this. We have always known. We simply do not always wish to consider it deeply. For a fire burning the chest is bright and righteous, but can be painful.
He did not come into the world to flatter religious people. He came to save sinners, heal the sick, cast out evil, preach good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, and announce the reign of God. He came as mercy with a body. He came as judgment with tears in His eyes. He came as the Lamb of God, and also as the One who could look at the machinery of sacred commerce, make a braid, and turn the tables over.
There is no honest way to make Jesus harmless.
Moses led a people out of bondage. Elijah stood against false worship. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. Jeremiah wept over a nation that would not turn. Daniel stood before kings and watched their kingdoms fall beneath the sovereignty of God. John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord.
And then came Jesus.
Not merely a prophet, though He spoke as prophets speak. Not merely a teacher, though He taught all those around him. Not merely a healer, though he gave life anew to the broken. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Word made flesh, the Messiah this world needed and still needs, the King whose Crown was made of thorns and whose Throne can never be overthrown.
The disciples followed Him, and even they struggled to understand what kind of King He was.
So let us be humble.
We are not better than they were because we have had more time to build buildings and print theology. We are not more faithful or wise because we know the ending of that particular story. We are responsible for more. Christ has been preached to us. His words have been placed in our mouths. His cross has been lifted before us. And still, much of what calls itself Christian remains more comfortable with empire than repentance, more comfortable with punishment than mercy, more comfortable with being right than being remade.
Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” That should trouble every Christian who has ever used His name as a shield against their own sin. He did not say we would be known by our confidence, our tribe, our slogans, our numbers, or our ability to punish the sins of others. He said, “You will know a tree by its fruit.”
So what fruit do we wish to grow within us?
The Kingdom of God is within you.
If there is a Kingdom within us, then it is there that war begins before it reaches the battlefield. Greed begins there before it becomes policy. Contempt begins there before it becomes doctrine. Mercy begins there too. So does courage. So does repentance. So does the long peace.
The First Baptist Church of America confesses Christ as King because we believe no other foundation can bear the weight of the world. Kings fail. Nations lie. Markets consume. Crowds go mad. Religious institutions lose their nerve. The human heart, left to itself, builds towers and calls them heaven.
But The Messiah tells the truth.
He tells the rich man to sell what he has and give to the poor. He tells the powerful that the first shall be last. He tells the righteous to remove the beam from their own eye. He tells the violent to sheathe the sword. He tells the ashamed to go and sin no more. He tells the dying that paradise is still possible.
This is the King we serve.
Not a mascot for our preferences. Not a chaplain for our cruelty. Not a convenient emblem for the kingdoms of men. Christ is King because He alone can look upon the whole ruin of humanity and still call the dead to life.
And yes, we believe Jesus when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We do not soften that. We do not pretend it is less absolute than it is. But we also refuse to behave as if the mercy of Christ is ours to ration, as if heaven were a private estate managed by anxious clerks with denominational clipboards.
What if John the Baptist had a disciple of his own?
Let the question do its work.
If a soul follows the light given to them, repents of evil, loves mercy, seeks righteousness, and responds to God as truly as they are able, should Christians be eager to condemn what Christ may yet gather? Is the Shepherd so small that He cannot find His own sheep? Does the King not recognize his own subjects? Jesus said, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring.” We trust the King more than we trust our categories.
This is not less faith in Christ.
It is more.
For if Christ is truly King, then His judgment is better than ours. His mercy is wiser than ours. His knowledge of the heart is deeper than ours. His reach reaches farther than our imagination. And His Kingdom is not made stronger by our eagerness to decide who is impossible to save or easy to condemn.
The Kingdom of God is within you.
That is why the reign of Christ must become plainly evident in the life of the believer. If Christ reigns within us, then the hungry should be fed. The enslaved should be freed. The thirsty should receive water. The sick should be cared for. The stranger should be welcomed. The suffering should not be abandoned until their pain becomes convenient for a sermon.
Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” And when Peter said yes, Jesus did not answer, “Then be impressive.” He did not say, “Then be correct in public.” He did not say, “Then win every argument.” He said, “Feed my sheep.”
Feed them.
That is not vague. That is not a metaphor. Feed the sheep. Protect the sheep. Tend the sheep. Do not exploit them. Do not frighten them for sport. Do not build a Throne on their backs and call it God’s Work.
Christians know this too.
We know that the Son of Man identifies Himself with the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner, the naked, and the sick. We know He says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” We know this. And still we are tempted to build a faith that admires Christ while avoiding His demands.
The First Baptist Church of America is not interested in that kind of faith.
We believe Christ is King, and because Christ is King, the church must serve the coming peace of God. We call that peace Frieternum: the 1000-year peace, the reign of God made visible in truth, mercy, repentance, justice, and holy order. Not a slogan. Not a fantasy. A charge. A future that must be served before it can be inherited.
A world ruled by Christ cannot be a world content with slavery.
A world ruled by Christ cannot be indifferent to poisoned water.
A world ruled by Christ cannot shame the suffering into silence.
A world ruled by Christ cannot hide Scripture behind language so difficult that ordinary people are turned away at the door.
If Christ is King, then Peace is not weakness. Mercy. Repentance. Justice. The Kingdom of God is not a private feeling we keep warm in the chest while ignoring the cries of the world.
It is a fire.
A hearth. A home. A Righteous judgment. A beginning.
The Kingdom of God is within you.
Let Him reign there first and forever.
Let Him trouble what must be troubled. Let Him heal what must be healed. Let Him cast down every idol we have mistaken for safety. Let Him teach us again how to pray, how to repent, how to forgive, how to serve, how to suffer without becoming cruel, and how to hope without becoming foolish.
Christ is King.
His Kingdom come.
His Will be done.
May His peace reign for a thousand years and forevormore.
If we can make it a thousand years, we can make it.
Amen.
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