The Lion, The King, and The Children

One day, many years ago, there was a young lion. The lion lived in a cage alone. It was a nice, comfortable cage. Everyday, his keepers tossed a large piece of meat into the cage. There was always fresh water. When the weather was bad, there was a cave he could walk into. And there was a section of the cage that looked like he could just walk out, but the air there was sort of shiny and when he touched it, it was hard and smooth. And just beyond the hard air, there were humans, looking at him, knocking on the hard air, and making faces. They were very annoying. And so, every day, he walked around his comfortable cage, alone, ate some food, drank some water, and tried to sleep so he didn’t have to look at the humans...

A long time ago, there was a king. The king was still a young man. The funny thing was, he was the only person – other than his mother – who knew he was a king. Instead of living in a palace, instead of ruling people, he lived in a small house and worked with his hands. He made crude furniture, farm tools, and repaired broken tools. Every day, he got up early, had breakfast, went to his shop area, took wood and made another piece of furniture. Men came to him during the day, bringing wooden shovels, wooden hoes, wooden yokes for their oxen to be repaired. He talked with them pleasantly, asked them about their lives, their children, their farms, and repaired their tools and they paid him, usually with food from their farms. It was hard work, but then again, everyone worked hard in those days, working from sunrise to sundown. But he lived a bit more comfortably than most, for he knew he was a king because his mother had kept a chest which had a large quantity of gold that had been given to him when he was about two years old because he was a king. He also knew he was a king because his mother had told him who his father was. And finally, he knew he was a king because he just knew.

And so, every day, he worked his comfortable job, alone, ate some food, drank some water, and at night tried to sleep as he awaited the time when he would announce himself to the people around him...

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37 

A few years ago, there were two children. They lived in a town in the foothills of the mountains. They thought they were ordinary children, for they did not realize that they were a prince and a princess. They lived an ordinary life for children of that time. They woke, they ate breakfast, they went to school. They came home, they played, they did homework, they watched some television – this was before smartphones – and they went to bed. Their parents loved them, but sometimes their parents punished them – especially when they misbehaved, but usually, if the children were honest with each other, it was because they had deserved their punishment. When Thanksgiving came, they ate turkey, when Christmas came, they had presents. It was a comfortable life and eventually they grew up, got jobs, found love and married, and had children of their own. But they still did not realize that they were a prince and a princess...

One night, something happened at the lion’s cage. The ground shook terribly, throwing around the lion. There was a great sound of shattering, and the hard wall broke into pieces. The lion walked over and sniffed at the pieces. They looked sharp – one piece cut his paw and it bled. But he walked through the hole in the hard air and into the area where the humans stood during the day. He walked beyond and into the night. Soon, he found himself in a deep forest.

The next day, he was still in the forest and he was starting to get thirsty. But he heard the sound of running water and there was a stream of cool water. He drank. He kept walking, enjoying the smells of this forest. He had never walked so far and he had never seen such beautiful sights. He had never smelled so many different smells. He was beginning to enjoy this! Birds saw him walking and screamed an alarm. A few hours later, he began to get hungry. Very hungry. About that time, a deer happened to dash near him. Not really knowing why, he leaped at the deer, grabbed her, and bit her. Soon, he was eating the most delicious meal he had ever eaten. The forest had gone silent. He looked around at the forest, the land where he ruled, and he thought, “This is good.”...

One day, the young man who was a king heard of that his cousin was becoming famous. Many miles to the south, the king’s cousin was teaching people in the wilderness by a river. The young man spoke to his mother, who lived with him, and they decided that he should go and meet with his cousin. So the young man walked to the south and met with his cousin. His cousin grew excited when he saw the young man. His cousin was taking people, speaking to them, and then dunking them under the water in the river. That evening, the young man met with three of his cousin’s students – they followed him to his camp and they talked a very long time. The next day, the young man asked his cousin if he, too, could be dunked in the water. The cousin said at first that it wasn’t necessary, but when the young man who was a king insisted, his cousin dunked him. It was at that moment, that a dove flew down upon the young man, a symbol of peace and the Spirit of God, and the young man walked up out of the water and went into the wilderness, where he had a very uncomfortable time for over a month. Finally, he went home, where his mother told him of a wedding that she was managing in the next town...

The two children who were now grown each lived comfortable lives. Oh, they complained of money troubles, they complained of working long hours – they had arguments with their spouses, they had arguments with their children – but they lived in big, comfortable homes, ate at restaurants twice a week, had dishwashers and microwaves and cars and plenty of running water and food, had air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, television and now smartphones. By the standards of most of the world, they were extraordinarily wealthy. They called themselves “middle class”.

Over time, they began to go back to church. They had gone when they were young, but stopped when they left high school. Now they began to go back again because they realized that going to church was good for their children. And they learned stories of God and Jesus and Moses. They learned rules for living. And they began to get an idea of sin and freedom...

The lion was now free. Every day, he walked around the forest. He went where he chose, he drank from whichever stream he chose, he ate when he was hungry. No animal in the forest dared to challenge him. He even found a cave to go to when the weather was bad. He was now the king of the forest and he realized that he was exactly who God intended him to be – not caged, not comfortable, but living free, ruling the forest...

The young man who was a king found students to follow him. For three years, he traveled around the countryside teaching about his Father, who was God almighty. He told people that whoever followed Him would receive eternal life with Him and His father. He eventually entered the capital city at the head of a great crowd of people riding in peace on a donkey’s colt. Later that week, he was arrested, accused of claiming to be God’s Son, and executed for the crime of blasphemy. He died on Friday with the sign “King of the Jews” posted over his head. But Sunday morning, his Father brought Him back from the dead, and He began to speak to his students and followers over the next month, more than five hundred saw Him alive. And then, He went to be with His Father, to return someday riding on a white horse at the head of his supernatural army of angels to rule the entire earth as the rightful King, the only perfect and just ruler that has ever been called a king. And kings will bow down to him and pledge their allegiance to Him. And He will rule for ever and ever!

And the children?

Part of what God told the students of Jesus the King was that those who choose to follow Jesus – not those who merely believe in his existence, not those who just “accept Him into their hearts”, but those who choose to spend the rest of their natural lives trying to follow Jesus and His example of how to live – those followers of Jesus will become adopted sons and daughters of God, princes and princesses of the kingdom.

You are those children. If you choose to follow Christ, you will become adopted sons and daughters of God, princes and princesses of the kingdom.

You will become members of God’s family, royalty on earth, part of the God's Firm.

There are benefits and duties associated with being a prince, with being a princess:

Your father loves you. Your Father protects you, Your father has a plan for your life.

In return, you represent your Father, you represent His policies, your behavior reflects upon Him, and you have a duty to advance the interests of the kingdom.

Jesus told us during His last day on this earth that all power in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He tells us this at the end of the book of Matthew. Do you believe this?

He then says, giving a command to us: Therefore, go and make disciples of all groups of people, baptizing them and teaching them all he has commanded.

Princes and Princesses of the kingdom, this is our daily work! Go and make disciples of all groups of people, baptizing them and teaching them all he has commanded.

Our job is not to invite people to church. That command is found nowhere in the Bible. We don’t get off that easily. We are to lead people to become students, followers of Jesus. We are to lead them to baptism. We are to teach people everything that Jesus has commanded. I am to do this, yes, but so are you!

• We are to talk to people about what Jesus has done for us – his teachings about loving God and loving other people, His Golden Rule, His turning the other cheek, His giving respect to all people no matter how poor or broken they are simply because they are the created images of God. 
• We are to talk to people about how God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die as a perfect sacrifice upon the cross so we could be reconciled with God forever. 
• We are to talk to people about how all is forgiven if we ask to be forgiven by God, if we choose to follow Christ. 
• We are to talk to people about how God doesn’t love us for how good we’ve been, but loves us despite how bad we’ve been. 

In short, we are to talk to all people about our great King, how wonderful and forgiving He is, how choosing to follow Christ was the best thing that ever we did and how it can be the best thing that anyone can do.

We are to lead people to Christ, to the point where they are asking to come to church, to be baptized.

And then, if you bring them here, I’ll baptize them.

This is our task.

We ourselves? We are to move beyond studying Jesus to following Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to confess to one another that “Jesus is Lord”, and those words mean something. In school, we studied different men, some for good examples and others for bad examples. We studied George Washington, we studied Abraham Lincoln, we studied Franklin Roosevelt, we studied Adolph Hitler. Hopefully, we don’t follow all the people we’ve studied. We don’t state that they are our Lord.

Paul, commanded by God, asks us to state that "Jesus is Lord". If Jesus is your Lord, are you ready to obey? If Jesus is your Lord, will you jump if He says jump? Will you study His commands and teachings, and follow them?

• If Jesus is your Lord, will you go to all groups of people, make disciples of them, baptize them and teach them all that Jesus has commanded? 
• If Jesus is your Lord, why won’t you tell your children? There is nothing sadder than a funeral where the children don’t know if Mom or Dad was a follower of Jesus, where the pastor has to take the family out of grief by telling them that, yes, indeed, the dear departed was a "secret" Christian. Talk to your children and grandchildren about your faith, your Lord. 
• If Jesus is your Lord, why won’t you talk to your neighbor, your friend, your relatives about Jesus and what He has done for you? He commanded you to do this in Matthew Chapter 28. Don’t take credit for God’s work when your neighbors think you are “just a nice person” because you never mention Jesus your Lord who changed your life. 
• If Jesus is your Lord, why don’t you spend a second hour a week in a group Bible study, a Sunday School class, a second service? 
• If Jesus is your Lord, why haven’t you ever considered starting a small group, or taking a district class in church leadership, or walking into my office and talking about how you can learn more about Christ and follow Him more closely? I’ve taught the Basic leadership class at the district level. There are 17-year olds and 70 year olds, and everybody in between. 

Royalty has a freedom of action that ordinary people don’t have. The lion became king of the forest when he left his comfortable cage. Jesus became King of all people when he chose to leave his ordinary life and show us the sacrifices that a true king should make for His people, when He chose to sacrifice Himself upon the cross to pay for all of our sins and crimes against God.

And we become princes and princesses of the kingdom, stepping into the role that we have already been adopted into, when we step forward out of our comfortable lives and begin to represent our Heavenly Father, our great King His Son Jesus Christ, and speak with the power of the Holy Spirit that we were given at our baptism about the greatness of our Father and His Son. Will you step forward as a prince or princess today?

One day, Jesus the Christ will return as King. He will no longer walk from town to town, He will no longer come in peace on a donkey’s colt, He will ride on a white horse at the head of the most powerful army the world has ever seen. The prophecy is that every knee will bow, including those of the kings of the earth. Every tongue will confess, speaking aloud that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But for many, when that time comes, it will be too late. For almost all people around the world have heard of Jesus, the story of Jesus has been written and is available in almost every language, the Good News is found online and in Bibles, and in many books and movies. Yet many people have chosen until today to ignore, to disparage, to put down the idea that Jesus is truly God’s Son, even the idea that a supernatural God exists. Yet the evidence is there, strong and powerful to anyone who holds an open mind.

In studies beginning this week, I’ll be presenting the direct evidence we have that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Come, listen, take notes, and learn so you, too, can help bring your family, friends, and neighbors to the love of Christ.

Next week, during the service, we will begin our Journey to Bethlehem, a series of sermons that help us to understand how and why the baby Jesus came to earth that cold Christmas night.

But today, it is time for each of us to declare if Jesus is Lord – or merely a man we study, perhaps a friend, perhaps an interesting idea from history. So today, I’m asking you to do something unusual. If Jesus is your Lord, bow your head, and state out loud. “Jesus, You are my Lord”. You may kneel, or if your knees don’t work so well, stand. You can continue to pray for yourself or for friends, neighbors, or family. But it is time to make a decision. Is Jesus your Lord? Or merely a man, a friend, an idea?