According to the Christian Liturgical Calendar, today is the last Sunday in the church year known as Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday. It is an opportunity for the church to celebrate and honour Jesus the Christ as King. It is a day to remember that through the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls us to acknowledge that Jesus, and Jesus alone, is worthy to be our Lord, who will judge the world in righteousness.
Quite appropriately, this was our congregational worship focus this morning as we united to sing the hymns "Sing we the King who is coming to reign" and "Rejoice, the Lord is King!" As we considered Christ's teaching on the coming kingdom from Matthew 25, we were encouraged to remember it is not our deeds that make us righteous, but our intimate relationship with Jesus…God’s grace at work through our faith. The invitation to enter the Kingdom is an act of God's grace in the lives of those who allow Christ to reign over their hearts in love.
It is my sincere prayer that the Holy Spirit might continue to work in our hearts and lives, so we might deepen our relationship with God and His Son, inspiring us to live as our worthy ambassadors of the Heavenly King, in preparation for our promised reward.
John 18:37 (NIV) ~ "Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
