The King and Authority

"Christ is Risen!"
"He is Risen Indeed!"

Revelation 1:4-8

This morning I had the opportunity to preach at Palmyra Mission Covenant Church in Hector, Minnesota.

We hear about authority from all sides. We get bombarded from the news and talk shows. It seems that everyone is an authority on something. However, it is hard to pin-point what true and authentic authority is because we hear different messages from different authorities. We all know someone who has authority. A professor of mine at Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN is a scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but is also an authority on ancient languages, he knows 41 dead languages!

We sometimes neglect that we ourselves have authority. Anyone who has been a parent or grandparent or had some sort of relationship with children knows that children look up to adults. Some how they know to trust and that they will be taken care of. This whole process begins when a relationship is begun with a child. Children come to trust those who are in authority, and thus whether or not we realize it we have authority. Sometimes; however, authority is abused.

I can not be a guest pastor in a church and say to the congregation that they must listen to me and accept my authority as a pastor. Regardless of the call of Christ on my life, my baptism, my seminary degree, or my license from the Evangelical Covenant Church. It takes time and being in the trenches with the congregation to gain their trust and to come to a point that the congregation accepts one's authority.

One only has to look at the events of the past weeks. A student of legal age, legally purchases two handguns only to do something illegal with the weapons and kills 32 people before taking his own life at Virgina Tech.

The radio shock jock Don Imus, who legally exercised his right to free speech was fired because he abused his authority to gain attention and prestige by saying some things that he should have never said.

Despite the attention that abused authority receives we have reason to hope. As Christ has shown us what authority used properly can do.

God the Father laid out through Christ the qualifications that would re-unite humanity with God. The Christ was "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" Revelation 1:5. It is through these qualifications of Christ that we are able to accept his authority--that we are loved and freed from sins by his blood, and made to be priests serving God the Father, v. 6. No earthly ruler or authority possesses these qualities because they are too high for us to attain. Only Christ could attain these because of his relationship with God. Because of our acceptance of Christ's authority we can be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. A kingdom in which all are equal.

However, unfortunately not all will make it. Some will not want to recognize the authority of Christ until it is too late and at that point it is too late. God deals with them justly we are told in v. 7.

Finally, in v. 8 we hear the words that we are all familiar with, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end and we are also reminded here that Christ has bee with God since the beginning before there was time. We can not neglect the three letters, and the two words: "I am." These words speak more volumes about God then all the books in the world. They declare what is, they last and linger. These words are a statement about someone whether declaring a characteristic, a quality, or a qualification. The only time that these statements fail is when they are failed to be lived up to.

Is it not interesting that the events of the last week happened just two weeks after Easter? They demonstrate the power and authority of God. Just as Jesus showed his power over death, so this week we were shown his power through the pictures of people gathering, praying, and in worship; loving one another as we are told to do. The church does have something to say in such events and we are the most looked to when such events happen. We who claim Christ have the authority to proclaim his name and to witness to his power throughout the entire world. When people see our authority and our trust they begin to trust us, and it is through that trust that they come to trust and realize the authority of Christ. Amen.

"Christ is Risen!"
"He is Risen Indeed!"

Alleluia! Amen!