It is God's right to rule

Many Christians drift through sermon after sermon, trying to piece together doctrine and church history from the bits and pieces of thoughts shown to them by the minister week after week.  It’s like collecting pieces of a puzzle and then trying to put a picture together when you don’t know exactly what it’s supposed to look like.  The ancient church realized this and the need for a systematic way to preach and teach Christian doctrine.  This led to the gradual development of preaching using a liturgical calendar which, if used correctly, teaches the entire scope of doctrine, emphasizing the part that’s relates to the season.

For instance, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is obviously the theme of the Christmas season, while lent emphasizes the doctrine of Christ’s atonement, his sacrifice for our sin.  if we look at the entire church year and compare doctrine to the church season, in twelve months we see that we have a systematic understanding essentially of what it means to be a Christian.

The season of epiphany brings out two very important doctrines of the church, and even though it’s a short season—between Christmas and Lent—it’s an important one.  The modern Christian church has failed to understand and live up to doctrine taught to us during epiphany and has unwittingly crippled itself.

The following prayer, from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for the season of epiphany, points us to one of the primary doctrines of the season.  It speaks of the supreme authority of God almighty in the affairs of men.  “almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

This prayer is really educational in the way that we are supposed to address God.  We call him almighty and everlasting, and both of these traits are essential if we’re to trust in Him.  Earthly kings understand that power and authority are crucial and that they must have total authority in their kingdom to carry out their will for the good of their people.  God has to be able to right every wrong and establish his kingdom according to his will, so he has to be almighty.  God, also, has to be greater than any earthly king, because mortal kings die and their kingdoms often fall when they die.  Then we have the fact that when a gracious and righteous king dies, he’s often succeeded by a tyrant who exercises his authority to his own ends and carnal desires.  If God is to rule in heaven and earth, as this collect suggests, his rule must be an everlasting rule and only then can we be sure that his kingdom will last forever.

We must understand that it is God’s right to rule over his creation and this fact is central to the epiphany season.  Christ was worshipped by the wise men even though he was only a small child, enthroned on the arms of his mother.  They brought their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, all of which symbolize royalty and the fact that he deserved their reverence.  Their behavior shows another important principle of the epiphany season—the kingdom of God, which we now participate in through Jesus Christ, is a kingdom established in the heart of believers who submit their wills to the truth, regardless of the insults and scorn heaped on them by the unbelieving world.

The worship required by our King is the bent knee, the contrite heart, the submitted intellect.  This kingdom doesn’t grow by the use of weapons and conflict, but by the proclamation of his truth.  His kingdom on this earth is seen most clearly in the visible church of Jesus Christ.

Epiphany teaches us something about the kingdom of God and our king that reigns over heaven and earth, but it must not lead us to be prideful.  It should teach us to be humble, to be servants one towards another, to be willing to bring our talents and gifts to our enthroned King, just like the three wise men taught us by their example.  We must bring our gifts and submit our talents, not as though they’re going to be abandoned but that they can be used for the good of the kingdom, for the building up of the church.