BEHOLD! Week 6: You and I Are Kingdom Oriented! John 19:1-16

So we're gonna begin with a question.

Um, here's the question: What do these three people have in common?

Elvis Presley, LeBron James, and a guy named Joe Exotic.

It's kind of an unlikely collection of people, right?

Um, and so maybe you're thinking to yourself, uh, nothing, these people have nothing at all in common.

Um, but I promise I would never ask you a trick question.

I only do that to my own kids.

So to help you kind of maybe answer that question one more, let's uh put another guy on the screen.

The Burger King.

So again, the same question.

What uh now do these four people have in common?

Elvis, LeBron, Joe, and the Burger King?

They're all kings, right?

Simple enough.

Come on, guy, yes! Our heads are gonna nod, yes.

Simple enough, right?

The Burger King, uh, his flame-broiled patties make him the king of the drive-thru, right?

Elvis, his unique voice, those swivel hips, those chart-topping hits make him the king of rock and roll.

LeBron James, that unique combination of uh athleticism and size and hard work, make him the king of the court.

And well, Joe, uh Joe Exotic, um, let me tell you about Joe just real quick.

He's the least famous of the four people on the screen.

About this time last year, Netflix released a documentary about Joe Exotic.

Uh, he owned a menagerie, this zoo of big cats and other uh wildlife.

Um, and the name of that documentary on Netflix about his life was The Tiger King.

Yeah, he's the Tiger King, so that's how it all fits in together if you don't have a Netflix subscription and are unaware of who that man with a mullet is on this Sunday morning.

Those four kings of our culture remind us, you know, for all of our talk of democracy, uh, we Americans, I think, are strangely attracted to kings.

Maybe that's the reason so many Disney movies feature a royal family.

Or just a few weeks ago, over 17 million Americans tuned in for an interview with two disgruntled members of the British royal family.

The author of Paul Tripp, I think he gets it right when he puts it this way: you and I are kingdom-oriented.

We cast votes for presidents, for governors, for mayors, but ultimately you and I are searching for a king.

Of course, there's a big problem.

Often in life, we settle, we are content for a pretender to sit on the throne.

And for generations, in fact, that has been the habit of God's people.

The book of the Old Testament called 1 Samuel tells a story of one day the elders, the leaders of Israel, approaching this man named Samuel, and they make this request of him.

They say, Here's what we want you to do: appoint a king to rule us just like everybody else.

Samuel hears that request and it crushes his spirit.

He hears that request, and the only response that he has is to go to the Lord in prayer.

He tells God what the people have asked of him, and this is how God replies.

He says, Do what they're asking.

They are not rejecting you, they've rejected me as their king.

The people of Israel, just like you and I, they are kingdom-oriented, but they reject the one who should rightfully sit on the throne of Israel, who should rightfully sit on the thrones of the lives of their families and the lives of individuals.

They've forgotten words like those in Psalm 47:7 that God is the king of all the earth.

Psalms 47:7

And something profound happens in their life when they lose sight of that fact.

Something dire occurs.

They are okay just being like everybody else.

They're okay having the kings of all the other nations, having someone like that rule over them.

And as it turns out, the pool, the influence of all those cultural kings, both past and present, is very, very strong.

Listen, it's my guess that we are more like the people of Israel than we would care to admit.

We have lost sight of the fact that God is king over all the earth.

We like Israel are okay being like everybody else.

So maybe the pretender who sits on your throne is that Burger King.

No, not that Burger King, but what Burger King symbolizes, right?

The king who promises a life of convenience and ease.

The king who says you can have it your way.

But fair warning, his kingdom might be filling, but it's not fulfilling.

The kingdom that the Burger King offers is never satisfying.

Or maybe the pretender who's on the throne is the king of rock and roll.

He he promises a kingdom where you make all the rules and where you call all the shots.

But fair warning.

That kingdom, it does bring some uh temporary pleasure, but there is such lasting pain.

Or maybe it's the king of the court who slid onto your throne.

He promises that through hard work and dedication you can have it all.

And so you go and you go and you go and you go, but fair warning.

At the end of it all, you won't have it all.

You'll just be exhausted.

When we serve these kings of our culture, when we just decide we're gonna be like everybody else, we actually become like that fourth king we mentioned, the tiger king.

Yeah, the tiger king, he is on an extended vacation in a federal prison right now.

And when we put one of these kings on a throne that only God should sit, we uh find ourselves in a prison of our own making.

We find ourselves in a place where our life is being taken away from us.

That's actually what the prophet Samuel tells to the people of Israel on that day.

He's like, fair warning, guys, I hear what you want.

Fair warning.

Listen, if you get this king, this king that you want, and you put him on the throne, he is going to take your sons and your daughters.

They will be his soldiers and his servants.

They're gonna fight his wars, they're gonna cook his meals, they're gonna tend his fields, and he's not just gonna take your sons and your daughters, he's gonna come to your home and he's go to your land and your farm, and he's gonna take all of your livestock and all of your produce, everything you've worked for.

He's gonna take it and he's gonna give it to his best friends.

That's the king you want.

At the end of that warning, this is what Samuel says to them.

He says, You'll end up no better than slaves.

The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves.

Does anyone this morning know what Samuel's talking about?

To have reached a point where you feel like you are a slave to a ruthless king, where you are crying out in desperation.

Like this king, this burger, he promised life would be easy and I've given it all to him.

Life isn't easy, life isn't convenient.

I can't have it my way.

Or you work so hard, and there's nothing wrong with hard work, but you just you like connect your entire self-worth to what you can accomplish in the world.

And you're and you're dreaming of having it all.

And the more that you have, the you realize the less that you actually have.

You're tired of serving and knowing a king who takes your life, and in desperation you cry out for a king who can give life.

Is anyone this morning looking for a king?

Not just any old king, but the one true king who gives people life, eternal life, abundant life, life that is beyond measure, life that is hard to describe.

If you're looking for that king this morning, then hear the good news.

Behold the king.

Christ is king.

Behold the king.

Christ is king.

He is the king who doesn't take life, but the king who gives life.

And in today's final message in this series, our invitation is simple and straightforward.

It's to point our attention, to point our hearts and our eyes to see the face of Jesus.

To see that he is the king over all the earth.

To see the face of Jesus and realize we don't have to be ruled over by some other king.

We don't have to give our life to some other kingdom.

We were created for King Jesus.

We were created for his kingdom in the world.

And to give all of our energies and our passion and our present and our future over to the kingdom of Jesus.

A kingdom that will never fade, a kingdom that will never fail.

That's the king we are looking for this morning.

But here's what we're gonna see.

The character and the type of rule and reign of Jesus our King is not something we're gonna expect.

And it is something we're gonna react against.

We're gonna push against because of what it calls us to do.

Behold the King.

Christ is king.

Listen to this story told in John chapter 19.

John 19 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse 1, John tells us this.

He says, Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

They came up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and struck him with their hands.

Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

Pilate said to them, Behold the man.

When the chief priest and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him.

Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.

You've heard the phrase before, the trial of the century.

Uh places us in the greatest trial of all human history.

The trial where creation places the king of creation, the Lord of creation, on the witness stand.

The stakes in this moment could not have been higher.

This is the sixth and final trial that Jesus faces on the early morning of that very first Good Friday.

Jesus' first three trials occur before those Jewish religious leaders.

They are accusing Jesus of blasphemy, of pretending to be God, of claiming to be God.

And then after that series of trials, what they do is they convict Jesus.

Yes, he is guilty of pretending.

He is guilty of claiming to be God.

And the punishment they believe Jesus deserves according to their law is capital punishment.

His life should be taken, but there's a problem.

The Jewish religious leaders, they lack the authority to carry out a capital punishment.

So they send Jesus to the representatives of Rome.

First, they pass him off to Pilate, and then Pilate passes him off to Herod, and then Herod passes him off back to Pilate.

The Romans don't know quite what to do with Jesus in these moments.

They really don't want to mess with him.

They want the Jews to figure it out on their own, but in order to not have a mob break out, they decide, well, I guess I've got to hear the case.

And John chapter 19 tells us the story of that second trial of Jesus before Pilate.

John 19 · chapter mention

Now, here's an important detail to remember.

For Rome, a charge of blasphemy was not a good reason, was not a reason for capital punishment.

So when Jesus stands before the Romans, the charge has to change.

No longer is Jesus claiming to be God.

When he stands before the Romans, he is claiming to be king.

Jesus is a traitor to Caesar.

So at this point, near the end of his trials, Pilate, in his own estimation, is trying to demonstrate something.

That's one reason I think he beats Jesus within inches of his life.

If Jesus were a true king, he would have like an army that could rise up and protect him.

Or at least he'd have some friends who would swoop in and plan some kind of covert operation to deliver him from this beating.

That's why Pilate says to those soldiers, go ahead and put that crown of thorns on his head.

Put that cloak on his back.

A true king, if Jesus were a true king, he would demand royal treatment.

But Jesus is no king, he just suffers in silence.

Unconvinced that Jesus' punishment should go any further, Pilate presents him again to his accusers.

He's not guilty.

I find no fault in him.

Before he utters these words, Behold the man.

With that phrase, Pilate says, in his estimation, Jesus is not a king.

Jesus is just a man.

Jesus will never sit on this throne nor any other throne.

He is not a threat at all.

I don't know what you guys are talking about.

In the story of Jesus' trial, Pilate's a pretty intriguing figure, isn't he?

His motivations, the way he works, the crowd, the way he responds, the way he listens to his wife, having that dream.

And there is more we could know about Pilate, but today the intrigue about who Pilate is needs to take a back seat so that we can identify with Pilate.

We sing songs, we own t-shirts, we have coffee mugs, we post on social media the declaration that Jesus is king.

But if you look at our lives, it surely looks like Jesus is nothing more than a man.

We're like everybody else.

Jesus is a man.

He's never going to sit on any throne.

Not the throne of this world, not the throne of my life, not the throne of my family.

Why are we functional pilots?

I think at a subconscious level, it's because at this moment in the story, there is nothing about Jesus' kingship that matches up with what we believe a king should look like.

We believe a king should experience all the pleasures of this world, but everything in this story is just a story of pain.

We believe that when a king stands before a crowd, there's going to be applause and adulation and there's going to be admiration.

But in this story, when Jesus stands before a crowd, it's just mocking voices.

It's just the slap of a hand across a face.

We believe that kings should sit on a throne, but they are preparing Jesus to hang from a cross.

We're functional pilots because the rule and reign of Jesus doesn't look like the story of any king we've ever heard about in a textbook or seen depicted in a television show or maybe a movie.

Maybe that's one reason Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18, puts it this way.

1 Corinthians 1:18

He says, For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

In the eyes of Pilate, in that moment, the events that are unfolding are folly.

They have no meaning.

But those who behold King Jesus, those who pay attention to the trial, those who pay attention to the crown of thorns, those who pay attention to the words that are spoken against him, the unjust trial committed against him, they realize this is not a story of folly.

This is the power of God at work in the world.

As we learn to see, this is the story of what it means to say Christ is the king.

Is to see him beaten and battered and bruised and wearing a crown of thorns, humiliated before men, when we realize that is the king, then another hurdle emerges.

Another hurdle that I think, well, it operates on a conscious level.

As we're forced to really grapple with the fact that the rule and reign of Jesus contains pain and mockery and death, then I think we're forced to ask the question what's the future of someone who is his loyal subject?

It's not the ease of Burger King.

It's not writing all the rules as if he's a rock and roll king and you get to call all the shots.

Listen to what Jesus told his disciples just a few days prior.

He said this then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

Jesus' message to those disciples is pretty clear.

If I'm your king and you're my loyal subjects, then you should prepare yourself to share in my own fate.

And I think that's the big reason, actually, why we prefer a Burger King, a King of Rock and Roll, a King of the Court, or even the Tiger King to King Jesus.

You see, to truly behold King Jesus means that we have a life where we not only are committed to living for Jesus, but we are willing to die for him.

And when you put it that way, it begins to shape the way you live your life.

And you begin to realize why it is so hard to truly say Christ is King.

Isn't the question then?

Are we ready to lose friends and influence for the name of King Jesus?

Are we okay suffering insults for King Jesus?

Are we prepared to physically die for King Jesus?

And here's the thing, we we must be prepared to live and die for King Jesus.

Because he first lived and died for us.

Listen to how the story continues.

Verse 12 in John 19 says, From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.

Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement.

Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover.

It was about the sixth hour.

He said to the Jews, Behold your king.

They cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?

The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.

So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

At this point in the trial, Pilate stands at odds with the Jewish religious leaders.

Pilate wants to release Jesus, but those Jewish leaders they refuse to relent.

You can't release him, Pilate.

Here's what we're gonna say about you.

If you release him, you are no friend of Caesar.

I think that caught Pilate's attention.

You see, Pilate, he had had a representative who lived in Rome, who was kind of his liaison between the throne and his little throne.

And you know what had happened to that guy?

Some accusations had been made against him.

Accusations that he was no friend of Caesar, that this guy was trying to uh lead a rebellion, that he was gonna commit treason against the crown.

Do you know what Caesar did to that representative?

He immediately sent his uh police force to arrest the man and execute the man without a trial.

And not only that, he rounded up some of that guy's five or six of his closest friends, he arrested them and tried them and executed them.

Pilate had heard that story and he's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, they're gonna say that.

So what's he do?

He he thinks about his own future, his own career.

He's like, okay, you can have him.

He's not gonna take my head.

Brings Jesus, he presents him before the people.

One final mocking jab, he says, Behold your king.

Remember, this is all folly according to Pilate.

But what we know is this is the power of God at work in the world.

Pilate turns Jesus over to those Jewish leaders.

You can crucify him.

Go for it.

I give you the right, I give you the authority to do it.

And then here's where Jesus is different than any other king in the world.

Any other king the world has ever known.

He willingly gives up his life so that we can have life.

You know, several years ago, I taught Spencer how to play chess, and um in the first few times we ever played it, it was really, you know, how all of the different pieces move around the board.

Which meant he moved them at breakneck speed.

Like there was no thought behind his strategy at all, which meant he always left his king open for an assault, which meant as his father, I had to take advantage and crush him.

You know, the goal of chess is to protect the king at all cost.

That's how you win the game.

The king has to be standing.

But that's not just how chess works, that's really how life works.

We protect presidents and kings and prime ministers at all cost.

It's a sign of their authority, their power, their influence.

But again, that's what separates the kings of this world, the leaders of this world, from King Jesus.

The kings of our world, the leaders of our world, the kings of our culture.

They will never put themselves at risk.

They cling to power at all cost, but King Jesus, he took the form of a servant.

He was born in the likeness of a human.

And being in human form, he humbled himself by coming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

You see, at the cross, it's the culmination of Jesus' sinless, perfect life.

And he bears the weight of our sin.

He suffers the weight of our sin.

He suffers the worst that the kings of the world could perform against him.

Jesus lived and he died for the world.

Christ is king.

And Jesus offers all who behold his face the free gift of salvation.

That you no longer have to suffer under the weight of your sin.

You no longer have to serve the ruthless kings of this world.

You can serve the one true king who will give you life.

Jesus doesn't promise an easy life.

He doesn't promise a clean life.

He just promises an abundant life, a life where there's fulfillment because you can invest in his kingdom, in his plans in the world.

Today, maybe for the first time, will you behold the face of Jesus and put your faith in him?

Will you finally give up on serving the kings of this world and serve the one true King and know him?

And all of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, the invitation is this to live for King Jesus and to die for King Jesus.

Just as he lived and died for us.

You see, to say Christ is King is not some just catchy statement.

It is a declaration that shapes the way we live our lives.

And it tells us who we are willing to die for.

That we would be willing to die for the cause of Christ in this world.

Let's turn our hearts to God in prayer.

The clearest place we see, I think, the kingship of Jesus on this earth is when he hangs from the cross.

So as we behold our King this morning, hear these words from Mark chapter 15.

Mark 15 · chapter mention

Imagine you are there.

Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him, and the inscription of his accusation was written above, the King of the Jews.

Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, Save yourself and come down from the cross.

Likewise the chief priest mocked and said, He saved others, he cannot save himself.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.

The centurion saw how he cried out and said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Behold the Son of God, the King of all creation, hanging on the cross.

Hear these words from John chapter one, verse twenty-nine: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Today, do you need to put your faith in Jesus Christ?

To say, King Jesus, I want you on the throne of my life to follow you, to live and be willing to die for you, King Jesus.

And if you've been following Jesus for a long time, as you hear him and see him on the cross, hear him summon you this way.

If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Almighty God and everlasting Father.

Thank you for sending King Jesus to this world.

We are humbled by the sacrifice you make for us.

Forgive us when we think that you are nothing more than a man and we won't allow you to sit on your rightful throne.

Forgive us, Jesus.

Jesus, embolden us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So that we are ready to make sacrifices for you.

Real sacrifices, things that cost us.

When our King will come back and come for his bride.

Pray this in your name.

Amen.