November 21, 2010 - Christ the King Sunday

Christ Comes First
Colossians 1:11-20
Christ the King Sunday – November 21, 2010

So let's talk stewardship. Today is what we call “Commitment Sunday” after all. It's the day when we as a church ask our members to make a financial commitment, to write down and turn in a pledge card of what you'll give over the course of the coming year. It's something I hope you've thought about, talked to your significant others about, prayed with God about. It's an important decision – I often say that looking at what we do with “our” money is like taking our spiritual pulse. It's not the only vital sign, but it can often shed some light on where we are in our relationship with God. So we ask you to do this every year, not just for the money or so we'll have an idea how to budget, but as an opportunity to check in with God about where we are. Are we growing in trust? Are we holding something back? We should give our pledge for the year some serious thought, because it's more than just a number of a piece of paper.

Of course, stewardship isn't only about money. We'll talk about that some in this sermon, but money not the only thing God entrusts to our care. We see that in the second lesson we heard this morning. Paul's letter to the Colossian Christians contains this beautiful prayer and a poetic description of who Jesus Christ is: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him, all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.” Everything in all of creation is Christ's – created in him and through him and for him. Which means that it all belongs to him. Now at an abstract level, that idea doesn't bother us too much. In fact, it sounds pretty good – but it seems pretty far removed from us, to say that everything belongs to Jesus, that nothing we have belongs ultimately to us, that God has just given it to us to manage, to take care of – that's great as a general concept, but it's easy to act like it doesn't have much to do with our lives here and now. It's easy to pretend that it doesn't have anything to do with the particulars of our lives. But then we hear what Paul says a few verses later – that Christ is the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

First place in everything. That phrase really got me this week. It kept coming back to me. Christ is supposed to have first place in everything. And I wondered, what would that look like? What would it mean for Christ to have first place in everything? What would it mean for Christ to have first place in my life?

That question, for me, is at the heart of the whole idea of stewardship. It starts with recognizing that everything we have belongs to God, that nothing we have is really ours, but just entrusted to us by God. And being good stewards of all of God's gifts means using those things the way that God wants us to. And that means putting Jesus first. It means having Jesus at the center of our lives instead of hanging around the edges. It means making him our first priority. And honestly, if we did that, if Christ really did have first place in our lives, a lot of things would have to change.

Putting Christ first would show in our calendars – in the way that we spend our time. It might mean spending less time watching TV or messing around on Facebook and more time caring for and serving others. It could mean shifting our activities and events – skipping Sunday morning soccer practice or trips to the beach and coming to worship instead. Maybe it would mean rearranging our schedules so that we actually take the time to read the Bible and pray.

Putting Christ first would show in our relationships too. We would be slower to anger, quicker to listen, quicker to forgive. We'd carry around fewer grudges, less bitterness, less regret. We'd treat each other as the beloved children of God that we each are, extending kindness and compassion and mercy, mixing it with honesty and accountability, learning to speak the truth in love.

If Christ were first in our lives, it would show in our wallets and our bank statements. If Christ is first in our lives, it will change the way we spend our money. And I'm not just talking about how much you give away to the church or to other charities. The biblical model for financial stewardship is a tithe – giving 10% of your income to God's work in the world – and I hope that you'll grow toward that – it can open up new ways of trusting God to provide. Giving an offering can be an easy first step – giving an offering to the church is a fairly straightforward transaction; we can measure it. But God still cares what we do with that other 90%, so being good stewards of our finances means thinking about where we spend that money and what we spend it on. We could give 10 or 15 or 20 percent of our income to the church, but if we're spending the rest in ways that harm people or the planet, if we're engaged in mindless consumerism we're not being faithful stewards. Black Friday's this week, the Christmas spending spree is upon us. Do the things we buy and where we buy them and how they're made and by whom help or hurt those involved in their production? Are we willing to sacrifice the well-being of our global neighbors in order to save a buck on our end? Or are we willing to make some sacrifices of our own – to live more simply so that others may simply live, as the bumper sticker puts it?

This whole “Jesus having first place in everything” gets to be pretty complicated when you start thinking about what that really means, how far-reaching “everything” is, how completely it will change us – if we'll let it. And let's face it, in most aspects of our lives, Jesus isn't even a distant second. He's blocked by our selfishness, our laziness, our inattention to his call.

But thanks be to God that Jesus doesn't wait for us to get our act together. Part of following Jesus means taking that leap of faith & making a commitment – not just with our finances, but with our whole lives, our whole heart & soul – to put Christ first in everything we say and think and do, even though we'll never be able to do it completely. But we try anyway, because the One who asks us for everything gives us everything in return, not just ourselves, our time, and our possessions – Jesus gives us himself, crucified on the cross and raised from the grave. Through him, God “has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son...” This King we serve redeems us, forgives us, reconciles us. He is worthy of the commitment he asks, today and everyday. May we make that commitment without reserve and give thanks joyfully – and may our lives that reflect that thanksgiving as we learn to put him first in everything.

Amen.