I thought Christ was King Of my Life…until I heard Joe’s Palm Sunday talk.
Our own Joe Bayes preached at Christ Church Thames View on Palm Sunday and I was privileged to hear it as a run through beforehand. And I was challenged by it. In the best way. So I wanted to share it with you all almost like an added bonus this Holy Week. I hope you enjoy…

As Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowed with excitement roared;

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Let me ask you this question; is Christ King and Lord of your life? While we dwell on that question, here are some scriptures about King Jesus.

1 Timothy 6:15
The blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords

Hebrews 1:8
But about the 6 says, “Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom.

Matthew 27:37
Above his head, they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the jews.

Mark 15:32
Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”

Matthew 25:34
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

John 18:37
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Luke 19:28
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

What does it mean for Christ to be King in your life?

When I was a boy, I would go out with my father on a Sunday errand from time to time. 90% of the time, this would involve a drive in the car. Sunday was the day when the grandads would use their cars to visit family and run their own errands. This frustrated my father no end, as the slow and bad driving would make the journey somewhat insufferable.
My father had a couple of names for these drivers (don’t worry, it’s nothing rude), he would call them flat cappers or Sunday drivers.

Ask yourself, are you a Sunday Christian?

Are you a part-time Christian?

Is Christ King of your life only on a Sunday morning?

Or is Christ King of your life every day of the week?

If we are not saying Christ is King of our lives, we are not taking Him seriously.

If we just spend a few minutes every Sunday with Christ being King, and then we spend the rest of our lives ignoring the truth of His existence. Are we not then playing games with our souls. If we only get in our “Christ is King” car once a week, how can we be sincere. It doesn’t matter if our “Christ-mobile” is a chrome wheeled, fuel injected, super V8 muscle car, a rusted out old banger, or a donkey. We should be on a permanent road trip, on a highway to heaven with Christ at the wheel, and as King and Lord of our lives.

How seriously do you take Chrsitianity?
Is it the beginning and end for you?
Is Christ your Alpha and Omega?

Christ should be in every atom of your body. Every electron firing in your brain should shout, “Chirst is King of the universe.” “Christ is King of my life.” “Chrits is Lord.”
We should be declaring Christ as the ruler of the self.

Luke 10:27
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.
Amen.

Christ is commanding us to love the Father with these four things of the self, the things that make us who we are.
Our heart, our body, our mind, and our souls. These are the four things that make up our entire existence. These four things of the self are what we need to let Christ reign over us, as the supreme monarch,

For Christ to be King of our lives, we need to allow Him to be King of our hearts, King of our bodies, Kings of our minds, and King of our souls.

What does it mean for Christ to be king of our hearts?

Does Christ’s love reign in our hearts in regards to relationships?
Do we surround ourselves with friends who try to tempt us away from God?
Or do we surround ourselves with Chrsitsin brothers and sisters that encourage us, support us, and build us up?

It’s difficult to do the journey alone. It’s a narrow gate, and it’s a hard path we have to tread together.
We are stronger as the body of King Christ.

Where is our heart during our rest and down time?
Do we use this time for edification, or do we practise sin in our own homes?
Do we practice wickedness behind closed doors, where we think nobody can see us?

We should live our personal lives like Christ is physically next to us at all times. When we are at home, and our door is shut, we are not truly alone, Christ is there with us. We should act accordingly, strive to please Christ in our private actions. When we are alone, strive to make Christ King of our hearts.

Romans 10:9
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Amen.

What does it mean for Christ to be King of our bodies?

We use our bodies to do the work of the Kingdom. Let’s make sure Chrits is King of them.
Do we have jobs where we can honour Christ?
If we have jobs that are not in line with the Christian way of life, jobs where we have to leave our Christ-mobile in the back corner of the carpark, pray to the Lord if that is truly where He wants your body for work.

Speak about Christ to your work colleagues. There is no need to Bible bash, but we should be living openly Christian lives. We should be letting people know the truth. We should have Christ on the tip of our tongue in every conversation, and we should be speaking about the Gospel at every moment.

Chist should be king of our bodies.

Our bodies are a gift from God, a temple for the Holy Spirit.
We will have resurrected bodies one day, be happy and content with the body God has gifted to you. But also take care of God’s gift, make sure Christ rules over your body, and steer clear of what the enemy offers in glutney and sloth.

Look after yourselves physically, brothers and sisters. We are God’s creation. Let us honour Christ our king with everything we have, including our bodies.

Romans 6:6
knowing this, that our old self is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

What does it mean for Christ to be king of our minds?

Do we read God’s word? Or do we scroll on the socials aimlessly as time ticks by?
How often do we study the inspired word of God, surely it’s more than once a day?
I am talking about the very words that are a shining light from the Holy Spirit on how to put Christ as our King and Saviour.

Do we know about our faith? Are we making Christ the King of ours minds by studying the history of the church,
the writings of the saints, the writings of the brother and sisters that were truly pious and had Christ as the King of their lives, or do we know more about football, fishing, and motor sports?
Are we able to defend our faith? Are we able to defend Christ as King? If Christ is King of our minds, we should be studying apologetics. We should be able to give a reason for our beliefs. We should be able to answer any objections to the truth. As Christ as King of our minds, we need to intensely study Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

What does it mean for Christ to be King of our souls?

Let’s look at our prayer life. Are we forgetting to pray?
Do we choose the simple route and assign minimal time to worship and prayer?
Do we keep telling ourselves “if only I had more time” or “I’m too tired to pray?”
If Christ is King of our souls, then prayer comes first, prayer time is what we shape our life around. Those moments where I can be on my knees and exalt Christ as Lord and King, should be my entire life and my existence.

And the Mass, brothers and sisters. If Christ is King of my soul then the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is what powers us to be in Christ’s Kingdom, the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour fills us up with everything we need spiritually to proclaim Christ as Lord and King.

John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Christ being king sums up what our Christian life is all about.
Be openly Christian.
Live an openly Christian life.

The enemy is in our ear, whispering to us that the self is King. The enemy is trying convince us that we get to decide what is true and false, good and bad, the enemy is tempting us always to go our own way.

And it is our sinful nature to listen to him.
To have Christ as King in our lives is to know that we are His and not our own. We are here for one reason, and that is to proclaim Christ as King and Lord over all.

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”