To Live with Him in His Kingdom

What is it that you want the Lord Jesus to do for you?  What greatness and what glory do you hope to receive from Him and share with Him?  And what do you suppose that would be like?

When you pour out the deepest longings of your heart, what is it that you pray for?  What is it that you ask the dear Lord Jesus to do for you or give to you?  Do you want to have more friends?  To be popular and in demand?  To be admired and respected?  Or do you long for comfort and care and relief from whatever it is that has you trapped and afraid?  Or security and stability, so that you don’t have to keep working so hard to hold it all together, just to keep going from one day to the next?  Is it happiness that you’re after?  Some kind of heaven on earth?  A life worth living?

The truth of the matter is that Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the incarnate Son of God, the Lord’s Anointed, the very King of heaven — He has come in love to serve you, to give you nothing less than Himself — to give His Body and Life for you — and with that, to give you all good things.

He does not lord it over you, but He makes Himself your Servant, even a Slave on your behalf.  He exercises His almighty power in His compassion for you, in showing mercy toward you.  He uses His authority in heaven and on earth to forgive you all your sins; and with that forgiveness He gives you everlasting Life and eternal Salvation, divine Sonship, and a place in His Kingdom.

You do not understand.  But He does it for you anyway.

You do not deserve or merit any of this.  But He does it all for you by grace, for His Love’s sake.

This is the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, which is His Greatness and His Glory.  He voluntarily takes His place and His position on the Cross, centered between two thieves, one on His right, the other on His left.  That is where and how He becomes the first of many brethren, including you.  That is where and how He obtains all good things for you; for He takes your place under the Law, and He fully bears the curse of your sin and death, in order to give you a place with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  He gives Himself for you, and He withholds nothing from you.

It’s all yours, for free, for the asking, and even before you ask. Take it and live, for Jesus’ sake.

And then what?  Everything is yours: What are you going to do with it?  How shall you live?

Shall you live with Jesus in the Kingdom of His Cross?  Or will you go your own way, in the hope that something better comes along?  Where will you go?  What will you do?  Will you throw your hat in the ring with the gentiles?  Or will you die with Jesus, in order to live with Him by grace?

As you consider the glorious company of the holy Apostles and the sainted Martyrs of this Lord Jesus Christ — St. James the Elder prominent among them, especially on this festival day — learn from them to fix your eyes on Jesus, come hell or high water against you.

Do not look to your left or your right to see how it’s going with your neighbor.  Christ has given Himself for your neighbor, too; and by the Gospel He gives all good things to your neighbor, as well, and a place in His Kingdom, purchased and won at the cost of His own Life.  That it is how it is with your neighbor — and all of it for Jesus’ sake, who is also with you and for you in love.

But the particular place that has been given to your neighbor is different than yours — a different chair at the table, a different cross to bear, a different crown of glory.

Do not be indignant with your neighbor, neither for his sin, nor for his faith and life.  And do not be angry with your Lord, either, for giving your neighbor what He has not given to you.

As you are a citizen of His Kingdom, do not live as a citizen of this sinful world with its petty jealousies.  Do not compete with your neighbor, nor seek to get the better of him.  Rather, for the sake of love, serve your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves and serves both you and your neighbor.

How so?  By patiently suffering hurt, hostility, and insult, without any anger or vengeance, without bitterness or resentment.  By forgiving your neighbor his trespasses against you.  And by helping your neighbor to bear his burdens, without begrudging or coveting your neighbor’s blessings.

Let there be no jealousy among you, but only love.  Let there be no competing or contesting for greatness or glory, but glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and His Cross by outdoing one another in humility, grace, and compassion.

Do you want to be great?  Then serve.  Be great at serving, the very best at doing unto others as you would have done to you.  Do you want to be number one, the gold-medal champion?  Then become the humble and willing slave of all the rest.  Be the number one servant.  Be like your Lord Jesus.  Dedicate your whole life, your every breath, your blood, sweat, and tears, to serving your neighbors.  Hold nothing back, and show no partiality or prejudice.  Love even your enemies, as the Lord has commanded you.  Forgive those who trespass against you, and gladly do good to those who hate you and hurt you.  Bless those who curse you; bless, and do not curse.  Take up the Cross.  Bend your neck to the sword.  Give your body to be beaten, bruised, and buried.

Are you able to do all this?  The answer actually is, Yes.  But not by your own reason or strength.

What do you have that you have not been given?  What good shall you do that is not done for you?  How shall you love and serve for Jesus’ sake, except that He has come in love to serve you and to give His Life for you?  How is it that you share His Baptism and drink His Cup, except that He has been baptized for you, even unto death upon the Cross, and that He has drained the Cup to the very dregs in fulfillment of all righteousness.

It is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you do share His Cross and Passion, His innocent suffering, death, and burial, His Resurrection and His Life, His Righteousness, and His Glory.

With His Baptism He has taken your place, so that your Baptism has given you His place.  His faithfulness is credited to you, and it becomes yours through faith in Him.  So, too, His humility and His obedience are yours.  His service and His greatness — it is all made yours by His grace.

So are you likewise given His Cup to drink, not for wrath and woe but unto Salvation.  And more than that, you are given His Body to eat for the forgiveness of your sins.  The very Flesh that bore your sins upon the Cross, the holy and precious Blood that atoned for your unrighteousness — these are given to you at the Lord’s own Table.  He surrounds you on the right hand and on the left, and He gives to you the place of honor, that He may serve you and give Himself to you in love.

The bitter cup of wrath and woe He has made sweet by His bloody Cross and Passion.  The poison in that cup — the righteous wrath and judgment of God against all the sins of the world, including all of your sins, and the punishment of sin with death and damnation — that poison Jesus has swallowed and consumed, every drop of it; so that His Cup has become for you the New Testament in His Blood, which is poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

As He shed His Blood to fill that Chalice from His Cross, and as He poured it out for His disciples, for James and John and the other ten, for each of them to drink from His own hand, so did He send them to give that Cup to His Church — to give that Cup to you — and to give His Body to be eaten — for the granting of eternal Life; that you might be His own, and live with Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even forever and ever.

St. James poured out that Cup, not only as an Apostle and a Minister of the Sacrament, but as a Martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a lamb to be slaughtered in a Passover like that of his King.

You are given to drink that same Cup of Blessing and Salvation.  It is filled from the Cross, and those who drink it bear the Cross of Christ, as do each and all of those who share His Baptism.  Whether that will mean for you the sword, or poison, or prison, or fire, or lions, or simply the weight of daily service in your own callings, the Cup of Christ is your Glory and your Life.

Take it, and live.  It’s all yours, for Jesus’ sake.  And nothing in heaven or on earth shall be able to sever you from Him, who loves you without end.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.