C, Post-Pentecost 15 Proper 20 - 1 Timothy 2:1-7 "Our Common Wealth"
Being a King, Queen, President, a leader of people,
presents with it, a whole bunch of pressures that can render their office of
leadership dysfunctional.
Dysfunction of the office of a leader might occur for many
different reasons. It might be
dysfunctional because it’s not performing its proper function, not doing what
it was originally intended to do. It
might be socially malignant, sapping society of the things it needs to remain
balanced and stable. It could be
disobedient or rebellious in some way.
Or it might exist for no particular reason, good for nothing,
unproductive and a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
There’s cause for us to reflect on the leadership under
which our nation lives. The royal
monarchical system in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the succession
of King Charles III.
Before we go any further this is not going to be a sermon
on the benefits of a monarchy over against a republic. This issue is already a discussion in the
media and public galleries. But our
focus here today is on the status quo, and it would be the same if we were a
republic and our president had died.
That aside, the pressure of leadership to remain functional
is one a leader has to take seriously.
Throughout history many a leader has had his or her leadership
overthrown because it has become dysfunctional.
Sometimes the leader has been dethroned by being decapitated, literally beheaded.
Deposition of a leader happens for a number of different
reasons. Coveting power, some will seek
to seize control by overthrowing a leader, regardless of their office being
functional or dysfunctional. A
revolution might occur, and a leader is deposed. Or, at an election, a leader might be voted
out democratically.
On the other hand, the leader might be a tyrant, a
psychopath, a sociopath, or a fool.
These leaders are narcissist, egotistical, and self-absorbed. Their leadership is one driven by the
principal that there is no one greater than them. Often, they live with a “saviour complex” or a
“white knight syndrome”. This might be as subtle as a desire to help
someone that really does not want help, or it might be as extreme as Adolph
Hitler and his Führer Principal.
Our focus is not on leaders who get thrown out for whatever
reason. But rather, what makes a good
leader, how we benefit under this said good leader, and what we can do to
encourage them in their leadership.
Jesus Christ is our obvious “go to”, as the benchmark for a
truly good king. He is the King of kings
and Lord of lords. His leadership is
truly impartial, for the benefit of all people, just, reconciliatory,
all-conquering, enduring, leading to a peace that is eternal which surpasses
all human understanding.
Why is his leadership, the go-to leadership of all
leaderships? Jesus’ leadership is one of
complete transparency. God has no hidden
desire in Jesus’ mediation between himself and humanity. Jesus hides nothing! He brings sin out of darkness and into the
light. He goes into the hearts of men
and women, exposing sin and shame, and takes it to the cross for all to see forgiveness in his death.
This leadership is second to none because not only does he
mediate between God and humanity, in his death, but that he is both innocent in himself and God the Son,
holy and eternal.
It is leadership many believe too good to be true! Why?
Because if you or I were a leader we would place ourselves
in a favourable position. We would take privileges, not give them
up. We would seek pleasures rather than
endure suffering and pain. We would
enjoy our rights rather than give them up and serve in second place. That’s why, for some, it is easier to believe
Jesus’ leadership is too good to be true!
But Jesus did this, as God the Son, in the Man of Nazareth,
born to Mary, laid in a humble feed trough, and enthroned as King on the
cross. And we put him there because we deemed his leadership as useless, joining
in with his people, saying, “we have no
king but Caesar.” (John 19:15 ESV)
You might say, “O, but I was not there, I am not a Jewish
leader.” But your human spirit is no
different to that of the scribes and the pharisees who condemned his
leadership, nor Peter and the disciples who fled in fear!
That’s why Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to convict all
people of sin, and bring to repentance, those who bow down in the exposing
light of our true Leader’s Love and life giving.
Because Jesus is our King of Kings, truly unhiding the
reality of our sinful being, we can learn a lot from King David also. Even though he was before Jesus Christ in a
chronological sense, Jesus was before him and above him, even though Jesus was
born as a human, after David.
Unlike Jesus, David was a sinful man, his being was sinful,
and he did sinful things. But despite
his sinfulness he, like Jesus, placed himself under the authority of God. When he sinned, he received God’s
correction. When he was successful, he
gave the glory to God. David was
honestly aware of his humanity, its weakness, its desire, and its
sinfulness. David knew he was not second to none, but that
he was a distant second to God his Father.
The un-hiddenness of David’s kingship was blessed by God as
David collected and penned Jesus’ prayers in the Psalms. The reality of David’s great joys and deep
sorrows are ours in the Psalms. We hear
the heart of David, but even more so, we hear the heart of Jesus Christ, God
the Son.
How amazing we have the Word of God, in the heartfelt words
of these kings who placed themselves under the authority of God the
Father. Especially since the greatest
threat to us is not what is going on outwardly with others, but inwardly within
us!
Leaders, even more so than us, deal with the demons within,
as those without, seek to disrupt faithful leadership. It’s very real that the Old Adam, the human
spirit within, finds allies with the spirit of the world, and spirits within
the world. Even when the world attacks
us, we often find the Old Adam within, joins in with the attack on our new
nature in Jesus.
When King David wrote the imprecatory Psalms, Psalms
denouncing his enemies, David wanted God to have victory over the enemy within
him, just as much as he wanted a kingdom without the threat of his enemies. David wanted to be without chaos within as
well! He wanted peace with his God.
Jesus and King David stand as examples of good leaders
because they, having the authority to be second to none, willingly placed
themselves under the authority of someone greater. We can too, being voluntary princes and
princesses in God’s kingdom! In fact, we
have the authority from God to be such!
We are his people, allowing the Holy Spirit to place us under God’s
supreme rule.
We can praise God like David and Jesus did to others, and
we can intercede for those around us, faithfully praying to our Heavenly Father
to bless our enemies and our friends.
Like Paul encourages Timothy, we too are encouraged, “that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all
people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight
of God our Saviour, who desires all
people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy
2:1–4 ESV)
We pray for our leaders
knowing that both us and our leaders are under the one head, Jesus Christ.
We do so with hearts of
praise like King David who calls us to, “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of
the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and
forevermore! From the rising of the sun
to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!” (Psalm 113:1–3 ESV)
In these days remembering
Elizabeth our Queen of blessed memory, we realise and praise God for her
faithful service under God. We could see
her position as Queen of Australia and the Commonwealth as not being very
functional. Indeed, that is why some are
calling for Australia to become a republic.
You might be tempted to see
her leadership, King Charles III’s leadership, a republican leadership or even
the political landscape at home as useless and dysfunctional. But you and I need to remember we live under our
common wealth of God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Queen Elizabeth II could
very well have seen her royal duty as redundant in this age. But like Jesus she served her people before
God the Father, regardless of them serving her or not.
We praise God that under her
submission to him we have lived peaceful and quiet lives. And now that we have a King its time for us
to join under our common wealth in Jesus Christ to hold up in prayer King
Charles III, that he too might follow in his mother’s footsteps of submission
and servitude to our Heavenly Father. Amen.
