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Session 2

1. Devotional

   And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
     “Glory to God in the highest,
      and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
   
   Luke 2:13, 14

   What two words best describe how you’re feeling? This week’s carol describes you as “joyful” and “triumphant.” Its lyrics remind us why and the stately melody raises our spirits:

   O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
    O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem!
   Come and behold him, born the King of angels!
   
   O come, let us adore him;
    O come, let us adore him,
   O come let us adore him, Christ, the Lord!

   If how you were feeling wasn’t this celebratory, don’t worry. Believers in Jesus Christ live an odd duality: we are in this world, experiencing its joys and sorrows, but we are not of this world. As the Apostle Paul reminded his friends in Philippi, “this world is the limit of [the] horizon” for people outside of the kingdom of God. “But we are citizens of Heaven; our outlook goes beyond this world to the hopeful expectation of the savior who will come from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 3:19, 20 Phillips). Several years ago during a training event in Asia, I was acutely aware of what it feels like to be in one place yet belong to another. Everyone at the event was advised not to leave the grounds of the retreat center because of civil unrest. Our local colleagues were deeply affected by the situation. One had barely escaped a violent riot in his neighborhood. Others were trying to get food to their family members behind the lines of the government siege. I was concerned for the people of the region and prayed with our friends for justice to prevail but I was also aware of the fact that my citizenship was elsewhere. For me, peace and stability were only a flight away. This is the situation of all believers everywhere. Our king is the “Prince of Peace” and “of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9: 6, 7 ESV). In contrast to what we might think about kings from what we have learned about them from history, in the Bible, a king does more than rule; he shows us how to live. As Dr. Fredrick Long, a specialist in biblical and Greco-Roman literature, explains:

   In the ancient world, politics and religion were merged in a dramatic, integral way, and this actually had implications for ethics, because the king … is supposed to be a model of virtue… What God has given to us, what the prophets were anticipating … is a ruler, a political ruler, a king who models for us how to live in this world, who shows true piety, true devotion, a true ethic…
   
   Forum 1, Kingdom & Covenant in the New Testament: Why Study New Testament Theology

   Dr. Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian Mennonite, describes the missional implications of having Christ as our King:

   When Jesus comes he will put all things where they should be. Until then we have a mission. And that is to live as individuals that belong to God's kingdom, and as citizens in a heavenly earth … We are like a candle that gives light, reminding others that there is a loving God in heaven who cares about the unjust and that this brutality, corruption, and arrogance, no matter how long it lasts on earth, it is temporary and limited in time because there is a God who will, in the end, fix everything.
   
   We Believe in Jesus: The King

   Citizens of heaven are joyful because we have a just king who will put all things right. We are triumphant because our king has justified us with his death on the cross. And that is a reason to sing!

   Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
    Born this happy morning;
   Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n;
   Word of the Father,
    Now in flesh appearing!
   
   O come, let us adore him
    O come, let us adore him,
   O come, let us adore him,
   Christ, the Lord!

2. Personal Application

   • The carol reminds us of Jesus' humility: God of God, Light of Light, lo, He abhors not the virgin's womb. In what specific situation or relationship can you follow Jesus’ example, not clinging to your prerogatives or privileges in order to better show God’s love to someone?
   • Pray for a situation you know of where there is injustice, brutality, corruption, or arrogance, asking God to put things right.
   • Sing or listen to O Come All Ye Faithful. Use the words to adore your King for who he is and what he has done.

3. Watch

   Jesus As King