Today’s service started like a lot of Sundays do—kids heading out with Miss Twila and the others, ushers coming forward, the offering plates moving up and down the rows. But underneath all the usual church motions, there was a theme that kept coming back around: Who really has my allegiance? Who is my King?
A Church That Gives Like Family
Before the sermon even started, there was this reminder that church isn’t just a place we sit and listen. It’s a place that does things.
- A big Thanksgiving dinner at the Civic Center on Thursday—open to everyone. Not just people who don’t have food, not just people who are lonely, not just people who can’t cook. Everyone. A table for the whole community.
- An angel tree partnering with children’s services, helping specific families with real needs—one ornament at a time, one gift at a time.
- A cinnamon roll project for Christmas—homemade pans of cinnamon rolls taken out into the neighborhood with carols on Christmas Day. Not cheap, easy stuff from a can, but “grandma-level” cinnamon rolls that make people ask, “Who put this much love into this?”
It’s simple, but it hit me: this is what the kingdom of God looks like in everyday clothes—flyers, food, cookies, cinnamon rolls, kids decorating, youth group baking, people giving in small ways that add up to something big.
Are We Even Comfortable With a King?
Then the pastor asked a question that kind of cuts against American wiring:
“Do you have a king?”
We live in a country built on saying “No kings.” Our whole story starts with people saying, “You’re not in charge of us anymore.” That independent streak runs deep. We don’t like being told what to do, and we don’t like the idea of someone ruling over us.
So when the Bible says Jesus is King, sometimes that clashes with the way we’ve been raised. We like Jesus as Savior, Encourager, Helper, Friend. But Jesus as King? That’s different. A King asks for allegiance. A King has authority. A King can say, “You’re either with Me or you’re not.”
The pastor reminded us: the church isn’t just a volunteer club or a social group. It’s an entire community built on loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.
The King We Didn’t Expect
From Jeremiah 23, we heard about a promised King:
“Behold, the days are coming… I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness…
A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth…
And this is His name… The Lord Our Righteousness.”
This King’s main concern isn’t land, taxes, armies, or power. His focus is righteousness and justice—people living rightly, people being cared for, wrongs being put right.
Then we compared that to Jesus:
- Earthly kings wear crowns of gold.
Jesus wore a crown of thorns. - Earthly kings sit on thrones.
Jesus was lifted up on a cross. - Earthly kings protect themselves with soldiers.
Jesus said, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” - Earthly kings demand people come directly to them and show honor.
Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me.”
In other words, earthly kings want to see how you treat them.
Jesus wants to see how you treat the janitor, the stranger, the foreigner, the day laborer, the person at the bottom.
That is a totally different kind of kingdom.
Rescued From One Kingdom to Another
In Colossians 1, Paul said that God:
“has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…”
Jesus didn’t just forgive us and then leave us where we were. He moved us—out of darkness, into a new kingdom.
Paul describes Jesus like this:
- The image of the invisible God
- The One through whom all things were created
- The One in whom all things hold together
- The head of the body, the church
- The One who has first place in everything
And how did He earn that place?
Not by conquering nations.
Not by flexing military power.
Not by threatening everyone into submission.
He earned that place by laying down His life, shedding His blood, and making peace through the cross.
In every other kingdom, the subjects prove their loyalty by dying for the king.
In Jesus’ kingdom, the King dies for the subjects to prove His love for them.
From Orphans to Children
The pastor talked about John chapter 1, where it says:
“He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
Jesus didn’t just die to clean up our record. He died to bring us into a family.
In a world where families break, where kids go through the foster system, where a lot of people grow up feeling unwanted or unseen, this hits different:
- You’re not just a number in His kingdom.
- You’re not just a worker in His system.
- You’re not just a face in a crowd.
You’re a son.
You’re a daughter.
You’re family.
So… Is Jesus Really My King?
That’s the question the pastor left hanging:
Is Jesus your King?
Not just…
- Is Jesus part of your life?
- Do you go to church?
- Do you like the idea of Jesus?
But:
- Where does your allegiance really sit?
- When life makes you choose, whose side are you on?
- Who gets your loyalty, your energy, your attention, your “yes”?
There are a lot of voices asking for our devotion—politics, culture, money, comfort, ego, our own plans. But only One laid down His life and then invited us not just into a kingdom, but into a family.
Christ the King Sunday is a reminder that before the lights, before the trees, before the gifts and the Christmas songs, there is a King.
A King born in a manger.
A King who wore a crown of thorns.
A King who died for His enemies.
A King who calls us sons and daughters.
And that King is worth my allegiance.
— Josh Bridges
YOU {R} NOT ALONE YOU HAVE A VOICE! 