By Andrew Unger, Chaplain
In chapel this year, we have been learning some phrases about who Jesus was, and what his offices of prophet, priest and king mean.
We have said that:
- Jesus as prophet means that he spoke God’s words to us.
- Jesus as priest means that he is the mediator between man and
God. - When it comes to Jesus being king, we say that Jesus as king means he is the rightful ruler of the whole universe.
The whole universe—why did we use those words? Sometimes when we think of the universe, we think of space, of all the planets. We think big. In this article I would like to think small, or at least things that seem small, things that seem out of God’s control.
In our minds sometimes we split things into ‘church stuff’ and ‘not church stuff’: stuff that God and the Bible have things to say about, and the rest of life. What does God have to do with cars and garbage men and cleaning your room and eating breakfast? It seems like nothing, but at least one Christian man thought differently.
In chapel over the past few years, we learn from a Christian of the past how to think better about Jesus, reading from a text that he or she wrote. As an example, Abraham Kyper’s life and thought can help us better understand what it means for Jesus to be king over everything.
Abraham Kuyper grew up as a pastor’s son, and eventually became the prime minister of the Netherlands. Politics and God seem like two things that are incredibly opposed to each other, but, Abraham Kuyper had a different idea. When he thought about God, and when he thought about Jesus as king, he figured that Jesus must be king over EVERYTHING. And so he said:
“Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine’”
Just like last week we talked about how all truth is God’s truth, Kuyper said every job is a job for God. Paul said it like this in Colossians 3:23-25,
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”
So what does this mean? Well, sometimes it means that we look to the Bible for particular guidance on any issue we face, and then we get a specific example of how to do what God wants. But it also means that when we are good gardeners, we are gardening for God; that when you are good students, you are doing God’s work. God calls everyone to be faithful and serve him wherever they are.
Think of it like this. Jesus is king. In a kingdom, you can’t just have pastors. You need garbage men! You need people to clean the streets and serve food and raise cattle and run the banks. If any of these types of people are not working, the kingdom can’t function well.
It is the same way with Jesus. Since he is the king over everything, every job is important. Jobs in the church that deal directly with preaching the gospel are important. But people who wait tables are also doing God’s work, if they are doing it to glorify God. Being a student is God’s work, if you are trying your best and learning as best you can. This is because you are serving in a job for your king, wherever your king has placed you.
So, right now, work hard to serve your king as a child and as a student. When you grow up, find a career that God has given you the gifts to do and do it well, because your king has given you that job as well. There is no part of the entire creation that Jesus is NOT king over, and we can be very thankful for that!