“Dear friends in Jesus, there is a story of a dying king who did not have anyone to succeed him to his throne. Noticing his sorrow, a friend gave him advice to choose between the two of his most trusted servants. The king loved this piece of advice that he right away implemented it. He called one of them and asked him, ‘If you succeed me, what kind of king will you be?’ ‘I will rule by decree and command with a severity.’ was his answer. The king then called the second one and asked him the same question and his reply was, ‘Your majesty, I will continue to be a servant because the only difference between a king and a servant is a throne.’ and he succeeded the king. Dear friends in Jesus, today we celebrate the kingship of Jesus which is manifested mostly in His service of other people. So much has been said and written about His kingship, but today I want you to understand it in and through the mind of another. He has a book by name, Jesus in My Heart, in which he deals with the kingship of Jesus. In a very interesting way he explains Jesus’ kingship using the four images of kings in a deck of cards. Here is how he explains: The first image is the king of clubs. What is a club? By definition it is an extension of your violent hand. It symbolizes a hostile person. Such being the case, Jesus can not be the king of clubs because he sows neither violence nor hostility. Yes dear friends, Jesus is here, gentle and humble of heart and his mission is to sow love and not enmity so that we all love each other, live for each other and be brothers and sisters to each other with God as our loving Father. By this do people know that you are my disciples if you love, he says in John’s Gospel 13:35.
The second image is the king of spades. What is a spade for? It is for throwing dirt. Jesus can not be the king of spades because he is here not to make our lives dirty, but rather to cleanse us from everything that defiles us. Speaking of Jesus’ cleansing nature the Bible says, ‘He is like a refiner’s fire on your fuller soap.” Malachi 3:2. A spade is also a symbol of hopelessness because of its association with grave and this is another reason why Jesus can not be the king of spades because he rose from death giving us all hope and he says, ‘Those who believe in me even though they die will live.’ John 11:25.
The third image is the king of diamonds. Jesus can not be the king of diamonds because he came to bless our poverty, our crosses, our pains and our trials. Yes dear friends, Jesus came not to remove crosses, but to help us carry them in accordance with the will of God. ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ he says in Matthew 16:24.
The last image is the king of hearts and this is who Jesus is, king of hearts. Jesus is the king of hearts because that is where he wants to live and that is what he wants to transform, our heart. He wants to transform it in such a way that it becomes a new heart doing not its own will, but God’s. Jesus’ kingdom in us will be complete when God’s will becomes our will. It is complete when together with Jesus all of us can say, ‘I am here not to do my will, but the will of the one who sent me.’ John 6:38. There is just one thing Jesus our king is asking us today, our heart. In Proverbs 23:26 he says, ‘My son, my daughter, give me your heart.’ and what does Jesus do with our hearts? He wants to resuscitate them. On February 24, 2001 a 1 year Canadian girl by name America came our of her house, lost her way and spent the entire night in the Edmonton winter. When her mom found her the following morning she appeared totally frozen with no signs of life whatsoever, but doctors could resuscitate her and to the amazement of all she did not suffer any damage anywhere. Dear friends in Jesus, our hearts may have grown cold over time and today Jesus wants to resuscitate them before they suffer severe damages. Mark Twain’s wife, Olivia, was a very good Christian, but over time she lost her faith influenced by her husband. One day when she was very sad due to her daughter’s death Mark Twain told her, ‘Olivia if you think your faith can give you comfort, you can lean on it.’ ‘No I can not’, she replied, ‘I do not have any of it left.’ Dear friends in Jesus, before we lose our faith we have to give our hearts to Jesus so that he can resuscitate them and fill us with His love and faith and how does Jesus resuscitate our hearts? He does so by helping them recognize the priceless value of faith.
I heard about a jewelry store here in the U.S. which found it very difficult to sell some items in their inventory and so what they did was to double the price of those items. Interestingly those items sold like crazy once the prices went up because high prices changed the way customers thought about those items. Yes dear friends, our thoughts determine our actions and this is what Jesus wants to change in our hearts today, the way we look at faith so that we hold it in highest esteem and our prayer today is Lord Jesus, take our hearts and work on them until your will becomes our will. Amen.”