The Neighborhood Podcast
This is a podcast of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina featuring guests from both inside the church and the surrounding community. Hosted by Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing, Head of Staff.
The Neighborhood Podcast
"Disciples Give Ultimate Allegiance to Christ" (November 23, 2025 Sermon)
Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing
Text: Colossians 1:11-20
What holds when every other promise comes apart at the seams? We open Colossians 1:11–20 and hear a hymn the early church sang to steady their lives: Christ is the image of the invisible God, before all things, holding all things together. From that center, we explore how easy it is to crown the wrong king—political saviors, personal pride, even rigid doctrinal certainty—and why those thrones always collapse under the weight of our hopes.
We draw a line to the Christ hymn as we talk about desire, disappointment, and the subtle ways our loyalties drift. We revisit a sobering chapter of church history, when German Christians rewrote hymnals and blurred theology to serve authoritarian power, and we hold up the Barmen Declaration and Martin Niemöller as a necessary, courageous no. Along the way we consider why what we sing often shapes us more than what we hear once, and how worship becomes an act of resistance that trains the heart to love the true King.
This conversation invites you to audit your allegiances and reimagine kingship through the lens of Jesus—creator of all, reconciler of all, head of the church. Expect a clear portrait of a kingdom that refuses domination, rejects manipulation, dignifies neighbor, and makes peace through the cross. If you’re longing for a faith that can outlast cynicism and outlove fear, press play, sing with us, and let your heart be re-centered on the One who holds. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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Friends, as we wrap up our What Disciples Do sermon series, our final text in this series comes to us from Paul's letter to the Colossians, one of the letters that he wrote while he was imprisoned for his faith. So let us hear again what God is saying to God's church using the words of, hearing the words of Colossians 1, verses 11 through 20. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints and light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Amen. So I listen to music when I work on sermons. Uh work on anything, really, and this uh this great classic came on as I was beginning to put pen to paper. If I ever lose my faith in you, there'd be nothing left for me to do. Who can tell me who sang that? Oh, come on, y'all. Yeah, Dave. Sting, very good. Brownie points for you. Alright. So, yeah, Sting wrote that song. To be fair, I did not do a good job of singing it. So in y'all's defense. Um, yeah, so Sting wrote that song in 1993, uh, If I ever lose my faith in you. And in between the choruses, Sting uses the verses to list off things that he's tempted to put his faith in, but that inevitably disappoint him. He says, You could say I lost my faith in science and progress. You could say I lost my belief in the Holy Church, you could say I lost my sense of direction, you could say all of this in worse, but if I lose my faith in you, there'd be nothing left for me to do. And then he goes on to, with a little bit more cynicism, to say, some would say I was a lost man in a lost world. You could say I lost my faith on the people on TV. You could say I lost my belief in our politicians. They all seem like game show hosts to me. But if I ever lose my faith in you, there'd be nothing left for me to do. Today is Christ the King's Sunday, which always falls on the final Sunday of the liturgical calendar of the Sunday before Advent. And in a way, I think Christ the King's Sunday, or reign of Christ's Sunday, as it's sometimes called, is kind of the church's way of saying to the cosmic Christ: if we ever lose our faith in you, there'd be nothing left for us to do. I suppose if we were to rewrite Sting's song for ourselves and inject our own lyrics, we could list things that we're tempted to give our allegiance to that ultimately, inevitably, disappoint. With the approval ratings of our elected representatives at an all-time low on both sides of the aisle, there's certainly no shortage of cynicism in the body politic these days. History is replete with examples of powerful men with messianic promises and over-inflated egos, kings who choose misogyny over dignity, chaos over progress, and power over the basic tenets of human decency. Yes, history has a long line of kings and wannabe kings who are remarkably consistent in their ability to disappoint. Or maybe, you like me, maybe you've encountered things outside the realm of politics that inevitably disappoint. You know, I've trusted my own sense of self-righteousness only to be reminded that I don't have all the answers. I've trusted in my doctrinal beliefs only to be reminded that my understanding of God is hopelessly susceptible to fallibility just like anyone else's. I've relied on my own ability to do things for myself, only to be reminded that discipleship is a group project. You could say I lost my faith in all of these things, but if I ever lose my faith in the risen Christ, there'd be nothing left for me to do. So whether our idol of choice is political, personal, or somewhere in between, or some combination, I have good news. Today's scripture reminds us that the risen Christ comes before all of them. Full stop. Here again these words from Paul. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. What word did I emphasize there? All. Do you hear the totality of that statement? In just those two verses, Paul uses the word all five times by my math. It's as if he is lighting an obnoxiously colored neon sign with the following statement: Christ is king and there are no exceptions. Not a one. But y'all, the church has sometimes forgotten that truth. Most infamously was in the 1930s when many Christians in Germany considered Hitler to be one of those exceptions. Nazi flags appeared in German churches. German nationalism claimed to align with Christianity, though its fruits were hardly recognizable from those produced by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gradually, in small steps, at first almost imperceptible, but increasingly violent and startling, the Nazis infiltrated the German churches to justify their fascist inclinations. But a German pastor by the name of Martin Niemoller grew disillusioned with Hitler's regime and the many Christians who pledged their allegiance to him. He had actually, I learned this week, that he had actually at one point supported Hitler, but his faith in Christ ultimately led him to denounce him and to lead other of his fellow Christians, German Christians, in resistance. There is but one head of the church, Martin E. Moller said, and his name is not Hitler. Unfortunately, not all German Christians shared that same view. That's why one of the declarations in our denomination's Book of Confessions, the Theological Declaration of Barman, was written specifically to affirm the church's opposition to any and all forms of authoritarianism. And one piece of evidence that such an anti-fascist statement was needed was a 1941 hymnal named Grosser Gott Vir Lobendiek. I spent all week practicing saying that before you, and I probably butchered it, but it's the best I could do. Grosser Gott Vir Lobenditch, which you may know better by its English translation, Holy Graise Your Name. You may know that hymn, Holy Gott, we praise your name. It's a good sturdy German tune. And the hymnal took its title from that hymn, and that hymn was written in 1774 by a German Catholic priest. And in its original form that we still sing today in our hymnal, it's a beautiful song of praise and thanksgiving to God. However, the so-called German Christians published it as the flagship hymn in that hymnal, which included an extra verse praising Hitler, which included the words, Lord God, guide our Fuhrer. Sadly, that hymn was far from the only one that was changed to support nationalist ideology. This 1941 hymnal removed any and all references of Jesus Christ being Jewish. All mentions of Old Testament were omitted. Non-German phrases like hallelujah or kirie liaison were taken out. It downplayed Trinitarian theology and highlighted nationalist themes of military strength and victory. Awkward, horrible, warmongering lyrics were added to well-known hymns like the shocking line, We praise the fight and the shriek of death. That's lovely, isn't it? And as for the Psalms, no, they were ripped out because any good citizen of the Aryan nation couldn't possibly sing songs written by that Jewish king, David. Yes, friends, hymns that we sing can be holy acts. But in the context of German Christians embracing Nazi ideology through corporate worship, such as we're doing today, this hymnal, Glostur Gott wie Lobenidich, made singing a decidedly unholy act. I bring this up to make a broader point. Throughout history, the church has sometimes veered into idolatry when it forgets that Christ alone is king, that Christ alone is the head of the church, and that Christ alone is the Lord of our conscience. But long before German Christians sang those unholy hymns, there was another hymn the church sang, one that, by contrast, was crystal clear in its affirmation of Christ as the head of the church, and we've actually already heard it today. It is the Colossians passage that I read for us today from the revised Common Lectionary. Appropriately, it is often called the Christ hymn of the New Testament because scholars believe that Paul adapted it from a popular hymn text that the members of the early church frequently sang together. Again, hear these words from that hymn. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things. And in him all things hold together. He is the head of the church, the body. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have the first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Friends, the hymns we sing matter. This preacher will openly admit that for most of us, hymns have a greater impact on our embedded theology than any single sermon can. I could preach a dozen sermons on Christ the King, but none, no matter how hard I try, will have the same impact as singing all hail the power of Jesus' name, which we will sing together at the end of this service. In these days, when we see powers and principalities compete for our allegiance, vying for our loyalty, our attention, our obedience, it is more important now than ever that you and I sing songs to our sure Redeemer, our only trust, Savior of our hearts, the King of mercy and grace, the life by which alone we live, and our true and perfect gentleness. All those acclamations are affirmations of Christ that we will all sing together in the hymn right after this sermon. I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art. Hear these words with love, friends. We sing these affirmations because we reserve them for Christ and Christ alone. On this Christ the King's Sunday, we worship a king who does not rely on political power, which was often imposed upon him by his followers at their encouragement. On this Christ the King's Sunday, we we worship a king who rejects any attempts to use his names to dominate or intimidate or manipulate. On this Christ the King's Sunday, we worship a king who never demeaned women by calling them piggies, nor encouraged violence of any kind, nor sought to divide neighbor from neighbor. No, friends, we worship a different kind of king. One who is the firstborn of all creation, one who is the image of the invisible God, through whom all things in heaven and on earth were created. I wore my creation stole today just for that purpose. We worship Christ alone, who is the head of the church, the beginning, the end, and everything in between. Thanks be to God. We worship a Christ in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. We worship a king of reconciliation, not division, a king of peace, not chaos. We worship a king who is worthy of our praise and not any earthly throne or dominion or ruler or power that claims to be the ultimate authority in our lives. Friends, this is the king we worship. For if we ever lost our faith in him, there'd be nothing left for us to do. In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us God's children say.