Kingdom-Week 5

The Kingdom of Heaven

Parables of the kingdom THEN

THE KINGDOM “THEN”

Today is Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is about Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem.

But as we teach through the kingdom - Jesus promised to return once again in power and glory.

Jesus WILL Return to Set Everything Right

In Matthew 24, Jesus with disciples. Showing off temple. Temple will be destroyed.

Ask 3 questions -

When will temple be destroyed

Whats the signs of your final return

What are the signs of the end of the age

Last two are tied to previous questions the disciples had from Jesus’ teaching.

General crux of matthew 24:

Wickedness will increase

Increase in wars, nations against nations

Increase in natural disasters

Persecution for Christians - REAL persecution

The Gospel preached to the whole world - then the end will come.

When it happens - it’ll be super, super obvious. Nobody will be able to say, ‘hey, jesus showed up over there’.

The bible actually says, this will be a time of mourning for many.

Jesus then says, ‘therefor’:

Matthew 24:42–44 NIV

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Keep watch, for you do not know when this will happen

There was no police force - everyone was left to defend their homes

Defending your home meant preparedness - not simply keeping an eye out

HOME ALONE

POINT: if you took jesus seriously, you wouldn’t wait to be prepared

You KNOW The thief is coming

You KNOW you need to be prepared

You don’t know WHEN

Matthew 25:1–13 NIV

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Jesus will reward the faithful who kept watch

Jesus’ point with this parable is - BE PREPARED!

STORY - Shiloh will notice a bear. He is not prepared for a bear. He’s useless unless I pick him up and throw him at the bear. It’s not enough to watch.

Notice foolish virgins - they were unprepared for the night…so they missed the chance to join the bridegroom.

They didn’t have what they needed.

And they scrambled at that time to rectify this - but why not before?

But the door had been shut - it was too late.

The bridegroom even goes so far as to say, ‘I don’t know you’.

2 Timothy 2:19 NIV

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

Jesus doesn’t mean ‘who are you again?’. He means, ‘You aren’t one of mine.’

Their lack of preparedness = they weren’t really taking it seriously.

What sort of excuses could we make to Jesus about our lack of preparedness?

They all boil down to, in some fashion - i didn’t think I needed to right now.

Matthew 25:14–30 NIV

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Jesus will reward those who trusted and loved Him - as shown by their actions

The servants inaction here is caused by a misperception of the master.

He says he’s a hard man - but this master is literally giving out millions of dollars. He seems super willing to bless his servants.

So he goes and buries the money - keeps it safe just until the guy returns so he can say, ya, you don’t deserve any extra. Here’s whats yours back.

The servant’s poor opinion of the master is his excuse for disobedience.

Misunderstanding God can often lead to missing God.

But the other two servants - they trusted and loved the master. So when he said, i’ll be back soon, so put this stuff I gave you to to work - they got to work.

They SHOWED their love and trust by doing what the master told them to do

So when the master returned, they had the profit and proof of their service to present.

But the wicked servant - he had nothing but what he had been given. He put in no effort, yielded no extra.

Note here - the dividing point wasn’t whether or not they succeeded or failed with what they were given. The one servant earned more extra than the other servant even had to give the master to begin with.

The two servants get the same reward from the master, because they yielded the same result (doubled what they were given) even if they didn’t yield the same amount (one gained 5, another only 2)

The dividing point was the effort and preparedness they demonstrated in their time in the middle.

The master sees, by the action of the servants, which ones actually trusted him and put the effort in.

So he rewards the two servants, and throws out the third one.

Matthew 25:31–46 NIV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Jesus will bestow an eternal kingdom of life on those who served him

This parable is different than the others. The other two were - be prepared for this moment. Jesus in this parable is saying - this is why you were getting yourselves prepared.

The other parables, the emphasis was on the need for preparation.

In this parable - the emphasis is on teaching about that final judgment that Jesus will render

So Jesus says to the sheep (a common metaphor for those who followed Him), I have a kingdom for you, prepared since the beginning of the world.

Lots to look at why Jesus is giving them the kingdom - But there’s a key point here:

Jesus says in everything that they did, they were doing it for him.

They question the physical reality of it (when did we ACTUALLY see you and give YOU food directly?)

But Jesus connects it back to the parable of the talents. He says - going out into the nations, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked. I gave you all of this wealth to be able to do those things- and I can see that you put it to work to further my priorities.

There’s a level of Jesus saying, you were feeding me when you were feeding the hungry.

But we can’t miss his main point - which is that feeding the hungry is like multiplying the talent for the master. We’re doing it FOR him.

It’s a lot easier to for us to understand, my master gave me 5 million dollars, I put it to work, made 5, and gave it back to him.

But jesus says, in the real world, this looks different. Jesus gave you your life, your wealth, the strength of your arm. He gave you the time you spend every day.

And when he comes back, he’s going to ask - what did you do with all that wealth? Did you trust me? Did you follow me? did you serve me?

And again, Jesus isn’t rewarding them because of the quantity of good they did. He’s not saying, you’re only welcome here because you performed.

He’s rewarding them because he can see by their lives and their efforts that they served him, trusted him, and loved him.

The goats are a different story.

They’re surprised as well. Their surprise is a bit sardonic. Their response was, well, pick a time that we saw you and we DIDN’T do these things? It’s almost like saying, well, we would have done it back then if you were right there.

You see that same thinking through the other parables. The foolish virgins only bring enough oil for a short time. They didn’t put in effort to get what was needed. The bridegroom wasn’t there, so the foolish virgins slacked.

The servant with the talent didn’t put in effort to produce with what he was given. He wasn’t prepared for the master returning. The master wasn’t there, so the third servant slacked.

And now, you have these goats. And they’re saying, of course we didn’t do anything - you weren’t there! So....they slacked.

The goats represent the characters in the other stories - the widow and the wicked servant - in that they were in this inbetween time.

The bridegroom left, and was returning. The master left, and was returning.

And in that middle time - they didn’t truly honor Christ in their hearts.

We are in the inbetween right now

Jesus left in Acts 1. He’ll come back in the end of days.

So what are we going to do about our readiness?

Will we be like the 5 wise virgins?

Making sure that, as much as we’re able, we can say, we prepared as much as we possibly could.

Will we be like the faithful servants?

Get to work right away, and work hard

Keep working until the master returns - because we want to be the ones Jesus finds serving when he finally hits the ground.

Will we be like the sheep?

The ones who Jesus can say, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my father, and take the kingdom prepared for you’.

The ones who love Jesus so much that they will do whatever they can whenever they can to further His work.

Because one day, Jesus is going to return with a complete and perfect kingdom. And that’s the endgame. That’s winning the race, that’s receiving the victory. We need to make sure we don’t miss it.