Unshakeable Kingdom
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Introduction
Every kingdom in history has been shaken!
Egypt
Assyria
Babylon
Persia
Greece
Rome
Etc....
There has always been only one true kingdom
Heb 11 - is a recognition of those who knew, believed and sought this truth
How things are, is not how they are suppose to be or how they will end up.
I. Faith Sees Beyond the Here and Now vs 1-3
II. Faith Sees God as Supremely worthy of our pursuit vs 4-7
III. Faith Does not Disconnect us from this World vs 13-16
IV. Faith Believes that God is always at work in and through and around us. vs 17-22
V. Faith Trusts God. Vs 23-28
VI. Faith is a choice to walk in obedience to God vs 32-40
Jesus is not just a breaking in of God moment in history, but he is the greatest display of reality
That’s why Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the Life....”
And therefore why we are to fix our eyes on Jesus
To fix our eyes (vision) on anything else (self) will lead to pride or despair.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
I. The Founder
I. The Founder
who Jesus is matters
In Jesus we see the connection of heaven and earth that we talked about in Heb 11
John says it this way:
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Pioneer: starter/founder
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Pioneer: a person who founds or establishes some institution, especially understood as having made a break throuigh in some area.
Ben and Jerry’s
Remember: Building a successful company is a marathon, not a sprint. And this saying is especially relevant in the case of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, considering how they met. As Cohen explained back in 1995, “I met Jerry running around the track in seventh grade gym class. We were the two slowest, fattest kids in the class. I liked him because he was funny and smart, and you could count on him.”
While Cohen and Greenfield remained friends through high school and college, their business partnership almost never came to be. Cohen had his heart set on becoming a potter, while Greenfield was planning on becoming a doctor. Fortunately for ice cream fans everywhere, no one would buy Cohen’s pottery, and no medical school would accept Greenfield. So after debating between starting a bagel business or starting an ice cream business, they chose the latter based on the lower start-up costs.
Having grown up together in New York, Cohen and Greenfield eventually made their way to Vermont in search of a suitable location for their first homemade ice cream parlor. In 1978, they landed on a dilapidated gas station, which they fixed up themselves. By 1983, they were franchising Ben & Jerry’s stores and selling their signature ice creams (like Chunky Monkey) via independent distributors. By 1984, they had already topped $4 million in annual sales, and by 1985, they were donating 7.5% of their annual pre-tax profits to charity via the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation.
“When we first started, it was just a lark. We never expected to have anything more than that one homemade ice cream shop, but now Jerry and I are millionaires,” Cohen once said. “Our relationship hasn’t changed at all … Food has always been our binding tie — food and our girth.”
Jesus knew exactly what he was doing
In fact how many times did he tell his followers
How many start up aren’t successful?
Jesus accomplished his purpose, far more significant then any business or kingdom
Perfector - completer
a person who brings something to completion without defect or blemish
II. The Victory
II. The Victory
Endured
The aberation of our fallen world and the sinful self-deceived humanity
When we think about it, our creator stepped into his broken, fallen creation.
I wonder if Jesus in his prayers ever said to the Father, “this is nothing like we made it.”
endured - to face and withstand with courage
- the vicious, hatred of his creation and people
John says,
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
They hated him enough to crucify him
Scorned it’s shame
For Rome, the kingdom of that day, the cross was a great means of punishment and the squelching of crime
It was part of it’s power
For the Jewish leaders, it was the ultimate means of bringing shame on Jesus, who walked with true honor and righteousness; often exposing these leaders hearts and by so bringing shame on them
Their sinful hearts of pride and hatred wanted nothing more that to squash their creator
He scorned it, despised it, looked down on it and then conquered it
Sat down at the right hand of the throne of God
The true king
III. The Security
III. The Security
Consider him - fix your eyes on him
who endured such opposition
Illustration - It was a cold January in 1994. I had just been transferred to the Coke Plant facility at U.S. Steel for my new job assignment as a firebrick mason. I was nervous because the extreme temperatures surrounding the Coke Batteries that I would be working on and in. I joined the crew: There was Irv - 58 yrs old with the beginning signs if Alzheimers, There was Frank, 45 years old, and KY, nicknamed after his home state of Kentucky. He was just over sixty. And then there was me. I was the young buck. I was partnered with KY and assigned to go up on top of the Coke Battery and change a standpipe base. We approached the Battery and I saw the glowing orange brick and the heat waves pouring out into the morning sun. The workers near the battery were wearing protective heat gear and special respirator masks. Not KY. We made our way up the stairs to the top of the batter. The heat was so intensive. I was offered wooden sandals to go outside the heels of my special boots to help sheild my feet from the heat. KY didn't take them so neither did I. The top of the battery was a dangerous place. A large machine carried the raw coal from one end of the battery to the various ovens and dumped it in to be processed by heat for several hours. It spanned the entire width of the battery except a few feet on either side. I had been warned of the danger of fatality and sever injury that could result in being in the wrong place. KY began walking out onto the top of the battery. I didn't want to go. It was too hot, too dangerous, and I didn't have a clue as to what I was supposed to do. KY noticed that and turned around and said "just follow me kid, I've done this a hundred times. Just walk where I walk, do what I do, and you'll be okay - oh, and tell me if you get too hot, I'll walk you back off the battery. I learned to trust KY not because of his age, or his skill, or his education. I trusted KY because he had already walked where I needed to walk. He knew the dangers, he knew how to take the heat and survive. I want to talk to you today about walking where others have walked. (A Cloud of Witnesses -- Richard O. Rich)
rejection, shaming, attack, false accusations etc.
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart
How many of us find ourselves disheartened this morning?
“It's like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”
“It's like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”
― Samwise Gamgee
The good in this world is Jesus and is to be shown by the church
That is why...
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
conclusion