Kingdom Minded: Foundation of the Kingdom

Intro

Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us in person and online. Please turn in your bibles to Matthew 6:33 and also out a book mark in 13:31.

We look at the kingdom of God now and it is easy see how vast it is. It spans from israel out to Asyria, africa, rome, egypt, eastern europe, india, china, The americas. And all the smaller places we’ve never takled about. What we’re going to look at today is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of God and what that means for us in our specific context as we’re telling this story leading up to our anniversary.

Doctrine

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 13:31–33 ESV

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Let’s take a look at the doctrine, or teaching if that word gives you the ick, of the Kingdom of God. Interesting Thought to start and challenge us a bit.

Some have entirely identified the kingdom with the church, but although the church is certainly included in and representative of the kingdom, most theologians would say that the kingdom is a broader concept in its full and final sense.

Gerald Bray, “The Kingdom of God,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

I was surprised, and not surprised at the same time, that there was an actual theological subject of the kingdom of God. Honestly it shouldn’t be surprising since Jesus spent so much time not just speaking of the Kingdom but establishing the kingdom. But none the less I was still like, “oh snap, it’s a thing.” Say no mas.

At an airplane’s view the doctrine describes the rule of God over his creation as king, including how the rule is exerted and structured and what its ultimate purpose is. as per the lexham survey of theology.

How kingdoms typically work is that where the king takes up residence is where the kingdom usually is. Cool thing about God is that he is omnipresent, or present everywhere. So all of creation is God’s kingdom. This is the most basic zoomed out portion of this.

Now let’s zoom in. The other portion of God’s kingdom is more specifically that which Jesus established. Does anyone remember what John the Baptist what speaking in the wilderness? Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, Matthew 3:2. He also says Make straight the way of the lord in John 1:23. He is calling to mind the ancient near eastern practice of fixing roads, filling in valleys and flattening hill for when a king would come to visit a town. John the baptist was calling israel to prepare themselves for the heavenly kingdom and more specifically the messianic kingdom.

The messianic kingdom reign of the Messiah encompasses both the present reality of God's rule through Christ and the future fulfillment of that rule in its fullness.

The Gospels present Jesus as the promised Messiah who fulfills Old Testament prophecies. He is the King who ushers in God's Kingdom. Jesus' teachings, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, outline the values and ethics of the Kingdom, emphasizing righteousness, mercy, and love.

Jesus often taught about the Kingdom of God through parables.

So what do we get about the kingdom from our parable today?

Growth

One the things to notice first is that the seed is small. The parable illustrates the growth of the Kingdom of God from small beginnings to something much larger and more significant. The mustard seed, though tiny, grows into a large plant, symbolizing how the Kingdom of Heaven starts from humble origins (such as Jesus' ministry and the early church) but eventually expands and becomes a powerful force in the world.

The birds nesting in the branches seem to represent the nations or people finding shelter and refuge within the Kingdom of God. Trusting in God and by extension his people.

Liekwise, I don’t know if any of you remember when I was going through my Panaderia Flores phase during my parental leave. But leavening, or yeast is a big portion of making things work. The crazy part about it is that a little goes a long way. I’m talking like really a little compared to the amount of flour and water used.

example…

This goes to show how a little bit of the right things go a long way. Think about the apostles. 13 people were used to set the world on fire. Use the apostle list here

Our Job

This is where another aspect of the kingdom comes in. Going back to one of the first quotes. The church is not the kingdom, though it is part of it.

So what role does it play? That is a great question, thank you for asking.

I believe that historically we can see that church is Multifaceted. but there two main functions that I believe everything else stems from. The church is a missionary organization bringing the good news to everyone whether they ask for it or not. Making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is where we say bible studies full of truth, doctrine and theology play out and be a transforming portion of the believer’s life. We also see disciplelship in the gathering of God’s people on a specific day to worship together in song, scriptre and prayyer. Sundays are not just to hang, but be discipled together.

Look around you, this is discipleship. This is how leavening works. It works in and spreads all throughout. Yeast doesn’t become the flour but a component of the overall final picture, the loaf. It converts everything it touches and ferments. We are that leavening in the world, not of it, change it it for the final day when the Kingdom is culminated in the return of Jesus!

Another funciton of the church is to be a shelter for those in need. Just as the birds found shelter in the mustard bush, so to must we find shelter and be a shelter in our communities.

I want us to think about horeb specifically now. Our church started, like nohan said last week, with cuban imigrants gathering to study God’s word, spreading it and providing a home and shelter for other latino immigrant families to hear the gospel, get to know God and have some where to be safe and worship together. Torrance First Baptist Church was a shelter for Horeb, and now look. Horeb is a being a shelter to us an English speaking, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and beyond generations portion of this community. Giving us a space to have an identity with everyone in this church. The english ministry is now coming up to 10 years of official existence, though there was always a portion, but officially 10years starting with the shelter. Not to mention the amazing work that our missions and evangelism teams do to further the Gospel in this world.

This is the Call and foundation for us. The kingdom was established by the coming of Christ. His life, death and resurrection cemented our security in it. We were enemies of this magnificent kingdom and we have been brought in through the missionary work of those that came before us. Our eternity rests in christ and our work is to bring that goodnews of salvation, of an eternal kingdom to all who don’t know about it. We can’t force the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:6 ESV

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

God gives the growth ultimately. We are just the instruments in bringing the seed of truth to everyone. We are to be the safe space for those around us, inside and outside of the church. We are to be in every space of life the light and ever expanding leavening. We Proclaim christ is king.

John Calvin said it is the task of the church to make the invisible kingdom visible. We do that by living in such a way that we bear witness to the reality of the kingship of Christ in our jobs, our families, our schools, and even our checkbooks, because God in Christ is King over every one of these spheres of life. The only way the kingdom of God is going to be manifest in this world before Christ comes is if we manifest it by the way we live as citizens of heaven and subjects of the King. -RC Sproul

Until The king returns for his kingdom, for his people, we proclaim his truth, THE TRUTH through all the ages!

Come, friends sing, of the faith that’s so dear to me, Revealed thro’ God’s Son, in Galilee; He brought peace on earth and good will to the sons of men, Go tell it to the world, her King reigns again.

I am so happy in Jesus, Captivity’s Captor is He; Angels rejoice when a soul’s saved, Some day we like Him shall be, Sorrow and joy have the same Lord, Valley of shadows shall sing; Death has its life, its door opens in heaven eternally, Christ is King.