The Kingdom of God

Introduction

Opening Illustration - Daniel 2: In the second chapter of Daniel, the prophet interprets a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar. In his dream, the King had seen a giant statue with four parts, each representing four kingdoms that would come upon the Earth in his future. The four kingdoms represented in the dream were first, the Baylonian Empire (605-539BC). Second, the Medio-Persian empire (539-333BC). Third, the Greek empire (333-129BC), Fourth, the Roman empire (146BC-476AD). We are told in the second chapter of Daniel that in the midst of the fourth empire’s rule

Daniel 2:34–35 “As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

This stone, struck by no human hands, represents the Messianic Kingdom. According to the prophet Daniel, writing approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ, he foretold that this Kingdom would be launched during the midst of the Roman empire. And he said that it would be a different kind of kingdom entirely than the previous kingdoms. This kingdom would be of God. And while other great kingdoms have come and gone in world history, this kingdom would increasingly grow until it filled the whole Earth.

Context: Today’s text comes in two sections. First, Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath. Then immediately afterwards he explains something about that healing by providing a parable about the Kingdom of God. And it is in that parable where we unlock the purpose of this text, which is to teach us something about the Kingdom of God. When Jesus began his ministry, according to Mark he preached these words,

Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

You and I are alive in the time of fulfilment. What the prophets in the Old Testament looked forward to, the age where the Christ would have accomplished his work and established his Kingdom of love in this world, is now. What we are going to do today is to look at Jesus teaching and consider four aspects of the Kingdom of God. And with each aspect we want to look experientially at our own life and ask the hard question, of whether or not we are truly living in light of this reality.

Meaning & Application

Luke 13:10–17 “Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the g…”

I THE POWER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

First, let us consider the power of the Kingdom of God. Every Kingdom has its measure of power. In today’s standards, we typically measure power with any number of measurements. We consider a kingdom’s military size, their cultural influence, their wealth. While all of these may be significant when measuring the sum-total power of an earthly Kingdom, they do not suffice for a heavenly Kingdom. The power of the Kingdom of God is of another kind entirely.

The Backstory: In the story we just read, we are told of a woman who had a “disabling spirit” that had kept her hunched over for nearly two decades. This woman, though she likely did not know the cause of her ailment, was enslaved. Powers beyond her control had enslaved her, held her in bondage against her will. Her life, in that day especially, would have been nearly impossible. She was a slave, but didn’t even know she was a slave to a “disabling spirit.”

One Word: Jesus sees this sweet woman in the distance on a Sabbath day. Notice how he sees her through the crowd on this busy day. Christ notices the one, and he calls her over to him and speaks just a few simple words, “You are freed.” And immediately the cause of her ailment is removed and she stands up tall. Jesus has full authority over that binding agent. Eighteen years of bondage ended in a moment, by Christ.

What Did She Experience: I’m not sure we can imagine the feeling this woman must have experienced to be freed. All her life she likely had seen doctors and perhaps even exorcists to get healed. But to no avail. But here, Jesus, with one word, does the impossible. To have her life back. To have the pain removed. To be able to stand up and walk and move about. The only thing we know about her response to this miracle is this, “And she glorifed God.”

Our Condition: Church, in order for us to understand the power of the Kingdom of God, we must understand that she is a physical image for each of us our spiritual condition before God.

We Were In Bondage: We were in bondage. And most of us did not know it. Before any of us came to faith in Jesus Christ, we are told that we were “enslaved to sin” (Rom 6:20), held in bondage in a “kingdom of darkness” (Col 1:13), and “alienated from God” (Col 1:22). You might say that we were spiritually “hunched over” unable to look up to God by our own strength. Our greatest religious deeds and kindest moments, were but filthy rags before a Holy God, for they were stained with sinful motives, attitudes, and hearts towards God. We were not just in need of spiritual guidance, we were in need of spiritual deliverance.

Christ Called Us: But the story of the Christian is that Christ saw you in your helpless state, and called you over in order to heal you, to bless you, to pour favor upon you. Like this woman, had Christ never called us, each of us would still be in bondage to sin, in bondage to an enemy greater than us.

Christ Freed Us: And here is the true power of the Kingdom of God. Christ not only called us but he freed us from the tyranny of sin’s enslaving power. Every other kingdom that has ever come and gone in this world has had some measure of power. But none could free you from sin. None could take a heart of stone, and make it a heart of flesh. None could make you right with God. None could cause you to be born again. No, that belongs to the power of the King exerting his strength through His Kingdom.

Illustration (Are you praying): When I moved to Thailand as a missionary, I remember after about two months sitting down with my team lead quite frustrated. I said, “I came here with such high expectations to see the power of God on display. I thought we would be living in the book of Acts with miracles happening everywhere. And our work just feels so normal.” And he, being a wiser senior leader over me said two things that stuck out to me. First, he said “Don’t forget that the book of Acts is a highlight reel of the early church. It records the miraculous moments that occurred, but it doesn’t record the countless days of normal life being lived out, because that would be a very long book.” Second, the question was asked, “Are you praying for the spirit to move in power around you?” That was a very convicting question.

Put It on Them: And as we consider the power of God in his kingdom, it is the question I want to ask you. Does your prayer life reveal a soul that really believes in the power at work in the Kingdom of God? I think if you believe this it will show itself in two ways in your prayer life.

First, there will be a sense of increasing humility before God as you recognize your spiritual humility before his throne, and the sheer grace of God to move towards you when you couldn’t move towards him.

Second, there will be a fervent hungry pleading for those in your life who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior, knowing that the ability to make that person a Christian lies entirely in the Lord’s hands

II THE ETHIC OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The second aspect of the Kingdom of God we should see in this passage is the Ethic of the Kingdom of God. The chief ethic of the Kingdom of God is love.

Text: This healing of Jesus poses a problem for the religious leaders of Christ’s day. He had healed on the Sabbath Day. There was no law in God’s Word that prohibited healing on a Sabbath Day. But the religious leaders, namely the Pharisees, had created a whole host of activities that were either permitted or forbidden on the Sabbath Day. While it can be a good and God-honoring activity to really consider what activities ought we do on the Sabbath day, these leaders had turned these lists into laws that were robbing people of life, the very thing the Sabbath was created to protect against. Jesus has harsh words for these religous leaders

Luke 13:15–16 “Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?””

The Pharisees Little Kingdom: I love the very next phrase, “All his adversaries were put to shame.” These Pharisees are interesting lot. If anyone should have known that the chief ethic of the Kingdom of God was love, it was these Pharisees. They would have had verses like Deuteronomy 6:5 memorized as young boys

Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

But how did they get off track. These religious leaders did not set out to build a kingdom on an ethic other than love. But they did. The reason they got off track was because their kingdom that they were building had become about them, and not about God. That’s why Jesus calls them “hypocrites.” They were actors, using God and using their titles in religion to build their own little kingdoms. But look at this woman, what is the first thing she does after Christ heals her? She “glorifies God.” Where the Pharisees went, the Pharisees were made to look great. Where Jesus went, God was made to look great!

Today’s Modern Pharisees: Now, a word is needed here for clarity. This word “love” has been hijacked by secular culture. The secular world around us offers a version of love that is shadowy and cheap. It is based on emotions and feelings and subjectivity, and put simply it is not love. But rather than expose all the ways that secularism has made love into a joke, I want us to look in house, at the Church.

What ethic is driving our church? Is it a Christ-like sacrificial love for the least of these?

What ethic is driving our marriages? Is it a Christ-like sacrificial overwhelming love for our spouse, because what Christ has done for us?

Christ’s Kingdom has been established. It is going forward in power, and there you stand on the leading edge of the kingdom pushing it forward into enemy territory.

Illustration - David Brainerd: I have been reading a classic Christian work titled the Life and Diary of David Brainerd. David was an American missionary to the Native Americans back before the Revolutionary War. I am constantly struck by this man’s entries, of his humility, and his great love of God and of people. On October 24, 1744 he recorded this entry.

“Near noon, rode to my people; spent some time and prayed with them. I felt the frame of a pilgrim on earth and longed much to leave this gloomy mansion, but yet found the exercise of patience and resignation. As I returned home from the Indians, spent the whole time in lifting up my heart to God. In the evening, enjoyed a blessed season alone in prayer and was enabled to cry to God with a childlike spirit, for the space of near an hour. I enjoyed a sweet freedom in supplicating for myself, for dear friends, ministers, and some who are preparing for that work, and for the Church of God; longed to be as lively myself in God’s service as the angels.”

Self-Love / Sacrificial Love: Can you hear the love of God and love of people oozing out of this journal entry. Love like this is developed when you really know Christ, when you really understand and rejoice in Christ. At the cross love is poured down on us. At the cross, Christ demonstrates the fulness of love by dying for us, in our place. At the cross, we all learn what self-sacrificial love really means. At the cross, to fix our eyes as Christians, because the man on that cross is the King himself, and he loves you!

III THE ENEMIES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The third aspect I want to consider from this text is the enemies of the Kingdom fo God. Every Kingdom has its enemies, and the Kingdom of God is no exception.

Three enemies: In this text there are three specific enemies to God’s Kingdom listed.

Satan: The first enemy, and perhaps the chief enemy, is spoken of in verse 16, where Jesus tells us that “Satan had bound her for eighteen years.” This is not the first time we have encountered the Devil in the Gospel of Luke. Earlier, we remember that Jesus was driven into the wilderness where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. The Devil is a very powerful, high ranking, fallen spirit, whose chief ambition is to draw people and spirits away from God. He is able to use physical infirmities like ‘causing a woman to be hunched over’ to accomplish this purpose. He is cunning, and he is ruthless.

Wicked spirits: The second enemy of God we encounter in this passage is wicked spirits. In verse 10 we are told that the woman had a “disabling spirit.” While there is much we do not know about the the ways of the Satanic Kingdom, this we do know. There are a variety of kinds of spirits that can be sent to attack and to harm those whom Satan opposes. Here we have a specific kind of spirit that disables. In Acts 16 we read of a “spirit of divination” that allowed a young girl to tell fortunes. In the New Testament we read of other spirits that cause people to have seizures, cause people to behave insane, and much more. These spirits are lesser spirits, but working in parallel to the Devil. They oppose the Kingdom of God. Wherever you see the Kingdom of God moving with speed and power, you can be sure these spirits will do their best to harm and hinder the progression.

Anti-Christ Religion: The third enemy of the kingdom of God in this passage are the hypocritical pharisees who represent an anti-Christ religion. They believe they are doing the work of God, but because they stand against Christ, they are not of God, and are in league with the Devil.

1 John 2:23 “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Just as the Pharisees masqueraded as teachers of the God of the Bible, much of modern day Anti-Christ religion comes in the form of Churches. Churches who have abandoned the clear doctrinal teaching of God’s word and have embraced a secular, weak, pathetic vision of God that is not based in fear of God but is based in the fear of man.

Still a Reality: All three of these enemies are alive and well today. Behind many of the day to day problems and challenges that we face as families and as a Church, are spiritual realities, demonic forces that are working to hinder the Kingdom of God. If you sense a lack of a desire for God, this may be spiritual forces hindering you. If your marriage has division and difficulty, it may be spiritual warfare.

Illustration - Fortune Telling: Again, when I lived in Thailand I ended up seeing quite viscerally the reality of the Spiritual world around us that is often hidden from us in the West. One day during our Sunday morning Bible Study after Church, a friend of mine shared with the group that she had recently become a Christian and went to visit the old fortune teller that she used to visit. For nobody had told her that visiting fortune tellers is not something Christians should still do. When the woman sat down to read her palm, she suddenly looked up and said, “Have you become a Christian.” My friend said “Yes.” And the fortune teller said, “I’m unable to read your fortune any longer. Your God will not permit it.”

Don’t get any ideas about going to some local fortune teller and testing this out. The point of telling you that story is to remind you that the spiritual world around us is real and actively opposing the Lord’s Kingdom.

The Biggee (spirit of the age): But I’m concerned when all three of these enemies come together. And I see that happening. There is an anti-Christ spirit at work around us. I find that very often those who claim to be speaking for Christ, who claim what Christ would have done or said in any situation, are not rooted in his word, are not rooted in rich confessional theology, but are rooted in the spirit of the age. There is a trap out there to tame Jesus, to make him more palatable to our age of hyper-sensitivity to each other’s feelings. There is a trap of moral relativism, to take our gaze off of the fixed unchanging word of God, and to place our gaze very other ideology floating around in today’s marketplace of ideas. Make no mistake, this is a work of the enemy.

Wrap It Up: If you are a Christian, then you need to know that you have enemies that intend to harm you, and to do all they can to slow down your effectiveness in the Kingdom. They want to dull you to God. They want to harm your marriage. They want Churches that comfort people into Hell. But what does a faithful citizen of a Kingdom to when confronted with enemies of that kingdom. They withstand.

IV THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The fourth and final aspect I want to consider is the growth of the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells a parable to further expand on the previous teaching.

Luke 13:18–21 “He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.””

Mustard Seed & Leaven: Jesus uses two images to describe the Kingdom of God. The first is a mustard seed. He says it is just a tiny little seed, but when it is planted it grows over time to become a massive tree. And the second is of leaven. Only a small amount of leaven is used, but when it is kneaded into the dough it saturates the entire lump of dough.

Jesus is the Mustard Seed: The point of the parable is quite simple really. He is saying that the kingdom is starting small, but the expectation is that it will grow miraculously and extraordinarily, until it has impacted the entire globe. Jesus is the Mustard Seed. He is the leaven. Through his death and resurrection, the entire world was forever changed. His death and resurrection was like a great meteor colliding with the earth that sent shockwaves rippling around the planet. His death and resurrection not only forgives us our sin, but it is the declaration that death has been defeated, that Satan and all his enemies have been defeated, that the Kingdom has been fully established, and that nothing will hold it back!

World History: Now, consider these words from Jesus in light of the reality of world history. This little movement called Christianity, that was originally called The Way, started in Jerusalem. After the death of the Deacon Stephen, its followers scattered across the region taking the message of the Gospel with them to surrounding areas. The Apostle Paul working with men like Barnabus, Titus, and Timothy worked to plant Churches across the entire Mediterranean, in Philippi, Collasae, Thesalonica, and Rome. From there, the Gospel spread throughout all of Europe and became the main religion of the known Western world for a thousand years, where missionaries were sent out to the areas of the East. After that the Gospel came across the Atlantic with the first pilgrims with men like William Bradford and William Brewster. The Gospel spread throughout North America. And then the Gospel spread throughout South America. Great missionary movements were then created to send hundreds of missionaries to unknown people groups around the world. The Gospel has now penetrated much of Africa. Despite being closed countries China has been the fasting growing Church in world history, and now the Middle East is expierencing a revival as men and women are coming out of the anti-Christ religion of Islam due to dreams and visions of Christ himself.

The Point: What Christ said would happen, has happened. The Gospel started small, and like a mustard seed it has grown to be the largest religion in the wold, with people from many nations around the globe taking rest in its branches.

Optimism: But there is another aspect of this Kingdom Expansion I want to consider, and it has to do with what I call Christian Optimism. Many of you know that I run a podcast titled The Christian Optimist, and its not because I’m a happy optimistic guy (though I am). That title comes from this idea. If we know, that Christ’s plans are for his kingdom to continue to expand, and we know the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the Lord’s will, then we ought to have a boldness and a zeal about our work with the assumption built that the work of the Kingdom will succeed. There is a brand of Christianity out there today that believes that Christianity functionally loses down here on Earth. It believes that the future of Christianity is to hold on tight because it just gets worse and worse and worse until Christ returns. And that version of Christianity I believe is out of sync with this teaching of Christ. This does not mean that everything will be easy, that the Church will not hit roadbumps and persecutions along the way. Certainly the Scriptures are clear those things will occur, and history is clear those things have occurred. But the Kingdom is growing.

Therefore: Therefore be bold in your faith and in your action, knowing that the mustard seed is not yet fully grown. Be bold in your kingdom efforts, knowing that the leaven is not yet fully mixed in the dough, and you are being used to accomplish that very thing.

Conclusion

As I close, I want to read to you a statement. These words are said by every immigrant that arrives in America. It is called the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America. In order for an immigrant to this country to becom ea citizen they must declare these words.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Church, - you are citizens of an even greater kingdom. And your allegiance is no less. Renounce all that is from your former way, and cling to Christ!