The Kingdom of God
Notes
Transcript
Friends, if you’re able, would you stand as we start our new series by reading scripture
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Pray with me. Go ahead and have a seat.
I’ve had the joy and privilege to travel internationally many times. I’ve been to central America, Europe, the middle east, former communist countries - and other than the actual flights which make me a bit nervous, traveling is so invigorating to me. Especially when traveling out of North America, one can quickly realize just how different peoples are from one another. And how often in a given culture we operate under assumptions. Because we grow up in our culture, we don’t often realize all of out cultures isms, values, and oddities. We just assume these are normal - because for us they are. Traveling overseas makes you realize how much we assume and take for granted, miss underlying communications, and how easy it is to offend people!
I was just visiting with a fellow pastor who at one time visited Kyrgyzstan to connect with different C&MA Missionaries. The Missionaries took the group to some home visits to meet local people to learn the culture. And like a lot of cultures, when they came to one of the homes, it was supper time, and they were immediately invited to join for a meal. The Pastor, being a good traveler, looked to the missionary for guidance, was the family asking just out of habit, or was it a genuine invite, should they accept, etc. The missionary indicated that they should stay for supper, as it would have been perceived as rude to not accept such a gracious offer. Especially from a family who was quite poor.
So they came in and got ready to eat. As they sat down, the table was fixed, and in front of the pastor was placed a plate just pilled with food. And it was… quite a different flavor profile then he was used to. But he didn’t want to be rude and not eat - and so he set about eating all of the food. And it was a lot of food. But he finished it - he wanted to appear grateful. He finished it, stuffed, and before he could look up, his plate was filled again, just pilled with food.
He was sweating a bit now, from spice and a full belly, but he didn’t want to be rude, so while the conversation continued, so did his now forced eating. Relieved, he finished the second plate, now feeling sick to his stomach. And to his great horror, the family filled up his plate again.
Confused, and stuffed, he picked up his fork when he felt the missionary smack his leg under the table. He whispered to the pastor: “STOP EATING.” He was confused, but looked down at the missionaries plate, and who still had about half of the food still on his plate, And the local family too, only ate some of the food on their plate.
Later he learned from the missionary - that in this culture - it was rude to let a guest run out of food on their plate. So they would keep adding food every time you were near the end. It was customary to eat your fill, but leaving some on the plate was a sign of love to the host - for providing such nourishing food, you just couldn’t finish. But the pastor, growing up in the midwest, was taught and assumed that you got to eat everything on your plate to show love and respect! Conflicting values, culture, and assumptions.
Assumptions aren’t bad necessarily, though they can be quite misleading if we are not aware of them. Well traveling can help us become aware of them. And when you are aware of them, it makes traveling a joy, where you are able to better understand and enjoy the trip. If you go about your whole trip without confronting cultural values and assumptions, we are prone to miss out on so much joy, and key experiences.
But here’s the thing - when we read scripture, new testament or old testament, we are visiting another place and another time. A different culture. And we bring a whole set up assumptions into the text. AND the text assumes things of the reader! It is a very real sense, an intercultural experience! So we need to be careful, and observant of what the text not only says, but the undergirding values and assumptions of the writers of Scripture.
Today we start with our new series, our lenten series, on The Kingdom Of God. Which is a concept that is just often very neglected in modern times, but was paramount in Jesus’ teaching, like it PERMEATES all four gospels. Not just his teaching, In old Testament Jewish thought, Jesus teachings, and the whole new testament, The Kingdom of God is always present.
However this concept is so important, and the authors of the Bible are assuming we are picking up what they are putting down.
We’re gonna start with the first sermon Jesus preached. but context first. The Gospel of Mark is a quick and to the point book. It very quickly moves from scene to scene. And moves from the baptism of Jesus, to the temptation of Jesus, then the beginning of his ministry. Look at Mark 1:14
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God:
So this is the start of Jesus Ministry. John the Baptizer had his ministry of preparation and baptism for repentance. He baptized JEsus, and now he was arrested.
Then Jesus heads to Galilee, and it says that he is proclaiming - or you could say preaching.
And what is he preaching? The good news of God. Your version may have a different word here - gospel. Which is a great translation, because the greek word is Euangelion, Gospel, good news.
What was Jesus preaching? Jesus went to Galilee to PREACH the GOSPEL of God.
Okay pause. What is the gospel? In your mind, what comes to mind when you think of the gospel. Like, let’s say you have a friend who you’ve been sharing about faith with, you use the word gospel to them, and salvation, and they ask: “Oh, well what’s the gospel?” What would you say? Okay think about that, keep it in mind, now hear what Jesus says:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
This is the gospel that Jesus is preaching: The Time, kairos in greek, the season, the time has come, it’s complete, the Kingdom of God has come near.
And the response he prescribes? So repent and believe the gospel, or good news.
The good news is that the time is now, and the kingdom of God is near. So change your mind and your ways and believe that gospel.
Is that what you had in mind when you thought of the Gospel? maybe let’s get a bit uncomfortable here…. are we preaching a different Gospel of Jesus?
Why is it that when Jesus thinks of THE good news, he goes to the words Kingdom of God, and when we think of THE good news, we think of Christ dying for our sins? Do you feel that rub?
Let me say this - what most evangelicals think when we talk about the gospel is not wrong, breath deep. But I think it should make us uncomfortable that when we read over the Gospels, that’s Matthew Mark Luke and John, that is not the prevailing message from Christ when he talks about the Bible.
What is happening here, perhaps, as Scot McKnight has written about is the difference between the Gospel vs Soteriology.
Soteriology is a doctrinal and theological concept you could define like this:
Soteriology is the study of salvation and the doctrine of how individuals are saved and reconciled with God.
Let’s be clear - that’s good. That’s important, it is, in my view, the crux of the Gospel - but the concept of the Gospel is perhaps much MORE than just soteriology.
We have been conditioned to view just the doctrine of Salvation as the Gospel, which makes it so when we read Jesus preaching the Gospel and he talks about the kingdom, it can leave us confused, maybe a bit upset, and dissonant.
But the concept of the Kingdom of God is essential for a Biblical View of the Gospel or the Good NEws. And was one of the central concepts and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So let’s define the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God: The sovereign rule of God, foretold by the prophets of Israel, initiated by Christ’s earthly ministry, realized at the Ascension and Pentecost, and to be consummated when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ” (Rev 11:15).
Starting in the Old Testament, the concept of the kingdom of God is all throughout the prophets, for God is frequently spoken of as the King of Israel and of all the nations of the earth. In an eschatological sense, the prophets see a day when God shall become King and rule over the people.
From an Old Testament perspective - it is clear that while God is Lord over all the earth, he is in a unique and specific way king over the people of Israel. However as you read through the Old Testament, it is clear that the people time and time again rebel against their Divine Lord. And this led to wars and exile and suffering. So the Prophets continually look forward in hope that God will establish his perfect rule. And they seem to look forward to a time when the Lord will visit, establish in perfection the perfect rule and kingdom - which will also offer salvation for the gentiles as well as Isreal! Think of Zec 2:10-11
“Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you.
So the old testament looked forwards - and the Jewish people seemed to think really just in the coming King who would bring about the victory of israel and the end of time. They had no concept for God coming into history in the person of an ordinary man.
But Jesus came, preaching his first sermon that the Rule and Reign of Yaweh had begun in his own ministry, person, and ministry. God was acting.
And we see this all throughout his teachings, but also his actions. He forgives sins - which is wild. He also breaks down strong holds of satan and removes demons. Jesus has already given Satan a preliminary defeat - binding satan by curbing his power. The kingdom coming was demonstrated by the wind, the waves, the angels, the demons, the sickness, and the blind all coming under the authority and rule of Christ.
Jesus taught not just that the kingdom was some distant far off reality, but in a real sense, the Kingdom was a present reality - because the King, Jesus, was on the scene. Think of Luke 4:16-21
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”
And people didn’t get it. Even his own disciples were confused by him. They got it in parts, more and more, but it wasn’t until the death, resurrection, ascension, and pentecost that it really started to sink it.
Because then their soteriology, their salvation was realized, AND then The Spirit of God was given. The Church became the temple of God. God was dwelling again with man. And was given mandates
Love God, Love others, make disciples. But also they were able to take seriously the commands of Christ in the sermon of the mount and the gospels, standing with the poor, fighting injustice. Proclaiming the rule and reign of Christ over all things.
It’s important to remember - the Church is NOT the kingdom, but it is the custodian of the the kingdom. We can, because of the work of Christ, and the indwelling of the Spirit, enjoy eternal life here and now.
The Kingdom of God is here already - And will come in full consummation when Christ comes again.
This is the already and not yet of the Gospel. And Paul talks so much about this in his works. Revelation talks so much about this.
This is the work of the believer as we live in our age. I like how George Ladd has talked about the kingdom of God and how it plays out in the Church.
Divine order restored to a disordered world. This is the Kingdom of God. George E. Ladd
That is what we are after. That is what our Church is about. In Christ, by the Spirit, working with God to see divine order restored to a disordered world. And the key to that is the salvation that is offered to us in the atoning work of JEsus Christ on the Cross.
But there is a temptation to distill down the gospel to just that. That the Gospel is ONLY propitiation for our sins. But it’s so much more than that.
But we like to do this kind of thing - where we try to distill truths down to the irreducible minimum. Like what’s the bare minimum I need to believe to be saved, whats the bare minimum that is the gospel. That’s a temptation.
NT Wright talks about a time where John Stott, who was a priest and New Testament Theologian, was asked by some people, scholars and the like, “John, What is the irreducible minimum gospel.” But Stott dismissed such an idea and scoffed. “Who wants an irreducible minimum gospel? I want the full, biblical gospel.”
I love that. I want the full, Biblical gospel. The full biblical gospel is not just salvation by grace through faith - but the rule and reign and victory of King Jesus.
You see by reducing the gospel down to just the prayer for forgiveness of sins - we neglect our responsibility to submit to God in our lives here and now.
Often times we have hold and preach to a gospel and grace and salvation, that is not the complete picture of the NEw testament. And therefore, in the words of Dallas Willard:
“It is a view of grace and salvation that supposedly, gets one ready to die, but leaves them unprepared to live now in the grace and power of the resurrection life.” Dallas Willard
Have you ever felt that? That our faith is more about getting ready to die than learning how to live?
This turns into what Dallas Willard has called “Gospels of Sin Management.” Christ manages your sin, so that you can go to heaven. But doesn’t ever really affect your life. We can believe that Christ isn’t concerned with salvation beyond heaven, or that he cares about society. Dallas writes this in his work “Divine Conspiracy”
“‘Gospels of Sin Management’ presume a Christ with no serious work other than redeeming humankind. [They] foster ‘vampire Christians,’ who only want a little blood for their sins but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven, when they have to associate with him.” Dallas Willard
Notice again what Jesus said in his first sermon:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
It is good news. The gospel that the King is on the scene. Binding Satan. Defeating sickness. Ending the reign of sin. Bringing healing, hope, faith, and love and life.
So What?
So What?
So what assumptions are we bringing onto the text of Scripture? And by them, what are we missing?
We begin our study this season on the Kingdom of God. Why? Because we need to have our eyes open to the present Rule and Reign of Jesus Christ.
If we want to see the spiritual temperature of south eastern South Dakota increase, that means we need to see the rule and reign of Christ realized amongst us. It’s NOT just about applying the blood of Christ to our sins so we can go to heaven. It’s about us submitting to the rule and reign of Christ so that he has the authority to shape our WHOLE lives.
That’s why Jesus talks about being born again in John 3. It’s not about waiting to die for eternal life. IT’s through the Spirit coming to life in the kingdom of God TODAY. It means dying to sin TODAY so that Christ may live.
What if Jesus was correct? what if he’s not just telling you about a better way to die, but a better way to live. What if there is joy, healing, and salvation available today? What if there is power to fight the darkness available today? Wouldn’t that be good news?
Our world has so many gospels, so many truths that we live in. You do you, do whatever makes you happy. But an insidious one that I hear more and more is that people don’t change. And while I know what I think they’re trying to say, that unless someone wants change they wont - what often is communicated and owned is that change is impossible. If you are depressed, welcome to your life. If you are angry, welcome. If you are anxious, this is you now. And we can then start taking things and making them into identities. We start owning things about our flesh and even championing them.
And somehow even Christians have started to pick up on this. Where the “gospels” we preach have the power to save us from hell, but not to change our lived reality today.
But that doesn’t seem to be the message that Jesus is preaching, that the apostles proclaimed, and that the world desperately needs. What if Jesus was serious? What if he is the king, the ruler and has victory over sin, death, demons, and darkness? What if he has the power not just to save us from hell, but to radically transform our reality here and now?
Friends - HE DOES!
Christ offers salvation - new life. Hear the words of God!
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
What if Jesus was right? that the year of the Lords favor is today? Do you feel it? Do you know it? Are we living in the light of the Lords Favor?
THAT is what we are getting after for these weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. We are going to go through the teachings of Jesus on the Kingdom, so that we can learn the ways of the kingdom. So that our LIVES would be changed!
Because Life with God, life in the kingdom should be like the best thing. And it should affect every part of our lives, to the benefit.
I think one of the sad realities of how we sometimes think of salvation, these gospels of sin management, is it becomes just a set of mental beliefs. But sometimes our lives don’t look different or feel different. We don’t see God doing things that are miraculous, and at times we then think that he can’t or wont.
So we look back at the stories in the Gospels, and acts, and we can like get so jealous. Thinking that the disciples just had it so much better than we do, You ever felt that way?
Like I’ve considered the apostle Peter - that dude had like front row seats to the stuff. Saw the miracles of the feeding the thousands, walked on water, witnessed the transfiguration, saw the healings, saw the risen Christ. I mean of course he did cool things in Acts, right? I would to if I saw Christ in the flesh!
So I can mope, thinking But that was that age, that was for those people, but Jesus is in heaven right now - and we are just supposed to tell others until he comes again. Now look - that’s true - but it’s just part of the truth.
Because the FACT is that JEsus established a new way to be human. The Kingdom of God is here - and is coming. We are citizens of the Kingdom. We can live, and breath, and play, and move, in the reality of the reign of Christ.
Did you know that Jesus said it was better that he leaves? I know, What I would give for five minutes with Jesus in the flesh. But he said that this is better.
Look at John 14:12-14
“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Now that he’s gone - in faith we can also do the works that CHRIST does. Even GREATER ones.
We have a king ruling in HEAVEN RIGHT NOW! And he hasn’t left us alone. No!
John 16:7
Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.
We have God, the Spirit, the counselor AMONGST RIGHT NOW.
And therefore, we can in faith live in the reality of the Kingdom today.
So friends - that’s what we are going to be about for the next season leading up to Resurrection Sunday. What is the Kingdom, what does it look like to live in it?
We live in victory because our King is Alive, he is reigning, and he is here.
Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Sanctifyer, our Healer and our Coming King.
And he came not just to teach us how to die, but how to live. We get to live an eternal life in the here and now.
THAT is what we are about.
Does our faith reflect the reality of the Kingdom? Does it reflect the joy and power of the God of the universe living amongst us? Do we know his joy in our lives?
Look it’s good to look back at the miracles and stories of the Bible - I do. I even lament that I wasn’t there to experience them. The longer I’m a believer, the more and more I just want to see Christ. With my eyes. I just want to see him. I want to see the love of Christ. I want to sit with him at the table as he teaches and serves food.
But here’s the thing. Christ is still on the move. And We need to have our eyes open to the moving of the Spirit, to the victory of the Lion of Judah. Because Christ said we would do greater things. And I don’t want to miss it.
What if Christ is going to unleash revival amongst us again? What if there is a wave of miracles right around the corner? What if he wants to partner with you and me to seek and save the lost, and fight the powers of darkness, and to unleash the glory of the kingdom on our area?
I don’t want to miss it. We NEED to have our eyes open to the rule and reign of Christ, so that we can be ready to move when the king says its time - so that we can see his glory pour out in front of us.
Would we be people of the kingdom - with our eyes full of hope and expectation that our King is still on the move.
Let’s stand.
