God’s plan to advance His Kingdom

I wonder, if you were asked, why the church, what would you say? Family? Belonging? All good? Would have used words like impact, mission, influence? We started last week reflecting on the church as the object of God’s affection. Jesus loves His church. God has a plan and design for His church that we are looking at.

Matthew 5:13–16 CSB

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

There is context to these words.

i. The message of Jesus

Matthew 4:23 CSB

Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

ii. The message of the Kingdom which is good news.

iii. The presence of the King is demonstrated.

Jesus shows off His power and authority by healing sickness and disease. After we are told that, we find Jesus preaching the sermon on the mount. This could be referred to as God’s Kingdom Constitution.

The Kingdom of God is a major theme in the Gospel teaching. It speaks of the King and the His rule and reign and the sphere in which that is experienced. So when you come to the Sermon on the mount, we learn what life as God’s Kingdom people looks like.

ii. The message of the Gospels and the NT

When we are born again we are rescued from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light Colossians 1:13. We are rescued into a kingdom. We become God’s Kingdom people in God’s Kingdom community. The New Testament ends with pointing us to the return of the King when all things are subject to His rule.

Important to realise:

To be a Christian is to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom

To be a Christian is to be God’s people under God’s rule.

The Kingdom is not the church and the church is not the kingdom. The Kingdom speaks more of the rule and reign of God and the church the people of God under the rule of God. The church is important because it is the chosen vehicle by which God has chosen to advance His kingdom.

The kingdom advances is one heart at a time. That involves hearts seeing hearts broken and mended. Seeing people learning the culture of a new King.

iii. We have been given a mandate from the King.

Matthew 24:14 CSB

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The Church is God’s plan to advance His Kingdom!

1. What we are

It’s that we be salt and light. You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. Let’s pause here and reflect on this.

1.1. Salt of the earth

What is that meant to look like?

1.1.1. Preserves

In the old days they never had fridges for their meet. If you were out fishing in 35 degree weather, you would want to get your fish to market without it going off. What they would do is pack it between salt and that would preserve it. Salt prevents decay.

Christians are actually a preserving factor in this world. Their presence is what keeps this world from spiralling into utter decay. In actual fact, Christian are a blessing to the world.

1.1.2. Enhances flavours

But to be effective in this it’s got to get out of the salt shaker and when it comes out we want it to influence all the food. This surely suggests that we need Christians in all areas of society spicing up this world and spreading the aroma of Christ.

1.1.3. Creates thirst

Whatever purpose you latch on to, the point is that it’s got to be applied i.e. it’s got to get our of the salt-shaker. God intention is that we penetrate the world.

John Stott writes, “Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it from going bad.”

A danger is highlighted - the salt losing its saltiness.

Reality is that salt can’t, so what is happening here?

We we lose our saltiness when we don’t have the influence that’s we are meant to have.

We lost our saltiness when we are mixed with what we shouldn’t and so become useless

1.2. Light Of the world

1.2.1. Reveals a place of refuge - hope and safety.

Keep the idea of first century where light would reveal, to a traveller, a place where people are.

1.2.2. Exposes what is in the darkness

Sometimes the result of this can be met positively but sometimes it can be met negatively. Don’t be surprised either way.

What we are seeing is that we are...

2. Designed for Influence

The idea behind salt and light is influence. Influence in the right direction. When we embrace who we are, we become what we are meant to be.

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

2.1. Ambassadors

We are God’s ambassadors in this world. We don’t operate on our own agenda, we represent the King. That means that way we carry ourselves in this world speak volumes about the God represent!

That call that we carry is to reconciliation with God (2 Cor 5:20).

2.2. A prophetic voice

2.2.1. Rooted in the Gospel

We can only be the right prophetic voice when we have come to know the hope of eternal life ourselves.

The heart of the Gospel is that the King came to deliver His people by Himself dying in their place so that all who believe in Him have eternal life. And that life is abundant.

The Gospel changes how we see this world, it’s people and the brokenness around us. Because of the Gospel, we become a voice of hope.

2.2.2. A voice of hope

This world looks for hope and we hold out hope. The Gospel has gripped our hearts that we still live with joy and with a deep confidence that God is on His throne. We believe that God can bring healing to the brokenness of this world as people submit to the King.

2.2.3. We seek God’s peace

Not the world’s peace John 14:27.

To bring God’s Shalom to this world God’s shalom is a return to wholeness. We could speak of it as flourishing, wholeness and delight. It’s a reordering back to it’s original design.

A prophetic voice must have a prophetic vision to see what God's shalom would look like in our broken world. We geet to bring God’s shalom into the poverty of this world, the injustice that we see around us. In fact we should feel it because God has given us new eyes to see. We see people as image bearers that need that image of God restored and that is only through the God who restores the brokenness.

The church is needed in these days when it feels the levels of brokenness are so high. Poverty, selfishness, crime, fear. These are days of opportunity and hope.

Radical hospitality

Radical hope

Radical peace - let the peace of God guard you hearts!

This means that we become...

2.3. A radically alternative society

Historically, this alternative society has been expressed in a few ways.

I. Monastic model

We don’t come out of the saltshaker and we make it hard for people to see our light. We don’t want to be influenced and we don’t influence.

II. Social club model

We want people to think of us as Christian nice guys. We won’t be a prophetic voice and we will bend to the biggest influence. We won’t be a prophetic voice and we will just adapt to the current trends.

III. Out of salt shaker model

The book of Acts gives us a glimpse of something of this radically alternative society.

We live like this because the Holy Spirit is in us and we have submitted our lives to the King and we have prayed, “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven...”

It s not just so we can worship God but that others will worship too. It ends in the worship of God not our praise.