Kingdom Oriented

Who thinks that values are important?

"Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose." — Edward de Bono (pioneer in creative thinking)

"Your values become your destiny." — Gandhi

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Jesus (Matthew 6:21, NIV)

What you value is important because they determine who you will be and how you will act in certain situations. Your values are your core principles that guide your decisions, actions, and beliefs.

Churches have values too. There are some like worship, scripture, prayer, and witness that all churches should have in common. But like people, they also have others values that God has impressed upon them and that sets them apart.

It’s important to routinely be reminded of who we are. Because our values are so essential to our identity and purpose, we started a new series called This Is Us. We’re going to spend a few weeks looking at what I see as our core values.

Obviously, we value other things beyond what I’ll share, but I believe these values are ones God has impressed upon us, and that I have observed as part of our identity and DNA. They are both who we are already and what we strive to become.

The value we’re looking at this morning is that we are Kingdom Oriented.

Pray...

The Conflict

A young Gen-Z evangelist named Bryce Crawford recently caused a kerfuffle on Allie Beth Stuckey’s Relatable podcast when he said “Jesus loves you” is not the gospel.

Agree or disagree? Obviously, Jesus does love you, but he’s correct in saying that isn’t the gospel.

He went on to say that the gospel is that humans are sinners deserving God’s wrath, but that Jesus paid for sin on the cross, so that by faith we can be saved and go to heaven when we die.

Is that the gospel? Agree or disagree?

Many of us have heard and responded to this gospel. We’ve been convicted of our sin - possibly developed a healthy fear of Hell - and we turned to Jesus for forgiveness. But what if that is not the gospel either? What if our modern tendency to read the Bible’s story as if it’s all about us, that it’s all centered on me and my eternity, has made us miss the gospel?

While I would want to nuance his definition of the gospel a little, I agree that the facts he presents are true. Jesus did die for our sin. We are certainly sinners in need of a Savior. Through Jesus’ atonement at the cross we are forgiven and gain eternal life.

But would it surprise you that Jesus never presents the gospel as a means of escaping God’s wrath or going to heaven? And if that isn’t the gospel, then have you and I placed our faith in something that can’t save us? Have we believed the wrong things?

Does anyone else beside me see this as a major problem?! Like, if we get this wrong, we’re toast!

The Complication

So if “Jesus died for your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die” is not the gospel, then what is it?

What does Jesus say the gospel is?

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”” (Mark 1:14–15, NIV)

A quick refresher: what’s another word for “good news” in this passage? Gospel! So Jesus came proclaiming the gospel.

But now we have a problem. How can the gospel just be “Jesus died for your sin so you can go to heave when you die”, because that hasn’t happened yet! So what gospel is Jesus proclaiming?

So read this again after I’ve swapped “good news” for “gospel”.

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the gospel!”” (Mark 1:14–15, NIV)

What is the gospel according to Jesus?

The gospel is that God’s kingdom has arrived - in Him!

I’m glad we straightened that up. But what does it actually mean? What did Jesus’ listeners understand, what did he mean, and what does it mean for us?

The Turning Point

To the Jews hearing Jesus, this would have sounded like the best news in the world. 900 years previously, their ancestors went into exile in Babylon. They were there for less than 100 years, but when they came back everything had changed. Their Temple was destroyed. And even after they rebuilt it, God’s Spirit did not fill it as in the previous Temple.

And while they were back in their own land, the land wasn’t really theirs. Except for a brief time during the Maccabean revolt, foreign powers had ruled over them. It was Rome at the time of Jesus.

And so for most Jews, it felt like their exile had never really ended. That God was still angry with them for their unfaithfulness. And so the announcement that Gods’ kingdom had come meant that their exile was finally over. That God had forgiven them. That he was going to establish them as a sovereign nation once again and drive out the foreign armies. They would again have their own king ruling from Jerusalem, and prosperity and peace would finally be restored.

That’s what they heard in Jesus’ announcement. It’s why some were so keen to force him to become king. Clearly he was God’s man to lead their nation. It’s also why some bitterly turned on him when they realized he was not going to lead an armed revolt.

But Jesus had something different in mind when he proclaimed the inbreaking of God’s kingdom.

The Resolution

The Greek word translated “kingdom” is basileia. Jesus would have likely used the Aramaic word malku, but both mean the same thing. They are not primarily about a physical locality, like the Kingdom of Great Britain, but about “authority”. The act of reigning. In proclaiming that the kingdom of God had come, Jesus was saying that God’s own royal authority and power had come onto the scene.

Jesus’ entire ministry was centered on the message of God’s kingdom. Jesus uses this phrase 85 times in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew summarized his ministry by saying,

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” (Matthew 4:23, NIV)

If we miss this, we miss Jesus’ own priority, and we miss the fullness of his gospel message. The late NT Scholar, Gordon Fee, once said in a lecture on Jesus: “You cannot know anything about Jesus, anything, if you miss the kingdom of God . . . . You are zero on Jesus if you don’t understand this term. I’m sorry to say it that strongly, but this is the great failure of evangelical Christianity. We have had Jesus without the kingdom of God, and therefore have literally done Jesus in.”

Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God. But if all he did was offer words it would have fallen on deaf ears. But Matthew said that he also demonstrated the kingdom by healing every disease and sickness. Mark pairs the proclamation of the kingdom with casting out demons.

What does it look like when the kingdom comes? Jesus said it would look like the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus stood up in the local synagogue and read this:

““The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”” (Luke 4:18–21, NIV)

What does it look like when the kingdom comes? It looks like everything Jesus said and did. It means both in the spiritual realm and physical realm:

Restoring of sight

Deliverance of those under spiritual and emotional bondage

Hope and provision for the poor - in reality and in spirit

Physical and emotional healing

Justice for the oppressed, welcome for the marginalized, good news for widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor.

Another way of saying it is that the coming of the kingdom means that everything that is wrong is being made right again in Jesus the King.

What is the gospel? Its the good news that God’s rule and reign - his kingdom - has broken into history in Jesus, and that everything that is broken is being made right again. This is lot bigger than just going to heaven when you die - although that’s true too.

The Celebration

What does this mean for us? It means...

We don’t have good news; we are good news.

Jesus said it this way...

““I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We must not spiritualize what Jesus says. The “greater works” is not simply leading people to Jesus - although that’s a great work. They are not works that are greater in power than his works. Raising someone from the dead is hard to top.

He means our works will be greater in quantity. That his followers would do the same kinds of things he did, but more of them. All of it proclaiming AND demonstrating the gospel message that the kingdom of God has broken into our reality in Jesus the King.

So when we say that part of our core value is to be Kingdom Oriented, we mean that we are committed to following Jesus in bringing God’s rule and reign to earth - both in proclamation and demonstration. It means that we will exercise the authority given to us to bring mercy, justice, and healing to as many places as we can. It means that we expect Jesus’ prayer to come true in us: “May your kingdom come, may your will be done in Fort Smith as it is in heaven”.

But let’s make it more personal.

I don’t have good news; I am good news. Say it with me...

Jesus said the church - us - would be the salt of the earth, a shining city on a hill. When the world looks at us it should see a glimpse of what it will be like when the kingdom has come in its fullness. In the church the lost are found, the divided are reconciled, the orphan has a family, the struggling find grace and hope.

This is the gospel. The king has come. His kingdom is here in part as we wait for it to come in fullness. It is “already and not yet”. And we are invited to work alongside Jesus as he remakes the world. I challenge you to find anything more worthwhile to give your life to.

If you’re listening today and think this sounds like a pretty good deal, Jesus says come. While it’s not all that the gospel is, it is still true that Jesus won a great victory at the cross over satan, sin, and death. Because of his victory we can be forgiven and welcomed into God’s family. You can become a citizen of God’s kingdom. If you’ve never accepted his offer of forgiveness and new life, why not right now? As part of his mission, Jesus has taken away your sin and shame so that you can walk in freedom from guilt and condemnation. Would you surrender your life to him and his kingdom today?

Heavenly Father, I know I have done wrong and that I deserve to suffer the consequences. But I believe Jesus died to take my place, and that he suffered death for me so that I won’t have to. I am making the decision right now to surrender myself to you and make Jesus my Lord. Please forgive my sin and make me your child forever. Amen.

Let me know if you’ve made this decision...

And if you’ve already made the decision to follow Jesus at some point in the past, then this morning is the invitation to reconsider the gospel you’ve believed in. Of course your commitment of faith in the crucified and risen Lord has saved you. Heaven is your destiny. Never doubt that!

But Jesus has so much more for you than hanging out until he returns or you die. Jesus is at work right now bringing his kingdom to earth - and you have a part to play in it. You are filled with his Spirit, equipped to do the “greater works” that he promised.

So the question this morning is, Are you oriented to the Kingdom? Where is the Spirit calling you to enter into the ministry of the Kingdom?

You don’t have good news; you are good news.

We are committed to being a church that is Kingdom Oriented. We are an outpost of God’s kingdom where his rule and reign is lived out in practical ways: loving our neighbors, caring for the poor, pursuing justice, and seeking reconciliation between God and others.

The kingdom of God has come near. This was the best news possible to the Jews of Jesus’ day. It’s the best news possible for people today.

Communion

Invite people to stand.

Invite Communion/ministry team forward.

Every Sunday we close our time by receiving Communion together. This symbolic meal reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice. In it we testify that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. Jesus said it is his body and blood, true food and true drink. It is a grace given to us for our spiritual nourishment.

We think Jesus invites everyone to this table. If it’s your first time, or you’re not even sure yet where you stand with Jesus, we think he would welcome you here. If you would like to participate, after I pray step into the nearest aisle. Someone at the front will take a piece of bread dipped in wine and offer it to you as the body and blood of Jesus. If you prefer not to have wine, close your hands together and that will be the sign for them to give you a sealed container with grape juice and a wafer.

What is the Spirit doing this morning?…

Let’s rejoice together with all God’s people in his promise to welcome those who seek refuge in him:

“All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your faithful shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power,” (Psalm 145:10–11, NRSV)

Thank him that through the blood of his cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.

Invite the worship team to receive Communion first.