The Kingdom of God is Near Part 2

The Kingdom of God is Near Part 2

Learning Kingdom Values

Second week of our four-week series, “Discovering the Kingdom of God.”

I’m excited about this series because the gospel of the “Kingdom of God” is the gospel Jesus

preached.

Last week, we discovered that simply going to heaven when we die is only a small part of the vast,

life-giving gospel of God’s Kingdom.

God is not only concerned with getting us into heaven; He’s also concerned with getting heaven into us, here and now.

That’s what the gospel of the Kingdom of God is all about.

Last week, we focused on two key verses from the Sermon on the Mount.

First, Jesus instructs us to pray, “Let your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in

heaven.” ().

Second, Jesus helps us set our priorities for everyday living when He says, “But seek first

his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew

6:33)

So this is God’s will for us––to desire and pray that His Kingdom would break into our lives daily,

and remind us that we should align our priorities with the values of His Kingdom.

This week, let’s discover our identity as citizens in God’s Kingdom: The privileges and responsibilities of being part of this wonderful kingdom.

Here’s a good place to start: Every born-again believer, every person who committed his or her life to Jesus, is a part of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus explains to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ()

He then repeats, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” ()

This passage has many things to teach us, but let’s make sure we get this straight right away:

No one attains, earns, or works for their place in God’s Kingdom––we are born into it.

And if we are born into God’s Kingdom that means we are His children. Makes sense, right?

The apostle John assures us this is so when he writes to God’s people, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” ()

This also underscores that God’s Kingdom is no earthly kingdom.

His Kingdom is not of this world, which means that when we are born into God’s Kingdom by grace, we must learn a new way to live––God’s Kingdom doesn’t operate in the ways that worldly kingdoms do.

Worldly kingdoms are based on things like political power, military might, wealth, beauty,

intelligence, and all the things we see valued by the world around us.

But the values of God’s Kingdom are radically different.

These values include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

Does that list sound familiar? It should.

These are the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in .

Jesus taught His disciples that things like “greatness” and “leadership” in His Kingdom flowed from humility and service—which are definitely not part of the value systems in worldly structures.

Think about where we live, work, and go to school. What values do worldly systems reward?

Our political systems reward power and persuasion; our business systems reward competition and

wealth; our society rewards celebrity and beauty.

Now, these things aren’t always evil, they’re just not the things that God values and they are not

the way He runs His Kingdom.

And wherever His people live, work, and go to school, His Kingdom can be found, operating with

different values.

We have confused heaven with the Kingdom. Heaven is a great place.

I’ll get there someday because Jesus paid the price, but in the meantime, heaven is breaking into

the here and now.

I believe we have become preoccupied with heaven when we should be looking for how God is

bringing His Kingdom to earth.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to pray, “Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” ()

Jesus said plainly that God’s Kingdom should be our highest priority: “Seek first the Kingdom of

God.” ()

Do we really think He meant that we should place going to heaven after we die as our highest

earthly priority?

One note of explanation is needed here. Matthew’s gospel usually prefers the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven.”

You can understand why many people have interpreted these words to mean heaven itself, but if

you compare the Kingdom of Heaven passages in Matthew with the Kingdom of God passages in

Mark and Luke, it becomes clear they are interchangeable.

The reason for these two phrases is one of demographics.

Most Bible scholars believe Matthew’s gospel was written for a primarily Jewish audience.

The Jews of the first century were very careful about using God’s name, or even the noun referring

to God.

Instead, they substituted “heaven,” because everyone in the Hebrew nation understood that heaven

was where God ruled on His throne.

So Matthew’s uses of “Kingdom of Heaven” are a courtesy to his primary audience––the people

of Israel.

The Kingdom of God is the true context for discipleship.

No serious student of Jesus ignores the teaching or demonstration of the kingdom.

Yes, demonstration. Jesus explained His actions in terms of the Kingdom of God.

Healing, deliverance, and feeding the masses were all signs of the Kingdom of God.

The world longed for the rule and reign of God to come to earth.

They received their answer in the actions and teaching of Jesus.

In His absence, Jesus expects us to demonstrate and explain God’s Kingdom today. To be about the kingdom is to be about the Father’s business.

The reason the church struggles in the area of spiritual formation is because we are not making disciples of the kingdom.

In our enthusiasm over God’s forgiveness and mercy, we have overlooked His purposes and plans.

Everyone who trusts in God can expect to go to heaven, but Jesus is after more than eternal

reward.

He wants us to join Him in the family business.

Receiving God’s forgiveness and mercy––as wonderful as they are––can keep us focused on

ourselves.

When we are focused on God’s Kingdom, we find ourselves immersed in His priorities.

Jesus is the King of an entirely different kingdom, a realm with another language, another way of life, a different culture.

God wasn’t kidding when He said that His ways are not our ways.

Listen to the beautiful words from - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither

are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We are born into a realm that operates differently and we must learn the ways of God’s Kingdom.

This is one reason so many Christians have difficulty finding traction in their spiritual lives.

We have been born into another kingdom, but we are trying to live our lives by the value of the

world’s kingdom.

The apostle Paul took this new birth very seriously. Here’s part of his prayer for the newborn Christians () “Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Notice two things in this prayer:

First, as children of the kingdom, we have an inheritance from God.

This includes eternal life, and it also includes so much more!

Second, notice the difference between “dominion of darkness” and the “kingdom of light.”

It’s a vivid image but it’s more than an image.

Imagine how we move and walk in a darkened room—we are afraid of what might trip us up.

We move cautiously, almost fearfully.

Now consider how we move in the daylight––with freedom and confidence, unafraid of missteps

and falling.

Which kind of movement describes your life in Christ?

Wouldn’t it be awful to have a grand inheritance of children of the light, but still live life as

though we were in darkness?

Here is what we have discovered about God’s Kingdom today:

We enter His Kingdom by the new birth—it’s not something that we can attain by working harder or trying to be good enough. Being born from above is the entryway, the beginning of a whole new life.

Since we have entered a new kingdom, there are new things to learn.

How foolish it would be to hold on to the values of the kingdom of darkness!

God’s ways are not our ways; His values are not our values.

The task of discipleship is the work of learning a new way to live, turning kingdom values into practical actions.

How the world will recognize the difference if we only live and move as children of the King!

The world lives in darkness; they will see the light if we live like we are in the light!

Finally, this is the Father’s will for each one of His children.

It’s His joy to give us the Kingdom of God, to lead us into a new way to live.

As we close today, consider these inspiring words of Jesus: () “Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

What would it be like to live a life free from worry, receiving from the Father’s hand all that we need, because He joyfully wants to give us His Kingdom?

Perhaps some of us need to renew our journey in God’s Kingdom; we can begin again right now.

Or perhaps some of us need to be rescued from the dominion of darkness and be born into the kingdom of light.

What better day to start than today?