God's Kingdom and How (And WHEN) Each of Us Are a Part of It.

Did anyone happen to count how many times the writer of Matthew used the phrase “God’s kingdom” in our Gospel message this morning? Six times. That’s some pretty significant repetition. In fact, this idea of “God’s kingdom” is where I want to begin my message this morning.

First, I want to look at the definition of a kingdom. In just a moment I’m going to have our tech guru unmute everyone, because I want to you answer a question out loud. Are you ready? Okay, here’s my question. Aside from our Gospel reading today, if you were to hear the word kingdom, what would you picture or how would you describe a kingdom? Think earthly kingdoms. Go!

Awesome, thank you!

The Greek work for kingdom, βασιλεία (basileia), is a term relating to royal administration, the act of ruling.

ⓑ esp. of God’s rule, the royal reign of God

I think it’s safe to say that we can all agree that as a general rule of thumb kingdoms have rulers, right?

And often kingdoms were ruled by those who created them. Particularly during the periods of time classified as Ancient History and Post-Classical History, which includes Biblical times. Think the Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire.

Now this morning both our second reading from Romans and our Gospel reading were both read from The Message translation instead of the standard NRSV which is commonly used in our Lutheran tradition, and we did that on purpose. In addition to The Message translation using more easily understandable language, in our Gospel message today it used the phrase “God’s kingdom” instead of the more commonly used phrase, “kingdom of heaven.” You may be sitting in your living rooms thinking, “what’s the difference?” Well that depends on who you are and what your background understanding of “God’s kingdom” and “the kingdom of heaven” is.

For some people, when they hear “the kingdom of heaven” or even “God’s kingdom” they think of heaven…the afterlife…not necessarily the lives we are currently living. For most of my life that was my understanding. And that isn’t wrong. It just isn’t complete. See, God is THE Creator. Not just of us or of heaven or of the earth. God is the Creator of the ENTIRE COSMOS, everything we know about and everything that we can only dream of or speculate about.

It can be easy to think of God’s kingdom as something removed from our everyday lives. This mindset, in the best case scenario, can prevent us from seeing how we are and should be a part of God’s kingdom here and now. In the worst case scenario, this mindset can lead us to treat God’s kingdom as something that we’re not yet a part of during our lives here on earth and thus have no responsibility to. But we do.

When we have a responsibility to a kingdom, we behave differently. Now I know this isn’t a precise correlation but I think you’ll get the idea. If I would visiting Buckingham Palace, the embodiment of authority of United Kingdom as a monarchy I would behave differently than if I were visiting a pub in London’s Piccadilly Square. Okay, if that didn’t paint the picture for you maybe this one will. If you’ve ever taken your kids to Disney World think back to how happy everyone was in the Magic Kingdom and then how grumpy everyone suddenly go when you had to wait in line for the shuttle to get back to your car or hotel. My point is that we behave differently when we don’t see ourselves as having any responsibility to the outcome of a place, or in this case of a kingdom.

So how to we remember that God’s kingdom is not only in heaven but also here, now, today? And how to we remember that, as Christians, Christ has called us to live differently?

When my daughter was a baby and it was time to put her to bed by husband, son, and I would go into her room and we would read her stories and say prayers with her. One evening I remember that we were saying the Lord’s prayer and my mind started to wander. All of the sudden I had lost my place in the prayer and then couldn’t remember the words. Now look y’all, this is a prayer I said every single night growing up. Then I said it every single night with my son, and at the point of this story I was saying it every single night with my daughter. So how could I forget the words. I actually had to go back to the beginning of the prayer in order to remember the words. The fact that I had to do this shook me up so much that I really started to pay close attention to those words I had been saying on auto-pilot for so long. And the words bloomed in my heart with new and intense meaning.

Each week as a congregation we say the Lord’s Prayer together.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever. Amen.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” These were the first words that fully bloomed in my heart when I started paying close attention to the Lord’s prayer. They hit me like a ton of bricks. Do you want to know why? Because I realized that our lives, our communities, our society, and our world were all a part of God’s kingdom. And we see this in our parables today too. A farmer plants a pine nut that grows into a tree where an eagle builds its’ nest. Yeast that a woman works into dough for bread makes it rise. A trespasser sells everything they own to raise money to buy the field they found treasure in. A jewel merchant sells everything to buy a flawless pearl. A fishing net brings in all kinds of fish so that the good can be sorted from the bad. In each of these scenarios and as a part of God’s kingdom a person does something that may not make sense in the moment, but they know that it is the right thing to do. These are “students well-trained in God’s kingdom.” Like us they didn’t and couldn’t do these things by their own will, and they didn’t have to. Because the Holy Spirit is in each of us guiding us. When we don’t turn away from the movement and guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives we become means through which God works for God’s kingdom right here, right now.

Occasionally the things we are guided to do are big and flashy, like selling everything we own to answer a call the Holy Spirit has put on our hearts. But more often we are planting pine nut for a tree that may not be big enough to support an eagle’s nest for 10 to 20 years. And it’s not just about the doing. Because God’s kingdom is glorious and full of wonder. God’s kingdom is something to care and be grateful for.

So here are some questions for you to think about as you move through your week:

Where do you see yourself in God’s kingdom? Because God is moving in each of us.

Where, or in what do you see the movement of the Holy Spirit in God’s kingdom? Is it in nature, a call from a friend, the eyes of your four-legged companion?

I know how it feels to get a lot of homework so I’m going to cap the questions at two and I’ll end with this.

We have, each and every one of us, been named and claimed by The Triune God. The Holy Spirit is in us, working through us that God’s will may be done here on earth and throughout the cosmos. And we can draw peace and joy from this knowledge.

AMEN.