The Kingdom of God's Dear Son

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The Kingdom of God's Dear Son Colossians 1_13
Sunday, October 07, 2018
6:36 AM
Read Colossians 1:12-15
As a child I loved to read those magical fairy tales of marvelous kingdoms, with beautiful princesses and brave princes and Kings and Queens who had power and wealth and wisdom. One of them that I have never forgotten was the story of the Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andesen. Do you remember that?
Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
“Well, we’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down ˈ[īdərˌdoun] beds on top of the mattresses.
On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
“Oh, very badly!” said she. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!”
Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and they lived happily ever after….
Now that is a great story. But we are not talking about a fairy tale kingdom this morning. We are talking about a Kingdom of God's dear Son. Now this "Kingdom" is referred to in the Bible as the "Kingdom of Heaven" the "Kingdom of God" it is a Kingdom of Righteousness.
Now in order for a kingdom to be a true kingdom it must have four things -
A KingLawsA CultureA Mission
When we are born again, when we become a Christian we change kingdoms. We are changed Paul tells us here in Colossians that we are changed from "Power" or Kingdom "of darkness"
We have a change of Address.
I love that old gospel song of testimony:
There's a house in grumblers alley where I lived some years ago And the walls were swiftly falling to decay And the yard was full of thistles and that old roof was rotted so That the storms beat in upon it night and day Then the Spirit came and told me of a wonderful abode Where wind and storm I'd find a safe retreat So the Savior sent his moving van and he took me up the road To the little house on Hallelujah street Now I'll ne'er forget the day That I moved from sin away And secured a change of address so complete Since that moment without fail I've been getting all my mail At the little house on Hallelujah Street.
We change kings -
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. We are no longer the servants of sin. Of residents of the kingdom of darkness - but changed to the Kingdom of God's dear Son. In fact Paul also tells us Romans 6:16-22
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Servants of King Jesus - Now when we become "servants" of Jesus he changes everything instead of being slaves, we become brothers - joint-heirs. We change laws - No longer do we follow the natural law or the carnal law. We are now under the authority of Heaven's Law. The Kingdom of Heaven's law.
On December 6, 1865, just months after the Civil War ended, the thirteenth amendment outlawing slavery (That Kayne West just got in trouble for tweeting about recently) was ratified and became the law of the land. But that didn't mean every state approved the ratification of the amendment. Mississippi's state legislature, for example, was dominated by whites bitter over the defeat of the Confederacy, and they rejected the measure. One hundred and thirty years passed before Mississippi took action. By 1995 ( I would have been 14 years old) Mississippi was the only state in the Union that had not approved the ratification of the thirteenth amendment.
Finally, on Thursday, February 16, 1995, the Mississippi Senate voted unanimously to outlaw slavery by approving the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution.
Senator Hillman Frazier, a member of Mississippi's Legislative Black Caucus, said, "I think it's very important for us to show the world that we have put the past behind us."
Just as there was a delay in some states ratifying an end to slavery in the United States, so there is now a delay in people accepting God's kingdom. But God's kingdom will one day hold sway over all the world, and his kingdom brings freedom.
750 Engaging Illustrations.
That means we need to know what that law is - Now I know God promised to write his law in our heart. But have you ever noticed how good solid Christians still do things you don't understand are completely unbiblical? Sometimes it's because they haven't fully understood or read God's lawbook. God's laws are not bondage, or hard, or unreasonable We change cultures - Believe me this current culture is in serious trouble. There are so many philosophies and worldviews that have been ingrained even in to the Church that are from the wrong Kingdom. We have far more humanistic and materialistic ideas that what we would like to think.
"While serving as a missionary in Laos," tells John Hess-Yoder, "I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God.
"Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas.
Those who ate short-grain rice built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians.
On the other hand, those who ate long-grain rice built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese.
"The exact location of a person's home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited."
So it is with us: we live in the world, but as part of God's kingdom, we are to live according to his kingdom's standards and values.
750 Engaging Illustrations.
We need to understand what God wants of us - what we are to be like and think like Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Remember when we became a citizen of the Kingdom of God's dear Son we no longer have claims or rights of our own - we belong to HIM. We have a mission - A mission to bring others into this Kingdom. - I wish I had time to develop these further this morning and I plan to at a later time - probably a series on the Kingdom of Righteousness.
This morning I pray you are a member of this Kingdom of God's Dear Son.
Now that you are it is our responsibility and privilege to become acclimated to this Kingdom of Heaven.
If you are not sure if you have made the transfer yet or not - you can know before you leave here this morning.
If you know that you have never changed Kingdoms - now is the time. Right now is your opportunity. Don't throw it away. You may never have another chance or opportunity.
Do you know you are a member of the Kingdom of God's dear son?
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