A sermon given
July 2003, with indications for other parts of the service
Prayer of invocation:
Jesus, we are very grateful to know that we can meet you in prayer, and
today we come to you once again. Our
lives, our land, and our world need a revival of your living gospel. Kindle us with the spirit of knowledge that we may strive to
inquire and discern what is your message for our generation.
May we listen for your word among the many words of this morning.
We would enter our Father’s kingdom with new resolve today, filled with
a spirit of rejoicing that spontaneously expresses itself in evangelism that is
natural and gracious.
Prayer of confession:
Our Father, sometimes we take your kingdom for granted. Having entered as little children, we behave as though we didn’t need to grow to maintain our standing. We like to hear the word, but doing it is another thing. We often fail our duty, heedless of the consequences, indifferent to your beautiful will. We forget that you ask of us only what we can do with your help. We forget that if it’s your will, nothing else matters very much.
Assurance of pardon:
If we repent, sincerely acknowledge our error and turn to you for guidance in the new and better way, we are assured of forgiveness. We are free from the past and free for the future in your kingdom.
Matthew 6.10. Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Mark 1.14-15a Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Luke 17.20-21. Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! Or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Beloved brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God heaven is at hand!
What am I doing proclaiming this to you, when all of you, or most of you, are already in the kingdom? We proclaim this, first, because if someone is not in the kingdom, it makes a huge difference. It’s not just about whether you will enjoy the ascent to heaven after death; it’s about whether you are enjoying the ascent to heaven right now! It’s the difference between a plant that’s drooping and dying for lack of water and a plant that’s fresh and growing and blossoming. It makes all the difference here and now, the difference between existing on a merely material plane and living in the joys of the fellowship of spiritual realities.
We proclaim this, second, because every believer goes through a period of transition, when we are sometimes in and then fall back, and need to enter again and again. By the mercy of God and our persistent and wholehearted efforts to respond, we enter once again.
The kingdom of God is at hand! Most of us have heard this so often that it’s like a picture on the wall that has been there so long that we never see it any more. We take the kingdom as a matter of fact. Yes, of course the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus said it. We’re with him. What else have you got to tell me? My brothers and sisters, accepting the fact intellectually is not the same as realizing it spiritually. You can read the page and agree; you can hear the sermon, and nod; you can stand up and recite a creed; but unless and until the Holy Spirit breathes upon the words, they remain an empty formula, impotent to transform your life. Let’s take ten seconds of silence right now to ask the Spirit to bring this truth to life for us. . . .
Thank you. Let’s try again now, listening for the Master’s word. He is speaking of the kingdom. Let’s try to hear it fresh. What is he talking about?
The kingdom of God is the family of God. Jesus adopted the term “kingdom” because his forerunner John the Baptist had used it and because Jewish expectations at the time were inflamed with the hope of a material and political messiah who would lead marching armies to overthrow the Romans and establish a new kingdom. Jesus embraced a necessary compromise in presenting his concept in terms of a kingdom. He knew the term would cause trouble with the authorities; and after Jesus’ death, Paul and others used different language. Jesus made things clear, however, by consistently explaining the kingdom concept in family terms. He presented God as a loving Father, not as a king on a remote throne. We enter the kingdom, the family of God, by faith, once we realize ourselves as the sons and daughters of God, then we relate as brothers and sisters to all we meet. This is the simple, profound, and dynamic core of Jesus’ teaching of the kingdom.
Now imagine you’re driving on the highway and see a sign, “The kingdom of God—ten miles.” You smile with a glow. Continuing on a bit further, you see another sign, “The kingdom of God—one hundred miles.” You are perturbed and a bit disappointed, but you remember that you’re on the right road and that patience will have its reward in due time. Then, just a few miles further, right in the middle of a lovely valley with a river running through it, you see one more sign: “Welcome to the kingdom of God!” In joy and delight, you put aside all your questions, pull over, get out of the car, and give thanks.
Can we make sense of these differing references to the kingdom? We’ve heard some of the scriptures already. The kingdom is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is coming. The kingdom is within you. What’s going on? My answer today has three parts. First, let’s ask why we use the present tense—the kingdom is at hand, when we also look to the kingdom in the future and pray, “Your kingdom come.” Are we rejoicing or expecting? If we simply rejoice, doesn’t this make us complacent? If we merely await, aren’t we missing something? The message that the kingdom of God is at hand does not mean just that Messiah has come, so there’s no more waiting. There is a cluster of meanings bound together in a movement that sweeps the believer into divine progress. The present and future aspects in Jesus’ teaching have a dynamic connection. There are future phases of the kingdom. A spiritual renaissance is coming, and there will be a social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world. And there is the adventure of life beyond this world in heaven. But all those future realities of destiny are powered by the dynamism of the faith-filled now. It is today’s faith that unlocks tomorrow’s destiny. Transformed living in the kingdom at hand prepares the kingdom to come.
Second, the word for kingdom, “basileia,” is being increasingly translated with the word “dominion.” The kingdom of God is the dominion of God. When Jesus taught the kingdom of God, he meant the rule of his heavenly Father’s will dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer. As much as I usually prefer the language of the family of God over talk of the kingdom, there are moral connotations in the term “kingdom” that are worth making explicit. When faith makes the dominion of God real, our supreme desire is to do the will of God. Of course other desires pop up from time to time, but our one supreme ambition, our all-consuming desire, is to do the will of God. What is the will of God and how do we find it? That’s a topic for another occasion, but for today let us be content with three remarks. The will of God is, first and foremost that we supremely desire to do the will of God. Second, the will of God is that we become like God. And third, the will of God is to do, in every situation, as Jesus would do. What I want to emphasize now the connection: when we embrace the kingdom at hand, our joy in being sons and daughters of God leads us to want to do our Father’s will.
Third, let’s look at the social aspects of the kingdom as something you can join. The social aspect is based on what Jesus called the kingdom within you. The kingdom within is the spirit presence of the Father, a reality in the experience of the individual. It’s because of individual spiritual experience that there can be a resulting fellowship. The kingdom is among you in the sense that there are persons near you who are spiritually alive and united in their faith. Proclaiming the kingdom at hand is an invitation to join, to join again, to join forever and finally. Since the kingdom of God as a universal family is a living and growing social organism, we are bound together in our united dedication to the doing of the Father’s will. And Jesus expects all his followers to participate in evangelism in thought, word, and deed. The great hope of our planet is for the numerous families of the professed followers of Jesus to get the message, to wake up, to join the Master’s real program, to be united in loving service. In order for that hope to be realized, we need a new revelation of Jesus and his teachings. God’s revelation to our souls and to this world has not stopped. Revelation continues. Pray for that new light. Seek and you will find. If you seek 20% you’ll find 20%. If your seeking is flat out, whole hog, non-stop, you will be amazed at what you will find. You will become part of the new revelation yourself! The kingdom of God will become the truth of your life, and you will enlighten your brothers and sisters by your loving service until the day you move on to the kingdom in heaven!
To sum up, the kingdom of God is the family of God. Though we may be familiar with the idea of the kingdom as a religious fact, we enter only by the grace of the power of the Spirit. The kingdom has a present aspect and a future aspect, an inner dimension and a social dimension. We enter by the faith of a child, but we stay in by ceaseless, adult growth. The kingdom is an individual spiritual experience, bringing the wholehearted the desire for the Father’s will.
May you each have a blessed day, week, year, life, and eternity in the kingdom of God.