A New Kind Of King For A New Kind Of Kingdom Series

Today is a day that has become known as Palm Sunday, celebrating the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here, near the end of his earthly ministry, people had watched in wonder at 2-3 years of authoritative teaching, profound miracles, and even resurrections. They had become enamored with this One. Now they wanted a King - even quoting from the Old Testament Psalm 118:26 “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.” They wanted someone who would usher in a new season for Israel. They wanted someone who would ascend to David’s throne and rule as God’s man on earth.

However, if they had really been paying attention, they might have understood that Jesus IS King, but He is a different kind of king. He’s not a king with a kingdom defined by political boundaries or power or conventional demonstrations of authority. He is a new kind of king for a new kind of kingdom. The passage that we’re considering today, gives us a glimpse of that as he lays out some instructions for his people.

If you have your Bibles, open them to Luke 6. We’ll be considering verses 17-49. As we think through this passage, we’ll seek to ask and answer four questions that arise from this passage.

Who are the people of the Kingdom?

What are the values of the Kingdom?

What are the ethics of the Kingdom?

What should we do now?

Let’s begin by considering…

Who are the people of the Kingdom? (17-19)

We get to reflect on this as we look at verses 17-19.

Luke 6:17–19 ESV

And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Did you notice who all was there? Based on the context, we can assume that the disciples was more than the 12. There was also a great multitude. But this multitude consisted of people from Judea and Jerusalem - which implies that they were Jews. But there were also people from Tyre and Sidon. These are coastal towns, northwest of Galilee. For many, these were considered to be pagan/gentile towns, and yet there were people from those towns who had heard about what Jesus was saying and doing and wanted to be a part of what He was doing.

So, who are the people of the Kingdom?

First of all, I think that this passage helps us to see that …

Kingdom people are focused on Jesus

Jesus is the unifying force. While most of them were ethnically and religiously Jewish, the Kingdom that Jesus built is not based on those ethnic or religious lines - but on Him. He is the central part of this Kingdom.

Here in the states, there are many people that feel that Christianity is a white person’s religion. It’s not about being white or brown or black or any other pigment of melanin - but rather, it’s about Jesus - who he is, what he taught and what he did. Tim Keller has said that if we actually were to paint a picture of the typical Christian person for a global perspective, it would be a woman from Africa - a place where Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds. I am so grateful that our congregation is being made up more and more of people who have roots all over the world - Asia, Europe, Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and North America - because Kingdom people are Jesus centric, not ethno-centric. What we see this here in Jesus’ audience and then what we see expanded in the book of Acts is that the Kingdom of God is for all people! It’s for people who recognize that they are fallen and need a Savior. It’s for people who acknowledge that the status quo is not sufficient. It’s for people who long for something more than this! So these people came to Jesus. They were attracted to him.

Which brings us to the second thing we see about kingdom people…

They wanted to hear the Word

Luke notes that they came first to “hear.” There was something in what Jesus said that made them want to listen and learn. They wanted to understand. They wanted to be washed in His Word. There was truth, authority, and hope in what Jesus taught. His message wasn’t always easy to hear, but it was consistent and there was something refreshing about it.