Introduction

Today, we conclude our four-week series on discovering the Kingdom of God. What a journey of discovery it’s been! During week one, we saw that Jesus preached “the gospel of the Kingdom of God.” His gospel includes the good news of forgiveness of sin and it’s actually greater than we first imagined: Jesus invites us to consider the possibilities of changed lives here and now, even as we pray for His will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

In week two, we discovered that the values of God’s Kingdom differ radically from the values of this world. That’s not really a surprise, is it? This means for followers of Jesus, we will have radically different priorities in our daily choices. In week three, we explored the Old Testament and discovered that the gospel of the kingdom is hidden inside of the Exodus story, and inside of King David’s story. We also discovered that Isaiah prophesied about a glorious and eternal kingdom that would last forever.

Now, in this final week, perhaps we could take some time to use our imagination about what it would be like if we lived our lives truly as subjects of King Jesus. How would your world be different if you lived today under the lordship of Jesus, the King? And not just each of us individually, but also how would our lives be different together as a community—because a kingdom is a community. With God’s help, we will explore these questions today.

Jesus invites us to consider the possibilities of changed lives here and now, even as we pray for His will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Imagination and the Kingdom of God

You’ll notice that I used the word “imagination.” This is an important word, because in order to experience spiritual transformation in our lives, we must be able to see and believe that there is a new way to live. I think that’s one reason why Jesus said unless you are born again you cannot see God’s Kingdom. In John chapter 3, Jesus talked about seeing the Kingdom of God, and then He talked about entering the Kingdom of God. It all starts with the new birth, which enables us to see God’s Kingdom. To be able to effectively see and enter God’s Kingdom in our day-to-day lives requires a little bit of sanctified imagination.

I wonder if you would like to play along in a little exercise. Would you like to play along? Right here, as we are gathered together this morning, I would like to ask you to imagine the answer to a very simple—but very important question. Here is the question we must answer: What if you woke up tomorrow morning to find that heaven had come to earth? What would your world be like? I’m asking you to imagine heaven on earth. The rules for this little exercise are simple: Heaven has somehow come to earth (just go with it). Now, you’re still you—you are the very same person. Everyday your life still goes on. If you’re a student, you’re still a student. If you have a job, you still go to work. You still live in your neighborhood, among your neighbors. But now use your imagination to consider how, exactly, has the world changed?

I’ve asked this question of other people before, and here are some actual answers people have given: “If heaven came to earth, sickness would turn into strength ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium