HoHum:
David Guzik- “The eternal King who rules over the souls of men is mightier than an external foe with powerful armies. Rome is gone, Napoleon is gone, Hitler is gone, but the Kingdom of Jesus marches on.” Starting a series on the Kingdom and Kingdom living over next 2 Sunday’s.
WBTU:
Andrew Daughters- What kind of kingdom has Jesus? Neither castle nor palace has he. Neither congress nor parliament sitting, deciding what laws there will be. He has neither army nor navy; no air force to guard the frontiers to keep out the strangers unwanted and maintain the enemy’s fears. Immigration he seems to encourage, of some quite disreputable, like fisherman, publicans, sinners. To such he is hospitable. It seems there’s no revenue service or taxes we must calculate. He surely cannot run a kingdom on what we put into the plate! No 1040 form comes in April to fill out before the fifteenth, with penalties charged for nonpayment, beginning upon the sixteenth. No currency’s here with his picture, no coinage engraved with his name. And where are the posters and slogans proclaiming his power and fame? And I see no trappings of kingship, no robes made of velvet and fur, no crown made of gold set with diamonds, to befit our supreme arbiter. Jesus said that his kingdom was really not what Pilate had thought it had been. It was not of this world. And its glory was not of the kind to be seen. For those of us here in his kingdom, there is one other thing we have known: of the kingdoms around in his lifetime, it’s the only one left with a throne.
We have in our Scriptures this morning two kingdoms being represented. One kingdom is the Roman Empire, the other Kingdom is the Kingdom of God. One is of the world, the other is from another place, from heaven. Pilate represents the Kingdom of this world and Jesus represents the Kingdom of heaven. Most honest and open conversation we see here with Jesus and Pilate. Most of the time at his trials Jesus was silent but not here. We see here the goals and priorities of each Kingdom discussed.
This morning I want to focus in on John 18:36. My Kingdom is not of this world. Though this Kingdom is in the world it is not of the world. It has little in common in with worldly kingdoms. Pilate judged that this Kingdom was of little threat to the Roman Kingdom because in vs. 38 he says, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” But Christ’s words about his Kingdom not being of this world need to be applied in each age and generation. These words tell us that we, Christ’s subjects, are not to act like the Kingdoms of this world, or to use worldly powers as the means for advancing the Kingdom.
Thesis: Let’s contrast these two kingdoms in 3 ways.
For instances:
Law vs. Love
Law:
Pilate was doing his best to follow and enforce the law as outlined by the kingdom he represented. Pilate was determining what crime, if any, under Roman law Jesus had broken and what punishment Jesus should receive. He seemed especially concerned about the crime of treason or insurrection against the government of Rome, calling himself a king without Rome’s approval. The punishment for such a crime was crucifixtion.
Barabbas was guilty insurrection and murder and he was to be crucified for such crimes. Someone had to pay the penalty. Pilate eventually had Jesus crucified and Barabbas set free. Jesus suffered the penalty for Barabbas crime, but in reality he suffered the penalty for all.
Getting back to Law, this is what governement is supposed to do. Enforce the laws for the safety and good of their citizens. Look up and read Romans 13:1-4, NIV. Earthly kingdoms have a purpose in that they restrain wickedness and preserve order, but they are very different from God’s kingdom, and should remain separate and distinct.
Love:
One could say that a legalist is one who who carries over this idea into the Christian faith. The important thing is to follow the laws as outlined by God. This is what the Christian faith is all about, the laws, commands, decrees of God. The punishments are emphasized as well.
While it is true that there are commands and laws in Christ’s Kingdom, this is not the most important thing. The bible says that all have broken the law, and should be punished. However, through Jesus Christ taking the punishment for us we are free from condemnation, from the punishment of hell which is what we deserve. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.” 1 Peter 2:24, NIV.
Because of this, we are to love God and love our fellow man. This love carries over into the ideas about law. We follow God’s laws, commands, and decrees not because we fear punishment but because we want to please the One who died for us.
Many of us responded to the gospel to be saved from hell, but we need to go beyond this and see that our sins, our disobedience, hurts God. Our motivation to obey is different from the world’s system. Man’s law says obey or suffer punishment. It is external obedience. It is not from the heart. In God’s Kingdom we obey from the heart because we love and want to please God. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1, 2. Christ’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of love.
Power vs. Peace
Power
Pilate represented the power of Rome. The Pax Romana, a time of relative peace from approximately 1 AD to 200 AD, was brought about because of Roman domination. The Romans conquered everyone around the Mediteranian Sea. Biggest and most powerful empire ever. The Roman legions was the most efficient and effective fighting force ever seen or known. They enforced the law and eliminated all enemies. Under Roman rule, either follow their ways and don’t cause any trouble, or die. Many people today talk about how they want world peace. In the NT world, there was world peace but it came at a price, freedom.
Pilate was concerned about keeping the peace. He did not want any troublemakers. This is one of the reasons he allowed Jesus to be crucified. ““Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. ”” John 19:10, 11.
Peace
Jesus’ kingdom is not so much concerned about world peace but peace between mankind and God. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” John 14:27, NIV.
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.” Colossians 1:21, NIV.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1, NIV.
“making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:20, NIV.
Tolerance vs. Truth
Tolerance
The Romans claimed to be tolerant of all religions. Being a people who believed in many gods and goddesses, when they conquered a nation they would simply include that people’s gods and goddeses in their pantheon.
Edward Gibbons, an expert on Roman history, said this: The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true.
This quote is very true—not just in Roman times but in our day as well—and its approach to religious faith: for the natural man, the unstated hope is that every faith of whatever sort, including whatever “mine” may be, is equally valid and “good enough” with God. Such religious equality saves a lot of trouble that would result if, in fact, only some religions—or even just one—were correct and true and others false and deceptive.
Truth
John 18:37-38. Jesus is talking about truth but Pilate does not believe in absolute truth by his question. It is the “exclusivism” that many object to, and for obvious reason: they know deep in their souls that they don’t have the truth, and they cannot bear the thought that someone else might indeed have THE TRUTH.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6, NIV.
Christianity makes these exclusive claims and here was the problem. I think particularly of the town riot in Ephesus (Acts 19). It was Paul’s assertion that “gods made with hands are no gods at all” (v. 26, NASB), and these exclusive truth claims of Christianity made the Christians the most hated sect in the empire and resulted in persecutions, imprisonments, exiles, torture, and executions.
Often what the Roman authorities would do when they caught Christians is bring them to an altar, tell them to make an offering and swear allegiance to the emperor by saying, “Caesar is Lord.” Christians would say, “Jesus is Lord” and this would result in their execution. When the early Christians chose to say, “Jesus is Lord”, they were literally choosing to align everything with Jesus, even their own lives. These words were downright treasonous. They echoed a rebellion against the establishment. Those 3 words changed everything. Open hostility between the two kingdoms and in many places this still goes on today.
Romans 10:9-10
