The famous writer named Ernest Hemingway (author of books like “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, “The Old Man and The Sea”, “A Farewell to Arms”) had a brother named Leicester. In 1964, Leicester decided to form his own Kingdom. He built an 8 x 30-foot floating bamboo platform that he anchored with a Ford engine block 7 miles off the coast of Jamaica. When reporters visited his “kingdom” he told “I can stand on the platform, walk around on it, and salute the flag… and there are no taxes here, because taxes are for people not smart enough to start their own countries.”
Unfortunately for Hemingway, his kingdom crumbled. Fishermen destroyed it looking for scrap wood and the rest sank in a storm. (Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader)
He built a kingdom that crumbled and sank beneath the waves. And down thru the ages, other men have built kingdoms that have ultimately crumbled and sank into the dustbin of history. Babylon, the Medes & Persians, Greece, and Rome --- just to name a few. But God vowed that He would “set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. (That Kingdom) shall break in pieces all these kingdoms (mentioned in Daniel) and bring them to an end, and (His Kingdom) shall stand forever” Daniel 2:44
God was going to set up a Kingdom that would STAND FOREVER!
So what was this KINGDOM that God prophesied? Well, an angel told Mary that Jesus “will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom THERE WILL BE NO END." (Luke 1:33) In other words, the Kingdom prophesied in Daniel is the Kingdom of Christ, and it WILL NEVER END!!!
And that’s the Kingdom WE belong to! Colossians 1:13 tells us we have been “delivered… from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” When we became Christians, we became citizens of the Kingdom of Christ. We were transferred out of the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of the SON.
During His earthly ministry Jesus talked about many things. But the one thing He talked about the most was His Kingdom. And, in the New Testament that word KINGDOM shows up 158 times. John the Baptist told people to repent and prepare for that Kingdom (Mt 3:2); The 12 apostles preached that that Kingdom was near (Matthew 10:7); The 70 that Jesus sent out, preached that that Kingdom was at hand (Lk 10:9); James preached that the poor were heirs to this kingdom (James 2:5); And Paul preached that the Kingdom was all about Jesus (Acts 28:23,31).
Throughout the New Testament, God referred to THIS KINGDOM as “The Kingdom of God”, “The Kingdom of Heaven”, “The Kingdom of Christ”, and just (PAUSE) “the Kingdom.” But all these phrases were used interchangeably to describe the same kingdom (see footnote)
So, what is this Kingdom? Well, its the Kingdom we call the Church… it’s us. When we transferred into Kingdom of the Son, this is who we are.
But is the church really a Kingdom? Well, every kingdom has to have at least 3 things in order to BE a Kingdom, and the Church has all of them.
1st – a Kingdom has to have A KING!
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. OF THE INCREASE OF HIS GOVERNMENT AND OF PEACE THERE WILL BE NO END, on the THRONE OF DAVID and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
Jesus was born to be our King!!!! He sits on His throne NOW!!! As the Book of Revelation describes Him, Jesus is the KING of kings and Lord of Lords. But what does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus is our King? It means He has the right to demand our full allegiance. In Ephesians 5 Paul writes about the relationship of a husband and wife, but he ends that section by saying that he really was talking about “Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32). In the middle of that section of Ephesians, Paul says that “the church submits to Christ…” (Ephesians 5:24). In other words, Christ sets the rules as King, and we as His church submit to Him!
ILLUS: In essence that’s saying that, if Jesus tells us to jump, we should ask “How High?” on the way up.
SO the Kingdom (the Church) has a “King. But a Kingdom also has to have … a people. And, WHO are the people in Christ’s Kingdom? That would be us. The church! As 1 Peter 2:9 declares “… you are a chosen race, a ROYAL priesthood, a HOLY NATION, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT.”
Hey, that almost sounds like what we read in Colossians where we’re told that “we have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of (Christ).” And BECAUSE we’ve been relocated from darkness to light we are now a ROYAL priesthood and a holy NATION.
Do you know what that means? That means that now we are not lowly slaves in this world. We are a ROYAL people who live in Christ’s holy KINGDOM. We Are Royalty! We have been given position and power (thru blood of Jesus) to do great things and, as royal members of Christ’s Kingdom, we have been given a commission – the commission to serve others - just like Christ (the King of Kings) came to serve us.
1. INSIDE the church, we aren’t just royalty, we get to serve royalty. Every Christian is royalty. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Queen of England came to Indiana and stopped into Logansport … and she made a specific request to come to your home! She called you by name and wanted to visit YOU. What would you do if she did that? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’d get out the tea and crumpets in a heartbeat.
But every Christian in this congregation is more important than the Queen of England because they are royalty in the Kingdom of Christ. So, every time you pray for a fellow Christian, or call them up on the phone to find out how they are, or you help them, or you encourage them - you have had the honor of serving royalty. That’s why Jesus said “… whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26) That’s what we do INSIDE the church building.
2. And OUTSIDE the church, we get to be just like Jesus by serving lost. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and (as royalty) 2 Corinthians 5:20 says we are now “ambassadors for Christ.”
ILLUS: Whenever a new person is elected to be President of the United States, that person gets to select new Ambassadors to Switzerland, or France, or some other nation. And people line up around the block to get that posting… because it’s a matter of great honor to be chosen as an Ambassador for our government. And you have been to be an ambassador for government of Christ. As royalty, we represent Jesus (ambassadors) to a lost world.
So, we have a KING (that’s Jesus), and we have people (that’s us). But every kingdom also needs … a “territory.”
Down thru the ages, religious folks have made the mistake of thinking Jesus intended to establish a PHYSICAL Kingdom. That’s why, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples asked “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) You see, they were still looking for Jesus to set up a physical kingdom. But, apparently, that was never the plan.
When Jesus stood before Pilate he told him, "My kingdom is NOT of this world.” (John 18:36) You wouldn’t be able to find Jesus’ kingdom by pointing to a spot the map. In fact, Jesus said “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21) In other words, Christ rules in the hearts of believers – His kingdom is within us.
ILLUS: Christ’s kingdom is NOT bound by physical boundaries, because (frankly) that would make too small.
During the Middle Ages there was something called Holy Roman Empire (we put a map on the screen showing its boundaries). For nearly 1000 years, they felt THAT empire represented the physical kingdom of God on earth. But they were thinking wayyy too small.
You see, the Kingdom of Christ is EVERYWHERE. It’s in China, Europe, Russia, Africa, S. America and more. Anyplace there are Christians… that’s where His kingdom is.
But the problem with too many churches (and preachers and Elders, etc) is that they think too small. Too often they’re only concerned with what happens inside their own 4 walls. Now, I’m not talking about our congregation, but there are churches who aren’t into missions, or starting new congregations, or training men and women to be missionaries and preachers and other leaders for Jesus. It’s like they don’t realize that there’s this vast kingdom out there that they’re part of… and that God expects them to be involved in helping it flourish and grow.
ILLUS: George Faull (he’s started several congregations as well as a nearby Bible college) once told me he was a “Kingdom Man.” What he meant by that was that - if he converted someone to Christ who lived closer to a different sister church than the one he was preaching in… he’d try to get them involved the church that was nearer than his. That was because it wasn’t about his personal kingdom - it was all about the Kingdom of Christ!
We should all try to be “Kingdom People” – dedicated to doing everything we can to support missions, to start up new congregations, to build up and encourage sister congregations, to encourage men and women to serve Christ. We need to strive to be kingdom people! (not local yokels).
(PAUSE) So, the Kingdom/Church has a KING (that’s Jesus), and a PEOPLE (that’s US), and a TERRITORY (that’s wherever Christians live). But, MOST importantly… Christ’s kingdom has a message. That’s what Colossians 1:13 is telling us: God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
It’s a powerful message, but too often Christians don’t realize how important and significant that message is. They see people who struggle in life without Christ and they don’t think about telling them that they need Jesus in their lives.
ILLUS: A preacher friend of mine was telling about a non-Christian family he did funerals for. They liked how he preached the first funeral for their family that they asked him to preach for 2 or 3 more of the family. The first one who died was a young man who died from a drug overdose. The young man wasn’t a Christian and so the preacher knew where his destination was… but a good preacher doesn’t preach people into hell. They try to comfort the family as much as they can and point them to Christ. Well, the family liked how well he did that funeral that they asked him to officiate at the next funeral where that person had died because they drank too much alcohol. Again, the preacher again offered the comfort of Christ in his message. Then a 3rd family member died because of the lifestyle that they’d lived. The funerals hadn’t been that far apart and that prompted one of the surviving family to lament “We must be cursed!” So the preacher decided he needed to be a little more bold in his message. In his message he quoted the comment of that family member and explained that sometimes people ARE cursed. And they’re cursed because they make bad decisions. They were cursed, because they were trying to live without Jesus.
We’ve got to realize that people outside of Christ ARE cursed. They’re going to hell and we have the way to stop them from doing that. They live in darkness because they’re without God, and without Hope. But we, as ambassadors of Christ, have the message of the hope and light that only Jesus can give. We must carry the message of light into a dark world.
CLOSE: All you have to tell people is that they need to BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God – and that He is the only hope for their lives. Then explain that the reason their lives are so messed up is because they’ve lived a life in sin and that they need to REPENT of that sin and decide not to live like that any longer. Then tell them that they have to decide to make Jesus the Lord and master of their lives and CONFESS that they want Him to be the King of their lives. And then that they must identify with Christ in His death.
When Jesus died on the cross… what did they do with His body? That’s right, they buried Him. He stayed in the grave for a time, but then He rose from the grave to live forevermore. In the same way God expects us to submit to die to our sins, and be buried in the waters of baptism. And then they rise out of the baptistry like rising out of a grave to live a new life in Christ.
INVITATION.
Footnote (despite what some may teach, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are phrases that are used interchangeably).
Matt. 3:2 "Repent, for the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is at hand."
Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the KINGDOM OF GOD is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the KINGDOM OF GOD.
Matthew 18:4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Matthew 19:23-24 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Luke 18:24-25 And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the KINGDOM OF GOD! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is like a mustard seed ...”
Mark 4:30-31 And He said, “How shall we picture the KINGDOM OF GOD . . . It is like a mustard seed ...”
Mark 9:1 And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the KINGDOM OF GOD after it has come with power."
Matthew 16:28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in HIS KINGDOM."
(other similar comparisons can be found at https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/are-the-kingdom-of-god-and-kingdom-of-heaven-the-same/)
