Your Kingdom Come, Your (2)...
The King and His Kingdom
Dismiss Grove KIDZ
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
– Matthew 13:44-46
Prayer
(the following illustration adapted from a talk by Brian McClaren)
IMAGINE – are you imagining MGCC?
IMAGINE - that you live in a country ruled by a cruel dictator. I MEAN - he controls the army.
He controls the government. He controls the media.
He controls the economy. AND - it’s a very subtle yet a very real kind of control. Everything is done in this country to keep you domesticated and compliant.
BUT - somehow inside you know that you are not free.
AND – this cruel dictator uses his media to,
tell you things like...
If your overweight you’re not thin enough
If your thin your not muscular enough
If your muscular you’re not smart enough
If your conservative you’re not liberal enough
If your liberal you’re not conservative enough
If your poor you’re not rich enough
If your rich you’re not rich enough
He uses his media to tell you that…
YOU DON’T: wear the right clothes, drive the right car, possess the right education, live in the right neighborhood, have the right skin color, use the right deodorant, own the right cell phone, have the right hair style (if you have hair at all)…
He tells you that…
You need more money… and to get more money you need a better economy.
To get a better economy your need different political parties.
To get better political parties you need better opinions. And to get better opinions you need to listen to the media more. And if you listen to the media more…
You’ll hear lots of adds that keep reminding you that you are not: thin, muscular, smart, knowledgeable, popular, rich or hip and cool enough.
AND – he keeps you in this little rat race of domestication simply by keeping you busy.
BUT - you’re real starting to get tired of this.
AND - you wonder if there is a better way of living.
You wonder if there is another place to live.
And every once in awhile you meet these visitors from another country. Who seem to be really happy.
I MEAN – it’s a real happiness and not the pseudo, plastic, painted on, photoshopped... kind that you are used to.
AND - you wonder why they would ever want to come to your country for vacation since your country is so depressing and they seem so happy.
AND - you notice that whenever these vacationers come they tell everyone they meet about their country.
NOW – you’ve never really paid attention before…
BUT - you start to listen..
LIFE – in their country sounds incredible almost too good to be true…. SO - you decide to sneak over there for a visit to check things out for yourself…
AND SINCE - your borders are tightly controlled… YOU - have to go through the mountains and on foot. YOU – sleep during the day and travel at night… IT TAKES – several days… BUT – eventually you get there.
AND SO – you visit this other country… YOU – walk the streets, grab a coffee and a sidewalk café’ , you sit on park benches… You watch, you observe, and you listen…
AND – you are amazed by what you see; It’s so different from your country… IN – this country they don’t...
Compete they serve
Hate they love
Look out for #1 they look out for each other
Use their tongue to put people down they speak words that others up
Hold grudges they forgive
IN – this country they don’t...
Point fingers they lend hands
Assume the worst about other, they assume the best
Become easily angered they listen
Look for what they can get but what they can give
AND - they don’t tell you that you are NOT:
smart enough, rich enough, pretty enough, talented enough or good enough.
INSTEAD - they tell you that you are loved and accepted, precious and wonderful just as you are
AND - there is a sense of reverence in the air in this country. I MEAN – you can feel it…
AND – it feels so much better than that sense of..
haste and rush and hurry and competition and cheapness and image management that you are used to….
AND - you notice that in this other country.
That the people who are last in your country; the handicapped, the sick, the elderly, the orphans, the less fortunate are NOT ONLY, not treated bad… BUT – they are treated with unusual respect & honor. IN FACT – they are treated like they are most important people of all.
AND AS YOU – travel secretly through this country…you feel a sense of excitement…
AND – you begin to have powerful and compelling visions of another way to live…
NOW - you realize that there is a lot that you don’t understand… BUT YOU - also realize that you feel more at home here than you ever felt in your own country.
I MEAN – you feel like you have found a priceless treasure hidden in a field…
IN FACT - you are so excited that you begin to consider selling all that you have just to live there.
AND SO - you decide that you are going to immigrate to this new country and live there…
YEAH – you go back to your home, to your country and you get your affairs in order.
AND – in a few days you walk out of the door of your old way of life for the last time…. Wondering what you will have to do to live in this new country. AND – feeling for the first time in years, hopeful about the days ahead.
B/S – welcome to church, welcome to our verse by verse study of the Gospel of Matthew, welcome to our deep dive into the most famous prayer in the world.
A prayer that God’s people have been praying for 2000 years, even since, Jesus unveiled it on the Galilean hillside in His Kingdom Manifesto.
Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen – Matthew 6:9-13
Think about it... For 2,000 years, wherever people who love Jesus have gathered, they have prayed this prayer…
In Europe and in Africa
In the middle east and the far east
In the mud huts and stone cathedrals/Underground and in public places
AND LISTEN – the truths, the concepts and the insights that JESUS packed into this prayer contain the power to mold and reshape our lives entirely. Our individual lives. Our Church. Our community. Our world. Overstatement? Exaggeration? Not at all!
NOW SO FAR – in our journey we have looked at the first 25 words of this prayer… 25 words packed with depth, power truth, life, hope and meaning…
Our – calls us into community, into relationship
Father – invites us in intimacy with the Maker of Heaven and earth. Yes God is the Sovereign King of the universe who breathes out stars, but He is also Father. (1 John 3:1)
Who art in the heavens – reminds us that Our Father is great, Our Father is near and that there is ‘always’ more going on than our eyes can see.
Hallowed be Your Name – calls us to...
Live lives that are different, distinct, set apart from the world around us.
Pursue a life of: personal-practical-progressive holiness, bringing honor and glory to God’s name by the way that we live.
AND – last Sunday we began our deep dive into these 14 words...
Your kingdom come, Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
BY – answering these questions...
Q #1 – what is the kingdom?
ANSWER - the reign and rule of God in the hearts of men
Q #2 – does the kingdom look like?
Now last week we look at many of the images that the writers of Scripture (both OT and NT) used to describe what this earth would look like... when God’s will is ruling in the hearts of His people?
AND – you know, it kind of looks like, the country I described as we began this morning.
Q #3 – where is the kingdom?
The Kingdom is coming, and the Kingdom is already here!
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
NOW – I want us to finish up our deep dive into
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. By answering a few more questions about the Kingdom.
I. How Do We Get In On It…
NOW - as we begin to answer this question… I want to pick up where we left off in that opening story…
YOU KNOW – you are leaving your old country and immigrating to this new land,
OKAY SO – let’s just think about what you have experienced…
You’ve experienced what we might call repentance… BECAUSE – you had a way of life that was part of the rat race … you were part of the system.
I MEAN – you believed them when they said that ‘you got to be thinner, you got to be richer, you got to be prettier, you got to be cooler... like you believed all of that junk.
BUT – then you started to doubt it… you began to rethink your life.…
“This isn’t the way I want to live anymore, it’s not working, it’s not producing anything of real or lasting value…”
AND BECAUSE – you have visited this other country you’re not only starting to experience repentance, but you are staring to experience faith….
Because you now have a belief and a confidence that if you could just live in that other country your life would be so much better. (Repentance and faith) that’s part of what it takes to enter the new country…
So you cross over secretly (as you did before, traveling at night and on foot through the mountains) and you come to one of the border towns. And you go to the mayors office.
And you say, “hey, can I be accepted here as a refuge? Do you have like a refugee camp I can go to or something..
I’m escaping from this other country… I’m tired of living under that totalitarian government. I’m tired of being told what to wear, how to act, what to buy, how to look and that I am not good enough, and don’t measure up, I can’t live under that rule anymore.
AND – the mayor with a grin says, “No I’m sorry, but I cannot send you to a refuge camp because there none in our country. YOU SEE - you can only be a full fledge citizen here… AND - we would love for you become one. You my friend if you are ready to leave your old way of living behind you are welcome here.”
AND THEN - you ask (as you pull out a large envelope)
“Here, I’ve e emptied out all my accounts, how much do I have to pay…”
AND – the Mayor says, “keep your money – you don’t have to pay anything to be a citizen here, it’s free, it’s a gift!”
Your jaw drops, your heart races, your eyes pop open wide in wonder and you say,
“YES – I want to live here... YES – I want to be a part of this new country.
AND WHEN – you say yes, they issue you a passport – and then they recommend that you take a bath…
THEY EXPLAIN that immigrants usually find it wise to wash off the soot and smell of their old country so they can have a clean start in this new homeland. You comply and you are glad you did.
YOU – step outside and take a deep breathe, and your lungs feel as if you are breathing in freedom, peace, hope and life. It’s as if the spirit of this new kingdom is entering you giving you the desire and the power to change – to live new.
YOU – find a new home, meet a few new neighbors who say that they will help you learn how to live here so that you can enjoy life in this new country in all it’s fullness.
B/S...
THIS – is the kingdom of God. THIS - is where Jesus invites us to live.
Citizens of a new and better country.
Members of God’s eternal divine family.
Partakers of a free and powerful reality.
Participants in a: hope bringing, eternal destiny changing,
I MEAN – who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that… AMEN?!
AND LISTEN – Jesus made it pretty clear that for you and I to get IN on the kingdom, we must do 3 things...
Believe, Repent, and Be born of water and spirit (baptized)
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” He said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” - Mark 1:15
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
– John 3:5
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. – Mark 16:16
a) Believe
That Jesus is who He said He is
That we are who Jesus said we are, lost sinners
That Jesus did what He said he did
b) Repent
My old way of living and thinking is wrong
I need to lay my agenda and embrace God’s agenda
I need to no longer be the Lord or boss of my own life and surrender to God as Lord.
c) Born Of Water and Spirit
Christians baptism (water and spirit)
Jesus baptism (water and spirit)
Acts 2 (water and spirit)
The promise of Ezekiel (water and spirit)
SO – how do we can in on the kingdom?
IV. What Are We Supposed To Do With It?
YOU KNOW - as I take a close look at the church, at Christianity. AND – as I take a close look and consider my own walk & experience in the church since December of 1979… I SEE - 2 things that God’s people have frequently done with the kingdom… 2 things that are not at all what God intends, wants or desires…
AGAIN – both are pretty common…
AND – what both of them do is: tame, domesticate, civilize, de-claw and unplug the radical transforming power that is at hand in the kingdom of God.
a) Things not to do with the Kingdom
1. Turn The Kingdom, Into A Religious System…
YOU KNOW - rules, practices, check lists, measuring up, regulations and performance.
UNDERSTAND – God the Son did not leave heaven, put on human flesh, walk this earth and die on a cross to start another religion…
INSTEAD – he came to establish THE Kingdom.
AND LISTEN – the kingdom of God is about as far away from a religious system as you can get.
AND – Jesus made that truth VERY clear in the sermon on the mount... YEAH - on that grassy hillside by the sea of Galilee 2000 years ago, Jesus clearly teaches that the kingdom and religious systems are like...
‘oil-water, Red Sox fans and Yankee fans; night-day; country-music…
THEY - don’t mix very well…
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
– Matthew 5:17-20
The second thing we are not to do with the kingdom of God is to...
2. Reduce The Kingdom, To Mere Recreational Enjoyment
QUESTION – when you think of the word ‘recreation’ what do you think of? Playing tennis? Riding a bike? Going to the beach? Taking a boat out on a lake? Playing golf? Taking in a movie?
OKAY – here is my definition of recreation… “something that you enjoy and that you do occasionally in order to renew and refresh yourself…”
NOW UNDERSTAND – I like you, face a very real danger of me making my salvation all about me. YOU KNOW – Jesus came to this earth died on the cross so tha...
I CAN – have my sins forgiven
I CAN - go to heaven
I CAN – have a better life
AND THEREFORE – on occasion (for my personal enjoyment) I recreate… I – hook up my boat to the trailer and hit the lake of ‘personal renewal’…
I go to church...
because it makes me feel good, meets my needs
Helps my marriage
Gives me a nice place to take my kids and teach them values
OKAY – here’s the deal... in recreational Christianity I tend to seek the Lord and His Kingdom whenever it is convenient SO THAT – God will bless my: life, family, marriage, career, finances. RATHER THAN – seek God and ask Him to mold and shape my life so that I can be a blessing to others…
NOW – don’t get me wrong…
OUR – God is a great Father who loves to bless the lives of His children (He is very good at it)…
BUT – there is more to it the Kingdom and following Jesus than us… UNDERSTAND - the passion behind all of the blessings that God has poured out on us (there are sooo many)... IS TO: make us a blessing to others, bring glory to God’s name and bring others into His Kingdom.
AND BTW – a belief system that is self-centered…
IS NOT – very self sustaining… WHY?
BECAUSE – we are made in the image of the self-less God…
BOTTOM LINE – Jesus did not come to establish another religious system or to simply give us a recreational faith for our own personal enjoyment…
INSTEAD – He came to establish the Kingdom of God
THAT WOULD – empowered (through His Spirit) create a people like Himself who would take back territory that has been lost to the kingdom of darkness…
BOTTOM LINE – Jesus came to start a revolution of radical transformed lives who would advance His kingdom not through power and might, but through truth, love and service.
OKAY – so what are we supposed to do with the Kingdom, once we have gotten in on – are a part of it?
We are to live in it, and we are to live it out
b) What we to do with the kingdom
1. Live In It…
UNDERSTAND – the kingdom does not work; the revolution does not become a movement in us, UNLESS we live in it… UNLESS – we embrace and believe the transforming truths of the kingdom…
UNDERSTAND – as a Jesus-follower we need to LIVE IN the truths of who we now are as citizens of the Kingdom.
HERE – are just a few of those truths, actually 7 of them.
Seven Faith Convictions
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. – Joshua 1:8
I am radically and completely loved by the King of the Universe.
John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 3:16-19; Zephaniah 3:17
I am fully forgiven and free from all shame and condemnation.
Romans 8:1; Ephesians 1:7,8; Colossians 2:13,14; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 103:10-12
There is no sin or temptation that I cannot overcome, because I have been crucified with Christ.
Romans 6:11-14; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 2:20; Psalm 119:9-11, 130-133
I will walk in confidence and not in fear or anxiety (no matter what I face) because the All Powerful ‘Great God’ is with me. ‘He is good,’ I trust Him with all my heart.
Besides, when all is said and done I win.
Joshua 1:8; Proverbs 3:3,6; Matthew 6:28-34; John 14:1-3; Romans 8:35-38; Philippians 4:6,7; 1 Peter 5:7; 1 John 4:4
I have no insecurity because I see myself as God sees me.
Genesis 1:26,27; Psalm 139:13-16; Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 2:9,10; 1 John 3:1
My life is not accidental, random or meaningless (despite how I feel or what anyone else says) instead it has great purpose, I have been created to bring glory to God and to live life fully.
Isaiah 43:6-7; Jeremiah 29:11; Matthew 5:13-16; John 10:10; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:10
Because of Christ I have am not weak or limited, but have all the resources and power I need to live the life He intends for me.
1 Samuel 17:45; Psalm 18:1,2; Isaiah 40:29-31; 2 Corinthians 9:8, 12:9,10; Ephesians 1:18-21, 3:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:7; 2 Peter 1:3,4
Just think of the impact it will have on our lives, when we resolve to speak these realities to ourselves regularly.
WHAT – are we to do with the kingdom…
NOT – simply study and understand it… BUT LIVE IN it!!!!
AND #2...
2. We Need To Live It
AND LISTEN – I think sometimes we can so over complicate what it means to live out Kingdom that we are almost paralyzed into inactivity.
NOW – I have always loved how Don Everts
In his book, ‘Jesus with dirty feet.’
To really understand ‘Christianity’ we have to go back to the beginning, to put first things first
For starters, Jesus was not a Christian.
He never asked anyone to become a Christian…
He simply called people to follow Him.
That’s it. That, despite its simplicity is it.
He called people to follow Him.
Before hurrying on with words, and centuries of theology, we must pause at the cradle of what we call Christianity. It is never more than Jesus’ call: ‘follow me’ and a response: dropping familiar nets and following gin faith the sandaled Jewish man.
It’s never more than that. 2,000 years of words can do nothing to the simple basic reality of Christianity… Jesus said, ‘follow me,’ “and they did”
That is where this thing called ‘Christianity’ begins, and where our understanding of it must end. – Don Everts
YEAH – living out kingdom lives means following Jesus...
Being like Him. Doing the kind of things that He did when He walked this earth. Bringing the kingdom of God into your world (home, work, school, marketplace) just like Jesus brought it into his..
REMEMBER - there is a kingdom of darkness that is stealing the hopes, the dreams and the lives of so many in this world…. AND GOD – is calling on you and I to invade that dark kingdom and bring it into the light of Christ, through the lives that we live!
UNDERSTAND – the holy spirit has come upon us to and whatever Jesus was to His world God calls and empowers us to be in ours…
I love these words from N.T. Wright;
Our task, as image bearing, God-loving, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered it’s fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion…
Our task is to announce in deed and word that the exile is over…to act boldly in God’s world in the power of the Spirit.
III. What Is The Kingdom Worth?
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 4When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
– Matthew 13:45,46
WHAT – is the kingdom worth?
It’s worth everything, all that we are and all that we have
AND LISTEN – during the last 2,000 years… when men and women heard about the kingdom and understood it, they devoted their hearts to it, they sacrificed their possessions for it, they sacrificed their careers for it, they sacrificed their homes for it, they lived for it, and they died for it. And they did it with joy. They did it laughing, weeping and dancing, unable to believe their good fortune—that the kingdom of God was open to them.
YES - one day the Kingdom will come in all its fullness - one day there will be no other kingdoms. One day all the other kingdoms WILL FALL….
AND - there will only be one kingdom—God’s kingdom. AND - we’ll experience it in all its fullness.
YES - that day is coming… BUT FOR NOW – (as CS Lewis puts it) Jesus our King, has established little outposts of the kingdom, little pinpoints of light, that hold out the promise of better things to come…little pinpoints of light where His people show this world a different and better way to live…
AND LISTEN – as you and I let the King reign over our hearts & lives; As we
surrender our wills
give up control
deny ourselves
forgive those who hurt us
go the second mile
serve the poor and less fortunate
turn the other check
As we follow Jesus…
As we lean on and learn from the Holy Spirit
We help to establish another outpost of the kingdom…
We help to sabotage the plans of satan…
(pretty awesome isn’t it….)
What Does It Mean To Pray These Words
It means that your kingdom must Go
UNDERSTAND
God’s kingdom cannot come until your kingdom goes.
BECAUSE - your kingdom and Gods kingdom, your will and God’s will... cannot co-exist in the same time and in the same place.
AND – our great example of this, is none other then Jesus who prayed in the garden;
“yet not as I will, but as you will..” – Matthew 26:39...
LISTEN – when you pray those words “Your Kingdom Come Your Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven)
You are praying...
It means that your kingdom must Come
In your life.
“Lord, may Your kingdom come...”
QUESTION - What would it look like for the kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done in your life? In your; home, relationships, marriage, speech, attitudes, work, finances…
In the lives of people in your world
“Lord, may Your kingdom and come into the lives of...”
QUESTION - what would it look like for the kingdom to come – for God’s will to reign in the heart of your; wife, husband, parent, child, friend, co-worker --- you need to pray for that and believe that doing so really makes a difference…
In the lives of people at Maple Grove
“Lord, may Your kingdom come...”
In this world
Lord may you kingdom come to…. C’Ville…etc
Many years ago, Robert Frost – wrote a poem about a traveler who came to a crossroad and had to make a decision. He had to choose a road (because he couldn’t travel both – one way was well traveled the other it was obvious few had walked down); AND Frost concludes his poem with these words; “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference.”
AND – believe me when I tell you.
The road where we regularly pray and strive to live out
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” IS – most definitely the road less traveled...
I pray that we have the courage to travel it
Because it will make all the difference.
