Kingdom Essentials
Various Scriptures
September 26, 2004
Introduction
I can’t tell you how honored I am to be here today, and how humbling it is to be asked to speak to you about missions, especially since you’ve never heard me preach before.
I’d better warn you of a couple things. First, I tend to talk fast. I try to slow it down, but it doesn’t always work. And when I get excited about something, I start talking even faster. So just hang on, and we’ll be okay.
The second thing I want to warn you about is that I am passionate about some things. Reaching the world for Jesus Christ is one of those things. Jesus and what He says about getting to heaven is a passion for me.
And when I speak about things I’m passionate about, not only do I speak faster, but my face sometimes gets all red. So if you see that happening, it’s not a sign that I’m about to pop a blood vessel or something, so don’t worry okay?
This afternoon I’m going to share some specifics regarding the place missions has in the scheme of things, but this morning I want to focus on a much more foundational aspect of missions, and that is the kingdom of God in general.
If you don’t grasp some of these things regarding the kingdom of God, then any discussion of missions will be lacking. And because this is so important, I have entitled this message, “Kingdom Essentials.”
These won’t be your typical messages about missions. That’s not to say that the typical types of missions messages are bad or anything.
But I think you’ll find that I’m not typical in a number of ways. Just ask my daughter. Or my mother-in-law.
It’s just that I want you to get past your normal “missions” thinking and think on a different plane.
Because if you’re like me, you tend to zone out about things you think you’ve heard enough about already.
So just hang with me, okay? I promise to do my best to keep it interesting and make it kinda fun.
This morning I want to give you four facts about the kingdom that will lay the foundation of missions in general, and my message this afternoon in particular.
Ready? Let’s get going.
The first fact that I want to bring to your attention today regarding the Kingdom of God is that…
1. The Kingdom belongs to the King.
For purposes of these messages, I am talking about the Kingdom of God, and the Church at large interchangeably, okay? And each individual church is part of the overall kingdom of God.
Now why would I say something like, “The kingdom belongs to the king? Well, have you ever heard the saying, “You don’t let the inmates run the asylum?”
Well, believe it or not, that’s how many people view the kingdom of God. They think that God is just a resident of the kingdom, rather than the owner, and they think they are the owner.
Humans are kind of territorial beings, aren’t they? If you don’t believe me, just think about what happens when someone sits in “someone else’s” pew in church, or moves something around in the church kitchen!
We make our own little kingdoms in the local church, and think that everyone else needs to bow down to us and our desire for control.
But folks, you need to understand something here. The church does not belong to you. It does not belong to Pastor Virgil. It doesn’t belong to Village Missions.
Folks, the church belongs to Jesus, no matter whose name is on the building or the deed.
Jesus said that He would build whose church? HIS church. Not Peter’s church, not John Wesley’s church, not Billy Graham’s church. HIS church. Jesus’ church. And it’s HIS agenda that needs to drive the local church.
He desires that His name is honored, both within the church and outside it, and that His kingdom grows.
We need to function within the local church as people who recognize this and also recognize His desires for the church. Why? Because it belongs to Him.
And this leads us to the second fact about the kingdom of God, and that is that…
2. The King makes the rules.
What do you mean by that, Brian?
Well, let me bring it a little closer to home for a minute. In families, the children don’t make the rules, the parents do; that is, if you want your family to run smoothly.
If you’re a parent, do you make rules designed just to give your kids a hard time and to ruin their lives? No. The rules in your house are meant to not only help the household run smoothly, but also to protect your kids, right?
In much the same way, our heavenly Father sets down some rules. And His rules are designed to help His household, His family, run smoothly, and to protect His children.
Good kings don’t make rules just to serve their own interests, they serve to help the kingdom run smoothly and protect the citizens. Rulers who are tyrants and despots eventually lose their kingdoms, if not their lives.
Our King has rules. Rules about who gets into the kingdom and who doesn’t. Rules about what is acceptable behavior and what’s not. Rules about how to treat your neighbor, your family, and even your bosses and customers. Rules for better relationships.
These rules are for His glory, and for our benefit.
Jesus tells us that our obedience to the rules indicates our love for the Father, and that there is a wonderful benefit to obedience to Christ. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 14:21 –
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
You want to know God better? Obey Him. Believe me, as someone who’s been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, life’s better when lived in loving obedience to God.
When you can see the boundaries that God lays down in the Bible through that lens, obedience to Him takes on a whole new dynamic because we see not a mean ol’ rule-giver, out to squash all hopes of a happy life, but a benevolent, loving Father who has our best interests at heart.
Jesus said that He came to give us a full and abundant life. And that full life is lived in the context of the boundaries God has given us in His Bible. The boundaries He has given to protect us.
I’m sure some of you have asked the same question I’ve asked a time or two: “Why did God make such and such a rule? What’s the big deal?”
To attempt an answer, allow me to read a passage that many of you may be familiar with. This is Isaiah 55:8-9 –
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
One time a guy was driving over a mountain highway. The road took a lot of twists and turns, over hills and such that made it impossible to see very far.
As he was driving, he came up on a semi who couldn’t maintain the speed limit because of the steep hills.
But the guy in the car couldn’t pass because he couldn’t see around the truck due to the winding roads.
Another thing he couldn’t see was the private plane traveling above. Up 5,000 feet above the highway, the pilot could see that there wasn’t another vehicle coming the other direction, so the car could pass safely.
The pilot had a higher perspective. It could see what the driver in the car could not. He saw a bigger picture.
God is the same way. All we can see is the semi in front of us, wondering why we can’t get around it.
But God sees the bigger picture. He has complete and total understanding. And so we need to trust Him, even when we don’t understand the rules. His ways are higher than ours, and His purposes are higher than ours.
We need to trust that our obedience pleases God and benefits us.
The point of this section is that you can’t claim to be part of the kingdom if you’re not going to let the King rule. Understand?
Here’s the third foundational Kingdom Essential, the third fact we need to understand about the kingdom of God, and that is that…
3. The King wants more “territory.”
In Mark 16, Jesus says that the good news of Him would go to the ends of the earth.
Jesus said in Matthew 28 that He wants us to make disciples of all nations. The words “all nations” in the original Greek actually mean “all people groups.” This goes beyond just looking at the lines on the map.
He’s given us some direction as to how we’re to do that, and that’s what I’m going to cover this afternoon, so I’m going to move on.
I promise to make it as interesting as I can, but just in case, I’ve asked the cooks to put jalapeno peppers in all the food. Then your mouth will be burning so much you won’t be able to fall asleep, okay?
But it’s essential that you grasp the truth that the King wants more territory. And we’ll discuss that more this afternoon.
Let’s move on to the fourth and last foundational fact I want to share with you regarding the kingdom of God, and that is…
4. The King determines who lives in the
Kingdom.
In other words, the King sets the “immigration policy.”
Some of you may not like what I’m going to say here, because it goes against what a lot of society would have us believe about God and His kingdom.
We are told, “we are all God’s children.” I hate to tell you this, but that’s not true.
Yes, we are all created by God, but not everyone is His child.
How can I say that? Because God says it. Here in the Bible.
Did you know that no one is born a Christian? You can be born Jewish, you can be born a Muslim, a Hindu, or whatever, but you are not born a Christian. You become a Christian by responding to God’s offer of eternal life in Christ.
It doesn’t matter who your parents or grandparents are. It doesn’t matter what your church background is, or how many generations have been a part of it. You are not born a Christian, and you aren’t a Christian because you go to church or “do” ministry.
And if you don’t understand this, you may be in for a very rude awakening when you are face to face with God.
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 -
"Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Now, I’m just guessing that all of those people will be saying things like, “But Jesus, I went to church at least TWICE a year, whether I needed to or not!” Or, “But Jesus, I was baptized and got my name on the Cradle Roll at church!” Or, “But Jesus, I served on the leadership board or the missions committee at my church!” Or, “But Jesus, I brought food to every pot-luck lunch the church had for over 40 years straight! That’s gotta count for something, right?”
And Jesus will say, “Well, I guess that depends on what it was you brought. Anything made solely with beans, sauerkraut, or lutefisk is an automatic NO!”
Actually, Jesus will say that He never knew you because you never entered His kingdom on His terms.
And that’s where I want us to finish our time this morning.
Conclusion
What are the terms that Jesus puts on being part of the kingdom of heaven?
Let me tell you using Jesus’ own words, from John chapter 3.
"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
The context of this passage has a religious leader named Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night. He was the original “Nick at Night.” Don’t worry – it wasn’t that funny when I tried it at my church, either.
Anyway, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the physical birth isn’t enough. We need a spiritual birth as well, if we want to see heaven.
The Bible says in John 1 that Jesus came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. In other words, He came to His own creation, but they said, “No thanks. We don’t need you and we don’t want you”
But the Bible goes on to say this:
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We become born again, we become a child of God, a citizen of the kingdom, by receiving Christ and believing in His name.
The word “believe” in the Bible means much more than just giving mental assent to something. Most people believe in Jesus like they believe in George Washington: he existed, was a good person who did a lot of good things, and said some things worth listening to and practicing.
But when the Bible speaks of believing, it means to place all of your trust in what God says.
There is a story of a famous tightrope walker that stretched his cable across a high canyon. The crowd gathered and watched as he went back and forth across the canyon, never once faltering. He walked, skipped a jump rope, and rode a unicycle on the cable. He pushed an empty wheelbarrow across the gap, then filled the wheelbarrow with rocks and went across again.
Upon completing this stunt, he called to the audience, “Who believes I can put a person in this wheelbarrow and cross the canyon?” Everyone in the crowd yelled their belief. Then the man said, “Who will be the first to volunteer to ride in the wheelbarrow?” Silence. People were willing to believe as long as their life was not on the line.
Jesus said that whoever believes in Him has eternal life. Are you willing to trust Him with your eternal destiny, much like the invitation to ride the wheelbarrow?
That’s what the Bible means when it says to believe. You’re saying that not only do you believe Jesus saves, you are placing all of your trust in it as well, allowing Him to “carry” you to eternal life; you’re saying that if Jesus is not the only way to God, there is no way.
That’s what it means to believe. But I also mentioned receiving. What do I mean by that?
I just celebrated my 40th birthday a couple weeks ago. I know I only look 25, but that’s beside the point.
My wife threw me a surprise birthday party, and a number of the guest brought birthday gifts. And as wonderful as those gifts were, I could have left them outside where we had the party without opening them, and those gifts would never really be mine.
They were offered to me free of charge. I didn’t buy them for myself, and my wife didn’t pay the guests to bring them.
They brought the gifts to me because they loved me and wanted to celebrate this milestone with me.
But if I refused to take the gifts, then the gifts don’t really belong to me, do they? So what’s your point, Brian?
Listen to the Bible in Romans 6:23 –
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Did you catch the word, “gift?”
Eternal life is free for the taking. Just like a person doesn’t earn birthday or Christmas gifts, we cannot earn this gift of eternal life.
We can’t go to church enough, we can’t give to missions enough, and we can’t help enough old ladies across the street.
The Bible makes it very clear that no amount of righteous works on our part will make the difference. In fact, God says that the best we can offer in terms of righteous deeds are like filthy rags to Him.
So what do we do? We receive the gift by asking for it, believing that what Christ did was sufficient to cover our sins and give us a home in heaven.
But you also need to understand something very crucial. There is a consequence for rejecting the gift. If you reject the gift, and you pass from this earth before receiving that gift, then you pay the penalty for your own sins.
The great wonder of God is that He doesn’t want that to happen. It’s what we deserve, yet God wants you and me to be with Him in heaven.
But He refuses to force Himself on you. So He provided the way to heaven by sacrificing His own Son, shedding His blood to cover your sins. And He offers the opportunity to let Jesus’ death pay for your sins instead of you paying for them.
Have you taken the opportunity that God offers you?
In a moment I’m going to say prayer that you can say along with me in your heart. And immediately following that prayer, I’m going to ask you to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed for a couple moments, okay?
And as I do that, I’m going to ask Pastor Virgil to come up here with me.
Let’s pray.
