The Expansion of the Kingdom
Matthew Chapter 10
Sunday, July 9th, 2006
I was at Family Camp at Delta Lake early this week. One of the things I love about Delta is the faithfulness of those who go there. There are many people who arrange their entire schedules around camp and wouldn’t miss it for the world. I grew up that way. I didn’t miss a family camp until I was in my 20s. But for the last 7 or 8 years, I was not able to attend because moving around and then being at a church in Ohio. As I walked around the camp, it was full of people that I remember from growing up. There were the same ladies that used to yell at us for playing in the flowers. I had to resist the urge to duck and hide when I saw them coming. I ran into a lot of people and I don’t know how many times when I was asked what I was doing that I got the response, “You’re a Pastor?” I said, “I’m trying!”
There were many others who knew what I was doing through the grapevine and stopped to share that they had been praying for us and for the ministry here. There are many who are keeping us in their prayers and the things that we see happening here are no mistake. When people pray, God moves.
The focus of Family Camp is the teaching. The morning session were taught by the Pastoral Ministries Dean of Nyack College, Ron Walborn. I am hoping to get him to come here at some point. In the evenings, the speaker was a little bit different. He was a lawyer and an author. It wasn’t your typical pastor up front preaching. He spoke Tuesday night on the question of whether or not America was a Christian nation. If someone asked you that question, what would you say? Is America a Christian nation?
You may not read it in the text books anymore but there is no denying that America was founded on Christian principles. Our struggle and fight for freedom was a religious battle in many ways. You learn in school that it was because of taxation without representation that we declared our independence. This is one of 27 grievances in the Declaration and doesn’t even show up until number 17, many of the ones above it have to do with religious and Christian ideals. They won’t teach you that.
Listen to the faith of the Founding Fathers.
John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress “ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity (you don’t need to look any further than that to see that this nation was founded as a Christian nation)… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
Benjamin Franklin: | Portrait of Ben Franklin
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech IF God wasn’t the foundation of America, the founding fathers gave it little chance of survival!
Thomas Jefferson"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
James Madison “ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.”
George Washington:“ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” Can you imagine some of our politicians saying that?!?
“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]
Sam Adams, John Quincy Adams, William Bradford, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Jay, the list goes on and on. This country was not just founded by Christians, it was founded on the principles of God’s Word and God truly blessed America in those early days because America, as a nation, blessed God.
Alexis De Tocqueville was a French philosopher who had come to America in the 1830’s to find out what made her great so that the French could learn and copy some things to become great as well. After traveling throughout the US, he made these comments. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce- and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.
Is America a Christian nation? I think the answer is very clearly, NO! Somewhere along the line, we ceased to be good. Maybe we ceased to be good when abortion was legalized or when Evolution was taken as fact. Maybe it was when we ceased to follow GOD and began to ask that He would remove himself from certain areas of our lives. We asked that He leave our schools. Prayer, Bible reading, and the Ten Commandments have been removed from schools. Valedictorians are forbidden to make any reference to Christ. This last year, a girl had the power to her microphone cut off when she thanked Jesus and made reference to God and her speech was put to an end. This in the name of separation of Church and State, a phrase that is not even found in the constitution. We asked Him to leave our politics, we asked Him to leave our morality and ethics. And I believe that He has.
.
Anne Graham said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
You see it in the Bible, when Israel turns from God and goes their own way, He responds
by turning from them as well.
2 Chronicles 15:2-3 The LORD will stay with you as long as you stay with Him. Whenever you seek Him, you will find Him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God. When Israel abandoned God, He withdrew His blessing and favor and presence from them and they were without the true God.
America, as a nation, has abandoned God and I believe that we are in danger of losing His blessing on this nation if we haven’t already. So, if we are no longer a Christian nation, what does that make us? Simply put, we are a Mission Field. We are a nation that is in dire need of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we understand the Mission of Christ and of every Christian as we talked about last week, to seek and save the lost, and we understand that America is a post-Christian nation that is in effect a mission field in and of itself, it leaves us with only one option as a Christian and that is to go and to share. To take what we know, to take what we’ve been given, and share that with a nation that has said it doesn’t need God. America is convinced that reason and intellect are all that we need. America relies on science to explain all of the complexities of this Created world. But, for America to be great again, she must turn back to the very principles that she was founded on, the unfailing Word of God. We all have a role to play if that is going to happen.
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Always be prepared to share. We are to always be looking for those opportunities that God will provide. It says in Scripture that: 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Because of that Truth, that desire and love of God that wishes for all men to respond to Him, we have a role to play and if we miss the opportunity that God lays in front of us, it may be the last time that person hears about Christ! We are His mouthpiece, like John the Baptist, we are to be the Heralds of this Kingdom. It doesn’t matter what your personality is, it doesn’t matter how outgoing you are, it doesn’t matter how smart you are, it only matters that you obey, and that you watch for opportunities to share and then are faithful to the call of God on your life. The growth of God’s Kingdom on Earth is placed in our hands. As we turn back to the book of Matthew, we’ve come to the very beginning of the expansion of this Kingdom on Earth. Throughout the ages, rulers have sought to grow their Kingdoms. Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander the Great, all had legions upon legions of soldiers and almost unlimited resources in their quest to expand. Jesus was a little bit different. He sought to expand His kingdom through the lives of 12 men. Arming them, not with a sword or other weapons, but with the Truth, sending out the 12 into the harvest fields to preach the gospel and share the good news that the Messiah has come. These are the early stages of the fulfillment of Christ’s mission.
Listen as I read 10:1-16
Today we find ourselves in the same place as the disciples. Poised and ready to go out armed with the message of hope to the areas around us. As we look at this passage, I want to point out some Truths that we MUST understand about our role in the expansion of the Kingdom.
1) God Gives the Call
Look at the first verse there. Jesus called the disciples to Him. When the time was right, when He had a task for them to perform, Jesus extended the call to His disciples. It begins with Him. The general call to share Christ’s love is one that we all share, but God has a specific call for your life and ministry. The call may be different at different points in your life. He may call you into full time pastoral ministry and then ask you to minister in the secular world for a time. He may take you to Africa and back again. His call may only extend down the length of your block for now. All of us want to do great things for God and we’ve got in our mind these huge ideas of the way that it should be but if our efforts don’t begin with His call, they will be in vain.
Most of you know that I’m a Cleveland Browns fan. It’s how God chooses to make me suffer! I remember many years ago when the starting quarterback was pulled from the game after throwing a touchdown pass and he never was put back in. It came out later that He had ignored the play that the Coach had called and gone with His own play. It had worked, but the coach had the bigger picture in mind, he was calling plays according to the game plan for the entire game. Calling a play in the first quarter that may set up a play in the fourth quarter. The quarterback couldn’t see that.
Sometimes God’s call for us doesn’t seem like the best thing and we’d like to try our own thing that we’re sure will work. We need to remember the Sovereignty of the God that we serve. He holds all things in His hands and is working them out for our good and a call that doesn’t make sense to us now may be setting us up for bigger things down the road. So, whether we understand it or not, the Truth is that God Gives the Call.
2) God Gives the Authority
The second truth that we see here is that God gives the Authority. He called the disciples to Him and then He gave them the authority to do what needed to be done. When we receive God’s call, we receive the authority that comes with it. The authority to preach, to teach, to heal, to follow that call in any way that He asks. We don’t have to worry about our words falling flat because they will carry with them the full authority of the Spirit of God.
Matt 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
In the Great Commission, Jesus says that God has given Him authority, therefore, because of that, we can go out in that same authority and accomplish what He calls us to do.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
We can’t do the second half of that verse, be witnesses, until the first part takes place. Until we receive the authority and power of the Spirit, we cannot impact God’s Kingdom and our role in it’s expansion will go unfulfilled. This power and authority comes from a relationship. This comes from seeking His face daily and learning, as we talked about last week, to follow Him day by day.
3) God Gives the Instructions
The third truth we see here is that God gives the instructions. He calls us, he gives us the full authority of God behind that call and then he gives us the instructions needed to carry out that call. Look at verse 5. God gave them what they needed for the task He had called them to. The instructions probably won’t come all at once, but He will provide us with instructions for each step of the way until His will is accomplished in a situation.
I took a test in third grade. It was a list of 15 different things. We had to stand up and walk around our chair, we had to say some things out loud, we had to answer some questions. Being the competitive person that I was, I started as soon as I got the sheet so that I could be the first one done. About half of the class began to do all of these tasks as the other half sat and watched us. See, the teacher was trying to teach us to read the instructions and I had failed to do so before I began. The instructions stated that we should ignore the rest of the test and just sit quietly in our seats. I thought I knew what needed to be done and didn’t pause for the instructions and as a result, I failed the test. In our excitement to share Christ’s love with others we need to make sure that we are listening for the instructions that God wants to give. Some will come from reading His Word, others will come from waiting on Him in our quiet times, but if we wait for the instructions before we move, we will have a much greater impact on the expansion of God’s Kingdom.
In the passage this morning, God gives some specific instructions to His disciples that each of us can apply to our lives today as we seek to make the Truth known to others.
A. Give out of what you have been given. – verse 8
Oftentimes when we have an opportunity to share Christ with others, we make things more difficult than we really need to. We feel that we need to be able to explain the deep theological Truths that scholars have debated for years. That’s really not the case. You don’t need elegant illustrations for the trinity or to be able to pontificate on the finer points of the Calvinism versus Armenian debate. Listen to what Paul says, the greatest soul winner in all of Scripture:
1 Cor 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
What better way to show people the power of the Spirit than to show them a changed life. When we show people what the Spirit of God has done in our lives, the changes that could only come through the power of that Spirit, we will be much more effective witnesses for Christ. We do need to know Scripture and why we believe what we do, but our words will never speak as loudly as our lives will.
When you share, give from what you have been given. In Christ we have forgiveness, so forgive others. In Christ we have mercy and grace, show those to others. In Christ we have been given life, share that life and the Truth of where that life comes from with others. In Christ we have been shown undeserved, unconditional love. When we give that love, the kind we have received, people will be drawn to what we have in Christ and we will se a harvest take place. God is love, the best way to present Him to others is to reflect that love in our lives.
JN 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
God has given us all that we need in this life, share that with others.
The second thing that we can pull from this passage is the instruction to:
B. Never give up. – Verse 14
In those days, if a Jew had come through the lands of a pagan country, he was to wipe all of the dust from that country off of his clothes as a sign that he was moving on, that he did not agree with the practices and beliefs of the land he had just passed through. Jesus uses that imagery here to tell his disciples not to get discouraged, not to give up. If someone fails to listen, don’t take it personally, move on. Their decision is between them and God. There are millions who need to hear, you will never run out of opportunities.
I used to take my teens to Operation Good News which teaches teens to share their faith. On the first day I had a guy who spoke with three people and every one rejected his message and walked away. He wanted to quit. The next day he just walked with the group and didn’t share. This is a guy who would play video games for hours on end, playing the same level over and over, failure after failure, until he got the results he wanted and he was ready to give up so easily in something that really mattered. We talked and prayed and the next day he led an older gentleman into a relationship with Christ.
When people don’t respond to our message, get up, shake the dust from our feet and move on. The task is too important, the stakes are too high for us to give up.
Finally, we see in this passage that when we share we are to:
C. Share What God teaches You. – verse 27
We cannot be effective witnesses for Him, we cannot be effective soul winners, if we are not spending time with God. We must experience communion and fellowship with Him on a daily basis so that we have something to draw from when an opportunity to share arises. When we go out we are to share what He has given us in our quiet times alone with Him. What he reveals to us in solitude, what He whispers to us in the quiet times together, that is what we are to give to others. If we are not experiencing communion with God on a personal level we cannot share His love with others in the public arena. Our hypocrisy will be exposed and people will be driven from the Truth.
These three things, that Christ instructed His disciples to do when He sent them out, need to be implemented in our lives as well. He will give us further instruction, but these three won’t change.
So, God gives the Call, He gives the authority, he gives the instructions, and just to make it a little easier on us:
4) God Gives the Message – verse 7
As Jesus sent the disciples out, there were many things that they could have spoken out against. The oppression of the Roman Empire, the hypocrisy of the Jewish Leaders, the dishonesty of the local tax collectors, all of these were platforms that would have been well received and needed to be spoken against. Those weren’t the message. Jesus instructs His disciples to preach the same message that John the Baptist proclaimed and that Christ Himself had preached since the first days of His Earthly ministry. He said, “Preach, the Kingdom of Heaven is Near.” The message was to be about Christ and the Kingdom that He had come to establish. That Kingdom has come to Earth, it is the Kingdom that was established through the love of a Father and the sacrifice of His Son. As we go out and follow the call to expand the kingdom, our message is to be the same. We could raise our voices about abortion, we could speak against the homosexual agenda, or our political system, or the abuse of drugs in our society. All of these things need to be addressed. All of these are the responsibility of the Christian to speak and stand against but they cannot overshadow the message that needs to proclaimed. “The Kingdom of Heaven is Near.” We need to be proclaiming the love and sacrifice of Christ above all else. The entire Bible is a love story about God’s sacrificial pursuit of a relationship with the men that He created and that story needs to be told and modeled in our lives. People need to change, people need to hear about the ills of society and the way that God says things should be, but more than that, people need Jesus. That is the message the disciples proclaimed and it is the message that we are charged with as well.
If America ceases to be good, she ceases to be great. We have become a Mission Field, ripe for a harvest. As in Christ’s day, the workers are few. There are few who are willing to take God’s call to expand His Kingdom to heart. The cure for our nation is to once again find pulpits aflame with righteousness and to find Christians who are willing to go out and to share God’s love with all that they meet. God will give the Call, God will give the authority, God will give the instructions that we need, and He will provide the message. It’s up to us to obey.
