What Does It Mean That Jesus’ Kingdom Is On Its Way? Series

“YOUR KINGDOM COME": Jesus is inaugurating a kingdom.

- Matthew 6:10.

- So there is an important and underused word here in this part of the Lord’s Prayer: kingdom.

- Let’s set the stage as we have in previous sermons. This is the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. He is sharing with us important things that should be a part of our ongoing prayer life. He is doing this because we are fairly ignorant on what a healthy, vibrant prayer life looks like. Further, our prayer lives often lean toward being self-centered rather than seeking larger, bigger goals. Jesus is inviting us into a more expansive prayer life.

- Here we have another statement: “your Kingdom come.”

- For some people the only understanding they have of that phrase goes back to their childhood. Remember when your Dad threatened to knock you all the way into Kingdom Come? This is where he was planning on your landing.

- This isn’t a joke, though. This is something that is something real and important.

- This morning I want to unpack this phrase and some key questions surrounding it.

- Before we move on, let me talk about the word “kingdom” for a moment.

- One way to define it is it’s everywhere that Jesus is ruling.

- A good initial point to make in terms of expansiveness is that we often think today in terms of our individual churches. We are hopeful that our church will grow and expand. But we don’t think often enough about the Kingdom in the sense of what He is doing through all churches and in all His believers. We get kind of self-centered in our own church family.

- This can also manifest in terms of denomination. Guess what? There are no denominations in eternity! Just followers of Christ.

- While we should be church people in the sense of attending and supporting our local family of believers, we should keep a larger vision of what God is doing everywhere. We should be Kingdom people.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR JESUS' KINGDOM TO ARRIVE?

1. RIGHT NOW: Jesus is in charge of lives.

- Today we share the Good News. You can be saved. Jesus has died on the cross and been resurrected from the dead so that we can have new life in God. We can become new creations in Christ. We want Jesus to come into our lives and be our King.

- Jesus can be in charge of lives today. He is willing to come into the hearts of all who will receive Him.

We celebrate this, of course, when someone comes forward at the end of a service or when we have a baptism. It’s a joyous thing for all of us who claim Christ to see that the Kingdom is still expanding. We want to see more come to know Him, even as we have. We want more to know His peace and joy, even as we have.

- I think it’s worth dwelling for a moment on the words “in charge of” in the answer in your sermon outline. This is for two reasons: it is a crucial part of salvation and it is important for connecting this point to the second point that I want to make in a moment.

- Many people have misconceptions about what it means to become a Christian. They think it means stating some vague and undefined “belief in Jesus” and then going on with your life. Sure, you should probably show up to church a couple times a month, but there isn’t really a lot of changes that happen to your life when you claim belief.

- In fact, the Bible teaches repeatedly that belief in Jesus entails choosing to follow the teachings of Christ. This is a defining characteristic of genuine belief. We don't just believe in the sense of checking a box that says I believe in Jesus the same way that I believe the sun will come up tomorrow. We believe in the sense of believing that Jesus was who He said He was and that He deserves our allegiance and obedience. And that obedience to His teachings is a gift to us, leading us in the direction of the most meaningful life possible.

- To say it another way, Jesus is our Savior but He’s also our Lord. Lord is another word for “someone in charge.” Jesus is our King. He is King of our hearts. And King means that He is calling the shots and we say, “Yes, Lord.”

- I’ll pause for a moment and make a challenging statement: if that's not what you want from Jesus, you might want to stop and ask if you’re a Christian. “Jim, that's offensive. I’ve been a church member for 30 years.” I get that, but I’m not asking if you’re a church member, I’m asking if you are a follower of Christ and if Jesus is the ruler of your heart.