Ministry in the Kingdom of God
Dallas Willard:
So the Kingdom of God is like leaven, like
leaven. It enters into a reality and it works
away. Now, it has a life of its own.
And the thing that saved my faith in Christ
was the little teaching about the Kingdom
of God that I found and as a would-be minister
began to see work. And this is in the fourth
chapter of Mark, verse 26-29.
"The Kingdom of God is like a man who cast
seed upon the soil. And he goes to bed at
night and gets up by day. And the seed sprouts
up and grows. How? He himself does not know."
The soil produces crops by itself. Then the
blade comes up, the head shoots out. The mature
grain is in the head. And when the crop is
ready, the man immediately puts in the sickle
because the harvest had come.
Now the part that saved my faith was, the
seed sprouts up and grows. How? He himself
does not know. The soil produces crops by
itself.
Get out of the way
Now, what that meant to me was, as a minister
and as a Christian, I do not have to make
it happen. I do not have to make it happen.
And in fact I learned that the more I try
to make it happen, the less it would work.
That what I had to do was to learn to speak
the Word, and live in the Kingdom, and let
the results take care of themselves. And that
when I would do that, I would begin to see
change in the people I was ministering to.
But I had to get out of God's way, and let
the Kingdom work and count on the life that
is in the Word of the Kingdom.
And so progressively I - may I say once again
I may be wrong, OK? But progressively I think
I learned not to try and get people to do
anything. To just stop that all together.
It was hard, because at that time I was ministry,
in ministry in the Southern Baptist Church.
And I was expected to produce results.
And I was relieved at one point to hear the
story of Dwight Moody, where going along the
streets of Chicago he encountered a man staggering
from one telephone pole to the other. And
the man bumped into Mr. Moody and recognized
him and said, "Mr. Moody, I'm one of your
converts." And Moody, who seems to have been
a man for all seasons, replied, "You must
be one of mine. You're certainly not one of
God's."
And I began to see that I could just get out
of the business of making things happen.
Proclaim Jesus
Now, did I still and do I still win souls?
Yes, I think I know what that means, and I'm
pretty sure I do it. But it's more in terms
of putting the sickle in, of watching for
people who need a little help at a certain
transition. But that most of what I'm doing
is watching the seed grow. Plant the seed.
Watch it grow. Paul used the metaphor of watering,
of cultivating. There's that also.
But you don't make it happen. I think that's
one of the most important things for us to
understand, if we are to participate in the
divine conspiracy as leaders and ministers,
is to have confidence in the power of the
Word of the Kingdom.
Now that can come in many ways. It can be
said in many ways. We don't have to be sticklers
about the language. But we do need to convey
the idea that there is a Kingdom of God, and
that it is something that we can seek and
find. And I believe that we find it through
Jesus Christ.
And so my idea is that if someone wants to
find him then I should present Jesus to them.
I should talk about him. I should, in the
language that we will enlarge upon this evening,
I should speak about the unsearchable riches
of Christ. I should magnify him and lift him
up and say the wonderful things about him
that are true of him. And in appropriate ways
keep that before people's minds.
Introduce the Kingdom
Because really that's the way I believe that
you bring people to the point of understanding
the Kingdom and bring them to the point where
they're prepared to enter the Kingdom of God.
And Jesus talked about the Kingdom constantly
didn't he? He talked for example the very
well known language that is put into one of
our chorus, our songs, "Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And
everything else that you need will be added."
Well, what a glorious promise. To seek, now,
what does it mean? That's where we now have
to back up and there's so many wonderful passages
that we could talk about the Kingdom of God.
We have to back up and try to make sure that
we understand just what it is.
The Nature of God
And to do that we have to start with the nature
of God. Because it's his Kingdom. And so we
understand that the Kingdom of God is a spiritual
reality. Indeed the word of the Kingdom is
a spiritual reality. That's what has a life
of its own.
You recall that in John chapter 6 where Jesus
has really insulted the Jewish people by saying
that they had to eat his flesh and drink his
blood or there would be no life in them. And
you know there's just hardly anything you
could think of that could make them madder
than saying that. What a terrible, disgusting
thing for anyone to say.
Of course they took it in the wrong sense
as he himself explains in around about verse
62 or 63 there in the 6th chapterof John You'll
see him saying, "The words that I speak to
you are spirit. They are life." Do you know
that verse? The words that I speak to you,
they are spirit. They are life. It was through
the words that he spoke that he communicated
his substance as a person. He was the bread
of life. He's the water. He's all of the things,
but what does that mean? It really means that
you participate in his substance by taking
in his word. They are spirit. They are life.
Now that's crucial because now we want to
look at some passages here in trying to understand
what God is like.
God is Spirit
And the first thing to say is that God is
spirit. But what does that mean? Well, this
passage from Exodus 3:14. See, in Moses' day
there were lots of gods around. So if he's
going to go to Pharaoh and say, now God has
told me to come down here and tell you, Mr.
Pharaoh, that you should let my people go;
the natural response that Pharaoh is gonna
give, and of course he did give it, was, "Who's
this God? Who's this God?"
And now this verse in Exodus is extremely
important to get right. And in fact it is
gotten wrong in many of the translation, so
your translations may read, "I am who I am."
Well, that's not it. That doesn't distinguish
anybody. Popeye the sailor man, I am what
I am. I am who I am. A fence post is what
it is. That's nothing to distinguish God.
And that is actually not what it says. The
old version has it right, "I am that I am."
And what that means is, my being rests on
my being. In other words I do not depend on
anything else. This is what characterizes
this God.
Self-sufficient
He is a totally self-sufficient, self-sufficing
being. That's crucial.
Without that you don't have God. You have
something under and dependent on something
else. Now this may boggle your mind to try
to think about it. And it boggles the minds
of respectable intellectuals today, so much
so that they wind up saying that's what the
universe is. Because they can't think about
a non-physical being. They try to put the
physical universe in the place of God. And
of course it doesn't work very well, because
everything that we know that is physical depends
on something else. Everything else that is
physical, has that characteristic. It depends
on something else.
And that's what characterizes God as Spirit.
So when you come to John 4 and he's talking
to the women at the well and he says, "God
is spirit." Right? It means it's something
that is self-sufficing, dependent on itself.
Now you have a little bit of that in you.
It's called your freedom. Your free will is
your spirit. And it is free, because it is
not determined by something else. It's just
a tiny bit of you, but it's extremely important
because that's the part of you that relates
you to God is your will.
That's what God wants to know of any person,
where is you will? Where is your heart? And
if your will or your heart is tied into God,
then you begin to take on all of those glorious
features that we've already talked about.
See it's by tying your will into God, you
are in a position then to carry out your responsibility
before God to govern on his behalf.
But you do have that little element in you
of spirit. That is what distinguishes you
as an individual and makes you count uniquely
for what God is doing in creating the world
and sustaining it. So now that's very important,
and we need - I try to - more on this in The
Divine Conspiracy. It's a little bit maybe
too philosophical to push hard on.
But let's just say spirit is...
Self-directed
Spirit is unbodily personal power. Try that
one on, OK? Spirit is unbodily personal power.
And even in you, your spirit is not bodily.
That's why the learned world and the professional
world generally today will not talk about
freedom. So if you say something like, fifty
percent of marriages result in divorce - any
social scientist or psychologist looking at
that, trying to understand it, will never
say something like, "This is because people
choose to get divorced. And if you didn't
want that many divorces, you should think
in terms of how people make choices, and so
on."
Rather, they will think in terms of causes,
so causation is the only category of analysis
of human life. And that is one of the reasons
why moral knowledge disappears - basically
has to do with the will and the character
as coming out of the will. Whether you are
a good person or a bad person, whether or
not you do what is right morally or do your
duty, that is a matter of your choice. And
that isn't a matter of causation.
Now it's true if you're gonna shoot someone
you have to have a gun. So there's some causation
involved. But you can have a gun and not shoot
anyone. Right. Because an action requires
more than just conditions which make it possible.
It requires a choice.
And the category of spirit is a scandal to
the modern world. And you have to understand
that as nothing less than a straight forward
assault on the first and second of the Ten
Commandments. (Exodus 20:1-17) Now that goes
back to what we were talking earlier about
the world not acknowledging God, and all the
confusion that results from this; and that's
the heart of the matter.
Life-giving
Now naturally since God is someone that is
self-sufficing, then the other passage that
you're looking to there, John 5:26, the Father
has life in himself and the Son also.
He gave life to be in the Son. The Father
has life. He gives life to all things. Where
does life come from? From God. God gives it.
God sustains it. Now what is life? Well, I
give you a formula here: life is self-initiating,
self-sustaining, self-directing activity.
God is the only one who has that kind of life.
We have some measure of it. The goldfish in
the glass is alive for now. What does it mean
to say that goldfish are alive? That they
have self-sustaining, self-initiating, self-directing
activity. Now if you come back in the morning
and you find that the goldfish is belly up,
you will notice that it no longer has self-initiating,
self-sustaining, self-directing activity.
That's what life is. Even a plant has some
degree of - a seed has some degree of life.
That's one reason why Jesus uses that metaphor
of the seed and teaches with it over and over.
God is in Relationship
So the basic reality here is God. God is in
himself - as an old Puritan writer used to
say, "God is in himself a sweet society."
What was God doing before he created the world?
People often ask me that. He was enjoying
themselves.
And that's what Jesus talks about here. Look
at John 17:5. What does it say? He talks about
the glory that the Son had with the Father
before the foundation of the world. "And now
glorify thou me together with thyself other
with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was." Glory means pretty good stuff.
Great stuff. Great power. Great beauty. Great
complexity. Great richness of their relationship.
Life in relationship
So God is in himself a being that is too many
to be one and too one to be many. And the
category of personality that we have which
makes it individual is part of the brokenness
of the human world. Personality is never meant
to be individual. 
Well, you have to qualify individual as we
understand it. See? Where I can just walk
off from you. Right?
So all the categories of human relations are
meant to go much deeper. That's where we get
the idea that there is such a thing as casual
sex. It's the idea that well, I mean just,
you know, what are you to me? Now young people
use this absolutely disgusting words: hook
up. But you see that's a reflection of a broken
idea of personality. How could I do that with
a person?
Paul says when you have sex with a prostitute
you are becoming one with them. (1 Corinthians
6:15-16) Well, he's referring to the reality
of personal relationships. The idea that there
is such an idea as casual sex is simply a
perverted idea of what a person is. How could
I come that close to another person and be
casual? I can't. And of course realizing that
is living that out with a rich understanding
of who God made me in relationship is one
of the reasons why once I understand it I'm
not gonna be troubled with sexual temptation
because I will have moved into a different...
Now I have to get there. I'm not saying it's
automatic or easy, but you have to get there.
If you don't get there then it will be an
endless struggle with sexual temptation. The
way you get out of that is understanding what
the other person is. And understanding the
kind of relationship that is meant to hold
between persons.
Our problem with the Trinity is not so much
with the Trinity as it is with understanding
persons.
Jesus says again in 22 through 26, "The glory
which you have given me, I have given to them
that they may be one just as we are one."
Now see, that's what we're being pulled to
by the understanding of who God really is.
I in them. "Thou in me that they may be perfected
in unity that the world may know that thou
didst send me and didst love them even as
thou didst love me. Again father I desire
that they also whom thou hast given me be
with me where I am in order that they may
behold my glory which that hast given me for
thou didst love me before the foundation of
the world." That's the nature of God. God
is love.
Life in love
And the mark of the disciple then, back in
13:35, "By this shall all men know that you
are my disciples if you love one for another."
But he just said, "Love one another as I have
loved you."
Now when you think seriously about this, you
- from the point of view that we come at it,
from a fallen human world we might well wonder,
do I really want that? That sounds pretty
smothering. I mean, our human relations are
going to be that tight?
And you know, what's that song of "Fifty Ways
to Leave Your Lover" . It's an interesting
thing - "Slip out the back Jack." You know?
He goes down fifty ways to leave...who is
that, Paul Simon? Interesting. Interesting
thing to read in terms of these kinds of issues.
What is the nature of spiritual reality? Now
the thing is that if you feel a threat here,
if you go to because preciously, because how
am I going to sustain myself? If human relations
are that tight it's scary.
Love in community
And that is where of course Jesus is talking
about that this is something that has to come
from the Father and the Son and Spirit in
the life of the individual. And then it can
be experienced as perfect freedom, but not
freedom understood in atomistic individualistic
terms. And of course our culture is eaten
up with atomism and individualism. And the
idea that you - that you might be in a relationship
which is forever, we can't even deal with
that in marriage for many people. Our culture
doesn't know what it is to be married. They
don't know what that means.
You see, because when you say to a person,
I will love you forever, you're saying something
that you can only do if God enables you to
do that. You can't do that on your own. So
if you don't know God you're not going to
go into marriage and say something like that,
because it will scare you to death. And I...
It's stunning to watch people. How do - what
they - how they do what they call marriage?
But on the other hand, when you realize what
marriage has come to mean, why not homosexual
marriage? Why not? If that's all it means.
On the other hand, if it means something like
what it's understood to mean in this tradition
of Christianity, there ain't gonna be any
homosexual marriage. It isn't that kind of
thing. But there isn't any heterosexual marriage
of the kind that we normally understand. And
so there's are the kinds of things we have
to fight out to get our minds clear to think
about where we stand if we're gonna stand
in a world where we actually love homosexuals
and heterosexuals, and deal with them in terms
of truth and love and help them try to understand
what's going on. So this is really deep.
See the Trinity extends its kind of love through
the redeemed community. And 1 Corinthians
13:13, faith, hope and love. And the greatest
of these things is love. Thirteen is an expression
of the profundity of the Trinity. It's a spiritual
reality. It's not something that you can do
at a merely physical level. It requires that
a person submit themselves to God and receive
from him agape.
If you go through the 1 Corinthians 13 and
don't understand that this is talking about,
what love does and not what you do, it will
nail you to the floor, I'll tell you. Because
you're not gonna do this. Love is gonna do
this. You submit yourself to love. And we've
already talked about what that means, and
I don't have time to go back into it now,
but remember love doesn't just mean desire.
See, that's how people get married today,
on the basis of desire. So when the desire's
gone, what's left?
God's Ultimate Intentions
OK. So then, when we think about the Kingdom
of God, we have to understand that out of
God's operation then he's going to bring a
group of people who have the quality of the
Trinity in terms of their unity and love.
And those are the people whom he can empower
to do what they want. Right? Remember what
I said about that? God's intention for each
of us is that we should become the kind of
person he can empower to do what we want.
A community with a major role
So to bring out of human history a community
of every tongue, tribe and nation and then
they will play a major, that should have a,
major role in the future of the universe.
Well, now we need to look at that. Why would
anyone say a thing like that? Well, let's
look at Ephesians again. And a few other passages
here. And a lot of this seems very strange,
because we're not given a lot of details on
what it will mean. And we have to think about
what it could mean in the light of the nature
of personality and the nature of God.
But for example here in Ephesians 3:10 he's
talking about what his God is doing in human
history. And he says in verse 8, "To me the
very least of all saints this grace was given
to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable
riches of Christ, and to bring to light what
is the administration of the mystery which
for ages had been hidden in God."
Here's that hidden in God stuff again. Now
a mystery, as you may know, is not something
you can't figure out exactly, though humanly
speaking you wouldn't be able to. A mystery
in the New Testament sense is something that
has been hidden and is now revealed. And what
has been hidden and now revealed is God's
worldwide plan of redemption to include all
nations, tongues, tribes and so forth. Been
hidden in God who created all things.
A group that is called out
"Now," verse 10, "in order that the manifold
wisdom of God now may be made known through
the church."
The ecclesia. The called out group. To the
rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Rulers and authorities in heavenly places?
Those are ways of talking about greater spiritual
beings that have a place in God's cosmos.
We would call them angels; whether they are
both fallen and unfallen is not clear. But
what is clear is that they do not understand
the greatness of God. They do not understand
it. They don't understand redemption. They
don't understand what God is doing. But they
will understand the manifold wisdom of God.
Now manifold means many sided. Many aspects
to it. Through the church to the rulers in
the heavenly places.
You go back to 2:7 in Ephesians, "in order
that in the ages to come" - now ages mean
things like eons. Ages are groups of temporal
extensions. So you have millennia and different
groups of millennia and so on. They're kind
of - ages are kind of like, in terms of astronomy,
they're kind of like galaxies. So we have
walls of galaxies now that we know about.
And so you have ages and ages of ages.
A revelation of God's greatness
And that by the way is then mentioned again
in Revelation 5:22 - we've already looked
at. "In order that in the ages to come he
might show the surpassing riches of his grace
and kindness towards in Christ Jesus."
So what does that mean? That means that the
church is a revelation to the universe of
the greatness of God. And that of course would
mean, would involve, the things that Jesus
did to bring that into place. So God's ultimate
intention.
Now we're talking, what are we talking? We're
talking about the Kingdom of God and human
beings place in it. Another shocking passage
is 1 Corinthians 6:3. This is the place where
Paul is talking about the shame of a church
not being able to adjudicate disagreements
among themselves. And he even says, why don't
you let the least of the people in the church
decide this? Let the kids make the judgment.
I mean it's an unbelievably shocking sort
of thing. We realize that the church in the
New Testament period was very different from
what it has become in other times generally
speaking. And I think this can be understood
well in the terms that we've already been
discussing, but I won't try to go into that
now.
But in this passage Paul talks about we shall
judge angels. Now judge doesn't necessarily
mean what we would think of in terms of a
trial where we were passing judgment. Remember
that the concept of a judge in the Bible is
much larger than that. It would involve that
but not just that.
So, it isn't like we're all, we're just gonna
be passing judgments for the criminality of
all the bad angels or something to that sort.
But rather it means that we'll be in the position
of government over them. That's the biblical
conception of the judge. Is someone who is
in a position of government. And you can clear
that up by going back and looking at the role
of the judge in biblical times.
Well, that goes with Revelation 22:5, doesn't
it? And you remember that one. Right. "Through
the ages of ages there should be no longer
be any night. They shall not have need of
the light of the lamp nor the light of the
sun because the Lord God shall illumine them
and they shall reign forever and ever." And
that really says through ages of ages. Some
of your translations probably give that. Through
ages of ages.
And things yet unknown
And then the final thing I put - that we really
don't know yet what God's ultimate intention
for us is.
Now you know if you're bothered about things
like streets of gold and gates of pearl and
things of that sort, just look at the universe
we have. We know a little bit about it. Not
an awful lot. One thing is very clear. Whoever
made this one can turn out streets of gold
without any problem. All you have to do is
just rearrange the electrons and elements
that make up gold. Human beings have for centuries
sought the means of transmuting one element
into another. We made a very little bit of
progress. More probably than it's safe for
us to have. It's not a problem.
It's like turning water into wine. If you
made the water in the first place, you can
do wine. Now any - if you have the assumption
that God made the present universe, streets
of gold, if that's what you like, shouldn't
trouble you. Right. Or gates of pearl. You
just need a bigger oyster. So you know you
shouldn't be troubled about issues like that.
People who are bothered about what they regard
the fantastic nature of the world to come
are not low on logic; they're just short on
imagination. Because there's really no logical
problem with it if you assume God. Of course
if you don't assume God, forget it. Because
then all that's left is human beings and nature
as they know it. They're not gonna give up
on that.
I mean if there was a reasonable research
project for turning gravel into gold, there
would be someone with a government grant trying
to do that. Now that goes back to the nature
of the human will. Remember what I said about
that, because that's really crucial. But the
human will was never meant to run independently
of God who made it and who makes the world
in which it lives. But the truth is we just
don't know yet all the details. And so God's
ultimate intention for us is declared and
stands out, and that is a part of his Kingdom
for us. And we will move into that as time
goes by.
The Kingdom Through the Bible
Now I want to talk a little bit about how
the unity of the Bible stands out here. Because
I think a lot of folks really have trouble
with this when they read the Bible. What makes
- what does the whole thing hang together
around?
And I want to say it's simply the progressive
with-ness that you see in God's relation,
in his Kingdom, to human beings individually
and in groups. And here there's some repetition
of ideas from what we said earlier, but just
think about how God's with-ness proceeds from
Genesis to Revelation.
Individuals
So did God just drop Adam and Eve in the Garden
and leave them? No. It was his intention to
be with them. Then they hid, and in order
to respect what he has - is aiming at in human
history - then he allows himself to be hid
from them. And humanity begins to develop.
And given the way things had been arranged,
it goes downhill all the way until God says,
I'm sorry that I made human beings.
So that's where Noah comes in and you have
the destruction of the earth, a destruction
of living things on the earth. And then a
new covenant with Noah. And in time then individuals
are selected for special relationships with
God.
And I'm going to go very quickly here because
of - there's more that I want to say to you
before I get to the end about the Kingdom
of God. But you want to look at these people
like Isaac and Jacob and so on in terms of
the Kingdom of God. And that means in terms
of God being with them.
Isaac - for example - it doesn't give much.
Isaac you know doesn't get talked much about.
But actually he's a pretty important figure.
And when you study his life, for example,
you see how God was with him. And God was
with him in such a way that goodness was manifest
in Isaac's life to such a degree that his
neighbors were scared of him.
And he prospered to such an extent that first
of all I think they asked him to move away,
because he was getting so strong and so blessed.
And there was strife and battles between his
people and the people of others. Abimelech
I think it was. And then after moving away
you find these people saying, "No, no. We
want to make a covenant with you." Because,
and the reason is given, is it's because we
see that God is with you. So with God. See
that with God principle.
People of Israel
The people of Israel. This passage in Exodus
29 explains the reason why God arranged to
have the tabernacle. And it's so God could
be with them.
Here's what he says right at the end of Exodus
29, "I will consecrate the tent of meeting
and altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and
his sons to minister as priests to me, and
I will dwell among the sons of Israel and
will be their God. And they shall know that
I am the Lord their God who brought them out
of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among
them. I am the Lord their God." (Exodus 29:44:46)
God wants to dwell among his people. That
is how his Kingdom is manifest.
But it isn't a simple operation. He has to
arrange the circumstances where this can actually
be done. And this is one stage through which
he did that. Cutting a covenant with Abraham,
then with Isaac, with Jacob - that was important.
But now he has a group of people, the tribes
of Israel. And he arranges a new way of being
with them which is the tabernacle.
Now what does that mean? 
You have to ask - try to for a moment try
to put yourself in God's position. Suppose
you were this great being that, who merely
by presenting yourself to a person, could
so totally destroy them. That's the difficulty.
Now, how can he be present with people without
destroying them? And that would mean allowing
them to make choices, so you would need something
like a place and a routine through which they
would come to meet God.
And these people had already been half scared
to death by God, and you'll remember after
he spoke to them from Sinai, they said to
Moses, please don't let him do that again.
You speak to him, and then you come and talk
to us. So this is the general term for this
is mediator. Mediator. So God is working out
means of mediation, so that people can come
to him and go from him. And that's what the
tabernacle was about.
Before they had altars - and for example in
the life of Jacob you see him building altars.
Abraham built altars and so on. But that was
not something that allowed a people to come
to God and be with him in a way that they
could have a life together in his Kingdom.
So now I'm gonna short cut this a lot and
just ask you - I know that you know your Scriptures
well - just ask you to think about how that
developed.
And through the book of Judges, and into Samuel
and on through the Davidic and Solomon's kingdom
and the establishment of the Temple, and then
the destruction of the Temple, the exile and
the transfer of mediation from a building
to a ritual, a written word and a priesthood.
And rabbinic Judaism emerges of that, and
rabbinic Judaism is the Judaism that dominates
at the time of Jesus and afterwards when Jerusalem
is destroyed. Because the Temple is destroyed
again. Jewish people are dispersed again,
and now it is the Torah or the written documents,
and the rituals of family and temple that
continue the process of mediation. And in
fact among the Jewish people that still continues
up to today.
Disciples from all nations
Christ came to break God's Kingdom out of
cultural captivity. And the big issues as
you know in the book of Acts is whether or
not you can be a Christian and not a Jew.
And the word Christian actually emerges in
a situation of Antioch of Syria where you
could no longer treat these people as Jews
because now there were Gentiles. And these
Gentiles were a part of the group, and the
expansion into the whole world is disciples
from all nations, see. Disciples from all
nations. Now that was...
We today have an almost impossible way. It's
almost impossible for us to think what that
meant. Because the system of mediation that
had been present up to the time of Jesus was
now set aside. In the new system of mediation
was one simple thing: Jesus. Jesus is the
mediator. Paul says there's one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ
Jesus. See that's an absolute question, can
you be right with God if you're not circumcised?
Well, that's set aside. Now the whole thing
is thrown open to all nations and all that
is required is simply the presence of Jesus.
The Kingdom is present with him. It comes
with him. If you have him, you have the Kingdom.
Now there was a whole battle that went on
among the Jewish Christians about this. And
of course it was a battle between Jesus and
the Jews also. And that battle became very,
very hot. And if you read Matthew 23 for example,
24, you see what a great struggle it was.
Jesus really said things that were sufficient
from the human point of view to get him killed.
The church
One of the things he said in that is one of
the things that really set me on my ear as
a young Southern Baptist minister, because
he said to them, "You cross land and see to
make one proselyte. And when you've got him
you make him twofold more the child of hell
than you yourselves are." (Matthew 23:15)
Well, if that won't make you start thinking
now about what you're doing - because it may
turn out you're just trying to make Southern
Baptists. And whether or not they're anything
more than that might not be all that important.
Well, of course I didn't mean to be doing
that, but what was I doing? I had to begin
to start thinking in terms of the Kingdom
of God and bringing people into the Kingdom
of God. How am I doing with that. Because
if you bring them into the Kingdom of God
then that presupposes a different view of
what disciple means. And frankly there wasn't
much said about being a disciple in that setting.
And that's a part of the whole idea here that
you can be a Christian without being a disciple.
Certainly you could be a Baptist without being
a disciple. I knew a lot of them. And in fact
I was clawing my way out of that position
myself.
But see, that's a part of realizing that,
wait a minute there's this - God now has opened
the door in a new way. And he's taken the
Kingdom of God out of a strictly and cultural
and institutional setting and put it on the
basis of a personal relationship of being
with.
Beyond human barriers
Well, so much can be said here, but we can't
underestimate this. And when we come to think
about so called social issues and social justice
we have to remember that the real issue here
is loving your neighbor as yourself. And what
happens if your neighbor isn't one of your
kind. When you go to Colossians 3 nd you continue
that passage where it talks about if you then
be raised with Christ set your affections
on things above that we looked at earlier,
you notice he goes on down and talks about
you've laid aside the old man with his deeds
and put on the new man which is renewed in
knowledge after the likeness of him that made
him.
In which, now this is this passage 11-14,
in which there is no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision,
no uncircumcision, no barbarian, no Scythian,
no bond, no free but Christ is all and in
all. In other words those distinctions are
now brought down.
And you may wonder why Scythian shows up in
that, but Scythian is just the bottom of the
human barrel in those days. The Scythians
were the ancestors of modern Russians, and
they were thought to be the meanest people
on earth. The Scythians were people, when
the barbarians saw them coming, they said,
now there are barbarians. And they were a...
I mean you can read this historically. But
that's why Paul includes Scythian in that
list, because he wants us to understand that
God's intended with-ness goes beyond all human
barriers.
So it is not a small thing that he's talking
about there, because human barriers of course
continue to be among the things that cause
the most evil and grief among human beings.
And you look at the genocides that...or conflicts
that are around the world today and you see
that. Well, just quickly the church itself
is presented as the dwelling place of God.
God had designed a people to be his dwelling
place, and that's going to continue throughout
eternity and the passage in Revelation 22
takes you back to that.
Finding Meaning in the Kingdom of God
Now the problem of meaning in human life.
We're going to say a little bit about this,
because life in the Kingdom of God solves
that problem. The problem of meaning in human
life is the problem of - why do things matter,
of what they lead to, and whether or not they
lead to anything that is of enduring worth.
If things are meaningful they carry - they
give you a life and strength. Meaningful work
for example. We often say we want meaningful
work. Well, what is meaningful work?
Meaningful work
Well, meaningful work is work that counts
for something. It counts for something important.
And when you have meaningful work that makes
it much easier for you to get up and go do
it. Right? The mark of the presence of meaning
in life is precisely a kind of energy and
direction that makes life not something you
have to just carry by will power. You're able
to live more joyously in a stronger way; you're
able to do the things that you need to do,
because they have meaning. That means they
lead to something.
And the Kingdom of God comes and says, enter
the Kingdom, live in the Kingdom, allow your
life to count for things that are good, permanent,
enduring, lasting forever. And then that is
what enables one to begin to live on a different
plane.
Now that presupposes that the Kingdom is real.
It's not just imaginary. That as you interact
with the Kingdom, that carries you, that gives
you strength, that gives you direction. And
that means power that has to be learned, how
to deal with.
In Luke 11 Jesus refers to his work in dealing
with demons. He says, "If I by the finger
of God do cast out demons, then know that
the Kingdom has come upon you." (Luke 11:20)
And that power, that reality that is seen
in his life is...should also be seen in the
presence of his people. We talk a lot about
signs and wonders. Signs and wonders are not
the gospel, but they are the natural expression
of the presence of the Kingdom. And I don't
think that we should center on them, but they
are given to Christ's people to meet real
needs.
Now he practiced that, because in his ministry
there were three things that he did with reference
to the Kingdom. One is he proclaimed it. He
announced it. He said the Kingdom is at hand.
He didn't bring it into existence, but he
proclaimed the new availability of the Kingdom.
In the end of chapter 9 - of Matthew 8 he
says, verse 35, "Then Jesus was going about
all the cities and villages preaching, teaching
in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel
and healing every kind of disease and every
kind of sickness." He preached, he talked
and he manifested the presence of the Kingdom.
That's a reality. It's not just words.
Powerful lives
Paul says to the Corinthians, "The Kingdom
of God is not in word but in power." (1 Corinthians
2:1-4, 1 Corinthians 1:18) That is the capacity
to do things, the what we talked earlier,
talked just in terms of the word of the Kingdom.
And how the word of the Kingdom actually produces
a kind of life or results. See that's power.
Now remember spirit is unbodily, personal
power. It's unbodily; it doesn't depend of
the physical. It is personal. It is consists
of thoughts, feelings, will and all those
kinds of things. But it is power. So you don't
have the kind of vague sort of, "The Force
be with you" kind of teaching, because it's
personal. You're dealing with a person.
You don't learn to manipulate it. So many
forms of that have spun off of Christianity
- basically say things like, well there are
these spiritual laws. And you learn to work
with these spiritual laws. And once you do
that then you just click out the results as
from a mechanism.
No, you don't do that. That's a form of idolatry.
That puts spiritual reality subject to your
will. This is a personal relationship. And
when Jesus goes about proclaiming, teaching
and manifesting, he is living in a relationship
to a personal reality which is the Kingdom
of God.
So that's why we don't have mechanical results.
It's because it's a personal negotiation and
a personal relationship. Now on the secular
view and that...
What I'm saying here is simply that that gives
you involvement in a meaningful life that
is lived in the Kingdom of God. That's what
you do. You work there. You're working with
something eternal. You're life is becoming
part of an eternal life, and results that
are gained from that last for eternity.
Secular Views of Meaning
If you compare that to the secular view, nothing
and nothing. Nothing comes of it that lasts.
It's all over. The sun will become a giant
red star at some point, and that'll be the
end of the earth. And nothing that is a part
of that will ever last. And that is what gives
people the what some people might call the
Tolstoy complex. Tolstoy discovered that when
he was at the height of his powers and the
most successful novelist probably who had
ever lived, he discovered it was all going
to amount to nothing. And you read the story
of this in his book called Confession. A Confession.
And when you see that it is nothing, then
what's the point?
Now if you happen to like what you're doing
you can live on that. And thank goodness for
that. And it's wonderful to see how young
people especially are able to just live in
the immediate delight of what they're doing.
But, for example, they sense that there's
a kind of meaninglessness that lies ahead
of them that makes it hard for them to go
on, and sometimes they can't go on. You may
be familiar with the myth of Sisyphus - that
is classical mythology. The idea of a guy
named Sisyphus who had offended the gods and
he was condemned to roll a rock up to the
top of a mountain, watch it roll back down,
and walk back down and roll it up again. And
that's all he ever did.
So that's what some people think of life,
and if that view is true, then so be it. We
have to accept it. We can be brave about it.
We can be tough. Or we can as Camus suggests
commit suicide. But the presence of Jesus
and his Kingdom shows that this is not true.
The Meaning of Life for a Believer
So the meaning of life for the believer in
Christ, let's just cover some points on this.
What is the meaning of life?
The love and purpose of God for us. We are
embedded in his eternal life. What makes our
life eternal is involvement in his eternal
life.
And in Romans 8 we have these marvelous verses
that spell this out. Paul has just said that
all things work together for good to those
have loved God and are called into his purposes.
That's life in the Kingdom. "And now for those
whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become
conformed to the image of his Son." See, that's
purpose. That's meaning. "That he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Those he's
predestined he's called. These he's justified.
His glory will also so glorify. And then what
then shall we say of these things, if God
be for us, who can be against it...against
us."
And he goes on to describe the path of life
that the person has who is in embedded in
the Kingdom of God. All the hard things turn
to our good.
Now you can't have that unless you have the
vision of life in the Kingdom. All the hard
things turn to good. Even aging, the body
breaking down, this passage in 2 Corinthians
4:16 is the one where Paul is saying even
though our outward man is perishing, our inward
man is being renewed day by day. "The trials
of the present time," he says, "are nothing
compared to the great weight of glory which
they are working." And he talks about how
we are inwardly renewed as we look not at
the things that are temporal, but at the things
that are eternal. And how the temporal things
are visible. The eternal things are invisible.
So all that fits in to this picture of a meaningful
life in the Kingdom of God. We look forward.
We are carried forward by meaning. Drama is
a word that we need to learn to use. We should
be living a dramatic life.
And it helps us I think, when it comes to
grips with how our life is going. Is there
drama in our life? Drama refers to the ups
and downs of meaningful existence in pursuit
of good against opposition. That's what drama
is. That may - some of us may feel we could
stand a little less drama, because the opposition
may be pressing us very hard. But living in
the eternal Kingdom of God now is what gives
us this framework.
Teachings of the Kingdom
So you have the teachings of the gospel of
the Kingdom, and I'm going to come back now
and deal with this much more tomorrow in more
detail. But just for now, if you know these
passages.
Turning from old systems
Chapter 3 of Matthew, when John the Baptist
comes what does he preach? Repent for the
Kingdom of the heavens is at hand. Remember
- "at hand" does not mean it's about to happen
- it means it's right here now. We can turn
and walk into it.
And Jesus comes in Matthew 4:17, same message.
Exactly the same words: Repent for the Kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Chapter 5, the Beatitudes,
is a teaching about the Kingdom of God. "Blessed
is the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom
of God." And you watch the order in that passage,
and you realize that it begins and ends with
the Kingdom of God. Ends with the treasures,
the rewards that are laid up in the Kingdom
of God for those who suffer persecution.
And I don't want to get started on that because
I want to spend a long time on the Beatitudes
later on. But it's important to understand
what the Beatitudes are, basically as the
proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Chapter
9:35-38 is the passage I just read to you
about what Jesus did when he went about the
various places, teachings. Well, the point
is that what Jesus preached was the Kingdom
of God. He uses the parables. They're all
parables of the Kingdom.
The transition from the Jewish system into
what laid beyond it, these passages here in
Matthew and Luke are parallel passages and
they're very important. What Jesus says in
these passages is that until John the Baptist,
the law and the prophets were proclaimed.
That is the system that was present in the
Jewish institutions were the officially appointed
doorway into the Kingdom of God. That is what
God had appointed in an orderly way to do
upon earth was done through the Jewish system.
But now he says since John the Baptist the
gospel of the Kingdom is preached.
And the old version of Matthew 11:12 says
the Kingdom suffers violence and violent men
take it by force. It sounds like someone coming
in with Uzis and shooting up the place, doesn't
it? But it doesn't refer to that at all, although
many of the people who have tried to apply
Jesus' teaching in social settings have misused
that passage. What it really means is they
do not stand on the Jewish proprieties. We
want to see what it means here in Matthew
11 of people pressing him, coming and taking
by force.
New hope for outcasts
Just remember the little leper in Matthew
8 that comes down the hill towards Jesus and
says, Jesus, if you would you could make me
clean. Now where did he get that? Lepers aren't
supposed to be coming. They're supposed to
be going. Right? He had heard Jesus talk.
Just like that woman who crept in off the
streets and washed Jesus feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair. They heard him
talk. And they said I have hope here.
So that little man came and said, if you would,
not that you would, but if you would, you
could heal me. And Jesus characteristic of
the generosity of the Kingdom doesn't just
sort of stand there and say you're healed.
He puts forth his hand and touches him. I
don't think he touched him like you'd touch
a hot stove. He touched him with a human touch.
I suspect he put his arm around him and said,
I'll do it. Be clean. See?
Now what's that illustrate? That illustrates
what it is to take the Kingdom by force. That
leper did not stand on proprieties. He just
mulled his way in.
Keep looking in Matthew 8. Here comes a Roman
centurion. A Roman centurion is not supposed
to come. The Roman centurion says, I have
a son or a servant at home. And very sick.
Won't you please heal him? And Jesus says,
sure I'll come and heal him.
Now, that Roman was sensitive. He knew that
if Jesus entered the house of a Gentile, he'd
be unclean for three days. That would mean
he could not participate in many of the activities
- certainly the rituals of the Temple.
So the centurion just says, oh no. You don't
need to come. Just say the word. He said,
I know what you do. "I too am a man under
authority, and I say to this man go and he
goes. And this man come and he comes." See
that's Kingdom stuff. The centurion understood
Kingdom. And he recognized that's what Jesus
was working with was Kingdom. See that's another
illustration of how things have changed. Luke
16:16 just puts it very simply - says since
John the gospel of the Kingdom is preached,
and people are pushing into it by crowds.
They're crowding into it.
And now I hope you'll have time. I know that
this is very intense. But I hope you have
time to look at those two passages in particular.
And Jesus had said, Jesus had said to the
Jews in Matthew 21:43 after in one of these
hotly contested, hotly argued sessions that
he had with them - he said to the them, "Therefore
I say to you the Kingdom of God shall be taken
away from you and given to a people producing
the fruit of it." That is a key passage.
That's what happened in the book of Acts.
The book of Acts is the description of how
Matthew 21:43 was carried out. That doesn't
mean the Jews can't enter the Kingdom of God.
It means it was not in their peculiar possession
to make it available to the world. And Jesus
presented it as if it were a...
New birth for all
So now how do you enter the Kingdom? John
3:15, John 3:5. Nicodemus said he can recognize
what God is doing. He tries to pay Jesus a
compliment. "We know that no man can do the
things you're doing unless God be with him."
(John 3:2) Remember that? And Jesus in an
effort to help Nicodemus understand says,
Nicodemus, you can't see the Kingdom of God
unless you're born from above. Born from above
is crucial. Not just born again. Born from
above. And what does that mean? What that
means is that now entry into the Kingdom is
not mediated through any human institution.
And again he says you can't enter the Kingdom
unless you're born from above. Nicodemus totally
did not know what he was talking about. And
you have to read that whole passage coming
up on John 3:16 as an illustration of the
gospel of the Kingdom of God and how it now
bypasses human institutions entirely. Now
then whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.
The Kingdom and the Church
Now there's been some questions about the
Kingdom and the church. And we're going to
have to conclude here, but let's conclude
with this. The church does not omit the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is present in the church.
And this passage Romans 14:17 is crucial to
understanding of that. If you don't know that
verse, please...This is right in the middle
of a church, because what ends up... They're
having a disagreement about eating. So typical
for human beings to get embroiled in things
like this. So now look at that verse carefully.
Here's what Paul says, the Kingdom of God.
They've been talking about practices in the
church. Right? They've been focusing entirely
on that. Now Tuesday evening we have to come
and talk about this. What happens in the church
that keeps us from being a discipling body
of Christ. We're distracted.
These people were distracted about eating.
And Paul says, look, don't worry about that.
I mean he deals... Eating comes up over and
over, doesn't it? It seems like half the disagreements
in the New Testament are over eating. But
Paul says the Kingdom of God is not meat and
drink but righteousness, peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit. Obviously he's talking about
the Kingdom of God in the church, isn't he?
There ought to be an interception here. And
when church matters when we're looking at
that interception we want to understand that
the Kingdom of God is manifested by a kind
of righteousness or goodness. A kind of peace
and a kind of joy that can only be supernaturally
produced.
The Kingdom of God, the gospel of the Kingdom
is the announcement that God is here. That
anyone who wants to find him can come through
Jesus Christ and find the Kingdom of God.
Seek Out the Kingdom
So let's go back to where we started. This
is clearing up some things here. I'll leave
that up there, but we're out of time. So let
me just go back to where we started. Seek
first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and everything else will be added. How do
you seek the Kingdom of God? If you were gonna
tell someone how to do it, what would you
say to them? I would say to them that means
find out what is doing, that is the Kingdom.
Find out what God is doing and do that. Find
out what God is...
Now how do you find out what God is doing?
Well, I would say to them observe Jesus Christ.
Look at him. Listen to what he says. Watch
what he did. That's what God is doing. Now
do that where you are and you will find the
Kingdom of God. And you will find the kind
of righteousness that God has. And when you
find that everything else you need will be
provided.
Good night, what a statement that it! Yes,
but what about the twenty-third Psalm ? "The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack." Same
thing? Sure it's the same thing. Except now
we have a face on the shepherd. Now we have
a person to point to and say that's where
you can find it. And that person? Jesus Christ.
That's why we're called Christians.
But we can't just rest in the name. We have
to move to the reality and the presence of
the Kingdom.
Well, we have not by any means plumbed the
depths of the subject, but I hope it will
be something that you can begin to get hold
of now that you think, and continue to think,
about the presence of the Kingdom and the
divine conspiracy.
Closing Prayer
Well, let's just briefly pray as we close
today. Father, by your Spirit give us the
things that we need. The things that will
help us. Because we know that just a lot of
words doesn't do a thing unless they're...
Comes to us that which will direct our lives
in such a way that we will know the righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that characterizes
your Kingdom. So for each one of us here and
for thyself above all, who is the source of
the cloud of words that comes forth, won't
you please help us to know your Kingdom in
its full reality of where we are. And we pray
that in the name and honor of Jesus. Amen.
