The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God

Good morning. So church family. Good morning to those of you tuning in on the live stream. I’ve been praying for us this morning. I started last night praying for us. And if you could pray for me this morning because I left my glasses at home and I got to read some tiny words up here. So I would certainly appreciate that. Um, and then if you’re a visitor here, my name is dan and I’m one of the pastors here at Sword Church and I would like to welcome you and I do hope that you fill out a connect card and would be able to reach out to you this week. Um, so on that note, guys, we are going to continue our coverage of the gospel according to Luke and we are going to continue in Chapter nine. But while you turn there, I kind of want to set this up a little bit. Want to give you a little bit of history. I was a history major in college. Um, and there’s some things that I think are relevant to the passage that don’t make sense. Hopefully at some point. But how many of you know that today, there’s a half marathon taking place here in Lincoln, I think maybe they canceled it because of the weather, but there’s a half marathon taking place. Um, some of you may be aware of this. Some of you may not be aware of the fact that the first marathon resulted in the individual dying At the completion of 26.2 mi. This was a Greek marathon runner, which in actuality he was a herald of the good news that the Greeks had staved off an invasion by the Persians. And so he was carrying good news to his fellow countrymen who lived, you know, a distance away from the war to pronounce to them that the Greeks should want and that we were no longer going to be under the threat of of slaves to the Persian empire, that we have been saved, that our armies had defeated the Persians. And so the first marathon runner was actually an evangelist. A herald carrying good news. And your Christianity comes to you taking those terms, those Greco roman terms and rifle and rightfully deploying them for the purposes of christ and his kingdom. Because it has always been, I’m sorry, so excited to see this next line. Couldn’t even get that right. All right. But it has always been God’s desire. God’s plan to have a kingdom with this image bearers reflecting his glory, his character and his ways has always been God’s plan from the beginning. And it has always been the response of unbelieving, sinful humanity to prefer another king, another kingdom. And another way for living. But faithful followers of christ know that there is no other name under having by which a man may be saved. There’s no other kingdom that is eternal. That will make good on all of its problems. And there is no other way to live except that we live for the glory of the Lord jesus christ. Before I get to the passage, I want to read to you something that actually shows the contrast between God’s kingdom and the Kingdom of man. Not only does it show the contrast between the two kingdoms, but it demonstrates the context that the Lord jesus christ began his earthly ministry. In an inscription was found on a stone and Prince turki And it was dated to be around about nine BC. I want to read to you what the inscription said. It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia in the opinion of the high priest Apollon ears of Mena Phyllis as an itis. Now I need a bonus for that one. And you thought Shannon was a difficult name to pronounce anyway, in the opinion of the High priest. Since providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us augustus whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things. And since he caesar by his appearance, excels even our anticipations surpassing all previous benefactors and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done. And since the birthday of the God, augustus was the beginning of the good tidings noticed there, the greek term you and Gillian, which means gospel or good news. The good tidings, the good news, the birth of caesar. The good news of the accomplishments of caesar. The good news of the decrees of caesar since the birth of the God, augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him, which Asia resolved in Smyrna and this was an inscription found on a stone and what would be a city in modern day Turkey. This was the belief of the roman caesar that he had become the son of God and that his kingdom was the true and eternal kingdom that would bring about great peace, the pax Ramona, so to speak. The roman peace that would produce human flourishing throughout the ages. That was the gospel that Rome proclaimed. That was the greatest political propaganda history has ever known, right? And this is the context that Jesus begins his earthly ministry in roman caesars, believing themselves to be the sons of God leading the most dominant empire in history up until that point. And now jesus comes along pronouncing the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is either a crazy man, a rebel insurgent trying to lead a revolt against Rome or he is indeed sent from God Who are the only three options if you’re an individual. Hearing him declared that the Kingdom of God is at hand talking about the Kingdom of God knowing that this is the backdrop, You’re crazy, You’re trying to start a revolt or you are from God. So let’s look at the pastors this morning. Unless see what jesus has to say. Let’s see what the bible has to say about him being this king that is sent from God. Let’s see why this is relevant for us. Because God has always wanted a kingdom on this earth with humanity reflecting his glory, his ways, his character. And yet it’s always been the response of sinful, disobedient human beings to prefer another king, another kingdom and another way to live. But that’s not the way followers of christ live. We trust in him. We listened to him. We live for his kingdom and his glory alone. A man, let’s read the passage Verse 27 6. But I tell you truly, there’s some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God, Verse 28. Now, about eight days after these things he took with him, Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray and as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him moses and elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. But when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make 3/10 1 for you and one for moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things a cloud came and overshadowed, overshadowed them and they were afraid as they entered the cloud and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen one listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, jesus was found alone and they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Let us pray father in heaven. We thank you. The Kingdom of God has come now that you’ve established your kingdom. You’ve appointed your king and Lord. We are to listen to him. So I pray this morning that your word, that his word, the word of christ would speak to us and make us more fit more able to serve and to glorify him and his kingdom. I pray God that you would speak and have the glory through me this morning. And I ask this in jesus name, Amen Amen. There’s always been God’s plan to have a kingdom. That the Kingdom of God is the most significant theme in all of the bible. There are a lot of great things in the bible, but it is the most significant theme in all of the bible and yet it is the least understood thing when you talk among christians about this idea of the Kingdom of God. For some people, the Kingdom of God is simply the church, that’s the kingdom to them and for others, the Kingdom of God is what we experience after death. That’s where we go, that’s the afterlife. And yet the scripture has so much more to say, so much more to give us to teach us about this very important theme. The Kingdom of God has been God’s plan from the beginning to establish his kingdom with humanity as his image bearers were fucking his ways. Dr RC scroll, I said this about the Kingdom of God at the heart of this theme is the idea of God’s Messianic kingdom. It is a kingdom that will be ruled by God’s appointed messiah who will be not just the redeemer of his people but their king, we would just save them, but he will be their king. one Theologian put it this way, the Kingdom of God is the rule of jesus christ on earth. The blessing and advantages that flow from living under christ rule and the citizens who joyfully submit to his rule are called the church, Calvin said. It is the task of the church to make the invisible kingdom visible. In other words jesus christ our resurrected and ascended lord and savior. King over all the earth is not physically on the earth, but his subjects to church who joyfully submit to him reveal his kingdom, reveal his rule. Mhm. By the way they live by what they give themselves to buy the things they prioritize, they reveal the invisible kingdom. Caesar is not Lord, Jesus is lord. That is what the early church testified to. You know, what’s interesting about that fact is that caesar didn’t care what religion you subscribe to so long as you gave and offering to caesar every now and then, if you just do that, you can worship wherever you want however you want, whoever you want, just I need you to publicly occasionally pay an offering the season. And the early church says we have no king but jesus, but the unbeliever says we have no king, but caesar, God has always had a plan to have a kingdom on this earth of people, humans reflecting his glory his ways. That is true and that is the kingdom that brings the most peace and gives the most opportunity for human flourishing. It is not any kingdom of man, but it is the response of sinful, unbelieving people to prefer another king, another kingdom. And another way to live. That’s also been the issue with God’s people. As we look at our bible, as we study the history of God’s dealing with humanity, always preferring another king, always preferring another kingdom, always preferring another way to live, wanting to be like the other kingdoms of the world. For Samuel eight, the Prophet Samuel is dealing with. Israel desiring to be like the Philistines desiring to be like the other nations around them. Desiring to look and be like them, goes to the Prophet Samuel and say make for us a king a point for us a king to rule over us. Like the other nations, we prefer another king, another kingdom. And another way like them. And Samuel is torn up by this. He prays to God falls on his face and prayer to God for Samuel 87. God answers his prayer in this way and the Lord said to Samuel, Obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. God is always one of the kingdom, what people made in his image reflecting his glory his way. Sinful humanity always prefers another king, another kingdom or another way to live. Maybe it’s maybe you are the king that you prefer. Maybe it’s your own selfish rule and reign that you prefer. That’s still preferring another king and another kingdom in another way. But in our passes, jesus declared to his disciples that some of them would not die without first seeing the kingdom of God, that they wouldn’t leave the planet without seeing the kingdom of God. In essence the true god, man uniting heaven and earth. Not caesar, but the true god, man, fully God, fully man uniting heaven and earth, you will see that man in his glory and his kingdom before you die and so luke records the fulfillment of that promise from jesus Verse 27 That’s a promise. Some of you will see the Kingdom of God before you die. And the fulfillment of that promise comes according to luke eight days later. Now the gospel of mark records it as happening six days later and I would submit to you. The difference in time there, Mark wrote his gospel. He’s very short on details because he was riding primarily to roman audience. So for him, it’s probably when they arrived to the mountain and for luke, it’s when the actual revelation took place, meaning they got to the mountain, they have to climb the mountain. There was a prayer meeting, there was time that it passed. So he says eight days later the fulfillment of that promise. So let’s read that it says now about eight days after these sayings in verse 28, he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray and as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white and behold, two men were talking with him moses and elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem Again, this is the fulfillment of that promise that some of them will not die until they saw the kingdom of God. Well, let’s look at this these these verses here, let’s kind of look at this context for for a brief moment we have jesus and peter john and James going up onto a mountain to pray and joining them in the midst of their prayer beating is elijah and moses. Has that ever happened to your permit? Say no, no, you say yes, we should talk afterwards. All right. I did have someone tell me one time moses spoken out, moses speaks to me too right here and and genesis and exodus and that moses. Yeah, okay. All right, sorry, bring it back in. Mhm reel it in and reel it in. So, prayer meeting on a mountain with jesus, peter James, john and moses and Elijah show up at a prayer meeting on the mountain. If you’re familiar with mountains, they have a prominent experience in scripture. In fact, I want to kind of give you a brief tour of some of the prominent experiences with mountains or taking place on a mountain in scripture. Some of you may not be aware of this, but Eden Eden. The Garden of Eden is called the Garden of God on the Mountain of God and this can be found in Ezekiel 28 verses 13 and 14, it’s called the Garden of God On the Mountain of God. We know from scripture that Abraham is chested on a mountain Mount Mariah. God told him to go up on the mountain sacrifice your son and we know that it’s up on top of that mountain that God gives miraculous provision for him. But in the process is teaching Abraham how God was going to deliver his people, how God was going to secure the covenant that he promised to Abraham that it was going to be through the giving of God’s son, God’s appointed king to establish the kingdom of God. We know that moses met with God on the mountain first as he was drawn to the burning bush and hurt his calling to be a deliverer to go into Egypt And to bring God’s people out of Egypt. We know that once he brought God’s people out of Egypt, he went back up onto the mountain and God gave him the 10 commandments to establish a family that began with Abraham into a nation into a kingdom, a royal priesthood, so to speak. It’s always been God’s plan. We know that Elijah met God on the mountain and that’s a cool story. If you’ve never read that story, Elijah is, he’s had an incredible encounter with the forces of darkness on another mountain where God shows up miraculously and does this incredible thing and it looks like there’s gonna be reformation in the land. But no, uh, there was the threat of death. So Elijah flees to a mountain to meet with God, there was earthquakes, Fire, Wind. Not like that soul group. Some of you got that some of you are too young earth. Wind, fire, Okay, Never mind. All right, But God was not in any of those things. It was in the silent still voice that represented the presence of God, the holiness of God, the perfection of God, the Almighty Nous of God that in that silence Elijah feared for his life, he knew that he was meeting with God. We also know that Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb, likely the same mountain are called the mountain of God. Jesus preached his first sermon on the, on the mountainside. It’s literally called sermon on the mountain. In case you didn’t know that in ancient times, mountains were not thought of as places for recreation. The ancients weren’t talking about Climbing a 14 or or something like that. They believe that mountains are the places where you meant. You went to meet with God to receive divine counsel from God because mountains were believed to be the abode of the divine peaks. Mountain peaks there in the clouds. They saw this joining of the heavens and the earth and they thought that’s where the gods dwelt and they went there to get revelation and to meet with the divide and we know just from the brief number of scriptures that I’ve listened, there’s numerous others I could pull up and show you this is the case that even God and his dealings with his people often took place on a mountain, jesus is orchestrating a prayer meeting right in this passage, on a mountain where he’s going to reveal to some of his disciples the kingdom of God. Now the difference between worshippers, God and those who worship pagan deities is that we know that God is not limited to meeting with its people only mountain, that somehow being on a mountain doesn’t make you closer to God. We know that in fact Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan Woman and John 4 21- 24 said to her woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father? You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the jews, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit And truth, not on a mountain, not in a holy place here or there, but in spirit and truth. Those who seek the kingdom of God to worship the father to be his people do so in spirit and truth. And yet we still have to deal with the fact that this is a prayer meeting on the mountain with jesus James, john peter and now elijah and moses join the party. So we look at this passage, look at this mountain scene is this that jesus is transfigured, His face is altered. His clothes become dazzling white. If you’re familiar with your old testament, you know when moses met with God that after leaving that meeting, his face would reflect the glory of God, right? And he was embarrassed by that were veil. If you’ve never read that, maybe you’ve watched the 10 commandments Charlton, Heston’s for the longest time. I thought that man was moses um later in life I realized he was just a character. But anyway, even in that movie, you see his face, they’re trying to capture that the G is terrible, but they’re trying to capture that reality, jesus in this passage is not reflecting the glory of God, He’s revealing his glory. He’s reviewing that. He is the true god man, the true divine, the true bridge between heaven and earth and the dazzling white clothes reflect at that perfection and holiness is found in him, not in caesar, not in any of the governing governing elites of that day, but in him alone, he is the true god man. And then you have these two characters. Why are they there? Why does moses and Elijah show up at this prayer meeting. Why did it crash the party, so to speak. When moses and elijah, they represent the law and the prophets. The law came through moses, Elijah and I would submit to you, Alicia one and the same represent the charismatic profits and the fire of God to call an unbelieving and apostate people back to God, moses represents the deliverance from slavery and the formation of a people. And lastly when you look at both moses and Elijah, neither man has an earthly grave. Neither had an earthly grave. Elijah was taken chair to fire into heaven. That would have been a cool scene. Talk about Uber, But there’s some important old testament text about Elijah and Moses, Deuteronomy 17 Yeah, moses said this. He says when you come to the land speaking to the Children of Israel, when you come to the land that the Lord your God has given you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say I will set a king over me. Like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord, your God will choose one from among your brothers, usual set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. God will point your king, you will say I want a king and I want to be like the other nations and I want to live the way in which they live what God says, No, I will appoint for you. King will establish my kingdom and teach you to live according to my way. Deuteronomy 18, moses says this is the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers and this is good here it is to him, you shall listen, We’ll come back to that one. An important verse about Elijah maliki four or five says behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and this is maybe a couple of centuries after Elijah died, God says Elijah is coming back to repair people got for the arrival of God’s appointed king God’s true prophet God’s true joiner of heaven and earth establishing the kingdom of God here and so moses and Elijah crash the prayer meeting on the mountain with jesus, john and James because the kingdom of God, it’s calm. We’re reading on our passage verse 32 we’re going to read here, we’re going to see the humanity of Peter and the disciples, our humanity much like our own is this now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. They just climb the mountain, jesus said we’re going up here to pray and they fell asleep having interviewed said man, I really want to spend some time in prayer. Set aside some time for prayer and found yourself seeking the Lord in a dream. Yeah, their safety during the prayer meeting. I mean it’s jesus Right super me with jesus. So I know it’s not boring, right, clearly it’s not boring. We got guys coming from where these guys come from and they’re sleeping but they awoke when they saw his glory and the two men standing with him, universe 33. And as the men were parting from him, peter who has a mouth shaped like a foot, said to jesus master, It is good that we are here. Let us make 3/10 1 for you and one for moses and one for Elijah not knowing what he said. Good hold peter with the mouth shaped like a foot. So we’re peter, this is the Mount Rushmore of Judaism right here, right, moses Elijah and now you, jesus, Oh man, we’re good, we’re in. Yeah, Not too long ago, eight days ago, it is great revelation that jesus was God’s appointed, that God had anointed and sent jesus to be the christ and messiah. And now in this moment, I don’t know what to do with himself, I can’t see That Jesus is still the one and in fact God is in his kindness allowing moses and Elijah to see the one that they had hoped it, they’re getting an opportunity to see the one that they put their hope in the one that they prophesy about who was coming anniversary forces. And as he was saying these things speaking of peter, a cloud came and overshadowed them and they were afraid as they entered the cloud, the cloud being the very presence of God drawing near and as they realize that it terrified them, there was no place to run. There was no place to hide, There was no place to go. God had enveloped them and I don’t care who you think you are. But when Almighty God comes and draws near and you find yourself in his presence you are undone. There is not one excuse you can throw, there’s not one good deed, you can hang your hat on. You know from the moment that you’re in the presence of the almighty. Mm I’m simple and they sensed it. I’m terrified that. But God in his mercy, He wants to clear up there thinking about his son and he says in verse 35 and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. That’s it. That’s that’s the sermon. That’s the message. That’s the point of the entire kingdom of God, jesus is the messiah the appointed one. Listen to him. Not caesar, not your culture, not self, not circumstances, not the elites and the professionals and the influencers of our day. But king jesus him him alone, his word, his kingdom, his ways. That’s it. Listen to him, peter. Don’t keep reaching back into your own cultural understanding and shaping and feelings and trying to project those on to this messiah. Listen to him. He’ll tell you what’s true, we have the same dilemma in our day. Yeah, we love culture. God created culture, culture is to glorify God but culture is not God. We love learning, We love science, we love these things. They are tools given to us for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of God in such a way that humans can flourish. And we know that we need leaders. We need skilled and trained leaders. And yet the voice of these leaders cannot be christ to us. And we’re thankful for governments and and having the ability to to live in a land like ours. But yet our government is not the kingdom of God. God has always had in his will to establish his kingdom here on earth with humans reflecting his glory his ways. And it has always been the response of sinful humanity to prefer another king and another kingdom. And another way to live God in his mercy. Keep sending heralds profits, teachers, evangelist, normal christians to reveal his invisible kingdom and to proclaim his good tidings to call humanity back and to the only kingdom that can offer eternal peace and eternal human flourishing. This is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. I want to leave you with this warning from hebrews three and says therefore as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness Where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said. They always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways as I soar my wrath. They shall not enter my rest. Take care Brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in christ. If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end as it is said today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion for who were those who heard and yet rebelled. Was and not all those who left Egypt led by moses And with whom was he provoked for 40 years. Was not with those who send whose bodies fell in the wilderness and to whom did he swear that they will not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. God has appointed his son to be our king. To establish the true and eternal kingdom. We may know true peace and true human flourishing. But the hardened, sinful, unbelieving heart prefers another king in another kingdom in another way. But faithful followers of christ know that there is no other king, no other kingdom and no other way except for christ. So the question we all need to consider this morning? Where have you placed your hope? Where have you grounded your trust? Is it in God’s king and his kingdom and in his ways? Or have you looked to another king in another kingdom and another way to live? Where have you grounded your hope? Where is the foundation of your trust? If it’s not in christ, it’s shaky ground, it will not fulfill, it will not lead to ultimate peace and flourishing for you. The Heidelberg Catechism address is the same question and answers it with a bold declaration of faith and I want to read it to you and then I’m gonna close in prayer. Just what is your only comfort in life and death? The answer that I am not my own but belong with body and soul, both in life and death to my faithful savior, Jesus christ. He is fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore by his holy spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him. Amen. Let’s pray God, thank you for sending your son. Thank you for the testimony of your spirit. Lord. Make us heartily and willing to live for King, jesus for your kingdom and to demonstrate your ways. Give us the sermon and the fear of you to avoid every temptation to pursue another king, another kingdom and another way of living God. We want you, we want your rule and reign. So help us to reveal your invisible kingdom in our lives. We pray this in jesus name. Amen.