(Below is a large portion of a Cru talk I gave recently at the University of Minnesota). Right now, the world around us is a little chaotic. Global pandemic, national, state and local election, and whatever we have going on in our own lives with family, friends and work obligations. I want to help us collectively lift our eyes to reflect on the sovereignty of God, the kingship of Jesus, and the hope we have because of who God is. When we read about the life of Jesus, we see that Jesus mentions the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven more than any other topic. The concept of the kingdom of God is present really throughout the entirety of scripture, and especially in the gospels. What is the kingdom of God? A kingdom is simply a territory over which a king reigns. Wherever the king reigns is the kingdom. We learn right away in Genesis 1 that God created the heavens and the earth. Because God is the creator of all things, he reigns everywhere. The kingdom of God is everywhere around us.
It’s important to remember that unlike the United States, the kingdom of God is not a democracy. The kingdom of God is a theocracy: this means that God is our supreme ruling authority. God created us, he’s our author, so he has authority over us, and all of his creation. From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God. In Mark 1, we see Jesus going into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel. He says, “the time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (This good news is that there is forgiveness available to us through Jesus. We don’t have to live life separated from God anymore because Jesus restores our relationship to the Father). Jesus came to proclaim this good news. The kingdom of God is not like an earthly kingdom; it’s not something that is physically present that you can tangibly point to - and yet it’s all around us. Throughout his life and ministry, Jesus uses parables, or stories, that help explain the kingdom of God in a way that we might be able to understand. In Matthew chapter 13, we read that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all plants as it grows into a 8-12’ tall tree. Just like the mustard seed, with its small beginnings, the kingdom of God would grow into an immense and influential entity. Right after this, Jesus describes the kingdom of God like yeast in bread; a lot of people started baking bread during quarantine this year, myself included, and I saw that you need just a tiny amount of yeast compared to how much flour you need to make bread. The kingdom of God is like the yeast: it might seem small but it is powerful in transforming its surroundings. Jesus also called the kingdom like a treasure hidden in a field: “A man finds it, then covers it up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all he has to buy the field.” The kingdom of God is like the treasure because it’s priceless- it’s worth far more than anything we might sacrifice to obtain it. The man in this parable sells all he has, joyfully, because of the immense worth of what he has found. It’s a kingdom like no other. Israel, God’s chosen people, had great hope in their coming king. They were waiting for a military conqueror who would rescue them from their enemies. Someone who would reign with authority, a powerful figurehead in the culture and society. They continually ask God to provide them a king, which he does, but it doesn’t turn out the way they all hope. In John 6 we see an example of this desire for a king play out as Jesus feeds the 5,000 (v 1-15): Jesus is in Galilee, and a crowd of people are following him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, so he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, says “Here is a boy with five small loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. It’s easy to miss the mention of the kingdom of God in this story. We usually highlight the fact that Jesus did this miraculous thing and fed all these people. But we see at the beginning of chapter 6, the crowd that had gathered was on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover meal. Passover was the celebration of the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. As the crowd listens to Jesus’ teaching, they are thinking of the promise of a deliverer that would come. They are looking for a King, a Messiah, who would deliver them from oppressing Roman rule. As the crowd hears Jesus preaching, they want to make him King. They want a political powerhouse, but they don’t yet understand that Jesus is ruler in the kingdom of God, which is a different kind of kingdom than they are looking for. Later on, we read about Jesus being arrested in the garden, and set before Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate questions his self-proclaimed kingship, and Jesus explains, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” The men who crucified Jesus wrote the words “King of the Jews” on a sign and placed it above his head, as his body was hung on the cross. Written in a mocking manner, these men had no idea who Jesus really was. Jesus dies on the cross, he’s buried in the tomb and days later he rises from the dead. Talk about power and authority: Jesus has power over DEATH. And before he ascended to heaven, Jesus appeared to his disciples for some final instructions. If you’ve hung around Cru long enough you’ve probably heard the great commission - and in this passage, Jesus issues a mandate to the church “because “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to him, and he sends out his people to make disciples of all nations. The disciples ask him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Their question shows how little they actually understand about the kingdom of God. Jesus isn’t only coming to be Israel’s king, then and there, but he’s coming back to be everyone’s king, to reign on the new earth. We are living in a time of the proclaimed kingdom of God, the now and the not yet. The kingdom is here, ushered into the world by the first coming of Jesus, but it is something we also must wait for in the future. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus says “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the world, as a testimony to the nations, and then the end will come.” Only then will Jesus come again, returning as a triumphant king. The kingdom of God was central to Jesus’ life and ministry, and it remains crucial to our theology and how we live it out today. If you have given your life to Christ, accepted his gift of salvation by grace, through faith, then you are a part of this kingdom of God. Your status is secure, and it can never change. The sovereign God holds a place for you in the future kingdom. Living in light of the kingdom of God, the now and the not yet, means we have an opportunity to show Christ to the world around us. To live out God’s kingdom purposes and care about the things God cares about. As followers of Christ God calls us to have his heart, to see the world with his eyes. You might be familiar with the Lord’s prayer. It begins, “Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s hard to pray that prayer, to want God’s will instead of our own. But in his infinite wisdom and sovereignty, God knows best and is trustworthy as we live in the now and the not yet. “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” - Psalm 103:19
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