the Kingdom: what it is - part 15

the essence of the Kingdom

For almost four months we have been studying the Kingdom.  This morning will be our final message in our sermon series the Kingdom: what it is.  Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, the community or territory over which Christ reigns as King - a restored, renewed, regenerated, reunited Kingdom of Israel under the reign of a descendant of David who is also Jehovah our righteousness.  This morning we bring this series to a close as we discuss the essence of the Kingdom.  What is the Kingdom about?  If we were to summarize the Kingdom in a few words or in a brief statement, how would we frame that?  Paul does an excellent job of summarizing the essence of the Kingdom in Romans 14:17. 

Go ahead and turn there in your Bibles.  As you do, I want to work our way up to this summary statement with some broad general themes.  Last week I mentioned that at times it is easier to describe something by way of comparison or contrast.  We did that with our King by contrasting Jesus to the kings of the old order.  This morning, I’d like to begin our discussion of the essence of the Kingdom by first looking at the essence of the Old Order.  If we were to sum up the Old Order we could do so in terms of 5 main things: descent from Abraham, circumcision, Torah, Temple, and The Land.  We find the same grand themes in the Kingdom, but we find that they take on a new form.  While those things in the Old Order were very outward, physical and ceremonial, the very same elements in the Kingdom are inward, spiritual and heavenly. 

In the Old order the citizens were flesh and blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but in the Kingdom the citizens are children of Abraham by faith.  The citizens of the Kingdom are defined by grace, not race.

The circumcision in the Old Order was an outward, physical, fleshly circumcision, but circumcision in the Kingdom is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit done by Christ, not according to the written code.

Speaking of the Written Code, the Law of the Old Order (aka Torah) was an outward list of 600+ commands by which Israel was to live.  But in the Kingdom, citizens are not under the Law of Moses, but the royal law of love is written upon the heart by the Spirit of God.

In the Old Order, the Temple was the locus for worship.  It contained the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence dwelt.  In the Kingdom, the Temple is not made up of literal bricks, stones and wood, but of living stones joined together, which the apostles and prophets as the foundation, Christ Jesus himself as the Chief cornerstone, a spiritual dwelling in which God’s spirit dwells among his people.

Finally the Land was a geographic territory where God’s people were to dwell, a special plot of Land that God set aside for his people to dwell in His presence.  The Kingdom is the community or territory over which Christ reigns as King.  The territory of the Kingdom is not limited by geographical boundaries.

So in terms of comparison to the Old Order, the Kingdom retains the same markers of Children of Abraham, circumcision, law, temple, and land, but they take on a new form and a new significance.

That is the broad panoramic look at the essence of the kingdom in terms of the themes and markers from of Old. Paul, however, gives us a more direct and more precise statement on the essence of the kingdom.

In Romans 14, Paul is encouraging the Romans with direction in light of some of the conflicts in the first century church.  Remember that the Kingdom belongs to Israel.  So naturally, Israel who had been identified by these five markers of race, circumcision, law, land and temple are thinking in these terms.  A large part of their Law was dietary restrictions.  God gave them a list of foods that were clean and a list of foods that were unclean.  The mentality that carried over from the Old Order was: you are what you eat.  You eat what is unclean, you are unclean.  Jews who were coming to faith in Jesus were still clinging to the idea that being a good citizen in God’s covenant community was a matter of eating and drinking. 

Look at what Paul says in Romans 14:17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

The essence of the Kingdom, is righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit.  If we were to sum it all up and identify what the kingdom is all about, we can do that very succinctly in these terms.  The essence of the kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  I’d like to expand on those three elements.  Before we do that, I’d like to point out the connection with the Holy Spirit.  The essence of the kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

REGENERATION

You may recall in our study of the prophecies of the Kingdom that the Kingdom would be a time of regeneration, that God would regenerate Israel, sprinkle them with clean water, give them a new heart, and put his Spirit in them to move them to obedience, writing His law on their hearts and minds.  We see in Paul’s statement that the Holy Spirit is an active agent in the hearts of God’s people in the Kingdom.  The essence of the Kingdom is directly related to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says in Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  We see that the list of fruit produced by the Spirit in a citizen of the Kingdom includes, but is not limited to righteousness, peace, and joy.  Here, Paul uses goodness and not righteousness.  He uses different words, but conveys the same idea.  The essence of the Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy and those things are cultivated by the Spirit.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these 3 elements.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Let’s begin with righteousness.  The kingdom is a Kingdom of righteousness; our King reigns in righteousness.  The kingdom is not an evil age, but the age of righteousness.  Citizens in the Kingdom should be characterized by righteousness. 

As we saw a few weeks ago, Jesus said that unless one’s righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law they would certainly not enter the Kingdom of heaven.  That only those who do the will of his father would enter the kingdom.  We see that righteousness is certainly a crucial component of the kingdom.  

Those who are in Christ have been declared righteous.  That is what is meant by the term we see in the NT justification.  Because of our faith in Christ we are declared righteous by God.  So our position before God is one of righteousness and that is secure.  There is no sin we have ever committed or will ever commit that the blood of Jesus didn’t atone for.  So God sees us as righteous and that position before God won’t change.  We have been forgiven and there is no condemnation for those in Christ.  But that doesn’t mean that we should take advantage of God’s grace and live a life of sin. 

In addition to being declared righteous and having a position of righteousness, we find exhortation after exhortation for God’s people to walk in righteousness, to live a life characterized by righteousness.

One story that illustrates this reality is in John 8.  Jesus came preaching that the kingdom of heaven was near.  His preaching and teaching and his interaction with others reflected the coming Kingdom.  There was a tension in his life and teaching that on one hand seemed to go against the law but on the other hand seemed to be right in line with it.  He healed a leper by touching him (against the Law) and then told him to go to the priests and do what the Law commanded.  In the SOM a recurring phrase is you have heard that it was said (in the Law) but I say to you… The teachers of the Law and Pharisees wanted to use this tension as a trap. 

John 8:1ff ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  (Mr. you have heard that it was said…but I say to you…)

⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

 ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and live a life of sin.”

NOOO!  He says, “Go and LEAVE your life of sin.”

Jesus’ response here reflects the ways of the Kingdom he came to establish.  He had been preaching and teaching in ways that seemed to render the OC obsolete and so the teachers of the Law tried to trap him.  If he says stone her according to the Law, what about all his teaching about grace and forgiveness that seems to be at the heart of his code for the coming Kingdom?  But if he says let her go, he isn’t following the Law and we can charge him on those grounds.  But Jesus answers in the most magnificent way possible.

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.  They all left because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Jesus responds: I don’t condemn you; Go now and leave your life of sin.  You are free from the penalty of sin but that doesn’t mean you are free to walk in sin.  The essence of the Kingdom is righteousness.  Citizens of the Kingdom are to walk in righteousness.  Like this woman, Jesus does not condemn us, but we are to go and leave sin behind.

Andy Stanley puts it in these terms: there is the IDEAL and there’s the REAL.  Ideally God’s people should be perfect as their heavenly father is perfect; that is the IDEAL.  Clearly impossible.  That’s where the REAL comes in.  The reality is that everyone will fall short of perfection every day.  But the fact that the IDEAL is not always the REALITY, shouldn’t cause us to say, “Let’s not even try.” 

That’s like somebody who goes on a diet and then after a week does amazing with strict adherence, but then they slip up and eat a candy bar in a moment of weakness, so they say, “It’s no use.  I might as well just eat candy for breakfast lunch and dinner.”  The better response would be, “well, let’s get back on track and move forward in the right direction.”  Citizens of the Kingdom should have the same mentality: “Let’s pursue righteousness and when we fall short, let’s get back on track and move forward in the right direction.”

The amazing thing about it is that we are called to live in righteousness but we aren’t condemned when we fall short.  When we fall short we don’t face an angry mob holding stones; we don’t face a fiery pit of hell.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.    But just because we are free from the penalty of sin doesn’t mean we are free to then walk in sin.  I don’t condemn you, says Jesus, but go and leave your life of sin.  Walk in righteousness but when you fall short, you don’t face condemnation.

The essence of the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  We have just discussed righteousness.  Let’s take a look at peace.

PEACE

The Kingdom is the antitype of Solomon's reign which was a time of unprecedented peace for God’s people. It makes sense that the kingdom is characterized by peace. Additionally our ruler is the very prince of peace! As goes the ruler so goes the nation. I mentioned that in kings and chronicles we read of the kings doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and they led God's people into sin. Generally speaking people follow the leader. I have read quite a bit recently about the Holocaust. A lot of the Germans who participated in the acts were simply following their leader. Even if they felt like what they were doing was wrong, their thinking was this was decreed by our leader and we were simply following orders. People follow the leader, the ruler. As goes the ruler so goes the people. Our ruler is the prince of peace and if we follow Jesus, we follow him to a place of peace.

In the kingdom we have peace with God, with others and within.

PEACE WITH GOD

In the Kingdom, we are at peace with God, reconciled to him through Jesus blood.  The Bible paints a picture of man being an enemy of God, by nature, objects of His wrath.  But for citizens of the Kingdom, we are reconciled to Him and at peace with Him.  The punishment that brought us PEACE was upon Jesus and by his wounds we are healed.

PEACE WITH OTHERS

We are called to live at peace with others.

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Prov 16:7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

We all probably interact on a daily basis with a variety of people.  Some of those people may have buttons and we shouldn’t push them.  Some people are volatile and are just ready to explode at the press of the button.  And we know how to press those buttons.  Let’s not press those buttons.  Let’s be peace makers not conflict creators.

We probably know other people who are like a beehive or a hornet’s nest.  And one poke will stir up the hive and the whole swarm is ready to sting.  Let’s not poke the hive.  Let’s be peace makers not conflict creators.

Some people are just ready to start drama; they live for it.  Jerry Springer here we come.  We know the words that will get the gossip chain going.  We know the words that will start a slander fest.  Let’s not get caught up in that.  Let’s not be contentious, but let’s be people who seek peace and pursue it.

Sometimes it’s hard to avoid drama; people just want to drag you into it.  What do you do?  As far as it depends on you, do your best to live at peace with everyone and live even at peace with your enemies; make peace as a peacemaker.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.  In other words, the citizens of the Kingdom are peacemakers.  The essence of the Kingdom is peace.  Not only peace with God and peace with others, but

PEACE WITHIN

I spent twenty years of my life not knowing Jesus as Lord; you could say that I hadn’t entered into the Kingdom.  Speaking strictly from personal experience here, life outside of kingdom for me wasn’t peaceful.  There was a constant state of unrest within me.  I was never satisfied or content; I needed the next fix, the next high, the next level, the next big thing.  Nothing was ever enough; I always wanted more.  I was not at peace.  There was a constant warring within my soul. 

But once I came to faith in Christ, I found that life in the Kingdom was one of peace within my heart and soul.  I was finally satisfied.  I was finally content.  My soul finally had rest.  I had finally found peace within.

PRAYER

But that doesn’t mean that life in the Kingdom is always automatically going to yield peace within.  There are times that as citizens of the Kingdom we become anxious.  There is a remedy for anxiety and a highway to the place of peace.  The vehicle is prayer.  Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests before God and the peace of God which transcends understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We are handing our troubles, our anxieties, our concerns over to our King and saying I trust you with these.  They are making me anxious.  You are the prince of peace and I am a citizen in the kingdom – the kingdom whose essence is peace, but in my soul I lack peace right now because of this, so I ask you to please handle it.  That release brings peace.

The essence of the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  We have looked at righteousness and peace.  Let’s look at joy.

JOY

The Kingdom is the gospel, the good news.  When we get good news what do we do?  We rejoice.  Good news brings joy to the soul.  We don’t complain, whine, or mope when we get good news; we’re not gloomy.  We rejoice.  Good news!  God has rescued his people out of slavery.  Emancipation is an occasion to rejoice.  God has rescued his people from slavery to sin and death and given them freedom.  Since God’s people have been rescued, joy is the appropriate response in the heart of believers in the kingdom, daily.

We should rejoice in who our king is.  Last week we celebrated King Jesus and that was only the tip of the iceberg.  The better we get to know Jesus, the more we will realize that we have much to rejoice in just in our King and who he is.

We should rejoice in the fact that we get to know him and dwell in his presence. 

We should rejoice in the fact that we have been reconciled to God and we have been forgiven. 

We should rejoice in God’s grace.

We have so many reasons to rejoice.  But we don’t always experience joy on a practical level.  Why is that? 

WITH SO MANY REASONS TO HAVE JOY, WHY AT TIMES DO WE LACK JOY?

SIN

A minister once said that a Christian loses nothing by his sin…except his joy.  And that is a great loss.  Sometimes sin keeps us from having fullness of joy.  Sin will destroy our joy.

At times if we lack joy, there may be sin in our life that may need to be removed.  We can identify that by examining our hearts and examining the Scriptures.  The exhortations we find in Scripture are not there to rob us of joy and make us miserable.  The exhortations we find are for our joy.  God used his servants to communicate through the writings of scripture what is good, and fitting, and beneficial for his people. 

No exhortation from the scriptures is to harm God’s people, but to benefit and bless them.  Nowhere, I believe, in the God inspired Scriptures is there an exhortation that will harm his people.  God’s instruction is always for the benefit of his people, for their joy.  We will do well to walk according to them.  James, Peter, John and James were all inspired to write things to benefit God’s people.  Yes, we will need to apply the rules of hermeneutics.  Titus 3:12.  Nicopolis, disappointed when don’t find Paul there.  But finding those eternal precepts and abiding by them – those precepts that pertain to righteousness are for the good of God’s people, for our joy.  Walking in them will cultivate joy.  To choose to walk contrary to them and to walk in sin is to destroy our joy.

When we walk in sin we lose nothing…except our joy.

MINDSET

Sin will destroy joy but a lack of joy isn’t always a direct result of sin.  Sometimes it is our mindset that keeps us from joy.  Where is our mind?  What is on our mind?  What are we thinking about?  As a man thinks so he is.  If one is dwelling on the things above, heavenly things, it’s hard not to have joy.  If we are thinking about that which is noble, pure, right, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy it’s hard not to have joy.  When we are seeing the positive points, beholding the silver lining, looking on the bright side, it’s hard not to be full of joy.

If we are dwelling on the negative or thinking only ill thoughts, that will sap our joy.

Think about it: when are you the happiest?  Is it when you are dwelling on the negative?  When you are thinking ooh I can’t believe her.  I am so angry with her?  Is it when you are holding on to bitterness?  When you are unforgiving or ungracious?  Is it when you are nitpicking and faultfinding?  Is that when we are the happiest? 

Or are we the most happy when we are reconciled to others?  When we are seeing the good in them?  When expressing charity and love towards others?  Being gracious?  When we get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice?  When we are kind and compassionate towards one another forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave us? 

Our mindset, what we are thinking about has a lot to do with our level of joy.  Having a mindset of love towards others will cultivate joy.

CIRCUMSTANCES

Finally, our outward circumstances can dictate our level of joy. 

If we are hungry or thirsty or tired, it’s easy to be grumpy.  But as children of God we have bread that is unseen, the bread of life. We have living water welling up to eternal life within us.  We have a banqueting table at which we get to dine with our king consuming heavenly delicacies.  So our soul is nourished spiritually even in terrible outward circumstances.  As believers, when we are walking in an awareness of our spiritual circumstances, it will be easier to walk in joy even when outward earthly circumstances aren’t the greatest. 

Though we are not of this world, we dwell in this world and our circumstances in this world will at times have a tendency to dictate our outlook and thus affect our joy, but as believers our citizenship is in heaven and in the heavenly realms we have much that should cause us to rejoice and walk in joy.

PERCEPTION

I was once told: Perception is reality.  I understand what is meant by that, but I’d alter it to be more accurate: One’s perception can create for him his own reality.  What is our perception?  Do we see through heavenly lenses or earthly lenses?  If earthly, then crummy earthly circumstances will be easily followed with gloomy countenance a lack of joy.  But if heavenly lenses, even in the midst of the worst earthly circumstances, we can walk in joy.  If you don’t believe me, read Paul’s letter to the Philippians which he wrote from jail cell…JOY!

For us, the reality is we have a king who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom.  Through him, we get to call God father.  We get to have a relationship with the God of the universe.  That is a perspective that should always give us a reason to rejoice.

IN CONCLUSION

Let’s be people who walk in righteousness, people who recognize the real, but strive for the ideal motivated by our love for God. 

Let’s be people of peace, peacemakers, not conflict creators.  People who seek peace and pursue it, who do our best to live at peace with everyone, even our enemies, people who have peace within and who cultivate peace and fight anxiety by trusting God through prayer. 

Let’s be joyous people who recognize that a believer loses nothing by his sin…except his joy and therefore strive to walk according to the eternal precepts of Scripture which are for our good and for our joy.  Since our mentality has much to do with our joy, let’s be people who think on things above, and whose perception is through the heavenly lenses, keeping at the forefront of our minds the multitude of reasons we have for rejoicing.

The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  May God cultivate those virtues in us and cause us to be a people who walk in accordance with the essence of the Kingdom.   www.ncfgeorgetown.com  preterist fellowship, preterist church Austin tx, Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas Preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Associate pastor Jesse Gutierrez, Sermon audio mp3 sermon download Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled eschatology  Preterist church Austin Texas.  Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ churches in Austin area. Churches in Georgetown TX

You can watch sermon videos or listen to sermon audio .mp3 at www.ncfgeorgetown.com/media.html

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the Kingdom: what it is - part 14 

the king of the kingdom

This morning we continue in our series on the Kingdom in which we have given shape and definition to the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven.  This morning’s message is entitled the king of the Kingdom. Since week one of this series, our simplified definition of the kingdom has been the community or territory over which Christ reigns as king.  Even our simple definition of the kingdom identifies the king.   So from the beginning of this series we have known the identity of the King; that’s Jesus. 

But I would be willing to bet that even before we began this series, you knew that.  More than likely you didn’t need me to identify the king of the kingdom of heaven.  Before this series, even if you knew nothing else about the kingdom of heaven you probably knew that Jesus was the King.

So this morning’s message won’t be an aha message but an AMEN message.  I probably won’t be teaching you anything new, but together you and I will rejoice in what we probably already know.  This morning’s message is not so much to identify the king – we have already done that.  This morning’s message is to celebrate our king; for he is worthy of worship.  He deserves honor, awe, adoration, glory, praise, reverence.

Let us adore him this morning as we explore Him and His character.

BY WAY OF COMPARISON

Sometimes the easiest way to describe something is to do so by way of comparison.  A while back I asked a friend to give me a definition of the New Covenant without reference to the Old Covenant.  He said that’s pretty much impossible because without an understanding of the Old Covenant, one will have a really difficult time appreciating the essence and the glory of the New Covenant.  So in order for someone to really understand and appreciate the New Covenant, it’s best to begin with a look at the Old Covenant and move forward from there by way of comparison.

THE KING OF OLD

While we could explore the person, mind, heart and character of Jesus without reference to the kings of the old order, I think it will help us to have a greater perspective and appreciation of our king if we compare him to the kings of old.  Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 8.  Remember that Israel made the exodus out of Egypt under Moses.  He wasn’t a king, but more of a judge or prophet.  Then Joshua succeeded him as the leader of Israel, leading them not as a king, but as a military leader in the conquest of the Promised Land.  Then in the Land, Israel was led by judges for a few hundred years.  During that time they didn’t have an earthly king on the throne.  God was essentially their king.  But eventually, they went to Samuel who was their judge-prophet leader at that time and asked him to put a king over them that they might be like all the other nations.  Samuel warned them that that was a terrible idea.  First of all it was a rejection of God as king.  And second of all, on a practical level…well, just listen to what Samuel told them.

 1 Sam 8:10ff ¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Clearly a bad idea.  But this is how the kings in the Old order operated.  Even those who were considered good kings like David and Solomon operated in this way.  Took the best of the people’s vineyards and gave them to his buddies.  Took the best of people’s cattle for his own use, took a tenth of the people’s flocks, and made the people his slaves.

PEOPLE EXIST TO SERVE KING

The Kingdom of Israel was oriented in such a way that the people existed to serve the king.  The king did not have the mentality that said, “I exist to serve these people.”  His mentality was, “I’m the king.  These people exist to serve me.”  

That was the king of the old kingdom.  He was MERELY A MAN like everyone else, and yet, he was all about him, took from people for himself, made people to serve him for his benefit.   If you look at our king and his earthly ministry you will find something different, something glorious and magnificent.  First of all, he didn’t come to establish an earthly kingdom in which he would take earthly vineyards from people, and make men to make earthly weapons, or make them to run before earthly chariots. 

And he certainly wasn’t just a mere man like everyone else.  He was God in the flesh.  He was the great I AM.  In him all the fullness of the deity dwelt bodily.  He was the image of the invisible God.  He was the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.  If there ever was a king who deserved to have people serve before him in an army it was Jesus.  If there was ever a king who deserved to be able to take people’s vineyards and cattle, it was Jesus.  If there was ever a king who deserved to be served, Jesus is that King!

But look what He said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Though he was the only one who ever deserved to be served, he said that he did not come to be served but TO serve.  Wow.  He didn’t come to round up His people to serve begrudgingly and force labor upon them or take stuff from people for his own benefit.  He came to serve and give his life as a ransom.  Don’t misunderstand me: we do indeed serve him, but not in the way kings were served in the old order.  And even if it was in that way, he deserves it. 

And we do not serve him because we fear him as a monarch or dictator.  The king has the power to declare: put them in the iron maiden.  Or off with their heads.  We don’t serve him out of fear.  We serve him out of a love for him, with obedience and a loyalty that stems from his love and service to us.  We are moved to serve him because he first served us.

None of those kings in the old order ever really deserved to be served in the way that they were.  They didn’t deserve to have people run before him in chariots and give their lives in service to him.  If anyone ever deserved that, it’s Jesus.  But that’s not the kind of King we serve.  He is the kind of king who served.  He knelt down and washed filthy feet.  He whose rightful position is at the right hand of the Father, set aside his divine prerogatives and came to a people who would reject him and spit on him, and ridicule him, and ultimately crucify him.  He came not to be served but to serve and to lay down his life.  Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.

THIS IS THE KIND OF KING WE SERVE: a king who served.  What AN HONOR.

OLD KINGS WICKED, NOT JESUS

Again, we are describing Jesus by way of comparison to the kings of old.  As you read through the books of Kings & Chronicles what you read over and over and over is “so and so became king of Judah at the age of ___.  He did evil in the eyes of the LORD…so and so became the king of Israel at the age of ___.  He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.”  There were a handful that walked in righteousness, but by and large most of the kings in the old order were wicked.  Can you imagine living in a kingdom ruled by a wicked king?  Can you imagine a government under a cruel monarch or dictator? 

Even in our democratic system, we have a primary leader. We are coming up on election season.  It seems every four years that people make the comment that we are going to have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Not so with Jesus.  There is no election day whereby we choose our ruler.  God chose him before the foundation of the world.  And that’s probably a good thing.  We would probably choose a horrible leader if we had the power to elect him.  But look at the King that God has installed on the throne in the heavenly Jerusalem.  Unlike those kings in the old order who did evil in the eyes of the LORD, our king is the very antithesis of evil.  Jesus is the epitome of righteousness.  It feels good to know that the one in charge, the one governing our kingdom is a king of righteousness. 

JESUS REIGNS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  That is the kind of King we serve and it is an honor.

If Jesus’ reign was recorded in the books of Kings & Chronicles, not only would it say that he walked in righteousness like his father David, it would say that Jesus’ righteousness far exceeded that of his father David.  Throughout those books David is held up as a standard of righteousness for kings.  For the handful that walked in righteousness we see them compared to David.  For example in 2 Chron 29:1-2 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.  His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.  He did was that right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.  So David was pretty much a standard for righteousness in the world of the Kings of Israel.  Yet David was flawed.  For the most part he was great but as you probably know, he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired in the murder of her husband Uriah to cover it up.  Jesus on the other hand was tempted in every way as we are and yet was without sin. 

So the kings in the old order were essentially wicked.  But our king, Jesus on the other hand is righteousness itself.  He is the very epitome of righteousness and his righteousness far exceeds David’s.

JESUS REIGNS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  That is the kind of King we serve and it is an honor.

A few weeks ago we looked at the typology of the Kingdom.  We noted that the OT story is a type or shadow of the spiritual things to come in the NT.  In the first century God brought forth the substance, the antitype in Christ.  He brought forth a new creation, a New Israel, who he redeemed out of a spiritual slavery in a spiritual Egypt, who then wandered in a spiritual wilderness for 40 years and then entered into the spiritual promised land, the heavenly kingdom.  We noted that the Kingdom of heaven is the restoration of Israel to her former glory during the glory days of Israel in the prosperous and peaceful reign of Solomon.  So we identified Solomon as a type of Christ. He was the son of David who ruled in justice, righteousness, peace, and built the temple.  Jesus is the antitype the substance, the son of David who rules in justice, righteousness, peace and built the temple.  As with all types and shadows, the antitype is far greater and more glorious than the type that foreshadowed it.  The same is obviously true with Jesus.  Jesus is far greater than Solomon.  Let’s take a look at Solomon and see how Jesus embodies those very things.

Turn with me in your bibles to 1 Kings 3.  From 1 Samuel, you will pass 2 Samuel and then you will be at 1 Kings.

1 Kings 3:5ff

⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Imagine if the God of the Universe told you that!

⁶ Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

⁷ “Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸ Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. ⁹ So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴ And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

Scripture immediately records an event in which Solomon gets to exercise this wisdom.

¹⁶ Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. ¹⁸ The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹ “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. ²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

²² The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

So Solomon told them to go down the street to the local DNA testing center and just settle the matter.

²³ The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

²⁴ Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. ²⁵ He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸ When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

We see in Solomon’s decision that he was indeed exceedingly wise.  God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.  There was no on wiser than Solomon.  We owe most of the book of proverbs to him and men from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

One of the people who had come to engage Solomon’s wisdom was the queen of Sheba.

1 Kings 10:1-5 ¹When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. ² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table,the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at^[a] the temple of theLord, she was overwhelmed.

Solomon was so great and so wise that the queen of Sheba came to see and hear in person.

So Solomon as a king was phenomenal.  God gave him the opportunity to have it all.  And he chose wisdom that he may govern God’s people well.  God liked that and made him the wisest man who ever lived.  He was able to make even the most difficult decisions in wisdom, wrote the proverbs, people came from all over to see him and hear him.  One was the queen of Sheba.

Solomon as the king of Israel in her glory days was a type that foreshadowed Jesus as the King of the gloriously restored Israel – the kingdom of heaven.   Solomon was a type of Christ.  If Solomon was great, then Jesus would be greater.  If Solomon was wise, Jesus would be wiser.  And this is exactly what we see in the text.

In Matt 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Jesus as the antitype of Solomon, is greater than Solomon.  Solomon was a great king over a glorious Kingdom; Jesus is a greater king over a more glorious kingdom.  Jesus is one greater than Solomon.

As we saw Solomon was challenged with difficult decisions.  The dead baby is hers. The queen of Sheba challenged him but nothing was too difficult for him.  Jesus had some similar challenges in his ministry.  One of them is somewhat reminiscent of Solomon.

Matt 22:15ff ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.”They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Jesus was wiser than Solomon and rendered decisions in wisdom greater than that of Solomon. 

John 7:46  “No one ever spoke the way this man does.”

Matt 7:28-29 ²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Luke 4:22  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.

So Jesus is greater than Solomon and wiser than Solomon.  Solomon went down in history as a great king.  But Jesus is greater! That is the king we serve and it is an honor!

In week 2, we poked fun at our friend Solomon.  The Law decreed that the king should not accumulate much gold or horses, or have many wives.  Solomon, as great of a king as he was walked in direct violation of those things as he received about 25 tons of gold every year, he had 1400 chariots and 12000 horses, he had 700 wives of noble birth and 300 concubines.

What about Jesus?  Did Jesus accumulate much gold?  He had humble beginnings was born in a manger, not a palace, and as he said, “foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.”  It seems that the only gold he accumulated was that which he received from the Magi when he was an infant.

Did Jesus accumulate horses?  As far as we know he didn’t own one.  In fact he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey he borrowed.

Did Jesus accumulate wives?  During his earthly life not even one.  The only wife of Jesus is the one heavenly bride, the church, the New Jerusalem, a bride to whom He is ever-faithful.

So in all of Solomon’s excellence, we see serious failures.  But in Jesus, the king of the Kingdom, the antitype, we see one who is greater than Solomon, one who far exceeded Solomon’s excellence in every way.

That is the King we serve and it is an honor.

JESUS HAS IT ALL

In Jesus we have one who has it all.  Jonathan Edwards said that what makes Jesus glorious is “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.”

Not only is Jesus completely just, but he was also merciful and compassionate.  His marvelous majesty is mixed with meekness.

Though he was given all authority and dominion and power, he walked in complete submission to his heavenly father.

Though he could sit down with the teachers of the Law and baffle them with doctrinal paradoxes he could sit down with common people and fishermen and tell stories and give illustrations they could relate to.  In one scene we see him going toe to toe with the teachers of the law asking whose son is the Christ?  David?  Then if he is David’s son, why does David call him lord?  Then in another episode we see little children coming to him.

In one breath he calms a storm and shows his sovereign authority and ability to control all things and then we see the same mouth unopened as he is led like a lamb to the slaughter.

In Jesus we have a lion and a lamb.  In Jesus we have the lion of the tribe of Judah who rules with an iron scepter.  And yet, in Jesus we also have the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The man who hung on the cross bleeding for the sins of his people is the same Jesus who sits at the right hand of God as the King of Kings.  So often the church only sees Jesus as the guy who hung on the cross.  He is certainly that, but he is also the king – the one who has authority, dominion, and sovereignty over all things.  Our king is the very same one who shed his blood to atone for sins.  He is not only the Lamb, but also the Lion.

Jesus was the only one who ever deserved to be served and yet he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. The only one who ever deserved to have people lay down their life for him and yet he laid down his life for his people.

THIS IS THE KIND OF KING WE SERVE.  AND IT IS AN HONOR.

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