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.
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
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