The Reality of The Kingdom of God

If you have ever traveled, you know that cultures are different. The deep south is not the same as the far north in the United States (everything is fried in butter; if they don’t know you, they might not be open). When we go to very different cultures we can experience “culture shock” because things are SO different: gestures, food, social expectations (being on time; making eye contact; physical greetings), driving habits, etc. In culture shock, we experience “a condition of disorientation affecting someone who is suddenly exposed to an unfamiliar culture or way of life or set of attitudes.”

When we commit our lives to Christ, there should be culture shock. We have moved spiritually. We are now citizens in a new country, with a  new leader (Christ), new customs, new language, new priorities. And then we balance this with remaining in our national country and being a citizen there. As Christians, we are all dual citizens, balancing what are at times two very different cultures.

So let’s talk about the culture of the Kingdom of God, and in the process address some things in our culture as well. I am going to present this as 4 questions and answers: How do we get into the Kingdom? What characterizes the Kingdom? When Will I experience the Kingdom? How will I experience the Kingdom?

 Q. How do you get in to the Kingdom of God?

A. Through a commitment to dedicate my life to the risen Jesus.

 When Jesus was talking with Nicodemus the following conversation took place:

  “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:3-7 )

 Jesus was basically saying, “Nicodemus, you know that you need a physical birth to experience the physical world; human parent make human babies.  You need a spiritual birth to experience spiritual life. You need to a heavenly parent to make you a child of Heaven.” Later, Paul will compare this to adoption. When we commit our lives to worshipping and following Christ, we are brought into a new family, with a new Father in Heaven. We continue to honor our earthly mom and dad – it’s a commandment after all - but our ultimate allegiance is now to our Father in Heaven.  And receiving this adoption is as simple - and profound – as John 3:16, which is just 9 verses later (still part of the same conversation):

  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Believe (pistis in Greek) carries the idea of  “being persuaded to confidently, trustingly commit yourself.” We acknowledge that Jesus is God, that through his life, death and resurrection, our sins are forgiven, that Jesus alone has the power to save us, and that we respond to His loving sacrifice by offering our love and worship as well as the service of our lives in return.

We commit with heart, soul, mind and strength , and we enter the Kingdom of God as we accept Christ as King – the ultimate authority for life and godliness.  In new birth, we see that God brings life. In adoption, we see that God offers to make us one of His own. In kingship, we are reminded that the rule and reign of Christ has been set up in our life.

Q. What characterizes the Kingdom?

A. God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest (honorable), whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely (acceptable and prized), whatsoever things are of good report (repute); if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

 “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

 “Make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

 There’s just a partial list: Truth, honesty, honorable, justice, purity, loveliness, praise-worthiness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, faithful, morally excellent, knowledgeable, self-controlled, enduring, godliness, mutual affection. That’s what characterizes the Kingdom.  That’s a compelling list. These things are available to us when we accept Christ as King thanks to the Spirit and the Word of God.

It doesn't’ mean that life will be easy or perfect. It’s just that the more we experience the work and presence of Christ in our life, the more these things will begin to characterize our life in Christ.

It also doesn’t mean we will do them perfectly, but we will pursue them, applaud them, and do our best with God’s grace to live them out, not for recognition, or for power, or to earn God’s love, but as a trusting, committed response to the covenant we as Christians make with Jesus. “I commit my life to you;  I trust that you can save me spiritually and that your path of spiritual transformation of my life is trustworthy. I will follow you. I want my character, my thoughts, my actions to be like yours.”

We pray for God to do something miraculous in us through His Spirit, we “study to show ourselves approved unto God” by rightly understanding and applying His Word to our lives (2 Timothy 2:15), and we surround ourselves with followers of Christ (Colossians 3:16)

Q. When will I experience the Kingdom of God?

A. If you are a follower of Christ, you are and you will.

“The kingdom of God comes—but not with signs that you can observe. People are not going to say, “Look! Here it is!” They’re not going to say, “Look! It’s over there!” You want to see the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is already here among you (within your midst).” Luke 17:20-21)

The first-century Jews wanted a leader to throw off Roman rule and make Judea a nation. There was a cultural longing for national restoration, a nation in which everything centered around God. There would be safety within the borders; everyone would live within God’s law; God’s people would be powerful, and the long-awaited Kingdom would finally arrive.  I’ll be honest – that resonates with me. There’s something compelling about a safe, comfortable life. Wouldn’t it be nice if those outside the Kingdom loved and supported what was happening in the Kingdom?

But Jesus talked about the arrival of the Kingdom even as he spoke in a land of occupation and oppression. It was not a Kingdom of physical dominance – he specifically tells his servants not to fight (John 18:36). It’s not a Kingdom of cultural comfort. It’s a spiritual Kingdom that exists no matter what our surrounding circumstances look like.

But that’s just part one. There’s more.

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” (Matt. 25:31-34)

The Kingdom is fulfilled within history [already], and will reach its fullness at the end of history [not yet].  For Christians, the Kingdom begins in this life and finds its fulfillment in the next.

Q. How will I experience it?

A. In a broken, longing, hopeful world.

On this side of heaven, we will always experience the spiritual kingdom of God in the midst of the physical kingdoms of the world. In the last two weeks, I saw the following:

• a video of four men being slowly burned alive by ISIS

• more Planned Parenthood videos that show the callous and calculating taking of human life

• the increasing move in culture to marginalize and even vilify those who hold to Christian beliefs

• the expose of Ashely Madison clients that included Christians in leadership

• MTV’s video music awards last week that just showed the stark contrast between the values of the world vs. the Bible

 The beauty and hope of God’s Kingdom can be experienced in the midst of a very broken and lost world.

We lie, and gossip, and betray, and break hearts, and love poorly, and are not fair, and we are shallow and petty and desperately chasing after things that will never bring us hope or meaning or true joy and peace…. And yet the beauty and hope of God’s Kingdom can be experienced in the midst of a very broken and lost world.

• When truth triumphs over lies

• When purity is honored instead of demeaned

• When repentance and forgiveness highlight grace

• When joy emerges from despair

• When an unexpected peace occurs in or around us

• When we experience the beauty of patience and kindness

• When those around us are faithful and enduring

• When Christ reaches out to us sinners and draws us into His Kingdom

In Luke 14, when one of the disciples comments on how great it will be to feast in heaven, Jesus immediately tells a parable about a feast here on earth in which the poor and maimed and lame and blind are invited – in fact, compelled to come in. 

 “He [God, the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13)

 The Kingdom is a feast, a celebration of the love and mercy of Christ to which the poor, the rich, the dirty, the clean, the smart and dumb, the blatant sinners and the careful sinners – in other words, all of us - are invited in to experience the goodness of life in the Kingdom in the presence of the King.   

The Value of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:44-45)


”The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-45)

Not, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure, so he sold most of what he had in case it didn’t work out.” The man sells all he has with joy! In Philippians, Paul talks about all the ways in which he was an amazingly religious person – his pedigree was pure, and he was blameless in obeying the law. He had power and reputation. But after became a follower of Christ, he wrote:

“I regard everything as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him.” (Philippians 3:8)

The first point is that the Kingdom of Heaven demands all of us. Everything on earth is worth the trade-off. There is no giving up all we have -  except for our money, our job, our friends, our sex life, our vacations, our retirement plans, our temperament, our appearance, or our dreams. If there is an area that we won’t gladly give up for the sake of knowing Christ and living in the life He has called us to, we are clinging to idols, and we will never understand what it means to live in the Kingdom of God.

 “There is a condition for having the kingdom… the condition is not wealth or power or intelligence or eminence. The condition is that you prize the kingdom more than you prize anything else.” (John Piper)

 The second point has to do with how the treasure is found.

In the first parable, the treasure is found unexpectedly in a field. Not in a bank, not in a lawn, not underneath the floorboards of a house.  It was found unexpectedly in a common field in the midst of labor. We rarely stumble upon the Kingdom in the midst of luxury, ease and distraction. It often happens when we are in a field, in the midst of the ordinary toil of life, faithfully putting one foot in front of the other. This treasure was not found during a spiritual retreat or at a conference or even a Sunday morning service. The Kingdom of Heaven – the beauty of Christ and the richness of the life he offers – is often stumbled upon while you are doing life:

• pulling out your hair dealing with your kids

• doing the hard work of marriage

• punching the clock at your job

• talking with your doctor

• grinding away at homework

• navigating loneliness or depression or grief.

 The field is hard. Going back to an earlier parable - there are thorny people who leave marks. There are things that sting us and bite us (words, glances, snubs, misunderstandings). There is sweat, pain, loneliness, loss, grief, depression, frustration. There is stony ground and hardened people. But the Kingdom of Heaven is there because God is present and Christ is available, and the treasure – salvation, forgiveness, and restoration - will be revealed if we faithfully work the land.

 The man in the field stumbles upon the Kingdom; in contrast, the merchant has already been searching diligently for it among the beautiful, costly things.

 This merchant knew what beautiful things looked like, but he was not content with ordinary. He didn’t want to just get by. He wanted the only one that really matters. The beautiful pearls around us might be our toys, reputation, beauty, sex, family, entertainment, America!  Other religions can offer what seems to be a very compelling path to peace or hope. A distracting a beautiful pearl in our current climate is our reputation among our friends – we are reluctant to talk about Jesus, or about sin and the need for salvation, or even share the story of our life with others because we don’t know what will happen.  But those are small pearls indeed compared with Christ, in whom all the true treasures of life are found.

In conclusion,

• The Kingdom of Heaven is valuable and costly.

• Whether stumbled upon or searched for diligently, Jesus Christ and the salvation and hope He offers are worth the cost.

• Nothing matters more than the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. (Philippians 3:8)

The Soil of The Kingdom (Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23)

Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven – a life where the rule and reign of God is both seen and experienced, a Kingdom that we become a part of when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. We become citizens of heaven, and this world is not supposed to be ‘home’ any more. When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is IN YOU!” (Luke 17:21), it’s not some New Age proclamation that we are all gods. He simply meant it’s not “there” or “there” where an earthly kingdom can be seen. It’s not kicking out the Romans and establishing a Jewish nation. That's not the Kingdom of Heaven. The rule and reign of Christ is now in our hearts.

 Jesus told a number of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven explaining to his followers what characterizes the kingdom of Heaven, and, by implication, how they ought to seek to live as citizens of that kingdom. We are going to take five weeks to go through the parables in Matthew 13. Today we are looking at the Parable of the Sower.

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A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:3-9)

This is what the parable of the sower means. It is about the kingdom of heaven. When someone hears the story of the Kingdom and cannot understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away whatever goodness and holiness had been sown in the heart. This is like the seeds sown beside the road. You know people who hear the word of God and receive it joyfully—but then, somehow, the word fails to take root in their hearts. It is temporary. As soon as there is trouble for those people, they trip: those people are the seeds strewn on the rocky soil. And you know people who hear the word, but it is choked inside them because they constantly worry and prefer the wealth and pleasures of the world: they prefer drunken dinner parties to prayer, power to piety, and riches to righteousness. Those people are like the seeds sown among thorns. The people who hear the word and receive it and grow in it—those are like the seeds sown on good soil. They produce a bumper crop, 30 or 60 or 100 times what was sown. (Matthew 13:18-23)

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 It was likely the audience could look out on the hillside and see a sower going forth to sow. They could see a path which had been beaten across the field and the birds picking up the seeds right behind the sower. They could see the rocky ground,  the thorns and thistles, the good soil. While there is a lot to unpack here, I want to make only two points from this parable.

1. The Gospel is for everyone.

Considering the fields in Palestine, there was really no way to avoid ‘wasting’ seed. Jesus didn’t tell them to be more conservative with their planting. He just acknowledged not all the seeds are going to make it. But… sow. By all means. Paul wrote:

 And, even though no one (except Jesus) owns me, I have become a slave by my own free will to everyone in hopes that I would gather more believers. When around Jews, I emphasize my Jewishness in order to win them over. When around those who live strictly under the law, I live by its regulations—even though I have a different perspective on the law now—in order to win them over.  In the same way, I’ve made a life outside the law to gather those who live outside the law (although I personally abide by and live under the Anointed One’s law).  I’ve been broken, lost, depressed, oppressed, and weak that I might find favor and gain the weak. I’m flexible, adaptable, and able to do and be whatever is needed for all kinds of people so that in the end I can use every means at my disposal to offer them salvation.  I do it all for the gospel and for the hope that I may participate with everyone who is blessed by the proclamation of the good news. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

It’s not our job to decide who deserves the good news of the Gospel and who doesn’t. We are always evangelizing; we are always ambassadors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. The Gospel takes root when it is planted deep in good soil.

 This is a summary statement of all the soils, so let’s work our way through them.

 Hardness of heart: when truth has no impact on us. There is no sense of the terrible nature of sin, particularly our own.  There are at least three ways in which our responses can reflect a hardness of heart.

• First, the hard-hearted don’t believe in sin. Good and evil are what we want them to be, and I am good. I don’t need a gospel of salvation. 

• Second, the hard-hearted can hear the Gospel, believe that  sin offends a holy God, harms us, devastates the world around us  - and just not care because they want to live life by their own rules.   

• Third, the hard-hearted hear and believe it’s true, but they only see the sinners all around them and fail to see the sinner within.

Brennan Manning wrote, “The kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious caste of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.” The gospel takes root in broken, humble people.

The Rocky Soil of Hardship and Trials: tough times uproot our faith. 

1. Hardships – Life is Hard: sickness, poverty, ongoing sin, broken relationships, death of a loved one… When we face these times, we assume God doesn’t care, isn’t strong or isn’t real, and whatever we once believe uproots and dies. There is no depth to faith. There was not a true understanding of what Jesus saved us from – that is, the penalty of our sin, not the hardship of life. Disillusionment wins because truth did not put down roots. 

1. Trials – Being A Christian Is Hard: Specific challenges to our faith.

• Some of them are literal, physical persecution. (http://www.opendoorsusa.org; persecution.com). This happens around the world constantly.

• Some of them are challenges to orthodoxy (what we believe as Christians): Does God exist? Is Jesus really God? Why would you trust the Bible? Do you really believe in Heaven and Hell? (See our church’s statement of faith at https://clgonline.org/statement-of-faith/). I have had people tell me they just think I am out of my mind to believe the Bible.

• Some of them are challenges to orthopraxy (how we live as Christians): In our culture, the issues primarily involve sex, marriage and human life (they were different 30 years ago; they will be different 30 years from now. Don't focus on the issues as much as the principle). We can be attacked as hateful or bigoted because we believe that God designed all sex for marriage, that God’s design for marriage is between a man and a woman, and that when sex results in babies they are human beings with a right to life.  When we don’t agree, we can be villified very quickly. If you don’t know how to answer questions about Christian beliefs and practices with truth and compassion, we will do our best to help you here at church, but you need to invest in understanding life in the Kingdom. Buy books. Watch videos. Listen to podcasts. Find good websites. Come to the 11:15 classes. Know what the Bible says, why God thought it was important to say it, and why it’s true.  

The Thorns: Distractions and Temptations

• Distractions: the glittery, shiny and beautiful things: friends, health, food, jobs, money, relationships, anything with a screen… Distractions are not things that are bad in and of themselves. They just begin to dominate our vision and take our eyes off of Christ.

• Temptations: the desire to sin – to live outside of God’s design for our lives. It’s often very subtle – usually, we are tempted to take something good (see the list above) and make it an idol. We begin to serve them because of the comfort, pleasure or power they bring.  (Note: In Christianity, we sacrifice ourselves so that others can live. In idolatry, we sacrifice others so we can live).  

The Good Soil 

"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, in AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART, having heard the word, KEEP it, and bring forth fruit WITH PATIENCE." (Luke 8:15, a parallel parable)

This is where the Kingdom flourishes. This is what characterizes citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven.

• Honest and good-hearted people  are empowered by God with a goodness only God can bring, and as a result of their salvation live in a way that is inspirational and appealing. I don't mean Oprah Winfrey of Lifetime Network inspirational. I don’t mean you become one of the shiny happy people. The idea with this phrase is that God has made something good in you, and your life shows this. This isn’t a call to perfection. It’s a call to live genuinely in Christ and with others, letting others see what is happening in you. When Jesus brings beauty from the ashes of your life, that’s compelling.

• Hear the Word (literally). Don’t overcomplicate this. It just means know the Word of God. Read it. Read about it. Pray about it. Study it, listen to teaching about it, discuss it with your friends… Hear it over and over again. I was reading about the Rule of 151 on a blog called A Purposeful Business: It takes 151 times for a message to be heard through conversation: "The first 50 times people don’t hear you; the second 50 times they don’t understand you; the third 50 times they don’t believe you; the 151st time that they finally hear, understand, and think, 'Well, there must be something to this.'”

          The Holy Spirit opens our eyes, but we have to keep looking. 

• Understand it (synthesize it; find the preferred will of God. This is soaking it up, letting it rest in you, and nourishing it. This is being vulnerable, being honest with yourself, looking for the ways God’s truth needs to grow in you.

• Keep It (Hold fast; take possession). This is putting down roots and saying, “I will not be moved.” This is where, in the midst of hardship, we say like David, “Yet will I praise Him.” This is clinging to the truth of God in a culture that offers a lot of loud and glittering half-truths: “Live for yourself; do what feels right; you’re perfect just the way you are; love is all you need; the most important things is that you are happy.”

• Bring Forth Fruit patiently (literally, be “unswerved from deliberate purpose and loyalty to faith by even the greatest trials and sufferings” - biblehub.com). Paul said he ran the race with patience.  This is about decision, focus, and commitment.

This is what life in the Kingdom of Heaven look like when the rule and reign of God is both seen and experienced. This is what we are called to when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. I want to offer an encouragement and a challenge in closing.

The challenge is to ask yourself what kind of soil you are. Is your heart hardened or broken? Are you driven to your knees in humility and repentance on an ongoing basis? If not, you’ve got to surrender your blindness and pride to Christ not just for your sake, but for the sake of those around you. Are the hardships of life uprooting you? Are the distractions and temptations of the world choking out the beauty of the gospel? If so, pray that God makes in you a soil that loves and nourishes truth, that let’s the hope of the gospel sink in deep, so that it bears the fruit of the gospel within you and around you.

 The encouragement is that you don’t have to feel like a superstar in the Kingdom of Heaven to honor God. There’s nothing flashy about the good soil. It’s a deliberate commitment to respond to God’s work in you by dedicating yourself to understanding and living out His design for you – with great patience.  That’s good soil that brings good fruit.