Acts 1:6                          
February 21, 2010

We could easily talk about the kingdom of God for the rest of 2010.  It’s such a big subject and it can be viewed from so many different angles; the kingdom of God is multidimensional; that’s why Jesus needed more than one parable to describe it.  The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed.  The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.  The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.  The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake.  And that’s just Matthew 13.  In the New Testament alone, there are more than one hundred references to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.  To me, that suggests that it’s not a marginal matter and that God wants us to get a good handle on it.  Unfortunately we can’t do that in three or four sermons; all I’m doing is scratching the surface; if you want to go deeper, you’ll have to study the kingdom of God on your own, or in a small group.  That’s a better way to learn anyway; the more involved you are in the study, the more you’ll remember.

 What is the kingdom of God?  That’s the question we’ve been trying to answer.  So far we’ve learned three main things: that it is priority number one.  “Seek first the kingdom of God”, Jesus said.  We’ve also learned that the kingdom of God is inseparable from the Spirit of God; those two always go together.  And finally we’ve learned that the kingdom of God is synonymous with the “rule and reign of God.” As you well know, God already has authority over everything and everyone.  But not everyone recognizes that fact or acknowledges it.  But they will; if nothing else, time will see to that.  Jesus said so himself:  “Every knee will bow before me and every tongue will confess to God.”  If you haven’t already done that, I highly recommend it.  Don’t wait until later to secure your place in God’s kingdom. I say that for two reasons: first, there might not be a later.  I assume all of you saw the footage of that Olympic luger; little did he know that eternity was waiting for him at the bottom of his run. Second, there are temporal as well as eternal advantages to securing your place in God’s kingdom today.  I’ll get to those in a minute.  But first I want to ask you another question, similar to the one we’ve been trying to answer. What is the United States?   If an alien from outer space landed on our shores, how would you define our country to him?  Where would you begin? Like the kingdom of God, the United States can be viewed from various angles. Geographically, it covers 9,876,675 sq. miles.  Economically, it has the largest per capita GDP in the world: $46,900. Politically, it is a constitution-based republic with a strong democratic tradition.  As interesting as those facts may be, they really don’t capture the essence of this country, do they?  Beyond the cold, hard facts, what is the United States all about? Three things, according to our founding fathers: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That’s not just political rhetoric; that’s real.  But would an alien get that impression if he walked around and watched the evening news? Probably not. He might conclude that America is all about grabbing power and making millions.  Warren Bennis writes, “Too many Americans believe that the bottom line isn’t everything, it’s the only thing, and America is strangling on that lack of vision.  He also noted, “It isn’t either a bull market anymore or a bear market anymore, it’s a pig market.”  

Some things are worth fighting and dying for, like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Those are glorious words, inspiring words.  The make me proud to be an American.  But when I think about how far we’ve strayed from those ideals, another feeling wells up inside of me: grief.  Any time there’s a loss, grief is the right word to use.    When you lose a loved one, you grieve. When a country has lost its way, you grieve.  In a lot of ways we’ve forgotten who we are and what this country is all about.  When that happens, you inevitably settle for something else, something less.  So what am I saying? That money and power are poor substitutes for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  

Now I want to apply all of that to the kingdom of God.  It’s a whole lot bigger than the United States, but its essence can be reduced to three words: righteousness, peace, and joy.  There’s actually a fourth word, but I’m saving that one for next Sunday.  Just so you’ll know I didn’t pick those three words out of a hat; I found them in Romans 14.  In verse seventeen Paul says, “For the kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  So if an alien or anybody else ever asks you what the kingdom of God is all about, you can tell them the same thing that Paul told the church at Rome.   That said, does the Church give people get that impression?  In general, do unbelievers associate Christians with righteousness, peace, and joy?  I don’t think so.  If they did, it would be a lot harder to find a seat in here on Sunday morning.  I don’t know about righteousness, but there’s not a person alive that isn’t interested in peace and joy.  And if, for one second, they thought they could find those things at church, they’d be there.  The fact is, this is one of the last places people ever expect to find peace and joy. Church wasn’t high on my list, I can tell you that.  Why not?  That’s a question we need to answer, because non-Christians aren’t asking it, trust me. They don’t care enough about spiritual things to give that question any serious thought.

For the answer we need look no further than the verse I referred to a moment ago, Romans 14:17.  This time I’ll read the whole verse, not just part of it. “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  That’s why there are so many empty pews.  People think we’re all about eating and drinking, or as some translations put it, “meat and drink.”  

Now that we’ve settled that question, let’s move on.  We have settled the question haven’t we? No? Are you saying you’d like me to elaborate a bit?  Of course you would.  That’s not one of those verses that can stand on its own very well; it requires some explanation and some context.  Some of the Christians in Rome were vegetarians, not because they were especially health conscious; the decision not to eat meat had to do with their conscience.  Not that they believed there was anything inherently wrong with meat; their concern was that the meat had been offered as a sacrifice to a pagan god prior to it landing on their plate.  In their minds, eating meat that had been offered to an idol would amount to sin.   Paul, I should tell you, didn’t share that conviction.  His take on the whole thing was, “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.” As long as eating meat doesn’t cause your brother to stumble, knock yourself out.  

Another issue that divided that church was wine.  The ones who didn’t partake thought the ones who did were morally and spiritually lax.  And the ones who did thought the ones who didn’t were rigid and self-righteous.  You know what Paul thought?  He thought all of them were making mountains out of molehills.  “You’re missing the big picture”, he essentially told them.  Meat and drink are petty matters.  Why are you wasting your breath on that stuff.  That’s not what the kingdom of God is about.  Jesus didn’t die on a cross for that.  Think bigger; the kingdom of heaven is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Unfortunately, that “meat and drink” mentality is alive and well twenty centuries later.  Let me describe the people who hold that narrow view of God’s kingdom.  First, like the Christians Paul was writing to, they make mountains out of molehills; in other words, they’re petty.  Little things upset them while big things don’t bother them in the least.  Who cares if people are dying and going to hell; the preacher wasn’t wearing socks one Sunday.  I wish I had kept a journal of all the petty things I’ve heard church people say since I entered the ministry; it would be this thick by now.  Second, people with a “meat and drink” mentality confuse the kingdom of God with morality.  That was the Pharisee’s problem in Luke 18.  “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.  God, thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.”  The kingdom of God isn’t a laundry list of restrictions and prohibitions.  Don’t drink.  Don’t smoke.  Don’t dance.  Don’t do this.  Don’t do that.  You know what’s behind much of that mentality?  A very false assumption: that you make yourself a Christian by the way you live.  If you don’t do certain things you’re a Christian, and if you do them you aren’t.  If that were the case Romans 14:17 would say that “the kingdom of God is peace, joy, and self-righteousness.  Matthew 6:33 wouldn’t say, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; it would say, “Seek first the kingdom of God and your own righteousness.”  To be righteous means “to be morally upright; without sin or guilt.” In other words, perfect.  In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  That’s the uncompromising standard by which God measures us.  Anything less than perfection is unacceptable in his eyes. Let me put it another way.  Heaven comes at a price: perfection.  When you die there will be someone stationed at the front gates.  In the heaven jokes, it’s always Peter.  It might be him or it might be somebody else; that’s beside the point.  Whoever it is, he’ll be dressed like a security guard and he’ll direct you toward a full body scanner.  The ones at the airport detect metal; the one in heaven detects impurities.  If you are perfect, you’ve got nothing to worry about; you’re home free.  Somebody will issue you a harp and a halo.  But if that’s not the case, and that machine detects even the slightest imperfection, an alarm will sound, Gabriel will grab you by the arm and escort you out of God’s presence forever.  

Did your heart just sink? If so I can understand why. Perfection is pretty tall order.  I am nowhere near it.  Many of you are a hundred miles ahead of me in that race.  Even so, you’ve got a million more to go.  Better pick up the pace if you want to cross that finish line before you die.   The fact is, we couldn’t reach that goal in ten lifetimes.  And you know that if you’ve ever tried.  Some of you are still trying.  No wonder peace and joy are missing from your life.  You’ve got a “meat and drink” mentality.  You’re trying to achieve the impossible.  You’re trying to earn your own righteousness.  And the harder you try the more discouraged you get.  We talked about that last week.  Striving and straining to do ministry without God is exhausting enough.  But trying to get to heaven on good works will kill you.  But first it will rob you of peace and joy and it will break your spirit.  

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Folks, the heaviest burden in all the world, by far, is religion.  Some of you still don’t understand what I mean when I make a distinction between dead religion and living faith.  Maybe something I heard recently will help.  Somebody defined religion as “everything man does to reach up to God”.  Faith, on the other hand, is “everything God has already done to reach down to man.”  Religion is all about our ‘works’.  Faith is all about His ‘grace’.  That’s the yoke Jesus was talking about in that verse I just read.  We’ll find rest for our souls when we stop all our striving and rely exclusively on his grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  A gift isn’t something you achieve; it’s something you receive.  It isn’t something you attempt; it’s something you accept.  Amen.