the Jesus I never Knew: What difference he makes

from my message on 9/30/12 from Matthew 25:31-46 and Luke 17:20-21

Netflix....Netflix streaming video.  For one flat rate per month, you can access a huge catalogue of shows over the internet that you can watch on your computer.  Cathy and I like British shows.  We found a series this summer that we really liked.  The main character was a lawyer in a town in England.  I think lawyers are called solicitors there.  His name was Peter, a good, strong name.  From the very beginning of the series, we are faced with his brother who has gone missing off the beach.  Did he drown accidently?  Did he take his own life?  Was he faking his death to escape the mob to whom he owed a huge debt?  Peter also has a sister who has mental issues; she acts out by being sexually promiscuous.  Then there is a junior partner whom Peter mentors who is trying to become qualified as a solicitor.  What I like best about the show is that Peter rarely goes to court.  He tries to resolve differences by getting people to talk with one another.  In one episode there is a food fight from 2 food trailers across the road from one another.  They literally throw food at each other.  It turns out that they are brothers who have been left a legacy by their father.  To use churchy language, Peter tries to find reconciliation.  He works within the law, but more, he works within love.    Peter has a last name; it is Kingdom.  The title of the series on Netflix is Kingdom.

Kingdom is the word for the day.  This is the last in a sermon series on the Jesus I Never Knew.  Today it is on what difference He makes.  That difference can be summed up in one word: Kingdom.

We Americans may not be able to relate to this concept of kingdom to well.  After all, we did not grow up with a monarchy.  We are not familiar with royalty, dukes and earls, duchesses, etc.  In fact, we left many countries that had these forms of government to come to this country in order to escape kings and kingdoms.  We value democracy where we freely elect our officials.  And please God let that come quickly and without too much pain! 

Our Bible is certainly familiar with kings and kingdoms.  The Hebrew people, after entering the Promised Land and having some years with judges and prophets leading them, demand that they have a king like other countries around them.  They want a military leader.  They want security.  The prophet says, "You have your God as King.  You don't know what you are asking.  You won't like it."  But the people continue to demand, and so Saul becomes the first king of Israel.  It doesn't go well.  However, the idea of a kingdom becomes part of the expectation of the Jewish people.  The kingdom of God connoted peace, freedom from oppression and prosperity.

Jesus picks up on this kingdom imagery.  In the passage from Matthew, we heard that those blessed by the king would enter a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  The Kingdom of God was considered to be before time and space existed.  Jesus speaks of the kingdom 53 times in Mattthew's Gospel alone.  We find it in the Lord's Prayer we just said, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingom come"... and at the end, "for thine is the kingdom, and the power.."

Then there are all of those parables of the kingdom.  You say, "the kingdom of heaven is like," and I will fill in the blank.  The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of seeds and yet produced the largest of shrubs.  The kingdom of heaven is like a little bit of yeast which when put into the dough causes the who loaf to rise.  The kingdom of heaven is like the pearl of great price which a merchant sold all of his other goods in order to obtain.  The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man finds and invests all he has in it.

Did you notice in Matthew's Gospel it is always the Kingdom of heaven?  Matthew is the most Jewish of the Gospels.  Our Jewish friends do not say the word "GOD" as the  Name is holy, so they substitute another word.  So in Matthew it is not the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom of heaven.

John the Baptist introduces the coming of Jesus the Messiah by proclaiming, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near."  Jesus begins his ministry by repeating exactly the same words, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near."  The number 1 topic that Jesus preached about is the Kingdom.  No other topic comes close. 

In Luke, Jesus says that this Kingdom is in the midst of you.  You may be wondering today where this Kingdom is.  If you watch the news, you may see only a world filled with hate, hurt, harshness.  Let me hear a heavy sigh.  This past week we have seen the escalation of a civil war in Syria.  The United Nations have been meeting, but they are far from united.  The leader of Iran dismisses the existence of Israel.  The leader of Israel stands up and holds a picture of a bomb from Iran with a red line across it, explaining that there is a red line out there that Israel will not allow Iran to cross.  Don't get me started on Palestine, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and that is just in one small part of our world.  There is hunger on a massive scale in famines and smaller scale right here in Austin.  We have diseases and dis-ease.  I know this is awfully heavy, so a little lighter touch of awfulness.  This summer at the national Scrabble contest, there was cheating.  Someone brought in a blank tile, like an ace up the sleeve in poker.  Can you imagine it?  Cheating at Scrabble?  Heavy sigh.

Where is this kingdom that Jesus proclaims?  It is in our midst.  If we open our eyes of faith, we will see it.  I had a conversion experience this past week, as I looked beyond the news to the good news.  I saw Ellen Balthazar retiring after all of those years of service at Any Baby Can, which was born right out of this congregation.  Lila Carl played a significant role in getting it started.  ABC meets the needs of families with children who have extraordinary difficulties.  I saw Marci Hursting pull together this walk for persons with mental illness.  Marci has been in Bible studies and grown her soul.  She went singing at our Austin State Hospital and got convinced to do something.  We have the opportunity to give food again next Sunday for the Methodist Church in Granite Shoals as we supply their Grace food pantry.  I went to Sunday School this morning with the Preston Wyatt class who surprised Gwen here with a bridal shower.  This is how the Kingdom comes, with surprise, with hope and healing for the most vulnerable.

I saw the kingdom in your ministry with Adam Slinkard this man in his mid 20's who has this brain bleed and is in ICU.  You have sent food, so much, that the family shares with others families from out of town. You have supplied ice chests and cold drinks.  You have sent cards and offered prayers.  You have visited in person and through the caring bridge.  I checked this morning, and there had been 2,739 visits online which Adam reads.  One of you brought paper towels.  Laura the mom said, "Paper towels.  Who knew I would find them so handy."  A doctor, not even on the healing team, spent 10 hours there on Saturday, on his birthday,simply as a family friend.  Our own Sara Austin has pulled together a great healing team.  The family said this to me, "We would never wish this experience on anybody, but we have found through this experience how much we are loved.  There is a lot of good in the world."  This is how the kingdom comes.

The kingdom is not synonymous with the church.  In fact, if we pay attention to that  parable that Jesus told, the ones who thought they were in were actually out, and the ones who thought they were out were actually in.  We as the church need to confess that we are both sheep and goats.  We need to throw ourselves on the mercy of God.  We are saved by grace.  We can be blind and deaf to the needs around us.  Jesus alone is Sovereign and saves us.  He is King of kings and Lord of Lords.

It is hard to see the kingdom sometimes because it is "already and not yet' at the same time.  The analogy is that the war is already over, but the mopping up battles still continue.  Another analogy comes from the hymn, This is my Father's world, which has that line, "That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet."

The best translation of what Jesus says is "The kindgom of God is in the midst of 'you all''.  We do this together...with God, with each other.  The good news I have to share is that the kingdom is in the midst of y'all.