John 3 Thy Kingdom Come

Sermon - Sunday 18th July 2010

Introduction

There was once a hillbilly family from the Deep South of America who after many years decided to make a trip to the city. It was in the late 1930’s when a lot of the things we take for granted were just coming in. You had Pa and Ma, both in their 60’s and they took their grandchildren with them. It was an amazing day. The 6 lane highways, all the tall buildings, and the plethora of shops with so many things they had never seen. The electric lights of different colours amazed them. In one of those tall buildings there was a branch of a well-known Company called JC Penny. This department store was so big it spanned a couple of floors and they were in awe.

Ma was wondering around with her little grandson when she came to a lift; she had never seen a lift before and didn’t know what a lift did.

She saw this man in his 70’s walk up to the lift and press the button. There was a pause before these doors opened and into the lift he went.

Then there was a sound and another pause before the lift doors opened again.

Out stepped a 6ft tall blond muscled hunk…she really was amazed. Very quietly she bent down to her grandson and said in his ear…quick go get your grandfather, this is going to be good.

Alas things didn’t quite work out the way she wanted, she got her same husband back.

Surveys though have shown that almost everybody wishes they had the power to change or transform something about themselves or something about someone close to them. There are very few people happy either with the way they are or the way things are.

Look at the promises of people who seek to be elected. Obama’s slogan was ‘Change we can believe in’; Cameron’s ‘Plan for change’; Brown’s ‘A fairer future for all’ and Clegg’s ‘Change that works for you, building a fairer Britain’

Every one of them was promising things would be different because they were tapping into that bit of each of us that knows things should be different.

In Jesus ministry he was very clear the place a difference needs to be made is not on the outside. You may change your habits; yet unless you change yourself no real change has taken place. He said something like this to the religious leaders of his day:

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have gotten by violence and selfishness. Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too! (Matthew 23:25-26)

Jesus was very clear that real change takes place on the inside.

Can you become a different person? Can you change from the inside out?

Again Jesus is very clear that yes you can. When he meets Nicodemus at night and they are having a discussion about the Kingdom of God, it is Jesus that says you have to be born again. You have to become a new, a different creation. No tinkering with the edges, no changing your habits. You have to be transformed from the inside out.

There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. One night he went to Jesus and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him." Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again." (John 3:1-3)

Within the Gospels there are 76 unique instances where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God; if you could all the parallels between Gospels it jumps to 102 times. So this constituted a central theme of his teaching. He wanted people to learn about the Kingdom, he wanted his followers to pray for the kingdom to come into being. [PAUSE]

From his teaching there are distinct elements of the Kingdom he wanted people to know.

We’ve touched on the first of those already in that the transformation of a person must take place inside. You must metaphorically be born again.

This comes to the very centre of Christianity because whilst Jesus was a good teacher it is not about the teaching. Following the teaching of Jesus will make us good people but it will not make us Christians. This is a common mistake made about Christianity; especially one made today where there is still some residual idea about the teaching of Jesus though less about the person himself.

I can follow the teachings of Jesus. In fact I can be like Nicodemus a very upright and good person but within my heart I’m not necessarily relying on Jesus.

**** BREAK ****

The Pharisees were good people, they kept a very strict code of giving, a very strict set of habits but as we quoted earlier; the inside was not good. If we reduce being a Christian to keeping the teachings of Jesus we are guilty of exactly the same thing as the Pharisees, looking at the outside of the bowl and not cleaning the inside.

To be a Christian the Kingdom of God has to start inside in our hearts.

"You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

(Matthew 6:24)

Jesus knew well that even trying to do one thing but having another thing in our hearts would not work.

You cannot serve two masters. You cannot profess to follow one thing but all the while secretly pine for another.

Between AD 300 and 1300 the church sent missionaries out to convert the pagan tribes of Northern Europe. Columba came here, Patrick went to Ireland, Augustine went to England, and believe it or not someone called Denis went to France. There were lots more.

What happened was the missionary went to see the chief and if the chief agreed to convert and be baptised then all of the chief’s people were considered to be Christian. Of course for most of the people it made little difference because it wasn’t personal to them.

They paid lip service to being Christians but for the most part they continued in exactly the same way as before. On the outside they were one thing and on the inside they were another.

The first place the Kingdom of God has to be is in your heart.

Later in the New Testament we are all asked to examine ourselves, to look into our hearts and see what we find there.

So the question then is, what lies behind our outward habits? What is the root of our churchgoing? Why do we follow the teachings of Jesus? It is the Kingdom of God in our hearts or is it something else?

Jesus is clear; it can only come from willingly surrendering ourselves to God; willingly allowing God to be the driving force in our lives. Transformation on the inside.

That’s the personal implication of the Kingdom of God but there are also corporate implications of his Kingdom.

Remember at the start we mentioned the slogans of Obama and Co. These slogans were followed up by their manifesto’s which laid out what they were going to do and how they were going to govern.

We have Jesus slogan as it were of you must be born again. We also have his manifesto. It is too long to read now but when you go home, read Matthew Chapter 5 -7 The Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them: "Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! "Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! (Matthew 5:1-4)

Here you will find how the people who have the Kingdom of God in their heart are meant to live together. This is the first manifesto given to the church which lays out the responsibilities of those in the Kingdom.

These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions: "Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and preach, 'The Kingdom of heaven is near!' Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid.

(Matthew 10:5-8)

The Kingdom is not merely something in the future; there is a present element to it. It is near.

Your responsibility as a Christian is to make the Kingdom a reality wherever you are. So ask yourself, have I made the Kingdom of God a reality to my family this week? What about my work colleagues? My neighbours? The man on the street?

How do we as a congregation of the Kingdom of God make his Kingdom a reality to the people in Granton because that’s our job.

Of all the Christians in the city we are the only ones with specific responsibility to be the Kingdom of God to the people of this area and if we don’t do it no one else will.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus describes Kingdom people as salt and light. That’s a transforming image where they are to have an impact on those around.

If as a church we make no impact on our community then we are failing them. Thankfully in this congregation we do, but there is always more to be done.

Ask yourself whether you are exercising the responsibilities of this Kingdom? [PAUSE]

Jesus teach us to pray…. Thy Kingdom come.

Pray that God will make his Kingdom a reality in your life.

One of the things I find really funny is the number of people who think about the coming Kingdom of God when Jesus comes back and wraps everything up. Which will happen at some point and which we should not forget.

Jesus spoke far more about making the Kingdom of God a reality now than waiting for the Kingdom yet to come. His disciples were not called to a waiting life, they were called to a doing life.

You and I are the same, we are called to model this Kingdom in who we are, how we live and what we do. Every time we pray this prayer we are saying we want this to happen.

Actually we are saying we are going to make it happen. So you see every time you pray thy kingdom come, know that you are committing yourself to a life of discipleship modelling this kingdom.

Conclusion

While Secretary of State during the Regan presidency, George Shultz kept a large globe in his office. When newly appointed ambassadors had an interview with him and when ambassadors returning from their posts for their first visit with him were leaving his office, Shultz would test them.

He would say, "You have to go over the globe and prove to me that you can identify your country." They would go over, spin the globe, and put their finger on the country to which sent--unerringly.

When Shultz’s old friend and former Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield was appointed ambassador to Japan, even he was put to the test. This time, however, Ambassador Mansfield spun the globe and put his hand on the United States. He said: "That’s my country."

On June 27, 1993, Shultz related this to Brian Lamb on C-Span’s "Booknotes." Said the secretary: "I’ve told that story, subsequently, to all the ambassadors going out. ’Never forget you’re over there in that country, but your country is the United States. You’re there to represent us. Take care of our interests and never forget it, and you’re representing the best country in the world.’ "

Sorry if there are any American friends with us today but we represent a much better Kingdom even than the United Kingdom and we must never forget who we are or what we are called to be and to do.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come…

Amen.

Posted by on