Finding the Kingdom

  

Text: Matthew 9:35-10:8

Focus: Kingdom

Function: to help people see that transformation is here and now

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

10:¹Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

Good morning to the children of God who are loved and will never be forgotten by God.

I titled the message this morning: “Finding the Kingdom” because the kingdom of God seems to be an elusive idea for us.

The word Gospel means Good News. And the good news, the gospel, according to Jesus is that the Kingdom of God is here and now.

He wasn’t talking about heaven.

I believe that the phrase: “The Kingdom of God” refers to the reign of God in the lives of people.

Jesus spoke often of the kingdom, especially right before he was murdered when Pilate examined him in John 18 and 19.

Jesus informed Pilate that God ultimately places people in power and does so to accomplish God’s purpose on the earth. Jesus told Pilate that Pilate was being used by God to fulfill God’s plan and that the guilt for his sentencing did not lay on Pilate’s account.

Jesus forgives him just as he forgave from the cross. He forgave those who killed him. And that forgiveness is inspired by the Spirit of God bringing God’s reign into our hearts. God’s kingdom in our hearts changes us.

Jesus informed Pilate that he was indeed the king of a spiritual kingdom and that he was sent by God.

Pilate believed him and was afraid to pass sentence, but gave in to the political pressures of the day.

Pilate’s acquiescence to their demands highlights the contrast between the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of God.

Pilate gave in against his own conscience for political expediency. And Jesus, who died for our sins, was actually the victim of a state execution to silence his alternative approach to economics by sharing and caring for people who are suffering instead of merely caring for ourselves. Jesus addresses the problem of greed and scarcity with a message that upset those in power who were getting rich off of the working class’s misery.

They killed him for taking a stand against greed. When I see the billionaires competing to see who can be the first trillionaire, I realize that we are worshiping money in this country. You can’t serve God and money. I realize we need the same kind of prophets today. But instead, our culture honors the uber wealthy as heroes of capitalism while billions of people live in poverty right under their noses and they don’t care.

They killed Jesus for saying this about the wealthy because he exposed their greed.

So, you might be wondering what this has to do with finding the kingdom. Well, these verses in John 18 and 19 describing in detail Jesus’ encounter with Pilate represent to me, a shift on the entire book of John.

On Palm Sunday, the crowd worshiped Jesus we believe because they thought that he would start an effective and miraculous military campaign against Rome and set them free.

And it isn’t really until the 18^th and 19^th chapters of John where according to John, Jesus exposes the true nature of the kingdom of God.

He makes it clear that God’s kingdom reigns in the hearts and minds and spirits and souls of those who trust Jesus.

It is a spiritual transformation that Jesus is bringing to us.

And in today’s passage, where Jesus gives the disciples power to do the same miracles that Jesus was doing, he tells them to proclaim that God’s kingdom is here and now.

God’s kingdom is already here.

When Jesus saved us, he saved us spirit, soul, mind and body. His salvation brings the power of healing through trusting his way of loving others and resting in the fact that God provides for us.

We are the kingdom of God.

And I heard a Brethren preacher foment a different idea based on the actual word: “Kingdom.’

She said, what if we dropped the G and called it the kindom. We are Kin. We are a family of God. We are the children of God and we are connected by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Christ created everything and permeates everything. Nature, science, the arts, even we ourselves.

There is no where that we can go where we can get away from the presence of Christ.

And Christ wants us to live in a way that brings the Christ’s healing power to the broken world.

In our passage, Jesus gives supernatural power to the apostles and sends them out on a journey to proclaim that God’s Change for human culture is here and now.

And it is the positive, energetic power of God to transform. At this point, the apostles were still pretty green because it was the beginning of the ministry. And Jesus, even though they don’t know what they are doing, anoints them with power to do this short term mission. He is showing them what is possible when they trust Christ.

He is showing them the power or authority they have as members of God’s kingdom. We have the power to change ourselves and our culture.

We are the kingdom, the kindom, the family of God with God’s presence empowering us.