That Never Dawned on Me!

  January 19, 2014

Text: Matthew 4:12-25

Focus: Kingdom of Heaven

Function: To help people understand the importance of living for heaven now.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

I love Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible called “The Message.”

Let me read vs 16 from The Message: (SHOW)

¹⁶People sitting out their lives in the dark
    saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
    they watched the sun come up.

This is the story of a new day dawning, a new hope.

That thought goes well with my favorite Christmas Hymn, “Oh Holy Night.”

There is this cadence to the song and it builds a sort of suspense and we get to one of the mysteries of the Nativity: “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoicing...”

A thrill of hope to people who are weary.

Isn't that why the word Gospel means “Good News?”

And thing is, the Good News affects every area of life.

It used to be that we only focused on the question of sin, eternity, heaven and or hell and that the good news was that we eventually get to heaven.

But there is more to it in this passage:

Look at verse 17, ¹⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Jesus is picking up John the Baptist's message and repeats something exciting. Essentially Jesus is saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is not merely in heaven, it isn't something that will happen to you later, after you die, it's reality has already begun. Therefore, it is time to change you thinking.”

All of that is meant in the statement: “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How do you feel when you hear the word “repent?” (pause)

I don't like the word.

It sounds religious.

It sounds judgmental.

It sounds like a word that may be abused by a form of false religion.

But Literally, the word means to change you direction, or your thinking.

And I believe that it is time for the Church, especially in the West, to change its thinking about how we present the good news.

Think about what Jesus was actually saying, not about context with which we have heard the word “repent” for most of our lives.

To be true to the text, to keep this in the context of Jesus' meaning, in order to communicate the idea in a way that can be heard in our culture, I like to rephrase it to “change your thinking, God's relationship with humanity isn't merely about heaven, it has already begun.”

I like to add, not that Jesus missed anything, but I like to add: “welcome to God's family.” “Welcome back.”

It isn't that the word repent is wrong, it's right there in the Bible, but it carries a connotation that relates to the abuse of shame as a means to motivate people.

But that isn't even the focus of Jesus proclamation. Jesus is telling us, “The Kingdom of God at hand. It is present, not merely future.”

And I think it is time for the church to rethink that.

Because, if the Kingdom of God is here and now, it changes the way we live.

When Jesus said that God's Spirit had anointed Him to proclaim Good News to the poor, to the prisoner, to the oppressed, to the captive and to proclaim the year of Jubilee, which was the 50^th year in the Jewish Calendar where every debt was canceled, Jesus was preaching good news.

The story in today's text goes on to say how James, John, Peter and Andrew were so awed by this good news that they left everything, family and business to follow Jesus.

The story includes how people from everywhere are excited by Jesus' teaching and miracles and they are flocking to Him for Good News.

For some reason, the idea that the Kingdom of God is here, as real in the present as it is in the future was a new teaching that hadn't dawned on people until John the Baptist started preaching it.

So, the word Repent, the idea of changing our thinking, comes out strongly from Jesus mouth.

Have we lost the present tense thinking of God's kingdom? Sometimes we have. Or at least, we haven't included it well enough when we proclaim the gospel.

I think at times that we in the Church are less aware of it as those who are outside looking in.

We live in a Post-Christian/Post-Modern world.

In many ways, we have been marginalized to the edges of our culture. In many places, we have even lost our seat at the table. And maybe, we are partly to blame.

This is the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry and He is causing quite a stir.

Now remember, Jesus died as an atonement for our sins, but they killed Him because His teaching about God's Kingdom being here and now instead of just in the future insulted the religious and financial powers in the system.

He spoke truth to religious values that subverted the Spirit of the Law, which is to love one another.

“Change your thinking” is what Jesus is telling them.

Think about what God wants to do with you, today.

How might it be partly our fault?

There are elements that try to motivate Christians through the fear of losing our power.

And it isn't any different now than it was then when Jesus makes this proclamation.

The religious leaders felt like they were the watchmen on the walls pointing out any hint of a violation against God's law.

In the Old Testament, they were right in doing so. After all, 400 years before, the nation was destroyed for ignoring God's law.

To them, it wasn't going to happen again on their watch.

More than likely, they were trying to do the right thing but they got so focused on the letters of the law that they missed God's grace completely.

And Jesus starts out telling them to stop thinking that way.

We live in a Post-Christian/post-modern world.

In England, there are 16,000 ordained preachers and 50,000 registered psychics.

It isn't the way it was when I was in Seminary.

In Seminary, I learned how to defend the faith against in the age of modernity.

The greatest challenge to faith were those who claimed that God, or the idea of God, is dead.

That isn't our culture today. Today, people are spiritual.

I believe that today's culture realized that Science and Reason, as wonderful as it is, cannot by itself answer all the questions of humanity. The most obvious one is this: “We can build a nuclear bomb, but should we use it?”

Somewhere spirituality needs to come in and help us figure out our moral dilemmas.

People are spiritual, but they are not necessarily looking for Christianity to answer the questions.

And some of that is our fault.

Jesus is still saying: Change your thinking about what the Kingdom of God means.

The fact that the Kingdom of heaven had come already is a fulfillment of prophesy. Let me re-read vs 16:

¹⁶People sitting out their lives in the dark
    saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
    they watched the sun come up.

Something was beginning to dawn on them.

And this something was destined to change the world.

They saw it.

It was so profound that when Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James and John to be a part of this present day Kingdom of God, this family, they left everything behind immediately to follow Jesus.

Good news was here!

People from all over start coming to Jesus to be healed, from pain, emotional problems, spiritual bondage, and physical illnesses.

And God's grace goes out to them with only one condition, believe.

And it wasn't to believe in a whole set of doctrines, creeds, laws, principles, political values, and religious duties. It was simple grace to believe in God's unconditional love for humanity.

It was a year of celebration where all debts were canceled by God.

Grace is a great story!

Why is it that our culture is becoming more Spiritual but less Christian?

Could it be that our message of Grace is getting overshadowed by our frustration with our lack of influence at the table of cultural ideas?

Perhaps if more Christians lived by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Christian principles of passive resistance and non-violence, it wouldn't be that way.

These were Christians who were really frustrated, but instead of rancor, they lived out Jesus' teaching and God starting working on their behalf.

But we, at times, are tempted to go back to that thinking that condemned the Pharisees whereby they were only willing to give grace to people they thought deserved it.

And they felt they were supposed to do it.

They thought that the sins of other people had lead Israel into calamity and it was there job to weed out irreligious practices.

And now, all of a sudden, Jesus comes into the scene and the crowds start following him in huge numbers.

And they follow because God's grace is dawning on them. A message they had not heard from their leaders.

Are we saying it well enough?

Or, are we proclaiming our frustration at our lack of influence?

The message of frustration isn't heard as good news.

So what if we are persecuted? Didn't Jesus promise us that very outcome?

We have got good news. We have the good news that God loves every single person no matter what.

Jesus is saying: “Change your thinking.” He is saying it to us.

Change our thinking.

The Old Testament, the society was condemned for not following God's laws. But the New Testament is a New Covenant and it has to do with what happens when we start living as if the principles of God's complete generosity and mercy.

You see. If the Kingdom of heaven has only to do with the future after we die, things like eternity, judgment, heaven and hell, then it is okay to live only for this world and its rewards.

We come to Church, we get saved, get baptized, we give our 10% and we, being saved by faith, are cleared for heaven.

I do. And this message is important. It is.

But the one on the outside hears a message about eternity, heaven, hell and has too many other questions that we may be forgetting to answer.

This Spiritual Culture is in love with the idea of who Jesus is/was, (SHOW PICTURE).

I hope the picture does not offend you.

It illustrates the idea that people love Jesus, or the idea of Jesus. But they are not sure the Church still reflects it.

Here is what changes when we consider the Kingdom of Heaven both in the present and the future instead of just in the future: “Redemption is holistic.”

Jesus came to heal the world.

He left us, the Church, here to continue the Work of Jesus, simply, peacefully and together.

And the message is good news.

Sometimes I think in terms of giving grace or help only to people who I think deserve it.

But in the weeks after 9/11, I had to force myself to look at a picture of Osama Bin Laden, pray for him, forgive him and remind myself that Jesus loves that man as much as He loves me.

It wasn't easy.

Here is my hope for the Church. I hope that people who are spiritual and are looking for answers will look again at the Church and say: “That never dawned on me!”

Maybe that is the disconnect that stops people from looking back to the Church for answers.

I am sure it does not happen here, but when preachers get on TV and condemn all of Islam because of the actions of about 10% of them, when preachers condemn the poor for being lazy, or the rich for being greedy, the right for being angry or the left for being naïve, they have forgotten this essential part of Jesus ministry.

Jesus gave grace to everyone without exception.

He healed the Synagogue ruler's daughter; He looked at the rich young man and loved him; He healed the Roman oppressor's slave; He even offered Judas a way out at the last minute.

He came to save and restore humanity.

His healing started right there and then, it wasn't merely for the future.

And I ask God all the time, how can I be a part of that present day healing?

How can we?

Author's note, do you want to hear it a little clearer? This article was published a few days after I preached this message.