The Bridge - where I pastor

Thursday, July 16, 2009

He is the King - now and forever

Remember the sermon on worship and the reality is we all worship something or someone? It was about idols and who we really follow. We follow money and then we loose it, it led us no where. We follow our idol of incorrect love/sex it leads us to STD’s or pregnancy…it takes us no where. We follow our idol of popularity and then there is someone more popular than us and so we are nowhere and then we actually “kill” that threat to our idol but gossiping or lying about them. Following our idols will NEVER lead us to our goals. They will ALWAYS let us down not they CAN’T deliver on their promises. There is only one that we can follow that will never let us down…

Is He our King? Why does it matter how we see the reality of His Kingship? Does this give us confidence to move forward in ministry and life? Let’s find out!

The idea of a king and a kingdom found in the Bible - (NOTE: many of these ideas are from “A Theology of the New Testament” by George Ladd; reprinted in1966)

  1. OT
    1. In 1 Sam 8: 1-7 we see that God declared that they had a king (Himself) and yet they wanted another (just like the idols in our hearts).
    2. The people of God had a King who reigned over them. The King led them, fought for them and guided them in life (see the Exodus; the many battles that God won and the 10 commandments as examples of these realities).
    3. The kingdom as was told by the prophets was looking forward to the “Day of the Lord” and a divine visitation to purge the world of evil and sin and establish God’s perfect rule and reign in the earth.
  2. NT
    1. The age to come and the Kingdom of God are interchangeable terms in the NT. Yet we see them “now and not yet”. The resurrection of Christ marked the transition from “this age” to “the age to come”.
    2. The age which extends from creation to the “Day of the Lord”, which in the Gospels is designated in terms of the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead and judgment is marked by sin and rebellion. The age to come will see the reality of the reign of God. But it also means the reality of His reign now and the Kingdom here but perfected and in full measure in the “Age to Come”.
    3. It is not the church but the rule of God. The church is a society of men and women.
    4. The Kingdom creates the church
    5. The church witnesses to the Kingdom (hence we share the gospel)
    6. The church is the instrument of the Kingdom (hence last weeks sermon)
    7. The church keeps the Kingdom “pure” visa vie church discipline, etc.
  3. The Kingdom of God
    1. Most scholars agree that the most distinctive thing about Jesus’ teaching was the presence of the Kingdom. In other words the Kingdom is in some real sense both present and future - “now and not yet.”
    2. The enemies of the Kingdom are not princes and kings but “spiritual powers of evil (Eph 6).
    3. Jesus came to “seek and save the lost” [our mission too!!] but not just for a future benefit but for a current earthly blessings, hence the miracles and the reality of feeding the poor and helping the widows.
    4. It is quite clear that we are already experiencing a temporal reign of Christ in the church age. Chris is Lord: (Phil 2:9) and reigns at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:33-36; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12-13; 12:2). He is already enthroned as King (Rev 3:21) He is already enthroned as King (Rev 3:21; I Cor 15:24-26) He has given us the blessings of His Kingdom (Rom 14:17) and humans are brought into His Kingdom (Col 1:13)
  4. The God of the Kingdom
    1. OT - God’s activity: God’s Kingdom was God’s overall sovereign rule. He never ceased to be the God whole kingly providence untimely superintended all existence.
    2. NT -
    3. a seeking God - “Seek and save the lost”
    4. an inviting God - “To invite sinners to the Great Banquet of the Kingdom was precisely the Lord’s mission” - Rawlinson
    5. The fatherly God - to submit to the reign of God is to let Him be our heavenly Father.
    6. The judging God - Those who reject the call or offer of salvation will be judged.
  5. The Future Kingdom
    1. The Book of Revelation - Not a chronological book but a descriptive book of 2 scenes: Heaven and earth - the destruction of evil and the blessings of eternal life.
    2. On earth there will be judgement and punishment.
    3. In Heaven there will be everlasting joy and life with Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
    4. We see in Revelation the “recapitulation” of these scenes (the re-writing of them so as to really understand them like a mom repeats to her child, “don’t touch the hot stove”).
    5. Heaven - worship
    6. We will worship (all creation will worship) Him as seen in Rev 4: 4-11; 5:6-10; 7:9-12; 11:15-18; 19: 1-8
    7. Earthly judgment
    8. He will judge (as the King) Rev 11:11-16; 21:7-8
  6. So what? - We have seen in our sermon series:
    1. Who is God
    2. He died for us
    3. He rose for us
    4. He is personal and communicates with us
    5. He is our promise keeper
    6. He alone is to be worshiped
    7. He sends
    8. He gives
    9. He reigns
    10. (next) He never leaves me
  7. So we can then remember all this with confidence because of our KING!
    1. We can know this wonderful King personally
    2. We can worship Him in awe and with confidence
    3. We can participate with Him in building His Kingdom
    4. We can take risks b/c we know the King and He won’t reject us
    5. We can rest in the sovereignty of His reign - He knows all
    6. We can share this King with others
    7. We can go/send because He will lead us/them
    8. He is a King who owns everything - we can’t out give Him
    9. He is a King who will never leave us (next week)
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