Sunday, November 14, 2010

[Matt's Messages] "Jesus and the Coming Kingdom"

“Jesus and the Coming Kingdom”
Certain of Jesus:  The Gospel of Luke
November 14, 2010
Luke 17:20-37

If there was a short list of our Lord Jesus’ favorite topics of conversation, the Kingdom of God would be near the top.

Our Lord Jesus loved to talk about the Kingdom of God.

He loved to teach about the Kingdom of God.

Luke has already used the words “The Kingdom of God” twenty times so far in the first 17 chapters of his gospel, and Jesus spoke most of them.

The Kingdom of God.

Well, the Pharisees have heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom of God and talk and talk and talk, so they begin to press Jesus for more details about this kingdom.

And in today’s passage, they want to know when it would come.

“When will the kingdom of God come, O Teacher?”

Well, that’s a question of eschatology.  That’s a question about the end-times.  The end of the world. The fulfilment of prophecy.

And, even though it comes from the Pharisees, it’s a pretty good question.  At least, it’s one that we all want to know about.

When will the kingdom of God come?

Well, I don’t know about you, but I find eschatology to be one of the trickiest parts of biblical doctrine to figure out.

For one thing, it hasn’t happened yet.  So, you can’t go back like history and just piece it together.  It’s still future, so that makes it kind of tricky.

And there are a lot of eschatological (end-times) details to harmonize.  The Bible talks a LOT about future events and however you put them together, they all have to fit together.  So that makes it a complex job.

And there can be several different ways of putting together the prophetic information that makes some sense of it.  So very good, very godly scholars and pastors can sometimes come to very different conclusions on some of the more debatable points.  And that makes it kind of tricky, as well.

I’ve had 12 years of formal theological education, and I’ve been a pastor for about 15 years, but I don’t have all of my questions answered yet about eschatology.

However, there are some things that I think are crystal clear.

And three of them are right here in our passage for today.

Jesus teaches on the coming of the kingdom of God.

#1.  THE KINGDOM HAS COME.
The kingdom of God has already come.  Let’s see how Jesus teaches this in verses 20 and 21.  V.20

“Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation [now, I think that means, “You guys are looking in the wrong place.”  V.21] nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is [footnote: among] you.’”

There is no need to hunt for the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God is among you.  The kingdom is here.

The kingdom has come.

Now, if you have the NIV or the KJV, verse 21 says, that the kingdom is “within you.”

Now, that’s one way to translate the Greek words, but I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant.  Why?

Who is he talking to?

The Pharisees!

The aggressive, unbelieving, hostile Pharisees.

Do you think that Jesus would tell them that the Kingdom of God is inside of them?

I don’t think so.

I think the footnote of the NIV is much better.  As is the English Standard Version and the New American Standard Version, and the New Living Translation...and I found out this week, the newest revision of the NIV which is available now online and will be soon in print translates v.21, “the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

What is Jesus’ point?

How is the kingdom of present?

What is in their midst? 
WHO is in their midst?  Who is among them?

Jesus is.

The king has come, so the kingdom has come!

And the Pharisees are, as usual, missing it!

Don’t ask, “when is the kingdom of God going to come?” Don’t go running around saying, “Here it is. Oh, I think there it is!”  No.

“The kingdom of God is right here because I’m right here.  I’m the king.”

BELIEVE.

See the kingdom in the king.

The presence of the king means the kingdom is present!

I almost titled this message, “Jesus IS the Kingdom.”

The Pharisees were willfully blind to this.   Everything pointed to it.  But they would see it.

And most today are missing it, too.

Jesus is the King, and He has come, so the Kingdom has come, at least in part.

Believe.

Now, the second thing we’re going to see here is going to seem contradictory.

But stay with me.

#2.  THE KINGDOM HAS NOT COME.

Not the way it will.

There is a sense in which the kingdom has arrived with the first arrival of the king, but there is a sense which the kingdom has not yet arrived.  Not in its consummation.

The Kingdom of God is ALREADY and NOT YET.

The kingdom has not come.  Listen to verse 22-25.

“Then he said to his disciples [Note the change of audience.  He isn’t talking to the Pharisees here now.], ‘The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.  Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them.  For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.  But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

The Kingdom of God has not (yet) come.

For one thing, Jesus still has to go to the Cross.

At this point, the New Covenant, the New Deal of the Kingdom of God hasn’t been enacted yet because Jesus hasn’t gone to the Cross. V.25

“But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

Jesus knows what’s coming.

There is no Crown without the Cross.

First the Cross, then the Crown.

The King will die to purchase His Kingdom!

But even after that, the Kingdom will not come right away. Look at v.22 again.

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man [the kingdom of God], but you will not see it.”

You’re going to long, to yearn, to ache for the Kingdom of God.

And it won’t be here yet.

You (disciples, remember?  Not Pharisees.  You) will “long to see one ofthe days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.”

One of the things that Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God is that there would be some kind of a delay before it came in its fullness.

Now, we don’t know how long that delay will be.  It’s been about 2,000 year so far.  And that makes some people laugh at the idea of living an expectant and ready life waiting for His return.

But that’s what Jesus said was going to happen.  It’s not like it was a surprise!

Jesus taught that there would be some considerable delay.  He didn’t say how long, and He said to stay ready (we’re going to see that in just a second), but He also said to stay patient.

BE PATIENT.

Long for the return of Christ and long for the Kingdom of God but keep waiting.

It’s not here yet.

Now, that’s hard to do.  But Jesus didn’t say it was going to be easy.

Right now, we long for the days of the Son of Man.

Don’t you long for the days of the Son of Man?

Don’t you long for the fulfillment of all of God’s promises?

The longer I live, the more I want the Kingdom to Come.

The easier it is to say, “Thy Kingdom Come!”

But it’s not here yet.  And I need to be patient.

In the meantime, there will be lots of people trying to tell you that the end-times are here.  There will be lots of date-setters and time-setters and those who have their charts and their television programs who lay out why they think that the kingdom is going to come this year or soon or whatever.  V.23

“Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them.  For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.”

Don’t worry.  If you long for the coming of the kingdom of God, then don’t worry about missing it.

You won’t miss it.  It will be obvious.  It will be like the lightning, which no one can miss.

Don’t go running after those who have their little secret Jesus to sell you.  His second coming will not be hidden.

Be patient.  Don’t worry about missing it, if you long for the coming of the kingdom of God.

However, if you do not long for the coming of the kingdom of God, then you should worry about missing it!

#3.  THE KINGDOM WILL COME.

But the ungodly won’t be expecting it.  V.26

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.  It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.  But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.  It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”

The kingdom of God is coming. And it is coming in judgment.

Jesus likens it to the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

And there are two points of comparison.

One is that both of those days were proverbially ungodly.

They were ungodly days ripe for judgment.

But also they were ordinary days.  V.27 “People were [doing ordinary things] eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage...”  V.28, “eating, drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.”

Those are very ungodly people doing very ordinary things.

And they weren’t ready.

They weren’t prepared.

They were pre-occupied with their little lives and unconcerned about God and indifferent to His kingdom, and they were swept away in judgment.

BE READY!

Are you ready?

I think that this is one of the clearest things that Jesus taught about the end-times–the need to be ready for His return.

I don’t understand all of the details, but this comes through loud and clear.

Are you ready for Jesus’ return?

Part of being ready means resisting the pull of possessions.

It means turning your heart towards the Lord NOW so that that it’s not tempted to turn back THEN.  V.31

“On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.  Remember Lot's wife!”

Do you remember Lot’s wife?

She loved Sodom, the city doomed to destruction, and she turned around and was reduced to a pillar of salt.

My kids were recently at a life-sized museum of Bible people and they said that Mrs. Lot was there and she was turning around and it was really gross.  Ewww.

But it really happened.

And Jesus wants us to remember it.

He wants us to love the King and the Kingdom so much that we would not be tempted to turn back.  “Remember Lot’s wife!”

Don’t go back.

There won’t be time.  V.33

“Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

Don’t love this life.  Prepare for the next one.

Be ready.

Because the judgment is coming. It will hit unexpectedly and it will bring a final division of the human race.

There will be a separation of those who love Jesus and those who do not.  V.34

“I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.  ‘Where, Lord?’ they asked. He replied, ‘Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.’”

Gruesome, eh?

The judgment that is coming will be gruesome...and just...and sudden...and permanent.

There are only two sides.

And we have to choose now.

There won’t be time then for choosing.

The time for choosing sides is now.

You can’t sit on the fence.  There is no fence.

There are those who belong to Jesus and those who do not.

Are you ready to face Him?

The Kingdom will come.  Are you ready for it?

Most of the Pharisees were not.

They couldn’t even see that the Kingdom had been inaugurated with the coming of the King.

They didn’t long for the kingdom to come.

They were rejecting Jesus and were going to send Him to the Cross.

Do you long for the Kingdom of God?


Messages So Far In this Series:

Certain of Jesus
The Back-Story of Jesus
The Birth of Jesus
Jesus - A Very Special Child
Preparing the Way for Jesus
Jesus Is the Son of God
Jesus in Galilee
Jesus and the Sinners
Jesus Brings Real Joy and Rest
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part One
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Two
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Three
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Four
Amazing Jesus
Disappointed with Jesus
Loving Jesus Much
Jesus' Real Family
Jesus Is Lord
Who Is Jesus?
Following Jesus
Sent By Jesus
Q&A With Jesus
Sitting at Jesus' Feet
Jesus Teaches Us to Pray 
Jesus Is Stronger Than Satan
More Blessed Than Jesus' Mom
Jesus and the Judgment to Come
Being Real with Jesus
Jesus and Our Stuff
Be Ready for Jesus' Return
Jesus and Tragedies
Set Free By Jesus
Jesus and the Surprising Kingdom
Jesus and Jerusalem
Jesus at the Party
The Cost of Following Jesus
Jesus and the Lost: Part One
Jesus and the Lost: Part Two
Jesus and the Lost: Part Three
Jesus on Money
Sneering at Jesus
Jesus and the Great Chasm
Jesus Said to His Disciples...
Thanking Jesus

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