Sermon IV: The Church and Pentecost

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The Church and Pentecost

Ian “Ivan” Hyde

May 31, 2009 – Youth Sunday/Day of Pentecost, Year B

First Southern Baptist Church of Pasadena, CA

Responsive Reading (The Baptist Hymnal – 691 – God the Holy Spirit – Acts 2:1-4, 14, 17-18, 21, 38)

Introduction

Traditionally, today marks the celebration of Pentecost in the Christian Churches.

In the Baptist tradition, we don’t put much emphasis on the liturgical calendar. While this might put us in danger of, on the one hand, losing our sense of connection with our brothers and sisters in other denominations; on the other hand it means we have the freedom to preach any topic on any given Sunday. And it is in this freedom that we look for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we can preach exactly what the People of God need to hear, when they need to hear it.

It is the Holy Spirit that I want to talk about this morning, specifically the beginning work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian Life. But to understand the beginning work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives, we must look at the story of the beginning work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church: and that is the story of Pentecost.

Background

The Christian holiday of Pentecost is deeply connected to the Jewish holiday, Shavuot or the Festival of Weeks. Throughout the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, God commands the Israelites to keep three majore pilgrimage festivals, or Shalosh Regalim as they are known in Hebrew, when Jews everywhere were expected to come to Jerusalem and worship in the Temple.

There were three of these festivals: Pesach or Passover, Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks, and Sukkoth or the Feast of Booths. Shavuot commemorated both the barley harvest and, according to tradition, the day God gave Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai. It was seen as the day Israel truly began to be the People of God and it is fitting that God would choose that day to give the Holy Spirit to the Church, marking our beginning as the People of God as well.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

The events of Pentecost really begin with the Last Supper when Jesus made specific promises to the disciples regarding the coming Holy Spirit.

First, Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:26, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

This meant that all those crazy things Jesus had been saying the last couple of years would finally make sense. The coming Advocate would remove their short-sightedness and lack of understanding, giving them the ability to truly and confidently preach the Good News to all nations.

This is echoed in Acts 1:8 when the risen Jesus has ordered the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, telling them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

John gives us other details about the coming Advocate or Paraclete as He is called in Greek. In John 15:26 Jesus calls him “the Spirit of Truth,” testifying on Jesus’ behalf, and in 14:16 we are promised that the Spirit will be with us forever. Finally, in 16:7 Jesus says that the Advocate will only come if Jesus leaves, in other words, is crucified.

The Day Approaches

So, with the assurance of these promises, the disciples wait. To give you a sense of the time involved, Pentecost means “the fiftieth day” and Shavuot means “weeks”. This refers to the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost itself or for Jews, the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot. As we are told at the beginning of Acts that Jesus stayed forty days after the Resurrection, this means the disciples waited ten days for the promised Advocate.

To us, this might not seem like a very long time, but the disciples had no idea how long they were to wait. These followers had been through a lot the last couple of months. First, their beloved teacher is betrayed and brutally murdered, then in confusion they abandon him and even deny him. Finally they witness their risen Lord and realize that He is the long awaited Messiah, but then He tells them He must leave again.

And so they wait. For ten days they meet together, waiting, not knowing if it will be minutes, hours, days or even years before they receive the promised Advocate. In fact, they don’t even know what He’ll look like or how they’ll know Him.

The Advocate Arrives

On the 10^th day of waiting, it finally happens. And I tell you, God really knows how to make an entrance. A mighty wind rushes through the place and fire rests on each. Then, inexplicably they all begin speaking in different languages. Now some see this as the same “speaking in tongues” experienced in Pentecostal Churches today, who take their name from this event. But while they generally speak in a way no one present understands, on this day, God did something different.

So as this is happening, a crowd begins to gather as Jews from all over the Roman Empire who have come to celebrate Shavuot hear their native languages. Amidst the mounting confusion, some joke that the disciples must have been kickin’ back some pretty sweet new wine.

At this Peter stands up and preaches the first recorded sermon of the new Church in which he quotes Joel 2:28-32, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

He goes on to convict the crowd of their role in Jesus’ death, but declares it is God’s plan as evidenced by the power of His miracles, His Resurrection and the mighty deed they are witnessing that very moment. At this, Jesus’ promise in the beginning of Acts that the disciples would be His witnesses in Jerusalem is fulfilled as 3,000 new believers are added to the disciples’ number.

After all, only the Holy Spirit could take the words of a man who denied Jesus three times and use them to fearlessly convince a crowd 3,000 strong of Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah.

The Church after Pentecost

After this, the fledgling Church is enabled, by the Holy Spirit, to begin living out the teachings of Jesus. In verse 42 we are told “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” It is this practice which forms the centerpiece of the Christian life, even today.

But that’s not all. After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit continued to empower the disciples to perform wonders, commune together in brotherly love and preach the Gospel [Acts 2:43-47], and in Peter’s sermon we are told that the comfort of the Holy Spirit in tough times and the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel fearlessly and in truth, to perform wonders in witness to God’s saving power and to commune together in brotherly love is ours to claim even today.

Example: I can attest to this fact by what we experienced in Pakistan. In spite of the danger, God gave us the courage to fearlessly distribute bibles and share the Gospel. He enabled us to pray for the sick and gave us the ability to quickly pick up the language (almost all of which I’ve subsequently forgotten). He even healed the back of one of our team members, so that we could continue to carry the bibles wherever they needed to go. It was as if God had chucked the spear of the Gospel into the heart of Taliban country. And this would not have been possible had not the Holy Spirit been with us every step of the way.

Not just in Pakistan, but all over the world men and women are hearing the Gospel and being saved, those being tortured in prison for their faith are being comforted, demons are cast out and the sick are healed. I even met a missionary who went into an unreached region to preach the Gospel with a translator and who, in the middle of his sermon, realized his translator wasn’t speaking. When he asked why they weren’t translating, his companion replied, “because you’re already speaking our language.”

These things are happening today, as the Holy Spirit fulfills the words of Joel, cited by Peter and which we heard in the responsive reading before the sermon; and the hope is realized that all would share in the intimacy with God that the prophets experienced.

Conclusion

And so, I fittingly finish with the words of Peter, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” [Acts 2:38-39]

If any of you here haven’t asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, trusting that He can forgive all your sins and give you the comfort of the Holy Spirit, then I invite you to come up now as the music plays, and do so.

Benediction

May God bless us and keep us. May God make His face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us.

May God lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace. Amen. [c.f. Numbers 6:24-26]

Sermon III: The Advent of Deliverance

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The Advent of Deliverance

Ian “Ivan” Hyde

Nov. 30, 2008 – Youth Sunday/First Sunday of Advent, Year B

First Southern Baptist Church of Pasadena, CA

Introduction

• Good Morning! I hope you all will excuse me if I have a gruff voice this morning; I’ve had a pretty decent sore throat the last couple of days. Also, if I sit down halfway through this sermon it’s ‘cause I’m being weighed down by the 20 lbs. of turkey I ate on Thursday.

• Now that Thanksgiving is finished, people begin to look toward the next big holiday, Christmas. Many of you have already started dragging your Christmas trees and decorations out of garages, basements and attics and a few of you have probably spent a super frustrating half hour untangling Christmas lights. But in the midst of scrambling for gifts and digging up old recipes, there’s a church tradition that often goes overlooked, but in the last couple of years since my wife and I first started celebrating it, it has been one that I’ve found is a great way to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth. This is the tradition of Advent.

Crying Out for a Messiah

• Christians began celebrating Advent around 1700 years ago as a time of preparation, repentance and fasting before Christmas. It was meant to represent the long Jewish history of waiting for the Messiah to come, to deliver Israel from its enemies and oppressors. It represents a period of groaning and lament over the strains of this life, the injustices we see and feel. During this time, Christians are called to open their eyes to the suffering of the people around them, the suffering in their own lives, and the consequences of their own sin. We are called to see that even Creation groans under the weight of our sins and calls out to its God for help.

• And believe me, our sins are many. We lust, covet, take what we haven’t earned and bind ourselves to addictions. I don’t just mean addictions to drugs or alcohol (although they are major problems in our society), I also mean addictions to sex, tv and trends, anything that will give us instant gratification and keep us from having to engage relationships with those around us, relationships that take a lot of work and self sacrifice. We live in a world where we devastate the natural beauty God entrusted to us and instead of loving each other, we enslave our brothers and sisters. In fact, there are more slaves in the world now than there have ever been. And I am sure in the midst of all this, that my sins have been the worst of all.

The First Advent

• So, in the midst of our bondage we cry out to God the same words Isaiah wept 2,500 years ago, “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” [Is. 64:1] But here is the good news in all this, and not just good news, great news! God has ripped apart the heavens on our behalf. He broke the wall down that separated us from Him. The God of Heaven is also the Savior of the Earth; because, as John says, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14] This Word that became flesh is our Deliverer.

Example: This actually reminds me of something that happened to me a number of years ago. I was with a group of guys trekking in New Mexico. We were hiking from campsite to campsite each day, and on this particular day we had an especially long hike in front of us. I was the leader of our group and I had a different guy read the map each day. Well this time, we lost the trail and when we found it again we followed along for hours but without finding any campsite. As the day wore on, we scrambled over rocks and through streams as we climbed mountains, ridges and valleys.

Day turned to night and it began to rain… hard. Our hands became like clay and our fingers were numb. Our legs ached and burned and we had run out of food and clean water long ago. When I had called a two-minute standing break, I walked forward a little bit to gather my thoughts. Then, in the distance I saw the faint glow of some lights, but when I looked down my head spun and I thought I was gonna puke. I wasn’t three inches from a good 40 ft. drop straight down. The glow was still far away, and there was no way I could see to get down the precipice. In desperation I crumpled to the ground and deep inside, cried out to God for help.

Just then I saw another glow in the woods, but from a different direction. As I looked, I saw it was moving closer and I jumped up and down, hollering at the light as it came. The other guys musta thought I was crazy, ‘cause they hadn’t seen it yet. But one by one their eyes brightened and they began yelling too. It turns out, the people at the campsite we were supposed to go to sent out a search party after we didn’t show up at dark. They led us safely back along a trail we had missed and when we got back, they took our packs off our tired shoulders, set up our tents for us and led us into their cabin. There they fed us as much spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread we could eat and as much cold Kool-Aid we could drink. It was by far the best meal I’ve ever eaten. And then we were able to lay down to sleep in peace.

• The point of that story is that even in the midst of impossible challenges, when we are the most tired, the most worn through and we feel there is no way out, we can still cry out to God and He will deliver us. I am a living testament to this. Whether battling heat exhaustion in the jungles of Honduras, weeping over the victims of AIDS and malaria we prayed for in Africa and over the homeless and forgotten ones God has let me care for in my own country, or facing the threat of death as we snuck bibles under the noses of armed soldiers in Pakistan, God has always been there and is always the Faithful Deliverer.

• And this brings us to the true heart of Advent. Advent isn’t just a time of groaning and lament, because God hasn’t left us to wallow and die. God has become flesh and delivered us from the consequences of our own sin. God removed the nails of sin that pierced us and bound us to our own death and instead placed them in His own hands and feet. When we remember this, we realize that Advent isn’t just preparing us to celebrate Christ’s birth, but just as integral to its meaning is the importance of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. God has heard our cries and smashed to pieces the enemy of death that would keep us from Him.

The Second Advent

• But Advent isn’t just a time to remember our sins and how God delivered us from them at the Cross, it is also a time to look forward to the promise we have that He will come again. In fact, this is what the Latin word “adventus” means. It is a translation of the Greek word “parousia” which means “the arrival” or “the coming” of God. God didn’t simply do the job at the Cross, then leave us to our own fates. He has promised that the Resurrection of Jesus is a foretaste of what is in store for all who will believe. Just as John the Baptist was commissioned by the Word of God through Isaiah when he said, “A voice cries out: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” So we are also called to be voices for the Gospel in the spiritual wasteland of our culture, ever ready and prepared like a soldier standing guard.

• Because I promise you this, God is coming very soon and the Kingdom of God is already here. [Luke 17:21] We, as the Church, should not be caught sleeping, lazy or undisciplined. Just like soldiers we are to train ourselves: in the Word of God, in prayer and fasting, and in living the Gospel by loving each other and our enemies, even as we love ourselves. In this way, we will be ready for Christ’s sudden return, and in the meantime we will be prepared to face any trouble, suffering, injustice or persecution that comes our way. So let us prepare ourselves, train hard and fight the injustices we see enslaving the weak and helpless in society, all as we carry the light of the Gospel, the truth that Our God is the Only One who truly delivers, who truly gives freedom.

Conclusion

• As we conclude, let me draw your attention to the Advent wreath I’ve placed on the altar. Each candle represents a Sunday during Advent, today being the first, which is why we only have one candle lit so far. The candles are purple to represent the royalty of the Christ that has been given to us and who we are waiting for again, but the purple is also meant to represent the robe Jesus was forced to wear as the soldiers beat Him before nailing Him to the Cross, and as such it is meant to draw us into repentance for the sins He redeemed us from. The fourth candle is a candle of joy as we draw ever closer to the second Advent we await, and the last candle in the middle represents both the day of Christ’s birth as the first Advent and the day of the final Resurrection as the second. Surrounding all this is the wreath, which represents the ever present encircling of God’s grace and deliverance, which is made readily available to us.

• Now, as we sing the hymn, “Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” on page [ ] of your hymnals, if you haven’t yet come to Christ to lay down your burdens and the things that make you tired, deeply and to the bone, then please come forward and do it now. You have no idea the freedom Jesus brings until you experience it yourself. Jesus himself makes a promise to us when he says in Matthew, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” [Mt. 11:28]

• And even if you have come before God before, believing that Jesus’ death and Resurrection are enough to save from the punishment of sin, but you still feel tired and worn down, or frustrated that your life seems out of control, then come forward and believe that Jesus will fulfill His promise and shoulder the burden for you.

Sermon II: Salt and Light

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Salt and Light

August 31, 2008 – Youth Sunday/Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, Year A

Ian “Ivan” Hyde

First Southern Baptist Church of Pasadena, CA

Matthew 5:13-15

· What does it mean to be salt and light; why these two images?

· When Jesus preached to crowds, he liked to use images and ideas that everybody could identify with, but whenever he told his stories and sayings, they always had a deeper meaning.

Salt

· In this passage, the first image he uses is that of salt. In Roman society, salt was invaluable and had many applications. They even used it to pay soldiers’ wages, it’s where we get the word “salary”, but for our purposes, I’m only going to focus on three of its attributes, two of them good, and one bad.

· First, salt preserves. Lev. 2:13. Here we see that every offering had to be sprinkled with salt as a reminder that God’s Covenant was permanent. Just as the sacrifices themselves prophetically pointed to the eventual sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, the salt they used showed that this future covenant would never pass away. No matter what happened, when people sprinkled the salt on their sacrifices, they knew God would never abandon them; just as we who trust in the sacrifice at the cross know that God will never abandon us. Just like the sacrifices Israel gave, as God gives us the ability to become salt and light, when we fully act as these, we are offering ourselves back to God. That’s why I put the salt and the candle on the altar here.

· Not only does the salt represent the eternal covenant God made for us at the cross, it also represents the truth that God will preserve us in every time of trouble, and even as our bodies age or wear out, we know that the life God will give us is eternal, as well.

· Second, salt seasons. We put salt on food to add flavor, to make what would otherwise be bland into something we can enjoy, something we’re willing to eat. Since I’ve been with this congregation, I’ve been blessed to experience Filipino cooking; and I’ve observed that in this style of cooking salt is mixed with sweet, or sour or spicy to get the desired taste (and in my experience it always turns out pretty good). It’s the same with the Gospel. While the message of the Gospel never changes, different people take it in different ways. Some people hear it through preaching, others directly from God’s Word, still others might hear it in the lyrics of our music or through video (or a mix of these). As our world changes from one that used paper and pen to communicate to one that uses text messages and youtube, the Church must adapt the way it delivers its message as well.

· It used to be that people would preach for hours at a time. In the early church there was even a pastor named John Chrysostom who was described as “silver tongued” and who would preach for four hours at a time, enthralling anybody who was listening. That just doesn’t fly anymore. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna preach for four hours today and I doubt anybody sitting here will be enthralled either. And I know most guys my age can barely pay attention for 10 minutes, let alone four hours: But let’s face it, people also don’t want to be preached at in general. In the culture we live in today, people want truth that cuts to the point, isn’t dummied down, and answers the hard questions people are asking. But people also want relationship. They want real community. People in my generation don’t want an easy Gospel, prepackaged on tracts; they need to know that God loves them and we show them that by loving them ourselves. We live in a postmodern culture and that means our methods must be postmodern to match the taste of those we’re giving the Gospel to. The message that Christ died for our sins and rose so that we can live doesn’t change, but our ability to deliver that message effectively shows that we are well seasoned for the job.

· Finally, salt can make barren. This is what Jesus means when he says that when we lose our saltiness, we’re not good for anything but to be trampled on. Throughout the bible, salt is used to represent barrenness and emptiness. Lot’s wife is turned into a pillar of salt, and the Dead Sea was a prominent reminder that nothing can grow where the ground is covered in salt. Sometimes, after a battle salt was sown in a field to ensure it would never grow crops again. And there’s even a Greek story where the hero Odysseus sowed his own field with salt, while pretending to be crazy to avoid having to go to war.

· For us, our work as disciples becomes barren when we grow complacent, tired. We might speak the words of the Gospel, going through the motions, or hand out tracts and put bumper stickers on our cars; but if we don’t exhibit the love of the Gospel, or we lose our effectiveness in its presentation, then people won’t be convinced and they won’t be convicted either. It’s like when you step into the ocean with a cut on your foot, the saltwater warns you of the wound. Without the salt to warn people of their wound, they’ll never know that they even have it or are in need of care.

Example: Waffle Stop Tracts (& no tip!) When I was working in Iowa, at the Waffle Stop as a cook, I remember on Sunday afternoons that every once in a while Christians would come in, and instead of leaving a tip, they’d leave a Gospel tract. Now, the words of the Gospel were all there and were true to the Message, but the salt that was needed wasn’t. This caused the waitresses and cooks to make fun of the tracts and the Christians that brought them, because they hadn’t taken the time to present the Gospel in a relevant way; instead the hearts they tried to reach were more tightly shut to God’s words.

Light

· Now we can move on to light. Just like salt, it also has three attributes, and like salt we want to exhibit two of them, while avoiding the third one.

· First, Light illuminates. And it does so through our actions. As we share the Gospel, the Message itself speaks to the deepest part of who people are, and nothing is hidden from it. Is. 9:2. At the same time, when we live in a state of truly loving everyone, even our enemies, we reflect the way God loves them and the true nature of what we believe shines through. This is why our words must absolutely be backed up by our actions and our light must be genuine.

· Secondly, Light warms. The message of the Gospel that we hold melts our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. At the same time, the light that Christ gives comforts us when we feel alone.

Example: Survival Training. When I was in Boy Scouts, we received survival training to know what to do if we ever got separated from the group while in the woods, or even if we were in a situation like a plane or car crash. We were told that the number one thing that killed people in these situations wasn’t a lack of food, water or shelter; it was panic. So, we were always told to build a fire as one of the first steps, before finding the other necessities. When a person is alone and scared, fire has the unique ability to almost seem like another person. It calms, allowing us to collect our thoughts. We see the light that it gives and feel its warmth, and we feel a little less alone.

· It’s the same with the light that we’re supposed to embody as disciples. We trust our God to be the warmth in the darkness and the calm confidence that we can trust, even when we want to despair or feel alone. And that warmth radiates out from us as well, as Christ dwells in us, to give warmth to everybody and anybody that comes into contact with us.

· Finally, Light scorches. This is, of course, the attribute we want to avoid; as I’m sure you’re all aware, especially during California’s wildfire season. Fire can be great; when I approach this candle, I can feel its warmth and on a cold day that’d be way useful. But if I get too close, it’ll burn my hand and then we’d have a real problem. When we become prideful or boastful, angry or impatient (even if the person we’re dealing with is pretty annoying), then we completely sabotage our own message, burning those we were trying to save. And the deep wounds we cause when we reject others don’t just reflect badly on us; as Christians, people judge our God by how we act. It’s never right to make fun of God, but one of the reasons people feel they can in popular culture, is because they see so much of our hypocrisy without seeing the grace that God gives or the love that He’s placed in us and so they think our God is a hypocritical one.

Conclusion

· Really when it comes down to it, what are the salt and light that we bear, that we are supposed to embody?

· It’s the message of the Gospel: that we’ve all messed up and need God’s forgiveness, that He’s provided for that forgiveness by taking our punishment on His own shoulders, dying on the Cross and rising again.

· And it’s the love that we show one another. John 13:35.

· Just as it takes only a little salt to season the whole dish or a little light to brighten the entire room, in the same way, through this little church, God can completely transform Pasadena and L.A., bringing the whole community into new life. We are told in Matthew that with the tiniest amount of faith, a mountain can be moved. It would be an easy thing for God to take the mountain behind me here and chuck it into the sea. And it would be just as easy for God to turn 80 disciples into 2 million. We can trust that God is able to do that.

At the end, instruct people to feel free to take a little salt from the altar in the spoons provided and taste it, and to feel the warmth of the candle as a reminder of how we are called to live.

Sermon I: The Kingdom of God

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This is the first sermon I preached at FSBC in Pasadena . I've only preached once before, at Shiloh Baptist in Iowa, and if I can find it, I'll post it. Hopefully readers will see some improvement in style from this sermon to the ones I've preached more recently. Anywho, I welcome comments, questions and open discussion. It's my hope that posting this will stimulate thought and prayer on the Word of God and that I'll get some good advice out of it too :-) P.S. I coun't figure out how to get blogger to stop underlining my text... it's wicked irritating. Also, I totally owe Travis Stevick for giving me the idea to post these, since he's been posting his sermons for a while (they're pretty good, I might add, you guys should check 'em out).

The Kingdom of God

March 30, 2008 - Youth Sunday/Octave Day of Easter, Year A

By Ian “Ivan” Hyde

Delivered at First Southern Baptist Church of Pasadena, CA

1. Introduction

The words “kingdom of God” come up many times in the Gospels, but the phrase is probably one of the most misunderstood of Jesus’ teachings and yet, at the same time, essential to understanding his mission.

1. For over a thousand years it was standard practice in Christian nations to push the Gospel at the edge of the sword in the belief that this kingdom was somehow wrapped up in the state; we will see, however, that Christ meant something entirely different.

2. So central to the Gospel, the phrase is used at least 56 times in Matthew alone.

3. We will look at three aspects of the Kingdom of God: Suffering, Power and the Resurrection.

2. Old Testament Background

1. God is King over Creation and the Nations in the OT.

2. Israel was seen as God’s special domain, with God ultimately its Ruler.

3. Prophets spoke of God’s desire for obedience to His rule in the form of social justice: the widow and the poor were under His special care. Obedience is prized by God more than blood sacrifices.

4. Daniel speaks of God’s overthrow of earthly kingdoms – God will set right the injustice done to those He cares for.

5. This led the Jews to hope for a military and political savior that would uproot their oppressors (the Romans) with force and usher in a new era of peace and justice. This set the stage for Christ’s arrival.

3. The Kingdom Manifest in Suffering

1. In a world where people wanted to hear the sound of trumpets and a battle call, Jesus spoke of peacemakers, turning the other cheek, and being persecuted for staying true to the Gospel.

2. People wanted to be vindicated and feel self-righteous and Christ called us to account for hating each other and stepping over each other to get what we want.

3. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God he would almost always immediately follow it with a parable that gave clues to some aspect of it. In Matthew 19:24 Jesus speaks of just how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. He says, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the K of G.” This doesn’t mean it’s impossible for rich people to enter God’s kingdom, as Jesus follows that up with saying all things are possible through God, but it does mean that if we truly want to enter God’s Kingdom we need to be willing to give up our family, financial security, and even physical safety when called. Jesus clearly makes his point in Matthew 16:24 – 25 when he says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

4. There’s a new trend in modern American culture that some call the “prosperity gospel”, the idea that God wants us to have all the best material things in life to make us happy. Some will say just trust and God will give you that brand new car, or that promotion, or that home you’ve always wanted. If you’re a youth, since this is youth Sunday, they might say just visualize it and God will give you a sweet PS3 or a Nintendo Wii.

5. But it doesn’t work that way, the life we’re called to is hard and full of suffering. We experience the pain of rejection for our beliefs, the loss of friendships and family. Jesus tells his disciples as he sends them out in Luke 9 and 10 that they’ll meet opposition. Keep in mind most of these guys, except Peter, were between 15 and 20 years old and within a few short years some of them would be beaten, imprisoned, and killed for following Jesus. In fact, eventually all except John ended up getting killed. While you might never be called to face your death for the Gospel (though some might) I can guarantee you will see suffering, persecution, and sacrifice for living the Gospel.

6. You might never be called overseas to backpack Christian materials, medicine or aid to communities cut off by war zones, but you’ll still be called to love the smelly kid or the awkward kid in class or at work. The person you find most annoying in your life you still gotta love as a brother or sister. When our faith in Christ allows us to do this, we truly begin to enter into God’s Kingdom.

4. The Kingdom Manifest in Power

1. This brings us to God’s provision. Even though our road is marked with suffering, we are called in Luke 12:32 to strive and struggle to enter the Kingdom and all the junk that people worry about: food, clothes, and shelter will come when needed.

2. In the face of life’s sufferings, injustice, and humanity’s hate, we are able to withstand, do what’s right, and love by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

3. When we recognize that Jesus’ death and resurrection opened the way for us to finally be reconciled to God and each other, and we have faith that His death was enough to forgive all our hates and injustices and trespasses we become heirs to the promise and power of God’s Kingdom.

4. This means that when we are faced with persecution, when our friends put us to the test about our faith, how we can possibly believe all this stuff about God, we don’t have to worry about what to say. Even though we should still pray and prepare by reading the bible and understanding God’s Word, in those tough moments He will provide the words that person needs to hear. God’s Word never returns to Him void. In this God not only promised to provide his disciples with the words they would need at the right times, but also the power to cast out demons and heal people. This power always bears witness to the sovereignty of God as rightful Ruler of our hearts.

5. And when we’re in our darkest hour, and we’re faced with doubts about where to go next or how to hold on, God, in His power, will give us the encouragement we need and even when we feel like nobody’s with us, like there isn’t a friend left, God will be there to comfort us and push us on. And when we’re at the end of this life, and death is near, God will give us the courage to fully enter His Promise. Jesus tells us this much in Matthew 24:13 – 14 when he says “But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news (or Gospel) of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.”

5. The Kingdom Manifest in the Resurrection

1. In the end, Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God always carried with it the tension between the “already” and the “not yet”. In one way, God’s Kingdom was ushered in through Jesus’ ministry and miracles, as signs that God was and is supernaturally engaging our world to free people from oppression and injustice, but at the same time it is so much more. This is attested to in Luke 17:21 when Christ says “the kingdom of God is among you,” while also he speaks of the return of the Son of Man, who the Jews in Jesus’ day would have recognized from Daniel 7, as an event that would be like lightning tearing across the sky in a final, cataclysmic event that everybody would recognize at the end of the age before the final Resurrection which would fully restore Creation; and all the suffering, pain, and sin we see now will be completely gone.

2. We can trust that God will keep his promise in that Christ, who died to redeem us was also resurrected. It is in this hope of redemption and resurrection that we engage our culture, our friends, and our family sharing the Gospel with them, loving them no matter what, and sticking up for the oppressed, the socially awkward, and the forgotten. We live the promise of the “already” when we suffer to become like Christ knowing we are criminals redeemed, and we live in the hope of the “not yet” when we look forward to the end of all suffering and sin.