A Kingdom that Does Not Rise or Fall

To your bulletin to Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2. Our theme today is the kingdom of God. I hope you picked that up as we were working through our service. There were lots of different hints. The church seeks to build throughout the service what we will focus on in our passage.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention Daniel 2 · chapter mention

And today we're studying the kingdom of God. And we're particularly looking at how does the kingdom of God speak to evangelism. That is to sharing our faith. I looked at this last week as we looked at Judges chapter 19. We're looking at it again this week. Same topic. Through the lens of the kingdom of God. One of the visions or one of the values of this church is fervent witness.

Judges 19 · chapter mention

Matthew and I went to seminary together. And when we were in seminary we just were pounded over and over again. If you're not equipping Christians in the pews on how to share your faith. We're not doing our job. And one of the things that we love to do. Me on a college campus. Matthew here is to think with you all.

On how do we take what many of us have believed for many years or what we confess as Christians and speak to it persuasively, kindly, but firmly to our friends who are not yet Christians.

People that you work with. People that you share a neighborhood fence with. People in your family who perhaps have been in the faith and have since left the faith.

We all know people who we wish would follow Jesus with us. And how do we welcome them and challenge them into that life together.

And so that's what we're going to look at today. Particularly looking at it in the lens of the kingdom of God.

And so we're going to read Daniel chapter 2. And then we'll make. We'll look at it together.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

So Daniel chapter 2 starting in verse 31. This is Daniel. He says he's interpreting a dream from Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. Asks the people of God. Asks for his magicians to interpret it. But only Daniel is able to rightly interpret it.

I'll say more on this in a minute. But starting in our text it says,

You saw, O king, and behold a great image. This image mighty and exceeding brightness stood before you and its appearance was frightening.

The head of this image was of fine gold and its chest and its arms of silver and its middle and thighs of bronze and its legs of iron and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

And as you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand.

And it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold all together were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors.

And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found.

But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Verse 36.

This was the dream.

Now we will tell the king its interpretation.

You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom the power and the might and the glory,

and in whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens,

making you rule over them all.

You are the head of gold.

Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze,

which shall rule over the earth.

And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things.

And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.

And as you saw the feet and the toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom.

But some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay.

And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.

As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage.

But they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed,

nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and shall bring them to an end, and they shall stand forever.

Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hands,

and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

A great God shall make known to the king what shall be after this.

The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.

This is God's word.

Would you pray with me?

Lord in heaven, as we study your kingdom this morning,

we pray that your spirit would be with us,

and that we would behold the goodness, the grandeur, the surety, the might of your kingdom,

and that we would be persuaded by it.

In our hearts, in our minds, with every part of our being, so persuaded

that you would give us the courage, the confidence, the words to share it with our friends,

and that you would be glorified in it.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So in 1992, a political philosopher, a guy named Francis Fukuyama,

he's one of the brightest scholars that has ever written about political philosophy.

He wrote a book called The End of History.

The End of History.

And in it, he argued that Western liberal democracies and market capitalism

had become so dominant, so triumphant in the world

that the prospect of global war, of international conflict,

and even of political ideological struggle was irrelevant, was gone, was impossible.

He argued that the West had won the Cold War.

China was increasingly adopting pro-market strategies and policies.

Southern continents like Africa and South America

were either moving toward democracy or knew they should be,

knew that democracy and capitalism were the best, most peaceful,

most prosperous forms of government.

Global organizations like the UN and the EU and others were ushering in

a new era of civility, camaraderie, and peace.

And history, he argues, Fukuyama argues, history,

which is the tumultuous rise and fall of nations,

the grist of war, the conflict of ideas,

communism, capitalism, liberalism, socialism,

all of this history, he argues, was effectively over.

It's done.

There's a new era of confidence, a new era of optimism.

There was a lot of, if you were alive back then, I was barely alive,

you remember that in the 90s, there was a lot of hope.

The Cold War was over.

The market was on the rise.

Things felt very peaceful.

And then, September 11th happened.

And we were challenged in this, this new idea of radicalized Islam pops up.

Then, in 2008, the stock market crashed.

Whether or not it was a recession or a depression depends on whether or not you

had a job, but it was a thin line.

Then, in 2020, a global pandemic happens.

We thought we had won against modern medicine had triumphed,

and we realized how quickly and how vulnerable we were to even a small COVID bug.

And brought with it not just illness,

but tremendous market political and social upheaval.

And the unity that we thought we had was gone.

In 2022, you know this, Russia invades Ukraine for the first European war since 1945.

Now, we see the AI revolution is challenging the very question of what is a human being?

What is human society?

Closer to home in the U.S.,

the 2016 presidential election reveals significant political divide in the U.S.

that we did not think was present.

The right and the left moved to the extremes.

And this is only a tiny percentage.

All the things I've just talked about, you know this.

You read the news.

You watch the, you scroll.

A tiny percentage.

We could go, I've read, I mean, this is an area I love,

books and books and books about all the upheaval that has happened since,

let's start with 2020, let alone 1992.

Racial tension reemerged.

Cultural issues of what is gender, what is sexuality.

The rise of the reemergence of Soviet and Russian era.

The emergence of China.

The last few memes, the last few years,

there's been a meme that circles around on the internet for my generation.

I'm a millennial.

And whenever something happens,

the meme is that millennials are,

it says, I'm tired of living through another unprecedented event.

You've seen the memes, right?

Of how many times do millennials have to live through another unprecedented event?

Something that's never happened in human history,

it's happened again.

It's just wham, wham, wham.

Every eight months, something new happens.

In fact, just think about what happened last week alone.

The U.S. takes out, does regime change in three hours

on a level that we've never seen.

Tumult of whether or not Greenland should be ours or not.

And again, huge ideological conflict in our own nation in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis.

All in one week.

Michael Bird and N.T. Wright have a book.

I highly recommend this book.

It's called Jesus and the Powers.

Jesus and the Powers.

They write this.

They say,

We are not the first to say so, but Francis Fukuyama was wrong.

The 2020s appeared to be the most precarious and perilous time in human history since the 1930s.

And the optimism of the early 1990s died in the killing fields of Kosovo,

the ruins of the World Trade Center, and the valleys of Afghanistan.

History has struck back with a vengeance.

History, the rise and fall of nations, the rise and fall conflict of ideas,

has struck back with a vengeance.

And we have all felt this.

We've all felt this.

Through our swiping, through our conversations,

through the awkwardness of getting together for Thanksgiving dinner,

there was another meme that went around that was just like,

How are we going to make it through Thanksgiving dinner

when all of our family gets together and we start talking

and politics comes up and everybody's just like,

Oh, heavens no.

Oh, man, how are we going to talk about economics?

We've all felt this.

There has been an increased anxiety in the air.

And we could attribute this to,

it's definitely attributable to the access that we have to news,

which is truly unprecedented.

We have access to 24-7 news channels,

which bring in tons of money by being extravagant.

Bad business sells money.

And yet, at the same time,

there is an undeniable sense of political and economic instability in our world.

We all feel it.

And this is particularly true among my generation and the younger generation,

the generation I minister to, Gen Z.

Gen Z is increasingly pessimistic about their own personal prospects,

about a nation, about the nation of America, and about the globe.

They don't expect to own homes.

It's the first generation ever to say,

We probably won't ever own our own home.

They don't expect to have their job that they desire to have.

Listen to this.

For college graduates, this is 2025,

only 30% of college graduates got a job in their own field,

in the field they studied.

30% got a job.

And 33% right now are unemployed.

It's the worst ever.

Both on the right and on the left,

there's a sense that America is increasingly unstable as a nation.

We see this in our political cycle, 2020, 2024.

The American Psychological Association did a survey,

cites that at the 2024 election,

around two in five adults reported that the state of the nation

has made them consider moving to a different country.

40% and political environment in their state

has made them consider moving to a different state.

In addition, nearly two-thirds, 64%,

of adults felt that their rights were under attack.

Even this week, like I said,

we feel the turbulence politically and globally.

What's the point?

What's the point?

You and, here's the important part,

your neighbors worry about global peace,

worry about economic prospects,

worry about culture and values.

They fear that their personal political values

and their economic prospects are not good.

Now, we can talk at length about the legitimacy of these anxieties,

where they come from,

wisdom in navigating them.

I love that conversation.

What I want to start with is,

regardless, regardless of those,

the reality of the anxiety is true, real, and felt.

We all feel it.

And, here's the fun part,

I'm convinced,

I'm convinced that those anxieties that we feel

are tremendous open doors for talking about our faith.

Those are open doors for talking about faith.

The Bible, here's what's amazing,

the Bible is very confident in the presence

and in the midst of unprecedented events.

The Bible's very comfortable

in the presence of unprecedented events,

the rise and fall of nations.

And, there's no better picture of this

than a text that we've just read.

Daniel chapter 2,

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

the book of Daniel is part narrative

and part prophetic literature.

Part of it is a history.

It tells the story of God's people,

particularly for men in the midst of God's name,

God's history.

And, it's also partly prophetic.

That is, it is speaking from the divine lens

about what God is doing.

And so, the narrative part

is that it exists in one of the most tumultuous times

in Israel's history.

Israel had been,

or God's people, Judah,

had been in deep spiritual rebellion

and the consequences of that rebellion

is they are exiled from the land.

And so, after a prolonged period of God saying,

please repent, please come back,

they fail to do so.

And so, God does what he promises.

He sends a foreign nation into Judah

and obliterates them,

wipes them out culturally, politically, militarily.

In 586, the Babylonian Empire invades

and takes out, exiles most of the Israelites.

And he takes with them their best,

their brightest,

their most culturally,

their most potential that they have.

And when he does this,

when the Babylonians,

when Nebuchadnezzar does this,

he attempts complete,

total culture annihilation.

He brings the best of the best out

and says,

I'm going to train you,

not in your culture,

but in my culture.

I'm going to beat you so bad

that your children don't even remember

who they are or where they came from.

Chapter 1, we see this.

Daniel is among them.

Four Jewish men resist this.

Daniel among them.

And you can read more about this.

But then in Chapter 2,

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,

has a dream.

He has a terrifying dream, a vision,

and he challenges his spiritual elite

to interpret the dream,

and they can't.

They're unable to interpret it.

And so only Daniel can interpret it.

So Daniel is brought to Nebuchadnezzar

to interpret the dream.

And Daniel describes to Nebuchadnezzar

what he sees.

He sees a huge statue,

a giant terrifying statue.

You can read this in verse 31.

A great image, exceeding bright,

stood before you,

and its appearance was frightening.

And it's made of a series

of different materials.

There's a gold head,

a silver chest,

bronze thighs and legs,

and then a mix of iron and clay feet.

And then, interestingly,

in verse 34,

something interesting happens.

A stone,

not cut from human hands,

comes and destroys the whole image.

Destroys the image.

And Daniel says,

the dream means that there will be

a succession of four kingdoms.

Four nations will rise and fall,

and then a fifth different kingdom

will destroy them all

and grow to fill the whole earth.

That's what the dream is.

Now, what does it mean?

Daniel here is describing,

prophetically,

that is,

from the lens of God,

from God's standpoint,

the rise and fall of nations

and kingdoms in human history.

And most scholars reading this

think that he's probably

immediately concerned

with the particular next 500 years

of politics in the ancient Near East.

And so he says,

you, O King Nebuchadnezzar,

are the head of gold.

You, Nebuchadnezzar,

are the Babylonian Empire.

And then after you

will come another kingdom,

the Persian Empire,

which will take over

the Babylonian Empire

around 530, 540 B.C.

And then after them will come,

we know our history,

the Greek Empire

with Alexander the Great.

And then after them

will come the Roman Empire,

which is a mixer of iron and clay.

One nation will rise,

and then it will fall,

and another nation will replace it.

And so here Daniel is describing

the next 500 years of geopolitics.

But here's what's important,

that it's not just 500 years

of geopolitics,

because Daniel is not just literature,

or it's not just narrative,

it's prophetic literature.

And as prophetic literature,

he is also describing

a spiritual reality.

Daniel is also describing

a spiritual reality.

Biblical prophecy,

the genre that this book

is written in,

is a literary tool.

It's beautiful,

because it can use

historical events,

the rise and fall

of ancient nations,

to reveal the spiritual dynamics

happening underneath and behind.

It uses historical events

to reveal spiritual truth.

That's what biblical,

one of the things

that biblical prophecy can do.

And so Daniel here

is more than just anticipating

or prophesying

about the next few hundred years

of geopolitics.

He is showing how and what

God is doing behind all of that.

Namely, that God is orchestrating

the rise and the fall of nations

for his own glory

and for his own purposes.

For his own glory

and for his own purposes.

Prophecy is less about

telling the future.

Often we think, you know,

a prophet is somebody

who just kind of blurts out

this is what is going

to happen tomorrow.

But it's more about describing

theological forces

and spiritual motives

at work in human affairs.

Daniel here is revealing

spiritual dynamics

behind and beyond

what we see.

Namely, history from God's standpoint

and under God's direction.

And from this,

Nebuchadnezzar's dream,

if this is true,

it tells us two things

that are really, really important.

One, nations rise and fall

under God's command.

And two, God has and will

establish an eternal

spiritual kingdom

that will only grow.

So first,

nations rise and fall

under God's command.

Look at verse 37.

This is the dream,

verse 36,

and now we will tell the king

its interpretation.

You, O king,

the king of kings,

to whom God of heaven

has given the kingdom,

the power,

and the might,

and the glory.

Now there's a subtle,

almost irony here.

He says,

you're the king of kings,

but God made you that way.

God is the one

who gave you this authority.

God is the king of kings.

He's the one

who even you

are subservient

and submitting to.

God is the true sovereign.

And any human authority,

any human who has

any level of authority,

has been delegated from God.

Here's our truth,

and this is very important

and very good

for our world today.

Any human political power

exists only because God

in his providence

and his power enabled it.

Providence is God

working in and behind

everything that happens

to accomplish his purposes.

Think about,

think that there's another place

where Jesus talks about this.

Jesus is on trial with Pilate.

Pilate,

this great Roman ruler

who has the authority,

the capacity to kill Jesus.

And Jesus says to him,

you have no authority

over me at all

unless it has been given

to you from above.

Pilate's authority,

significant as it is,

has been given to him

by God.

Romans 13,

Paul says it even more clearly.

There is no authority

except from God,

and those that exist

have been instituted by God.

There is no authority

except from God,

and those that do exist

have been instituted by God.

Over and over and over again,

the Bible is very clear

that God alone,

our God,

is the king of the creation,

and every human political ruler

and system exists

because God created it.

And Daniel recognizes this.

You can flip back

just a few pages,

a few verses

in chapter 221.

Daniel prays this,

Blessed be the God,

blessed be the name of God

forever and ever

to whom belong wisdom

and might.

He changes

the times

and the season.

He removes kings

and he sets up kings.

Behind the rise

and fall

of nations

is the hand of God,

his providence,

his final,

ultimate sovereignty.

Nebuchadnezzar

is only a tool

in God's hands.

And Nebuchadnezzar himself

grows to recognize this.

We'll read in a minute

how he understands

and internalizes this,

that the total supremacy

and eternal dominion

belongs to God.

And this means

that God has planned

and accomplished

the rise of the Babylonians

and the fall

of the Babylonians.

The rise of the Persians

and the fall

of the Persians.

The rise

of the British Empire

where the sun never sets

and the fall

of the British Empire.

The rise

of the American

power

and someday

the fall

of the American power.

First thing

that we see here

is that God

sets up

every nation

for his purposes.

Second thing

is that God

has established

and will protect

and grow

a spiritual

and ultimately

non-spiritual kingdom.

Verse 44.

And in these days,

he's talking about

the stone,

and in the days

of those kings,

the God of heaven

will set up

a kingdom

that shall never

be destroyed,

nor shall the kingdom

be left to another people.

It shall break

in pieces

all these kingdoms

and bring them

to an end

and it shall stand

forever.

Just as you saw

that a stone

was cut from a mountain

by no human hand

and it broke in pieces

the other kingdoms.

What is he saying here?

A stone

made without

human hands

appears

and destroys

all of the other kingdoms

and it so thoroughly

destroys them

that they become

like chaff,

dust in the wind,

right?

What's the great

Kansas song?

Dust in the wind.

Are we all

dust in the wind

that gets thrown

up in the air

and blows away

and is gone forever?

The kingdom of God,

this is something

unlike anything

that a human being

could conjure up.

A stone

made without

human hands

will rise up

and decimate

in the truest

sense of that word.

Obliterate,

annihilate,

pick your word.

all of the human

schemes,

powers,

rulers,

and authority.

And,

the vision tells us

it will happen

at a very specific

moment in time

in the kingdom

mixed with iron

of iron and clay

which we know

is the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire

and what does Paul

say in Galatians 4?

In the fullness

of time,

the right time,

God sent forth

his son.

God sent forth

his son

and when Jesus Christ

appears in the Roman Empire

in human history

30,

31 AD,

something like that,

what does Jesus'

first words say?

The first words

that Jesus says

in the Gospel of Mark,

the time is fulfilled,

the kingdom of God

is at hand.

God in the middle

of human history

establishes,

builds a separate

kingdom

that will grow

and expand

not through

human political power,

not by the might

of armies,

but through

what Paul would say

is the foolish

and weak

proclamation

of good news,

the Gospel.

The proclamation

of the Gospel.

And even that word

Gospel

has a kingdom

ring to it.

The word Gospel

comes from the old

Greek word

euangelion,

which was the word

of victory in battle.

When a Roman

or a Greek king

would win,

they would send

a soldier up ahead

and say he would bring

the good news

of victory.

And so when the Christians

first appear,

they are proclaiming

the Gospel,

the good news

of victory,

of a king

who has come.

Richard Loveless,

great theologian,

writes this,

the recurring

conflicts between

nations

represented in

Daniel's vision

as segments

of a human statue.

The Son of Man

is presented

before the Ancient

of Days

and is given

dominion

and glory

and kingdom

so that all peoples

and nations

and languages

should serve him.

Daniel is anticipating

something beyond

a human political

system

that will come

and create something

beyond a human

political system.

A trans-political

kingdom

that will endure

despite

and beyond

the rise

and fall

of nations.

Again,

right and bird

and Jesus

and the powers.

Successions

of empires

rise

one after another,

Daniel tells us.

But the kingdom

of God

or sorry,

the God of heaven

will set up

a kingdom

that will never

be destroyed

nor shall his

kingdom be left

to another people.

It shall crush

all these kingdoms

and bring them

to an end

and it alone

shall stand

forever.

forever.

I encourage you

to go read

there's a poem

by Percy Shelley

Ozymandias

that talks

about this.

It talks

about this

great statue

this great

statue

of a great

old ancient

king

and he's

powerful

and he's

almighty

but now

thousands

of years

later

he's this

crumpled

statue

in the middle

of a desert

with sand

whipping around

him

so much

for all

his might

Percy Shelley

writes

a great

statue

only in

dust.

So what's

the point

here?

Daniel is

showing us

that God

has

and will

establish

a kingdom

that will

exist

beyond

and within

the rise

and fall

of nations

and that

is the

gospel

and that

Jesus

is the

king

who came

and announced

that kingdom

and has

been

and is

welcoming

and inviting

others

into

following

him.

That is

what our

text shows

us.

That is

what the

Christian

faith

tells us.

Now how

do we

begin to

apply this

to evangelism

to sharing

our faith?

I hope

it's obvious

after I did

the setup

of talking

about the

anxiety

that we

feel

but I'm

going to

take it

in a

slightly

different

angle

and then

we'll

get to

the

obvious

part.

Here's

the thing

the first

and most

urgent

thing we

must do

is recognize

that the

Christian

is first

and foremost

a citizen

in the

eternal

and trans

political

kingdom

of God.

The first

thing that

you and

I must

do,

the first

thing that

Cheyenne

Mountain

Prez

must do

and be

is an

outpost.

This is what

Matthew talks

about all

the time,

an outpost

of the

kingdom

of God.

What does

Paul say

in Philippians

3?

That our

citizenship

is not

here.

First

and foremost

it is

we are

citizens

in heaven.

This

means

frankly

the

first

task

we

must

do

and

this

is

hard

in

America

is

to

understand

ourselves

as

exiles

and

pilgrims

here.

We

do

not

belong

here.

I was

reflecting

this

on this

as I

was

driving

over

the

great

temptation

that we

have

is to

think

that

I

this

is

where

I

belong

this

is

my

home

this

is

my

people

and

this

is

true

but

this

is

where

I

belong

this

is

my

people

the

person

next

to

you

and

we

are

but

exiles

and

pilgrims

as

Daniel

was

living

in

and

among

a

nation

that

did

not

like

him

was

seeking

to

dominate

him

in

every

other

way

and

he

was

to

point

to

and live

in

the

kingdom

of

God

Stephan

Pass

he's

a

missiologist

great

book

called

pilgrims

and

priests

writes

this

listen

closely

this

is

amazing

from

the

expulsion

of

Eden

Genesis

to

John's

exile

in

Patmos

Revelation

the

Bible

is

a

book

of

uprooting

and

displacement

Christians

have

oriented

themselves

from

the

beginning

to

the

end

especially

in

stories

and songs

that

were

written

about

Israel

and

its

captivity

in

Babylon

as

people

who

do

not

belong

in

597

to

586

the

Babylonians

conquered

Jerusalem

and they

carried

a large

part of

the

people

away

in

exile

we

are

people

in

exile

we

do

not

live

here

we

look

to

a

kingdom

that

is

far

greater

the

kingdom

of

God

this

is

of

course

the

theme

of

the

city

of

God

Augustine's

great

work

which is

frankly

probably

the most

important

piece

of

literature

written

after

Christ

it's

incredible

it says

this

Augustine

says

the

heavenly

city

that is

the

kingdom

of

God

that

part

of

it

which

is

on

pilgrimage

in

this

condition

of

mortality

and

which

lives

as

the

basis

of

faith

must

use

must

make

temporary

peace

temporary

peace

until

this

mortal

peace

mortal

state

for

which

this

peace

is

essential

passes

away

and

it

therefore

leads

to

what

we

may

call

a

life

of

captivity

in

this

earthly

city

as

in

a

foreign

land

what

is

Augustine

saying

Augustine

says

that

we

live

in

the

city

of

man

we

live

in

America

and

we

use

the

blessings

and

the

pieces

that

it

provides

but

we

know

that

we

are

this

is

not

where

we

reside

we

know

that

this

is

not

our

true

citizenship

we

live

as

captives

anticipating

a finer

and

greater

city

to

come

Daniel

understood

that

he

did

not

belong

in

Babylon

even

though

he

knew

he

would

die

in

Babylon

he

belonged

to

Israel

he

was

a

child

of

God

he

is

a

pilgrim

this

is

how

first

Peter

describes

us

as

exiles

and

sojourners

now

what does

this

mean

for

evangelism

it

means

that

we

must

form

communities

and

habits

that

reveal

our

citizenship

in

heaven

the

church

the

community

here

becomes

so

much

more

than

a

social

gathering

but

this

is

amazing

church

coming

here

on a

Sunday

morning

becomes

in a

way

a

form

of

protest

against

the

status

quo

your

coming

here

this

morning

says

I

belong

to

something

greater

than

America

I

belong

to

something

greater

than

the

rise

and

fall

of

nations

I

anticipate

something

bigger

than

anything

that

our

economy

anything

that

our

nation

anything

that

liberalism

anything

that

democracy

can

accomplish

and I

will

show up

on a

Sunday

morning

to

believe

and

entrust

and

reinforce

that

it

becomes

a

protest

against

the

status

quo

it

becomes

a

protest

against

the

allegiances

of the

rise

and

falls

of

one

government

over

another

we

are

a

people

with

a

king

beyond

this

king

and

what

this

also

means

is that

we

must

not

pin

our

earthly

hopes

or

anything

that

we

would

hope

even

our

spiritual

hopes

on

any

temporal

nation

no

nation

on

earth

today

has

God's

special

blessing

they

are

tools

in

the

good

providential

hands

of

God

to

establish

his

purpose

but

the

primary

tool

that

God

will

use

to

establish

his

kingdom

is

the

church

proclaiming

what

the

gospel

of

the

kingdom

of

God

through

what

the

proclamation

of the

death

of

the

king

and

the

new

life

of

the

king

and

the

proper

administration

of

the

sacraments

that

is

what

we

hope

in

not

in

the

strength

of

our

military

not

in

the

power

of

our

economic

motor

not

in

the

goodness

of

liberal

democracy

as much

as I

love

those

things

they

will

go

away

at

some

point

and

just

by

doing

that

by

believing

that

by

showing

up

here

on

a

Sunday

morning

by

being

in

your

home

group

by

learning

and

being

catechized

and taught

in the

Christian

faith

we

become

missional

people

we

become

people

who

proclaim

the

gospel

which

is

beyond

this

world

Abraham

Kuyper

is a

brilliant

theologian

and

politician

he

was a

!

politician

in the

Netherlands

he

was the

president

but he

understood

what I'm

talking

about

he

says

though

the

lamp

of the

Christian

faith

only

burns

within

the

walls

of

the

churches

as

it

shines

through

its

windows

to

areas

far

beyond

illuminating

all

the

sectors

that

appear

across

the

wide

range

of

human

life

and

activity

through

the

administering

of

the

sacraments

exercises

of

discipline

forming

of

disciples

the

church

nourishes

a

vibrant

core

of

believers

who

infiltrate

and

leaven

the

whole

society

one

of

the

ways

I

often

talk

with

my

college

students

about

campus

ministry

is in

some

ways

we're

like

special

forces

I'm

not a

military

man

I've

never

been

well

I

love

I

know

more

about

it

than

most

but

what

we

do

is

we

go

on

to

a

college

campus

we're

too

small

and

not

to

be

able

to

change

the

campus

through

a

full

frontal

attack

we

just

can't

do

it

but

you

know

what

we

can

do

is

go

into

a

college

campus

classrooms

other

clubs

cafeterias

and be

public

Christians

not

annoying

not

offensive

not

argumentative

but

public

Christians

and

that

whole

process

infiltrates

and

leavens

like

yeast

this is

how

Jesus

talks

about

it

yeast

in

the

whole

lump

the

whole

things

changed

and the

kingdom

grows

what's

the

takeaway

do

church

publicly

do

church

publicly

tell your

friends

I can't

go hiking

with you

on Sunday

morning

I'm going

to church

tell your

friends

that my

kids can't

compete

on Sunday

we are

church on

that morning

Sunday

is a

special day

for our

families

to reflect

on the

Christian

life

that is

a

missionary

statement

there's

this guy

I see

regularly

at a

coffee

shop

he grew

up a

Christian

in

Colorado

Springs

and he's

left the

faith

and he

and I