Life and Work in God’s Kingdom— Sermon by the Very Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

Let us pray.

Father, come to us and be present

through your Holy Spirit through the

preaching of the gospel. Lord, apply

your word to our hearts and fulfill your

purpose for all of us, oh God, this

morning through Jesus Christ and by the

Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated.

Man, what wonderful scriptures we have

to meditate on today. The Romans passage

is one of my favorite. Romans 5 verses

Romans 5:1

1-1.

When I was in seminary about 18 years

ago, I had a class just on Romans taught

by the Reverend Dr. Rod Whitaker. And at

the end of that class, after going all

through Romans, we had to write a paper

on a any particular text. We could

choose any. And this was the text that

stood out to me. Romans 5 1-11 because

in it the whole gospel I think is

expressed God's message is good news the

benefits for us there was also another

reason and that was because through that

text especially Romans 1 5 1-5 was

probably the first

text that like God really spoke to me in

a particular way and it was when I was a

junior at the Citadel And

it was spring semester. I was an English

major and had to stack some classes. So

I had all these papers to write that I

didn't want to write. I was burned out.

I think I had met Missy by then and my

mind was elsewhere as you can imagine.

And then my grandfather passed away

right at that time as when all these

things were due and I was feeling really

overwhelmed and one of those cases where

you're a little burned out and you just

don't want to care about school. And I

went to the chapel at the Citadel right

there on campus. Beautiful big cathedral

style chapel with stained glass windows

all around. And I went, you know,

towards the front, sat in there for a

few minutes and prayed and then got up

to walk out. And through one of the

stained glass windows toward the back of

the church where the baptismal font is

in the back, it was like all of the rays

of the sunlight was focused on one

little pane at the bottom of that

stained glass window. And as I

approached it, I saw that that little

pain at the at the bottom was just the

word hope. And it was like all the sun

was coming right through there. This the

light saying hope. And I got back to my

room and was led one way or another to

Romans chapter 5 and got to the verse

Romans 5 · chapter mention

verse four where Paul writes, "Endurance

produces character and character

produces hope and hope does not put us

to shame because God's love has been

poured into our hearts through the Holy

Spirit who has been given to us." And

there was hope. And that really caught

my attention because I had just come

from the chapel and I was reading the

NIV I think at the time that says hope

does not disappoint us because God's

spirit has been God's love has been

poured into our hearts through the

spirit. And it was like God was telling

me, listen, depend on me. Seek me. Pray

to me. I'm gonna come through for you.

I'm not going to disappoint you. and I

was able to trust in him for all the

papers and go and be with my family and

my grandma during that time of grief.

She lived in Illinois, so that's where I

went for about a week and somehow got

the papers done and graduated cuz here I

am.

But I always remember Romans 5 for that

time that God really spoke to me. And so

in it is the gospel. And there's

especially, I think, three items that

are emphasized by Paul. And it's the

same three that he emphasizes at the

bottom or the conclusion of 1

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 13, the love

chapter. These three remain, faith,

hope, and love. And the greatest is

love. We see these in this passage,

Romans 5, beginning in verse one. Paul

says, "Therefore, since we have been

justified by faith, we have peace with

God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus, we have peace.

Peace with God. That's the big one. We

as sinners have peace with a holy God.

And having peace with God enables his

peace to dwell in us and for us to be at

peace and to have peace. And I'll talk

more about peace when we look at the

gospel. Paul goes on and says, "Through

him, through Jesus, we have also

obtained access by faith into this grace

in which we stand. We experience that

peace by the grace of God that our faith

brings us into and we stand in his

grace." So this is a question. Are you

standing? Do you stand in God's grace?

Think about that. I hope all of us,

maybe this morning, hopefully not in the

too distant past, took a shower

and we stepped into the shower and we

stood in the shower water, probably

warm, hot, and just let it wash over us.

And we stood there knowing that, man,

this water feels good. I'm being clean.

This is great. That's how we need to

approach God's grace and by faith in

him. Come into his grace and stand in

his grace more often than we do. I think

more often than I do, just let his grace

wash over me because his grace is his

favor. It's his goodness. It's his

acceptance and affirmation toward us.

And we need to let that wash over us

over and over and over again because it

washes away all the lies, all the

condemnation, the accusation, the

thoughts of failure, self-hatred,

burdens, and anxieties that come to us

from this world that are like

anti-grace.

By faith, we have peace with God and

stand in grace.

And Paul goes on, "And we rejoice in

hope of the glory of God." Not only

that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces

endurance, and endurance produces

character, and character produces hope,

and hope does not put us to shame. It

does not disappoint us. We can rejoice

in whatever we experience in this fallen

world because we know that we have this

hope that is sure. The hope that we have

is in the glory of God and our eternity

with him in his glory where all is

perfect. All is set right. All of our

needs are met. All of our pain is gone.

All of our anxieties are lifted. Our

soul, our body is made perfect in

Christ's image. That's our hope through

Christ. That's why even when it doesn't

go well with us in this life, when we

experience burdens and trials, we can

rejoice in those sufferings because we

know we're on a tra trajectory toward

God's paradise where we will be with him

forever. So, we can rejoice even in

suffering because we have hope.

And then he goes on to say that this

hope does not disappoint us. It doesn't

put us to shame. It's not going to let

us down. It's not going to backfire on

us. We're not going to have the rug of

hope pulled out from under us because

God's love has been poured into our

hearts through the Holy Spirit has been

given to us. He is saying you can have

peace. You can rejoice. You can have

hope because God's love has been poured

into our hearts by the Holy Spirit has

been given to us. This is something we

have now. The substance of God's love in

us through the Holy Spirit. If we have

the Holy Spirit in us, we have eternal

life. We have God's love. And that love

is unfailing. It's never ending. It's

not going to be taken away. It will be

fulfilled in his presence forever.

And it has been poured into our hearts.

And down in verse eight, God describes

this love. God's love was demonstrated

to us in that while we were yet sinners

Christ died for us to know God's love to

know what it is like we look at the

cross Jesus Christ crucified that

suffering and that pain for us that is

his love that is the love that is poured

into our hearts through the very

presence of love God the Holy Spirit

and that's something too that is

something too that we need to stand in.

And as we would turn on a faucet and let

a water bucket or pan fill up and we

leave it in the sink and it's all messy,

so we're going to let it soak there for

a while and it's just the water

overflows it. We need to set our hearts

before the Lord daily and oftentimes in

a day and say, "God, fill me up with

your love. Pour your love a new into my

heart till it is running over with your

love. So I experience your love for me

and I give your love for others because

this world will block that love. It will

oppress it. It will weigh it down.

It'll harden our hearts so that the love

can't pour into it. Of course, God can

heal our hearts and that's what his love

does. But we need to be filled up with

that love.

And this is all that we experience in

God's kingdom through Jesus. And this is

what Jesus demonstrates in our gospel

reading. He is demonstrating God's love.

He is demonstrating the power of God to

come into this world and give people

peace, to give people hope and joy, and

to give people his love.

Jesus describes it as this is the

kingdom of God. This is the kingdom of

heaven. A better way to describe it

might be this is God's rule that has

come. This is God's absolute sovereignty

that has come into the world. God is not

coming to just make another nation of

the world. He's not coming to just

create a people in the world to compare

and compete with other nations. You

know, we have that happening right now

between the United States and Iran,

Ukraine and Russia and other conflicts

in the world where one nation is trying

to prove itself stronger to get what it

wants over the other nation. That is not

what the rule of God is like. The rule

of God is absolute overall. And when his

kingdom fully comes, there will be

nothing else. There will be no other

rebellious or competing rules and

authorities. His kingdom is absolute.

And Jesus is saying it is here through

his presence. And then he goes on to

demonstrate the presence of the kingdom

of heaven. Matthew tells us a couple

times in his gospel

here. He tells us that Jesus came and he

preached the good news of the kingdom.

It's good news because this one who

created all things and who is sovereign

is loving and he is kind and he is

forgiving and he is a father who is

calling children back to him. And Jesus

demonstrated that by healing every

disease and every affliction.

That's the power of the kingdom. He is

showing that yes this kingdom overcomes

everything. It overcomes every curse of

sin and death manifest in sickness. that

overcomes all the power of the evil one

manifesting in possession and

oppression.

And Matthew tells us and when Jesus came

into this world and he saw those people

for whom he would die, whom he loves,

says he had compassion on them, Jesus

had compassion for them, for the crowds.

Crowds like us, he has compassion. And

this is probably one of the most

understatements

in literature. Jesus had compassion.

The the the word that is trying that

compassion is trying to describe is not

enough. That or the movement of Jesus.

Jesus was moved in the fullness of his

being for these people that he saw. He

was moved with love and passion. He was

moved with anger and frustration. He was

so moved that he went to the cross to

die. It's so much more than how we think

of compassion,

which can sometimes just be impotent in

our day today. We have compassion, but

it doesn't move us to do anything.

I shared this with 8:00. Nobody really

knew what I was talking about. But who

here I'm going to go for it again

because I like it. Who here knows Punch

the Monkey of Punch the Monkey? All

right, Titus. Elelliana, don't don't be

ashamed. Callum, I know Meline does. All

right. Is that Holly? Punch the monkey

is a little cute monkey in Japan and he

became a viral sensation. Well, I it

became one for me because Meline sent me

info about Punch the Monkeys. This

little monkey that was put in an

enclosure. He was an orphan. All the

other monkeys bullied him and neglected

him and ostracized him. So they gave him

a stuffed animal and he just went around

with his stuffed animal being pushed and

bullied by the other monkeys. And all

these people saw that online and they

had compassion for Punch the monkey. Oh,

poor Punch. If I could, I would go there

and adopt him. But nobody did anything

for him. I mean, the people there took

care of him and thankfully he has some

friends and I think a girlfriend now.

There was one guy who jumped in there to

save Punch and he's he got arrested and

is probably in a Japanese prison. This

is what we think of too often when we

describe compassion.

It's so

much less than what Jesus felt when he

saw the crowds. This is God who was so

moved that he left the glory of heaven

to come down and suffer as a man because

of what he experienced in his being when

he saw the crowds

because they were harassed and helpless

like sheep without a shepherd and he

came to be the shepherd. These two words

harassed and helpless are also

understated. That word there describing

the crowds as harassed, they were

literally torn and ripped apart. They

were rent. They were being abused and

manipulated and rent apart in their

souls and spirits. They were desperate.

The term helpless there is like cast

down with nobody to help. A few weeks

ago, Peter shared in his sermon about

another viral sensation. The sheep that

got stuck in a ditch and the shepherd

pulled it out of the ditch that was

really tight and let him loose and then

he hopped a couple times, went right

back in the ditch.

Jesus sees these people as downcast and

stuck and oppressed with nobody to help

them out. And he comes,

he comes to be the shepherd to heal, to

deliver, and to save. And he is so moved

that he knows he needs other workers.

And so he encourages his followers to

pray for laborers to go into that

harvest and to do what he has been doing

and to proclaim that same message. And

he calls those 12

that mly crew.

He calls to himself and they're all

Jewish men because of what he was doing.

But there probably couldn't be a more

diverse group of Jewish men possibly

than these guys. And they all come and

they're just like us. no special

abilities except Jesus gives them the

authority of the kingdom of God and they

go out and preach the gospel and heal

and deliver and even raise the dead

because of the authority of God's

kingdom that he gave them to go into the

world and exercise God's rule and reign.

This is the power of God's kingdom. This

is the salvation of God's kingdom. It

saves forever. And so they go out to

proclaim the kingdom of heaven or the

rule of God is at hand. And then they

too demonstrate it. And all that they

demonstrate and all that Jesus tells

them is what is true of God's kingdom.

There is no sickness in his kingdom.

There is no evil spirit in God's kingdom

in heaven. The paradise of God where

through Christ we are headed. There is

no war. There's no leprosy.

There's no anxiety or fear. There's no

need. There's no need for gold. There's

no need for extra bags and belts,

tunics, and sandals. All is made new

there. All is provided. It's a paradise.

And he's demonstrating that this kingdom

has come into the world.

And we still suffer some of that

sickness. We still suffer some of the

fallenness of the world. But he's

showing us that in God's kingdom for

eternity, these will be gone.

And even now, we can experience some of

the blessings of that kingdom. And one

of those is God's peace.

He tells his people, "As you enter the

house, greet it. And if the house is

worthy, let your peace come upon it. But

if not, if it is not worthy, let your

peace return to you."

Even now, God's kingdom gives us peace

through Jesus Christ. peace to have.

It's almost like he tells them not to

take an extra tunic or staff, but

they're taking peace.

They're holding on to their peace that

God has given them. And this is, I

think, an insight for us, what he tells

them. If you find a house that is worthy

and they welcome you, let your peace

rest there. But if they reject you, let

your peace return to you.

Are you letting your peace return to you

from this world? Or has your peace been

scattered out into the world so that

it's not full within you? When you have

your peace and then you read some news

and it gives you some anxiety and

there's a little bit of your peace

going. You have your car break down and

there's a little bit of your peace

going. Someone's mean to you and there's

a little bit of your peace going. you

have a diagnosis or you don't feel bad,

you don't feel good physically and

there's a little bit of your peace

going. It happens to us and our peace

can be dissolved and it flitters away.

We have to come into the Lord and let

him fill our peace up again. But also,

we need to let our peace return to us.

We can't allow the news of the world to

take our peace because the news of a

fallen world is going to continually

tempt us with anxiety and fear. We have

to let our peace return to us and not

let the world take the peace that Jesus

has given to us.

And that's what he tells his disciples

and it's something for us to bear in

mind. When you notice something disrupts

your peace, get it back. Get it back

through prayer. get it back through the

ministry of the Lord and his word.

Jesus also tells them, "Truly I say to

you, it will be more bearable on the day

of judgment for those who rejected the

message of the gospel, the message of

Jesus, the message of the kingdom of

heaven, than for the land of Sodom and

Gomorrah."

The gospel includes a day of judgment

because there is a day when the kingdom

is going to come in full and all that is

not of the kingdom, it will dissolve. It

will go away and only that which is part

of the kingdom will remain.

Only that which is through Christ

will remain in that kingdom. Whenever

the gospel is preached in the New

Testament, judgment is preached also.

Even Paul when he went to Athens in Acts

17 and he concludes his sermon by saying

that God has appointed a man to be

judged and has confirmed it by raising

him from the dead. The gospel includes a

final day of judgment. So all of those

unjust things we see in the world that

can make us so anxious and upset, there

will be a day of justice. There will be

a day when all is set right, where God

needs to exercise vengeance. He will

exercise vengeance. Where he needs to

exercise mercy, he will exercise mercy.

The gospels are telling us we can trust

him with all of that and have peace and

rejoice in our hope and be filled with

the love of God and carry that love in

this world and be vessels of it. And

sometimes that love and the power of God

will manifest in healing and in

deliverance. and even some places the

dead will be raised.

But it will all point to the king and

the kingdom who has come and is coming.

So I want to encourage you as we close

to commit yourself to two things. One is

being a laborer in that harvest and the

other is praying to the Lord of the

harvest to send out labors. For whatever

reason, God has called his people today,

just like he called the twel apostles to

go out. He has called us to go out and

to share this message. And the harvest,

he says, is plentiful.

Which means two things. One is that

everyone out there needs this message

because everyone out there is one for

whom Christ died. And the second thing,

there is a readiness in that harvest

of people who when they hear will say

yes and all of heaven will rejoice. So

let's pray for labors and commit

ourselves to being labors. We will have

and you can see this in the back of your

order of worship. We'll have an

evangelism training later this year in

September that isn't going to be a

burden. It's not going to be scary. It's

just going to share show us how to share

Jesus winsomely with all which is I

think what we really all want to do tell

people about Jesus. So plan on go ahead

and register for it and let's pray

and father we thank you that we have

been justified by faith and grace and

have peace with you through Jesus

Christ. Help us to walk in that peace

guarding our hearts and minds. Lord,

whenever we that peace leaves us even

just a little bit, show us and quicken

us to restore it to let our peace return

to us. And Father, you are the God of

all hope. So may we abound in hope. May

we rejoice in hope in good times and in

bad, in your glory and in our suffering.

And father, you are the God who is love

and you have demonstrated that love on

the cross. Pour that love into our

hearts by the Holy Spirit and help us to

be ambassadors of your kingdom.

All for your glory and your purposes.

Amen.