Building a Kingdom Community: Exploring Unity, Justice, Purity, and the Transformative Power of Faith

Every Sunday, every Sunday that we do the whole meet and greet thing.

It's like a massive social experiment.

Like some of you are just glaring at me, the introverts are like I don't want to do this at all, and then some of you I think we'll just do that the rest of service and be fine.

We're like that was great, that was the best Sunday in church ever.

But we're going to be in Matthew, chapter five, here in just a moment.

We're in a series right now called Actually Happy.

This is part four.

Next week We'll wrap it up and we're talking about what it means to persevere in the face of obstacle and adversity.

Because what we know beyond the shadow of a doubt is that life is dark, life is difficult and things are challenging.

Adversity, obstacles are inevitable, they're real.

The world is dark, life is difficult.

We need something on the inside to help us persevere in the face of the adversity and the obstacle.

That's part of the shared human experience.

Things will be challenging, and so what we're talking about in this series is an inner strength, an inner happiness, an inner joy that's found in a relationship with Christ, found in being part of what we'll call the kingdom of God.

So we began in week one, quick recap, talking about the joy of the Lord and how it's the joy of the Lord that becomes our strength.

And then for the last three Sundays two Sundays we've been in the Beatitudes talking about these attitudes of the kingdom that belong to us as members of God's family.

Now, we're not perfect.

We don't always exemplify and model and live out these attitudes of the kingdom, but by the grace of God, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we're moving in that direction, and so today you're going to notice the Beatitudes kind of shift gears a little bit If you have your Bible and want to look at this really quickly with me this morning.

Matthew 5, verses 3, 4, 5, and 6,.

Matthew 5:3

The first four Beatitudes are what we'll call vertical and they're external, and here's what that means.

The first four Beatitudes have to do with our relationship before God, our posture before God.

Jesus says that those who are part of the kingdom are poor in spirit.

We mourn, we're meek, we hunger and we thirst for righteousness.

These are the attitudes of the kingdom and they're primarily related to how we relate to God.

We see our spiritual poverty, we mourn our sin and the brokenness of the world.

We're gentle, content.

We're meek, we hunger and we thirst for righteousness, for God's presence and God's character in our lives.

They're vertical and they're internal.

They have to do with the attitudes of the heart.

I think I may have said they were external, I meant internal, sorry, they're vertical and they're internal.

These are attitudes of the heart, and here's why we say that Somebody can fake meekness but not be meek.

Somebody can fake like they're pursuing God, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, but not actually have a heart that's devoted to God.

Jesus saved some of his strongest words for the religious leaders of his day.

He said to them on multiple occasions you honor me with your lips.

Externally you sound good and you look good, but internally your hearts are far from me.

And so Jesus says in the kingdom, our vertical relationship is characterized by this internal transformation.

And then, in verses seven, eight, nine, 10 and 11, the rest of the beatitudes.

You'll notice that they shift from vertical and internal to what we'll call horizontal and external.

In other words, now we're going to talk about okay, because of our relationship with God and the posture of our heart towards him.

How does that change the way we relate to one another?

How does the transformation in our heart work its way out into our lives.

And so today, on a really practical level, we're going to talk about what it means, as the church, to be a kingdom community or a church like a family.

And it's such a great conversation to be having on stand Sunday knowing that as the church, we're called to be a family for people who maybe don't have that same experience with their nuclear family.

We're called to be a place where people who are far from God and alienated from community can come and find God and find community.

And I love the words of Jesus, matthew five, beginning in verse seven.

Jesus says blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, and blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

So what does it mean to be a kingdom community?

Here's the big idea for the day.

It's really, really simple.

A kingdom community requires a supernatural unity.

A kingdom community requires a supernatural unity.

My senior year at Wofford, we had a senior leadership council on the football team and, by the way, y'all Wofford football, going into yesterday, was one in nine.

It had been a rough year.

Yesterday we beat the Furman Paladins and we finished the year two and nine.

It was a great season.

It was a phenomenal year.

Everything has been redeemed and my senior year, we, during preseason camp, had a chance to gather together as a group of seniors and we began to talk about what we wanted, our mantra, our motto, our mission statement, if you will, for the year to be.

And we came up with this statement and we got it put on the little rubber wristbands.

Y'all remember the rubber wristbands.

There was a rubber wristband for everything we got out to Lance Armstrong and the Livestrong thing.

Right, we had the rubber bracelets and this is what our rubber bracelets that year said the greater our unity, the greater our impact.

The greater our unity, the greater our impact.

And the thought process there was that, as a team, if we can bind ourselves together and we can move in the same direction together, we can accomplish a lot more than we can accomplish as individuals.

It's been said if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.

And I believe with all my heart that, as a church, god is calling us to go far.

God is calling us on a mission.

God is calling us to be part of His kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, and for that to happen, y'all we've got to be together.

We need a supernatural unity.

You know, when you think about it, you really you don't see a lot of examples of unity in the world today.

Maybe from time to time at a sporting event, right, when something good happens, big play happens for the home team and what happens all together, everybody stands up and they're cheering, they're yelling.

Nobody's got to come over the loud speaker and say, hey guys, that was good, everybody stand to your feet and yeah, we just kind of know in those moments, now's the moment to stand and cheer for the home team.

Right, used to kind of see a sense of unity, maybe at a concert, you know, everybody kind of standing and singing, but even that's kind of become a little bit individualized.

Now you've been to a concert recently.

You ever notice what happens these days at a concert?

Everybody pulls out their phone and they're like videoing the concert and maybe that, maybe you do that, and I'm not judging you, I'm just saying it's kind of weird, you know, but that's what I've noticed.

There was a picture in Sports Illustrated a little while ago when LeBron James broke the NBA scoring record and everybody in the stands had their phone out, then put it side by side a picture of Michael Jordan, one of his shots from one of the playoff games that he won at the last second.

Nobody had a phone out because nobody had a phone, and it was just an interesting contrast.

Like I say that to say in our world we don't trend towards unity, we trend towards disunity.

Unity takes effort, unity takes work, unity takes a perspective shift, unity takes a choice.

It happens on purpose and it happens for a purpose, and that's what we're going to see here today.

The bottom line is this community without unity doesn't make sense.

I mean, if you write the word community and you take out unity, you have nothing left, right, I guess it's not even a word at that point in time.

And what I love about the idea of a united community, particularly a united body of Christ, is that it offers us the chance to extend something to the world that the world is longing for but has no idea how to build.

As a church, we get to be a place where people from all different walks of life can gather together under the name of Jesus and y'all.

They don't have to have it all figured out when they come in the doors, because we don't have it all figured out when we come in the doors.

The church gets to be a place where we can be real.

We can be authentic.

We can admit our need for a savior.

We can check our performance at the door.

We don't have to act like something we are not.

We can be real because we're all broken people in desperate need of a savior to get involved in our lives.

And in the church we can see barriers between people broken down.

We can see people from all walks of life come together and find that, in the name of Jesus, what binds us together is so much better than what tears us apart.

It's an opportunity for us to literally extend to the world a different way to be human.

Everywhere I look around me today, I see people who are desperate to know who they are and why they're on this planet and what's true.

And y'all, as the church, the community of Jesus in the world, today we get to help people find the answers to those three questions.

We believe with all of our hearts that we know the truth and we believe that the truth will set people free.

We believe that Jesus is the truth.

We believe that our identity is found in him.

We are who he says that we are, and we believe that our purpose is not just to exist and then to die, but we have an eternal calling and purpose on our lives, given to us by our Creator Himself, and we get to invite people into that story.

Isn't that beautiful?

That's the power of the community of Jesus, that's the power of the local church and that's the invitation on the table for all of us today is to be part of building that type of community.

And y'all, here's the thing I can't do that by myself and you can't do that by yourself, but together we can, together we can.

And so I want us to consider this morning well, what does this kingdom community look like?

How do we build this kingdom community?

I think Jesus gives us three paths of unity that will help us in building this kingdom community.

The first one is this in the kingdom of God, we are united.

In the kingdom of God, we are united in mercy.

Jesus says it like this blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Now, how many of you love the idea of mercy when it's pointed in your direction.

Mercy means that you get what you don't deserve.

It means that you don't get what you do deserve.

And so in our context, we talk about mercy.

What we're saying is that in our sin, we deserve guilt and shame and condemnation, but in light of that, jesus has done something on our behalf.

He shed his blood for our forgiveness.

We deserve death and separation from God, but in Jesus we've been reconciled to God.

The gap has been closed.

We didn't get what we deserve.

We get what Jesus deserves.

We get mercy, we get grace, we get forgiveness.

We get new life.

We get the heart of stone removed and a heart of flesh on the inside.

We get mercy and we love mercy, don't we?

For us, like, if somebody's like you know what?

I know you messed up, I know you don't deserve it, but I love you anyway, you're like mercy, amazing.

I want mercy when it's coming in my direction.

But what about when someone hurts me?

Then what do we do?

It's like I want justice for them.

They hurt me, right?

You know what I mean.

It's like, hey, this isn't fair, life's not fair.

They don't deserve that.

Do you know what they did?

Do you know how bad they hurt me.

Do you not see what they've done?

We need justice, and y'all, justice is biblical too, is it not?

Amos says, hey, do justice, like, look for what is right and good and do that.

Do justice, justice is good too.

So there's some tension here, right?

There's some tension here.

What do we do?

Are we merciful?

Are we just?

Are we merciful?

Later, in 2 Peter, peter writes that God is not slow to fulfill his promise, but he's patient with us, wanting everybody to come to repentance.

In the context of Peter's writings, peter's talking about the second coming of Christ.

He's talking about the moment when justice will ultimately be served.

And what he says is so helpful and profound.

He says God's not slow to fulfill his promise for justice.

One day, y'all, every wrong will be made right.

One day, justice will be served.

But in the meantime, god's not slow to bring about that day.

What is God doing?

Peter says God is being patient.

Why?

Because God's heart, god's desire, is that every human being on the planet with breath in their lungs would not get what they deserve.

That's God's heart, that a world full of broken people would not get the just payment for their sin.

Why?

Because Jesus already took the wrath of God on his shoulders.

Jesus already paid the debt for my sin and the sin of the world.

Jesus has already stood in our place so that I could receive mercy and so that you could receive mercy.

And so Peter says here's what God is doing.

He's not slow to fulfill his promise.

Justice will come.

God is patient.

His goal, his desire, his heart is for people everywhere to come to repentance, to turn away from themselves and their sin and towards Jesus and receive the free grace and the free mercy and forgiveness of Almighty God.

Aren't you grateful for the mercy of God, that God didn't give you what you deserve, but that he was patient with you?

I need God to be patient with me.

God is patient, desiring for every single person to experience his mercy and his grace.

And so Jesus says as members of the kingdom of God, as people who have received the grace and the mercy of God, be merciful.

Share with others what God has given to you.

Let God handle the justice side of things.

You go, be merciful because you've been given mercy.

And the promise of Jesus in Matthew, chapter five, is that at the end of it all, you will receive mercy In Christ.

God is not holding our sin and our guilt against us, but he's forgiving us.

He has forgiven us and he will forgive us.

Isn't that beautiful.

So we're a kingdom community, united by our willingness to give mercy to others.

We're also, jesus says, united in purity.

Jesus says bless the pure in heart, for they will see God.

So, as part of the kingdom of God, we receive this forgiveness.

We receive this righteousness from God that begins to change us from the inside out, and this idea of the pure in heart.

It literally means that we are real and authentic from the inside out.

Our heart has been transformed by the grace and the forgiveness of God, and so we're not putting on a show, we're not acting one way at church and another way at home.

We're not one way around this crowd and another way around a different crowd.

We're the same person everywhere we go, because Jesus has changed our heart, he's given us a new heart, and so that grace, that goodness, that forgiveness, that love, that compassion, that kindness, it just comes through.

It just comes through.

I was driving down Central Avenue the other day and I was coming to a stop at a stoplight behind a car, and it was a car that had one of those little bumper stickers on the bottom with all the little writing on it.

I take that as a challenge, like how close do I need to be to see that?

That's how close I'm going to be to see that.

And I just got close enough to see that writing on this bumper sticker and I expected it to be one of those like kind of funny, kind of offensive bumper stickers.

It was like if you're close enough to see this, you're too close If you bad words thrown in.

You know what I mean.

But it wasn't that and it blew my mind because what it said was if you can read this, I hope something good happens to you today.

And I was like wow, that's pretty amazing, because if somebody's as close to me as I am to this car in front of me right now, that's not what's going through my mind.

You know what I mean.

And I was like I want to meet this person, whoever's driving this car.

I think they must be very friendly, because they're just trying to encourage people in traffic on Central Avenue on an afternoon when everybody needs some encouragement.

And I was like that's a weird example, but that's pure in heart, this idea that God's been good to us and we just want to be good to people, we want to be generous to people, we want to be kind to people.

It's a generosity of spirit, if you will, that what God has done for us just overflows from our lives.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

You ever met somebody and they were just so kind, so compassionate, so understanding, so gracious that maybe you had a question like are they even real?

Is this all an act?

They're just like trying to fool me and it's like a bait and switch and then they're going to flip and it's like Dr Jackal, mr Hyde, kind of like what's going on here?

But then over time they just come and you're like wait a minute, this really is, this really is who they are.

And it comes to be true.

You know what I mean.

We're like I can't believe this person is this nice.

I can't believe this person is this compassionate, this understanding, this pure in heart.

Now here's the good news for all of us, because even as I'm reading this and talking about this this morning, I got to be honest with you.

I don't know that I'm always that pure of heart.

I don't know that my motives are always that pure, that my thoughts are always that pure, that my words are always that kind and compassionate.

The scripture says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

If that's true, then what does that say about the condition of our hearts?

Well, what it says for me is I still need God to keep working on the inside.

I'm not who I was apart from God, but I'm not yet perfected in God either.

In fact, y'all.

The only one who's ever been completely pure of heart is Jesus himself.

Motives 100% pure all the time, thoughts 100% submitted to the will of the Father, words seasoned with salt, building up people, bringing light to the darkness.

Jesus is the only one who's ever lived this pure of heart life.

But here's the promise of Scripture.

Jesus says in John.

He says I will not leave you alone.

I'll send my helper to be with you and within you, to transform you from the inside out.

And in that good news for us today that the Holy Spirit is at work in us to make us more like Jesus.

If you're not there yet this morning, don't get discouraged.

If you're a follower of Christ, the Spirit is within you, cultivating that purity of heart that will transform your life from the inside out.

And the promise y'all is beautiful of Matthew 5, verse 8.

Matthew 5:8

The promise Jesus says is that as your heart is purified, you'll learn to see God in the world around you.

You'll be aware of what God is doing in your life.

Eugene Peterson translates this verse in the message paraphrase.

He says you're blessed when your inside world is put right because then you learn to see God at work in the outside world, and I love that.

May we be a community of people united in purity, given the righteousness of God, but committed to allowing the outworking of that to change the way we relate to one another.

Last for today, a kingdom community is united in peacemaking.

Jesus says in verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God, and I love that word peacemaker, not peacekeeper, not peace discoverer, but peacemaker.

Peace happens on purpose.

My friend Will Walker this morning gave our devotion at a rally time before our 9 o'clock service to our team that's serving today and he was talking about this idea of making peace because, how many of y'all know, thanksgiving week is this week and you have people at your house, you're going to go to somebody's house maybe, and you're going to gather with some family and somebody's got to be the peacemaker.

Somebody's got to be the one who keeps the sweet potatoes from being tossed around the kitchen, who brings this sense of calm and stability in the midst of the argument.

You know when the conversation goes to where the conversation at Thanksgiving shouldn't go.

Somebody's got to bring peace.

And Paul says in Romans 12, as far as it depends on us as followers of Christ, our job, as far as it depends on us, is to live at peace with everyone, everyone, everyone, even the person that you think there can be no peace with.

As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Paul says in Colossians 1, 19,.

He says that Jesus, he's the head of the body, the church, he's the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

And then, moving on, he says per in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him, to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven.

What's the next phrase?

Making peace by the blood of his cross.

So here's the beauty of making peace.

Jesus has made peace for us.

He's reconciled sinful humanity to a holy God.

And when you and I live as peacemakers in our life, we are carrying on the peacemaking work of Jesus Christ.

Is it possible that, as you seek to make peace with others in your life, that they will see the purity available in Jesus, that they'll see the mercy of Almighty God and they'll come to faith in Jesus Because you were willing to be a peacemaker in your home, in your office, in your circle of friends?

I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that it's worth a shot.

They're not enough peacemakers in our world today.

They're not.

You don't believe me?

Scroll through Facebook.

We have a lack of peacemaking in our world today.

So when somebody stands up and says, hey, I've got peace with God, and because I've got peace with God, I'm going to share mercy, I'm going to share grace with other people in my life, I'm going to seek to be a reconciler.

I'm going to actively seek to do good in the world around me.

People will notice and they might think you're strange and they might talk about you behind your back, but they'll notice and the prayer is that as they notice your life, that ultimately they'll see God at work through your life and, like Jesus says later in Matthew chapter five, your life will shine like a light on a stand and as people see your good works, they'll come to give glory to your Father who's in heaven.

We want to be united in making peace.

Now I know what some of you are thinking.

Some of you are sitting here today going all right.

I got a couple of objections here, and here's the first one.

That's not how the world works.

This is naive.

This is too simplistic, this is too idealistic.

That's not how people are.

Anybody right, that's just not how the world works.

Two responses to that objection this morning.

Number one come back next week.

I'm going to talk a little bit more about that.

If you think this week's idealistic and simplistic, come back next week, because what Jesus says gets even more incredible.

But the second thing I would say today is simply this Our treatment of others cannot be predicated upon their treatment of us.

The way we treat the people around us has to be separated from their treatment of us.

We do good to those even who don't do good to us.

We love those even who don't love us.

We forgive even if we're not being forgiven.

Jesus in Luke, chapter six it's a different teaching from what we're reading in Matthew, chapter five.

As a traveling preacher, pastor, teacher, jesus reused his material some, and he's reusing some material here in Luke, chapter six.

And this is what Jesus says If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?

Even sinners, even people who don't know God, love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?

Even sinners do the same.

If you lend, if you're generous to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners, lend to sinners to get back the same amount.

And this is Jesus's command to us but love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high.

For he, the most high God listen to this is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Be merciful, even as your father is merciful.

God is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Is that mess with you at all?

Justice, we need justice.

God's a God of mercy.

Justice is coming one day, but in the meantime, god's goal is to call all people everywhere to repentance, to faith in Him.

Aren't you grateful today that God was kind to you even when you were ungrateful, for His presence in your life?

Aren't we grateful today that when we were dead in sin, separated from God, that His mercy chased us down.

May we be a community that does the same for people who right now are far from God.

Second objection maybe you're here today and you're like well, I just don't think I have that in me.

Sounds good, I'd like to be that way.

I just don't know that like literally, physically, tangibly, emotionally, I don't know that I have that in me.

I get frustrated, get anxious, I get worried, I get angry at people, I get fed up with people's stuff, and I just don't think I have that in me.

Can we be honest?

We all get there from time to time, do we not?

But again, here's the promise If you're a member of the kingdom of God by grace, through faith in Christ, you've been saved.

The old is gone and the new has come.

And in Philippians, chapter one, paul says I am confident of this that he who begin a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Now, the place in scripture Paul says we're transformed into the image of Christ in the world, from one degree of glory to the next, one degree of glory to the next.

I don't have it in me.

I can't be gracious to my enemies, I can't love those who don't love me.

I don't have it in me.

But if you're a follower of Jesus, you've got the Holy Spirit within you and your life is being transformed from one degree of glory to the next.

So here's what that means If you're somewhere it's not Somerville, but somewhere and it's 25 degrees outside and it goes from 25 to 26, it's still cold.

Bottom line 25 to 26, one degree still cold.

But if you go from 25 to 75, that's a difference, is it not?

That's a difference.

That's a change that's beautiful.

Outside today it's supposed to be sunny and 75, phenomenal.

Later this week, in the 40s, I'll be very chilly.

One degree to the next.

Paul says that's how change happens in us.

That's how a kingdom community is built.

It's not a massive shift overnight.

That's Somerville weather, kingdom of God, community.

Transformational change on the inside is one degree of glory to the next.

It's trusting God today to do a work by His Spirit within you.

It's waking up tomorrow.

Trusting God tomorrow to do a work by His Spirit within you.

Here's the challenge.

When we look at Matthew, chapter five, the verses we read today, the challenge is to go.

This is impossible.

To get frustrated and to bail on kingdom community To go.

You know what?

We're not there yet.

We're never gonna get there.

This is ridiculous, can't live up to it.

I'm out.

Here's the challenge.

Stick with it.

Stick with it.

Keep showing up, keep serving, keep loving, keep forgiving, keep extending mercy, keep confessing your sin, keep rallying together when you fail.

Keep showing up, keep lifting your hands to Jesus, keep following after Him, one step at a time.

And is it possible that after years and years and years of following Jesus, that one day we'll look around and we'll be like you know what?

I used to be at 25 degrees and now it's sunny in 75.

I used to be one way, but now the mercy of God and consistency over time of walking with Jesus has transformed my life Y'all.

Can I be really honest this morning?

I don't wanna just do business as usual when it comes to us as a church.

I don't wanna just show up on Sunday and open the word and sing a few songs and then go about our business throughout the week.

I wanna see a community changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I wanna see families restored and marriages redeemed and prodigal children come back to faith in Jesus.

I wanna see the kingdom of God come in Somerville as it is in heaven.

How does it happen?

A bunch of people rallying together saying you know what?

We're not there yet, but by the grace of God, one day.

And until that day, we're just gonna keep walking together with Jesus.

We're gonna keep reaching out to people who need to hear about Jesus.

We're gonna keep building our relationships with Jesus and inviting other people to experience his love.

We're gonna keep walking with Jesus, believing that, like Jesus said, that those who extend mercy will receive mercy, that the pure in heart will see God, that the peacemakers will be called sons of God and that, as we live this way, other people will see our good deeds and they won't praise us because they'll know us.

No, that's not them.

It can't be them.

It can't be them.

It's got to be God.

So, father, that's our prayer this morning that God, our lives would shine with the light of Christ in the midst of a dark world.

Father, our prayer is that Somerville Baptist would shine like a city on a hill, not for the sake of our church, but for the sake of your kingdom, father, so that people who, right now, today, are far from God could have the opportunity to receive your grace and your mercy and be forgiven today and forever.

Father, help us to commit to the process, commit to the journey, to stick with it.

When things get difficult, when the way gets challenging, father, help us to persevere in faith, believing that the mission, the call, the prize in Jesus Christ is worth it.

So, father, in this moment, as we respond this morning, we have your way in our hearts.

In Jesus' name, amen, we're gonna stand and we're gonna sing.

This is a moment for you to respond.

If you say I need to be part of this community, I need Jesus at the center of my life, I'd love to have that conversation with you.

You wanna join the church?

You need to pray?

This is a moment for you to respond.

We're gonna stand and sing together.