The First Gospel - The Kingdom of God

the house.

Alright. Well, good morning.

Welcome to the house. Good

morning. My name is Greg. If

you've never met me, I'm one of

the pastors here at the house

and today we are continuing our

walk through the gospel of

Mark. We're calling it the

first gospel because even

though it's not the first one

you come to when you open your

Bible, it was the first of the

gospels that was written and

it's been around for a solid

like 1616 weeks. I think,

right. So, we're like in the

fifth week, I think and so

today, we are going to jump

right into Mark chapter four.

If you don't have a Bible, we

have Bibles out on the book

shelf. You can take one of

those on your way home if you

like. Otherwise, you can

download a a Bible from a

digital app store. It goes

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts,

Romans and that's the

neighborhood that that Mark

mentioned. We read them and we

have a tradition of doing that

in any number of ways. The

primary way would be to stand

as you are able or as you

prefer as I read the

scriptures allow. So, this is

Mark chapter four. I'm going to

start in verse 26. It says

this. He also said, this is

what the kingdom of god is

like. A man scatters seed on

the ground night and day,

plucking the seed, cutting the

grass, and grows though he does

not know how all by itself.

The soil produces grain first,

the stock, then the head, then

the full kernel in the head. As

soon as the grain is ripe, he

puts the sickle to it because

the harvest has come again. He

said, what shall we say? The

kingdom of god is like or what

parable shall we use to

describe it? Is it? It is like

a mustard seed which is the

smallest of all seeds on earth

and the smallest of all garden

plants with such big branches

that birds can perch in its

shade. Many similar parables.

Jesus spoke the word to them as

much as they could understand.

He did not say anything to them

without using a parable but

when he was alone with his own

disciples, he explained

everything. Let us pray. God

bless you. Every nation. We

thank you for the scriptures,

the scriptures that have

persisted throughout the

millennium that we still have

today that we can look at,

read, consider, be guided by. I

pray that today, whatever you

have for us to learn, I pray

that that thing would stick.

That it would become a part of

the framework of our faith,

that our faith would become

a part of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Thanks all. You can have a

seat. Alright, so today, I want

to talk about the kingdom of

god. Uh any Princess Bride fans

in the room? Probably surely

many. Uh I feel like the phrase

kingdom of god reminds me of

the quote, you keep on using

that word. I do not think it

is. I do not think it is.

Because surely, you've also

heard the phrase kingdom of

god. We keep hearing about the

kingdom of god in the book of

Mark. John the Baptist

proclaims it. Jesus preaches it

and now he actually starts

telling stories about it. He's

describing what the kingdom of

god is like but even though he

doesn't say it, Jesus isn't

exactly straightforward about

what it is. I don't just mean

for us as we read it today. I'm

talking about for the first

hearers. Mark literally says he

did not say anything to them

without using a parable. He

spoke to them as much as they

could understand. So, Jesus is

talking about it but he's

intentionally not explaining it

to them. He's explaining it to

his disciples and then Mark

says but when he was alone with

his disciples, he explained

everything but when Mark but

then Mark doesn't write down

all of the explanations for us.

So, here we are reading the

scriptures and we don't

necessarily have a

straightforward explanation

about everything Jesus taught

either and so today, we're

going to read the scriptures

about what is it? What is it?

When is it? What does it look

like? How do we live in it? So,

I have three words to help with

our understanding of the

kingdom of god and like any

good pastor, I use a

literation. permanent, present,

potential, permanent, present,

potential. The kingdom of god

is the permanent, present,

present, and present in the

church today. Alright, so first,

the kingdom of god is

permanent. We tend to have a

hard time wrapping our minds

around the concept of a

kingdom because we have

democracies and mayors and

elected officials. We think of

republics and constitutions and

voting but most of the rest of

the world for most of the rest

of the world is an emperor, a

chief, a king, and they all had

beginnings. You can open a book

and and read the story of when

this kingdom began and when

that kingdom ended and so that

tends to be how we think about

the kingdom of god. We think

that the kingdom of god began

when the ministry of Jesus

began. Oh, there's that date.

Oh, that's when Jesus was

born. He's saying that the

kingdom of god is no, he

doesn't say the kingdom of god

has begun. He says the kingdom

of god has come near. It's the

same thing that John the

Baptist says. They don't

proclaim the idea that hey, a

kingdom that never was is now

here. They're saying that a

king that has kingdom that has

always been is now visible in a

kingdom that has has come so

close that you can no longer

ignore its existence. Because

here's the thing. If god is god

then it follows that god has

always been king.

Whether humans acknowledge

that or not.

We're not. Instead of choosing

and acknowledging god as king,

we choose our own ways. We

choose our own fruit from the

trees that we choose. We want

and we choose our own rulers

and our own kingdoms. We see

this happen in the story of the

Israelites. Yeah, after they've

been in the promised land for

awhile, what happens is that

every other kingdom has a king

as a human king. So, what they

do is they get the high priest

Samuel and they say, hey, go

tell god that we want a king

like everyone else. Just a

regular guy. They wanted to

replace god with the human. Of

course, why would they want god

as their king? The king that

was sent to them from Egypt,

splitting the sea, creating

daily bread out of thin air,

leading them with pillars of

cloud and fire literally

breaking the barrier from what

perceivable heaven and earth

were making water spring from

rocks and giving them a home

and a land to call their own.

Why would they want that when

they could have a regular guy?

They would want that. But just

because they and just because

we and actually when Samuel

goes to god and tells him that

Samuel's feelings are hurt and

god says, hey, they're not

rejecting you. They're rejecting

me. Just because we reject god

as king and put earthly men on

thrones, god doesn't stop being

a god. I don't like to bring a

politics a whole lot from the

pulpit but this reminds me of

what happens here in America

after a new president gets

elected. It I've seen it in at

least the last few election.

There's always a small

contingency of people that will

say something like this. Not my

president.

But what I've seen is that

someone made magically makes

that person not their president.

But what any one of us says

doesn't change the reality of

what is. If I am a citizen in

the United States, then whoever

holds the opposite of president

is my president for better or

worse whether I believe it or

not, whether I agree with them

or not, whether I think they're

not my god. I'm not my king.

Not my god. Not my king. While

we can have honor and respect

for each other, understanding

and empathy toward different

religious backgrounds and

create space for diversity of

how we believe in that god at

the same time, what we say or

think does not change what is.

That if there be a god.

If there is a god, then what we

choose on earth doesn't change

the nature of what or who that

god is. Even if I'm standing

here in the center of the

concept of Christianity and I

have it all wrong, everything

that I'm saying right now does

not change the nature of who

that god is.

So, if god is king as the

concept of Christianity would

change the nature of the king

even when we do not know it. So

the kingdom of god is permanent.

Second, the kingdom of god is

present in the person of Jesus.

Jesus makes the kingdom visible

again. One of the reasons if

you go back and listen to to

the sermons, we've I've brought

back the first two sermons in

the gospels with Jesus keeps

pointing back to what happened

in the first testament in the

history of these people was so

that they would think so that

we will think, hey, I remember

when god did that before when

when god proved his presence

when god proved the goodness of

his kingdom before way back

when the spirit hovered over

the waters at creation. Look,

the spirit descends upon Jesus

and look, Jesus is tempted and

resists the tempter. Moses

brought the twelve tribes out

of Egypt. Look, Jesus is

choosing twelve disciples on

the mountainside. The prophets

healed the sick. Look, Jesus is

healing entire crowds of people

way back when human beings

rejected god and wanted a man

to be a man. You know how

brilliant that is. You rejected

me as god king. You wanted a

human being. So, here you go. I

will become a human being. I am

giving you what you asked for.

Kingdom is permanent. The

kingdom of god is present and

perfect. But not perfect. Why

why not perfect? If god is

perfect, if Jesus is the

perfect king, why is the

kingdom not perfect? And Greg,

I don't know if you noticed but

perfect starts with P as well.

You could have kept the

alliteration going with that but

I can't use perfect because the

kingdom is not perfect yet.

The kingdom is not perfect yet.

The New Testament scholar,

Scott McKnight says this, the

kingdom now is not the perfect

kingdom of the not yet. And

that means kingdom citizens now

are not yet perfect, not yet

fully loving, not yet fully

holy, not yet fully just, and

not yet fully peaceful. In

other words, the kingdom is

present but the kingdom is also

not yet. Because we are not yet

fully like him. One day, Jesus

will come and make all things

new and then when we, when all

things are made perfect, then

the kingdom will also be

perfect but until then, the

kingdom of god here on this

planet will have the same

infinite potential of Jesus on

the earth and in the church and

here's the thing.

Misunderstanding this concept

causes a lot of problems.

Another P. Here's something

else that Scott McKnight said.

When we compare the kingdom to

church, most people make

comparisons. The point is to

compare the future kingdom and

the present church.

But because the kingdom is now

and not yet, the church is also

now and not yet. He says we

have to judge the church today

on where we are in the timeline

of god's kingdom.

It's kind of like as a parent

of a child, you know yourselves

that the decision that a child

just made is probably not all

that bad of a decision. If you

keep in mind how old they are.

You're twenty-five. You're

thirty-six. You're forty-eight

or sixty and you're looking at

an eight-year-old thinking,

well, they shouldn't have done

that. They're an eight-year-old

child. So, with the concept of

life, it makes complete sense

that they did what they did

when they did it. Has Jesus

returned yet to make all things

new? Not yet. Then, the church

is also not yet perfect but we

tend to want to declare that if

Jesus is perfect, Jesus is

present and his kingdom is

here and the church follows

Jesus, shouldn't the church

be perfect?

Because while the kingdom is

permanent and the kingdom is

present through Jesus, the

kingdom by its nature chooses

to live in the space of

potential rather than

perfection. Because unlike

other kings and kingdoms, Jesus

doesn't destroy his detractors

and his people. Jesus doesn't

trot around the countryside on

horseback cutting the people

down that claim he is no king.

that

claim in their heart, there is

no god. Jesus doesn't expand

his kingdom in the way of Rome

or in the way of empires.

Instead, the kingdom of god is

like a mustard seed. Night and

day, whether he sleeps or gets

up, the seed sprouts and grows

though he does not know how.

All by itself, the soil produces

grain. First, the stalk, then

the head, then the full kernel

in the head. The kingdom is

like a mustard seed which is

the smallest of the seeds on

earth yet when planted, it

grows and becomes the largest of

all garden plants with such big

branches that the birds can

grow. It's incredible in the

arena of potential instead of

perfection because as one

theologian wrote, the kingdom of

god does not force itself upon

Potential is something that we

have to choose each day.

see this in the way that Jesus

said in the Bible when he said

our father who art in heaven.

thy kingdom come where thy will

be done on earth as it is in

heaven.

So, the kingdom of god is

permanent and it is present and

it is present when we pray the

way that Jesus told us to pray.

And what he taught us is a

prayer of potential if you're

paying attention. So, let us

pray together. The our father.

Our father who art in heaven,

thy kingdom thy will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. Give

us this day our daily bread and

forgive us our trespasses as we

forgive those who trespass

against us and lead us not into

temptation but deliver us from