Preach the Kingdom

Thanks Clive and thank you for welcoming me back and letting me loose this morning.

It's a delight to be back with you and also to celebrate Matilda's baptism as well.

So let's just take a few moments in prayer before we open God's word together.

So loving God, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together this morning to worship you

and may our hearts be open to your Holy Spirit to work in and through us as we hear your word.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

So I have the privilege this morning of kicking off a new series, What Would Jesus Do?

and the theme today is to preach the kingdom.

I'll come back to that a little bit later on, but at this point I want to set the scene as to what's going on in this passage.

And this really is the launch pad for Jesus' mission, which is that the good news is to reach the ends of the earth.

A bit earlier on in Matthew, if you flick back, we learn about Jesus' descendants, his genealogy as it's called.

He is conceived, he is born.

Joseph takes the infant Jesus and Mary to Egypt as they escape Herod.

And now he has grown into adulthood.

He has been baptized by John, John the Baptist.

He has gone into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And now it's time to go.

So Jesus is not some E.T. figure who drops from the sky and who does wonderful things.

But he is the new Adam.

He brings a whole new humanity to birth.

The true Israel of God, fulfilling the scriptures through the prophets.

And Matthew is saying here, here is the true son of God, who unlike Israel, would be faithful and obedient to him.

So Jesus is back in Galilee in a place called Capernaum, which was a busy lake-sized town.

But moving to Galilee, there's something a bit deeper going on here than just a change of location.

So Galilee was a despised part of Israel.

It was far away from Jerusalem and the temple.

It was riddled with Gentiles.

Syria wasn't that far away to the northeast.

And there are echoes here of some words from Deuteronomy chapter 10.

Deuteronomy 10 · chapter mention

For the Lord your God is God of God and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,

who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,

and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

So Jesus' mission was to go to the Galilee of the Gentiles, as Matthew quotes from the prophet Isaiah in our reading,

to reach the ends of the earth.

The outcasts, those who were despised.

And this was God's mission for Israel.

And by launching Jesus' earthly ministry from Galilee,

Jesus here is anticipating what would come in the future.

That the gospel, the good news, will reach the ends of the earth.

So that's my first point, that the good news will reach the ends of the earth.

That is Jesus' mission.

My second point is that Jesus challenges us to be disciples and not just followers in a crowd.

In the verse just after the end of our reading,

Matthew refers to the crowds that follow Jesus as his fame spread.

And we see these crowds appearing again and again throughout the gospel.

So they appear at the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus was healing,

when he was teaching through parables, and as he entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

They were thinking that he was going to be a messianic warrior

who would overthrow the Roman rule at that time.

But it was also the crowd at the end of the gospel in Matthew 27,

when Jesus was on trial before Pilate,

who called for Barabbas, a well-known prisoner, murderer, and thug,

to be released instead.

And when Pilate asked what should be done with Jesus,

they shouted, crucify, crucify.

So Jesus had a lot of followers in a crowd

who all ended up deserting him,

but not that many disciples.

Being a disciple means to know and live out that good news.

We are witnesses to that good news,

to be beacons of the light of Christ

shining to the ends of the earth.

So discipleship is actually costly,

and it's costly in three dimensions.

It's costly culturally, socially, and economically.

When we follow someone,

it could be someone on Instagram or TikTok,

if that's your sort of thing,

a particular commentator or journalist

or football team that you support.

It's all on our terms.

We can dip in and out.

But being a disciple takes all of us.

We are to take up our cross, as Jesus says.

We are to follow him.

It's part of who we are.

It's our identity.

Paul talks about in his letters

about living in Christ.

And this is costly.

It was costly for the disciples.

Jesus was calling them to a radical discipleship

that would cost them everything,

and for some of them, their lives.

There was probably a bit more background

to what was going on in the story,

or the gospel, as Matthew puts it.

It seems like Jesus rocks up

and just calls them off out of the blue,

and they respond without let or hindrance.

But this probably would have been over

a longer period of time.

Jesus would have known them.

He was a skilled tradesman.

And while in his 20s,

Jesus of Nazareth would have likely been

in that area.

He would have been a known figure.

But this call was still challenging.

It would, yes,

it was culturally surprising.

What's slightly unusual about Jesus' approach

compared to other rabbis

is that if you were a keen student,

student of the law,

you would approach a rabbi

and ask him to be his apprentice.

Not Jesus.

He chose them.

And not just students of the law,

but rather working men,

tradesmen, small business people,

and stirs up their gifts

and uses their skills

and their profession

as a metaphor to what discipleship means.

Jesus calls fishermen

so that they may be fishers of people.

Jesus is saying that you will be the ones

who will help me gather Israel

back into repentance,

faith,

and obedience.

So it's culturally challenging,

economically costly as well.

Fishermen were not the poorest of the poor.

In Mark's account,

they had hired servants.

The brothers would have likely been part

of some business consortium probably.

And they were to leave all of that

and rather have others

dependent on them.

They would be dependent themselves.

Jesus called them to go into people's homes.

They probably would have been sleeping rough

as they were traveling.

It was socially scandalous as well.

In verse 22,

after Jesus called James and John,

they left their father.

And this would have been

a significant

and socially offensive thing to do.

And they would have been away from home

for long periods of time.

And the point here is not that Jesus is anti-family,

but that the kingdom of God

is the ultimate priority,

which can often be out of sync

to what we want

or our families want.

So following Jesus as part of a crowd

costs nothing.

But following Jesus as a disciple

is costly.

And this is really challenging.

You may have felt this

when God calls you to do something

or to not do something,

particularly when it goes against the grain

of what the world sees as important.

And the disciples felt this too

when Peter exclaimed to Jesus

in Matthew chapter 19, verse 27.

Matthew 19:27

He says,

We have left everything to follow you.

What will there then be for us?

But despite this cost,

we enter into a relationship with Jesus

who laid down his life for us,

whose sacrificial love means

that we can have a share in his kingdom.

And he calls us as disciples

to share that good news,

to play our part in his mission

that will reach the ends of the earth.

So that's my second point,

is to follow Jesus as a disciple,

not just as part of a crowd.

But to be a disciple,

we have to preach the kingdom.

And what does that mean here today

in the West, here in Clevedon,

where it could be argued

that being a Christian

is culturally unsurprising.

Some people may think

that we're a bit weird,

but not a big problem.

It's culturally assimilated

and co-opted into the dominant culture.

It's economically unthreatening.

And in most places,

it's socially acceptable.

But you may like to have a think about

how many people in the settings

that you are in,

your work colleagues,

your friends,

maybe even your family,

who know that you are a Christian

and a disciple of Christ.

I'm ashamed to admit

that in my previous job,

before I went into ordination training,

I would say at least a third

of my colleagues

didn't know that I was a Christian

until I told them

why I was leaving.

And I found a couple of people saying,

oh, I'm a Christian as well.

Maybe there's something in us

that is a bit embarrassed

to share our faith,

or even just to say,

I went to church on Sunday.

Maybe we're afraid

of people making assumptions about us.

or that it's convenient

to compartmentalise

work life and friends

and church life and friends.

But we are all people

in this building

and out in the world

who are loved by God

and who God is longing

to see reconciled to himself.

That he gave his one and only son,

Jesus Christ,

to die on the cross for us,

that those who believe in him

may not perish,

but have eternal life.

And Jesus proclaims

a very bold message

in our reading.

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven

has come near.

To repent means

to turn to Christ

and to turn away from sin

that separates ourselves

from him.

And this is a very bold message.

It's a message

that's disruptive.

The gospel is often referred to

as being offensive

because it requires us

to do something.

It requires us

to make that change,

to turn to him.

It's an offensive message

to the way of this world.

But it's also

a message of hope.

The kingdom of heaven

is near.

And we are called

to share this message.

After Jesus' resurrection

in Matthew's gospel

in chapter 28,

he gives us

the great commission.

He tells the disciples,

go and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name

of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

And we,

as the church,

as we learned this morning,

as the body of Christ,

all have a part

to play in this.

we are to baptize.

We are to make disciples.

We should be

disciple-making disciples.

And this is quite daunting,

especially when we have seen

evangelism done

quite aggressively.

I don't know if you've ever

walked through

Speaker's Corner

in Hyde Park.

You'll probably know

what I'm on about.

Or in some professions,

like especially

the care profession

or in schools,

where we need to be

really careful

how we talk about

our faith

when there is a vulnerability

to abuse power.

I want to draw

your attention

to a book

I often refer to

on evangelism.

You may have come

across it.

It's by a chap

called Sam Chan

who is an Australian

evangelist.

And he's titled

this book

How to Talk About Jesus

Without Being That Guy.

And when it comes

to evangelism,

telling people

about Jesus,

he talks about

a lifestyle change

rather than

a one-off event.

He makes the comparison

to a New Year's resolution

when you're trying

to get fit.

You know,

you know the drill.

You set up

a gym membership

and you drill yourself

to get out of bed

at five in the morning

and you go for a run.

And by the 7th of January

it's too much

and you give up.

And the same process

will repeat itself

year after year.

And that's because

it's yet another activity

to cram into

an already busy life.

And he says

fitness is a lifestyle change

not a one-off event.

And it's the same

with evangelism

about telling people

about Jesus.

It's not a one-off event.

We need to live

as disciples.

And one of the suggestions

that Sam Chan makes

is breaking that

compartmentalization,

if that's a word,

of church and non-church groups

of people we know

who are Christians

and people who aren't.

A practical suggestion

that he makes

could be to invite people

here on a Sunday morning

or to bring people

into your social gatherings

with other Christians

where that's appropriate.

Where people can come together

and the good news of Christ

can be made known.

Because one of the ways

that many people

come to know Christ

is through community

with others.

Where we pray for one another,

where we encourage one another,

and where we learn

from one another.

And that also goes back

to what we were talking

about this morning

when we bring people up

in the faith.

When we baptised

Matilda this morning,

we promised and affirmed

that we will maintain

the common life

of worship and service,

that Matilda

and all children among us

may grow in grace

and in the knowledge

and love of God

and of his Son,

Jesus Christ.

So we often have

these two separate universes

and we need to merge them.

We need to live as disciples

across the two.

And that's why

when Jesus went down

eight with tax collectors

and sinners

in Matthew chapter nine,

the Pharisees saw him doing this

and they asked,

why does your teacher eat

with tax collectors

and sinners?

And Jesus responds

by saying,

it's not the healthy

who need a doctor,

but those who are ill.

The interpretation of this

is that Jesus needs

to be with them

in order that they would know

who he is,

that they may repent

for the kingdom of heaven

has come near.

But also,

if Jesus wasn't going

to do that,

no one else was,

and we have that same call

today as disciples

to create communities

in which the love of God,

the good news

of Jesus Christ

and the outpouring

of the Holy Spirit

may be made known.

So Jesus launches

his ministry.

His mission is to reach

the ends of the earth

and he calls

disciples

to make disciples

and that also

applies to us too

and that is costly.

We are to be

followers of him

and not part

of a crowd.

But it means

that all people

may know

the love of God

which we know

today.

and to do that,

to be a disciple,

we need to

preach the kingdom.

We need to create

those communities

where people may

come to know him.

We are witnesses

of his kingdom

and we are called

to live that out

so that others

may know.

So let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

we are called

to be your disciples.

We are called

to play our part

in your mission.

Help us, Lord,

to follow your call

and despite the cost,

may you strengthen us,

guide us

and teach us

to bring up

one another

in your love

and to share

the good news

of your kingdom.

In Christ's name

we pray.

Amen.