Kingdom of God

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Caught Between Truths

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Caught Between Truths

November 3, 2024
John 18:33-19:16, Psalm 2

Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”

“So you are a king?” Pilate said.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked…

… From that moment on, Pilate wanted to release Jesus.

John 18:36-38, 19:12

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Jesus is clear that his kingdom is not of this world and that his primary purpose is to “testify to the truth.”  Pilate responds with the question that has haunted us all for over 2,000 years… “What is truth?”

Here in the 21st century, we are still sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for Jesus’ answer, as though the conversation somehow got cut short.  And in the meantime, we have had more than enough “truth-sayers” trying to fill in the blanks with their own answers to this seemingly impossible question.  As a result, we now live in a culture where truth is so drowned out by lies that we can hardly tell the difference.  When lies are told often enough, they don’t necessarily become facts, but they do create a certain kind of truth that shapes reality.  When enough people believe a lie and act on it, it’s veracity no longer matters.  Real people get hurt, and most often it is the innocent and marginalized that are harmed the most. 

Just a few weeks ago a gunman was arrested in North Carolina over threats of potential harm intended against FEMA workers.  Lies and conspiracies about the government relief organization have run rampant in the aftermath of two disastrous hurricanes and the fact that they are not true doesn’t change the real harm they are causing to relief workers and storm victims in desperate need of help.  Sadly, this is only one of many examples where the truth or lack of truth has become irrelevant and caused great harm to entire groups of people throughout our nation during the current election cycle.

The same reality was true for Jesus.  It didn’t really matter whether he was a king or not, or what kind of kingdom he proclaimed.  It didn’t matter if he actually deserved to die.  For Pilate, and far too often for us, there was a voice far louder than truth.  It was the voice of fear.  The lynch-mob that yelled the loudest got to decide what truth was.  Jesus is guilty… Crucify him!

And in the end, truth surrendered to the fear of the people and quite literally died at the hands of both the mob and the state. 

Jesus says that if his Kingdom were of this world, he would respond with violence as the world does, but instead he chooses not to fight because his Kingdom is not of this world.  How tragic then that his followers across the centuries continue to fight.  We continue to stir up people’s fear with lies and conspiracies for the sake of political power, wealth and security. 

Perhaps the mobs of fearmongers understand Jesus’s truth better than it seems.  The truth of God’s kingdom will not give them the earthly power they desire.  It will call them to surrender and to lay down their lives for the sake of love, even the love of their enemies. 

“What is truth” indeed, that it would call us to sacrifice so much?

 

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Good News!

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Good News!

Good News - Part 1

Sunday, January 7, 2024
Mark 1:1, 14-15

The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son…

… After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”


Mark 1:1, 14-15 (CEB)



Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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When I was a teenager, I received a small pamphlet called a “gospel track” that laid out what was called “The Gospel.”  In summary, it went something like this:

  1.  You are a sinner and separated from God.

  2.  If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you can be covered by his blood and forgiven.

  3.  Only if you pray this prayer of salvation can you be in heaven with God when you die.

I was told this was the “Gospel” or “Good News”.  Over the years I struggled more and more with how this was “good news” for people born in a context where they had never heard of Jesus, or worse yet, who grew up in settings where Jesus was presented in such horrible and unloving ways that no one would want to “accept him as their Lord and Savior.” 

I also struggled with the fact that the default position is that we are sinners bound for the eternal fires of hell unless we just happen to be fortunate enough for some well meaning evangelical Christian to come along our path and lead us in the seemingly magical words of the “sinners prayer”, which I have found nowhere in Scripture.

What happened to Genesis 1 and 2.  What happened to “And God created humankind in his own image… and it was very good (Genesis 1:27, 31)?

If so few people in the history of creation would actually even hear the words that would supposedly get them into heaven, how was this, as the angels said, “Good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10)?


Mark begins his account of the “Good News” by saying this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus.  Jesus’ first recorded words in this gospel do invite us to repent of our sin and prepare our hearts and lives, but they do not say anything about our eternal destination or offer us a simple prayer to “get saved.” 

One would think if the prayer in those gospel tracks is the only way to avoid eternal damnation, perhaps Jesus might have started with that.  But no, Jesus begins by declaring that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand… It has come near.  The kingdom of God is right here, right now… and later he will teach us to pray for the Kingdom to fully come on earth as it is in heaven.” 

In other words, the Good News isn’t an inheritance check we pick up at the pearly gates after we die.  The Good News, the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of  God… is a present reality.  It is here and now!


What does the Good News of Jesus mean for you today, in this moment, here and now?

 

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For Thine Is The Kingdom

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For Thine Is The Kingdom
Our Father - Part 6
Sunday, April 10, 2022 - Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11; 1 Chronicles 29:10-13; Matthew 6:9-13

Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

1 Chronicles 29:11 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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For Thine is the Kingdom...

 “Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

 … and the power…

 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

 … and the glory…

 “Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes
        in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

 … forever.  Amen.

 … But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.  When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


(excerpts from Matthew 21:1-11 & Philippians 2:7-11)

 

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An Invitation to a Lenten Breath Prayer Practice -

As we sit with the “Our Father” Prayer Jesus taught us, I invite you to take one line each week and use it as a breath prayer throughout your day. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by difficulty or by gratitude, by pain or by joy, take a moment to breath a line of this sacred prayer. You may want to set a silent alarm on your watch or phone to remind you to pause and pray at least 3 times each day. Regardless of when you do it, be sure to let the prayer truly fill the depths of your soul. Repeat it, sit with it, meditate on it, until it becomes part of you. Allow the Spirit to transform your heart and mind as you pray.

Week 6: Breath Prayer Exercise

  • Breathe in: “For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory…”

  • Breathe out: “…forever and ever.”

Amen.





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Thy Kingdom Come

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Thy Kingdom Come

On earth as it is in heaven…

Of all the things that sound too good to be true, surely this ranks among the top. It seems so far fetched that most Christians have all but given up on the idea. In practice we have traded in this line of the prayer Jesus taught us for another prayer, a simple and almost magical formula for Jesus to forgive our sins so that after we die we might get into some distant heavenly city somewhere over the rainbow or beyond the Crystal Sea.

Such thinking might seem innocent enough, but historically the influence of such teaching has led to an utter disregard for the physical realities of an earth and of bodies which we assume are passing away. Violence and destruction against creation and humanity is much easier when we assume that one day we will “fly away” into glory and nothing on earth will matter anyway.

The theme of God’s Kingdom coming on earth is not only central to the prayer Jesus taught us, but also to the whole of Jesus’ teachings and the New Testament. One could argue that Jesus must have missed something, as we continue to wait over 2,000 years later for a Kingdom that feels more distant now than ever. We are not alone in our impatience and anxiety. The apostles certainly believed Christ would return to earth in their lifetimes, as have countless faithful Saints in every generation since, and still it seems that God waits. As Peter reminds us, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, but remains patient toward us, giving everyone time to change their hearts and lives (2 Peter 3:9).

So what do we as anxious and impatient people do in the waiting?…

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What Are You Looking For?

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What Are You Looking For?

Last weekend my daughter and I watched the animated movies “Sing” and “Sing 2.” It’s a story of big dreams and going after them with everything you’ve got…

…One key scene included in the trailer shows a theater full of fans singing Bono’s famous track, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” In the movie, the writer of that song is stunned that people even remember it, let alone still sing it after so many years. The scene reminds us not only of the power of music, but of the longing for something more that resonates with almost every human heart. Like the characters in the movie, we are all still looking for something that we haven’t quite found yet.

… The characters of “Sing” remind me of the merchant in Jesus’ parable, forever in search of the great pearl… of that one undefinable thing that always seems just out of reach. Perhaps Bono’s hit song could be that merchant’s anthem for life, always searching but never quite finding…

… until he / she does.

And that’s when everything changes. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the pearl itself as if it could be bought or sold. Rather, it is the whole of the search for that which always seems just beyond reach… until it isn’t…

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Fit for God's Kingdom

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Fit for God's Kingdom

On All Saints Day we remember and celebrate the lives of the Great Cloud of Witnesses who have passed through the veil of death to feast at Christ’s heavenly banquet. Despite this celebration, however, it is easy for us to be uncomfortable with our own mortality. We don’t like to think about death.

In some ways, David’s example prepares us for this final stage of our journey into God’s eternal kingdom. King Saul gave his armor to David to protect him in battle against Goliath, but the armor clearly didn’t fit. It was too big and far too heavy for this small, agile shepherd boy.

In the same way, the things we hold onto in this life to protect us at some point become too big and too heavy for us to bear. All our “stuff” becomes too hard to manage and most of what we have collected doesn’t seem nearly as valuable at the end of our lives. Dying is, in part, a process of shedding the “armor” that we have put on throughout our lives to protect us…

Kingdom Transformation - Part 1: Re-focus

Kingdom Transformation - Part 1: Re-focus

…Peter walks on the water. Surely he didn’t do that on his own. This has to be the work of Jesus and nobody else.

Well, yes… and no.

You see, if the miracle was only dependent on Jesus, then why would Peter sink? There is no evidence that Jesus was holding him up with some kind of Star-Wars like force and then simply lets go to teach Peter a lesson. Jesus didn’t make Peter sink because Jesus wasn’t actually holding him up to start with. Peter was able to walk on water not because Jesus gave him some magical power, but because he had the faith that Jesus was greater than the wind and the waves around him. Peter always gets a bad wrap for his lack of faith, but remember, Peter is the one who had the faith to step out of the boat in the first place when none of the others even considered the possibility…

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 4: Abundance

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 4: Abundance

…We often look at this miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and celebrate how he saved the day. So long as Jesus is around, we have nothing to worry about. He’ll fix it. He’ll take care of it. If he won’t send them away, he can feed all the people.

The only trouble is that’s not exactly what happens in the text. Jesus doesn’t send them away and Jesus doesn’t technically feed all those people.

Instead, we read in verse 16, “Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’”

“Whoa. Hold up now preacher. What do you mean telling us to do it. That’s what we pay you for?”

“We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish,” they reply. “What do you expect us to do?”…

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 3: Worth

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 3: Worth

… God saw you and me and every person who ever lived scraping our way through this sin ridden life and believed we were valuable enough to sacrifice his only Son just to dwell with us as it was in Eden. Do we value God and the Kingdom of Heaven as much as God values us? As one of my former pastors used to ask every Sunday, “Will you say yes to the one who said yes to the cross for you?”

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 2: Patience

Cultivating Kingdom Values - Part 2: Patience

… Odds are the enemy has sown a few weeds in the soil of our hearts. Instead of being so anxious to clear every weed from our sight, maybe we need to pause and give thanks to God for granting us mercy and allowing the good wheat to grow in fullness rather than cutting us off with those weeds before we ever have a chance to bloom.

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