Tonight’s sermon continued our alphabet series of essential ingredients to the Christian faith and looked at the subject ‘K is for Kingdom’. The kingdom of God was something Jesus frequently spoke about (see Matt 12:28; Matt 19:24; Matt 21:31; Matt 21:43), with many of His parables looking at different aspects of this kingdom (likening it to a mustard seed, a merchant looking for a pearl of great price, a man sowing seed in a field, yeast mixed into dough, and a king preparing a great banquet, to name but a few.) Right at the start of His ministry, He told people ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’ (Mark 1:14-15) and taught His disciples to pray ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10), clearly indicating that for Jesus, this theme of the kingdom of God was predominant in all His ministry.
The fact that He taught so much about this and spoke of God’s rule and reign coming through His ministry was clearly a major factor in the decision of the Jews and Romans to crucify Him (see Jn 18:33-40, Jn 19:12-16, Jn 19:19-21). But the nature of God’s kingdom is not at all what we might expect from our experience of earthly kings and queens.
When we think about kingdoms, we traditionally think of authority, power, might and majesty, and God is indeed that kind of king (see Ps 145:13, Dan 7:14,17, Ps 2:1-6, Rev 19:16). However, the paradoxical nature of the Messiah was such that this powerful King is also the Suffering Servant (see Is 53:3,10), inaugurating a kingdom where service is the key to greatness (see Mark 10:35-45). Jesus our King washed His disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1-17), showing us a very different type of kingdom. Moreover, Jesus consistently taught that death precedes life in this kingdom (see Jn 12:24-26), reminding us that in this kingdom:
- self-denial has to rule and the way of the cross cannot be avoided (Mark 8:34-38)
- daily dependence on Jesus and total reliance on His atoning death are required, actually participating in a spiritual union with Him (Jn 6:53)
- whole-hearted, uncompromising commitment is necessary (Luke 14:33, Matt 8:18-22)
Many found this idea of total allegiance too much (see Jn 6:66), but for those who enter the kingdom of God, there is no better place to be!