Word of Salvation – Vol.52 No.23 – June 2007

 

God’s Kingdom Come

 

A Sermon by Rev John De Jongh on Matthew 4:18-25

Scripture Reading:  Luke 4:14-21

Suggested Singing: BoW 29; 156; 447; Rej 457; 436

 

Dear Congregation…

In the passage before this one, you see Jesus beginning his ministry in earnest. He’d heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison and couldn’t continue his ministry any more. It was the kind of sign Jesus had been waiting for. The baton had been passed on to him – he was the one running this race now. And so he started to preach the same message as John, ‘Repent, the kingdom of heaven is near.’

That is precisely his message in this passage. He travels around Galilee wanting to tell as many people as possible. His message and reputation spread around Israel, and into the surrounding districts.

At the same time he has an eye to the future, he wants to increase the number of people bringing the message. And so he starts to handpick disciples to travel with him as he teaches, preaches and heals. Eventually they become the 12 he sends out to do the same thing he’s doing, and then later on again, the 72.

It’s the snowball effect being put to good use – starting off small, but doing the kinds of things that in time will bring growth. It’s like the mustard seed in Jesus’ parable – one of the smallest of seeds, but growing into one of the largest of plants in the garden.

Point 1 – Jesus calls fishers of men

First of all in this passage, Jesus is handpicking particular people and calling them to change their profession. He calls them to leave behind the life they’ve been living and to start following him as disciples instead.

It’s not a small thing to ask! You might know how traumatic it can be to leave the life you know, and head out into the unknown. Most of us have probably done it at one time or another, leaving one country for another, or leaving our parents and starting a family of our own, or leaving one career and re-skilling for something completely different. It’s a big thing to ask. But that’s what Jesus is calling these men to do – leave their old life behind and follow him as their teacher. And they do.

Which probably means that they’ve had some contact with him already. They’ve probably already heard him speak. Maybe they’ve already had heart-to-hearts with him. They’ve come to recognise his authority.

As well as that he’s come to an understanding about them. He’s come to realise that these are the kind of men to continue his ministry after him. In fact, three of the four named here become part of the group that is closest to him throughout his ministry. And so, even though it was usually the disciples who chose which Rabbi they followed, when Jesus took this unusual step of calling them to follow him, they recognised his authority and responded to the call.

It’s like how people have recognised God’s authority right down through the ages and responded to his call. You can go to Genesis 12 where God calls Abram to leave his country, people and father’s household and go to the land he would show him. His promise to Abram is that he’ll make him into a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, all peoples will be blessed through him.

Or you can go to Isaiah 41 where God says to Israel, “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and not rejected you.” His promise to them was that he was with them, he was their God, and he would strengthen and help them.

Jesus is doing a similar thing here. He has God-given authority. He’s the new Israel. And he’s handpicking leaders for his kingdom – choosing them, calling them.

And his call is that they follow him. At first that could just sound like being what any disciple would be to any other Rabbi. But as you read the rest of Matthew, you realise that it’s a call to a lot more than that, because Jesus is the King of this kingdom of heaven. He expects to be acknowledged as the King. He expects his disciples to commit themselves to him completely as the Messiah who brings salvation into the world.

He expects that we work at becoming more like him. You see that already in the beatitudes in the next chapter – blessed are the humble, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. This is about growing to be more like Jesus. It’s worthwhile to think through what that means for us.

A starting place would include reading the Bible and reflecting on what we read, committing to spiritual growth in holiness and godly character, repenting from sin, and obeying God’s Word from day to day and week to week as we discover new things.

It’s worth our while to set goals in things like regular prayer and Bible reading, and growth in character traits like holiness and godliness that we know we’re weak in. It’s worthwhile revisiting those goals every month so that we don’t forget that that’s what we’re working at.

And then, as well as the call to follow him, Jesus’ cryptic promise is that he’ll make them fishers of men. They were already fishermen, but he would have them bringing people into the kingdom using the gospel as their net. Unlike the other Rabbis of his day, Jesus didn’t want them to only listen and learn; he wanted them to be involved themselves. He’s preparing workers for the harvest.

And Jesus still wants us to be involved like that today. Passages like the Great Commission confirm that. And so another thing we should be working at is outreach. We need to think through what that means in practice, from day to day. It means things like praying daily for non-Christian contacts, building friendships with them, sharing the gospel with them in some appropriate way, inviting them to Christians events, teaching them about the gospel when we can.

We can set goals for ourselves in that as well. We can make a list of 5 or 10 non-Christian contacts we have and pray for them daily. We can set time aside in our diaries every week or fortnight to catch up with some of them and build a friendship. We can set a goal to be sharing the gospel with at least one of them every month in some simple way. And setting those goals, and keeping them in the front of our Bible or diary, and revisiting them every couple of weeks will help us to make sure that we are doing something about sharing the gospel, rather than just hoping that it will happen.

A good thing to do this week is set a few of these kinds of simple goals in each area so that we will see ourselves making progress in these key areas of the Christian life, rather than just hoping for it.

Point 2 – Jesus introduces the kingdom of God

Looking at the second half of this passage, you see Jesus introducing the kingdom that he and John the Baptist have been preparing people for. It’s not only near, it’s come. In fact, it’s all been a bit like a promotional campaign really. First of all, ads appearing that tell you that something’s on the way – no explanation, but just getting you familiar with the name. Then a couple of weeks later new ads coming out that give you a bit of an idea what it’s all about – building your expectations. And then the day arriving, whatever it is, now finally available – the only question now is whether it can live up to the expectations.

God had been doing something a bit like that. The Old Testament prophets already knew that salvation and the Messiah were on their way, but questions about how and when and who weren’t really answered all that clearly. And then John the Baptist comes calling people to repent, the kingdom of God is near, now is the time to get ready. And then finally in Jesus the kingdom comes. The only question again being whether it would now live up to expectations.

Jesus encourages people to enter the kingdom through his teaching, preaching, and healing. You can see an example of his teaching in Luke 4. He’s in the synagogue in Nazareth. And he reads from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He’s sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” It’s a passage that looked forward to the coming kingdom of God, the age of salvation, when the shadows of the Old Testament would be fulfilled, when healing from sin and the effects of sin would come – no more sin, sickness, death, or slavery to Satan and the curse on creation. And Jesus begins his teaching on the passage by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

We’ve already seen an example of his preaching in verse 17. His message was a call to repentance because the kingdom of heaven was only as far away as faith and trust in him. And then, as a demonstration of what the kingdom is all about, Jesus healed the sick and demon possessed. And you can find example after example of that after the Sermon on the Mount, from chapter 8 on.

What Jesus is really doing is demonstrating that he is the King in the kind of way Adam was before the fall. In fact he can restore things back to the way they should have been, take them even way beyond that. Adam fell into Satan’s temptation, but Jesus stands against it. Adam took all of humanity into sin and sickness and death with him. Jesus has authority over sin, sickness and death – he resists sin himself, he forgives the sin of others, he heals them from sickness, he raises the dead. Adam faced Satan and lost – Jesus faces Satan and wins. As he says to Pharisees in chapter 12, “If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. … how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?”

And so what you see as Jesus heals the sick and demon-possessed is a touch of heaven here on earth. You see splashes of Paradise appearing wherever Jesus goes. As people trust him, heaven opens to them, and they experience a little more of the way things are meant to be – sickness healed, suffering taken away, tears wiped away, pain relieved. Jesus is a window between heaven and earth.

All of Jesus’ work in this way takes us back to Genesis 1 and 2, where we see the way creation was at the very beginning. Jesus is beginning to restore things to that original design – no sin, no sickness, no death. As well as taking us back to the original perfect creation, he’s also taking us forward to Revelation 21 and 22, where you see this process completed.

The question for the folk in Jesus’ day was whether they wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven and take the first step toward experiencing the perfection that creation was intended to be, and will be again. Some said ‘yes’ and put their faith and trust in Jesus as their King. Others said ‘no’.

And we’re faced with the same question. Do we want a place in Paradise restored when Jesus returns? Do we want to experience a perfect creation? If we do, the thing for us to do to is repent from our sin and put our faith and trust in Jesus the King.

We can be amazed and inspired by what the kingdom of heaven is, and will be – and the fact that we have a place in it. We can look forward to its fulfilment when Jesus returns. It becomes the thing that gives us comfort, hope and security for the future – that keeps us from despair. You can understand why Jesus, the apostles, and generations of Christians since have been willing to even stake their lives on this future. If this is really what we can look forward to in eternity, how could the threat of death even possibly turn us away from it?

We also come to understand why these same generations of Christians have been willing to work so hard for the kingdom – helping others enter it, helping those who are in to grow as Christians, expanding its influence throughout the world. This is something worth living for. This is something worth striving for.

Conclusion – be busy in kingdom work

If we really do have a clear sense of what eternity holds for God’s kingdom citizens, we’ll want to be committed to growing and working in it as well. We’ll be committed to thinking about how we can grow in the coming year as a citizen in God’s kingdom. How we can grow in being more like him. How we can be busy and active in outreach and ministry. Let’s all keep this picture of what God’s kingdom is before us. And let’s all grow in our commitment to God and his kingdom.

Amen.