The Kingdom of God

On Sunday, I asked the congregation a question: What is the essence of Jesus’ teaching? If you could boil it down to a single word or phrase, what would it be?

We had several good answers. Some thought it should be love, or mercy, or grace. Perhaps it was the Great Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. While these are all good, and Jesus certainly talked about them all, none captures the true essence of his message.

Our text for the morning was from Matthew 4:17, where Matthew says, “From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent,” (4:43). In Jesus’ own words, then, the reason he was sent was to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

That is surprising news to many people. They understand the message of Jesus, and the gospel itself in very different terms. Lots of folks never get past the “Repent” to the good news. But even more than that, Jesus’ focus is on the kingdom. That is the essence of his message, and the reason he was sent was to proclaim it.

If that is what Jesus is all about, why don’t we hear more about it, and what, exactly does he mean by the kingdom of God?

It is a sad commentary on Christian teaching and discipleship that we don’t spend more time teaching and preaching the message that Jesus did. Just a quick reading of the gospels reveals that Jesus talked about the kingdom over and over again.

What is the kingdom like? It is like a sower who goes forth to sow seed; it is like a costly pearl; it is like a mustard seed. How do you get into the kingdom? You sell all you have and give to the poor; you have to become like a little child. Is the kingdom that big a deal? You bet it is! It would be better to cut off your hand or poke out your eye than not to get in at all.

Bible scholar John Bright said, “So paramount was the notion of the Kingdom of God in the mind of Jesus that one can scarcely grasp his meaning at all without some understanding of it.” If we don’t understand the kingdom, we can’t understand Jesus, and if we don’t understand Jesus, what kind of followers are we?

It is my goal, over the next several weeks, to try to understand the kingdom of God better, and to share my insights with all of you. I am going to sift through the gospel of Matthew and find all the places where Jesus says things like, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” There are over 25 of them! In those passages he explains the kingdom in some detail. Don’t you want to know what he says? I do.

I hope that as you make your plans for the fall, you will include spending time in worship, so we can look at these passages together. Jesus had a lot to say about the kingdom, and I know I have a lot to learn. Let’s learn how to live in the light of God’s kingdom together.