Matthew 13:44-46
This morning we enter into the season of Advent, four Sundays of preparation before Christmas. The word “advent” comes from Latin and means “coming” or “arrival” and refers to the coming of Jesus into the world. The idea of having a period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ originated in Gaul in the fifth century. Gaul was located in western Europe in what is today France and the parts of Belgium, Germany and Italy abutting France. The six Sundays of preparation were probably modeled from Lent, the six weeks of preparation for Easter. Rome did not immediately adopt this practice and a five week version was adopted in Spain and southern Italy and eventually Rome, a century or two later, adopted the four week version we use today.
There is nothing magical about the days of Advent, anymore than the days of Lent are magical. But the three most extraordinary days in the history of the world are the day when God, Emmanuel, was born a man, the day that God in the flesh died on the cross and then the day Jesus broke the power of death and was raised to new life. We await the fourth spectacular day in the history of the world and that is when Jesus will return to claim his church and bring us into his kingdom and the history of the world will end.
In Advent we remember the years of waiting for the coming, the arrival of Jesus and we anticipate the return of Jesus, the Second Coming. So to have four weeks to prepare for celebration of two of the four most important days in the history of the world is not a bad idea.
His birth came as a surprise, but it was not unexpected. The prophets had long predicted the coming of the Messiah.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
When the magi came to see Herod to ask him where the king of the Jews had been born, the priests and teachers of the law knew where he would be found because they knew the prophecy in Michah 5:2.
Matthew 2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 ”‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
The birth of Jesus came as a surprise but a king was expected. The magi came to find this newborn king and Herod was concerned that this king might be a threat to his power.
When the archangel, Gabriel, came to Mary to tell her she would bear a child, he also talked about Jesus as a king.
Luke 1
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Gabriel announced that Mary would bear a son who would reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom would never end.
Gabriel and the magi viewed Jesus as the king of the kingdom of God that had long been anticipated.
This was not just the view of others at the birth of Jesus. When Jesus described the reason for which he came, he himself used the phrase kingdom of God or in Matthew’s Gospel, the kingdom of heaven, over and over again. 36 times in Matthew’s Gospel, 14 in Mark’s and 32 times in Luke’s Gospel.
So if Jesus came as king, what does that kingdom look like? The apostle John, in exile on the isle of Patmos, received a revelation from God and at the end of that revelation, he received this picture of what the kingdom of God will be like.
Revelation 21
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
What does the kingdom of God look like? The kingdom of God is the home of God among his people. As God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, so will God live with his people. There will be no more distance. God told Moses he could not see his face and live, we will see God face-to-face.
The kingdom of God has no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. Anything that caused sadness on earth will be gone. This will be a place of eternal and unimaginable joy that nothing will be able to cloud.
The kingdom of God is a place of perfection and all those who enter will be made perfect. We will receive new bodies. Those who were blind will see; those who were lame will leap for joy; those who were deaf and mute will sing and hear the songs of praise being lifted up to the throne.
The kingdom of God is a place of peace where all those who struggled with depression and anxiety will be freed to live without restraint.
The kingdom of God is a place of justice where all those who suffered from injustice will be delivered and set free from the injustice they experienced.
The kingdom of God is what we all long for. C.S. Lewis wrote about this. He says that evidence for the kingdom of God is that we have a longing for it. We are frustrated by injustice because we expect justice. We are frustrated by disease and death because we have some expectancy that this is not the way it should be. We long for a world where we will be loved and be able to love fully and so are hurt when we are unloved. We long for a world where peace reigns and beauty abounds and are pained by the ugliness and unrest in this world. What we long for is the kingdom of God and we know it is true because it is what we long for. God has put this longing for his kingdom in our hearts.
When will the kingdom of God come?
Jesus began his ministry with an announcement about the kingdom of God.
Mark 1
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
In all three synoptic gospels, just prior to the account of the transfiguration when Jesus was revealed in his heavenly glory along with Moses and Elijah, Jesus told his disciples I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. And just after Jesus said this, Peter, James and John did see the kingdom of God as a little bit of it burst into the world on top of the mountain where they had climbed with Jesus.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the thief next to him asked him
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The kingdom of God is near. Peter, James and John saw the kingdom of God. On the day Jesus died the thief entered into his kingdom.
If the kingdom of God began some 2,000 years ago, where did it go? If we look around, the world we see is not the world Revelation 21 describes. Our personal observations and the information we receive from papers, magazines, the internet and television describe a world in which injustice abounds, there is much sorrow and death is a reality. So where is the kingdom of God if it is here?
In the bulletin there is a diagram of two ovals that overlap. The first oval symbolizes the old era starting from creation and ending at the second coming of Jesus. In this era, Moses was given the law under which we operate.
The second oval symbolizes the new era and began with the first coming of Jesus and goes on into eternity. This era is ruled by kingdom law which Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
We live in the overlap between these two eras, between the birth of Jesus and his promised return. This is the age of the church.
Because of the overlap, there are some tensions that exist. Jesus has come as king, but he is not yet seated on his throne. The day is still to come when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Satan has been defeated. When Jesus rose from the dead, the power of death was defeated but Satan has not yet been cast into oblivion with all his demons. Satan still prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
The kingdom of God arrived when Jesus began his ministry.
When John the Baptist was being held prisoner by Herod, he sent his disciples to Jesus
When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
John, earlier, had pointed to Jesus when he was baptizing people in the Jordan Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Now John was having doubts as he sat in prison and wondered if Jesus, his cousin, was really the Messiah who would bring in the kingdom. So he sent his disciples to ask, Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
Jesus answered John by telling his disciples to report what they were seeing. In the kingdom of God there will be no disease, no infirmities, no death and so when the blind are given sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy cured, the deaf able to hear, the dead raised and the good news of Jesus preached, then that means the kingdom of God has arrived.
But the kingdom of God has not arrived in all its fullness. Not all who are ill are healed. Not all the blind are given their sight. Not all who hear the good news of Jesus respond with praise to God. The kingdom of God is here but not here. The kingdom of God is already here but not yet here. And we live in that tension of already but not yet.
The kingdom of God is pressing in on this present age and it is always about to burst into each life. When Jesus and his disciples were walking along they saw a man born blind begging along the road. The disciples passed this blind beggar and saw an intellectual question, Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? But Jesus saw the kingdom of God about to burst into this man’s life and he was that day given his sight.
When Jesus and his disciples came by a funeral procession, the disciples saw a mother grieving for her dead son but Jesus saw the kingdom of God about to burst open on this funeral procession and the son being taken to his burial tomb was raised to life and given back to his mother.
As Christians, we are to live in anticipation of the kingdom of God. We are to view people and events as if the kingdom of God could break in at any moment. So we ought always to have hope and never give in to despair.
When Jesus was asked by his disciples how to pray, he told them to pray, in part
”‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
We are to pray and work so that the kingdom of God becomes more and more of a reality here on earth. Over the next three Sundays of Advent, we will look at aspects of the kingdom of God and how we are to work to make it more of a reality in the here and now.
Why do we share our faith and encourage others to give their lives to Christ? We do so because in the kingdom of God, the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Each time someone prays to accept God’s gift of salvation, the kingdom of God bursts into this world.
Why do we participate in ministries of healing and deliverance? Because in the kingdom of God, there is no evil. Satan will be cast into the pit of oblivion along with all his demons. We resist evil now because to do so is to bring the kingdom of God in more of its fullness. We pray for healing because each time healing takes place, the kingdom of God breaks through into this world.
Why do we work for justice? Because in the kingdom of God, there is no injustice. Why do we fight for the rights of the poor and oppressed? Because in the kingdom of God, He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Entering into the kingdom of God, fighting for the kingdom of God and working for the kingdom of God. That is our focus for the next three Sundays of Advent. Today we are talking about longing for the kingdom of God.
Twelve of the parables of Jesus begin with The kingdom of heaven is like or The kingdom of God is like and we read three of them this morning.
Matthew 13
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
A man was walking along the road and took a rest under a tree in a field by the road. He sat there playing with a stone, absentmindedly digging in the dirt. All of a sudden, he heard the sound of metal and he began to pay attention to what he had uncovered with his stone. To his amazement, he discovered a chest full of gold and silver coins and beautiful gems. He buried what he had discovered, covered it up with weeds and went home to sell all he had. He sold his house, his mules, his furniture, everything so he could take that money and buy the field.
Why did he do this? Because he had discovered something of greater worth than what he had. The merchant discovered the same thing. For years he had searched and bought fine pearls. He was an expert. He could look at a pearl and judge it’s clarity, shape and color and know its worth. People came to him from all around to have him evaluate the pearls they had discovered. He did this for a living, but it was really his love of pearls that made him look day after day for the perfect pearl. And then one day he found it. There in a pile of pearls was this one beautiful, perfectly translucent, spherical pearl. It took his breath away just looking at it and he sold all he had so he could have it.
In what way is the kingdom of God like the treasure in the field or the perfect pearl?
When I first became a Christian almost 33 years ago, I remember going to church my first Sunday and being amazed because the hymns we sang were hymns that had bored me and put me to sleep in my first twenty years of going to church. That morning I was stunned to discover how meaningful they were. The hymns spoke of my experience and I was exhilarated as I sang.
I have here this morning the Bibles I used when I first became a Christian. They are underlined and marked up with comments and questions as I read along. I began keeping a journal and wrote down what I was learning. It was a thrilling time as I discovered truth after truth after exhilarating truth.
The reason it was thrilling was that I had discovered treasure buried in a field; I had found the most beautiful pearl I had ever seen and I was determined that I would sell all I had for what I had found.
Since then, my Christian life has had its ups and downs. There have been years when I drifted along, not really working at growing in my faith. There have been periods of doubt and disillusion. There have been times when I’ve taken my faith for granted and ceased to value the treasure I found.
But God has been good and despite my laziness and preoccupation and doubts, God has persevered and nurtured me along the path to his kingdom. I have grown in my faith, sometimes more than others, but even in the dry times of my spiritual life, I have been able to look back and see how I have grown.
The kingdom of God needs to become more and more of a reality for you and for me. The kingdom of God is what is real and what will last. Paul wrote in his second recorded letter to the Corinthians
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Our bodies and our world is crumbling like jars of clay but it is the life of God in us that grows and will lead us increasingly into the kingdom of God.
The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (I John 2:17)
All will be lost but we do not despair because we have entered into the kingdom of God that will last for eternity.
The kingdom of God is what is real, what lasts. It is where our future is. As we grow in faith, this becomes more and more of a reality.
It may be that the initial excitement that was yours when you first came to faith has worn off. It may be that the treasure you discovered in a field has lost its luster. Reading your Bible and praying may be something you do out of habit. It may be that the pain and suffering of this world have worn you down.
I pray that you may be able to say with Paul what he wrote in his letter to the Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
I pray that as we go through this series of sermons on the kingdom of God the initial excitement will return and the value of the treasure that you discovered hidden in a field or in a pile of pearls will light up your eyes.
I visited Noreen Maxwell this past week. She is the 89 year old Scottish lady who came to faith in Christ six years ago when she was 84. Her strength is failing her and when I walked in the door this past Thursday, she greeted me with this news, that her strength was failing and she thought she was at the end of life. But then her face lit up and she said, “But oh how wonderful! I am filled with peace and tranquility. I looked up yesterday at the blue sky and said, ‘There, that’s the spot for me. That’s where I am going.’”
Noreen has reached the point in life that she sees perhaps more clearly than most of us, that nothing this world has to offer can compete with the kingdom of God and her heart is set on being there. God has worked marvelously in her life, opening up her heart to his love.
Ephesians 3
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
