the house.
Alright. Well, good morning.
Welcome to the house. Good
morning. My name is Greg. If
you've never met me, I'm one of
the pastors here at the house
and today we are continuing our
walk through the gospel of
Mark. We're calling it the
first gospel because even
though it's not the first one
you come to when you open your
Bible, it was the first of the
gospels that was written and
it's been around for a solid
like 1616 weeks. I think,
right. So, we're like in the
fifth week, I think and so
today, we are going to jump
right into Mark chapter four.
If you don't have a Bible, we
have Bibles out on the book
shelf. You can take one of
those on your way home if you
like. Otherwise, you can
download a a Bible from a
digital app store. It goes
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts,
Romans and that's the
neighborhood that that Mark
mentioned. We read them and we
have a tradition of doing that
in any number of ways. The
primary way would be to stand
as you are able or as you
prefer as I read the
scriptures allow. So, this is
Mark chapter four. I'm going to
start in verse 26. It says
this. He also said, this is
what the kingdom of god is
like. A man scatters seed on
the ground night and day,
plucking the seed, cutting the
grass, and grows though he does
not know how all by itself.
The soil produces grain first,
the stock, then the head, then
the full kernel in the head. As
soon as the grain is ripe, he
puts the sickle to it because
the harvest has come again. He
said, what shall we say? The
kingdom of god is like or what
parable shall we use to
describe it? Is it? It is like
a mustard seed which is the
smallest of all seeds on earth
and the smallest of all garden
plants with such big branches
that birds can perch in its
shade. Many similar parables.
Jesus spoke the word to them as
much as they could understand.
He did not say anything to them
without using a parable but
when he was alone with his own
disciples, he explained
everything. Let us pray. God
bless you. Every nation. We
thank you for the scriptures,
the scriptures that have
persisted throughout the
millennium that we still have
today that we can look at,
read, consider, be guided by. I
pray that today, whatever you
have for us to learn, I pray
that that thing would stick.
That it would become a part of
the framework of our faith,
that our faith would become
a part of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Thanks all. You can have a
seat. Alright, so today, I want
to talk about the kingdom of
god. Uh any Princess Bride fans
in the room? Probably surely
many. Uh I feel like the phrase
kingdom of god reminds me of
the quote, you keep on using
that word. I do not think it
is. I do not think it is.
Because surely, you've also
heard the phrase kingdom of
god. We keep hearing about the
kingdom of god in the book of
Mark. John the Baptist
proclaims it. Jesus preaches it
and now he actually starts
telling stories about it. He's
describing what the kingdom of
god is like but even though he
doesn't say it, Jesus isn't
exactly straightforward about
what it is. I don't just mean
for us as we read it today. I'm
talking about for the first
hearers. Mark literally says he
did not say anything to them
without using a parable. He
spoke to them as much as they
could understand. So, Jesus is
talking about it but he's
intentionally not explaining it
to them. He's explaining it to
his disciples and then Mark
says but when he was alone with
his disciples, he explained
everything but when Mark but
then Mark doesn't write down
all of the explanations for us.
So, here we are reading the
scriptures and we don't
necessarily have a
straightforward explanation
about everything Jesus taught
either and so today, we're
going to read the scriptures
about what is it? What is it?
When is it? What does it look
like? How do we live in it? So,
I have three words to help with
our understanding of the
kingdom of god and like any
good pastor, I use a
literation. permanent, present,
potential, permanent, present,
potential. The kingdom of god
is the permanent, present,
present, and present in the
church today. Alright, so first,
the kingdom of god is
permanent. We tend to have a
hard time wrapping our minds
around the concept of a
kingdom because we have
democracies and mayors and
elected officials. We think of
republics and constitutions and
voting but most of the rest of
the world for most of the rest
of the world is an emperor, a
chief, a king, and they all had
beginnings. You can open a book
and and read the story of when
this kingdom began and when
that kingdom ended and so that
tends to be how we think about
the kingdom of god. We think
that the kingdom of god began
when the ministry of Jesus
began. Oh, there's that date.
Oh, that's when Jesus was
born. He's saying that the
kingdom of god is no, he
doesn't say the kingdom of god
has begun. He says the kingdom
of god has come near. It's the
same thing that John the
Baptist says. They don't
proclaim the idea that hey, a
kingdom that never was is now
here. They're saying that a
king that has kingdom that has
always been is now visible in a
kingdom that has has come so
close that you can no longer
ignore its existence. Because
here's the thing. If god is god
then it follows that god has
always been king.
Whether humans acknowledge
that or not.
We're not. Instead of choosing
and acknowledging god as king,
we choose our own ways. We
choose our own fruit from the
trees that we choose. We want
and we choose our own rulers
and our own kingdoms. We see
this happen in the story of the
Israelites. Yeah, after they've
been in the promised land for
awhile, what happens is that
every other kingdom has a king
as a human king. So, what they
do is they get the high priest
Samuel and they say, hey, go
tell god that we want a king
like everyone else. Just a
regular guy. They wanted to
replace god with the human. Of
course, why would they want god
as their king? The king that
was sent to them from Egypt,
splitting the sea, creating
daily bread out of thin air,
leading them with pillars of
cloud and fire literally
breaking the barrier from what
perceivable heaven and earth
were making water spring from
rocks and giving them a home
and a land to call their own.
Why would they want that when
they could have a regular guy?
They would want that. But just
because they and just because
we and actually when Samuel
goes to god and tells him that
Samuel's feelings are hurt and
god says, hey, they're not
rejecting you. They're rejecting
me. Just because we reject god
as king and put earthly men on
thrones, god doesn't stop being
a god. I don't like to bring a
politics a whole lot from the
pulpit but this reminds me of
what happens here in America
after a new president gets
elected. It I've seen it in at
least the last few election.
There's always a small
contingency of people that will
say something like this. Not my
president.
But what I've seen is that
someone made magically makes
that person not their president.
But what any one of us says
doesn't change the reality of
what is. If I am a citizen in
the United States, then whoever
holds the opposite of president
is my president for better or
worse whether I believe it or
not, whether I agree with them
or not, whether I think they're
not my god. I'm not my king.
Not my god. Not my king. While
we can have honor and respect
for each other, understanding
and empathy toward different
religious backgrounds and
create space for diversity of
how we believe in that god at
the same time, what we say or
think does not change what is.
That if there be a god.
If there is a god, then what we
choose on earth doesn't change
the nature of what or who that
god is. Even if I'm standing
here in the center of the
concept of Christianity and I
have it all wrong, everything
that I'm saying right now does
not change the nature of who
that god is.
So, if god is king as the
concept of Christianity would
change the nature of the king
even when we do not know it. So
the kingdom of god is permanent.
Second, the kingdom of god is
present in the person of Jesus.
Jesus makes the kingdom visible
again. One of the reasons if
you go back and listen to to
the sermons, we've I've brought
back the first two sermons in
the gospels with Jesus keeps
pointing back to what happened
in the first testament in the
history of these people was so
that they would think so that
we will think, hey, I remember
when god did that before when
when god proved his presence
when god proved the goodness of
his kingdom before way back
when the spirit hovered over
the waters at creation. Look,
the spirit descends upon Jesus
and look, Jesus is tempted and
resists the tempter. Moses
brought the twelve tribes out
of Egypt. Look, Jesus is
choosing twelve disciples on
the mountainside. The prophets
healed the sick. Look, Jesus is
healing entire crowds of people
way back when human beings
rejected god and wanted a man
to be a man. You know how
brilliant that is. You rejected
me as god king. You wanted a
human being. So, here you go. I
will become a human being. I am
giving you what you asked for.
Kingdom is permanent. The
kingdom of god is present and
perfect. But not perfect. Why
why not perfect? If god is
perfect, if Jesus is the
perfect king, why is the
kingdom not perfect? And Greg,
I don't know if you noticed but
perfect starts with P as well.
You could have kept the
alliteration going with that but
I can't use perfect because the
kingdom is not perfect yet.
The kingdom is not perfect yet.
The New Testament scholar,
Scott McKnight says this, the
kingdom now is not the perfect
kingdom of the not yet. And
that means kingdom citizens now
are not yet perfect, not yet
fully loving, not yet fully
holy, not yet fully just, and
not yet fully peaceful. In
other words, the kingdom is
present but the kingdom is also
not yet. Because we are not yet
fully like him. One day, Jesus
will come and make all things
new and then when we, when all
things are made perfect, then
the kingdom will also be
perfect but until then, the
kingdom of god here on this
planet will have the same
infinite potential of Jesus on
the earth and in the church and
here's the thing.
Misunderstanding this concept
causes a lot of problems.
Another P. Here's something
else that Scott McKnight said.
When we compare the kingdom to
church, most people make
comparisons. The point is to
compare the future kingdom and
the present church.
But because the kingdom is now
and not yet, the church is also
now and not yet. He says we
have to judge the church today
on where we are in the timeline
of god's kingdom.
It's kind of like as a parent
of a child, you know yourselves
that the decision that a child
just made is probably not all
that bad of a decision. If you
keep in mind how old they are.
You're twenty-five. You're
thirty-six. You're forty-eight
or sixty and you're looking at
an eight-year-old thinking,
well, they shouldn't have done
that. They're an eight-year-old
child. So, with the concept of
life, it makes complete sense
that they did what they did
when they did it. Has Jesus
returned yet to make all things
new? Not yet. Then, the church
is also not yet perfect but we
tend to want to declare that if
Jesus is perfect, Jesus is
present and his kingdom is
here and the church follows
Jesus, shouldn't the church
be perfect?
Because while the kingdom is
permanent and the kingdom is
present through Jesus, the
kingdom by its nature chooses
to live in the space of
potential rather than
perfection. Because unlike
other kings and kingdoms, Jesus
doesn't destroy his detractors
and his people. Jesus doesn't
trot around the countryside on
horseback cutting the people
down that claim he is no king.
that
claim in their heart, there is
no god. Jesus doesn't expand
his kingdom in the way of Rome
or in the way of empires.
Instead, the kingdom of god is
like a mustard seed. Night and
day, whether he sleeps or gets
up, the seed sprouts and grows
though he does not know how.
All by itself, the soil produces
grain. First, the stalk, then
the head, then the full kernel
in the head. The kingdom is
like a mustard seed which is
the smallest of the seeds on
earth yet when planted, it
grows and becomes the largest of
all garden plants with such big
branches that the birds can
grow. It's incredible in the
arena of potential instead of
perfection because as one
theologian wrote, the kingdom of
god does not force itself upon
Potential is something that we
have to choose each day.
see this in the way that Jesus
said in the Bible when he said
our father who art in heaven.
thy kingdom come where thy will
be done on earth as it is in
heaven.
So, the kingdom of god is
permanent and it is present and
it is present when we pray the
way that Jesus told us to pray.
And what he taught us is a
prayer of potential if you're
paying attention. So, let us
pray together. The our father.
Our father who art in heaven,
thy kingdom thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread and
forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass
against us and lead us not into
temptation but deliver us from