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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite Disney princess movie is Tangled, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.
If you’re a child of the 80’s like me you grew up loving The Karate Kid. There are a lot of things to love about the movie and watching Mr. Miyagi mentor Daniel is one of mine. Mr. Miyagi has Daniel perform a series of chores around his house. First he has him wax his cars, next he has Daniel sand his floors, after that he has him paint his fence, and lastly he has him paint his house.
At that point, Daniel reaches a boiling point and feels he is being exploited for free labor. He tells Mr. Miyagi he’s had enough and he’s going home. Mr. Miyagi refuses to let him leave until he demonstrates how to sand the floor, wax the car, paint the fence, and paint the house.
Confused but compliant, Daniel does as he says. As Daniel demonstrates, Mr. Miyagi reveals that in performing these chores, Daniel has developed the muscle memory needed to perform skilled karate defensive moves.
Daniel is astonished. He’s misunderstood Mr. Miyagi’s message the entire time. Once he understood it, his whole world changed for the better.
With this analogy in mind, let me ask you a question. What was the message that Jesus preached? Put a different way, what was the good news, or the gospel that Jesus announced to people? I’ll give you a moment to consider the question.
The word gospel simply means good news. For many of us when we hear the word gospel we think of good news that Jesus came and died to pay the penalty for our sin and provide a way to reconcile us with God. That is indeed good news! That is gospel.
We often hear gospel messages about Jesus, but we don’t often hear about the gospel message that Jesus himself preached. Is it possible that, like Daniel misunderstanding the real message of Mr. Miyagi, we’ve missed the real message of Jesus?
Let’s take a few minutes and find out more. I struggled and learned a lot while writing this episode, and I want to thank John Ortberg for his tremendous insight and teaching that helped me compose this.
To learn about the real message of Jesus, we’re going to be looking at quite a few New Testament passages today. Let’s start in the book of Mark. Mark begins his book with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is baptized in verse 9, tempted in verse 12, and calls his first disciples in verse 16.
But between his temptation and the calling of his disciples is a pair of verses that will begin to give us clarity on today’s topic. Mark 1:14 and 15 say, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Did you catch it? It says he proclaimed the gospel of God and that gospel, or good news, was that the kingdom of God was at hand. What is the kingdom of God and what does that mean? Is that really the gospel? Let’s keep digging.
Let’s start by seeing if there are other passages that demonstrate Jesus talking about a kingdom.
Luke 8:1 says, “Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him.”
Luke 9: 1-2 tells us, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”
Luke 10:1, 8, and 9 reads, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ‘Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
The book of Acts picks up the story after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It begins by saying, “He (Jesus) presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking to them about the kingdom of God.”
Likewise, the book of Acts ends by talking about Paul. It says, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without hindrance.”
There are many, many other occurrences of this throughout the New Testament. Jesus’ gospel was that the kingdom of God was at hand, in him, through him, and it was available to all people.
Perhaps you’re like me and you’d missed this seemingly obvious detail. I mean, I was aware of the phrases “kingdom of God” and kingdom of heaven,” but I’d never considered them the gospel. I’d only considered the gospel to be that Jesus came and died to pay the penalty for my sin and provide a way to reconcile me with God.
Perhaps you’re not like me and you’re fully aware that Jesus’ gospel was focused on the kingdom of God. I recently asked three of my Christian friends, “Without grabbing a Bible, off the top of your head, what would you say was Jesus’ message that he preached?
One said, “Repent and turn to God through Me.” Another said, “hmm… to narrow down to one core message I suppose would be “The Kingdom of God is here.” The third said, “In general, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
I must admit that I was quite surprised that two of the three mentioned the kingdom of god. Perhaps I WAS in the minority of people who understood his message.
So Jesus’ ‘gospel,’ his good news, is that the kingdom of God (whatever that is) has now become available for ordinary human beings to live in.
The gospel isn’t a sort of minimum answer requirement to get into heaven. In my opinion, the American church has done a horrible job of this over the last 50 years. We’ve duped people into thinking that if they just say a magic series of words, they are now a Christian and on their way to heaven. That is a false gospel. Jesus never says anything like that.
Jesus had a gospel, he had good news. That is very clear. His gospel was this: The Kingdom of God is now available and you can live in it TODAY. Does his gospel include the forgiveness of our sins as a free gift of grace that we cannot merit? Of course it does. Of course it includes the promise that death will not have the last word and we will experience what God always wanted. Which is, a wonderful, fulfilled, eternal life and relationship with God, our creator.
But Jesus’ gospel includes much more than that and it starts right here, right now. Not there and then. Jesus came as a bringer of a kingdom.
Our culture values achievement, success, independence, and image. Other cultures value other qualities. But the values of the kingdom reflect what matters to the King. People of that kingdom adopt the king’s values and make choices that reflect those values- in their jobs, families, and communities. Jesus describes a number of His values in Mat 5:3-10, a section of the Sermon on the Mount known as the Beatitudes. It says,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
We often think that Jesus was sent to die on the cross, but that’s too myopic. In Luke 4:43 Jesus said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
In another section of the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, ““Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
So, what IS the kingdom?
Here’s what I learned.
Let’s start with understanding what A kingdom is. Everyone has one. It’s the sphere where whatever you say goes. Your kingdom is the range of your effective will.
We all want kingdoms and we all have kingdoms. Something doesn’t go your way? Someone tells you no? And you’re upset? Why? Your kingdom has been infringed upon.
Two year olds know this. Their favorite words are no and mine. It’s like we’re born with an innate desire to rule over our own kingdoms.
All of our little kingdoms intersect and merge and blend and ally and form larger kingdoms. Nations, corporations, networks, political parties, families, cultural systems. A kingdom is a system of personal power and it’s fundamental to all of us.
Let’s look at a few more Kingdom of God passages.
In what’s often called the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said, “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
Mark 4:30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Mark seems to struggle with words to describe the greatness of the Kingdom of God. He chooses to use an analogy of a mustard seed. It’s small, tiny, seemingly insignificant. Easy to miss. But if it takes hold and puts down roots, it grows, permeates, expands. It brings rest, shade, comfort, and nourishment.
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
I love this passage because it’s easy for me to understand and visualize. Imagine finding the world’s largest diamond buried in a field. Wouldn’t you sell all you had to buy that land so you could possess that great treasure? Do we have that same attitude about, and place the same importance upon our relationship with God?
Matthew 18: 1-4 “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Who is the greatest here on earth? The CEO, rich, powerful, president, prime minister, and whatever you think of when you think of power here on earth. But in the Kingdom of God, that’s not the case. The small, weak, humble, innocent. Those are the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
Now contrast that with the kingdom of earth. How are things going here? Not very well because sin has gotten into all of our kingdoms. Wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Political division in our own country. Animosity. Children die everyday from malnutrition, a problem we have the means to solve. Human trafficking, abuse, betrayal, neglect, addiction, suicide. This is the kingdom of earth.
Jesus’ kingdom is the opposite of what we think about with earthly kingdoms. Kingdoms of the world are set up by and for the powerful and the advantaged, His kingdom is offered to the destitute, the broken, and the hopeless, to those stripped of their dignity. The “poor in spirit” were not merely the humble, but the humiliated. They are those who have had their spirits crushed.
Jesus had a plan. Bring the kingdom of heaven down here. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus said, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This was his good news. Repent and believe the good news. Now the kingdom of God has come near to you.
Jesus never told anybody to pray God get me out of here so I can go up there. He prayed for the kingdom of God to come down here. He loves this world. He created this world. He wants to redeem this world. And this world so desperately needs more of His kingdom in it.
Every time we follow Jesus, every time we allow God’s will to be done in our lives, we bring a slice of God’s kingdom down here. Every time we put down the bottle, prioritize our family, reconcile a relationship, help the less fortunate, show kindness, lift someone up, care for the imprisoned…the kingdom is breaking into this world.
Those who accept Jesus’ invitation do so by believing in His work on the cross on their behalf. That involves more than mere intellectual agreement to a theoretical truth. It means admitting our sinful condition and placing trust in Jesus to deal with our sin. It means entering into a vital relationship with the living Christ himself.
Jesus has the greatest opportunity ever offered to humanity wherever you are. Now, living with this magnificent God right here on this broken earth is available to you as a gift of grace. You can’t earn it. And the invitation? Follow me. Become my student and friend. Study what it is that I taught and how it is that I lived. Surrender to me when you wake up and when you go to bed, wholeheartedly, joyfully, humbly.
We all want a savior, but few of us want a lord.
I’m Darrell Darnell, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
I want you to be a part of the next Monday Mailbag on June 30th! Monday Mailbag is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can send in questions or responses to my SILY episodes, and I’ll respond to them via Monday Mailbag episodes. You can participate in Monday Mailbags by visiting the Golden Spiral Media listener feedback page.