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New Testament Heroes 4 – 26/01/25 - Martin Mowat
Readings: Matthew 5:1-12 and Matthew 6:19-27
It takes heroes to make things happen.
It took someone like Ferdinand Magellan to circumnavigate the globe
It took someone like Mother Theresa to establish Missionaries of Charity in 1950, to open homes for the dying and for abandoned children.
It took someone like Dr. Martin Luther King Junior to stand up and talk about his dream that people would “not be judged by the colour of their skin but the content of their character” as he worked tirelessly towards implementation the American Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It took someone like Neil Armstrong to walk on the moon
It took someone like Luke to write the book of Acts which has proved to be such a critical element in the growth of the Christian church over the last 2000 years.
But we can’t rely on heroes to do all the work. They are examples to follow, which is WHY we’re talking about heroes.
This leads me back the book of Acts where there are a number of quite significant topics that we will have to tackle as we move through. These include:-
- The kingdom
- Pentecost and The Holy Spirit, this will also require us to look at what we mean by the word “baptism”
- The Trinity
- What we mean when we talk about Israel
So let’s have a look at “kingdom” this morning.
The first thing we need to understand about a kingdom is that it has a king.
Today, particularly in the west, we think of all forms of government as having to have some level accountability to the people they govern, and of those people having at least some level of democratic involvement.
But by definition, a king or queen is a single sovereign person, who has absolute authority, and no obligation whatsoever to refer to anyone else when he or she makes their decisions. They don’t have to explain those decisions to anyone.
You may have watched a recent television series called Wolfe Hall in which we saw Henry VIII behaving in just such a way. But even he needed to refer to people like Thomas Cromwell for information, advice and feedback.
But God doesn’t have to do that, for one very simple reason. He is omniscient. He knows everything, he sees the past and the future, and unlike us, he has perfect recall. His decisions, therefore, are perfect, even if they don’t necessarily look that way to us.
Another huge difference between God and today’s monarchs, presidents, prime ministers and so on is that he is totally benevolent. He’s not in any way self-seeking and doesn’t have to feather his own nest or protect his position, so he can afford to focus entirely on the wellbeing of those who belong to his kingdom.
So, what is this kingdom? That’s the key question.
And the fact that it’s a key question is evidenced by the fact that Jesus was constantly talking about it. Matthew records at least 9 separate occasions when Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is like …”
- a man who sowed good seed
- a mustard seed which a man planted
- yeast that a woman took and mixed into her dough.
- treasure hidden in a field
- a merchant looking for fine pearls
- a net that was let down into a lake and caught all kinds of fish.
- the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old
- a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants
- and so on …
Perhaps the most comprehensive and pertinent of Jesus teachings on the subject is what we call “The Sermon on the Mount”. Sharon just read us the first few verses, the beatitudes, but in fact it goes on for a full three chapters and talks about such things as salt and light, fulfilling the law, murder, adultery, divorce, making oaths, taking revenge, loving your enemies, charity, prayer (including the Lord’s Prayer), fasting, treasures in heaven and worry (which is the passage that Gillian read), being judgmental, being discerning, faith and discipleship.
Do you see why I said its both comprehensive and pertinent?
Pertinent today, but pertinent then, and very much the backdrop for this new church that was to be built, the church of the New Testament epoque, the church to which the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, would descend and dynamise the advance of Jesus' kingdom through all the earth. A church of which Jesus, the second person of the trinity, would be king. He would not be visible, but the evidence of his presence and power would be apparent everywhere.
So, a kingdom has a sovereign with absolute authority. It also has subjects and like any organisation, it has a code of acceptable behaviour.
Because the king we’re talking about is, as I said a moment ago, benevolent in nature, so is this code of behaviour.
That’s why Jesus started his teaching saying that we should be poor in spirit, those who mourn, meek, seeking righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted because of righteousness, salt and light.
These aren’t options, these are the kings requirements of his subjects. Here are some of them again. Poor in spirit, meek, seeking righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, salt and light.
But the list goes on. We’re not to murder, either physically or metaphorically, we’re not to be disloyal to our spouses, and where it’s down to us we are to honour the promises we make to them.
We have to be people of total integrity, not judgemental or revengeful, charitable even to those we find it hard to like and to relate to, prayerful, trusting in God’s ability to provide for us in every way and not shy to ask him for what we and others truly need. We should be discerning and wise too.
These are kingdom characteristics. I do encourage you to read those 3 chapters this week. Matthew 5, 6 and 7.
Let me close, then, by reminding you of two particular verses.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Interesting!
It's a rule of interpreting and preaching about scripture that you don’t take a verse in isolation, you take it in the context of the entire passage as well as in the context of the Bible as a whole.
One might think that Jesus was saying that you can only be one of the few to get through the narrow gate if you display ALL of the qualities I’ve been talking about.
But I don’t believe he was. In the context of the passage, which is about the kingdom of which he is king, or Lord, to use a more familiar term, I think that he's reminding us that salvation is not just about forgiveness of sins, or our conduct and our good deeds for that matter, it’s also about submitting to that Lordship, that kingship, in our hearts.
And when we submit to that Lordship, really submit, in our hearts, that’s when we squeeze through that narrow gate and really become members of the kingdom.
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