Yesterday, we started our Rooted Series in a packed club. God was definitely present. I preached on "The Seed" from Jesus' parable of the sower found in Matthew 13. You can listen to the message here.
The Big Idea from yesterday's message was that the gospel proclaims that there is a Kingdom, a King, and a Way.
The parable of the sower (which Jesus called the key to all his other parables, Mark 4:13) begins first and foremost with a sower who is sowing seed. Luke tells us that “the seed is the word of God.” (Lk8:11)
Jesus as he stands in the boat preaching this parable is the sower of the seed. His words are the word of God (the gospel).
The Big Idea from yesterday's message was that the gospel proclaims that there is a Kingdom, a King, and a Way.
The parable of the sower (which Jesus called the key to all his other parables, Mark 4:13) begins first and foremost with a sower who is sowing seed. Luke tells us that “the seed is the word of God.” (Lk8:11)
Jesus as he stands in the boat preaching this parable is the sower of the seed. His words are the word of God (the gospel).
Matthew gives us additional insight into what the seed (the gospel) is. “The seed is the word of the Kingdom.” (Mt13:19) Jesus' gospel message was a proclamation of the reality of his coming Kingdom.
As we start this series, we want to understand what the gospel is saying. What is the seed, the word of his Kingdom, that Jesus is sowing into the world?
First, through Jesus' preaching, God is saying, "There is a kingdom!" Jesus during his trial would tell the Roman governor Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world." The gospel begins with a simple proclamation that a Kingdom that is not of this world exists, and it is entering our present reality. It is a Kingdom of among other things hope, healing, and freedom. A Kingdom where there is no sin and death.
The second thing the gospel says is there is a King. This statement makes complete sense for wherever there is a kingdom there must be a King who reigns over it! The King that is proclaimed in the gospel is the man, Jesus. A King who came to earth as a peasant, to live a selfless life, and die a brutal death. So that he might rise from death, in order to make life in his Kingdom possible.
The third thing the gospel says is there is a Way into the Kingdom. The gospel proclaims not only is there a Kingdom and a King, but that the King has made a Way for a person to enter his Kingdom.
King Jesus through his death made a way for us to be cleansed from sin and through his resurrection made a way for us to be freed from the power of death. Since sin and death have not part in the realm of the resurrected King, we must first be cleansed from sin and freed from death in order to enter into the life of the Kingdom.
Jesus' death and resurrection made a way for those who believe his message to enter the Kingdom. When we understand and accept there is a Kingdom, a King, and a Way, we are repenting (changing our way of thinking). We end our old lives where we were our own rulers (and headed towards death) AND begin new lives with Jesus as ruler of every area. We demonstrate this decision through baptism.
This new life is life in the Kingdom, life with the King Jesus, a life heading in a totally new direction.
As we continue this series, we will be taking an expansive look into what this new direction and life with Jesus looks like and how we can be firmly rooted in it.
David,
ReplyDeleteWhy do we always use phrases like "God showed up," and "God was definitely present?"
God is always at our church service. He is always among a gathering of believers. He is especially there when I am not feeling His presence because He wants to be known and will continue knocking on my heart until I turn and face Him.
I just have to say that I struggle sometimes with the "God showed up," terminology because I don't always get emotional highs from spending time with God and I am not sure if this is the best metric to use. Not that I have a better metric to know if God is ministering to me a given moment.
Thoughts?
It is true that Jesus is always among his people when we gather, great point! It is also important to consider if our use of language is articulating the truth of God's word. It is especially important to be aware of how others "hear" when we are speaking not just what we "think" they are hearing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for raising our awareness of that issue.
What I was hoping to communicate with the phrase "God was definitely present" was that God was demonstrating his presence in some tangible ways on Sunday.
Here are a couple examples.
God spoke through Esther (by reading scripture) and Larry (by a vision)very similar messages for the body during worship.
Dozens of hands went up to testify that since Jesus had healed them in different ways since they met him.
It became evident when we reviewed the communication cards that God was moving during (and before in preparing and drawing people to our gathering) the service as several people checked wanting to learn more about beginning a relationship with Jesus.
When I say, "God was definitely present." I am thinking of all those examples where I could tangibly see God's activity in our midst. Of course, he IS always present (and moving) we just sometimes do not see or experience his presence in tangible ways.
I hope that is helpful.