Kingdom Community: Disciple Making and Curse Reversing

"From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand". ~ Matthew 4:17 (NASV)

Being raised in a Baptist home as the son of a preacher I can say that I have no idea how many church services and sermons I have witnessed and been a part of, how many "alter calls" I have heard or how often it has been pressed on me to know that Jesus died for my sins. In fact every year for my birthday my grandmother sends me a five dollar bill and a tract containing Romans Road... "just in case".

Yet of all the sermons and preaching, I can honestly say that growing up I never heard anything about the Kingdom of God. As an adult I find this amazing, especially since the phrases, "Kingdom of God", "Kingdom of Heaven", and "the Kingdom" appear so many times in the Gospels. I am even more amazed that I have grown up hearing so much about the "Gospel" yet very little about the "Kingdom".

The majority of the Evangelical church culture is under the opinion that the Gospel is "the good news". But this begs the question, "the good news of what?". The term Gospel is the word εὐαγγέλιον, meaning "good news". We have already spent some time discussing the context of the word, Gospel. The Roman machine was an empire of domination conquering a fourth of the Earth's population. The Empire assured her conquered oppressed peoples that they were better off as Romans, that now they would have the "Good News" of the Roman Peace. Rome would provide justice and usher in a new era for humanity better than anything before in history.

Jesus and the early Christians would take the term Gospel and apply it to God's covenant and mission. The good news was not found in Rome, but in Jesus. Jesus was Lord, Cesar was not.

Jesus movement begins and stays as Kingdom movement.

The above text, Matthew 4:17 is very telling about what Jesus thought and taught. Notice the text does not say "this is one of the things Jesus began to teach...", or "for a little while Jesus taught...". No. "From that time" refers to Jesus' public movement. Jesus went into the wilderness and succeeded in defeating the Satan (Matt. 4:1-11) and upon returning hears the news that John the Baptist, who was himself leading a revolution movement never before seen in Israel, has been arrested. According to Matthew, it is then that Jesus begins his public ministry. So from the time he goes public he preaches that the Kingdom of God is here, and this is the foundational, essential message of his movement all the way to the cross and beyond.

The Kingdom community, making disciples.

Matthew then tells that the proclamation of Kingdom by Jesus is involved with the action of recruiting and making people disciples. After telling of the message of Jesus' public movement, Peter and Andrew are called and come follow Jesus. Matthew then again reads in verse 23 that "Jesus was going around Galilee (with his disciples) preaching the gospel of Kingdom and healing every kind of sickness and illness".

The Kingdom coming was the true good news and this was evident from the fact that wherever the Kingdom Community went, disease and sickness were no more. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God was here and proved that this was the Gospel by demonstrating the power of God's Kingdom. God's Kingdom was now at work reversing the curses of sin and death that had been hanging over the planet since humanities disobedience and expulsion from the garden in Genesis 3.

Gospel according to who?

A startling conclusion I have come to from reading the Gospels is that what most Christians say the Gospel is is something very foreign to the historical gospel demonstrated in the New Testament works with Gospel as their title. Jesus was born and he did die, yes. But like every other human, his life was more than a beginning and end.

What did Jesus dedicate himself to?

What was his vision and mission?

If one uses the new Testament, and particularly the Gospels, to answer these questions one will find a Good News containing more than individual salvation and forgiveness, more than atonement and a promised entry into heaven upon one's death, more than what most Churches in our culture preach it is. The Gospel is the Good News of the Kingdom, that it has come in Jesus and that we are apart of its glorious victory.

The Cross is the great climax of history where Jesus claimed victory over sin and death and secured for himself a people. Not a people for a heavenly afterlife however. Through his death Jesus exodused a people out of darkness so that they could continue his movement of bringing light to a broken world until He returns bringing a consummated Kingdom of God to earth - where "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” (Rev. 21:4).

We, his eternally blood-bought people, are bought and purchased for the good works of the kingdom (Ephesians 2:10). It is our prayer that Grace Church of Dunedin will be a people conscious of our identity as the community of the Kingdom, a community bringing the good news to Dunedin and surrounding communities.

Mark Driscoll Defines the Kingdom of God

At its simplest, the kingdom of God is the result of God's mission to rescue and renew his sin-marred creation. The kingdom of God is about Jesus our king establishing his rule and reign over all creation, defeating the human and angelic evil powers, bringing order to all, enacting justice, and being worshiped as Lord. Tragically, there are many erroneous views of the kingdom that misrepresent the glories of God's eternal kingdom. The kingdom is not like the cartoonish inanity that shows heaven as a white cloud upon which we will sit wearing diapers and playing harps with wings far too small to carry us anywhere fun. The kingdom is not the naive dream of liberalism, that with more education and time sin and its effects will be so eradicated from the earth that utopia will dawn. The kingdom is not the deceptive dream of Christless spirituality where all learn to nurture the spark of divinity within themselves and live out their true good self in harmony. The kingdom is not the political dream that if we simply get the right leaders in office and defeat all the bad guys good will rule the earth. The kingdom is both a journey and a destination, both a rescue operation in this broken world and a perfect outcome in the new earth to come, both already started and not yet finished.

From Doctrine, Chapter 13. Kingdom: God Reigns 

Two Gospels

"This is the man, this is him, whom you so often hear promised you, Augustus Caesar, son of the Deified, who will make a Golden Age again in the fields where Saturn once reigned, and extend the empire beyond the Libyans and the Indians" - Aeneid book VI , Virgil

This month is always a busy and hectic one: Gift giving, family visiting, party throwing, overtime working (especially for the hospitality industry), the holiday season is for many the craziest time of the year. This is a big reason we wish to remind the community that though we are bombarded by everything our culture has made this time into, it is also a great time to reflect on what this time really is, the season of Advent. And the Advent means the gospel has come in the kingdom movement of Jesus.

Pastor Heath has done a masterful job with the current sermon series, "Thy Kingdom Come" and after relistening to and reflecting on the many things and challenges made the past few Sundays I wanted to drop a brief encouragement to all, the Gospel of Jesus is truly really authentically genuinely good news.

The above quote would have the Roman readers of the time believing that the Emperor was the son of god and that his reign was one that would usher in a golden age. The reality however is that one fifth of the worlds population was under the rule of Rome and most of those held in an oppressive grip of domination, there was no golden age for them, no good news to be found in the rule of the supposed "son of the Deified".

Many today would have the world believe that the Gospel (good news) is to be found in the right education or political solution, in having enough money or in societal standing. Like the fallen Roman empire of old those who hear this version of gospel find no true hope in this message either, no real good news.

 The gospel of Jesus is that he has come and he is victorious. Jesus is Lord which means that Caesar  as any of the persons, leaders or "solutions" of our day, is not.

This season take time to remember what really matters and why we are really here, to build a kingdom that cannot fail, a kingdom of Shalom, the Kingdom of God. In Jesus true justice finds a standing in our world, beauty again flourishes, evil is bade to slither away once and for all. The hope, peace, joy and victory of the Kingdom of God inaugurated in the movement of Jesus is good news.

Let us rejoice and be glad!

Give the Gift of Church Planting!

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
~ Jesus, Acts 20:35

Merry Christmas to all the friends, supporters, and encouragers of Grace Church of Dunedin! 

Christmas is always a fun (and busy!) time of the year - family, friends, Christmas songs, claymation, Rudolph, stockings, eggnog, shopping, Adam Sandler's Hanukkah songs, mistletoe, Christmas lights, sparkling grape juice, etc.  In addition to all those jolly activities, the times of corporate worship during Advent Season are always some of my most favorite.

A lot of Christians talk about keeping Christ in Christmas and come up with great ways to remember the advent of our Lord; but have you ever considered how Christmas and church planting go together?  Yes, as Christians, Christmas/Advent is a special/sacred time to remember the gift of Christ; but it should also be a time of remembering why he came! 

What is “the reason for the season?”

In our current teaching series, Thy Kingdom Come, we've been learning about the Kingdom of God, why Christ came and is coming again, and what it means to live in his kingdom in the here and now.  According to Isaiah 9:6-7, Christ came in order to bring the Kingdom of God to earth; and with that Kingdom comes peace, redemption, and life as it should be (i.e., shalom). Verse 7 concludes with stamp of God's zealous promise to do it.  In the New Testament we learn that God's plan to "do it" is the through the expansion of the church, i.e., church planting (Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:7-8; 15:41; 16:5; Matthew 16:18)!

Give the gift of church planting - give to the cause of the kingdom!

So, this Christmas season, may I encourage you to consider giving the gift of church planting.  There is still much Kingdom work to do; and the Gospel transforms lives and communities primarily through local churches.  As one leading missiologist, C. Peter Wagner writes, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven."

Of course, you can give to Grace Church, because we are still a new church plant!  We still have a lot of goals that can only get done through additional and continual income.  But, as you know, we eagerly desire to come along side and help other young and new church plants, laboring intently to see lives redeemed and communities renewed.  We have given money and resources away to several new plants and organization during the past 10 months; the last recipient (of $1200.00) was Unveiled Church in New Port Richey.  (We are excited about what God is doing there!  Please pray for them!)

So, prayerfully consider if there's anything extra you can do this holiday season.  There's much Kingdom work to do!  As you are probably well aware, there are 3 Ways to Give to Grace Church.  Remember, every dollar helps, no gift is too small to make a difference in building the Kingdom!

On behalf of the other Grace Church elders, James Gleichowski and Steve Lee, we wish you and your family a most blessed Christmas! We also hope and pray that your partnership in building the Kingdom through church planting will mirror the redemptive love of our Savior who went to where the people were, cared for them with compassion, and spoke to them the good news of the kingdom.

Thank you for praying for and laboring with Grace Church!

grace + peace,
Heath


P.S. In order to receive your 2012 tax-deduction, your end of the year gift needs to be in by January 31, 2012.

For more on giving to Grace Church and questions about our budgets, please email James@GraceChurchofDunedin.com.

The Mighty Caesar Augustus + His Finite Empire Vs. The Humble King of Kings + His Eternal Kingdom

Grace Church is about to begin a new sermon series entitled, Thy Kingdom Come.  We’ll be spending 5 weeks reflecting on the advent (coming) of our Messiah.  The word Messiah comes from a Hebrew term which means "anointed one." Its Greek counterpart is Christos, from which we get the word Christ.  Christ was not Jesus' last name! It was his title and his calling. The Messiah/Christ was a promised future king who would rule on David's throne, forgive sinners, restore justice and establish a forever kingdom of love, joy, peace, and love (e.g., Isaiah 9:6-7).  Jesus came teaching us to live in light of the coming kingdom (Matthew 4:17).  He taught us to long for and pray this coming kingdom.  And he was born so that he could die in order to bring forth this great kingdom.  This is what Christmas is all about!

I’m getting ready to preach tomorrow about two kingdoms – The Roman Empire vs. The Kingdom of God.  Many present day Christians do not comprehend the political, economical, and sociological context of Jesus’ day.  And for that reason, it’s hard to grasp the full message of the N.T. writers.  The message of Christ and the Gospel of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 4:23) was an incredibly volatile political message.  When you look at it through a historical lens, It is no wonder why the early was so persecuted and it is equally clear why the revolution of Christianity spread like wildfire through an oppressed people under Roman tyranny.

I found the following article by Doug Wilson, very helpful and I wanted to pass it along…

Who was this Caesar Augustus? Why does Luke bring him into the story? Much more is involved that a simple time indicator. Octavius as a young man was the adopted son of Julius, and the heir apparent. By the birth of Jesus he had assumed the throne, and was the emperor. In 40 B.C. a blasphemous coin was struck in Gaul which showed the two-headed god Janus, with Julius on one side and Octavius on the other. The inscription said, "The divine Caesar-and the Son of God." There was an Egyptian inscription which said that Octavius was a marvelous star, "shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Saviour. Then, in 17 B.C. when a strange star appeared in the heavens, and Augustus commanded a twelve day Advent celebration, a ceremonial embrace of Virgil’s statement: "The turning point of the ages has come!" During the reign of Augustus, the cult of explicit emperor worship took firm root, especially in Asia Minor. This region was to become the center of persecution of Christians-and for this precise reason. Even his taken name indicates the problem. The ruling title Augustus was taken by him, which means "worthy of reverence and worship." He was, in short, homo imperisosus. Caesar Augustus was simply the last in a long line of ancient men who believed in humanistic empire. But God was sending another kind of emperor, and another kind of empire entirely. 

This is what gives force to Luke's juxtaposition. Given what Luke understood about Caesar Augustus, and the identity of the Christ, this story from his gospel has to be seen as a rivalry of kings. The fact that Christ was born in Bethlehem-thus fulfilling the prophecy of God-as the result of a command from Caesar (to tax!) has to be seen as a supreme irony. If the rulers of that age had known what they were doing, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8). And of course, the problem was evident even earlier. Had they known what they were doing, Augustus would not have lifted his finger to tax the world. But he only did this because God lifted His finger-to save the world. 

God sent Christ to bind the strong man. "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth" (Luke 11:21-23). Luke knows what he doing here. Matthew records that Herod knew of the threat. But Augustus knew nothing of it, and Christ came to conquer the world-his throne is David’s and His kingdom will never end (Luke 1:32-33) This is the accusation against Him later (Luke 23:2). Luke also records the defiance of Peter and John-"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). They are quoting from a coin which ascribed this same saving authority to Augustus. The early Christians preached another kind of saving king, contrary to counterfeit salvation offered by Caesar (Acts 17:7). And we should note in passing that it is no offense against the magistrate to acknowledge that Christ rules over him (Acts 25:8). 

Christmas therefore reminds us of the fundamental antithesis. And in response, we have three basic options-we can affirm the antithesis (by faith alone), or we can blur or deny the antithesis, or we can misplace the antithesis. When it comes to the celebration of festivals like Christmas, our role is not to blend in with an unbelieving crowd. What does the holiday mean? It means the kingdom of God, not man. 

Where do we start? What are we to do? Begin at the beginning-do not run before you walk. Remember God’s Son, God’s word, God’s day.Remember the contrast of kings-remember the rival saviors. But we have a Savior, which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). And here is true potency-the power we have is in the name of our king. There is no other name which brings salvation.