Day 9 Lent 2023
The kingdom of God takes root in our heart to enable us to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ
I want to open with the closing verses from Luke chapter 4.
42When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.
43But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
44So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Luke 4:42–44 (NASB95)
Everyone locally in Capernaum wanted Jesus to stick around. His response was, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” Jesus commanded we preach the Gospel, the good news of salvation for all people, but Jesus’ job was to preach the Kingdom of God. What is that, and what is the difference?
18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18–20 (NASB95)
Mark Chapter 4 has three mentions of the Kingdom of God. One comes in verse 11, but two come in close proximity as parables. Let’s look at them.
26And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
28“The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29“But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30And He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?
31“It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,
32yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.”
Mark 4:26–32 (NASB95)
Ezekiel 17:23; Psalm 104:12; Ezekiel 31:6; Daniel 4:12
The Kingdom of God begins as a small thing but grows into something much, much larger. It grows into something self-sustaining, but not only that, it sustains others too. Is there more? Yes, there is. Let’s look at Luke 9:62.
61Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
62But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61–62 (NASB95)
This is a man who agreed to follow Jesus but wanted to go home and say goodbye to his family. Jesus drew a clear line of delineation between the old person the man was and the new person the man instantly became when he took on the faith of Christ in his heart. That approach by Jesus seems a little heartless, doesn’t it? Not even a goodbye before heading off to do the work of the Lord. It’s not. Not when we internalize the truth about picking a side. Those not following Jesus are following Satan. That’s the simple statement. Scripture backs that up.
28“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
30“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Matthew 12:28–30 (NASB95)
So, the choice is to follow Jesus or follow Satan. That is a simple choice when it is phrased that way. It should be phrased no other way. Once that choice is made, scripture says we are a new creation, a new person.
20But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Ephesians 4:20–24 (NASB95)
Faith in Jesus does this. Nothing else contains this power. It is faith in Jesus that gives us a new self that looks like God. That’s an amazing statement for scripture to make. It is also a huge responsibility for us still walking around down here on earth. If we are the likeness of God, people who look at us are looking at some aspect of God. How do they see God through the lens of our lives? If that frightens and alarms us, good. It should. We should look at our lives and realize that what we choose, say, and do reflect on God.
How does the Kingdom of God differ from the Gospel of Jesus? How does this new self relate to the kingdom and the gospel? The Kingdom of God is not a physical place in the world per se. It is like the Kingdom of Heaven, which is fully spiritual in nature. The Kingdom of God has its roots in our hearts, within each of us. It takes root in our hearts and pushes our motivations to do the good things God defines and avoid the evil things God says to avoid. This root is within us, planted by the Holy Spirit like a spiritual mustard seed. The growth of this mustard seed spreads through our minds to motivate our actions. We become the emissaries of God, reflecting His love through our actions.
20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:20–21 (KJV 1900)
That mustard seed planted is the seed of our faith. It is the thing that needs watering, weeding, tending, love, and care. We manage it independently but eventually need others to help tend to it. This plant cannot grow to its full without others. If we keep it to ourselves, tending it on our own, it becomes stunted, bearing little if any fruit. But, if we open the gates to the garden of our heart to other people, our harvest becomes far more bountiful. That fruit of the spirit becomes the hallmark of Jesus, inviting and filled with the love of God. It is that image, the reflected Christ, we seek. It is that image we strive to grow into.
What is the Gospel, the good news, compared to the Kingdom of God? It is the outward expression of the love God has shown us. It is our message of what the salvation of Jesus has done for us. It is true that Jesus is the only reason for the hope that lives in our hearts. As we cultivate that truth, the tree of the spirit growing within our hearts produces fruit that is unmistakable from anything else. We enter into the Kingdom of God at the behest of the Gospel preached to us by someone else, but we also learn how to proclaim that message when we go out from that same Kingdom. The world has a tough time understanding how this can be. It is our job to use the experiences of our lives, the wisdom learned through the school of hard knocks, to bring the world to understanding. Your life experiences make you uniquely qualified to communicate that Gospel to people who identify with you, just as my unique life experiences make me more relatable to others. We must understand that about our brothers and sisters in Christ as they proclaim the Gospel just as we do. Let us not put stumbling blocks before another man’s servant as he or she goes out to attend to their assigned tasks. God bless you, and Godspeed.