Sunday, February 25, 2007

another kingdom hit

Matt Massey delivered another excellent sermon today, this one on the revolutionary nature of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is radical and it is revolutionary - it stands in stark contrast with the kingdoms of this world.

In the sermon he mentioned the message of John the Baptist as a precursor for the message that Jesus was to bring. This links back to my earlier post. John's baptism was one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 1.4). That is, turn from our wickedness for forgiveness. Jesus, as with so much else formerly taught, took this to a new level. He said repent for the Kingdom of God is here. Will this includes turning from our sin, it is much, much more than that. It is about turning our whole world around. We completely reverse our thinking in regard to authority and life here on earth. Our nature that was radically effected by the fall is now radically reversed and healed by Him.

Massey also did well to not shy away from the results of living in the Kingdom. Too many these days are trying to conform the Kingdom into their agenda for social service. Massey highlighted that the Kingdom of God comes with both peace and with a sword. When the Kingdom shows up, it demands a response. People will either violently reject it or they will question it seeking more. When we live lives in contrast to the world's system, we will have an effect.

If we want to live, we must die. This is a costly proposition. It is not a close our eyes, bow our heads, and quietly slip up a hand stuff. We are signing up to live radical lives in service to a new King (Lk 14.25-33).

Unfortunately the Kingdom Experiment folks didn't get it and said, "the Kingdom is not knowing, the Kingdom is just doing." Opps ... they missed it.

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