Having a Passion for the Kingdom

—(Matthew 6, 10 & 13)

Andrew Fountain – Sept 11, 2022

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Goal

For Jesus to challenge us deeply as we start a new season:
What is your life about?

Having a Passion for the Kingdom

No more Lukewarm
What does “the Kingdom of God” actually mean?
How do we express a passion for the Kingdom?

1. No more Lukewarm

“You were made to live with something worth dying for” (Edwards)
We are living in an age that is screaming out for something real.
Buried in the human heart is a desire to devote ourselves totally to something that we believe in
Paradoxically we live in a comfort culture, dedicated to insulating us from the slightest discomfort
The words of Jesus are a culture-shock to us:

We all know what “Lukewarm” means, —it is “tepid”, neither hot nor cold
- People like hot drinks, or cold drinks, but nobody likes them lukewarm
- “want a cup of tea?... hot, or is lukewarm OK?”
- hot day, lemonade has been sitting in the sun, sort of hottish
We all know what Jesus thought of the lukewarm church in Revelation
A powerful quite: “You were made to live with something worth dying for” (Edwards)
We are living in an age that is screaming out for something real.
- How come that Radical Islamists can recruit so rapidly even in places like Canada
  - because they actually believe in something
  - They demand everything, total sacrifice. Islam means submission
Buried in the human heart is a desire to give ourselves totally to something that we believe in
- People want a cause to follow—we were made that way
- There is something in all of us that despises the Lukewarm and is attracted to total commitment
I have a Jewish friend who sent his children to Hebrew school every Sunday, starting at age 5
- What would you think if he were a Christian, making his son learn Greek at age five
  - many Christians would think that a bit “over the top”
- Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying we should all be sending our kids off to learn Greek & Hebrew
I am saying that we should live like we have something worth dying for!
- Doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be like Francis of Assisi or C.T.Studd who gave everything away
- Doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be like Martin Luther and pray for 3 hours every morning
But as Edwards says, our lives should shout transcendence this world—there is something greater!
- Our lives should shout “There is a God, there is a God, and he has a Son, and his affections are on me...”
Moses spent time with God and afterwards his face was shining
- This world is desperate for answers, for hope. Our lives should reflect something greater than these dark days
But it is not good enough just to be passionate about something, you have to be right as well
- I love cats, and the thought of our cat getting lost, or other people losing their cats is very upsetting
- Saw a poster for a lost cat...
- I was passionate to save the cat, but I was wrong!

Jesus was not lukewarm

He only lived for one thing—to please his father
- “My food is to do the will of him who sent me”
So what did this look like?
- He had a burning passion for the kingdom (124 times in the Gospels)
- He lived, ate, slept, and talked the kingdom
- It was all he spoke about
- It was the chief concern of his life
- Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
What was he looking for from his followers?

Matthew 13

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 10

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a person’s enemies will be those of their own household.

Matthew 10 cont’d

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

Matthew 6

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Having a Passion for the Kingdom

No more Lukewarm
What does “the Kingdom of God” actually mean?
How do we express a passion for the Kingdom?

2. What does “the Kingdom of God” actually mean?

not = Church
Equivalent to “New Creation”
It primarily means God’s rule
What does the Kingdom look like right now?
- a POWER and a PEOPLE

not = Church
- Jesus never uses the words “New Creation”, and the epistle don’t speak much about the Kingdom because the two expressions mean basically the same thing.
It primarily means God’s rule
- righteousness, peace, justice, love, mercy
- When God’s rule comes into a situation, it brings these things
- When God’s kingdom comes into a marriage, anger and selfishness get replaced by love and servanthood
- When God’s kingdom comes into society, the poor get treated fairly and the oppressed are liberated
- When God’s kingdom comes into broken lives, people are set free emotionally
- It is everything that is opposite to Satan’s kingdom, the kingdom of darkness
What does the Kingdom look like right now?
- a POWER and a PEOPLE
  - There is a power to forgive, to heal and to overcome Satan
  - This results in a people who are forgiven, healed and set free from the kingdom of darkness
  - The church is not exactly the same as the kingdom, but it is the primary visible expression of the kingdom
- You can’t say you love the Kingdom but don’t much care for the church, because the church is the main tangible expression of the K.

Having a Passion for the Kingdom

No more Lukewarm
What does “the Kingdom of God” actually mean?
How do we express a passion for the Kingdom?

3. How do we express a passion for the Kingdom?

No compartments in our lives
God is involved in everything and prayer pervades everything
But most of all it has to do with what our priorities are
Edwards says: “Write eternity on our hearts that we would live by the age to come.”

Kingdom means warfare

Most spiritual warfare is not very glamorous
saying no to temptation
saying no to what Paul calls “the old man” or “the flesh”
- actually habits, reaction, old ways of behaving
saying no to fear and unbelief
believing we can trust Jesus, and acting on it