Sunday, November 16, 2014

The invisible kingdom of God made visible; Luke 22: 28-34




As I was thinking and trying to prepare for this message this week, I found myself wondering how I could present this passage in such a way that it would make a difference.  Not to just prepare a message that after it was all said and done we might say, “well, I learned a little bit about Peter, I learned a little about what happened in the Upper Room, but so what?”  I mean, why are we here this morning, to just learn a few facts about the Bible?  To just fulfill some sort of societal obligation we may feel to go to church?   How does this affect my life on Monday morning? What is all this – church, preaching, what’s it really about?

As I considered this passage, I ultimately came to question the purpose of the church. I’m afraid that the church today, with all it’s embellishments as an institution has lost it’s sense of identity.  And in the process, I think Christians have lost their sense of purpose.  But the Bible teaches that Christians and the church are not supposed to be separate entities.  The Bible teaches that Christians are the church, we are the body of Christ.  We are the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God.  And yet I’m afraid that those words mean very little in contemporary Christianity today.  Because we have lost sight of the church’s purpose, it’s origin, it’s  history and don’t know why we are here or where we are going. 

One of my favorite memories from childhood is of attending an outdoor theater in the Outer Banks of North Carolina called the Lost Colony.  It is one of the longest running musical plays in the United States, 77 years and still going strong today.  It tells the story of the first colony of pioneers to settle near what is now Manteo, NC, and the birth of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the new world. 

It seems that I must have attended that play at least 8 to 10 times as I grew up.  It became something of a prerequisite of summer vacation.  The smell of mosquito repellent and the sound of crickets in the evening always brings back memories for me of the Lost Colony even to this day.

If you ever get a chance to see the play I would highly recommend it.  The script incorporates broad Christian themes and features prayers and songs written about God and thankfully still presents them without apology, all these years after it was first written.  I hope it continues to do that. 

So when the lights go down on a summer night and the first characters step out of the evening gloom into the spotlight, one of the first to make his appearance is that of Old Tom, the town drunk.   The play’s opening scene is set in England, and Old Tom is kicked out of the local tavern for not having enough money to pay for his beer. Old Tom is a caricature of some of those early pioneers, common folk that did not own land, and had little prospects of a bright future in England, who were willing to leave their motherland for a fresh chance in the New World.

Throughout the play, Old Tom provides some periodic comedic relief in what is a sort of tragic tale of how the first colony was formed in England by Sir Walter Raleigh, and arrived in the new world to establish a fort near Manteo on the waters of the sound. Soon afterwards, Eleanor Dare,  who was the daughter of Governor John White, gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America.

But life in the colony was difficult. After suffering a number of setbacks with their crops and skirmishes with some of the native Indians, the colonists sent Governor John White back to England in the summer of 1587 for supplies.  However, because of the war with Spain, Governor White was unable to return to Roanoke Island for three years. When he finally returned, the colony had vanished, leaving only one clue as to their whereabouts: the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post. The fate of those first colonists remains a mystery to this day.

Of course, the details presented by the play during those three years is a matter of speculation.  But it ends with a ragtag remnant of the colonists rallying together and marching out of the colony in search of yet another new land while singing a hymn.  One of the last speeches is given by Old Tom who had been somewhat transformed after enduring the trials this colony of pioneers.  He says, “O Roanoke, O Roanoke, thou hast made a man of me!”  Even though he too suffered through years of desolation and hardships with the colony, he emerges at the end of the play as having been forged by those trials into one of the stalwarts of this remnant band of colonists that bravely head out into  their unknown future. 

As I reflect on that play, I think we can see some parallels between those early colonists and the church.  We can look at the Lost Colony is a metaphor for the church in the sense that as they were called and sent by the Queen of England to be colonists to America,  so we are called by God to be His ambassadors, to be colonists so to speak in a hostile world.  We are ambassadors of the kingdom of God.  God has selected us, called us, and sent us to go into the world and be His representatives, to make disciples, to establish His kingdom in the world.  And while I don’t want to take the analogy too far, I do see a parallel between those early colonists and Christians.  Like Old Tom or many of those early colonists, we had very little credentials to recommend us for the work of the kingdom.  But Christ called us, He changed us, and He has commissioned us and sent us to be His disciples to a hostile world.  And in the process of enduring the hardships and trials of our calling, we have been transformed by the power of the gospel.  And that is the message and the hope that the church is to share with the world. 

I think Jesus was trying to present that principle to some extent that night in the Upper Room.  This ragtag band of disciples He had called from the fringes of Jewish society.  There wasn’t a blue blood among them.  Not a single one of them were from the elite religious ruling parties.  Most of them were common fishermen, unlearned, unschooled. A pretty rough lot.  Peter, who was the natural leader of the group, was a brash, outspoken burly guy with a temper.  Thomas was a doubter.  Matthew was an ex tax collector who was viewed as a traitor to his countrymen.  James and John were two brothers who were always trying to elbow their way to the preferred side of Jesus at the expense of everyone else.  Simon the Zealot was probably a revolutionary.  Judas was a thief and a traitor. The rest of them were so nondescript that they might best be described as Paul reminds us of what we are, that  there were not many mighty, not many wise, not many noble in that ragtag group.

Out of all the great people in the world, all the wealthy families, all the royalty in the world, all the intellectuals in the world, Jesus chose these 12.  These were the men that God chose out of all the people in the world to bestow the special privilege to be part of Christ’s intimate circle.  These would have the privilege of eating, sleeping and traveling with Jesus for three years, 24/7.  Most of them owned little more than the clothes on their back.  Much of the time they had little to eat, and slept outdoors in the open.  I’m sure they did not look like much from outward appearances.

Yet these unlikely looking prospects were called to be Christ’s Apostles.  According to Ephesians 2:20 they would become the foundation for the church.  Now that is important.  Because when we consider what the church is, and what the purpose of the church is, this principle of the apostles being the foundation is essential to a correct understanding.  What exactly then is the church?  I think this passage gives us a clue in vs. 28-30, "You are those who have stood by Me in My trials;  and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you  that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” 

Now just before Jesus made that statement you will remember that the disciples were squabbling over which of them was the greatest.  They were still expecting somehow the imminent, physical fulfillment of the kingdom of God and they were elbowing one another aside for the choicest seats, the places of influence, the positions of power.  They still somehow expected that Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman government and restore the throne to Israel and take His seat there, ruling the world with a rod of iron.  And they expected to be His ministers in that new government.  Lot’s of OT prophecies such as Isaiah 9 pointed to that government which shall rest upon His shoulders and there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. 

And it would seem as though Christ is talking about that physical kingdom in vs. 29.  This is what the disciples had been waiting for.  Jesus said that God had given Him the kingdom, and now He was giving them the choice positions in the kingdom.  He is giving them 12 thrones to rule over the 12 tribes of Israel.  They must have been ecstatic to think that it was finally becoming a reality. 

We know, of course that they misunderstood Jesus’ meaning because in less than 24 hours He was crucified and within a little more than a month He had ascended into heaven. And here we are 2000 years later and Jesus hasn’t yet come back as He promised.  So what then was Jesus talking about?  Well, I think the verse immediately following this statement offers a clue to get us thinking on the right track.  Jesus turns to Simon Peter in vs. 31 and says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Now I think that the clue is the name Jesus calls Peter.  He calls him Simon.  Do you remember when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter? In Matt. 16:18 Jesus said to Peter whose given name was Simon Barjona,  "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”   I think that first of all Jesus calls Peter Simon to remind Him of what He said here in Matt. 16:18.  “Upon this rock I will build My church.”  Upon the foundation of the Apostles I will build my church.

Secondly, let’s consider the word church: Ekklesia;  the Greek word for church.  It means literally “called out ones.”  An assembly of people called out by God, a gathering, a company of Christians, the body of Christians throughout the earth.    Now that is the Bible dictionary translation.  But let me state it plainly as plainly for you as I can.  The church is the visible manifestation of the invisible kingdom of God.  Let me say it another way, the church is the invisible kingdom of God made visible. 

To go back to our metaphor, to the native Indians England was invisible.  They had never been there and could not imagine what it was like.  But the colonists represented England.  They carried the flag of England.  They claimed territory for England.  The colony was under the rule of England.  So, in effect, the visible kingdom of England was this tiny colony in America.

In the same way then the church is the visible manifestation of the invisible kingdom of God.  Folks, I think that principle should be revolutionary. Because it ties together what is often viewed as disparate themes in the Bible into a cohesive unit.  I think people have been thrown off very often because sometimes the kingdom is referred to as the kingdom of God and other times the kingdom of heaven.  And when they hear the word heaven and conclude that it is a reference to something in the future, some vague reference to heaven.  But it is a simply a means of referring to the church. Jesus said, the kingdom of God is near you.  He was standing in their midst when He said that.  He went about preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.  The titles were synonymous.  Interchangeable.  They both indicate that the reign of God whose throne is in heaven over all the universe, is at hand.  It was right here because Christ it’s king was here.  And Christ presented the way to enter the kingdom.  He was teaching the characteristics of it’s citizens and how it operates on earth. 

When we understand this it should be revolutionary.  The church is not a building.  It is not an institution.  It is a kingdom.  It is the reign of Christ in the hearts of His people.  You don’t join the church by getting dunked under water or by signing on a form or agreeing to follow certain rituals.  You join the church by coming into the kingdom of God.  And you are born into the kingdom of God by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  You turn your life over to Him and allow Him to reign, to live no more according to your former desires of the flesh, but to live according to the Spirit of Christ who now dwells in you and leads you and teaches you through God’s word. 

That is why Jesus said in Luke 22, I give you a kingdom.  As My Father has given Me the kingdom, so now I give it to you.  You are going to reign with Me.  Because you have suffered in My trials with Me. 

Folks, have you considered that God has chosen to give you the kingdom?  Jesus said in Luke 12:32  "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”  You underestimate your calling, ladies and gentlemen.  You are not called to visit church.  You are not called to attend church.  You are called to be the church.  You are called to inherit the kingdom of God.  To rule and reign with Christ.  And God has called you here just as surely as Christ called the 12 to Him, that we might be His ambassadors.  That we might establish His kingdom on the earth.  That we might proclaim the good news to a hostile world; that Christ has made it possible for every person, every nation, every tribe to enter the kingdom of God.  It’s not something you gain through heritage, it’s not just for the rich, or just for the elite, or just for the religious.  God has chosen to make it possible for everyone who believes in Christ, and are willing to allow Christ to rule over his or her life to be a part of the kingdom of God.  And that reign of Christ in our hearts is what makes the kingdom of God visible to the world as we are the church.

You know, in the play The Lost Colony, Old Tom didn’t start out looking like anyone you would want to entrust anything to.  But by the end of the play, he had become, even to his own surprise, someone that others had begun to lean on.  And  so it is with the church.  God chooses some unlikely candidates to be testimonies of His grace.  We see that in the disciples.  These squabbling, sometimes selfish disciples were chosen to be the foundation of the church.  I wonder if God has chosen some of you sitting here this morning to be the foundation of this church?  I wonder how you would react if you realized that God was counting not just on me, or on the guy sitting on the other side of the room, but on you to carry the ministry of the kingdom to this community?  Would you step up?  Would you submit yourself to the Lordship of Christ and focus all your energies upon carrying out the ministry that God has given you?  I would suggest that God has indeed chosen you for just such a task.  And a heavenly host is watching with bated breath to see if you will take up that mission.  We sometimes complain that we don’t see God working in the church, and yet perhaps the truth is that we are the people that God has chosen to begin the work. 

 God has chosen to give you the kingdom.  He has chosen you to administer it, to be His ministers.  Yet it’s not a job without hardships or adversity.  It is a hostile world that we have been sent to.  We have a powerful enemy that wants nothing more than to destroy the church and anyone that takes up it’s banner.    Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat…”  I don’t know for sure why Jesus called Peter Simon and not Peter. But I do know that Simon was his given name.  It was his human name.  A Hebrew name.  It means to hear.  Rev. 2:17 says that to those that overcome Jesus will give a new name.  But I think when God gives us a new name it is a name of promise.  It is not necessarily what we are, but what we can become through faith in God.  Abraham is a good example of that.  He was named Abram, exalted father, and was renamed Abraham, a father of a multitude.  It was a name of promise.  A name of faith in what he would be.

So perhaps Jesus uses Simon’s given name as a not so subtle reminder of the weakness of his flesh.  Now in the earlier reference in Matthew where Jesus gives Peter his new name, Jesus says his new name was Peter, which means rock, and He says upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  Now Jesus says, Satan has demanded permission to sift him like wheat.  Thank God He gives us the promise before He allows the peril.  The promise that God would not allow the gates of hell to prevail against him.  Jesus goes on to say that Peter would temporarily fall, but that he would return, not because of his own strength, but because Jesus would pray for Him.  Vs. 22, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."  I think the emphasis needs to be noticed here;  I will build My church. I have prayed for you.  The key to spiritual victory is in Christ’s power to keep His promises. 

We know from the scriptures that God does allow Peter to be sifted like wheat.  We sometimes wonder why God allows us to undergo trials, don’t we?  Why do we have to suffer?  What is the point of tribulations?  I think we get some insight here in this verse.  First of all, let’s consider what it means to sift like wheat.  Sifting was a way that the farmer separated the wheat from the chaff.  All the harvest was put through a sieve which was shaken vigorously until all the chaff had fallen out and the good grain was left.  So we can conclude that God allows the sifting and shaking in our lives so that the chaff, the undesirable stuff gets winnowed out and the good fruit remains. 

We sang about  a similar thing while ago in our hymn “How Firm a Foundation”.  “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply.  The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design. Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”  God allows trials to refine us, to clean out the excess, the dross, the impurities, so that we might be fruitful as we represent Jesus. 

Hebrews 12: 26 teaches the same principle. “And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."  This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”

What God wants to burn or shake out of our lives is our self reliance, our self interests, our pride, so that we might be of greater service to the Master.  And I would secondly suggest that this principle includes a shaking and refining of the church, to get rid of the dross, the chaff, so that the grain might remain and be useful.  The visible church has both wheat and chaff in it; saints and sinners.  I believe God wants to purify His church.  He doesn’t want impurity in the church.  He doesn’t want false teachers and false doctrine confusing the message of the kingdom.  And so I believe though the gates of hell are unleashed against it, the true church of God will not fail, but only be refined, so that we might offer up to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.  Take a look at church history.  There has never been a time of real, true revival without first a time of testing, of persecution in the church.  God uses what Satan means for evil, for our good, to purify the church and make her useful for the kingdom.

Note next that Jesus says what Peter will do when he returns.  One he has returned, he will strengthen his brothers.  That’s the other pillar of the church.  On the one hand we are reaching out to the world with the good news of the gospel, but on the other hand we are holding up the heads of our brethren.  Paul makes it clear in 1 Cor. 12 that the church is the body of Christ.  And each of you are a vital part of that body.  You were chosen, designed to be part of the body of Christ.  Now understand something, we are talking about a local body, and that body is part of the universal church of Christ.  I hear people claim to be part of the church, but they only acknowledge the universal body of the church.  They feel no responsibility to the local body.  That is not what the Bible teaches.  It teaches that you are individually part of a local body, and that local body is part of the universal church.  You need to find your part in the local body of believers.  This is the kingdom of God focused on a local community.  And you were chosen to be part of that.

Paul laid out the format of the church in Eph. 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

So the saints under the leadership of the pastor are to be edified, that is taught and built up into maturity, so that they can do the work of service.  And the work of service is two fold, one reaching out and the other reaching in.  As Jesus told Peter, strengthening one another.  You know I try to work out.  I don’t do it as much or as efficiently as I should as I’m sure you can tell.  One of my problems is that I try to work on a specific muscle like my shoulders.  But I don’t see much results.  And what I’ve found out by studying is that I also need to build up the surrounding muscles that support that particular muscle if I’m going to really make any significant gains.  I need to develop my core because it supports my back which supports my shoulders.  They all are interdependent.

And that is sort of the way the body of Christ works.  We need each other.  We need to support one another.  That can happen in a lot of ways.  But in it’s most simplest terms, it happens as we come together as a body on a weekly or biweekly basis.  We need to get beyond the elementary stages of attending church when it’s good for me.  And realize that we attend because it is good for others.  We are the church.  Christ has commissioned you to be the church.  He is depending on you.  Others in the church depend on you.  So let’s act as if we are an important vital part of this church and God is counting on us, others are counting on us, and we have a job to do. 

Unfortunately, Peter is being full on Simon at the moment Jesus tells him this.  He is full of bravado and a sense of his own self sufficiency.  He is like a lot of us when things are going good.  We think we can stand any trial, no problem.  We think we can handle the devil and temptations, no problem.  We are so confident in ourselves, that we think we can dismiss the church, we don’t really need anyone else.  We certainly don’t think we need to be preached at.   Don’t need a preacher yelling at me, thank you very much.  I’m perfectly capable of remaining faithful to the Lord. 

Peter essentially said, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death! I don’t know about the rest of these guys, but I’m good.  I am a rock. I am an island. Though everyone else falls I won’t fall.”   Listen, sometimes I think it is easier to imagine dying for Christ than it is to live for Him.  A lot of us can muster up some bravado when we imagine a great dramatic scene where we are forced to renounce Christ or die.  But we know from Peter’s example that sometimes our greatest denial of Christ comes not in a courtroom but in community. How often do we deny  Christ simply by abandoning His body?  We deny Christ by refusing to take up our responsibility to His church.

It’s interesting that now Jesus calls him Peter.  He says in vs. 34, ““I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”  I think that this time Jesus calls him Peter because He wants to reaffirm Peter’s faith.  When that cock crowed in just a few hours time, Peter would look up from that campfire of the enemy and see the Lord looking at him and he would be so ashamed that he had failed him.  Peter would remember what Jesus had said to him.  And so Jesus calls him Peter now because it is his name of faith.  Jesus is reminding him that he is a rock.  That Christ will build his church upon the foundation of the apostles and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  That is where the faith comes in.  That God could use someone as flawed and faulted as Peter to be the foundation of the church, the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God, the physical representation of Christ.  This man? This man who denied Jesus three times? 

Obviously the answer is yes.  God did ultimately use Peter in a magnificent way.  He was able to strengthen his brothers.  He is able even today to strengthen the body of Christ not only by his example, but by his letters.  Peter is a great testament to the grace of God who deigns to use flawed men and women to build the kingdom of God.  That is able to even take our great failures and turn them into triumphs. 

If God can use Peter in such a great way after denying three times that he even knew Christ, then he can certainly use men and women like you.  I don’t know about you, but I have failed Christ so many times in my life.  I’m not proud of it, by any means.  But I am grateful to the kindness and compassion of God that never failed me. 2Tim. 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” 

Listen, I don’t know whether or not you have denied Christ in your life.  Maybe you haven’t said it outright, but maybe by your actions you have denied Him. Maybe by your lifestyle.  Maybe you’re guilty of denying Him lordship of your life.  Maybe you’re holding onto certain areas that you don’t want Him to rule over.  I hope that if you are convicted of that this morning then you will take this opportunity to repent and ask God to create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you.  Because God wants to use you.  Christ is interceding for you so that you might be restored into useful service for Him.

And then finally, I hope that all of you that have confessed Jesus as Lord will consider what part God has designed you to be in the kingdom of God, the church.  God has a plan and a purpose for you.  One is to be a part of a church that reaches out to a lost world with the good news of Jesus Christ.  And secondly to be a part of the church that reaches in to help support the rest of the body.  God has commissioned you to be a part of His kingdom, to be His church.  I hope that you will prayerfully consider how you can serve this body in service to the Lord. 


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