Anush A. John Podcast
Anush A. John Podcast
Mustards and Monarchs - Freedom in the Kingdom of God
What is the Kingdom of God and what are its characteristics? This talk explores the freedom one can experience by interacting with the Kingdom of God.
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Good morning, thank you, thank you, thank you. In 1998, jim Carrey starred in the movie the Truman Show. It's a movie that dealt with issues of free will and manipulation, and if you have not watched this movie from 1998, or if you're going to watch it, you can close your ears for just one minute, because I'm going to ruin the ending for you here. In this movie, truman Burbank is an individual who is living what he thinks is his normal life, but as he finds out that the whole thing has been set up, he's living in the middle of a movie set, even though he feels like he's living his normal life, and he was being deceived his entire life. This morning, in a sermon entitled Mustards and Monarchs, we're going to look at the issue of the kingdom of God through a parable that Jesus said. It's a topic that we think is very abstract, but it is something that we are in and surrounds us. Turn your Bibles, if you will, to Matthew, chapter 13, and we will read verses 31 to 34. Matthew, chapter 13, 31 to 34. Let me read it for us. He put another parable before them, saying the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables. Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
Speaker 1:I've divided this sermon into five parts. In the first part, we will look at the grand story. In the second part, we will look at description with pictures. In the third part, we will look at this specific parable and call it comparative greatness. In the fourth part, where I hope to spend most of our time, I want to look at characteristics of the kingdom. And fifth, very quickly, we will look at citizenship in the kingdom.
Speaker 1:First, let's look at the grand story. The basic question is well, what is the kingdom of God? And the simple answer is it is the reign of God and, specifically, the rule of Christ. There are multiple terms that are used to describe this the kingdom of Christ. There are multiple terms that are used to describe this the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ. And many times the question is how is the kingdom of God related to the church? And the answer is the kingdom of God is a much broader concept and the church is a thin sliver in the middle of the kingdom of God. It is part of the kingdom of God. We may not have thought about the kingdom of God too much, but it is the entire story of humanity and the Bible.
Speaker 1:This was the plan of God from the beginning. God created the universe and made Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and he wanted to be king over them. But Adam rebelled. He sinned. When Adam sinned, there was another kingdom that was introduced, the kingdom of darkness. But God wanted to show the world that he still wanted to be king and he wanted the kingdom of God on earth. And so he chose one group of people called the Israelites and he wanted to show them that he would be king over them. But the Israelites did not want God to be king. So in 1 Samuel 8, verse 7, it reads and the Lord said to Samuel they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Eventually God sent them into exile. They went to Assyria and they went to Babylon and they were in exile and most of them never came back. Some of them did come back and God was not king over those people.
Speaker 1:The last book of the Old Testament is the book of Malachi and the first book of the New Testament is the book of Matthew, and there's only one page that separates the two. If you turn from Malachi to Matthew, it's just one page, but that one page represents 400 years. There was 400 years of silence when God was not king. There was 400 years where the people of Israel did not hear from God, and during that time they were under the oppressive reign of the Roman Republic. In 63 BC, general Pompey came and conquered Jerusalem. In 44 BC, julius Caesar was assassinated after five years of being the ruler. And in 27 BC, octavius Caesar, or Augustus Caesar, the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, became the first Roman Emperor. And it is under the Emperor ship of Octavius Caesar that, in a little town in Bethlehem, that Jesus was born. So this is the grand story, from creation to the time that Jesus was born.
Speaker 1:Second, let's look at description with pictures. We all know the first miracle that Jesus did. Let me ask you a question what's the first sermon that he said? What's the first sermon that Jesus said In Matthew, chapter 4, verse 17 is his first sermon. From that time Jesus began to preach saying Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The first message was about repentance, and the constant theme of his sermons was about the kingdom of God. One of the important reasons why Jesus came was to inaugurate the kingdom of God. One of the important reasons why Jesus came was to inaugurate the kingdom of God, which had been silent for 400 years.
Speaker 1:But Jesus does not define the kingdom of God. He describes it only through parables. Actually, one-third of the teaching of Jesus is in the form of parables and one-third of the parables about nine out of 30 parables is directly about the form of parables, and one-third of the parables about nine out of thirty parables is directly about the kingdom of God. And so the parable starts with the phrase saying the kingdom of heaven is like, and the kingdom of God is such a complex topic that Jesus uses pictures to describe it.
Speaker 1:You know, when you have less understanding about something, the more pictures you need. If you grew up in a Christian home and had Christian parents, the odds are that you probably had a children's Bible, and in the children's Bible, the smaller the child is, the more the pictures there are. In the smallest children's Bible there is one line at the top, on the sixth day, god made animals on the earth, and in the bottom line says and he created Adam and Eve. And then there's a big picture right in the middle that occupies 90% of that page. It's about a bunch of animals and Adam and Eve playing hide and seek between the trees. And so the idea is that the younger we are, the younger we are, the less understanding we have, the more pictures that we need. And so you come to the adult Bible, and there are no pictures, because our minds cannot grasp infinite concepts. Let me give you an example.
Speaker 1:Mathematically, there is no number called infinity. You may say well, I did study about infinity back in school. Yes, if you took a number and divide by one, the answer is the number right? Five divided by one is five, and five divided by zero is infinity. So how can I say there is no infinity? Well, try to think about it. Think about the greatest number you can think about. Let's call it x. Okay, having thought about the greatest number you can think about, if that is x, I can think about a number that is x plus 1. One more than that, and therefore it's not the greatest number. Let's say that for the next 250 years you are counting numbers and at the end of the 250th year you count to the greatest number you have ever thought of, and still I can count one more number more than that. You see, there is a gap between the highest finite number and what is infinity, and the minds cannot grasp what is infinity. We are limited in our understanding simply because we are finite and therefore we can only have a partial view of the things of God. Thirdly, let's look at comparative greatness.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 13, verse 31, reads the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. There are a variety of mustard seeds, from white, yellow to brown to black. Here in the west you use mustard seed as in sauces and paste, but in the east, in South India for example, you put it in curries. So you take this black mustard seed, put it in two tablespoons of oil and you've got to let it pop. If you don't let it pop, it's too bitter, and so we let it pop, and it's a very small seed I can put 10 of them on my fingernail. And when the Bible says that it is a smaller seed. The Bible is not trying to be a botany textbook. Jesus is saying this because that was the culture at that time. In fact, there was a phrase in that culture where they referred to something very small as being as small as a mustard seed. So Jews would say I'm bleeding, but it's as small as a mustard seed. A drop of blood as small as a mustard seed. Or they would say, a break in the ceremonial law that is as small as a mustard seed.
Speaker 1:So what is this parable on the kingdom of God highlighting? This parable is highlighting comparative greatness, highlighting comparative greatness. It is seemingly small, but when it grows it is big enough to have birds build nests on the trees. So it is a small concept, or a seemingly small concept, but it is colossal in its reality. And Jesus uses multiple parables to try to explain the kingdom of God, and then he demonstrates the characteristics of the kingdom of God. And then he demonstrates the characteristics of the kingdom of God, and that is what we will turn to. Fourthly, let's look at the characteristics of the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:The idea of evil on one side and good on the other side. That is a well known idea that's the basis of many stories, many books, some religions that there is good on one side and there is evil on the other side. So for every bad bank robber there is a good cop that will eventually find the bad bank robber. For every joker there is a Batman. So the idea of evil and good opposing each other, that is a very common idea.
Speaker 1:But as a philosophical view there is a problem with this thinking and the philosophical view is called Manichean dualism. And in this philosophical view the idea is that good and evil are opposite and equal. Good and evil are opposite and equal. Good and evil are opposite and equal. The Christian view is not that they are opposite and equal. The Christian view is that there are two kingdoms. There is a kingdom of darkness and there is a kingdom of God. But the kingdom of God overrules the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness is not equal to the kingdom of God, overrules the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness is not equal to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God overrules the kingdom of darkness and brings in the rain of righteousness In the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 1:There are two kinds of evil. First is what is called as natural evil. Natural evil has to do with anything in nature. So earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, volcanoes, anything in nature, most diseases are natural evil and we all know somebody who has a disease, or we ourselves have a disease, and it's all natural evil. But the second kind of evil is moral evil and in moral evil this is a kind of evil because of the moral activity of a person. It can be a human being or a spiritual being.
Speaker 1:I have a friend who is from Kenya. He's a speaker but he lives in Kenya. He was in the US for a little bit and he came here to preach but he found out that in his town in Kenya called Kijabi, where he has an orphanage, that there were these severe floods and so he rushed back and he wanted to protect his orphanage. There were severe floods that wiped out towns and ruined the roads and washed away communities, but it spared his orphanage. And soon after the flood there were some earthquakes that happened to that city and soon after the earthquakes there were riots that happened in the city because of some political unrest. But you can see the difference the earthquake and the flood are natural evils. The riot is moral evil.
Speaker 1:We were once part of the kingdom of darkness and Jesus introduced us to the kingdom of God. So in Colossians, chapter one, verse 13,. It says he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. During his earthly life, jesus demonstrated the characteristics of the kingdom through his miracles and his exorcisms. Even in the lord's Prayer we say thy kingdom come. That's the King James Version. We say your kingdom come, your will be done. What are we saying? Your kingdom, as it is in heaven. Let your kingdom come and overrule the kingdom of darkness that is here.
Speaker 1:There are two characteristics of the kingdom of God that I want to highlight. First, the kingdom of God brings freedom from natural evil. The kingdom of God brings freedom from natural evil. Mark, chapter 4, verse 39 to 41, reads and Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace, be still. And the wind seized and there was a great calm and they were filled with great fear and said to one another Jesus showed his power over natural evil. He healed many diseases and showed his power over natural evil. Second, the kingdom of God brings freedom from moral evil. Jesus performed at least seven exorcisms and there must have been many others, because he said he cast out many demons, but there's record of at least seven exorcisms that Jesus performed. Matthew, chapter 12, verse 28, says but if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. He attributes his exorcisms to the coming of the kingdom of God. The coming of the kingdom of God gets rid of moral evil.
Speaker 1:About 15 years ago I went back to India and I was there one Sunday and that was a baptism Sunday. The way it was done in that church is that when there's a baptism, we go to another location where Campus Crusade for Christ has a big baptism pool, and so our church members get baptized at that pool. This was a common practice in those churches nearby where multiple different churches would come to the same pool so they didn't have to have their own baptismal tank. So our church members there were about four or five of them that needed to get baptized we went to this baptismal tank and when we got there there was also another church that was there. We we agreed to go first and the pastor asked me to baptize the four or five believers. I went into the water. I baptized the five believers as they all came out. Then I was about to come out when the pastor of the other church asked me brother, do you mind baptizing our four or five believers? I said no problem at all. And so the next group of believers came one, two, three. The fourth one was a lady who was about in her 40s. Obviously I had not seen this church before or seen these believers before, and she came in.
Speaker 1:The way I do it is, I ask two questions, which is standard. Have you put your faith in jesus christ as Lord and Savior? They say yes. And then my second question is do you intend to live for him for the rest of your life? And if the answer is in the affirmative on both counts, then I baptize. And the way I do it is I have them fold their arms like they're praying so I can grab a hold of it. I put my hand at the back of their neck so as to stabilize it, and then I baptize. And so I asked her these questions have you believed in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? She was silent, and soon she started to sway and sway and sway and sway in circles, and I was holding her. I knew that this was not the strength of a 40-year-old lady. There was a supernatural strength to it. It took a minute for the people to realize what was going on. I thought she was going to drag both of us down, but we prayed over her because obviously there was something supernatural in her past and there was some supernatural reason why the powers didn't want her to get baptized. And so we prayed over her and we baptized her. There are demons everywhere. There are demons everywhere. There are demons everywhere. If you read the book of Daniel, you will know that there are demons that are arranged geographically, geographically arranged. They're organized and geographically arranged. They're organized and geographically arranged.
Speaker 1:About five years ago, I was invited to speak to a group of people in a West Asian country and they asked me to speak for a week on the topic of God. So for six hours every day, three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon I spoke on the topic of God. So this is a West Asian country, but the people that were there were from a Muslim country and the plan was for them to learn about God and the Bible and then go back to the Muslim country that I'm not going to name and be missionaries there, and so these brothers were here listening to the word of God. What I did was I would speak three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening, all week on God, and then in the evening I would hang out with them and hear their stories. One of the brothers that was there. Before I talked to him, I noticed that there was something different about his face. Since I'm trained to look at faces, I noticed that his lower jaw was kind of in front of his upper jaw and there was what is called as a vertical discrepancy of his maxilla and mandible. Then, one of the days I got to talk to him, he told me that, as he was disillusioned with the Islamic faith, he explored other religions and he started to deal with the occult and he said for about two years, every night a demon would come and abuse him. He was in so much pain that he ground his teeth and ground his jaw that his face had collapsed.
Speaker 1:In the West we don't really talk about demons, right? Well, you know, we came from the Enlightenment 500 years ago and reason explains everything. But that's not true. Just like Verbal said in the usual suspects, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is to convince the world that he does not exist. I want to be very clear about something, though If a person is not a believer, then a demon can get inside of them. That is called demon possession. But once a person becomes a believer, the spirit of the Lord is in you, and once the spirit of the Lord is in you, there is no demon that can come in you, but the demon can always influence you from the outside. That is why the Christian life is not an isolated life. You live in community, so that we don't get influenced by the demons or by the world.
Speaker 1:This is not a Bible study. I'm not doing a Bible study on Satan and demons. This is not the time for it, but let me give you some examples of demonic influence from the Bible. Some examples of demonic influence from the Bible Addictions of any kind. Addictions of any kind. Addictions of any kind. If you are not a believer, you can have a demon in you causing addictions. My family deals with drug and alcohol. We do rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. We know the power that addiction has on people. It is a non-human power that you can't do anything about. How? About pervasive evil? Some of the world's ruthless dictators are most likely possessed by the devil or possessed by demons.
Speaker 1:The Bible also talks about physical sicknesses. The bible talks about mental illnesses and psychological issues. The bible also talks about spiritual oppression. I remember about 25 years ago I taught on the topic of satan and demons and for some reason I stretched it out over two weeks. Those two weeks were, at that time, one of the worst experiences for me. There was so much of spiritual oppression sitting right on my head, it was just so much to handle. How about aversion to spiritual things? 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God. I want to emphasize that not all physical illnesses is caused by demon possession or influence. Not all mental illnesses is caused by demon possession or influence, just like not all sin is directly because a demon is causing you to sin. You can sin because of our own weak nature. A demon is causing you to sin. You can sin because of our own weak nature, but we have to consider the possibility that some of our illnesses, some of our things that happen anything on this list could be from demon possession if you're not a believer, or demon influence if you are a believer.
Speaker 1:The parables of Jesus show a description of the kingdom of God. The miracles of Jesus show the characteristics of the kingdom of God. So essentially, the entire life and ministry of Jesus was all about the kingdom of God. Ladies and gentlemen, in Jesus the kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God overcomes moral and natural evil and brings in the reign of righteousness. On earth we can have only a partial manifestation of the kingdom of God On earth. We can have only a partial manifestation. Why? Because of the coexistence of the kingdom of darkness. There is a coexistence of the kingdom of darkness. There is a coexistence of the kingdom of darkness, but in heaven there will be the complete manifestation of the kingdom of God, because there is no kingdom of darkness. So in Revelation, chapter 21, verses 3 to 4, it says and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the unrestrained, complete manifestation of the kingdom of God. It starts as small as a mustard seed and fills the heavens.
Speaker 1:Fifth, and very quickly, let's look at citizenship in the kingdom of God. How does one become a citizen of the kingdom of God? How does a person become a member of the kingdom of God? In John, chapter 3, verse 3, it says Jesus answered him. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. All we need to do is to believe in Jesus and be born again, and once that happens, we end up living in this in-between phase where we are living in the kingdom of God but we're also living associated with the kingdom of darkness. It is always going to be those two kingdoms together as we live together, and then it is only in heaven that we will have no shadow of the kingdom of evil.
Speaker 1:Let me end with one picture. This is a picture of a 15-year-old Meghan Markle. For a second, I want you to forget whether she's a lying manipulator or whether she's a pioneering victim. Okay, let's forget about that Just a second, but I want you to see this picture of Meghan Markle, age 15, with a friend. She's outside Buckingham Palace and about 20 years later she is inside Buckingham Palace. How does a person go from being outside the palace to inside the palace? You do it by associating with the sun from the palace, isn't it?
Speaker 1:The small to colossal idea of the kingdom of God is also seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus had a scandalous birth. Born to an unwed mother in Bethlehem, he grew up in a tiny town called Nazareth, a town so small that it has no mention of it in the old testament, and the town so poor that there is no archaeological remnants from that town. And when he died he was buried in a tomb that was not his own. And three days later he met a motley crew of people that were frightened and scared. And yet he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. He is the one through whom all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things things, and in him all things hold together. He has the name that is above every other name, and it is at his name that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to the glory of god, the father. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the son who will take you into the palace and into the kingdom.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give the opportunity for two groups of people to respond to this sermon. If there's anyone here who's never invited Jesus into your life and you're not part of the kingdom of God, I'm going to ask you to stand up and we will pray together. For the second group of people, if there is anyone here who is under the burden and the bondage of the kingdom of darkness, I'm going to ask you to stand up and we will pray together. If there's anyone here who knows somebody or is related to life, you can pray this prayer after me. It's not a magical prayer, but if it's a prayer that comes from the bottom of your heart, jesus will answer it. You can pray something like this dear Lord Jesus, I am a part of the kingdom of darkness and I cannot save myself. Thank you that you came to inaugurate the kingdom of God. Thank you for your life, thank you for your death, thank you for your resurrection. I ask you to come into my life and make me complete, make me a child of the kingdom of God, and thank you for the promise of eternal life. In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:I'm going to pray for those of us who are standing up. I'm going to pray for those of us who are standing up. If you don't know Jesus, the first step is to come into the kingdom of God. So, for those of us standing up who are praying for freedom from demonic forces, the first step is coming to know Jesus, and I'm going to ask you to say a phrase. I want you to say the phrase Jesus is Lord and mean it. All right, let's say the phrase Jesus is Lord. If he is not Lord, then we can have demon possession. No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the spirit of God, heavenly father.
Speaker 1:I pray for those of us who are standing up. Thank you that Jesus came to destroy the works of the evil one. We thank you that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. I pray for every person here, whether they are struggling themselves or they are vicariously standing for someone else. I pray that, in the name of Jesus, that you would set them free. I pray that, in the name of Jesus, that you would set them free. I pray that, in the name of Jesus, you would get rid of every demonic oppression, every demonic influence that is upon their lives, whether it is fear or not being able to forgive, or pervasive sin of whatever kind. I pray, holy Spirit, spirit, that you would move in power upon their lives and you would set them free. I pray that this would be the starting point of a long life of freedom in Jesus Christ. Thank you that you came to set us free and we are free. Indeed, in Jesus name, I pray Amen, thank you.