The Kingdom of God

In December 1948, during the recovery from war, the story goes that a radio station in Washington DC did a piece on the state of the world. They asked some of the foreign ambassadors to America what they would most like that Christmas-time. And the French ambassador said he'd like to see peace throughout the world. The Russian ambassador said he'd like to see freedom for all people. Whereas the British ambassador, misunderstanding the question, said he would like a box of crystallised fruit. So while others wanted to see an end to fighting and oppression, Sir Oliver apparently just wanted some orange and lemon slices.

What would you like to see an end to in the world? Imagine you could draw up a wish-list of everything you'd like the world to be rid of. What would be on it? Terrorism? War? Disease? Poverty? Whatever was on your list, I guess you could rub it all out and just write one word: 'Evil'. Because that covers the evils we do. And it covers the evils we live under, as a result of the fall – the mortality and environmental threats which are God's blanket judgments on the sin of the human race.

And the Bible never gives an answer that explains why God allowed evil in the first place. But it does give an answer that helps us face it. And that answer is: that God will ultimately deal with it and bring about a place where there is no more evil. And the Bible calls that place 'the kingdom of God' – which just means the place where God is the unopposed king, where everyone does his will perfectly, so that there is no more evil. And in today's passage in our series on Luke, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God.

So would you turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 13, verse 18. I've got two headings to help us look at this passage, and the first is this:

1. The Kingdom of God: How it's going to Happen (vv18-21)

So Luke chapter 13, verse 18:

He [Jesus] said, therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like?"

And that word 'therefore', refers back to what had just happened – which is that Jesus had healed a terribly disabled woman. And Jesus always said that his miracles were 'signs' of the fact that he'd come to bring in the kingdom of God. So one day, beyond this life, Jesus will bring about that place where there's no more evil – including no more disease. And this woman's healing (like all the healings Jesus did) was a sign of that – a sneak preview or trailer or foretaste of the kingdom of God. So, verse 18, 'therefore' Jesus had some explaining to do about the kingdom of God.

Now if you asked people today what they thought the 'kingdom of God' was, most would probably have no idea. Whereas in Jesus' day, most people didn't have no idea; they had the wrong idea. Because most people thought that the 'Christ' – that is, the person sent to bring in the kingdom of God – was going to come into the world and in an instant, 'wham-bam' operation, get rid of all the evil. So that one moment you had all the terrorism and disease and poverty and everything. And the next you had the kingdom of God.

And quite a few non-Christians think that's what God should do. People often say to me, 'Why doesn't God do something about all the evil in the world?' But what they don't seem to register is that we're all part of the evil in the world. We all contribute to the evil in the world. So asking God to step in and do something about it is actually asking him to step in and do something about us. It's asking him to bring on the day of judgement. And if God had done that when he sent his Son into the world that first Christmas-time, history would have ended there and then, and the human race would have been condemned. And that's why Jesus didn't come to do the instant, 'wham-bam' thing. He came to do the mustard seed thing. Look down to verses 18-19:

He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden…"

So they thought it was going to be the instant overthrow of all evil. But Jesus said, 'No, it's going to be like a bloke planting a mustard seed.' And mustard seeds are the smallest seeds going. So they look like nothing, and like they'll do nothing when you plant them. And Jesus is saying, 'What I've come to do, in my first coming, is like that.' And what he's talking about is his death on the cross followed by his resurrection – because that above all is what he came to do. So he's saying, 'At first glance, that looks like nothing and like it's going to do nothing.' After all, what is one person's death going to do about the problem of evil? Well, look at verses 18-19 again:

He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."

And you can imagine everyone thinking, 'You can tell he knows nothing about gardening – the best you'll get from a mustard seed is a four-foot bush. Stick to carpentry, Jesus!' But Jesus says something deliberately over the top here, because what his death and resurrection are about to unleash is bigger than anyone listening could have imagined. And in fact what Jesus is doing in this mini-parable is painting a picture of history between his first and second comings. And it's a picture of more and more and more and more people hearing about his death and resurrection, and responding to him – asking his forgiveness, accepting him as King, and letting him get to work on the evil in their lives and start changing what needs changing. So it's a picture of the unstoppable numerical growth of his kingdom. But in verses 20-21 Jesus paints another picture:

And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour [which, in their units, was another totally over the top amount – enough to feed an army], until it was all leavened."

So why this second picture of the same thing? I think there are two reasons. One is that Jesus wanted the women listening to feel totally included. So in verse 19, the kingdom of God is like 'a mustard seed that a man took…' In verse 21, it's like 'leaven that a woman took…' So I take it that Jesus uses two pictures, to show that he's got both men and women in mind and that he wants to get his teaching across to both. By and large, Judaism in Jesus' day didn't teach women: some Rabbis said you shouldn't – that the law was wasted on them. But Jesus was radically different. From Luke 8 onwards, we read that women were part of his discipleship team and that he saw them and taught them as spiritual equals with the men.

The other reason for this second picture is that it adds the idea of an amazingly powerful change-agent. So leaven is just a piece of dough that already has yeast in it. And this woman mixes it with some new dough, and the yeast works through the whole lot, which is a picture of the fact that the gospel doesn't just add people numerically to Jesus' kingdom. It's an amazingly powerful change-agent.

So, for example, in our church plant in Gateshead, you can meet Billy. And Billy would tell you that, before coming to Christ, he was an alcoholic; he was married but unfaithful; and he and his family were falling apart. But then he heard Billy Graham at Roker Park in 1984 and he was converted. And by God's grace, he's not touched alcohol since, his marriage and family have stayed together and been rebuilt – and several of them are now believers as well. And he was mocked for years by mates saying, 'So you've "got saved" have you, Billy?' And he once said to me, 'I always told them, 'You can laugh – but I really know what it means to be saved.' And given what's happened in his life, there's no answer to that.

So Jesus was saying, 'I've come to do the mustard seed thing, the leaven thing: I've come to die for your forgiveness and rise again. And as that message spreads, my kingdom will grow numerically and see people changed – in this life and finally in heaven – in a way that's bigger than you could ever imagine.' How easy do you think that would have been for one of Luke's first readers to believe – when the church was maybe just tens of thousands? It's very different for us. As David quotes in this month's church newsletter, the figures in 2013 showed there were 2.4 billion professing Christians in the world – a third of its population. So even allowing for inaccuracy in what those figures really mean, we live at a time when we can see the amazing fulfilment of these two mini-parables.

And yet, especially in our neck of the woods, we're still tempted to think that the kingdom of God – Jesus's cause in the world – is weak and small – like a mustard seed or pinch of dough – and that nothing's really going to happen as we share the gospel. And we need to resist that temptation, because the mustard seed or pinch of dough that is the gospel is unimaginably powerful, as God plants it in people's hearts and lives, by the working of his Spirit. Witness Billy. Witness you if you're a believer. Witness all the other believers around you this morning – some of whom, if you'd met them as unbelievers, you'd have been tempted to think would never come to faith in a million years. Paul wrote that,

the word of the cross… is the power of God(1 Corinthians 1.18)

And we need to trust that and keep plugging away to get the word out to others. So here's the most predictable application from the passage this morning: let's make the most of Christmas, which is culturally the easiest time to do that. Let's invite and bring people to whichever Christmas service would suit them. Let's go to the resources area and find Christmas booklets to give or send people to read. And let's pray especially for David this week, preparing his talk for Carols by Candlelight – because it's our most energy-consuming evangelistic event of the year, and it basically all hangs on those 12 minutes he's speaking for.

Stepping back from that immediate, Christmassy application, the general message is that we should expect our church to grow. That is why we plan for growth and talk about numbers we'd like to see us get to, and that's often new to people, and can sound presumptuous. But it's not. Because these mini-parables show that the Lord Jesus clearly expects his kingdom to grow. And that's why we've followed his leading in making St Joseph's happen – so that as 200 move there, it leaves room for new growth here and creates a new opportunity for growth there. So that's 'The Kingdom of God: How it's going to Happen'. And then my heading for the rest of the passage is:

2. The Kingdom of God: How You Become Part of it (vv22-30)

Look on to Luke chapter 13, verses 22-23:

He [Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?"

And 'those who are saved' means 'those whom Jesus saves when he does come again, to overthrow evil in an instant' – those he does have in his kingdom in the end. So this bloke asks, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" Verses 23-27:

And [Jesus] said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us', then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!

So it's another mini-parable. And the 'door' is the way into relationship with Jesus, into his kingdom. And it's open right now. But it won't be forever. The time will arrive when Jesus the master comes again, and shuts the door. And if you didn't go through it in this life, there won't be another chance beyond this life. So this bloke asks, 'Will few be saved?' To which Jesus basically says, 'No, will you be saved? That's the question you really need to know the answer to.'

Maybe today's equivalent of this bloke's question is, 'What about those who've never heard about Jesus – what about the pygmy in deepest, darkest Africa?' I'm often asked that. And there are various things the Bible says to that. But judging by Luke 13, I guess Jesus' first answer might be: 'Hold on. What about you? Because you have heard. And if you do believe me, you need to get on and respond to me. And then you can start telling others about me – and become part of the solution to the problem of those who haven't heard.' There is more to say to that question, from the Bible. But taking our lead from Luke 13, I think that's probably the first thing to say to it.

And in fact what Jesus does with this bloke's question is typical of what God does in the Bible as a whole. Because the Bible isn't interested in telling us everything we'd like to know. It's interested in telling us what we really need to know to be saved – in other words, to come back into relationship with God and then live in relationship with him until we go to be with him. And the Bible tells us enough for that, but no more. So it leaves us with plenty of questions not answered as fully as we'd like, and other questions not answered at all. So look back to verse 24 and let's see what Jesus thinks we really need to hear:

And [Jesus] said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door."

So Jesus has died to pay for the forgiveness we all need. He's risen from the dead and returned to heaven. So he's alive. He's there. And he says, 'Imagine there's a doorway between you and me. And the door's open, but it's really narrow.'

I was out at Gibside, or one of those other National Trust places with a children's adventure play castle. And I made the mistake of trying to follow Naomi, our three year-old, through this kind of trap door. And I got stuck. And this little boy behind me waited patiently and then finally said, 'Are you going through or not?' And I thought, 'That's a very good question.' And that's Jesus' picture – that the door between us and him is really narrow, and hard to get through. But we need to get through it.

Now let me clarify what Jesus is not saying. Jesus is not saying, 'You've got to try really hard to be good, and that's how you push the door open and get me to accept you.' He's not saying that – because, remember, in this mini-parable, the door is already open. He opened it by dying for us on the cross. And you can imagine a sign on the door saying, 'Forgiveness available, whoever you are, whatever you've done. Come in!' So going through it isn't hard because you have to earn his acceptance – you don't, and you can't. Going through is hard for two reasons.

Reason number 1 is that, to go through the door, you have to ask his forgiveness:

That means you have to admit you need it. You have to admit, however good you are relatively speaking, that in Jesus' eyes you fall more short of his standards than you could possibly imagine. And you have to admit that there's nothing you can do to put that right or make up for it. And that's not just hard for us in our natural pride. The Bible says it's actually impossible – unless God works in us by his Spirit to help us do it.

And then reason number 2 why going through the door is so hard is that you have to accept Jesus as King as you go through it:

Because it's the door into his kingdom, and he isn't calling us just to be forgiven and then stay the same. That would do nothing for the problem of evil in the world. In fact, it would add to it. He's calling us to be forgiven and changed – just like Billy, who I mentioned earlier. So that we let him show us everything that's wrong with us, and let him start changing us, start getting the evil out of us. And that's also not just hard for us, but impossible – unless God works in us by his Spirit to help us do it.

So if you have 'gone through that door' back into relationship with Jesus – don't pat yourself on the back. Thank God. Because you wouldn't ever have gone through unless God by his Spirit had drawn you through. And if you haven't yet gone through, above all, you need to know that the door is open to you – that forgiveness is available to you whoever you are and whatever you've done. And if you're wanting to know how to go through – how to respond to Jesus and know you're a Christian – then please pick up one of these booklets, 'Why Jesus?', from the Welcome Desk or one of the literature racks at the doors and read it today.

So, for some of us, the issue is that we've not yet responded to Jesus – and need to. For those of us who have done, the issue is getting the word out to others, many of whom have no sense of their need for it. Either way, Jesus is reminding us that there's an urgency to all this. Because at the end of our time in this life, the door will be shut. And there will be no second chances. The Lord Jesus says here that if throughout this life people say 'No' to him – 'I won't have you as my king' – then with no pleasure at all, he'll have to say 'No' to them – 'I can't have you in my kingdom.' Because you can't be part of a kingdom if you won't accept the king. You can't enjoy a place free of evil if you won't submit to having the evil taken out of you.

So Jesus says clearly that, beyond this life, there is another place, apart from his kingdom – verse 28:

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [i.e., regret, and self-recrimination], when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

But Jesus only talks about hell because he doesn't want people to go there. What he wants is in verse 29:

And people will come from east and west, and from north and south [in other words, from all nations, all over the world], and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

That's what he wants for us. That's why he died for us. And that's why, along with the bloke who asked him this question in Luke 13, he wants us to ask ourselves if we've really responded to him. Because, verse 30:

...some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

In other words, some who are 'last' in having the privilege of hearing about Jesus, do respond – like the student from China who's never before met a Christian or read a Bible – but accepts Jesus within a year of being here. Whereas some who are 'first' in having that privilege don't respond – like the Brit who knows it all, thanks to Christian parents, or a Christian husband or wife, or just being around church for years and years; and who maybe privately agrees with quite a lot of it, and tries to live by what are actually mostly Christian values. But they don't respond to Jesus – because they think that trying to live a good life along kind-of-Christian lines is enough.

But thinking back to where we began – to the problem of evil, which all of us are part of – it's not enough. Because there is such a thing as the kingdom of God; and Jesus is going to come again to overthrow all evil and bring in that kingdom. And you and I will only be part of it if we go through that 'narrow door' of responding to him – now.