In several weeks we will begin studying the book of Nehemiah. There are a number of issues I want us to understand as we approach this book so that our heads and hearts are in the right place. Today I want us to address the heart. How is it that we should respond to the Word of God?
I address the heart first because, as both Jesus and Solomon tell us, it is out of the heart that the mouth speaks; the heart that controls the mind and directs it whithersoever it will. We study, we value, we respond to what we love, to what we esteem and revere. So our hearts must be rightly directed to God’s Word and, if this is accomplished, our understanding of the Word of God will grow accordingly. So how should we respond to the Word of God?
On more than one occasion Jesus alluded to the life of Jonah to explain the significance of his ministry. And it is to one of these occasions that I want to direct our attention this morning. The reason is that Jesus’ allusion to the prophet Jonah helps us understand both the meaning of Jesus’ ministry and the meaning of the resurrection which we are celebrating this Easter morning.
For the last several weeks we have been considering what it means to be citizens of heaven, what it means to bring a taste of heaven to earth. We have emphasized the centrality of thankfulness as well as the necessity of communal language. Last week we explored the way that communal language should drive us as we deal with conflict and sin – in particular, how we deal with others who sin against us. Today I would like us to consider a related but distinct matter. How do we deal with our own sin? First, how should we respond when we are confronted over our sin? Second, how should we view past sin?
For the last couple weeks we have spoken about what it means to be citizens of heaven. We found that as citizens of heaven our task is to bring a taste of heaven to earth; to Christianize the world in the same way in which Roman citizens were to Romanize the empire.
As we consider this call and our obligation to use Kingdom Language, we can be tempted to wonder how to apply communal language, pre-Fall language, Edenic language, in a fallen world? It can seem that this whole venture of speaking with communal language is an exercise in futility, wishful thinking. In particular, I would like us to take up the question: How do we deal with the sin that potentially disrupts the union that we share? Paul exhorted us to cease lying to one another, to speak the truth to one another, precisely because we are members of one another, we are of the same flesh and bone, united to Christ and to His Church. So how do we preserve this unity when sin intrudes and endeavors to destroy it?
Last week we observed one of the tangible ways that we as God’s people are to be bringing a taste of heaven to earth – we are to thankful, overflowing with gratitude. Another way in which the Church is to be a taste of heaven on earth is in the use of our tongues – the way in which we speak to and about one another. We are familiar with Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” But perhaps it is valuable to ask another question that we less frequently reflect upon – why speak this way? What is the rationale for kingdom language? Communal language?
I want us to consider today’s sermon as a sort of EpiPen. For spiritually, no less than physically, there are certain things that if we get them in our system, they will kill us. And one of these is ingratitude. Webster defines ingratitude as “lack of gratitude: forgetfulness of or poor return for kindness received: ungratefulness.” Get a dose of ingratitude in your spiritual system and soon bitterness and resentment will cloud your judgment, your heart will begin to shrivel, and, apart from some intervention, you will die. I hope this will help serve as that intervention.
For the last seven weeks we have been studying the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the King of Kings, the Lord of all the earth. He established His Kingdom during his ministry, continues to reign in the present during which He is bringing all the nations to honor and worship Him, and will bring the Kingdom to a close when He returns in glory and hands the Kingdom back to His Father, when He relinquishes His Messianic office. In light of the last two weeks and our study of Jesus’ kingdom work in the here and now – that Jesus is in the business of spreading His reign throughout the earth such that all the nations shall serve Him, all shall bow before Him and acknowledge His Lordship – the question naturally arises – How does He go about discipling the nations of the earth?
He has conquered the world, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to our Messiah, how shall he solidify His rule? How does He spread the culture of the Kingdom of God throughout the world, making the world increasingly like heaven? How does He subject the kingdoms of the earth to Himself?
The book of Daniel is, like the Old Testament as a whole, full of anticipation. It looks forward to the coming time when God would establish His kingdom and bring to naught the idolatrous kingdoms of the world. Whether these idolatrous kingdoms are pictured as a massive statue of different metals or a series of wild beasts, the end of the imagery rests with the establishment of God’s kingdom. And in both instances the way in which God’s kingdom is described emphasizes the expansive growth which His kingdom would experience. Whether it is pictured as a rock growing to fill the earth or as the Son of Man inheriting a kingdom such that all nations shall serve Him, the vision of the Messianic Age is very optimistic. These passages from Daniel reinforce what we observed last week – the vision of the Messianic Age in the OT anticipates all the nations of the earth acknowledging the authority of the Messiah prior to the end of history. With these passages in mind, therefore, we approach our question today – Does the NT embrace the notion that all the nations of the earth will acknowledge the Lordship of Christ prior to the end of history, during the course of the Messianic Age?
Thus far in our study of eschatology or last things we have learned that Jesus now reigns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the ruler over the kings of the earth. We are not waiting for His Kingdom to arrive – His Kingdom has come. Nevertheless, we do await the consummation of all things, the resurrection of the dead, the life everlasting, the world to come – and so we continue to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” But what should we expect between the inauguration and consummation of the Kingdom? How should we think about the present time, the Messianic Age? What will Jesus’ reign look like?
