ASK QUESTION: The Kingdom of God is?
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52, Romans 8
Unexpected, unseen, perhaps subversive.
The Kingdom of Heaven disrupts.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not about business as usual, but is about a new economy of God’s justice that doesn’t make sense to the way of the world.
At hand.
Found in ordinary places, by people that are earnestly searching for it.
Always present, even if we are unaware.
Worth our whole lives
The Good News – Good stuff
ROMANS
There’s too much good stuff this passage is the of the book of Romans there is too much good stuff to explore.
Most of the time Paul’s writings leave me cold his wordy sentences make my eyes cross and his way of circling around the topic again and again makes me dizzy.
But not this passage when we stop at this convenience store will find plenty of options to choose from there’s just too much good stuff so which of the good stuff will we buy this week?
I don’t know about you but when I stop at a convenience store it’s because I need something right then.
That’s what’s great about this passage it has good stuff that we can use in the moment.
There’s good stuff in here with for when we feel we are at our weakest.
We are reassured the spirit speaks for us in those moments.
There’s good stuff in here for when all things seem to be wrong in our lives. We are reassured that God can yet make it worthwhile.
There’s good stuff in here for when we feel sure that everything and everyone is against us. We are reassured that God is for us and that means everything.
There is good stuff in here for when we feel judged and condemned by life the promise is that God is our justice
- no one but God gets the last word on our worthiness
- no one but God gets the last word on the value of the events of our lives
- no one but God gets the last word on what is good
So when this world is full of trouble pain and sorrow, God gets the last word.
What is the last word – love is the last word.
Nothing can come between us and the last word neither death nor life neither Angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers or any other thing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
- COVID-19 cannot separate us from God’s love
- The fear of the spread of COVID 19 in Australian states cannot separate us from God’s love
- Border jumpers cannot separate us from God’s love
- war and rumours of war cannot separate us from God’s love
Nothing can separate us from the power of God that is in Christ Jesus.
It will try it may seem like those things are going to be successful in keeping God’s love from reigning Supreme, but it won’t.
All of it will fall away, none of it will last none of it but love. LOVE is the last word.
Through the Innocent Perfection, JESUS, who gave his life for us, we have been forever changed by the power of the cross and brought into this great love of God.
This kind of love calls us by name and lifts us up. It gives us a mercy which is new every day.
It allows us to live from a place of love and acceptance, not a place of striving or earning.
Ways of the World?
GOSPEL – PARABLES AISLE
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
“The kingdom of heaven is like…” what is the kingdom of heaven like?
We need Jesus to tell us because we are mired in the kingdoms of the earth and find it hard to imagine what God truly wants for all of us.
Our tiny seed of faith maturing into a place to provide shelter for all. Faith and love mixed like yeast into a community where all can feel the abundance of God’s grace.
The treasures of God’s love for which we would give up every material thing.
A net which gathers up all that we are and sorts out the pain, anger, and fear so that only love and grace remain.
The kingdom of heaven… in times such as these, we need to cling to the parables about the kingdom of heaven so that we remember who we are and who made us.
Mustard Seed and Yeast – Addressed to crowd. Stresses God’s action. Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t work the way we expect it to.
Treasure in the field, pearl of great value – Addressed to disciples. Stresses human response. Kingdom of Heaven is found in ordinary places and is worth our whole life.
Treasure in a field.
“The kingdom of God within us is a treasure indeed, but a treasure hid from the world, and from the most wise and prudent in it. He that finds this treasure, (perhaps when he thought it far from him,) hides it deep in his heart, and gives up all other happiness for it.” From John Wesley’s notes.
This is a note of prevenient grace, the grace that precedes any action, understanding, or initiative on our part. There is within every human heart a treasure that God has placed.
Pearl of great value.
Sold all he had to buy one pearl of great value.
It is hard to imagine how this is a wise business decision.
Kingdom of God takes full devotion. There is no halfway.
Treasure, Pearl, and Fish – the human response to the inbreaking kingdom
At hand.
Found in ordinary places, by people that are earnestly searching for it.
Always present, even if we are unaware.
Worth our whole lives We are simply free to respond to the love of God with our lives. Oh Lord, let us do that today!
Now that is good stuff.