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INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

      The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
      It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"-  3 "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.  6 John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
      At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
      At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert,  13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
      After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
      On your mark, get set, . . .BANG!  If you know anything running the 100 meters in track you know that once the gun goes off the competitors are out the blocks in a flash, racing toward the finish line.  Obviously, they are in a hurry.  That's the way Mark begins his account of the Gospel.  He can't wait to reach the place where he feels it really begins.
      He says absolutely nothing about Gabriel, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, or Mary.  He's silent about the birth of Jesus.  He does spend a half-dozen lines on John, but flies through his baptism of Jesus.  He barely mentions the temptations in the wilderness.  So in record time, leaving Matthew and Luke in his dust, he arrives at the place where he believes the gospel really begins - with Jesus' first sermon and possibly the shortest sermon ever recorded.
"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
      And what is the good news?  The kingdom of God is near, it is at hand.   It is so close we can practically reach out our hand and touch it.  But we don't know enough to reach out our hand, so as it is, he reaches out his hand.  He  invites us to repent; to make an 180° turn and grab hold so as to be pulled into the Kingdom of God.  He offers us his hand so we can be rescued from the dominion of darkness.
      But as men and women followed Jesus, the Kingdom of God failed to materialize according to their expectations.  They were looking for the reestablishment of the Davidic Kingdom where they would reign alongside the King of kings over all the nations.  To correct their thinking Jesus piled parable upon parable trying to drum into their thick skulls what he meant by the kingdom being at hand.
      He said it was like a not-too-bright farmer who sowed his seed with no regard for the condition of the soil.  He told of a midnight farmer who was up to no good, sowing weeds while the world slept.  He spoke of the mustard seed trying to tell them that the kingdom in its present form undoubtedly appears insignificant but would grow to be the greatest of all kingdoms.  He declared that the kingdom is like a buried treasure, a priceless pearl, a great feast where everyone is invited but very few want to attend.  He even went so far as to give his disciples the keys to the kingdom.
      Then on the Mount of Olives, in the shadow of the cross, in light of a statement about the temple buildings being torn down, the disciples came to him privately and asked a question, actually several questions.  In Matthew 24:3b we read:
"Tell us, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
      Jesus' reply is rather lengthy.  But as part of his reply he shared six stories with his disciples.  Each of the stories are designed, or so I believe, to communicate a single  characteristic about the kingdom on the cusp of  becoming the glorified kingdom.
      The story of Noah's ark tells us that the second coming of Christ will come as a surprise.  It will come unexpectedly not only for unbelievers but believers as well.  The only difference being that believers, while surprised, will not be caught off-guard.
      The second story of the home owner and the thief tells us we need to be prepared twenty four hours a day seven days a  week; 24/7.  It would be nice to know the time and date ahead of time but God in his wisdom has chosen not to share his divine calendar with us. 
      The third story of the two servants, one faithful and the other wicked, as shown by how they handled the delay, tells us that we will reap what we sow.  The faithful servant, the one who could be found doing his job regardless of when the master dropped by, was promoted.  The other one was cut to pieces and sentenced to live out his life with the hypocrites. 
      The fourth story of the ten virgins, five foolish and five wise, tells us that if we think we can get ready at the last minute we are wrong.  We need to stay ready to keep from having to get ready!
      The parable of the talents, the fifth story, tells us that everyone will undergo a  performance review.  As a result, some will enter into our master's happiness.  The  joy Jesus has in his Father, in his relationships, in his creation, and in his ongoing work, will be our joy.  The others?  The others, those who choose to look out for their own well-being with no regard for the Master, will live out their lives in utter darkness.1
      In light of the fifth story let me ask you a few questions.   Does the message of this story motivate you to work harder and smarter?   Do evaluations make you nervous?  What must we do to receive a great performance review? 
      We now come to the sixth story.  In Matthew 25:31 - 46 we read:
      "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
      "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
      "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
      "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
      "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
      "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
      "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
      "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
      "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world" (v. 34).  The inheritance Jesus speaks of, our inheritance, is the kingdom itself.  This kingdom, the one that was so close we could almost reach out and touch it, has been right in front of us since the beginning.  In fact, it is literally where it has been since the very beginning - right here on earth!
      In the beginning, when God walked with Adam and Eve in Garden, prior to Satan grabbing what was not his to grab, earth was Heaven's backyard.   The New Earth will be more than simply Heaven's backyard, it will be engulfed by Heaven itself.  For in Ephesians 1:10 Paul makes it clear that the plan of the ages has been to bring heaven and earth together.  In vv. 3 - 10 we read:
      "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-  6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,  10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."
      In the hymn, "This Is My Father's World" the truth of v. 10 is seen in the final verse where it says "Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heaven will be one."  Just as God and mankind are reconciled in Christ, so too the dwellings of God and mankind - Heaven and Earth - will be reconciled in Christ!
      Who inherits the kingdom?  Is it those who invested in the kingdom as seen in the fifth story?  Yes, but not because they invested in the kingdom.  They wisely invested in the kingdom because they loved and respected their master and they were rewarded appropriately.  They inherited the kingdom, however, not because of what they did for the master but because of who they are - children of the king.
      This is the point of this sixth story.  The good deeds done on behalf of the least of Jesus' brothers are not simply works of compassion, they are a reflection of a transformed being.  They are a true reflection of where an individual stands in relation to the kingdom and to Jesus himself.
      The fact that the righteous were surprised by Jesus' explanation makes it impossible to even consider the idea that their works of righteousness had anything to do with their inheritance, except in the sense of revealing their true nature.  The good deeds were performed simply because of how the righteous felt about Jesus.
      It is easier to see this by looking at two examples taken from the opposite side.  The first comes in the form of a joke.  Imagine a comedian, perhaps in Las Vegas, standing on stage.  After getting the audiences attention he or she says,
"A homeless person said to me, 'I haven't had anything to eat for two days.'  I replied, 'I wish I had your willpower.'"
      The audience was setup with a situation they could easily picture in their mind.  An awkward situation where regardless of how we respond we wonder whether or not we've done the right thing.  To our surprise, the comedian shows us how to cleverly sidestep the issue.
      But if this happened in reality it would be a sad commentary on the comedian.  For here is an individual who, by their response to a very real need, revealed that they were simply and totally wrapped up in themselves. 
      What is interesting to note, is that it is the seemingly insignificant encounters in our life that reveal our true nature.  So in a very real sense, these seemingly insignificant encounters do an end run around our hypocrisy and show us, as well as the rest of the world, our true nature.
      The second example is no joke.  When Saul was young and foolish, but deadly serious, he breathed out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.  After Stephen's death, after the disciples were scattered, he received permission from the high priest to travel to Damascus so that if he found any who belonged to the Way he could drag them back to Jerusalem to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Picking up the story in Acts 9:3 - 6 we read:
      As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
      "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
      "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.  6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
      Saul's treatment of those who belonged to the Way, of those who believed Christ was the Messiah, was an honest reflection of how he felt about Jesus.  So when he persecuted Jesus' brothers and sisters he persecuted Jesus himself.  He revealed his true colors by how he treated the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters!
         

1     See I Corinthians 3:5 - 9 and II Corinthians 5:9 - 10 where Paul reminded the Corinthian church of  the certainty of a future evaluation.    I think we find this message in I and II Corinthians, and not in the other letters of Paul, for here was a church that was so argumentative, so wrapped up in themselves, that they were failing to prepare for the future kingdom.

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