Calvary United Methodist Church

April 10, 2016

IF NOT OF

Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks

Children’s Sermon: Luke 17:20-21

The joy of our gathering is that people of every age and station in life

are welcome to come and serve and celebrate the Lord. We welcome

the children to the front of this worship space to give thanks to God for

the gift of His Good News. Good morning! Good to see every-

body! How are you doing this morning? Beautiful day!

I wondered if you brought your thinking caps with you because it is

time to put them on.

Here’s a little bit of a game we are going to play and it is, “What do

these things have in common?” So we are going to complete a series

of sentences that have a blank in them.

Here’s the first one: His name is…blank Kong. (King) King. Have

you ever seen the King Kong movie? There are about five of

them. (I’ve heard of King Kong) You’ve heard of King Kong, good

enough.

These are blank penguins? (Emperor) Oh, that’s true, but there’s an-

other name for them. (Macaroni?) Macaroni Penguins? The other

name I was thinking of is King, but I like your name better!

This guy is the Burger (King). Ah, you are starting to catch on, I can

see this.

This is the blank of hearts… (King) King of hearts.

This is the coffin of blank Tut… (King) King, ok, I see you are catch-

ing on real fast.

This is a blank Cobra. (King) King Cobra, exactly right.

This is a blank sized bed (King) King.

This is the blank of Rock ‘n Roll (King). Now, here’s and extra credit

question: what’s that guy’s name? (Elvis Presley) Elvis…don’t say it

like everybody knows that! There was not one kid up front here in the

early service who knew that that was Elvis Presley. (What!?) Exact-

ly! What!? That’s what I said! What!? Yeah!

Now, what do these things have in common? You’ve already identi-

fied that you saw it right out of the gate.

These are all things that are kings!

A “king” is someone or something judged to be at the top. It is the

biggest, the brightest or the best in some way.

And when you identify the thing that it is king, you crown it. You give

it the title of king and the big fancy hat that goes with being a king is

called a “Crown”. Have you ever seen a crown? Yeah, they are huge

right? They are usually big; they have a lot of cool things on them like

jewels.

And the one who rules, wearing a crown, rules in a king-dom. It is the

territory that they rule. For example, Elvis rules Rock ‘n Roll accord-

ing to those who judge him to be the king. The King or Emperor Pen-

guin rules over the other Penguins in the community.

So, kings are the biggest, the brightest or the best in some way. So

who is the biggest, brightest and best of all the kings?

Who wears the most glorious crown?

Who rules over all the king-doms? (Jesus!) What, are you guys cheat-

ing or something?

Yes! It’s Jesus, and he has the title “The King of Kings!” Now, that’s

kind of an odd thing to call somebody, the King of Kings.

Here’s how we get that idea that Jesus is the King of Kings. This

comes from Luke in the 17th chapter: The Pharisees heard, who were a

group of people who thought they knew a lot about God, the Pharisees

heard Jesus talking about the Kingdome of God. And they had some

questions, as the Pharisees usually did. Here were a couple of them:

“When will this kingdom arrive?” they said. “What will it look like?”

And “Where will it be?” You see, they were thinking of kingdom as

something that they were used to seeing or describing. Some place

where somebody rules and you’ll be able to see who the king is be-

cause he’s walking around with a crown. However, it was a little bit

different with what Jesus was describing. So, Jesus replied, “Don’t

check your calendar. It’s not going to come on a particular day.

“There won’t be soldiers in uniforms with swords, who will be led by

somebody on a big horse with a big flag and a crown on his head.

“There won’t be any boundaries or borders to this kingdom. It is a

very different kind of kingdom. This kingdom is in your heart.” So he

said to the Pharisees, “Look in your heart. “The keys to the Kingdom,

the keys to understanding God’s reign, God’s rule and how God chang-

es our lives, they are within you. Look in your hearts.”

Jesus is King because he’s God’s biggest, not necessarily size-wise,

but in terms of greatest, God’s brightest, we call Christ “the light of the

world,” and God’s best gift.

Jesus was crowned by God. He wasn’t crowned by people, except for

the crown of thorns they placed upon his head to make fun of him. He

was crowned by God…

And God sent him to give us the Kingdom’s keys, the keys to the

Kingdom.

Now, what do you think the keys to the Kingdom are? They are things

that are inside our hearts. The first is Faith. We trust in God, who will

provide for us all of the blessings that we need.

We hope that our lives will make a difference to each other and that

they will in some way glorify God.

We trust that the love that God has for us is exactly the same love that

we have to share with one another.

And because of those other three keys, faith, hope and love, we have a

sense of peace about our lives…

That things may not always go the way that we expect them to, but

that somehow the one who is the King of Kings will always be with

us.

And that King of Kings rules not in some territory, not at some particu-

lar time and not in a way that other people necessarily see because he

has all the trappings of a king, he rules in our hearts.

And He gave us the keys…

To help him, not only rule in our hearts, but to bring God’s King-dom

to all people.

So I thought it might be kind of cool to give you something to remem-

ber this by. This is a keychain that has a crown on it. So grab one of

those if you would. Now, I don’t have four keys to give you, I’ll let

you have a conversation with your family members about putting some

keys on here, like a house key or a car key, ohh..What fun, right?

And, I want you to notice, take a good look at it because there are four

jewels at the bottom of the crown and those four jewels remind us of

the four keys to the kingdom that are in our hearts:

The faith, the hope, the love and the peace that Christ gives to us.

And those are the keys that we have to bring God’s King-dom to every

person.

Thanks for sharing in our time this morning.

Message: John 18:33-39

(video)

You got anything on yours? I don’t. If only it was that easy, to just

take a magic marker and write “Love” and “Light” and “Truth” and

“Hope” and “Peace” and then have Christ within us. The whole point

of our discipleship is to allow Christ to reign in our hearts. And we

call that the Kingdom of God.

The very first thing that Jesus says, the very first thing to come out of

his mouth as an adult who is beginning his ministry is this:

The time is now. By the way, that’s the eternal now, that’s God’s

time. The time is now.

The kingdom of God is at hand. And there are several ways to think

about that. It’s at hand in that it’s as close as this hand is on the end of

my stubby little arm, but it’s also in hand. It’s in my hand because if

it’s in my heart, then everything about me, my feet, my voice, my ears,

my eyes, my hands, will work for His glory.

Therefore, repent. Understand the power that this presence has in

life. Turn life around and believe in the Good News.

The hands that you have have nothing on them.

But by your heart, the Kingdom of God is in them.

As we think about what it is that Methodists think about the different

big aspects of our faith, you have to spend a little bit of time with the

concept of the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom of God espous-

es an idea that is very foreign to us who live in this time and in this

place and in this nation. We fought a war about not having to serve a

king. We fought a war about being a democracy. We fought a war

about determining our own future, our own vision, about making real

the hopes that our ancestors had together. So when we talk about the

Kingdom we are talking about something that at points we resist, but

here’s what it’s all about.

The Kingdom is in us. Not because you write something on the palm

of your hand, but because the Lord who reigns reigns in our

hearts. This is what Wesley had to say about what that kingdom is like

when it is in us:

Those who live for God now live with God. That means there is never

a time or place where we’re not walking with God and in

Christ. Those who bear the image of God shall enjoy the glory of

heaven, but it is not just a future thing, it’s not something that we know

and celebrate when we die. Oh, no, it’s much more immediate.

No one sees the kingdom of God above unless the kingdom of God

lives in them now! That means when we live our lives for the glory of

Christ, the kingdom is part of who we are, the glory of God shines in

us. That’s the light that we lift to all people.

Wesley goes on: The kingdom of God is not merely a future happy,

state in heaven. And what we celebrate when we have memorial ser-

vices and funerals around here is that glorious home not made with

hands but eternal in the heavens. But, Brothers and Sisters, the king-

dom of God is not just about that. It’s a home to be enjoyed on

earth. It’s where we live, in which we move and through which we

have our being. It’s where we reside.

In some Bible verses, Wesley notes, the emphasis is strictly on our

earthly home; but in others it speaks of a heavenly home. However,

for the most part, it’s both. It’s both what’s here in us and it’s what we

journey towards.

The kingdom is in us, but in this place called the church, the kingdom

is between us. It defines the relationships that bring us together on a

Sunday morning. It defines the covenant of church member-

ship. When people join the church, when they present children for

baptism, they are describing the covenant relationship that exists be-

tween us and it is defined by the concept of the kingdom of God, the

place where the authority of God takes precedence and the rule of God

determines every action. The kingdom between us, because we like to

think, in some way, of our relationship with one another as being per-

fect as Christ is perfect.

The kingdom of God is not found in any “outward thing” like forms of

worship or rituals or doctrines or opinions or robes or ties or suits or

cars or membership or charter memberships. That’s not what the king-

dom of God is about. It’s not in anything that exists outside of us.

The kingdom is seen in the righteousness, in the peace and in the joy

that we find in our hearts as we grow in our love for God and for each

other, for our neighbor. The kingdom is seen in the way that we treat

each other, in the right thing to do, being done all the time: when it’s

convenient and when it’s not. When it’s cheap and when it is costly.

That’s where the kingdom exists, because if the kingdom of God exists

in the relationship between us, then the kingdom of God will exist as it

moves through us to touch the lives of others.

The Discipline of the United Methodist Church considers the kingdom

of God to be one of the four major tenants of faith and this is what it

says:

The church is called, it isn’t but it’s called, to be the place where the

first signs of the Kingdom of God are identified in the world. In other

words, if someone went looking for the Kingdom of God they should

start and stop the search with you in this place this morning. That’s

what we are called to be. The Kingdom of God identified in the world

by the people who know it best, by the people who live in it, by the

people who share it and proclaim it.

Wherever persons are being made new creatures in Christ, wherever

the insights and resources of the Gospel…

Are brought to bear on the life of the world, whenever you walk out

this door and you do anything redemptive in the lives of other people,

God’s reign is already effective in its healing and renewing pow-

er. Right here is the Kingdom of God.

And the Kingdom of God is…

Moving in us. It is moving between us. It is being made effective and

redemptive through us…

As Christ comes more and more to live in us. Now, that’s a difficult

concept for us as people. We like to be told what to do. We like to

have boundaries and borders. We like to know who has the authority

and in whom we should put our trust and we spend a great deal of time

making decisions about who we are going to listen to, for our finances,

for our relationships, for our parenting, for our lives. If Christ lives in

us, we already have within us the keys to the Kingdom.

This little exchange between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, talk about the

essence of what it means to commit to being a disciple of Christ. It’s

from the last day of Jesus’ earthly existence.

Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Not the King of

Kings, just the King of the Jews. “Are you the King of that tribe right

there that I’m entrusted to rule over by Rome? I’m their procura-

tor. The Emperor is their king. But are you claiming now to be King

of the Jews?”

“Who wants to know?” Jesus said. “Does it really matter to you?” In

other words, how deep does the question go? Are you asking because

you have to report back to some Roman official or are you asking be-

cause you want to know? The conversation continues:

Pilate says, “Look, I’m not a Jew. I don’t really care if you are a king

of them or not. What I need to know is, are you going to be subject to

me, ultimately subject to Caesar?

“Your own people have turned you over to me.” Pilate observes.

“What did you do? How did you get them so ticked off? If you are

the one in charge, why are they so mad at you? Why have they given

you to me to dispose of?”

And Jesus’ reaction and response, “My Kingdom is not of this

world.” It’s not about the Jewish people; it’s not about this piece of

land; it’s not about the authority that I have to make law. You see, the

function of government is to educate and to incarcerate and to legis-

late. Learning, imprisonment and justice, law. Jesus is about none of

that. None of it! He doesn’t have any kingdom in this world.

“My followers are not warriors.” They are not going to come on hors-

es charging over the hillside to rescue me.

“I’m not like any knew you know.” Ever, in all of human history,

that’s not me.

So Pilate, naturally asked, “Well, if you are not like any king that I

know, then are you really a king? Do you fit the definition of a king or

not?” If you are not a king, just tell me. If you are a king, you have to

help me out to understand what this kingship is.

And Jesus turns the question right back: “You tell me. I was born into

the world to witness to the truth.

“Everyone who seeks the truth recognizes my voice.”

And Pilate comes back with the question that is the defining inquiry of

our existence: What is truth? What is truth? Is Christ king or

not? Does Christ reign or not? Does Christ rule in our hearts? Does

Christ give us what we need to make it through the day or not? Have

we found other places to get that?

What is the truth? Who is he to me?

We as Christians claim this is the King of Kings and even though we

know his Kingdom is not of this world, you and I...

We live in it here and now. And here’s the paradox of the Kingdom: It

is in this world, but it is not of this world. It lives itself out in the fol-

lowers of Christ, but it doesn’t come from us. It doesn’t come from

politics, it doesn’t come for history, it doesn’t come from genetics, it

doesn’t come from anything that typically defines the different ways

that people figure out to divide humanity up into groups.

It’s not of this world and that why when Jesus prays and teaches his

followers how to pray, he says to them:

“Thy Kingdom come, they will be done…”

And the rest of that phrase, (on earth as it is in heaven.) On earth as it

is in heaven, because it is on earth and it can be as it is in heaven.

So this Kingdom, two natures. It’s God, it’s us. It’s divinity. It’s hu-

manity.

And how those things come together, Jesus spends a lot of time trying

to explain, particularly in the parables of Matthew, which is a list of

interesting ideas that he uses and begins with:

The kingdom of God is like…and then he tells a little story. The short-

est one is 1 verse, Matthew 13:44 and it tells us everything we need to

know about the kingdom of God. And this is the story:

The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field. Someone finds

it, and then they cover it up again. They find it and then they hide it.

In their joy, they go and sell everything that they have in order to come

back and buy the field. Not just buy the rights to the treasure, but buy

the field.

You see, there’s a lot of truth in that one little Bible verse. It’s one sto-

ry about the kingdom. But here’s some of what it shares with us:

The Kingdom is both concealed and revealed. I’ve often wondered

how somebody walking through a field would stumble upon a treasure

that was hidden from them. How did that happen? He’s not going

around (hummmm – pastor makes sound of metal detector and panto-

mimes moving it back and forth while walking) with a metal detector

like people do at the beach. Oh, I so wish a big wave comes up when

they’re hummmmmm… It’s not that, but somehow he finds it. How

does he know? Is there a little mound maybe where someone dug? Is

it somehow exposed? Jesus is clear. It’s concealed, but then when he

finds it, when it discerns it, when he discovers it, now it is re-

vealed. But then he hides it again? Why? Because he wants it for

himself.

We have to find the Kingdom of God within us. It is a treasure hid-

den. It is in every heart, even the hearts of the people that irritate you

the most. And some of them may be sitting right here. You have to

find it though; you have to look for it. It doesn’t just jump up at

you. You have to locate it and then you have to do something else,

because it is both a gift to use and it’s something that we consider to be

the project of our lives.

We have to work for it. Finding it is one thing. Excavating it, uncover-

ing it, looking at it, seeing what it is, that’s something else. You have

to work at it and that’s a life-long journey, Folks. You and I both that

we see things differently now than we did ten years ago, twenty years

ago, thirty years ago, forty years ago.

I had the confirmation class in here earlier this morning and I was

showing them the pictures of all the different iterations of building in

which you now sit. They were surprised, but you what really surprised

them? That you would spend millions of dollars to make this place the

place that it is. And you have. That doesn’t just happen. We don’t

just ask an architect, “Hey, draw us up some plans” and poof the build-

ing occurs. No, no, that’s your investment. You time, your sweat,

your willingness to give of yourselves. You have to work at this stuff.

We have to find it within us and then we have to cultivate it, we have

to dig at it, we have to work at it.

The Kingdom is both free to us and it costs us. It is freely given, you

didn’t earn it, you can’t destroy it. You can ignore it and you can put

your hand down so nobody else sees it. It is freely given to you, but

once you grab a hold of it, just like the guy who finds the treasure,

you’ll do anything, anything, to possess it.

So he goes and he sells all that he has. Jesus made that same statement

to the rich young ruler who comes and says “What do I need to inherit

the Kingdom of God?” And Jesus says, “You have to make it the

center of your life. Go sell everything you have and then give it to the

poor and then come and follow me.” That’s expensive stuff,

Folks. That changes everything about who we are and it asks for eve-

rything that we have. It totally reorients our lives.

And you have to want it! Sitting in this room for one hour a week

does not bring the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t bring you any closer to

it. It doesn’t bring anybody else a greater awareness of it. Unless this

worship comes up out of your heart, unless you hear with the ears of

faith, unless you walk out of there with a determination to be the King-

dom, nothing changes ever. You have to want it.

It requires effort because it is both a great joy and it’s an enormous

burden. Jesus says, “My yoke is easy. My burden is light.” Bolo-

gna! Unless he is ruling in here, if I have to try to be nice, forgiving,

loving, generous, caring, out of my own resources, man, is being a

Christian a pain in the backside! But you let Christ rule in me, sud-

denly everything is easy.

You have to sacrifice for it. I got a call on Friday from one of my dear

friends in my life. Her husband, who is 97 years old, is in a hospital

down in Milford, DE. And she has known through time, because I’ve

mentioned your generosity, that we have different medical equipment

in this building that we kind of take from people when they are fin-

ished with it and we store it and then we give it out to people as they

need it, and she said, “Hey, do you guys have one of those things that

you hold on to and you push and it’s got handbrakes and a seat?” Do

you know what those are called? Rollators. Exactly! I said, “Yes, we

do.” She said, “Our insurance won’t pay for it. They don’t think he

needs it. But I know when I get him home and he’s being kicked out

on Tuesday, I know when I get him home, he’s going to need some

help.” I said, “I’ll bring it down.” Milford, DE is about three hours

from here. I had other things I was thinking about doing today. Now,

this is not a huge sacrifice, Folks. I’m not looking for a standing ova-

tion or a pat on the back. No, no! But, you see, it’s not a sacrifice if

you want to do it, is it? It’s only a sacrifice if you: “Oh! Alright! I’ll

drive that stupid thing down there and grit my teeth the whole way and

complain about it. Then when I get back I’ll feel great because, man,

what a guy I am! Dude, I wish I had a friend like me!” No, no, no,

no, sacrifice only feels like sacrifice, it’s only a great burden if you

don’t want to be Christ. Then it’s a real pain.

The Kingdom is both a present reality and a future destiny. It’s not

something that we’re waiting for. We are not hanging back waiting for

God to make it happen. It’s a present reality in us and because that’s

where we see ourselves going.

We have to anticipate it. Everything that we say and do should be in

anticipation of something that hasn’t yet happened. That doesn’t mean

all of our plans are going to come to fruition and everything is going to

work out perfectly and everybody will really appreciate us for the heck

of a nice thing that we do for each other when we pray for each other

and we visit each other and we call each other and we write to each

other and we contact the church office and say “Hey, I know there’s

things you guys need done. What can I help with?” Do you know that

there would be an audible thud in the administrative wing if someone

made that phone call? It would be Kristi falling off of her chair. And

boy, would I love to see that. Not because I’d want Kristi to be hurt,

but I’d love to see somebody anticipate the needs that we have around

us by saying “I have no idea what you would like me to do, but I’m

ready to do it.” What? The Kingdom here, but anticipating what

needs to happen.

And that Kingdom is nothing and it’s everything. That guy goes and

sells everything he has in order to have this one thing, one thing. It’s

nothing to the people who don’t know anything about it. They have no

idea of the treasure; they don’t know anything about the field. They

have no idea what it is work, but you do. It’s not nothing to you, it’s

everything to you! And it’s everything to me.

And if we are working at being faithful, we have to become it, not talk

about it, not expect the paid staff to do it on our behalf. I am not the

professions Christian. You are the Christian. I’m a pastor. Your staff

are here to assist you to become the Kingdom and then to make it hap-

pen outside this place. That’s the Kingdom.

It’s on and in your hands and mine…

Because it is not just within us, it’s between us. It’s the thing that de-

fines our relationship together as the church. And by the grace of God

it will happen through us as we live to Christ and…

As Christ lives in us.

The Kingdom of God is not like anything else in this world, because it

is not of this world, it’s not of my design or your design, it doesn’t

happen because you want it or because I want it, it’s because God

working through us will bring it into being. It is in this world, but it’s

not from this world and neither are we.

We are in this world, but when Christ reigns in the heart, there’s noth-

ing else like you and me and our ability to celebrate the king. He is

exalted! Thanks be to God! Let us present our tithes and offerings.

Benediction:

The time is now. The Kingdom is God, put your hand down. Unless

you have a magic marker in your pocket, you are going to walk out

here with a blank hand.

However, the Kingdom is here, it is within you, it is between us and

when we leave from this place, when we go it will be moving through

us.

Because Christ lives in us. Are you ready to go? It’s almost time.