You’re here because you believe that your life can be better with God. But maybe you realize you haven’t become, or aren’t becoming, everything you could be? As this New Year gets underway maybe you want to get on the right track. Like what if you could start this year actually hearing God’s voice? What if you God were to show you his face, and let his glory shine down on you, and fill you with his Holy Spirit presence? What if you were to taste God’s goodness, feel his power at work in your life, or experience his healing touch? If you were to put God in the center of your life what might 2019 hold? How might your life be better with God?
What were really talking about is God’s “KINGDOM.” Late last year, I found myself struck by the gospel of Matthew. For example, in Matthew 4:17, Jesus says “REPENT, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus is essentially announcing that the best of Heaven is about to come! But notice what he says… “repent.” Repentance… receptivity… ushers the Kingdom of God into our lives. Repentance is all about moving from a posture of resisting/ struggling against God to fully embracing Him. Think about it. Jesus’ very first sermon, in a word, was “Repent.”
When Jesus taught the disciples how to really PRAY, in Matthew 6:10 he said to pray this way: “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What a powerful idea. Pray for things to work in your life just like they work in heaven. Life is so much better when God reigns than when we reign, do you agree?
In Jesus day people were pretty ANXIOUS about life. Some things never change right? What are all the things we worry about? Let’s see, we worry about what we will eat. Be honest now. This is pretty much all you think about whenever I’m preaching. Lunch. We worry about our life. Work. Family. Money. We worry about our bodies, getting fit, being healthy, staying healthy. Maybe I can squeeze back into the same size jeans I wore at the beginning of last year? The biggest mistake we make in life is we let worry crowd God out. We stop believing God can be part of the solution, and soon we’re no longer engaged, and we find ourselves out there in the world trying to better ourselves without God.
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be provided for you.” What a shocking suggestion! If we’d seek first the Kingdom of God, things will get better. If we stop relegating God to the margins of our lives and invite him into the center of everything, we’ll taste God’s abundance.
In Matthew 10:7, Jesus sends his disciples out to be WORLD CHANGERS. What did he tell them people most needed to hear? “As you go, proclaim: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
This morning I want to teach you how to say YES, how to really seek hard, after God’s Kingdom. Jesus had the same problem in his day that we have today. How do you get through to people who think they’ve heard it all before? In Matthew 13:14-15 Jesus alludes to a problem as old as Adam. He describes our age-old tendency so perfectly: “You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back—and I would heal them.”
Boy of boy! We have a pretty serious problem if God can’t even get through to us. When people think they’ve heard it all before what do you do? Jesus taught in parables. His parables created just enough cognitive disequilibrium for people to say, “wait a minute… what’s this, a new teaching, and with such authority?” If straight talk doesn’t get the job done, maybe a parable can?
Here is a parable. Matthew 13:1-9: “On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying:
‘Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown. 9 Let anyone who has ears listen.’”
What strikes me is that there is nothing deficient about the SOWER. The sower’s job is to keep sowing seeds. Neither is there anything deficient about the SEED. The seed is intrinsically life-giving. And there isn’t anything deficient about a person’s EARS. Jesus says, “Let anyone who has ears listen.” No, the problem is much deeper. People listen and listen, but never understand; they look and look, but never perceive.
What Jesus says in Matthew 13:15 is that “people’s hearts have grown callous.” It’s not that people can’t hear, it’s that they’ve covered their ears. It’s not that they can’t see, its that they’ve shut their eyes. Otherwise what does Jesus say? “otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.” Turn back? What does that mean? It means Repent! If people would turn their heart back to God, that’s when they’d experience healing! We have a heart problem, not a hearing problem. We have a heart problem, not a vision problem. We have a heart problem, not an IQ problem.
Listen to Jesus explain the meaning of his own parable! Matthew 13:19-23, “When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. 20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 21 But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
THE BIGGEST ISSUE in your life, at the start of 2019, is your HEART. Do you actually want to hear God’s voice? Do you actually want to see God’s face? Do you want to behold God’s glory? Do you want God to fill you with his presence? Do you really want to taste God’s goodness? Do you want to feel his power? Are you actually willing to put God in the center of your life… to seek first his Kingdom and righteousness… to pray, “thy Kingdom come they will be done on earth in my life as it’s done in heaven?” In your heart, are you willing to turn (repent) that God might heal you?
This summer, I was listening to an interview of a New York Pastor named CARL LENTZ. He was being asked about how he disciples celebrities like Justin Bieber and Kyrie Irving. I mean these are some high-octane folks, gifted musically, athletically. Carl was asked how would you break the Kingdom of God down, and make it practical, for these superstars? And that’s when Pastor Lentz basically said (this isn’t exact quote but…), “It’s simple: S.O.A.P. Every single day, we need to teach people to use SOAP.”
The “S” stands for Scripture. We need to make it a habit every day to get into Scripture. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus told the Devil, “Man must not live on bread alone… but on word that come from the mouth of God” If you went a day without eating, you’d panic right? You’d collapse from fatigue and loss of energy. You don’t just need good food, you need God’s word daily.
In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus says, “everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. . . But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”
Think of how many times your life became a mess because you trusted wrong words. Better words lead to a better life. There are no greater words to build your life upon than God’s Words. Whenever you open this book you hear directly from God, you can behold his Glory in the face of Christ, you can know his exact purpose/plan/will for your life. Whenever you read this book you open yourself to God and say YES to him.
The “O” stands for Observation. Two people can see and hear and observe the same thing. . . two people can listen to the exact sermon. . . but there can be a radically different outcome! But why? Because when one person was looking and listening their heart was open, and while the other person was sitting there their heart was closed.
As you came into Church this morning, we gave you a Kingdom Book. I want to thank Heather Snider, she did all the graphics! Olivia Huber did all the editing and project management and devotional pages. Jay Brooks and I put together weekly study questions that go along with every message in this series. Every week we want you to read a few chapters out of the Gospel of Matthew (notes). Pick a verse that jumps out at you. Record what you believe God is saying to you. Really listen and open your heart.
The “A” stands for Application. The value of God’s word isn’t in merely listening, but in doing. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, he charged his Disciples (His Church) to go into all the world “making disciples, baptizing people in the name of father/son/holy spirit, and teaching them….” But not just teaching… “teaching people to obey.” Jesus repeatedly said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Knowledge is only transformative if it’s applied to our lives. You can hear a great sermon, but it’s not going to matter if you don’t get in a circle with other believers and talk about how to really make it work in your life. This is the value of small groups. After the service we want you to find a group that you can really grow with.
The “P” stands for Prayer. Our job isn’t done until we ask God to fill us with his Holy Spirit power. You might have the greatest intentions in the world to grow in Christ, but without the Holy Spirit’s power you will fall flat on your face. God doesn’t just call us to a Kingdom centered life, he gives us the power necessary to live such a life. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is heaven.” If we don’t invite God to work in our lives, we’ll quickly become disillusioned!
So Pastor Carl Lentz gets a call from a celebrity. The celebrity is really struggling, feels disconnected from God, etc. Carl’s daily question is, “Did you SOAP today? Tell me about your SOAP? Did you get into Scripture? What did God show you? How does that apply to your life? Are you seeking first God’s Kingdom/Righteousness? How can I pray for you today? Where do you need to experience God’s power?
What would 2019 look like if you began every day with SOAP? Maybe your life wouldn’t stink so bad right? {HA}. What if you ended every day with SOAP? Maybe you’d rest better and wake up energized. Okay. Maybe that’s too ambitious. What if just once a week you used SOAP? Once is better than zero right? Isn’t it awkward to ask people, “Hey when is the last time you used SOAP?” But what if held each other accountable to do this simple thing?