How Jesus is Establishing His Kingdom

Call to Worship:

Zephaniah 3:17-20

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Introduction: Chess nuts roasting on an open fire.

Today we’re going to continue the conversation began last week about the world under the sovereign reign of Jesus Christ.

We looked at Isaiah 9:6-7.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

And we asked — what evidence is there that these promises are coming to pass?

And we saw evidence of virtues/values/morals developing since the coming of Christ that did not exist prior to his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, reign…

Now we’re not arguing for any kind of utopianism. Merely we would apply what the old Saint John Newton said of himself…

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, but still I am not what I once used to be…”

That is how I would describe the world today as a result of Christ’s coming.

It is not what it ought to be. It is not what we want it to be. But still it is not what it used to be.

Today we want to ask “how.”

Look with me at vs. 7

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

We can all coexist with different understandings of “when.” But we cannot do mission together unless we understand “how.”

How is Jesus bringing his kingdom to pass?

Rejecting Elitists

We need to remember that the gospel has a hard edge to it. And even with Christmas and the incarnation, though we have many warm and fuzzies — we don’t want to forget about the hard edge. Remember what Simeon told Mary and Joseph. This child is appointed for the downfall and rise of many. (Luke 2:34). We tend to focus on who Christmas is for and forget to ever talk about who it is against.

But the gospel is against, at least one specific type of person — the elitist.

Elitism = self-appointed, self-perpetuating superiority…

A. Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

B. Jesus’ worship of the Father in Matthew 11:25-26

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

C. Paul’s explanation in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Now what I want to make sure you see is God’s direct opposition of the proud. He isn’t actively saving the humble and passively letting the prideful go their own way. No, he is actively saving the humble and actively opposing the proud.

In Mary’s song — he is scattering the proud, bringing down the mighty, sending the rich away empty.

In Jesus’ praise — God is actively hiding his gospel from the so-called wise and understanding.

In 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 — he is shaming the wise and the strong.

II. Reigning in Hearts

Once again, we are asking how Jesus fulfilling the promises in our text.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

And we’re asking how?

Well throughout the Old Testament, God often tipped his hand, saying that the final act, which would bring his kingdom to pass, was the conversion of individual souls.

But we can go back thousands of years and see that God has always been planning it…

Deuteronomy 30:6 —  “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Jeremiah 31:33 — “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 — “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Now all of these texts are placed within the context of national promises, national outcomes, etc… The key to God’s national blessings is individual conversion — Christ governing the heart of each believer.

Now look with me at Galatians 5:19-24

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Tell me what happens when a considerable number of people move from the activities in the first list into the activities of the second list?

We are asking how Jesus is establishing his kingdoms. All other kingdoms have been established by coercion. Christ’s kingdom is established by conversion.

As we read last week from Richard Halverson…

“The fact is, the birth, crucifixion, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ are celebrated worldwide by folk of every race, language, and color, every year. And believing in Jesus, they have been delivered from the most evil, disastrous, frustrating, debilitating habits and life forms possible.

I was reading Athanasius this week. A very early church father (died in 370s) who at times, seemed to stand entirely alone in defending the biblical doctrine of the deity of Christ. His stubbornness spurred a somewhat epic statement: Athanasius contra mundum (Athanasius against the world).

His most important work is simply titled: On the Incarnation. He offers many defenses of the physical reality of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and reign.

Eventually he argues — obviously Jesus has come! Look at the difference he is making!

“For now that the Saviour works so great things among men, and day by day is invisibly persuading so great a multitude from every side, both from them that dwell in Greece and in foreign lands, to come over to His faith, and all to obey His teaching, will any one still hold his mind in doubt whether a Resurrection has been accomplished by the Saviour, and whether Christ is alive, or rather is Himself the Life?”

“Or is it like a dead man to be pricking the consciences of men, so that they deny their hereditary laws and bow before the teaching of Christ? …the adulterer no longer commits adultery, and the murderer murders no more, nor is the inflicter of wrong any longer grasping, and the profane is henceforth religious? Or how, if He be not risen but is dead, does He drive away, and pursue, and cast down those false gods said by the unbelievers to be alive, and the demons they worship? For where Christ is named, and His faith, there all idolatry is deposed and all imposture of evil spirits is exposed, and any spirit is unable to endure even the name, nay even on barely hearing it flies and disappears. But this work is not that of one dead, but of one that lives — and especially of God.”

Which brings us all back to the quote we started with. Old John Newton…
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, but still I am not what I once used to be…”

I wonder how much you know about John Newton? Maybe you know that he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace?

Here is his tombstone

"John Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy!”

Newton was the captain of several slave ships. He was an active part of the slave trade. And in time, the grace of God transformed his heart. The Lord killed his inner elitist. The Lord reigned over John Newton’s heart. So much so that he became instrumental in the outlawing of the slave trade in England.

Is the world what it ought to be? No.
But it is not what it used to be.

And this is because Jesus Christ has come — seeking and saving the lost — converting them — transforming them — and establishing his kingdom through them.

That’s at least a partial explanation of “how” Jesus is —

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.