'In Your Face' AND 'Out of Sight'

Luke 17:20-21
Matthew 6:10
Mark 4:30-32

Read texts from Luke and Matthew:

Where in the world, or out of the world, is the kingdom of God?

The verses we just heard give two different answers to this question. In Luke we are told that the Kingdom of God is within us. We just have to learn to be aware of its presence. In Matthew we are told that the Kingdom of God is in heaven and we are to pray that the Kingdom will come to earth. The Kingdom of God is in your face—can’t you see it?! And, at the same time, The Kingdom of God is out of sight. Won’t you seek it?!

We could ask other questions about the Kingdom of God, like, “When is the Kingdom of God?” I could read you Bible verses that tell you that the Kingdom of God is now and other verses that tell you that the Kingdom of God is in the future.

We could ask the question, “Is the Kingdom of God desirable?” I could then read verses from the Bible that tell you it is worth more than all the treasures on earth and other verses that tell you that you have to be out of your mind to want the Kingdom to come with power, because it will blow you away!

The Kingdom of God cannot be understood, the Bible teaches us, unless we see the Kingdom from more than one point of view. The Kingdom of God is both in your face and out of sight. The Kingdom of God is both within you and infinitely far away. The Kingdom of God is now and it is in the future. The Kingdom of God is so immediately present that you can taste it like salt on the tongue and so unavailable that you can hunger for its appearance, like a desperate hope.

The Kingdom of God is tiny, nearly invisible, and the Kingdom of God is big, can’t be missed. The Gospel of Mark describes the Kingdom this way:

Mark 4:30-32

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Kingdom of God is tiny and it is huge. The Kingdom of God is near and it is far away. The Kingdom of God is in your face and the Kingdom of God is out of sight.

The Kingdom of God is…What? I have been talking about where and when but not what. What in the world, or outside of the world, is the Kingdom of God? To this question I can give you a simple answer:

The Kingdom of God is the reign of God.
The Kingdom of God is the rule of God.
The Kingdom of God is God getting God’s way.
The Kingdom of God is God in charge.

Wherever, whenever, invisible or seen, experienced now or hoped for at some future time, in your face, or out of sight, the Kingdom of God is God in Charge.

Of heaven
And of earth

Of the present
And the future

Of things seen
And things unseen

The kingdom of God is that peace in your heart now when you KNOW that a prayer has been answered and the Kingdom of God is the longing you feel for healing and forgiveness that you FEAR will never come.

The Kingdom of God is the well being you feel when you have finally learned to surrender to God a painful relationship. And the Kingdom of God is the awareness of the impossible distance you have yet to travel in order to give another part of your life to God.

The Kingdom of God, the reign of God, is the experience of seeing and hearing a child sing Jesus Loves Me with a beaming smile that tells you Jesus is really in that child’s heart. And the Kingdom of God is the anguish caused by knowing how many children do not know they are loved like that.

Let me tell you a parable of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is like…Sam…

Sam was a fourth grade student at BASE, an after school program I led up in Bucyrus, OH. The Kingdom of God is like Sam. BASE was in Sam’s life. However, BASE was not nearly enough in Sam’s life. His parents made him come primarily because they could not help him with his homework. Sam always wanted to go home. Over a couple of years we were able to make BASE welcoming enough and safe enough that Sam was willing to stay a little longer. One day Sam stayed long enough to play a game of Twister. But BASE remained for Sam both a “now” and a “not yet.” It was happening for Sam at BASE and it needed to happen a lot more. The Kingdom of God is like Sam at BASE.

The Kingdom of God is like Sam at BASE when God begins to have God’s way but reluctance and resistance and fear remain. The Kingdom of God is like Sam at BASE when love has begun to do its work and we feel pride in the good that love has done; yet we still ache for the work of love that needs to be completed. The Kingdom of God is like the tears of gratitude you weep when you see the change that the rule of God initiates in the life of someone you love. The Kingdom of God is also like the tears of grief you weep when you see the immense change that still needs to come.

The Kingdom of God is like Sam.

One day events turned in a direction we had never expected. Now you have to understand something about BASE. In order to accomplish our goals with children…

…that they experience the love of God
…that they are given what they need to succeed in school and in life

…BASE had to be a safe place. The world is a dangerous place for children. A few of our children like Sam and a younger boy named Will, told us when we did beginning and end of the year surveys that they seldom felt safe. They were afraid most of the time. What were they mostly afraid of? Mostly they were afraid of ridicule, teasing, put downs, being picked on. We wanted BASE to be a safe place for children so the particular goal that we worked hardest on was our “no teasing” rule. We believed that when ridicule and teasing and put downs are the common conversation, the Kingdom of God, the rule of God, is absent. You see, God loves us and believes in us and never puts us down. Whenever God rules, teasing stops. The Kingdom has come. When put downs are replaced by affirmation the rule of God cannot be missed. When ridicule is replaced by discovery of gifts and opportunities, the Kingdom comes in power.

Over two years we almost—almost, not completely--the rule of the world’s ways are an infectious disease that spreads whenever and wherever we let down our guard—yet, over two years we almost completely eliminated teasing at BASE. We almost completely—the Kingdom of God on earth always has a “not yet” quality—we almost completely replaced ridicule with affirmation and to the extent that the rule of God was real in our midst, Sam received affirmation. He finished his homework, he was affirmed. He struggled to learn a new math skill and he was affirmed. He overcame his fear and voluntarily remained at BASE to interact with the other children and he was affirmed.

Then one day, in the fullness of God’s time, the rule of God was ready to be advanced. We looked over at the homework table and there were Sam and Will—both children who felt unsafe most of the time, both children who learned with great difficulty and were perceived as difficult far more than they were perceived as beloved of God—there was Sam teaching Will how to do his math. That may sound like a small thing—kind of like a mustard seed—but to those of us who loved Sam and Will this was the Kingdom of God “in your face,” the rule of God come with power.

In a world where so much opposes the rule of God, we who seek to love and serve God with all of our hearts, take sustenance from such experiences that the Kingdom of God is in our midst and we take sustenance from our hope that the Kingdom is coming soon and that the rule of God is surely, in the future, coming with power.

What is the kingdom of God like? They asked Jesus that question. Had Jesus been visiting BASE that day—JESUS WAS VISITING BASE THAT DAY—he might have said; JESUS DOES SAY:

“The kingdom of God is like Sam teaching Will to do his math.”

“And, let me tell you,” Jesus might have continued, “The Kingdom of God is coming with power and Sam and Will are citizens in that kingdom and if you want to enter the Kingdom of God you could not do better than to be just like them.”

Maybe you remember that day when the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” If you remember that day do you remember what Jesus said? Jesus said:

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 18:3)

How is it around here and in here when it comes to the Kingdom of God? Are you seeking the Kingdom as if it is a treasure without price for which you would make any sacrifice? Or does the very idea that God might rule in every corner of your life and in every crevice of this church strike fear in your heart? The right answer, by the way, according to the Bible, is “fear.” Fear--because the rule of God changes everything, especially the source of our security. What makes us feel safe?

Insurance policies
Job security
Weapons
A high fence topped with barbed wire
All the criminals behind bars
A vicious guard dog
A war to destroy a vile dictator

What makes us feel safe?

The home land security department
Money in the bank
A solid retirement plan
Sacrificing freedom for protection from terrorists
A state of the art security system
Killing murderers
Living in the suburbs

In our culture it is one of the most difficult spiritual tasks imaginable to become dependent on the rule of God for our security, instead of grounding our security on things we can control and things we can buy. Who wouldn’t prefer to have the security of a full pantry and a well stocked refrigerator and a loaded freezer than to have to depend on daily bread? “Give us this day our daily bread.” We pray for such bread often but depend on it seldom or never.

On my first mission trip to Romania in 1982 I visited in the home of Titi and Ligia Bulzan. Romania and the other Eastern Bloc countries were still under the death grip of Communism. Christians were persecuted in an endless variety of ways. For example, Titi was an architect and the youth leader of his church. The communists would not give him any meaningful work unless he abandoned his faith. Without work he could not take care of his family of four children. Often there was nothing to eat. Titi told me stories about daily bread. The family sat down at the table for dinner. There was no food on the table. They prayed—a long prayer—for daily bread. Finally there was a knock at the door. A friend had walked fifteen miles from his farm in the country to bring the Bulzan family food. When the Kingdom of God comes in power we too will pray for daily bread and really mean it.

God has been convincing me for a long time now, as we used to sing in Vacation Bible School, based on Psalm 50:10:

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills
The wealth in every mine
God own the rivers and the rocks and rills
The sun and stars that shine
Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell
They are my Fathers so they’re mine as well
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills
I know that God will care for me

Think about it. Doesn’t the simple knowledge that God will take care of us radically change our lives? Is not this child-like discovery evidence of the Kingdom of God come with power? When we learn that God can take care of us then we can do anything for God. We are available for service to God in new and unexpected ways, like a mission trip to Thailand or an evangelism ministry in our own back yard.

I invite you to give this your thought and to continue to ask the question, “How is it around here and in here when it comes to the Kingdom of God?”

So be it.

Amen