Tag: god’s reign

Thy Kingdom Come (Matthew 13:10-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
“The Lord of the Parables” by Argentine artist Jorge Cocco Santangelo

His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”

He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don’t really see.
    They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,

‘When you hear what I say,
    you will not understand.
When you see what I do,
    you will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
    and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—
    so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
    and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
    and let me heal them.’

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. (New Living Translation)

In the beginning, God spoke, and the world came into being. Jesus spoke in parables, and the Kingdom of God came into the world.

The Kingdom of God is universal in its scope and intent. God’s rule and reign over all creation is meant to encompass everyone and everything. The problem, however, is that not everyone wants to be under this divine rule. Therefore, they refuse to see the reality in front of their faces; and do not listen to the words being spoken within their hearing.

God’s Kingdom is meant for good. It is a benevolent, merciful, and loving kingdom. Yet, if one is not attentive to observing and listening, they will miss out on the good things being said and done. Such persons end up becoming like worldly pigs who trample the valuable pearls in front of them in order to go for the slop.

The gift of the Kingdom is faith in Jesus. Christ’s parables about the Kingdom communicate that God is with us; the good Lord is near to the world through Christ the King.

“Thus what we pray for when we pray ‘thy kingdom come’ is ‘Dear Father, please help us to understand your powerful little gospel with gentle, non-violent faith and then, in the joy of that faith and in the light of the coming great judgment, to change our lives to be obedient to your Son’s commands.’” Frederick Dale Bruner

A Gospel parable is something like a riddle: Some will grasp the truth of it, while others won’t get what’s being conveyed. This is why Christ’s disciples seemed to be confused as to why Jesus would speak in parables, instead of plainly stating with clarity his point and message. So, they asked him about his approach.

Jesus responded that they (his disciples) have been given the secrets, the mysteries, of God’s Kingdom. And the key which unlocks it all is Jesus himself. Those who follow Christ, have Christ. Those who don’t follow, don’t have him. And they’ll never understand a thing until they pick up the key – until they give everything they have to possess that key.

No one really knows about God the Father, except God the Son, who chooses to reveal what’s going on in the universe.

For a lot of people, it is a hard teaching to know that Jesus gives to some, but not to others – that Christ refuses to reveal the mystery to some. None of it makes sense, that is, until we will first allow God to be God, and let Christ be Christ, knowing that God is God, and I am not. I do not free myself, nor do I bring deliverance to anyone else; but Christ does.

The ones who possess freedom are the ones who have been given it, not the ones who figure it all out on their own – because that’s not really possible.

It is a deep privilege to be gifted the grace and understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. I think this is the reason why I see so many people, especially several current “Christian” politicians, who just don’t get why anyone would talk about living-out the words and ways of Jesus in this nation.

I really and truly believe that to have Jesus is to have everything. Christ is all I need. As hard as it is to lose positions, privileges, and even people, they all pale in comparison to having Jesus.

I may suffer in body, and even in spirit, but my soul is forever given and protected by Jesus, my Lord and my God.

I am so glad that everything in this life is not up to my whimsical understanding of mercy, but hinges completely on the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

The real deal is that Jesus spoke in parables because we people have such a difficult time with listening. We just don’t listen well, at all. One of the biggest reasons why Jesus didn’t speak plainly all the time is that a full frontal speaking of truth into a person’s face was just too much for them.

The telling of a parable is a merciful and gracious way of bringing some much needed Kingdom truth to the world. Yet, we have got to put on our spiritual ears and our spiritual glasses. Because if we don’t really hear, and don’t really see, we will miss what’s going on in the universe.

All of this nothing new. The prophet Isaiah faced the same issues of humanity that Jesus did, and that we do today. Hardness of heart is the major obstacle to proper sight and sound, and thus, proper action.

The Kingdom of God doesn’t take root in hard soil. And so, Christ’s message is simultaneously a communication of both grace and judgment, just like the message of the prophets of old.

We are blessed when we really look and really listen. Many of those saints of old longed to see the Christ as we have been able to observe him. Their faith was a forward-looking experience.

Do we truly discern how privileged we are to have the New Testament Gospels which communicate Christ to us, and the blessed Holy Spirit, who has been given to us by both the Father and the Son?

I am nobody special, and yet, before I chose God, God chose me! I’m here because of God in Jesus Christ. All that I have and all that I am is because of Jesus, the key to my entire life. I couldn’t even gin-up any sort of faith within myself; it all was graciously given to me by God, so that I could have the keys of the Kingdom.

So then, let us have the good sense to be profoundly thankful and grateful people. Even when we suffer, we’ve been given the privilege to suffer for the Christ who first suffered for us.

Perhaps this is all best summed-up by the hymn writer: “O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be.” From “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Robert Robinson (1758)

“Thy Kingdom come” occurs one person at a time, one heart at a time, through the amazing grace of God in Christ. If we want to become spiritually aware and enlightened, then the first step – and really only step – is to follow Jesus.

O God of mercy, in Jesus Christ you freed us from sin and death, and by your Holy Spirit you nourish our mortal bodies with life. Plant in us now good soil, so that our lives may flower in righteousness and peace. Amen.

Christ the King Sunday (Luke 23:33-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The 118 feet high Christ the King statue in Świebodzin, Poland

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (New Revised Standard Version)

I’m glad that the Gospel text on this Christ the King Sunday is the story of Christ on the cross with the two criminals on each side also crucified. Why?

Because our cultural contexts tend to associate power and authority with high level earthly positions. But, in reality, Christianity is a paradoxical religion full of truths which seem antithetical to each other; yet they are not.

Many people (including many Christians) believe that, in order to influence the culture, Christians must have prominent positions in society. This leaves the majority of Christians feeling as if they have nothing to offer the world. After all, they have no important title at their job, in the government, or within the church.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Christ, in the lowest earthly position possible by being nailed to a cross, was a king who had the highest heavenly position in the universe. One will never come to grips with Jesus apart from understanding that Christianity is an inherently paradoxical religion.

The Sanctuary of Christ the King in Almada, Portugal

One of the criminals crucified with Christ discerned this reality well; the other criminal did not understand at all. One demonstrated the reality that humility is the powerful key to all things, whereas the other criminal remained full of himself.

The scene portrayed for us on Golgotha’s hill shows us what the kingly reign of Jesus Christ truly looks like: It is characterized by the power of humility and sacrifice. It highlights Christ’s authority by giving mercy to those hanging on a cross alongside himself.

True power is not found in the halls of earthly political power, but rather in the elevating power of God’s grace and Christ’s self-sacrifice. Therefore, Christians can best demonstrate their own power and authority by extending grace and mercy toward others, even when it’s hard to do.

It can be difficult to wrap both our heads and our hearts around this reality of possessing power without actually having positions and titles of authority in the world and the church.

Many a church pastor bemoans the fact that a number of their parishioners fail to be active servants in the wrongheaded notion that the clergy are supposed to do all the work. The laity may believe that the clergy are the ones with the educational, experiential, and positional power to influence culture and society.

What’s more, it can be even harder for those who once had positions of power to believe they themselves can no longer effectively work for the good, because they are now nobodies. They may ask, “Who would listen to me?”

The answer is: A lot of people. God uses all sorts of persons in all sorts of places and situations. What we all need, whether clergy or laity, is the willingness to be humble and to sacrifice one’s time or talent in showing mercy to another.

Christians must take their cues from the Lord Jesus. In the setting of the interaction between Christ and the other two crucified men in today’s story, Jesus is the innocent one sandwiched between two guilty persons. Christ’s humiliation is on full public display. The crowd of onlookers mock him, along with one of the criminals. Because of the apparent incongruence between being ‘King of the Jews’ yet not freeing himself from his awful situation.

Whereas most of us might avoid being humiliated in public at any cost, Jesus embraced the rejection and the suffering, knowing that he was offering a sacrifice for the benefit of the whole world.

Even though Jesus was extremely vulnerable, and in emotional, spiritual, and physical pain which we can only imagine, he nonetheless chose to use his kingly power and authority on behalf of others – including those who blatantly rejected and mocked him.

Grace and mercy were demonstrated by submitting to an ignominious death, and by willingly acting to be the bridge connecting others to God. Relationship is at the very heart of the divine will; God would do anything to restore broken relations with his fallen people. No one is beyond the reach of grace.

In a contemporary culture of polarized relations and angry vitriol toward one another, the ordinary Christian without earthly title or authority is in the best position to provide basic human kindness by extending mercy to “enemies” and demonstrating humility in all things.

Christ embodied love and forgiveness. He used his power for mercy, not judgment;  and for grace, not revenge.

Jesus demonstrated for us how grace is the greatest operative force in the universe.

To love and forgive another is the best demonstration of power and authority that anyone could ever show.

God’s action in Christ through the cross is what can move us to true acts of love and selflessness. We participate in Christ by giving grace through acts of mercy in comforting, encouraging, and helping others.

The only way we can give grace is to receive grace. It is God’s action in Christ through the Spirit that moves us to true acts of love and selflessness.

Personally, I am encouraged with the image of Christ as King – the One who is both sovereign over all creation, and yet is with me and knows my every need, giving grace and mercy and unconditional love.

For me, the idea of both God’s transcendence and God’s immanence is the perfect lead-in for the Advent season.

Earthly leaders can be capricious, petty, enamored with earthly power, and wield authority only in ways that serve themselves and not the common good of all. No wonder there is so much corruption and injustice in this old fallen world of ours.

Such hateful leadership has no problem leaving us beaten, bruised, and hanging on a cross. In our pain and our suffering, what will we do?

Hopefully, we will let Jesus transform our understanding of power and authority.

Ideally, in our worst situations of suffering and confusion, we will remember Jesus lifted-up on the cross, lifted-up as sovereign over all things. We will find our own true power in self-giving-love to a world which appears it has given itself to hate and selfish judgment of people they don’t like.

A participation in Christ’s rule and reign over all things means that his crucified power has given us grace and forgiveness, so that we might pass it on, pay it forward, and work for that which is just, right, and good.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

Almighty God, you rescue us from our enemies, so that we may serve you without fear. Strengthen us, that we might share in the inheritance of the saints in your kingdom of light. Amen.

Hold Onto Faith (Job 26:1-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Job, by Gonzalo Carrasco (1860-1936)

Then Job replied:

“How you have helped the powerless!
    How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
    And what great insight you have displayed!
Who has helped you utter these words?
    And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

“The dead are in deep anguish,
    those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
The realm of the dead is naked before God;
    Destruction lies uncovered.
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
    he suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
    yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
    spreading his clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
    for a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens quake,
    aghast at his rebuke.
By his power he churned up the sea;
    by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
By his breath the skies became fair;
    his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
    how faint the whisper we hear of him!
    Who then can understand the thunder of his power?” (New International Version)

Sarcasm is a form of criticism. Criticism is a form of anger. Job was angry at his “friends.” Namely, because they had proved themselves to be not very good companions.

Job needed comfort and consolation, not hellfire sermons about his being sinful. Because, in fact, he had not sinned. His intense pain and suffering were not a punishment from God, as the prologue to the story of Job makes clear. (Job 1:1-22)

But neither Job nor his friends knew what was going on behind the scenes in the cosmic court of heaven.

Job only knew he was getting a lot of undeserved tragedy. And Job’s friends only knew that he was suffering terribly.

Job didn’t know how to interpret his situation. Job’s friends misinterpreted his situation as condemnation from the Lord.

Thus, Job became exasperated and angry. Job’s friends became the ignoramuses of ancient history.

Job was certainly no ignoramus. He knew what it meant to be right with God – which was why he was so doggone confused and confounded as to why he felt abandoned by God. Job knew his suffering wasn’t a result of unfaithfulness.

The biblical character Job came face to face with the reality that good people suffer, too.

The friends of Job kept reiterating how unworthy and sinful people are; and that Job must be especially sinful to be experiencing such trouble. And, of course, Job found this line of reasoning asinine.

The majesty of God, as Job understood it, is much greater and higher than his supposed friends could ever imagine. The dead know this better than anyone. Job himself was nearly dead, and so, he seems to see some things more clearly from his perspective of abject suffering.

Job’s observations of creation are profound reflections of God’s greatness and sovereignty in the world. His faith rested firmly with God alone, as Creator and Sustainer of the universe. So, he looked beyond the water and the clouds to heaven above.

Even in the realms we humans cannot see, God has authority and power over angelic beings. We cannot fathom the breadth and depth and extent of God’s reach and knowledge of all things. Indeed, humanity only observes a mere fraction of God’s rule and reign. And we barely know anything in comparison to God’s wisdom and knowledge.

In other words, our incredible God is so mighty and wondrous that it is incomprehensible to us.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33, NIV)

God is big, to the point that only the fringes of God’s robe can fit inside the temple:

I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1, NIV)

Although Job was flummoxed as to why God was silent and allowed suffering to happen, Job nevertheless had a majestic view of God which remained intact.

And, what’s more, Job seems to have gained an even more expansive view of God through his awful experience of suffering in both body and soul. In other words, Job got to know God better, and not for worse, because of his terrible situation.

Satan certainly meant to upend Job and cause him to renounce his faith; but God meant it all, ironically, for good.

Even though Job’s words about God appear similar to the words of his friends, they come from a very different place.

It’s one thing to talk of God’s majesty, sovereignty, and power when everything is going okay for you in your life. But it is an altogether different thing whenever your life has unraveled and distress is what you eat for breakfast.

To affirm God’s inherent power and goodness, smack in the middle of grinding hardship and ill health – and truly mean it – is the genuine article of faith.

Authentic faith is resilient and gains strength when tested and tried. Bogus faith crumbles like burnt toast when it is put through the fire.

True faith is always connected to hope and love. False faith evaporates and becomes nihilistic and hateful in the face of hellish circumstances.

Real faith perseveres through suffering, knowing that God is good, no matter what. Skin deep faith is herky-jerky, vacillating between confidence and doubt.

The only way for faith to be shown as real or fake is in the crucible of suffering. How we handle the adverse situations of life demonstrates where our faith is truly placed.

Satan’s statement to God was that Job’s faith would be shown to be a mere façade because God had blessed him with health, wealth, and family.

Satan was wrong. God was right. However, we may wonder about what Job thought of all this, once the suffering subsided.

I don’t know about Job. I can only speak for myself. I won’t list the long litany of trials and tribulations I have personally encountered in my life, and those I am facing presently. Yet, I will say that each of my experiences have taught me something important about God; and those hard experiences have changed and strengthened my faith in ways I could not have imagined.

Although I would never want to go through all of the past adversity again, I would not change a thing in my life. Because each of my experiences were formative in making me the person I am today – full of robust faith in God and confident in the Lord, no matter the circumstances.

Strengthen us, O Lord, by your grace, so that through your mighty power we may overcome all spiritual enemies, and with pure hearts serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Sower, by Mike Moyers

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” (New International Version)

The Sower, by Johne Richardson

All four of the New Testament Gospels have their own particular angle and focus upon the life of Jesus Christ. For Mark, he wrote to demonstrate and prove the established authority of Christ over everything.

God’s power is expressed in and through Christ. So, when Mark tells a story, he is concerned to communicate that God’s kingdom – God’s rule and reign on this earth – comes through Jesus as the Sovereign over this realm of the universe and our world.

By means of a parable – a farmer going out and scattering seeds – Jesus was making some points about the kingdom of God: it will be successful; it is thoroughly under divine control; and it’s inclusive.

God’s Reign Will Succeed

History is inexorably moving toward a climax. God’s sovereign rule has broken into human history. Christ’s authoritative rule is taking root, growing, and shall eventually envelope all the world.

It may not presently seem as if that’s going to happen. But appearances can be deceiving. Although much, if not most, of the good gospel seeds spread about this earth never produce a harvest of righteousness, there is enough good soil for those seeds to succeed.

Even though there is a lot of unproductive and ineffective soil in this world, good seeds in good soil will germinate and take root. They will grow, develop, mature, and ripen. An abundant yield of crops will more than satisfy the needs of the earth. And it will blow the imagination of even the wisest and best farmer.

One person, having realized the incredible fruit of the Spirit, makes a broad, deep, and expansive impact on dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of people. It certainly doesn’t happen overnight; but goodness, truth, beauty, and righteousness are making their way slowly – and will overtake and overwhelm all evil.

If you make disciples who make more disciples, that is multiplication. Jesus made disciples, and called his followers to do the same. He spent three years training twelve men; and then commissioned them to go out and reproduce the process with others. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Beginning in Jerusalem, the earliest disciples of Jesus began making more disciples, following Christ’s ascension, and that movement has never stopped. Jesus started a movement of a few seeds multiplying into many seeds, so that the Church would grow exponentially. Not even the gates of hell can stop the process from happening. (Acts 1:1-8; Matthew 16:17-19)

God’s Reign Is Ruled by God

That may seem like a ridiculously obvious statement, yet it still needs to be said. God is authoritatively in control, not only of God’s own kingdom, but of all things. This means that God’s rule and reign is the result of God’s action, not ours. The only thing we need to do is scatter the seed and be a simple farmer. Everything else is up to God.

Our ability to do anything is animated by God’s gracious work in our lives. The power to effect making disciples comes from the Lord. Since we are dependent upon God for our next breath, we are also completely under the authority and sustaining presence of God for everything in life.

Both the subject and object of every biblical story is God. In this unfolding drama of redemptive history that we are experiencing, God is the writer, producer, director, and lead actor; we only have some bit parts in the whole thing. It’s our job to respond – and not to try and take over the show.

God’s Reign Is Inclusive

When gospel seeds are established in good soil, eventually producing an abundant harvest, it will feed the entire world. It will include all kinds of people. The produce which is available is not limited to a particular group of people. God’s grace and goodness are shown to people without prejudice or favoritism.

The best things in life begin as small as a mustard seed. That’s because every good thing we have is a result of humility. And from that place – the hummus of the earth – God creates life, gives new life, and does the improbable and the impossible of transforming a tiny little seed into a tall expansive plant which blesses many.

Conclusion

As simple humble farmers of faith, we need to pay attention to what we have, so that we don’t become complacent. The forces of evil – the spiritual tornados and tsunamis – are still very much active on this earth. Those powers temporarily oppose the good power and authority of Christ.

The good word spread to us can be snatched and taken away by the ravens of Satan. Although other good words make some effective headway, all the weeds around them can choke the plants until they wither and die. All sorts of existential conditions surrounding the plants can cause a failure to thrive.

Whenever Christians face opposition – or when they observe young believers lost to those surrounding forces – they need not become discouraged. Why? Because this is all a part of the ministry to which every follower of Jesus is called. Our part is to keep sowing and planting. The rest is up to God.

Sovereign and almighty God:
Give me strength to live faithfully this day;
Let me not turn coward because of difficulties, or become irresponsible to my duties;
Let me not lose faith in other people;
Keep me sweet and sound of heart, in spite of ingratitude, treachery or meanness;
Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them;
Help me to keep my heart clean and to live so honestly and fearlessly that no outward failure can dishearten me or take away the joy of conscious integrity;
Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things;
Grant me this day some new vision of your truth;
Inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness, and make me the fertilizer to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.