The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand

I. God's Ordinary Is Extraordinary 00:00

Thank you, Lord. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.

So today we get to talk about Ordinary Times again. It’s a very important thing that you are ordinary. Believe it or not, I know some of us want to be special. But what I want you to walk away with is that God’s ordinary is pretty darn extraordinary. So if we can get there, I think we’re going to be okay.

We’re entering into a really fun season. I mean, incredibly fun. We love summertime, especially here in Southern California. The kids are home from school, so the added bit of chaos is just the flavor of life. At least at my house, we’ve got five kids and a pregnant wife, and so everything is just everywhere all the time, and there’s so much energy and joy, and I am stoked for summer. It is the best.

Also, we’ve got some fun things coming up. We’ve got 3SI, as you guys know; we have a young adult conference coming up. Deacon Phil is going to be made a priest. It’s going to be Father Phil. I’m petitioning for Father Phillip. I don’t know, I like that one. We change him up. Really throw him a curveball here. And the Patriarch’s Council is going to be with us right after that. So bishops from around the world, including Africa and the Philippines, are going to be coming here to gather for the Patriarch’s Council for the first time in a few decades. So it’s going to be a really awesome moment for this church, for Saint Michael’s.

II. Pay Attention 01:45

And as we come into these things, I was really feeling that God wanted us to pay attention, which is a word that we often give up here. But think about the attention economy, as some people are calling it in our culture. How many people are paying billions of dollars so that you spend a few more seconds on this thing? So that you see their message, their promotion? Why are they doing that? Because, believe it or not, your attention is the most valuable resource on the planet. I know that seems insane, but it is true. Because what you pay attention to, you will devote your time to. And over time, as you pay attention more, as you devote more time, the trajectory leads to worship.

And that’s why we have so many opportunities to call you back to attention on that which is truly important, that which truly matters: the kingdom of God and its righteousness. That’s why Jesus says, “If you’re feeling anxious, I’ve got the solution. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything you’re worried about will be added to you” (Matt 6.33). He didn’t say gain the kingdom of God. He didn’t say work for the kingdom of God. He said pay attention, seek, direct your attention toward the kingdom of God, and everything flows from that. How much attention are you willing to pay to Jesus? How much attention are you willing to pay to his kingdom and his purposes? That’s the question that we’re all wrestling with every day.

And in this season… I even gave a word on Pentecost that I felt was from God, that God has drawn near to us. There is something that God is doing in this time. And in those seasons, the encouragement in Scripture is to run after what he’s doing.

It’s like in the farming world, which I know very little about: there’s this time called harvest time. I drive the 5 freeway at least once a week from here to the Bay Area, so I drive by the most concentrated area of irrigable farmland. I don’t know if I said that right. But the widest amount of continuous farmland in the world is in California. I don’t know if you guys know that. It’s really insane. I did a whole research project on it; I will spare you the details. But long story short, when you’re driving there, there’s a time called harvest time. And those trees that are usually just hanging out in the breeze, maybe a tractor here and there, are swarmed with laborers, because when the harvest is ripe, you have a very limited amount of time to yield that harvest. And so they just throw hundreds and thousands of people into the fields, because we’ve got to get the fruit.

What I’m saying is, it’s harvest time. God is doing something here. There’s fruit on the tree for you today. Pay attention. It’s not just another day. It’s not just another summer. Pay attention. That’s the intro. We’ve got a whole sermon ahead. Don’t worry, guys. We’re going places.

III. The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand 04:50

Jesus said in the Gospel something that’s repeated throughout: the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 10.7). And I’ve made this point before, but I think sometimes we think that means it’s coming, it’s around the corner. Like, mom’s turning on the hill, or dad’s turning on the hill. We live on this hill, and when you’re turning on the hill, you’re going to be there any second, so be prepared. That’s not what it means. It means it’s right here. Imagine those trees that you’re plucking the fruit off of during harvest time, and there’s a ripe fruit right there; all you have to do is grab it. That’s the message of the gospel. The kingdom is here. It’s right here. Pay attention, seek, grab.

In fact, the Ordinary Time season has an even more… I have lots of ways to describe this. How do I say this? It’s really cool. It has a more badass name. I’m just going to say it. It’s called Kingdomtide. It’s like the kingdom time is now.

If you think of the story of the liturgy, we have anticipating Christ coming. We have Christmas; we love Christmas. We have Epiphany: everybody realizes. Then we have Lent, where we remember that Jesus came to die on a cross, and so we’re going to join him there. Then we have Holy Week, where we really live that out. We have resurrection, ascension, Pentecost. Okay, we’ve done the whole story, and then it’s like the story stops. No, the story keeps going. After Jesus ascends and Pentecost happens, it’s our story. So the rest of the liturgy is focused on you. All of the liturgy [before that] is focused on Jesus. Now, in all of Kingdomtide and Ordinary Time, it’s you being Jesus in the world. That’s the story of the liturgy for the next however many months, till we get to Advent. It’s an amazing time. Ordinary is extraordinary in the kingdom.

So when you look at this, and we talk about the kingdom of heaven being at hand, we are not just saying that in a blasé manner. We’re saying, “What have you done that has advanced the story of the kingdom of God?” Because that’s the call on each of us. And maybe that’s not a condemnation. Maybe you need to recognize how God is using you right now. Maybe it’s just a celebration of all the ways that God is impacting people through you. Maybe you need to take stock. But it’s at least an invitation to enter further into what he’s doing in your life.

All right. The kingdom at hand is a promise that if you seek it, if you pay attention, you will find the kingdom. The harvest is here. It is plentiful.

IV. Hunger and Thirst 07:50

Next section: hunger and thirst. As I was thinking about this, and I was getting excited about the kingdom, I had this idea of the immediacy of the Gospels. When Jesus is interacting with people, it is like they are desperate for what he is bringing. They’re either desperate for what he’s bringing or they’re desperate to stop him. Nobody is apathetic about this guy. And yet we can go our whole life… we’ll go two months without thinking about it, or we’ll do the motions, but we just don’t have that urgency or that desire.

Now, I’m not saying the emotion of desperation is something holy. That’s not what I mean. What I mean is that our hearts grow dull. They get this glaze on them. They lose their immediacy. They lose the understanding of our dependence on God. And I think Eric talked about that a little bit on Pentecost. He said we need to be needy for God. We need to get needy.

And sometimes you have to do things to put yourself in a position where you’re stepping out of the boat. You know when Peter was the most desperate for Jesus? When he was on the water, in the waves, as the storm is going (Matt 14.29–30). He’s standing on nothing but faith in that moment. He got out of the boat. So maybe one of your ways of seeking the kingdom is to get out of the boat this morning. Maybe you’ve been kind of coasting on what’s easy, on what’s there, but eventually the storm’s coming, and that boat isn’t going to save you. They were ready to die before this all happened. In this whole story with Peter walking on the water, they were professional fishermen, looking around saying, “We’re going to die.” And then Jesus comes over and solves their problem. I’ll tell you, while Peter was the only one who walked on water, the disciples did not survive because they were in the ship. They survived because Jesus showed up.

So in the midst of your life, why aren’t we more desperate for him? I was thinking about that story where Jesus feeds the 5,000 people, and then he sneaks away and crosses the sea, the sea where all these storms are happening. And they find out where he lands, and they all come and find him again. And he’s looking at them, and he goes, “You guys are following me because I gave you food” (John 6.26). Now imagine this scenario. You hear that Jesus is in Huntington Beach, at the beach. He just landed. He’s handing out free food. How many of us are stoked about the food? Not any of us. We’re full.

These people had a hunger that was natural to their bodies, because they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. They had a completely different society. We are so saturated in everything you could possibly need that we don’t know what hunger and thirst are. And so when they use these metaphors, like “as a deer pants for the water” (that’s a great psalm here): “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps 42.1). Beautiful. What does that mean? The deer is heaving. He’s going to fall over dead. They’re in a desert. It’s not like a deer on the side of Big Bear who’s standing next to a lake, like, “Ooh, I should take a drink.” It’s a desert culture, going from little stream to little stream. They had to dig wells for water, and the wells would occasionally go dry, and you would die. That’s what it means to be thirsty. That’s what it means to need God.

We are so full that we have nothing to desire. We have dulled all of our natural, inbuilt… What did the writer [Augustine] say? He said our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you. Or in Ecclesiastes it says he has put eternity in the hearts of men (Eccles 3.11), an eternal desire and need. But we just fill it with this, that one. We fill it with Netflix and vacations and fine dining and adventures and coffee dates and beach days and everything you could possibly do. We are so full. There’s no hunger and thirst left.

My challenge to you today is that if you want to seek the kingdom of God, you’re going to have to get rid of stuff. That’s what I’m telling you. You cannot seek the kingdom of God and be completely satiated by all of the false gods that we are sold. You can’t spend every waking day on what you want to do and expect to serve his kingdom. It requires the cross. The way of Jesus is the way of the self-emptying, self-sacrificial laying down of our lives, our really easy, very comfortable lives.

Now, I am not at all talking about those moments that we all have where you’re in the crisis, you’re in an illness or a family death or something like that. Of course, in those moments, I’m not saying that you need to be taking an inventory of how many things you have. No, feed your children, please. I’m not saying that. I’m saying that in the times where things are easy, don’t fall into complacence. In the harvest time, when everything is here for you, find the thing that matters. It means you’re going to have to say no to things. You’re going to have to look at your life and make room for the opportunities to seek the kingdom.

Because ultimately, while there’s nothing wrong with fine dining, Netflix, vacations, coffee shops, social media, beach days, if you’re so full of them that you have no room for what Jesus has for you to do, how can he use you? How can he tap on your shoulder and say, “Hey, I want you to stop and do this. I want you to give your energy, your time, your money to this”? You’re full.

V. What Jesus Has for You to Do 14:13

So what does Jesus have for you to do? We’re told in our Gospel lesson; he wants you to do this:

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Matt 10.8

Sign me up. Maybe you’re feeling like, “Okay, whatever. How does this even apply?” How does this apply? I want to start by saying, of course, we are filled with the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead (Rom 8.11). And so I’m not taking the literal meaning out of this, because that’s what he meant. He meant actually do these things, and the disciples went and did them. And then the early church went and did them. And then for 2,000 years we have stories of people healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons. But I want to expand your vision for what this means. This is a real command for us today in a literal sense, but it’s also the lived reality of being a disciple of Christ. Everywhere you go, this is your mission.

So how do we do this, when maybe most of the time you pray for somebody, they don’t get healed? Maybe most of the time you pray for somebody, the dead don’t get raised. Maybe most of the time you pray for somebody, demons don’t go flying out of them. Maybe. How do we understand this, then, in our actual lived reality? What I mean to say is, while healing the sick by miraculous prayer is absolutely still something that we see, that we’re called to do, we’re also called to bring them chicken noodle soup. We’re also called to build hospitals. We’re also called to serve as doctors and nurses. We’re also called to discover cures.

Leprosy has a cure now. “Cleanse the lepers” is checked off of humanity’s list. You still have to apply the cure; there are still things that have to be done, so we’re still actively doing this. But praise the Lord, the kingdom has come. Could you imagine going back to this time and saying, “Oh yeah, leprosy, one of the worst, most painful, isolating incidents in the whole world, is done. We got you”? And that’s just one of the thousands of ways that, largely, Christians have come up with ways to treat illnesses and disease. Now, that’s just a random point about the fact that when you believe that every person matters, your whole view on what matters changes. And you might dedicate your life to solving a cure for the incurables, the untouchables, the outcast. That comes from the heart of Christ. And anywhere anybody does all these things, Christ is made present.

Now, when you look at this, think about this. The power of the kingdom of God is both sudden and astounding as a tsunami. Imagine you walk into a funeral and you raise the dead. That is astounding. And that has happened in the kingdom from the time of the inception of the church till now. But it’s also as patient and consistent as the tides. And ultimately the tide is rising, and the waters… What does it say? We know that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2.14). That is pretty amazing. And so when we’re talking about these things, it’s more than just the immediate miraculous intervention of God.

VI. Raise the Dead 17:59

Think about this. Heal the sick, raise the dead. Have you ever seen someone who was so lost to addiction, despair, suicidal ideation, all of these things, that they basically were dead? I don’t know if you’ve ever seen somebody like that. I’ve seen someone like that, who went to prison because of his addiction, and somebody gave him a Bible. He got the gospel from someone. That’s how it happens. I don’t know if you guys know, but we have to give people the gospel for them to receive the gospel.

Now, he was given the gospel. He found Jesus, and he became one of the most on-fire missionary Christians I have ever met in my life. And the transformation was unbelievable. I sold him a bike once. It was really fun. But he’s just a cool guy. I just cannot tell you how “raise the dead” means more than physically raising the dead. Not less than physically raising the dead: more than that. Every one of us has died with Christ and been raised to new life. We’ve already experienced this, and we’re meant to bring that to people. There are people, like Bishop Chris loves to say, dying on our watch. There are people everywhere who need this. So yes, we should be raising the dead, but we should also raise them spiritually, emotionally, relationally. Everywhere you go, by the way, you see people come to life.

VII. Cleanse the Lepers 19:28

Or think of the lepers. This is a great one, because really, lepers, you could just say outcasts, untouchables, whoever you don’t like, the homeless people who scare you on the side of the road, anybody that’s like, “Ooh, I don’t want to be around them”: we’re called to cleanse the lepers. And in fact, while the Christians were famous for actually healing lepers in miraculous moments, they were even more famous for going into the leper colony, living with them, taking on their ailment, and caring for their needs. What a miracle of perseverance. What did Romans say? We rejoice in tribulations (Rom 5.3).

Imagine the call that you have is to go move into the homeless camp up in LA on Skid Row and care for their needs. That would fit the bill of discipleship to Christ. Now, I’m not calling any particular person to this. I’m saying this is discipleship to Christ. It is not the American dream: get married, have kids, white picket fence. Or the Orange County dream: travel the world, taste every coffee shop that you possibly can, take really good Instagram pictures, get a really great following, whatever that looks like. Whatever your dream is, it’s not discipleship. It may be a part of what God does in your life, and praise the Lord for his blessings, but seek the kingdom first and then let all the things be added to you.

VIII. Cast Out Demons 21:12

So we’re called to do these things. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers: hang out with the untouchables and love them. They need more than just a physical healing, today more than ever.

And then cast out demons. Well, yes, of course. I love me a good exorcism. I would love to be a part of more of those. How cool is that, man? Somebody is suffering, imagine the most… just demented, and then you pray for them, and they’re clean and they’re healed. I mean, the story of the guy that says, “We are Legion” (Mark 5.9), and then he’s come out, and he’s just weeping at the feet of Jesus. It brings me to tears, that man and the torment he was in. And boom, he’s set free by the power of Jesus.

You have that power in you. If you are a baptized Christian, and you encounter somebody and you think they’re demon-possessed and they’re scaring you, just tell them, “In the name of Jesus, be gone.” Now, I’m not telling you to go look for that. We can do it in a more wise and credentialed way. But if you’re scared, invoke the name of Jesus, because he’s in you. You have the power to cast out demons. Not you, but the Holy Spirit in you. You’re in Christ. You’re with him. You have his power.

But think of all the stuff you’ve read and heard about the mental health epidemic or the addiction epidemic. How much of that, percentage-wise, do you think is also demonic? All of it. Because the devil seeks to kill, steal, and destroy whatever way he can (John 10.10). Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t a physical reality. Of course there is. We’re physical beings. That’s why Jesus died bodily, and we will rise bodily. We’re not Platonists. We don’t think that our soul and spirit are somehow separate. The same way, I wouldn’t say that somebody who’s demon-possessed doesn’t need some physical healing. They probably do. And so when we address these things, let’s not be blind to the fact that the person you encounter who is just suffering with endless depression [may] need an exorcism as well as mental healing and physical neuroscience rewiring. That’s all good. I’m not negating any of that. I’m saying we’re called to be a part of this.

Why would we just send them to a psychiatrist? They only have a couple of tools. Okay, they may have a large portion of tools in their area, but they don’t have Jesus. In fact, in the state of California, they’re not allowed to talk about Jesus. It’s unbelievable. But that is an aside.

What I’m trying to say is this, what we started with: heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. And it seemed like, “Okay, yes, I’m going to do that. Sure. For sure, Jesse. Sure.” No, this is just how you live your life in Christ. When you encounter people who are oppressed, possessed, fighting a spiritual war, you have Jesus in you. So join them, pray with them, love them, and see victory in their life. And the demons flee. The demons cannot stand. It’s not like a battle. It’s not like, “Ooh, this demon’s really powerful, so I don’t know if I could.” No. Jesus is all authority in the world. Period. And he has everyone’s healing.

But like I mentioned with the leper colonies, sometimes their healing comes through a lifetime of devoting yourself to serving them. Sometimes their healing is when the leper dies and goes to heaven because of the ministration of the Christian man who suffered his own leprosy to care for him. He goes up to Jesus, and he goes, “I’m here because of him. Because he, even though there wasn’t a miraculous moment of healing, persisted, and now I live eternity in the fullness of heaven.”

IX. Freely You Have Received, Freely Give 24:53

This is discipleship. What did Jesus say after he told them this? He said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt 10.8). So basically he’s like, “You remember when you were dead, when you were the leper, when you were demon-possessed, and when you were sick? I set you free from all that. I raised you. Now, how dare you hold it back from everybody around you.” I’m using some strong language, but Jesus didn’t mince words. He said, “Go do it.” He didn’t say, “I saved you so that you can build your perfect life with all the things you want.” He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28.19).

Which requires you to love the people around you, which requires you to have families and children that we raise well, which requires you to build communities like this church, where we care for one another and our needs, and we make a beautiful space. It requires a lot of us that is implied in each of our lives. That’s wisdom and grace. But it also requires us to give up the idea that our life is our own. We’re told we’re bought with a price (1 Cor 6.20), and we plan a lot of our life with the idea that we get to decide.

And let me be clear. I think God loves to see what we come up with. He loves to see how we design our life and how we come up with these magnificent things. And there are probably things in your life that you love, and God loves that you love them. However, it’s all about what’s in the right order. Seek the kingdom first, which means you’re going to have to get rid of some stuff that takes priority over him. You’re going to have to make room for him to move in your life.

X. Fruit on Other People's Trees 26:31

Now, maybe you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Ooh, I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I feel like I already do all these things, and now I’m getting all these other things I’ve got to do, and where’s the leper in my life?” And you’re going home writing notes furiously. That is not the point. It’s that if you pay attention, like we started with, if you look, the kingdom of God’s right here. What is the right-here thing that God has for you? Turn your eyes to him. What’s the first thing? Know that it’s going to lead to all this other stuff, and have hope, because that stuff’s awesome. But as you make room in your life to pay attention to the kingdom, watch it fill with fruit that you could have never imagined.

And one more thing I’ll leave you with: the fruit in your life, in the kingdom, will grow on other people’s trees. What that means is you’ll see fruit in the person that you loved, that you planted and watered, but God gave the growth (1 Cor 3.6) over here. Because you said yes to him, other people are going to benefit. It’s like the promise to Abraham: in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Gen 22.18). When you give your life to him and you seek his kingdom, the fruit goes on for generations.

It’s because of my grandfather that I’m here, or it’s because of my parents that I’m here, or it’s because of Thomas, my youth helper (he wasn’t actually my youth pastor, but he set me straight a couple times), that I’m here. It’s because of other people’s work, their yes to God, that I’m here. And that’s going to be the case for all these people that are going to be joining Saint Michael’s over the next few years. This is what God wants. He wants to see his fruit spread, so that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace.

Be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did. That’s discipleship. Be with Jesus, become like him, do as he did. Amen.