I don’t have a big problem when people disagree with me. That will happen from time to time. Actually, disagreements help me immensely. I learn a lot from disagreements. No, it is not disagreements that I hate most, what I hate is to be misunderstood. Sometimes the misunderstanding comes from the imprecision of the English language. Sometimes, it comes from the hearer not listening carefully. Sometimes, it comes form the hearer not having the full context of my work to understand what I am sayng.
But then sometimes it is due to my own mistakes in articulating my understanding. But be that as it may, I wanted to talk about a recurring theme in my work that is misunderstood by many.
“How do you preach the coming kingdom?”
In an article a while back, I asked the question, are you a preacher or a motivational speaker. In that article I argued that “The Coming Kingdom” is missing in motivational speaker’s sermons. My argument is that the Kingdom of God should totally saturate our sermons. Just as people hear the cross even when we are not necesarily spaking specifically about the cross, people should hear the coming Kingdom even when we are not speaking specifically about it.
Then someone responded, “we can’t preach about the second coming or prophecy every week.”
I admit that I was not as explicit as I could have been in presenting the point, but the questioner has misunderstood my point. I was not speaking of eschatology or end time prophecy. No I am not only talking about the second coming although I think that does play a role in our preaching. Neither am I talking about speculative prophecy and things like Russia coming into Israel or God’s people disappearing or something like that.
To be honest, I am not even talking about something that is totally in the future. “Coming Kingdom” might imply that I am speaking of something we do not have now, but will come in the future. No, I am talking about something that we have now, but will be more fully experience in the future. I am talking about a present reality and a future reality. I am talking about something that is now and that is future. I am talking about the reality that Christ’s actions have set up a competing Kingdom to the Kingdom’s of this world. This competing kingdom has its own laws and ways of relating.
Yes we can learn of the kingdom by reading the parables. We can learn of the kingdom by listening to Jesus as he preaches the sermon on the mount. I am talking about the fact that we Christians live in that kingdom now. While it is true that we also live in the kingdom’s of this world.
Ambassadors Of Christ
But we don’t just live in this world. We are ambassadors of Christ and God’s Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20)
So when I say to preach the coming Kingdom, I mean to help your people learn how to become members of that kingdom. I mean to help your people learn and understand what Christ has done so that that Kigndom is possible and open to us. I mean to help your people understand that being a member of this kingdom there are ways of relating and ways of being (that christ spoke of in his sermon on themount – that was kingdom preaching). I mean help people understand the responsibilities of being an ambassador of the Most High God.
So yes, there is both a future focus (when the kingdom will be fully realized) but also a present focus (living in the kingdom while we live in this world.)
And yes, this is a dynamic that is missing from those who would make the American Dream the gospel. This is a dynamic that is missing from those who would preach about how to get a better job or how to get ahead at work. Yes this is a dynamic that is missing that reminds us that even though preachers may encourage the saints, they are not merely Tony Robbins. I mean no disrespect to Tony Robbins. Neither do I mean that preaching should not encourage the saints. But I do mean that when we are encouraging the saints and when we are uplifting their spirits, we are doing it within the context of God’s coming Kingdom.
AS you go, preach, The Kingdom Of Heaven Has Come Near. (Matthew 10:7)
Often we hear it said, “You may be the only Bible that someone experiences,” or “Don’t preach a sermon, be a sermon.” We can be the Bible that others experience, by BEING a sermon about the coming Kingdom – Christlike demeanor, attitude, manner, actions, thoughts deeds, et cetera. Thank you for this article.
YES…that encapsulates the idea of being an ambassador very well…
I believe preaching that Jesus is coming very soon in every sermon is vital. Preaching salvation in every sermon is mandatory, as well as vital. How many ‘professing Christians’ are they in the church? A very high percentage. They need to be reached just as much as the person outside of Jesus. We all need to be reminded of what the Lord has done for us. I believe that preaching is the means of doing that. Our Christian walk needs to be rejuvenated by listening to the truth as often as we can. We as preachers have a very responsible job in telling all around us the good news and speaking up for righteousness. The fact that Jesus is coming again should compel us all to live each day as if it was our last. We need to catch on to the fact that we are Christs ambassadors and be sensitive to His holy will.
I thank God for the confirmation, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to begin a bible study series on becoming kingdom minded.
It is very important that we teach souls how to be saved and what to expect now and into the eternities with Christ Jesus. It seems like the world is overflowing with sermons geared to promote greed! I totally agree with Pastor Cox II that the weightier matters are found with the preaching of the Cross, and the coming Kindgdom, which we as saints already have. Let us be the kind of ambassadors that represent our Kingdom well! Keep encouraging the believers.
My dear brother, Elder Cox,
You’re absolutely correct that the kingdom of God because it’s here and every believers dwelling place should be reference every Sunday. The proclamation of the Gospel isn’t an intellectual inquiry that appeals to the brain but the heart. It’s about Jesus, who He is and what He alone does and not about us and what we think. We, the children of God, are a royal priest and a holy nation that translate into we’re His Ambassadors. We’re citizens of Zion and we’re marching upward to Zion that beautiful city of God.
As I read this article , I think about all the oppotunities we have to focus on God’s “Kingdom come” that are not given the title of sermon. Teaching “Kingdom come” starts with every educational event, environment and experience that God purposes for us, so preaching is included and expected.
To my fellow suffers I greet you in the peace of God,
Although I feel like Peter and ready to get out my knife in defense of the gospel.
Bro. Cox the respond you got was an honest response for that individual and should serve as a reminder as to why the 66 and 40 were written in the first place. 2 Timothy 3:16 makes it quite clear for all who read it with a full understanding. Then there is Christ himself, the leader who leads by example…Demonstrating that Kingdom teaching requires much more than just an understanding, it required a commitment with a resolve that would transcend death. Until our three c’s (conduct, character and committed) is developed to that level of maturity…we will not be able to preach it effectively..in the first place. Noah preach the kingdom for a 120 years, but because there was a flood before the flood (there was a flood of sin that took place first) man was to preoccupied or predisposed to even consider truth…let alone the purpose of the rain. Kingdom thinking, preaching or teaching isn’t found in the sermon we study or listen to, it’s a response that brings to life Phillipians 2:5, which leads to the fulfillment of John 17. Just maybe if we read God’s word with a hunger that caused us to shed tears of blood, would we be able to know what an ambassador is qualified and capable of doing….and possessing here now and later…the world would be turned up side down and inside out, the sky would open up and Jesus would out do Himself by coming back again and taking us home. I close with John 14:2. A sermon that Christ preached over 2thousand years ago, but is just as relevant today as it was then…preach it brother Cox until it comes to pass…