Pop quiz: On a scale of one to five, with five being the most and one being least, how important is it that we are comfortable in church? How important is it that the church grounds look inviting? How important is it that the pastor be ruggedly handsome? How important is it that the pastor speaks truth? How important is it that the church reaches out to a lost and dying world?
I think we can all agree that there a few things more important than reaching a sin-soaked world with the truth of Jesus Christ. And I think we would all agree that is something our church should support and that we would all agree that we should be praying to that end. Would you agree?
How we do those things is up for debate. Where we go, who we reach, how we reach them and who is in charge of that effort are all things we can discuss and debate and try to figure out the best way of doing. But we all are in favor of reaching the lost for Jesus, correct?
Would you say that the world needs that? Of course. Would you say that Texas needs that? Not as much as California or New York , but sure. No, I’m kidding. Texas needs the truth of Jesus. Would you say that Wise County needs it? Would you say that Lake Bridgeport needs that? Would you say the fields are ripe? Would you say that there are people all around us who are lost and dying in their sins? Would you say we have the answer to that problem? Would you say, “Here am I. Send me, Lord, to the harvest field?” Whoa! Be careful now.
Don’t say something you don’t mean. I have an idea that some of you agreed to that last part about being sent to the harvest because everybody else was saying it. See, the problem with agreeing that the fields are ripe and praying that God will send workers is that so many times God allows you to be the answer to your own prayer. Some of you will never pray for anything ever again now. I hope not because while we can all see that the fields around us are ripe, we are all called to be workers in those fields.
At the end of Matthew chapter 9, Jesus tells His disciples to pray that God would send workers to the harvest fields. And we are going to see this morning that the very next thing Jesus does in the first part of chapter 10 is to send those men out as missionaries.
A young man is set apart to be a missionary. After a special commissioning service his pastor reminds him that he now must act like a missionary. The young man is troubled and asks the pastor, "You know I have a girl friend. Will it be alright for me to give her a kiss good-bye at the airport?" The pastor considers this and says, "I'll tell you what, you can kiss her if you kiss her the same way you kiss your mother." The young man thinks for a moment and then asks, "Can I warn my mother first?"
The good news is that you don’t even have to kiss anybody good bye. We are told to be preachers, “as we go” through our daily lives. It’s the same word used in the Great Commision as it is in this passage. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 10, verses 5-16. I know the bulletin says verses 1-10 but let’s start with verse 5.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel . 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. 9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
So, as missionaries, we all now have the power to heal the sick and raise the dead, right? Well, no. Of course there is that power through prayer. God still has that kind of power but Jesus gave that power to His disciples for a certain time and a certain place. He also told them not to take any gold, silver or copper in their belts. I’m sure if you want to take copper in your belt today as you go that would be fine. And we will have more opportunity to talk about that stuff tonight at 6 when we discuss this again in a more casual setting but this morning I want to concentrate on the one part that does apply to us. I want to look further at the sentence in verse 7 that says, “The kingdom of heaven is near.”
How many of you believe that the kingdom of heaven is near? How many of you believe that because the Bible says so but you would be honest and say you don’t really know what it means exactly? I don’t blame you. It is kind of vague. Do you remember how we defined “ kingdom of God ” or kingdom of heaven” last week? I told you that there are lots of whole books written on the definition of this and so my explanation will not do it justice but it is a phrase that is a huge, all-encompassing phrase that includes the time since we first met Jesus and believed in Him to be the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father but through Him.
It includes our walk with Jesus every day that we live here on earth but would also include the coming rapture and the time we spend in eternity with God as joint heirs of that kingdom with Jesus. All of that is under the umbrella of the phrase “kingdom of heaven” or “ kingdom of God ” (and those can be used interchangeably). The question before us today is how is the kingdom near?
Think about this scene that we just read. Jesus is not preaching the commissioning sermon for a group of missionaries. He is not giving the commencement address at the seminary. He is telling a bunch of fisherman and tax collectors that they are to preach about the kingdom. He is telling average guys who probably have had very little education and no formal training that they are now preachers. The term “preacher” just means to proclaim or to herald but for these men, I can imagine they had to be scared to death.
Jesus tells them to pray about workers for the field and I’m sure they said, “Sure, we’ll pray about that.” But then Jesus starts telling them where to preach and what to take and what not to take and what to do if this happens and how to respond because He is sending them out as sheep among wolves. Can’t you just picture them? Some were making notes. Some weren’t sure what He was talking about. And then Jesus says to “Go.”
I’m sure they all just scattered and one of them started walking and realized what he was told to do and then thought better of it. “Hey, now, wait. Jesus? Peter? What am I supposed to say? Where am I going? Hello?!” Does that sound like you? These guys didn’t even have the knowledge about Jesus that we have today. They didn’t have the New Testament. They didn’t even have the Holy Spirit at this point, at least not all the time like we do as believers. All they knew was the little bit that had been revealed to them and their relationship with Jesus.
And that was enough. That was enough! They had a relationship with Jesus and that was enough. They had lots of questions. There was a lot they didn’t understand. They couldn’t explain what heaven was going to be like. They didn’t know the difference between pre-millennial and post-millennial. I got asked this past week at the little store, “Pastor, why weren’t dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible?” I said, “I don’t know, Melissa, but I do know that Jesus loved you so much he died for you.” I’m not qualified to answer questions about dinosaurs but I am qualified to talk about the love of Jesus because I have a relationship with Him and I have seen His love evidenced in my life.
I am qualified to talk about God’s forgiveness. I’m qualified to talk about God’s grace and mercy. Not because I have been to school but because it is as real to me as this podium is. I have lived it. It has been poured out to me, pressed down, shaken together and running over. It is near to me and it can be near to you. I have seen God’s healing hand and have felt His comforting Spirit and I want you to as well. The kingdom of heaven is near and all you have to do is believe it and accept it.
In Philippians chapter 3 Paul, who was the greatest missionary and the greatest preacher of all time, lists all of his credentials. He went to the best schools, learned from the great teachers and had all the right degrees. He made the best grades in his class and was the best student and the most religious graduate. And then he says…all that is rubbish! He considered that a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of just having a relationship with the Lord. All he wanted was to know Christ.
Well, we can do that. And because we can do that we are able to tell people about what that means in our lives. We can tell them that the kingdom of God is near to us and can be near to them by telling them about what God has done in our own lives. They can’t really argue with that. Oh, they will try. They will try to argue by asking you questions about dinosaurs and whether Satan has a last name and how old the earth is. That’s fine. Just lead them right back to Jesus. Tell them you don’t know the answer to that question and then tell them what you do know.
You know that you can have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22) You know that you can have a full and abundant life. (John 10:10) You know that you can do all things through Him who gives you strength. (Phil. 4:13) You know that His grace is sufficient for you even if your prayers are not answered as you had wished. (2 Cor. 12:9) You know that you are a new creation, that the old one has gone and the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17)
Do I need to go on? I could do this all day. You know that there is no temptation that is beyond what you can bear. (1 Cor. 10:13) You know that in all things God works for your good. (Rom. 8:28) You know that because the Son has set you free that you are free indeed! (John 8:36) And you know that those who marry will face many troubles in this life. (1 Cor. 7:28)
Ha-ha! I just had to put that last one in there. I’m just having fun. But it does bring up another aspect of the kingdom that is near that you need to tell about. There is trouble to be had. In this same discourse with the disciples in verse 22 that we didn’t read, Jesus tells them that “all men will hate you because of me.” Job, one of the godliest men in the Bible said in Job 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.”
A man was shopping in a grocery store. His young son followed closely behind, carrying a large basket. The father loaded the basket with one thing after another until another customer began to feel sorry for the boy. She said, “That’s a pretty heavy load for a young fellow like you, isn’t it?” The boy turned to the woman and said, “Oh, don’t worry. My dad knows how much I can carry.” In the same way, this life will have trials and burdens but our Father knows how much we can carry.
There is one more aspect of the kingdom being near that we need to share as we go. As we go and preach about the kingdom being near for us and how it can be near for others we also need to mention that it is only entered into through repentance. And this is not my idea. I didn’t just make this up so I could throw it in at the end. In fact, this is not the first time that Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven being near and Jesus was not the first to mention it either.
Turn to Matthew 3:1-2. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Ooh, did you catch that? Hang on, let me get you another one. This time it’s Jesus in Matthew 4:17. From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Repentance is not what people want to hear. People want to hear all about the peace and the joy and the power and the abundant life but nobody likes to hear that they need to repent. They don’t like it because repentance means changing. The word actually means to change your mind or to think differently about something. It means to turn from sin and toward God. Everybody likes to hear about forgiveness and healing but listen to what God says has to happen before that.
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Repentance means to be walking one way and then turn around because you have had a change of mind. I have told you my testimony before about how I started my walk with Jesus as a youngster but spent some time away from God. And I knew I was doing wrong. I knew the Holy Spirit was working on me and so several times I would decide that I was going to do better. I was going to turn over a new leaf and be a better man. That’s what I was going to do. And then 30 minutes later I was back to doing that old foolish stuff.
That’s not repentance. That’s just feeling bad because you’re a fool. I was trying to turn from my old ways but I wasn’t turning to God. I was just veering off a little bit, not making a 180 degree turn. God says we are to humble ourselves and pray and seek His face. Is that always easy to do? No.
But do you know that every single person that has ever lived will at one time do it? Everybody is going to do it. The question is just, “When?” Do you want to do it now while the kingdom of heaven is near and you can enter into that peace and joy and forgiveness? Or do you want to wait until you are standing before the great white throne where it says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. But then it’s too late. Oh, sure, you will have changed your mind. You will repent of what you have done and you will regret being a fool.
But God says that today is the day of salvation. Repent today for the kingdom of heaven is near.
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