Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Madison Church Online. Glad you're listening in. I want to invite you to join us in person soon. My name is Stephen Feets, I'm the lead pastor here and I have a question for us to reflect on this morning, and I bet for some of you because I know it's one that you have thought about before, but for some of you you haven't thought about it, and I would love to invite you to think about it. What if the kingdom of God isn't just about where we go when we die, but about what God is doing right now? Or in other words, what if heaven and earth are overlapping and interlocking and Jesus is inviting us to step into something bigger than ourselves? That's what I want you to reflect on this morning. Perhaps heaven isn't then and there. Maybe it's here and now as well.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Nt Wright, prolific writer, theologian. No one has done more to shape my theology than this guy. He describes the kingdom of God's rule breaking into the present, reshaping the world from the inside out, from you and me to the rest of the world. Starts with Jesus, goes to his followers and it dispersed throughout the rest of the world from the inside out, from you and me to the rest of the world Starts with Jesus, goes to his followers and it dispersed throughout the rest of the world. It's not just a future hope. We say the prayer and then maybe, hopefully with some luck, at the end of my life, god keeps his promise and I'm in heaven. It's a present reality. God's salvation in the kingdom of heaven. God's salvation in the kingdom of heaven. Nt Wright writes.

Speaker 1: 1:45

Now many of us love the idea of following Jesus when it's inspiring and it fits neatly in our lives, like 11 to 12 on a Sunday. That seems pretty convenient, right. But what about when it requires us to change, like what happens when we get the conviction that maybe something I deeply believed was right, all of a sudden I'm having to confront that maybe that wasn't right, something that I've practiced most of my life and really just assumed or took for granted that this was right. Maybe now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe something was good for me for a season and now God's saying that's actually not good for you anymore. Do we love following Jesus when it requires us to surrender, to open up our hands and to give him everything we have, when he calls us to fall on our knees to live differently? Now Jesus made it clear entering the kingdom of God is going to cost something. That's actually where Luke is going to transition.

Speaker 1: 2:36

We've been in this series going verse by verse and through Luke's gospel, and we see Jesus had been doing miracles around the Sea of Galilee. He's making his way into Jerusalem. He's still doing some miracles, but now he's really focusing on the work of training and equipping and preparing his followers to continue the mission after his death. That he knows is happening, but they haven't quite figured out and we're going to enter into the next few weeks, as we're talking about Luke, the cost of discipleship. Yes, following Jesus is great. It's the only way we can experience life to the full and it's an invitation to experience heaven on earth. But it's not easy. It can be rather challenging, and the passages that we're looking at today remind us that the kingdom of God is not passive, it's urgent. It's urgent. Jesus calls us to recognize the time we are in and he says the time is now. Not next week, not next year, not when you finish this, not when you get that, but right now.

Speaker 1: 3:40

And so let's pick up where Sarah left off last Sunday. If you want to follow along, house Bibles are all around you. Feel free to log into the internet and use your smartphone if you want to use a Bible app. Otherwise the words will be on the screen. But again, luke 12.

Speaker 1: 3:52

And Jesus' words in this passage are not what anyone expected, which we've come to expect. Right, jesus is going to say the unexpected. The Jewish people longed for a Messiah who would bring peace, and really peace, kind of by the sword is how they thought. That's how you get peace. The guy with the big stick, the guy who is the best at wielding the sword. And for the Jewish people they believed that that was their Yahweh. God was going to send a Messiah who would finally make all things right. It would make the Roman empire just crumble and put the Jewish people back on top. And what we see is Jesus says yes, I am here, I am the Messiah. I have come to do some things. It's just not going to be the way that you have expected them to. He does not affirm their expectations. Instead, he dismantles them. He says do you think I've come to bring peace to the earth? Now again context they thought he was going to come with a sword and force peace on everyone. He says no, I've come to divide people against each other. We'll just leave that up on the screen for a second here.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Is this the first time you've heard these words from Jesus? Perhaps you didn't grow up in and around the church, or you've been out of it for a while and this sounds new to you. You don't have to raise your hand, but if it's the first time, examine, kind of, maybe, what you're feeling. Can you remember if you have heard this before the first time hearing this? Now? I'm not a big fan of trying to unexplain the things Jesus said. That's kind of a popular trend. Well, jesus said this, but you know he didn't mean it and this is why I just tend to take Jesus seriously when he said what he said. Why did he say it? And let's look at that. So what are you feeling about this?

Speaker 1: 5:40

I've come to divide people against each other, divide families. I've come to divide people against each other, divide families. I've come to disrupt communities. I've come to force people to choose. Why? Well, first off, because God's kingdom doesn't fit neatly into the box of our expectations. That's the first thing. But for 2,000 years, whether it's religious leaders back in Jesus' day or Christians today, whether it's your first day on earth or you've been around for 100 years. We have expectations that Jesus is constantly challenging. He's forcing us out of the box all the time. Jesus did not come 2,000 years ago to maintain the status quo and he's still challenging the status quo today of my faith, of your faith, of Christianity, of the big C church, of what the kingdom of God can look like in our city and in our society.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Jesus came to call people to allegiance to God's reign and that demands a response. He says will you, are you going to participate in this or not? And not answering is answering. Not saying yes is saying no. There is no neutral ground and I know we tend to. We like to think of Jesus, as you know, sometimes in our society, a little bit of a softie, and I'm not making an argument now that Jesus is mean. I don't think that If you've listened to any message in the past. I'm not trying to make that argument.

Speaker 1: 7:13

But sometimes Jesus's words they hit, they're challenging, and that's good. He's different from us. Every now and then it should make us uncomfortable, make us scratch our head, make us wonder why, push us out of our comfort zone. That's how we know we're engaging with the true God. Is when we have a disagreement. To make the point even clearer, he tells a parable about a barren fig tree. These are in verses six through nine. I'm not going to read them because I got a lot to go through. But it's a tree that looks alive, but it bears absolutely no truth. Again, it's a parable, it's a story. It's just taking up space. The owner of the tree wants to cut it down, but the gardener the one who's working on it, intending it says just give me one more year to nurture it. Let's see what happens. Just give me one more year. This parable reveals both God's patience, but also his expectation. He expects us to bear fruit. Discipleship isn't just about believing, it's about bearing fruit. It's not just about being a tree in the right field, it's about bearing fruit wherever you are planted.

Speaker 1: 8:19

Luke immediately follows Jesus' call to action with a real-life demonstration of what kingdom living looks like. He's teaching in the synagogue. He's about to do a miracle that's common for him. There's a woman who's bent over. She's unable to stand up straight and without hesitation, he calls her forward, he places his hands on her and, as we've come to expect, the woman is healed. However, this should have been a moment of joy and celebration, and for some normal people it was. This is cool. How often 2,000 years ago did you see somebody who you knew for 18 years was bound up by ailment and then all of a sudden they're released from that? So for some of them it was really cool and yet for others it wasn't, because it was the Sabbath. This is a recurring theme in Luke's gospel. For some of you who have been every week of this series or kept up with it, you're like man.

Speaker 1: 9:10

This is like the third or fourth time, I think Luke has recorded Jesus heals on the Sabbath and they have a problem with it. The Pharisees do, yeah, they do. Luke is trying to point out Jesus keeps doing it. Jesus keeps giving the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the synagogue folks, chance after chance and opportunity after opportunity to change their mind. I've done it before. I've already talked to you about it and then I did it again've already talked to you about it and then I did it again, and I talked to you about it again, and now I'm doing it again. And yet here we are. And it goes ties into that analogy of the tree. There's a tree and it bears no fruit, and yet the gardener keeps saying give me just one more time. Give me one more time. But we know time is running out.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of their thinking. He says you don't tie an ox or donkey. They're actually like these very legalistic rules about how many steps you could take and what you could actually do. They debated it why? Because living righteous and being holy was important to them. I want to point that out. I think sometimes we give the Pharisees like this oh, they're awful, they're awful, they're awful. They were trying really hard. They had a lot of conversations about the right way to live, but in doing so they forgot about the God that they were pursuing. And that's what Jesus is trying to point out. If you would take care of a donkey, an ox, how much more important is this woman than them? That's Jesus's argument.

Speaker 1: 10:37

God's commands were never meant to be barriers to mercy. God's commands were always to reflect his heart, his care, his nurture, his love for the people. The kingdom of God is about restoration and not rigid rule keeping. Discipleship is not about maintaining comfort. It's about stepping into God's mission, even when it disrupts cultural norms. And I think at times we are pretty good at this at Madison Church. I think at times we do things differently on purpose, in pursuit of Jesus, not in pursuit of a tradition, of a denomination tradition some of those words we were singing today not because of any of those things. But we ask the question what is God doing and how can we join him in that? Jesus then expands his kingdom vision. He's going to give us two parables on how this is going to expand.

Speaker 1: 11:31

He says what is the kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It's like a tiny mustard seed that a man has planted in a garden. It grows and becomes a tree and the birds make nests in its branches. He also asked what else is the kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast of a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough and you have to Google this sometime. I should have got a picture for you. I'm just thinking of it right now. But the mustard seed is like it's almost impossible to see. I've actually got them before and I've shown some of you what a mustard seed looks like, and then it turns into an entire ecosystem. In the desert, like where something shouldn't grow, it turns into an ecosystem. And then he uses this thing, he goes. You know when the birds come, they make their nests. What he's saying is he says from this one mustard seed, from this one act of faith, comes a kingdom movement that births life where formerly there was just death. God's kingdom always starts small, but it is unstoppable.

Speaker 1: 12:35

And yet we have to ask the question this morning if God's kingdom is so powerful, why do, as Jesus insinuates, so many fail to enter it? The Jewish audience assumed they were already in. Anyone who was Jewish at that point would have assumed they were already in. They were descendants of Abraham, they followed the law. But Jesus is saying the kingdom of God isn't about status or heritage, it's about response. How will you respond when you hear this? It's not enough to be near the kingdom, you have to enter it, and he's pointing that out. You follow the law, and he's pointing that out. You follow the law, you're descendants of Abraham, you're right there, but you have yet to enter.

Speaker 1: 13:20

And then he says something even more shocking to the Jewish audience standing there. He says many from the east and west outside of Israel will be at a banquet. He tells another parable. He says there's going to be. All of these people and these are those you would assume would not be included Gentiles, non-jewish, not, the descendants of Abraham, not the people who followed the law. And Jesus makes a bold claim, says they will sit at the table, while those who assume they had a seat at the banquet would be left outside. Now he doesn't say this as excited. He's not rubbing their face in it. I get the impression Jesus is really bummed and hope that they take his direct warning about the path that they are on Change trajectory folks.

Speaker 1: 14:05

But the message is this that some will reject the kingdom, not because it's hidden, but because they don't want the cost. They have to sit at a table with their enemies. They have to sit at a table with the social outcast, the economic outcast, the other, the person who is different. We can't even say who they are because the hatred is so deep. And Jesus says the kingdom of God is like this. I'm asking you, come in and have a seat, and a whole bunch of you say no, I'm good, luke goes out of his way. No, I'm good, luke goes out of his way.

Speaker 1: 14:35

Luke is our Gentile writer of the four biographies of Jesus, four gospels, and he's the only Gentile one, and so he kind of goes out of his way to show Gentiles, you're included, this isn't just a Jewish thing, this is for you. And so he likes to highlight these stories to show that the kingdom of God is for everyone. For everyone, it's absolutely inclusive. And he's talking about this great feast in Luke 14, and he says he invites all of these people but the guests all make excuses on why they can't be there. So for some of you, you write these down. You know wedding season is about to come up on us.

Speaker 1: 15:13

You can maybe use some of these. I bought a field. I need to inspect it. That's why one can't go. I just got an oxen, I need to test them. If you use that, will you just send that to me? Like, if you cannot you know regrettably cannot attend reason why I just got an oxen and I need to test them, Just like screenshot that for me. I want to know what the response is. I just got married, I can't come, and you know these are all reasonable, are they not like? Reasonable? I mean like, okay, you don't have an oxen, I get that, but like they have legit reasons, economic reasons, things that have to do with their jobs, their livelihoods, their family's well-being, all of these things that are going on. They say you know what? I just can't make it for dinner tonight. I've got all these more important things to do.

Speaker 1: 15:55

And Jesus's point is clear. They're not rejecting the invitation because they hate the host. That has nothing to do with it. They're not saying, oh, we don't like you. They're not saying you're not going to have good food. They rejected it because they're too distracted, they're too consumed with their own lives, their own careers, their own finances, their own family, their own friends, their own church. Whatever it might be, it's. It's about my emotional health, my physical health, my spirituality, and they're too busy and their priorities, their priorities, keep them from attending the feast. And Jesus exposes that.

Speaker 1: 16:31

The real threat to discipleship we've been talking all about discipleship the real threat to discipleship is not outright rebellion, it's just passive indifference, it's just being indifferent, it's just being mediocre, it's just being lukewarm, it's just being indifferent, it's just being mediocre, it's just being lukewarm. It's just I could take it or leave it. We assume we'll have time later I get that and we assume we can say yes when it's convenient, when it's a better time, but before we know it. As Jesus tells the story, the table is full, the doors are shut and we've missed our seat. Jesus shows us the kingdom of God is open to everyone, but those who assume they deserve a place might miss it because they refuse to walk in. So don't assume that I'm a good person.

Speaker 1: 17:14

I read, I pray, I go to church, I raise my hands during worship, whatever it might be. Are we following Jesus? Are we following Jesus? Does following Jesus lead us to read the Bible, to pray, whatever it might be? Are we following Jesus? Are we following Jesus? Does following Jesus lead us to read the Bible, to pray, to worship? Yes, but we have to examine our hearts. Is Jesus still number one and these things are a result of my love for Jesus, or do I do these things and then somewhere down here? Oh yeah, it's because of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 17:39

Jesus' words about the kingdom aren't just for 2,000 years ago. They do demand a response for you and me today. The kingdom of God is here and now, and when we look at the brokenness of the world, we can see that the kingdom of God is not fully established. Whatever your social injustice issue is, that keeps you awake at night? That bothers you when you see the headlines, you know that the kingdom of God is not fully established. And yet it is also not not established. There are elements of it that have been established all over the place, and God is calling us. Be the kingdom, be the mustard seed, help usher in the kingdom of God right here and now.

Speaker 1: 18:21

As we've seen, not everyone enters. Some reject the cost. Jesus, you want me to do that? No, thanks. Some will make excuses I'm not ready. I'll be ready in a little bit. Just hold on, let me get my stuff together. Some will simply stand near it without stepping in it.

Speaker 1: 18:39

So how do we respond, you and I today, all of us? How do we live as a people shaped by God's kingdom? Well, first, I think that we need to stop standing near the kingdom and step into it. That's the first thing. Let's stop standing by Jesus and start walking with him.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Jesus warned many would assume they were part of the kingdom, but they would find themselves outside the door. Why? Because proximity to Jesus is not the same thing as participation in the kingdom. Proximity to Jesus is not the same as participation. He calls us to follow him. This is with our thoughts, our actions, the words we use. It's not enough to just hear sermons. It's not enough to attend church faithfully. It's not enough to admire Jesus from a distance, to listen to a bunch of podcasts every day about spiritual health we must enter. So ask yourself have I truly surrendered my life to God's kingdom or am I just standing nearby? Where might God this morning, this week, this year, be calling you to take a bold step of faith? Maybe in prayer, generosity, serving, sharing your faith? But where have you been hesitant to walk with Jesus? We must choose kingdom priorities over comfort. This will be a recurring theme as we talk about discipleship. It's about the kingdom, not our comfort.

Speaker 1: 19:55

The guests in the parable of the banquet missed their invitation, not because they were hostile, but because they were distracted, and I know all of us are distracted. That's part of living in the United States in 2025. We are all very distracted Work, possessions, buying new things, fixing old things that broke, relationships, relationships that are good, that we love, relationships that aren't going well, that we need to fix. None of these things are bad, but when they take priority over the kingdom, they do keep us from experiencing the life that Jesus has for us. So what's competing for first place in your life today Does something pop out right away. We need to extend the invitation to others.

Speaker 1: 20:35

Now, this might be the most controversial thing that I've thrown up on the stage, because I know that most younger people we're talking like maybe Gen Z, some millennials, but more Gen Z think it's morally wrong to share your faith. Like morally wrong, like it is wrong. Do not do it. Respect everyone's beliefs and I'm not telling you to disrespect anyone's beliefs. Please hear me out. I'm not saying that at all.

Speaker 1: 20:57

But we've overcorrected. We went from standing on the street corner yelling awful things with awful signs to people. We said, well, we don't want to do that. And I agree, let's not do that. That's awful, that doesn't work, it's gross. But we've overcorrected and we're like well, it's just me and that's it, my personal relationship with Jesus. And you know, I really hope that my spiritualize it. I know what you'll do. You'll say I'm going to pray for them and I get it Like no prayer is good, it's important, but Jesus makes it clear the kingdom is for everyone and part of the kingdom expansion is that we put ourselves out there.

Speaker 1: 21:32

The invitation needs to be sent. So who in your life needs to know that there's a seat for them at God's table. Who have you assumed wouldn't be interested in Jesus? And maybe it's time to pray, but not just pray but to reach out. And not just to reach out but to invite. The kingdom is here. The invitation is open. The only question is will you respond?

Speaker 1: 21:55

And again, I got to make a little note about you know, evangelism and sharing faith. You know I'm not saying you beat a co-worker over the head until they finally come to Madison Church with you. That's not what I'm saying. But as we follow Jesus, shouldn't there be aspects of our life where there's generosity, volunteering, serving peace in the midst of life's chaos? Shouldn't there be things about us that other people are like I, kind of like that, and we can tell them? That's not when you say, oh yeah, well, you know I'm a follower of Jesus. Talk to you later, like we don't do that because it just happens. But that's when we get to say, hey, it's not always this good. Like sometimes I have anxiety and I freak out and I pray and God doesn't answer, but other times he does. We can be real about our faith and sharing that faith with other people. A few weeks ago I did this little thing where I asked everyone to close their eyes. You can do that again if you want, but I also understand it's uncomfortable. You don't have to. But if you want to close your eyes, I want to paint a picture for you. I'll have the words on the screen too.

Speaker 1: 22:59

But if we truly surrender to Jesus's reign, our church won't be a gathering place. It will be a force for change. Our faith won't fit neatly into our schedules. It will reshape our lives. Worship won't end on Sundays. It will define how we live on Mondays. We will be a people who reject distraction and embrace kingdom priorities, who say yes to God even when it's inconvenient, who give sacrificially, serve joyfully and love relentlessly, because nothing matters more than the kingdom of God. And as we live this way, our impact will not stay in these walls or in this basement. It will spill into our cities, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, bringing light into dark places and peace into chaos and hope where there is none. This is the invitation, not just for you and not just for me, but for us. The kingdom of God is here. It is breaking into the present, transforming lives and calling us to step in. But stepping in does require a response. It demands surrender. Jesus wants to be and have our priority, which calls us to action.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Nt Wright, in another book, says the church is not simply a signpost pointing to the kingdom of God. We're not just shouting kingdom of God is here, kingdom of God is here. It must be the foretaste of that kingdom living by the rules of the new world while still in the old one. It should be a foretaste when people come into this space or our small group space, or when we're out one-on-one having a coffee. It should be a foretaste of the goodness of the kingdom that is to come, and it's the hope and the promise. So what will we do? Madison Church Will we stand near the kingdom or will we fully enter it Because it takes all of us? Will we cling to our comfort or embrace the cost? Will we keep this invitation to ourselves or will we extend it to others? The table is set, the invitation is open and Jesus is calling. So let's be people who say yes, who step up fully into his kingdom and live lives that reflect his reign.