Spirit-led Kingdom Living

Does anyone remember the Ferrero Rocher ad in the 90s where the Ambassador is holding a reception for dignitaries? And instead of serving the finest canapés, such as caviar and the like, the Ambassador steps it up a notch and serves Ferrero Rocher.

Do you remember that ad? You might think that my mind is constantly on Ferrero Rocher…that’s partly true, but this ad fits with my message this morning.

In case you haven’t seen the ad, I’ve pretty much described it... it is set at a party hosted by an ambassador. And the ambassador serves Ferrero Rocher instead of canapés in his party. And the guests comment that the ambassador is spoiling them by serving these instead of the typical canapés.

And the point of the ad, in my head anyway, is to make people think one thing but surprise them by something even better....

...so the people watching the ad for the first time are expecting the ambassador to serve the finest canapés - caviar, vol au vents etc. but in a unique twist, he serves, what people regard as something BETTER…I mean what can be better than caviar and expensive canapés? Ferrero Rocher of course.

And of course, the Ambassador is really spoiling them - pulling out the stops. ‘This is so much better than we expected.’

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That’s the message of the book of Acts…Except that the gospel is not about amazing chocolate, but about the kingdom of God.

Because in the world, people are expecting a certain kind of life. And the world thinks that this life is about being successful or wealthy, or to have security or family or friends…people are in pursuit of the best possible life they can get....They are in pursuit of the caviar and vol au vents.

But as you know that’s exhausting, and if we are really honest, there are only a handful of people who HAVE what the rest of the world THINK is the best life ever.

But that’s what people are looking for - or expecting…like the people in the ad expecting the finest canapés and caviar and so on.

But in the ad, they get something better…and in the kingdom of God, so do we.

Because here’s where the true gospel comes in - because the GOOD NEWS is that anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ can have a BETTER life than the best life that the world offers.

But it means letting go of the desire for the caviar and the canapés - it means letting go of the desire for worldly success and the worldly pursuit of money and power and recognition...

...but it also means being a son or daughter of the King. It means entrance into the Kingdom of God - a NEW kingdom, a different kingdom, a BETTER kingdom than any kingdom of the world.

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And being a part of this kingdom means that how you think changes…

[Our thinking must change]

…No longer do you think for yourself. No longer do you LIVE for yourself, but instead you’re constantly thinking of Jesus and how to live for him...

You are constantly seeking HIS will for your life. You are constantly praying, as Jesus taught us to pray, THY kingdom come…THY will be done on earth in the same way it is in heaven.

And so living in the kingdom of God means a dramatic twist in the story. It means a complete change of priorities and desires. EVERYTHING now is focused on Jesus and serving HIM…but it means that life opens up into something that you could never expect it to become. Life becomes FULL....

Full of meaning, full of opportunities, full of ways to worship God and serve Jesus…the one who gives us life to the full as he promised in John 10:10.

And of course, entrance into this kingdom is through our faith in Jesus Christ - by repenting of our sin and humbly coming to him and letting him be Lord of our lives - by giving everything to him as we talked about last week...

And as a result of that, we receive the Holy Spirit who is our guide in this NEW kingdom. He provides the roadmap. He’s the sat nav to navigate this new kingdom.

And we see this in our passage today...

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Philip is in Samaria, as we saw in the past couple of weeks. He’s preached the kingdom of God to them. Many have believed and were baptised, and then an angel of the Lord tells Philip to go south to the middle of nowhere.

Acts 8:26 NIV

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

This is how kingdom people move…they hear the word of the Lord and they follow his leading. And it takes guts to do this. Philip is in a place where his ministry is flourishing, and he is prompted, by God to leave that place and go to the middle of nowhere.

So he goes and he sees this Ethiopian Eunuch in his chariot. He’s from Ethiopia - which was considered the end of the world. And this man is more than likely black…in other words, he’s obviously NOT a Jew.

Philip has preached the kingdom of God to the Samaritans, who were half-Jews…but this is a totally different ball-game.

But in the kingdom of God, you have a guide to help you navigate this kingdom living - the Holy Spirit. And thankfully, the Holy Spirit tells Philip to go close to the chariot...

Acts 8:29 NIV

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

So Philip does what he’s told and he hears the eunuch reading from Isaiah. Luke gives us a snippet of the passage he was reading. He wasn’t just reading those verses - Luke is simply showing us where abouts in the bible he’s reading…and it’s Isaiah 53 - the suffering servant.

A part of the Old Testament that is as close to explicitly pointing to Jesus as it possibly can.

But this man can’t understand it so Philip explains it to him...

Acts 8:35 NIV

35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

This man is ripe to hear the gospel. He obviously believes and wants to be baptised, which Philip does, and then Philip is taken away by the Spirit and the eunuch goes on his way rejoicing because his life has now changed…he’s now a citizen of the kingdom of God.

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That’s our passage…and there are a few things we can focus on here today…but what I want us to notice is how being a citizen of the kingdom of God means that we live and act as Jesus lived and acted.

Jesus has given us a template to follow when he was here on earth, and the closer we get to Jesus, the more like him we become, and the more like him we become, the more we will live and act like Jesus.

And that is what Luke is trying to show us in the book of Acts.

Because the way the book of Acts is written, it is like a replication of Luke’s first book - the gospel of Luke. Remember, Luke wrote Luke’s gospel but he also wrote Acts.

And the way Acts is written by Luke is really clever. Luke maps what happens to the believers in Acts to what happens to Jesus, to show his readers that the followers of Jesus live and act like Jesus lived and acted. And the path of Jesus then becomes the path of the Christian.

[The path of Jesus is the path of the Christian]

So, to give a couple of examples…Jesus preached the kingdom of God - so do the early Christians. Jesus was arrested - so were the early Christians. Jesus was brought before the church leaders - so were the early Christians. Jesus suffered persecution - so did the early Christians. Jesus appeared before the Roman governor - so did Paul, an early Christian.

And actually, in this very portion of the bible, we see how Philip’s journey is mapped onto Jesus’ journey...

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In Luke 24, after Jesus is risen from the dead, he meets some disciples on the road to Emmaus as they leave Jerusalem. They don’t understand what’s happened, but Jesus opens the scriptures to them and explains that it was pointing to HIM all along. Then there is a time of sacrament - the Lord’s supper, after which Jesus is taken away from their sight. They go away and it’s evident that they were rejoicing.

I’m sure you remember this passage.

Now, do you see the parallels with Philip...

Philip meets this eunuch on a road as he leaves Jerusalem. He doesn’t understand what he’s reading, but Philip opens the scriptures to him and explains that it’s about Jesus all along. Then there’s a time of sacrament - this time it’s baptism, after which Philip is taken from his sight. The eunuch goes on his way rejoicing.

[Show picture]

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Do you see what Luke is doing here?

He’s showing us how our ministry should map Jesus’ ministry. How we speak to people and deal with people should be the same way Jesus did…because we are citizens of a different kingdom - God’s kingdom. And we serve a different king - Jesus.

And Philip is an example of what Luke wants us to get - that kingdom living means living like Jesus, being led by the Spirit and going to those to whom the Spirit leads.

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Philip was a man who was full of the Spirit. We know this from Acts 6:3. So he was FULL of the Spirit, he was LED by the Spirit. He was taken to the wilderness by the Spirit and he was taken away by the Spirit…In other words, his whole ministry was under the guidance of the Spirit of God.

And as a result, he was able to live as Jesus lived and act as Jesus acted.

And friends, that’s what it’s like to live in the kingdom of God.

We don’t live like the rest of the world, we don’t THINK like the rest of the world, we don’t ACT like the rest of the world…and are goals and desires are NOT like the rest of the world’s.

But we do live IN the world.

So what’s our role in the world?

Well, like the Ferrero Rocher ad, we are ambassadors...

2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV

20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

We are ambassadors for Christ. Representatives of Christ in a foreign kingdom. And like the Ferrero Rocher ad, we are offering something MUCH better than the world expects…better than success, better than wealth, better than money.

Because when we die that dies with us.

We are offering the Ferrero Rocher of the Kingdom…Jesus Christ. We are offering eternal life. We are offering a life led by the Spirit. We are offering the forgiveness of sins. We are offering riches beyond all measure - in heaven.

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So as we live in this world we are living as citizens of God’s kingdom in a foreign kingdom - we are living as ambassadors - offering something much better than the world expects.

But it means that, as ambassadors of Christ, we are expected to live as citizens of this different kingdom - to be LIKE Christ. To live like Christ, to ACT like Christ, to THINK like Christ.

And, friends, that’s where we struggle.

Philip is given as an example that this is possible…but how?

It is possible through the Holy Spirit. It is possible as we grow closer to Jesus. I know we’ve talked a lot about this last week, but it’s the crux of how we can do this.

Our goal is to be like Jesus Christ. Philip is proof that this is possible, but was he some kind of superhuman?

No - but he was filled with the Spirit. He was a man who was full of the Spirit of God and was living his life under the influence of the Spirit of God who enabled him to do things he couldn’t normally do on his own.

You’ve heard of some people being under the influence of alcohol - where they do things that they wouldn’t normally do and say things they wouldn’t normally say. People under the influence of alcohol do some ridiculously stupid things.

Paul says the same thing....

Ephesians 5:18 NIV

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

Don’t be under the influence of alcohol that makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do and that leads to debauchery…instead, be under the influence of the Spirit, who makes you do things that you wouldn’t normally do, and say things that you wouldn’t normally say, but that leads to the glory of God.

So that’s what we need - an infilling of the Spirit so that we are led by the Spirit - going where the Spirit tells us to go…saying what the Spirit tells us to say.

Philip would NEVER have thought that this black Ethiopian Gentile would be one of God’s chosen people if the Spirit of God hadn’t told him to go and speak to him.

But the Spirit did, and Philip went…and when we’re filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit then we will do things that citizens of the other kingdoms of the world would never think of doing.

But it will be fruitful and we will be blessed and we will bless others…That’s kingdom living.

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Ok, so how do we do this in practice? How are we led by the Spirit? How do we know that our leading is by the Spirit and not indigestion from eating too many Ferrero Rocher?

Well, the Spirit leads us through the Word of God. As we pray for guidance and then read the Bible, the Spirit leads us. As we listen to the Word of God being preached, the Spirit leads us and speaks to us.

In Acts, there were dreams and visions and signs and wonders, but they were always accompanied by the preaching of the Word of God. It’s why the preaching of the Word of God is central in this church…because it is God’s word that speaks to us and it’s how the Spirit leads and guides.

And in the case of Philip, the Spirit led him to the eunuch, but it was the Word of God that changed the eunuch’s life.

But even at that, how do we know the Spirit’s leading?

Well, it’s still difficult…but the more we’re filled with the Spirit - the closer we are with Jesus, spending time with him, the easier it will be to hear and recognise his voice.

Jesus said himself,

John 10:27 NIV

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

It’s back to what we said last week - Jesus wants to KNOW us, and as we spend time with him, the more we’ll KNOW him and recognise his voice.

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Right now, in my life, I’m seeking the leading of God as to where I’ll apply for my ministry. There are many churches out there and God knows which one he has for me, but I’m trying to listen to his voice for me.

And so circumstances have brought people into my life and I’ve heard of places. There are some places where I have no feeling of anything for. And there are others where I feel some kind of draw to. Now, is that God’s leading…MAYBE…it’s part of it for sure.

But as I read the bible, I also have read passages, where I have felt God telling me, ‘pay attention to this...’

But in the end, it’s the verses in proverbs 3:5-6 that speak loudest to me...

Proverbs 3:5–6 NKJV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

And so I am trusting in the Lord with everything I have. And while I don’t understand which circumstances or bible readings are God speaking to me about this move or not…I’m ok with that, because I’m not to lean on my own understanding.

And so in this move, I’m simply trusting that God will show me at the right time, which place is right…because by doing that, HE will direct my paths.

And so I would invite each and every one of us here this morning to remember these verses…in every aspect of your life. In the decisions that you have to make - pray about them. Seek God’s leading and directing. Don’t try to figure it out yourself without consulting the word of God, without inviting the Spirit to lead and guide you...

Because he WILL…if we hand our lives over to him.

And in a few months time, I’ll be able to look back and see that God was in this process the whole time…because he IS.

And if you give him your all and let him lead you and guide you, then he WILL…but don’t expect what the world expects…because the world is looking for the caviar and vol au vents...Expect MORE, because Jesus has bigger things for you than what the world can provide.

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So let’s remember that we are citizens of a different kingdom - the Kingdom of God. We serve a different monarch - Jesus Christ. And the more we’re filled with the Spirit of God the more we will do things that we wouldn’t normally do and say things that we wouldn’t normally say and go places where we wouldn’t normally go, but by doing so we will be mapping what Jesus did - we will be doing what Jesus did.

And THAT is what being a Christian is all about…THAT’S kingdom living.

So we are ambassadors of Christ, offering the citizens of the world something BETTER than they are expecting in this life - we’re offering them Jesus Christ, eternal life and citizenship of a much better kingdom.

So let’s ask for this filling of the Holy Spirit so that we can be more like Jesus and act more like Jesus and think more like Jesus, and LOVE more like Jesus, so that we have the courage to live as Christ’s ambassadors in this world, telling people and showing people that there is more to this life than what they currently expect.

Let’s serve Jesus. Let’s trust in him to lead and guide us…and let’s map our lives on his - cos we can’t go wrong if we do.

And when we do, expect MORE than what the world expects, because God has BIGGER things for those who trust in him.