The Kingdom of God Has Come Upon You

20 years ago terrorists attacked the United States. This was the first foreign attack on American soil since the War of 1812 (Hawaii was not a state in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked).

Unlike European, African,Asian, and South American countries who have suffered innumerable war between one sovereign nation and another, America had been comparatively safe from attack.

Shock and anger swept across our country as we realized that a foreign psuedo-state had unleashed a horrific act of war.

For a brief time all Americans grieved together. Patriotism became fashionable while we questioned how the most powerful nation on earth was unable to protect its citizens from such horrific attacks.

In the passage before us in Matthew 12, we are given a glimpse into the nature of the ongoing battle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.

Could This Be the ‘Son of David?’

As Jesus continued His healings and His confrontations with the enemy (vs 22-23), the crowds began to wonder of just maybe this Jesus was the One whom God had promised through David and the prophets of old.

Perhaps this man Jesus, exhibiting remarkable power, teaching with authority, silencing the Pharisees with His wisdom was the One for whom they and their forefathers had been waiting.

Could this be? Matthew’s gospel was written to a primarily Jewish audience, an audience familiar with the expectation of a coming King who would re-establish His throne in Jerusalem and re-establish Israel as the Pre-eminent people of God.

The Pharisees, familiar with God’s promises regarding a Messiah, were stumped. How could this ‘Jesus,’ a commoner, one from the easily overlooked village of Nazareth be the descendant of a king?

Jesus’ reply silenced the Pharisee’s and scribes - at least for the moment.

How can a divided kingdom stand? How can the rule of realm of a leader stand against the internal pressure of civil war?

Israel’s own history had demonstrated the consequences of civil war - prior to David’s reign being establshed and t’hen after the death of David’s so, Solomon.

Now, Jesus is making the claim that God’s kingdom was present, that the kingdom for which most of them were waiting for was here. Why could they not particiapte? What was keeping these people - those who were healed, the families of those who had been healed , the religious leaders who spent their days looking into these things?

What were they missin?

Anyone who is not ‘with Me’ is ‘against Me’

In war the combatants are often easily distinguished by the uniforms they wear. In the American Civil War the norther troops wore blues and grays, and the southern troops wore reds and grays.

The conflict of kingdoms which Jesus unleashes is distinguished by words - by confessions of faith.

Louie Giglio, in a recent book, explains

“Because God is now made visible…in and through the person of Jesus, who now lives in us through the Spirit. I no longer seek the presence of Jesus, I seek the person of Jesus. I’m not after the presence of the Holy Spirit. I want the person of the Holy Spirit and His power. I’m not calling on the presence of God. I have God (Father, Son, and Spirit) living in me.”

Louie Giglio, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat At Your Table: It’s Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind… (Nashville, TN.: W Publishing, 2021), p 56.

Our words matter. How we speak of the Father, the Son and the Spirit are reflections of the kingdom divide. Those who accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan are denying the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. That is blasphemy. God will not tolerate blasphemy.

The Greatest Sign of All

The Pharisees and scribes demanded a sign. I’m not sure what more they were asking - Jesus had healed, Jesus had cast out demons, Jesus had spoken with authority and power. What more could He do?

Jesus reminded His listeners of two pieces of their own history. Jonah preached a simple message of repentance. The entire city of Nineveh, a sworn enemy of God’s people, repented and experienced God’s gracious favor.

The queen of the south came to investigate the claims being made about Solomon and his unearthly, spiritual wisdom.

In both cases people experienced transformed lives by hearing and responding to the transforming message of the Kingdom of God.

Now, something greater than Jonah, someone greater than Solomon was present - in their very midst - and they were missing what God was doing.

This Evil Generation

Jesus compares those who were clamoring for a sign, those who were seeking to force Jesus into their own mold of what they thought the Messiah should be to an evil generation.

This generation, He noted, cleaned out their hearts and lives of foreign idols. In the recent history of Jesus’ day, the Jews has stood against the Greek rulers who had desecrated the Temple. Those stories were told and retold to remind themselves of how prepared they were for God to act.

But instead of devoting themselves to seeking how God was working they opened themselves to even more disastrous results - vs 44-45.

Instead of cleaning house as it were and renewing a commitment to the purposes and plans of God, Satan found a wide open door into the hearts and lives of many in that era. And within months after Jesus had spoken these words crowds just like those to whom Jesus was speaking would demand that Rome put Jesus to death.

Redefining Kingdom Relationships

As Jesus is speaking His family comes. Most likely they had come to take Him home. They were concerned about the increasing opposition, the danger Jesus to which He was being exposed.

The crowds were such they couldn’t reach Jesus.

When Jesus was told of their presence, He radically redefined relationships. We have to remember the context of Jesus’ words.

Refresh your memory by listening again to Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 10:32-39 ““Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.”

Who is part of God’s Kingdom? John, the Beloved Disciple, who heard Jesus on that day would write these words in his account of Jesus’ life:

John 1:11-13 “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.”

CONCLUSION

The past 20 years have been remarkable. No further terrorists attacks have occured on American soil. We have taken the battle to the enemy. After 20 years our troops are home from those battles.

Events closer to home, though, remind us that there is still a battle. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are in a constant state of conflict.

We have the assurance that God’s Kingdom will prevail. We’ve read the last chapter!

Let me call to mind several things that we need to do in the midst of this battle:

a). Let’s saturate our mind and heart with the Word of God so that we might learn to see and recognize the way God works.

b). Let’s be careful with our words. The words we speak are a reflection of the condition of our heart. Peter, one the men listening to Jesus on that day, reminded those to whom he was writing:

1 Peter 3:15-17 “but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

c). Let’s carefully learn to discern the circumstances in which we live.

The crowd to which Jesus spoke wanted a sign. what more can we look for?

Are lives being changed?

Here is one of many stories I could share:

THERE ARE COPIES OF THIS BAPTIST PRESS STORY AVAILABLE AT THE BACK OF THE AUDITORIUM

These days at Long Hollow Baptist Church, interruptions aren’t considered bad. The plan isn’t as crucial as the response. Things flow from a position of prayer, ultimately pointing toward Christ.

Structure exists, sure. There’s still an order of worship. Trained childcare workers remain ready and available. Pastor Robby Gallaty prepares and prays over his sermons. But anyone feeling led to come to the altar can do so at any time. Gospel conversations occur throughout the week. Baptisms are conducted while worshipers sing. They also take place after Gallaty’s message and invitation, continuing as long as 45 minutes after the benediction regardless of lunch plans.

Robby Gallaty, senior pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., conducts baptisms while the congregation worships on Sunday, April 11. “The greatest sermon I could ever preach on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is a person being baptized,” he said.

Such steps are needed to meet the response the church has witnessed since December. That marked the beginning of a wave of baptisms that exceeded 1,000 on April 11. Gallaty, who began at the church in 2015, estimates that 70-75 percent of those are from first-time confessions of faith and 83 percent are adults.

He’s quick to point out that it is all due to God. And really, it couldn’t occur until Gallaty got out of the way. That realization happened after the suicides of two of Gallaty’s close friends: ministers Jarrid Wilson and Darren Patrick.

“Both of those men preached at Long Hollow within six months of their passing,” he said. “They both sat at my dining room table. It made me realize that the last person to say he’s burning out or that ministry is tough is usually the one burning out.

“The Lord allowed me to take an introspective look at my own life. I was tired. Tired of trying to keep people happy. Tired of trying to keep them from leaving. I went to my porch to pray for the Lord to fix the problems in our church and our country. God showed me that the problem … was me.”

That led Gallaty to do something counter to his driven, competitive, Type A nature. He became still and began to “sit with the Lord.” Up to an hour each night, on his porch, he’d sit in silence, pray and listen. On the night of Dec. 15, he got an answer.

“Every great movement of God begins with not moving,” he said. “I would have never come up with what God brought to me – spontaneous baptism.”

Dec. 13 had been the lowest-attended Sunday at Long Hollow since Gallaty’s arrival. Nevertheless, on Dec. 20 Gallaty announced that anyone wanting to be baptized that day could do so. The 20 previously-scheduled candidates reflected the spirit of revival the church had observed. They included Dylan, a former Satan worshipper who had been led to Christ weeks earlier, baptizing his friend, Patricia, who had also worshipped Satan but now surrendered her life to Jesus.

When Gallaty invited others forward to be baptized, he positioned himself beside the baptistry. The moment hung in the air for a second.

“Then, all of a sudden you could sense the Lord moving,” he said. “At the end of that first servicewe had baptized 99 people. I got home and was sitting alone with God when He gave me an image. It showed that these were the first heavy raindrops before the torrential downpour.”

Long Hollow began baptism-only services the following Tuesday. Eighty-one people showed up. “We were there for two hours and the spirit of God was palpable,” Gallaty said. On Jan. 19 the church incorporated a prayer service that included in-person and online accessibility. It has since moved to Wednesdays.

Those gatherings continued as did the baptisms, with prayer a constant presence. During Holy Week the church opened from 6 a.m.-5 p.m. for prayer and baptized 201 people on Easter. As of April 13, among its campuses in Hendersonville and Gallatin, Long Hollow had baptized 1,048 since Dec. 20.

“It’s been completely out of our control and an overwhelming move of God,” said Collin Wood, executive pastor.

Gallaty’s intention when looking into the screen and inviting anyone to come to the church for baptism didn’t include a plane ticket. But that’s the choice some have made. While the responses have been overwhelmingly local, 20 baptisms have been of people from 15 other states. Some of those have decided to move to Hendersonville. All are encouraged to join Life Groups – whether at Long Hollow or something similar at their own church – for further discipleship.

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/long-hollow-revival-steeped-in-prayer-sees-1000-baptisms-since-december/

d). Let’s regularly check the status of our heart:

We are fortunate and blessed to be able to pray for the physical needs of people quickly.

Do we spend the same time and energy praying for the spiritual needs of our family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances?

Following Jesus isn’t about ‘cleaning house.’ Rather it’s about giving Jesus full reign of your life - your house as it were.

e). Let’s define ‘family’ as Jesus does: those who are obedient from the heart to the truths of God’s Word.

We waste alot of ammunition shooting at other Christians when they disagree with us!

FINALLY:

Jesus is indeed the ‘Son of David.’ He is the One whom God promised. He is the One in whom forgiveness of sin is available. He is the One in who true healing occurs. He is the One who can inhabit our heart, the One who can fill us with the very presence of God Himself. He is the One that unites us, He is the One in who we find all that God is for us.

Are you in that crowd…wondering if Jesus is who He says He is? Today you can profess Him as Savior and Lord.

Today you can experience a deep cleansing that will literally change the very way you speak because only the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can transform our hearts to produce good things from the storehouse of our heart.

Will you get out of the crowd and align your life with the lives of Jesus and His followers?

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