The Kingdom transforms
{grace, community, kingdom and love}
an extract from Simon Elliott’s sermon
Everyday Church Wimbledon
Grace...
Based on Christ's performance on the cross as an expression of God's grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace is not cheap. It costs God everything.
And grace does not make us passive. Grace enables us to say no to godliness. Obedience has not got me into the presence of God, but grace births in me obedience.
I can now love God because I was first loved by God. I can now pursue holiness, not because it qualifies me, but because I have been qualified by grace, and therefore I can live out the good of grace in my life. And praise the Lord, I'm not called to do that alone.
Community
Yes, I walk in step with the Holy Spirit, so I'm at that level, never alone, but I'm also called to be part of a community.God is community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created out of community.
We're told the Father spoke. We're told the Holy Spirit hovered. We're told that nothing was made that has been made without the activity of the Son.
God created out of community, and God created us in community. It is not good for man to be alone. From that moment we've known we do this together.
God's redemptive restoration plan to fulfil his kingdom vision is a community plan. Yes, at times he calls individuals Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, David, Esther, Deborah, but why does he call these men and women that they might lead the people of God into their inheritance? Yes, at times we can feel isolated and alone, like Elijah, who thought he was the only one, and yet even then God says, no, I know you think you're alone, Elijah, but wait for Elisha to come. Oh, and by the way, there's these 7,000 faithful believers who I've kept safe.
We are never alone. We're never meant to be alone. Christianity, following Jesus, is not an isolated sport.
It's a team sport. There's no such thing in Scripture as an individual or isolated believer. To say we love Jesus and not love his church is not to understand that God calls us into a glorious community, and we exist as community not just to enjoy one another, not just to love one another, but for the kingdom of God.
Kingdom
Mark 1 verse 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said, the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.
The four gospel writers bring us this wonderful mosaic or tapestry of Jesus's life, highlighting different aspects, coming from different perspectives, introducing us to different characters, butat the heart of every gospel is the message of the Kingdom. The gospel writers agree together that it is the kingdom of God that Jesus brings. The kingdom of God is at hand.
Jesus encourages believers to pray, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Throughout working and feeding in and building the kingdom, we get caught up in God's big story. And that kingdom is now.
That kingdom is at hand. People get healed now, people get saved now, justice is brought now, but we also know it is not yet. The kingdom of God will not fully come until Christ returns.
Yes, when Christ returns, we're told in Revelation as we read just now, there'll be no more pain, there'll be no more sorrow, there'll be no more tears, there'll be no more death. We're told there's no sea. That just means the sea represented chaos and confusion for the ancient world.
And so for there to be no sea, it meant there'd just be peace, there'd just be justice. But not yet. And the "not yet" of the kingdom is painful.
And it's most painful when it's my imperfection, your imperfection, our imperfection, our brokenness. It's when that not yetness of the kingdom impacts each other, when we disappoint, when we let down, when we say the wrong thing or don't say the right thing, when we do something out of foolishness or poor motivation. It's in our relationships that the not yetness of the kingdom causes pain and ultimately injustice.
Love
So we need love. What is the antidote to the "not yetness" of the kingdom? It's the agape love of God. It's a love which is patient and kind, that does not envy, that does not boast, is not proud.
It's a love that does not dishonour and is not self-seeking. It's a love that is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. It's a love that does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.
It's a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. It's a love that never fails.
How do we express the vision of God here every day? Through these seven words:
son, father, the spirit, grace, community, kingdom and love. And if we were to express it in one phrase, it's this. We are image bearers and kingdom bringers.
That is our identity, image bearers. That is our influence, kingdom bringers. And bringing the kingdom is not passive or narrow.
Bringing the kingdom is not about a few holy huddles each week. Bringing the kingdom is about bringing the kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God into every situation, into every individual, into our homes, into our social settings, into our neighbourhoods, into our nation, into our workplaces.
The kingdom is personal. It's about salvation. The building block of the kingdom is individual relationship with God. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, you Nicodemus need to be born again.
So it is about personal salvation. It is about personal sanctification. The kingdom grows as we become more like Jesus. In Ephesians 4, Paul reminds us that Christian leadership, the Ephesians 4 ministries are brought for the equipping of the saints that they might grow up into Christ. So the kingdom is about salvation and about sanctification. It is at one level incredibly personal and private, but it's also public.
It's about signs and wonders and social action. The kingdom is of God. It is about us as individuals and us as a community bringing the power of God into situations, not just on a Sunday morning when we gather in a small group or a life group, but in every situation to see healing, to see the prophetic, to see breakthrough, to see resurrection, to see miracles of provision.
It's about signs and wonders. It's about doing all the things that Jesus did. Jesus, who had this perfect personal relationship with the Father, then brought that kingdom, that power of the kingdom into every area.
And that is what we are called to do. And it's about social action.Jesus spent so much of his time lifting up the last, the lost, and the least.
When Jesus got confrontational, it was those who wanted to put others down, who wanted to control, who wanted to misuse authority. Jesus stood for those things. Jesus stood for freedom and justice, because that's the nature of the kingdom.
The nature of the kingdom is fair and just and equal. So the kingdom of God is about salvation and sanctification, but that should break out into signs and wonders and social action.
...
an extract from Simon Elliott’s sermon
Everyday Church Wimbledon
Grace...
Based on Christ's performance on the cross as an expression of God's grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace is not cheap. It costs God everything.
And grace does not make us passive. Grace enables us to say no to godliness. Obedience has not got me into the presence of God, but grace births in me obedience.
I can now love God because I was first loved by God. I can now pursue holiness, not because it qualifies me, but because I have been qualified by grace, and therefore I can live out the good of grace in my life. And praise the Lord, I'm not called to do that alone.
Community
Yes, I walk in step with the Holy Spirit, so I'm at that level, never alone, but I'm also called to be part of a community.
We're told the Father spoke. We're told the Holy Spirit hovered. We're told that nothing was made that has been made without the activity of the Son.
God created out of community, and God created us in community. It is not good for man to be alone. From that moment we've known we do this together.
God's redemptive restoration plan to fulfil his kingdom vision is a community plan. Yes, at times he calls individuals Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, David, Esther, Deborah, but why does he call these men and women that they might lead the people of God into their inheritance? Yes, at times we can feel isolated and alone, like Elijah, who thought he was the only one, and yet even then God says, no, I know you think you're alone, Elijah, but wait for Elisha to come. Oh, and by the way, there's these 7,000 faithful believers who I've kept safe.
We are never alone. We're never meant to be alone. Christianity, following Jesus, is not an isolated sport.
It's a team sport. There's no such thing in Scripture as an individual or isolated believer. To say we love Jesus and not love his church is not to understand that God calls us into a glorious community, and we exist as community not just to enjoy one another, not just to love one another, but for the kingdom of God.
Kingdom
Mark 1 verse 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said, the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.
The four gospel writers bring us this wonderful mosaic or tapestry of Jesus's life, highlighting different aspects, coming from different perspectives, introducing us to different characters, but
Jesus encourages believers to pray, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Throughout working and feeding in and building the kingdom, we get caught up in God's big story. And that kingdom is now.
That kingdom is at hand. People get healed now, people get saved now, justice is brought now, but we also know it is not yet. The kingdom of God will not fully come until Christ returns.
Yes, when Christ returns, we're told in Revelation as we read just now, there'll be no more pain, there'll be no more sorrow, there'll be no more tears, there'll be no more death. We're told there's no sea. That just means the sea represented chaos and confusion for the ancient world.
And so for there to be no sea, it meant there'd just be peace, there'd just be justice. But not yet. And the "not yet" of the kingdom is painful.
And it's most painful when it's my imperfection, your imperfection, our imperfection, our brokenness. It's when that not yetness of the kingdom impacts each other, when we disappoint, when we let down, when we say the wrong thing or don't say the right thing, when we do something out of foolishness or poor motivation. It's in our relationships that the not yetness of the kingdom causes pain and ultimately injustice.
Love
It's a love that does not dishonour and is not self-seeking. It's a love that is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. It's a love that does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.
It's a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. It's a love that never fails.
How do we express the vision of God here every day? Through these seven words:
son, father, the spirit, grace, community, kingdom and love. And if we were to express it in one phrase, it's this. We are image bearers and kingdom bringers.
That is our identity, image bearers. That is our influence, kingdom bringers. And bringing the kingdom is not passive or narrow.
Bringing the kingdom is not about a few holy huddles each week. Bringing the kingdom is about bringing the kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God into every situation, into every individual, into our homes, into our social settings, into our neighbourhoods, into our nation, into our workplaces.
The kingdom is personal. It's about salvation. The building block of the kingdom is individual relationship with God. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, you Nicodemus need to be born again.
So it is about personal salvation. It is about personal sanctification. The kingdom grows as we become more like Jesus. In Ephesians 4, Paul reminds us that Christian leadership, the Ephesians 4 ministries are brought for the equipping of the saints that they might grow up into Christ. So the kingdom is about salvation and about sanctification. It is at one level incredibly personal and private, but it's also public.
It's about signs and wonders and social action. The kingdom is of God. It is about us as individuals and us as a community bringing the power of God into situations, not just on a Sunday morning when we gather in a small group or a life group, but in every situation to see healing, to see the prophetic, to see breakthrough, to see resurrection, to see miracles of provision.
It's about signs and wonders. It's about doing all the things that Jesus did. Jesus, who had this perfect personal relationship with the Father, then brought that kingdom, that power of the kingdom into every area.
And that is what we are called to do. And it's about social action.
When Jesus got confrontational, it was those who wanted to put others down, who wanted to control, who wanted to misuse authority. Jesus stood for those things. Jesus stood for freedom and justice, because that's the nature of the kingdom.
The nature of the kingdom is fair and just and equal. So the kingdom of God is about salvation and sanctification, but that should break out into signs and wonders and social action.
...
