Heroes of the Kingdom

Kingdom of God Series, Part 2 of 6

  1. The Spirit of the Kingdom
  2. Heroes of the Kingdom
  3. Laws of a Righteous Kingdom
  4. Kingdom Exploits
  5. Kingdom Priorities
  6. Worship the King of the Righteous Kingdom

September 11, 1988

INTRODUCTION

This may well be the most difficult period in all human history to live a genuinely Christian commitment. Now as never before the world needs to see the Church of Jesus Christ in purity and in power!

When Paul Rees was here in this church ten years ago he said, among other things, "We need the vigor of a Christian community with all the earmarks of a counter-culture."

Would you think with me a few minutes about that statement of need?

I. THE NEED FOR A VIGOROUS COMMUNITY OF FAITH, WITH ALL THE EARMARKS OF A COUNTER-CULTURE

Why is this so important? And why is it so difficult to achieve?

  1. Why a community of faith, anyway? Why not simply each one do his or her own thing? The plan of Jesus is to change the world through His Church. The entire New Testament is written to the Church- for the Church- the Church is Christ's creation, his love! The Church is Christ's ONLY plan to evangelize and reach the world with His redeeming love.

    [Ours is an age of individualism. The church exists to serve US! We choose a church by how well it helps OUR needs. But Jesus sees the Church as His BODY— as an extension of Himself— to do HIS work of redemption.]

  2. WHY IS THIS DIFFICULT NOW? We aren't being persecuted for righteousness sake— not really!

    A community of vital faith would seem to be more difficult to achieve under open, obvious persecution. But do you think that is really how it would be? [Frederick Faber wrote: "Our fathers, chained in prisons dark, were still in heart and conscience free. How sweet would be their children's fate if they, like them, could die for Thee!" What could he possibly mean?] Under obvious tyranny issues SEEM more simple. Harder, yet simpler.

    It is more difficult now to be 'all-out' for Jesus because the issues, the values, are often "fuzzy" ... harder to see clearly!

  3. WE LIKE TO FOCUS ON A FEW ISSUES THAT WE SELECT — and that WE see as "clear-cut" and we focus on THEM: (1) Abortion (2) Hunger (3) Disarmament (4) Or, for some "King James Version" or "Our Brand"

    But then WE are still the focus— OUR activity— OUR control! We like to hear the sins WE hate preached against— but we don't like to have our comfortable way of life disturbed!

  4. JESUS CALLS US TO ALL-OUT LIVING, not simply on a few difficult or easy issues, which WE select, BUT IN THE SPIRIT OF THE BEATITUDES, AND IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS CHURCH and cutting ACROSS culture— not simply "for" it or "against" it. AND THAT IS DIFFICULT!

II. AND SO HEROES ARE NEEDED!

[ IF WE ARE TO SEE CHRIST'S CHURCH BECOME THE VIGOROUS COMMUNITY OF FAITH, WITH ALL THE EARMARKS OF A COUNTER-CULTURE!!]

Transition: "BUT HOLD ON— If it is such a difficult business to really be a Christian, how come the church is full this morning?" AREN'T WE ALL CHRISTIAN HERE?

  1. IT TAKES COURAGE TO LIVE THE BEATITUDES!

    Jesus knew that if people began to live the way He was preaching that they would run into trouble. That is why He said: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

    And then went on to add: "Blessed are YOU when men SHALL revile YOU!" Not just in centuries gone by! Every person who sets out to follow Jesus is going to be swimming ACROSS the current!

  2. HEROES OF THE FAITH ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU AND ME THAT SIMPLY SAY: "I AM GOING TO OBEY JESUS, NO MATTER WHAT!" Heroes are:
    1. Pete and Jim
    2. Tom (Nees) and Tom (Wilson)
    3. [THIS WEEK!] Brenda simply and as a matter of course turning down a high-paying job because it is an abortion clinic.
    4. Esther
    5. Cecil, patient and Christ-like before a class of immature teenagers; influencing them to believe that Christ can really change a life.
    6. YOU! Living for Christ in school— at work— faithful— Jesus says: You are BLESSED!"

III. HOW CAN I RESPOND TO THE NEED FOR HEROES?

  1. To begin with: DEFINE "FAITH" AS O B E D I E N C E! Get away from the idea that faith and salvation are a matter of KNOWING CORRECT FACTS ... OR EVEN DOING 'GOOD THINGS!'
  2. CHRIST'S HEROES KNOW WHAT JESUS SAID; THEY SEEK TO LIVE BY HIS SPIRIT

    In order to be a hero in the kingdom of heaven one must deliberately reject the wisdom of this world. And the wisdom of this world, of this age is particularly pervasive. We are persuaded that we are the wisest, smartest generation of all human history; NO ONE, including JESUS CHRIST, can tell US how to live!

    But following Jesus— being "heroes for HIM" requires the humility to take orders from the meek and lowly Nazarene— and requires the humility to be a part of His glorious-and-imperfect CHURCH!

  3. AND BEING A HERO FOR JESUS CHRIST MEANS ACCEPTING HIS VALUES! [ Can you believe Jesus said: "It is BLESSED to be reviled for Christ's sake!" ??]

    What are the commonly accepted values of this world, this age?

    (From Fortune magazine: I quote- " ... they tell themselves that this is an increasingly crowded, competitive world. ...they feel a deep urgency about getting what they feel are their shares of power and its rewards. They tell themselves that in their urgency they cannot afford relationshops that "drag" on their progress. Marriage is possible if it does not hamper career. Children, for most of them, must wait until both members have claimed lucrative posts. For many of them the decision to remain childless feels final." (MORE QUOTES AT END...)

    In contrast, Jesus says: PUT ME, PUT MY CHURCH, MY KINGDOM FIRST! (6:33!)

CONCLUSION:

[Transitional sentence:] "I said at the beginning: This may just be the most difficult time in all of human history to be a Christian." Can you see how this might be true?

  1. IT WASN'T AS SIMPLE AS WE MIGHT THINK WHEN THE ISSUES WERE BOLD and clear-cut under despotic, totalitarian rule:

    Swiss doctor-writer Paul Tournier wrote, in his book "To Resist or Surrender?"

    "Shortly after (WWII) I was asking him (Bishop Wurm) about that tragic era ... he told me how hard it had been, at the beginning of Hitler's reign, to know what attitude the church should take.

    "... Should the church step in line, in spite of the movement's obvious flaws, in the hope of influencing the new regime and of directing it toward a true national renewal? Or must the church fight the regime, thus losing all contact with the masses? ..." And then come some very significant words: "There comes into every conflict a terrible, vicious circle: He who does not stand up in time is carried forward into ceaseless compromise right on into final capitulation."

    What Dr. Tournier is telling us is that unless we take a stand against evil as soon as we recognize it we soon find EXCUSES to do as we please, even if it means cooperating with the NAZIs!

  2. B. BUT WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TODAY? But what about OUR times? What are the prevailing value systems of our times? Who tells us what is really important? Show biz videos? The craving of greed for more prosperity? The blind worship of sports? The fat god of comfort? Self-development at any cost?

    Certainly NOT: "Poor in spirit!" Certainly NOT: "Mourning for our sins!" Certainly NOT: "Meek, gentle!"

Who has the courage to cast his or her lot with the lowly Nazarene? "We need the vigor of a Christian community with all the ear-marks of a counter-culture."

Are there Christians who will follow Jesus in a radical manner— not in a cult-like, blind, unbalanced way— but in total obedience??

I AM ASKING YOU TO BE A HERO! Will you tell Jesus in your heart of hearts today that if He will give you grace, you will follow Him— in His SPIRIT— and live for Him no matter what the cost?

There is an apocryphal story of how Alexander the Great called a truce and gave the chief of a warrior tribe an opportunity to surrender, to become slaves and vassals without a battle.

"Why should we surrender?" the proud chieftain asked. "We have hundreds more brave warriors than you!"

Alexander simply pointed at one of the soldiers in the ranks nearby. "Thrust your sword into your heart for Alexander!" he ordered.

Without hesitation the soldier drew his sword, opened his breastplate, and plunged the sword into his heart, and fell down at his commander's feet. The warrior chief surrendered.

This seems like a remote story— from a far-off culture. The Lord Jesus would never call on us to die merely for display, I'm sure. But what happens when the boss asks you to LIE? Do you put your job on the line? What happens when everyone in the class CHEATS? Do you die to false honors and follow Jesus?

What kind of a Christian Community— what sort of powerful church— could Jesus Christ build— right here in Wollaston— if He had that kind of total loyalty? What could Jesus Christ do with a people who determine to be His followers, even in this pluralistic, humanistic, anything-goes, comfort-seeking society? WOULDN'T IT BE EXCITING TO FIND OUT?

# 397 Where He Leads Me

Addendum 1

Pete Fleming: Master's degree; walked with God from the age 13; in high school earned letters in basketball and golf, and as valedictorian (Seattle, Ore.) he said in his speech: "Where shall we look? Where shall we go? I believe that we have a right to go back to the Bible for our anchorage. University of Washington, president of University Christian Fellowship; in 1951 he received his master's degree, the master's thesis in philosophy: Melville's The Confidence Man. He announced to his friends that God was calling him to Ecuador:"I think a 'call' to the mission field is no different from any other means of guidance; a call is nothing more or less than obedience to the will of God, as God presses it home to the soul by whatever means He chooses." In 1951 as he prepared to sail from the States:"Remember the last few verses of I Corinthians 3: 'For all things are yours ... and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.' Throughout all our personality we are God's, and since God has made our whole selves, there is great joy in realizing who is our Creator. This realization is to permeate every area and level of life. In appreciation of beauty, mountains, music, poetry, knowledge, people, science- even the tang of an apple— God is there, to reflect the joy of His presence in the believer who will recognize His purpose in all things."

Addendum 2

Jim Elliot: graduate of Wheaton, school-champion wrestler, consistent honor student, president of the Student Foreign Missions Fellowship, amateur poet,class representative on the student council. Diary jottings: (As a senior in college:) "'He makes his ministers a flame of fire.' Am I ignitible? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul, short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him. 'Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.'"

Jim and Pete went in 1951 to work among the QUICHUAS— where they labored almost 5 years. Jim and Pete went on to join Ed McCully and Roger Youdarian and Nate Saint in one of the most dramatic and widely publicized Christian ventures in history: they were martyred in January, 1956, reaching the dreaded Auca Indians in interior Ecuador.

Addendum 3

James Fowler, in his important book, Stages of Faith, tells us that the present generation of ambitious young people believe that NO ONE can tell them HOW TO SUCCEED! They KNOW! These ambitious young people "... tell themselves that most of the men and women presently at the top are probably less imaginative and less competent than they are (or will be.) They do not believe, therefore, that they have too much to learn on the way up. The major obstacles to their rising that they see are the inertia and self-protecting power of the incumbents. ...they must be in striking distance of a chief executive's post by the time they are thirty-five."

Addendum 4

In 1980 Fortune magazine interviewed 80 25-year-old "yuppies" about their hopes and plans (as quoted in Fowler's Stages of Faith:) "The values that seemed central had to do with the achievement of success. Success meant for them the eventual achievement of financial independence and, on the way to that, achieving top-rank leadership in one or more of the major institutions of our corporate society. .. Far more than government, they believe, today's and tomorrow's corporate giants are the entities that will determine our global future. " ... they tell themselves that this is an increasingly crowded, competitive world. ...they feel a deep urgency about getting what they feel are their shares of power and its rewards. They tell themselves that in their urgency they cannot afford relationships that "drag" on their progress. Marriage is possible if it does not hamper career. Children, for most of them, must wait until both members have claimed lucrative posts. For many of them the decision to remain childless feels final. " ... At the risk of sounding judgmental (their testimony) might be capsulized as "the human vocation is to take care of number one; those number one's who have the most talent, drive and luck will— and should— inherit the earth." [And then Fowler goes on to tell how talented and mostly decent young talents were sucked into the Nazi dream and realized that selfish ambition is finally self-destructive.]