What does it mean to participate in the kingdom of God?

On earth, the kingdom of God comes into the lives of God's people. When asked by a bunch of teachers of the Law, "Where is this kingdom that you're talking about?" Jesus basically said: You know what? The kingdom is inside of you. The rule and reign of God begins in you—with you saying "yes" to God.

Whenever you think God is speaking to you—through his Word, through a prompting of the Spirit, through a circumstance, through a friend, through the guise of the ordinary or the disguise of the least of these—whenever you believe God is speaking to you, let Yes, God rise instinctively from your heart.

A lot of us who claim the name of Jesus Christ actually have a default mode, which is No, God. We see this in the life of Peter, who was foundational to the church, and yet he had a default mechanism of "No, Lord." In Matthew 16, Jesus says to his disciples, "Who do people say that I am? … Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers: "You're the Lord. You're the Messiah. You're the Savior of the world." Seeing his disciple's faith, Jesus then unfolds to his followers all that is going to happen to him—how he will be betrayed and handed over to the teachers of the Law who will beat, mock, and kill him. But three days later he will rise from the dead. And what does Peter do when he hears all of this? He pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him: "Never, Lord. This shall never happen. No, Lord."

Another instance when Peter says "No, Lord" is in the Book of Acts. He's fasting and goes on the rooftop to pray. God gives him a vision of a blanket coming down holding all the things that the Jewish diet deems unclean—food Peter believes he is not supposed to eat. And God keeps lowering this blanket to say to Peter that the gospel is to reach outside of the Jewish faith—that the gospel is not strictly on Jewish terms anymore. This is a radical message. And what does Peter say to God when he sees this vision? "Surely not, Lord."

  • We need to knock that habit out of ourselves to participate in God's kingdom. We need to get into the position and posture of saying Yes to whatever God is asking. Consider a forty-day experiment with this. Let's look at the significance of forty days biblically.
  • How many years was Israel wandering in the desert? Forty.
  • How many days did Moses stay up on the mountain to meet with God while he fasted and prayed and interceded for the people of Israel? Forty.
  • How many days was Israel deadlocked in battle with the Philistines while every day the big giant Goliath came up and taunted them until David stepped up to challenge him? Forty.
  • How many days did Noah sail the seas as God started his plans for the earth all over again? Forty.
  • How many days did Elijah travel to the mountain of Gath? Forty.
  • How many days was Jesus in the desert? Forty.
  • And how many days did Jesus walk with his disciples after his resurrection so that he could teach them about the kingdom of God? Forty.

The Bible has always known what modern psychology has only discovered. It takes forty days to change your mind. If you have an entrenched way of seeing, of thinking, of responding, that's called a habit; it takes forty days to dismantle an entrenched way of seeing and thinking and responding and replace it with a new way.

So for the next forty days practice saying Yes, God. Not so that after forty days we can go back to No, God, but because it takes forty days pushing in the opposite direction of what is habitual to us—forty days of pushing in the opposite direction to establish a new way of thinking and seeing and responding.

Why would Jesus—who was perfect—need forty days of fasting? Hebrews 5:8 says that "Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered." Even Christ himself learned through suffering, particularly in that time in the desert. There's something that happened with the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus in those forty days.

In Luke 3 we hear about Jesus' baptism. Verses 21 and 22 say this: "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized, too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form. And a voice came from heaven saying, 'You are my Son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased.'" So the baptism of Jesus the Spirit comes down visibly, tangibly into his life as a dove. And the voice of God speaks words of total affirmation: You're my Son. You're the one I love. Everything about you pleases my heart. Luke 4:1, which follows Jesus' baptism immediately: "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. And then the devil came."

I think that God puts every Christian through three tests and three temptations. Jesus, too, had to face three tests, followed by three temptations. First, Jesus had to experience life with the seeming loss of privilege. He's heard God say to him, "You're my Son. I love you. I'm pleased with you," but for forty days he walks in a desert where he loses the sense that he has attained some kind of status because of that. He loses privilege. The second test Jesus goes through is the seeming loss of provision. There is nothing to eat out there. There's no place to sleep. And the third test Jesus faces is the seeming loss of protection. The devil has wide open access to him.

And then there are three temptations on the heel of these tests. The devil comes and says: "Man, you look hungry. Looks like God's not really treating you well here. Don't you love bread when it comes fresh out of the oven? I mean, don't you just love it when you split it open and you let that cold butter melt into the texture of the bread? Don't you want some now, Jesus?" He says, "Why don't you go onto the roof, way up high, and jump and let the angels come and catch you." He says, "Why don't you bow down and worship me, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the earth."

Here is what is at the essence of these three temptations. First, the temptation by Satan to turn the stone into bread is a temptation to define ourselves by what we can do—by power. Second is the temptation to define ourselves by how others see us. If Jesus leapt off the building and was saved by angels, people would know clearly that he was God's chosen one. This is a temptation to define ourselves by status. And the third temptation is to define ourselves by what we have. Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth; he's tempting Jesus to define himself by his possessions.

You see, what happens when we define ourselves by any of those things is that God ends up merely on the periphery—if even in the picture at all—and who is at the center of a life like that? We are. Jesus faces the three tests of removal in the desert—the loss of privilege, the loss of provision, and the loss of protection—and then the three corresponding temptations: to define himself by what he does, to define himself by what others think of him, and to define himself by what he has. Jesus says No to the Devil, No to self pity, No to feeling he's a victim. And in every instance he says Yes to God. Yes ,God.

Over these next forty days I challenge you to do this: whenever you open the Word, opening your heart and mind to it, and the Lord speaks to you, saying I want you to pray more; I want you to walk in purity; I want you to forgive that person; I want you to talk to your neighbor; I want you to pray for that man, commit to saying Yes, and therefore participate in the kingdom of God.

Adapted from the sermon "Return to Power," by Mark Buchanan, from our sister site PreachingToday.com. For more sermons like this go to www.preachingtoday.com.

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