THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS IN YOUR MIDST
Luke 17:1-37
Key Verse: 17:21b
“…for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Our key verse for today is 21b, “…for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” “The kingdom of God“ is Jesus’ main theme in the first 3 books of the New Testament. In the last few passages, Jesus has repeatedly emphasized some aspect of this theme, the kingdom of God. It’s because Jesus wants us to know that there is nothing more important than “the kingdom of God.” In today’s sermon, Jesus continues this theme by saying “…for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” What does it mean that the kingdom of God is in our midst? How can it be? What does it mean personally to me and how can I practically apply it to my everyday life? Let’s take a look.
1st, the kingdom of God and temptations that cause sin (1-2). Many are inclined to think that believing in Jesus decreases hardships and temptations in our Christian life. But in verse 1 Jesus “said to his disciples,” and to all Christians, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!’” As sinners, there is always a danger that we will tempt each other, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to sin. Last week I planned to begin preparing for this sermon. However, I just found this cool racing game for the Wii and wound up tempting my oldest son to play with me. Although playing Wii games isn’t a sin necessarily, the sin came when I decided to put fun and pleasure before God and tempted my son to do the same.
In verse 1b Jesus said that there will always be temptations to sin, but that doesn’t excuse the person who does the tempting. Causing one to sin is a very serious matter. Jesus says in verse 2, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” Those who cause others to sin are as doomed as the rich man who went to hell in the previous chapter. Jesus says that it would be better for him to tie a millstone around his neck and be cast into the sea than to face God. Millstones were extremely heavy objects that were used to grind wheat and olives. So to have a heavy millstone tied around your neck and then being cast into the sea was a horrifying thought. But compared to what that person would face in all eternity, it was nothing. As we live in this world, we must cry out to God not to tempt others to sin. Rather, we must pray to lead them to the kingdom of God.
2nd, the kingdom of God and forgiveness (3-4). Jesus continues in verses 3-4, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." Just as we need to be careful not to cause others to sin, we also need to rebuke those who are sining. When there is sin among God’s people, we Christians are responsible to rebuke one another. But to rebuke doesn’t mean to point out every sin, fault, and mistake that person made (6:37). Rather rebuking must always be done in love with the purpose of restoring that person back to God. There was once an evangelist who went around college campuses rebuking students for sinning. But the students just threw rocks and sticks at him because they only felt condemned by him. On the other hand, there was a Bible teacher who spent several months with one young man, rebuking him for his sins. This young man felt his Bible teacher’s love, repented, and turned his heart back to God. We must rebuke with the hope of leading people to the kingdom of God.
Look at verses 3-4 again. Before rebuking though, it is wise for us to check our own attitudes and motives first. Unless rebuke is tied to forgiveness, it will not help the one who’s sinning. Jesus explained that if the sinning person repents, the rebuker must forgive them. And that forgiveness must not be just once, but constantly. Why does Jesus want us to forgive? Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. Because of Jesus, God has forgiven us of all our sins and has opened up the door for us to enter his kingdom. Imagine if God hadn’t forgiven us of our sins, but held a grudge over our us. There once was a man who worked hard to build a 2-story home in the suburbs for his family. After 20 years of marriage, his wife could no longer forgive him for his sins, so she filed for divorce. He was devastated and sought forgiveness, but his wife kicked him out of the house and would never allow him to return again. In an instant, this man lost everything that he had worked so hard for, including his children. Imagine how he felt. What if God hadn’t forgiven us of our sins? God wants us to forgive because he forgave us. Forgiveness leads people to the kingdom of God.
3rd, the kingdom of God and faith (5-6). It’s hard to forgive others though, especially when they have done something horribly wrong. These days we hear of former employees going to their old jobs and killing their former bosses because they fired them. It has become so bad that my work required us to take a training course on “Violence in the Work Place.” The disciples knew they needed help to forgive others. So they said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” At first glance, it seems what they said was good. 1st, by calling Jesus “Lord”, they acknowledged that only Jesus can give them faith. 2nd, they acknowledged that they needed more faith. But look at verse 6. “And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,”’ and it would obey you.” Jesus said that all the apostles needed was faith like a grain of mustard seed. What is faith? Faith is total dependence on God. It means, “I know that I can’t do it, but I know God can.” In 1997, my former pastor encouraged me to take courses on computer programming. The thing is, I hated computer programming with a passion. In college, I paid my friend to do my computer homework for me. But with the encouragement of my wife, I decided to take the courses. Everyday before doing my homework, I would pray, “Lord, I don’t know this stuff. Please help me to at least get the program to work.” For 8 months, I died. But in the end, God granted me an “A with distinction.” And before I even finished my class, God granted me a computer programming job that I have had now for 11 years! Jesus says, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.” A mustard seed is small, but it is alive and growing. Like a tiny seed, a small amount of faith in God will take root and grow. The disciples didn’t need a lot of faith; a tiny seed of faith would be enough. To help illustrate the power of a little faith, Jesus pointed to a mulberry tree and said that even small faith could uproot it and send it into the sea. Mulberry trees grow large, as high as thirty-five feet. And their roots are spread out, making it a difficult tree to uproot. So, it is the power of God, not faith, that uproots trees. When we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can experience the power of the kingdom of God and forgive others from our hearts.
4th , the kingdom of God and our attitude as unworthy servants (7-10). Every one’s default mode is to strongly think that they are worthy of something good, such as a gorgeous spouse. People suffer so much because they think that they didn’t receive the blessing that they deserve, and should have received. One person is unhappy because he thinks he deserves his hard working gentle wife. Another person thinks his hard work is never appreciated. Such people do not have a gospel or kingdom view of life. So, in verses 7-10, Jesus teaches his disciples what their attitude should be before God. Before God, we are all wretched sinners, saved only by God’s grace. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation or to earn God’s blessing. Rather our salvation was bought for us at a very high price. The price? The death of God’s innocent Son, Jesus. Jesus purchased us through his death on the cross. Therefore, we do not belong to ourselves, but we belong to the one who bought us with the price of his blood. Verse 10 says, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" Obedience is not something extra done for God, as though we are doing God or others a favor. Obedience also isn’t done so that we can get something from Gid in return. Rather it’s the only appropriate response of one who knows the marvelous grace of Jesus. With these words, Jesus was not saying that hard work and service was useless. Rather Jesus was attacking self-righteous people who think they deserve something from God. Jesus’ followers should focus their eyes on God and his kingdom. Their only goal is to serve and please God as an unworthy servant.
5th, the kingdom of God and thanksgiving to God (11-19). In addition to thinking that we are worthy of some blessing, another default of mankind is not to thank God, but to complain, compete, and to compare with others secretly. Mankind’s unhappiness is never because of his hard situation, but because he does not thank God. So, Jesus told a simple story of one out of ten (10%) who is thankful to God from his heart. Read verses 11-13. “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’" Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem where the religious leaders would have him tortured and crucified. On the way, he passed between Galilee, a Jewish city, and Samaria which was occupied by Samaritans. As Jesus entered a village between the two, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance. Leprosy is a disfiguring disease that destroys the nerves, causing loss of sensation throughout the body. If a leper accidentally touches a hot burning coal, he won’t feel a thing. So he’ll keep on touching it, causing severe damage to himself. Once after being injected 6 times with an anesthetic at the dentist, I couldn’t feel a thing from my lips to my chin for several hours. When my wife picked me up, she said I had slobber and blood all over my mouth. So I joked and said, “If you want to hit me, now’s your chance. I won’t feel a thing.” But leprosy wasn’t a joke. It was so grotesque that the lepers were quarantined from the rest of society.
These 10 lepers were standing at a distance and crying out to Jesus for mercy. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus is always ready to respond to anyone who cries out to him for mercy. Verse 14 says, “When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed.’” As prescribed by the law, Jesus sent the 10 lepers to the priests who were to pronounce them clean. But Jesus sent them before they were even clean. In doing so, Jesus was asking them to respond in faith so that, by their obedience of faith, they would be healed. So as they all responded in faith and Jesus healed them on the way. Look at verses 15-16. “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.” Jesus healed all the lepers, but only one came back to thank him, and Luke says he was a Samaritan. The Jews, who had a sense of racial superiority over the Samaritans, despised the Samaritans. But this Samaritan, “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.” The kingdom of God was in his midst and he knew it. After years of torment from leprosy, he got a taste of the kingdom of God and he was thankful. Jesus answered, “‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well’" (17-19). Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well.” It means that 9 lepers were still not well. They got what they wanted and they were cured of their leprosy, but they were still sick. Only the leper who came back to thank Jesus was made well. And only the leper who came back tasted the joy of the kingdom of God in his heart. We learn here that unhappy people are unthankful people and complaining people. Also, unthankful people are sick and have no idea at all about the kingdom of God. Only thankful people enjoy the kingdom of God in their hearts. May God bless you to be thankful to God from your heart, so that every day you can enjoy the kingdom of God in your midst.
6th, the kingdom of God is in our midst (20-21, 25). After healing the 10 lepers, the Pharisees still couldn’t see the kingdom of God, so they asked Jesus “when the kingdom of God would come” (20). Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, "Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (20b-21). The Pharisees did not understand that the kingdom of God was standing right there before their very eyes, because Jesus himself is the kingom of God.
God really wants to be in our midst and bring us all into his kingdom. But before doing so, God had to first cleanse us from our sins. God is holy (Isa 6:3) and we human beings are wretchedly sinful. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Every person’s common weakness, whether great or small, famous or unknown, a success or a loser, is the deceitfulness and sickness of his own wicked heart. Just as light and darkness can never ever co-exist together, the holy God can never be in the midst of a sick sinful person without immediately destroying him with holy wrath, anger, and fury. Yet Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” and we sinful human beings are still standing and not destroyed. How is this possible? Verse 25 says, “But first he (Jesus) must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” It is possible for the kingdom of God to come to us only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he (God) made him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Christ) we (sinful man) might become the righteousness of God.” Christ Jesus dying in our place, on the cross for our sins is called “substitutionary atonement.” “Substitution” means that Jesus substituted our dirty sins with his holy righteousness. “Atonement” means to make amends or reparations for wrongdoing. What Jesus did is like a pure lovely virgin bride taking on the vileness of a despicable worn out prostitute. It’s like a noble honorable scholar taking the place of a shameless foul mouthed drunkard. It’s like being totally innocent, yet being publicly accused of lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, or brutal murder. This is what holy Jesus did for us sinners on the cross so that the kingdom of God could be in our midst. Let’s thank Jesus for dying for our wretched sins, so that we may experience and taste the kingdom of God in our midst.
7th, those who will not see the kingdom of God (22-37). In verses 22 to 37, Jesus talks about his 2nd Coming and about those who “will not see it” (22). Who are those will miss the kingdom of God? Jesus uses the illustration of those in the times of Noah and the times of Lot (26-29). Why did they miss the kingdom of God? It’s because they lived as though their life in this world was everything. They lived for “eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage” (27). They also lived for “buying and selling, planting and building” (28). In short, they missed the kingdom of God because they had zero interest in God’s kingdom (30). Jesus also says that there will be much speculation about his 2nd Coming. Some will even try to pinpoint when Jesus will return again. I remember once as a kid, someone predicated that Jesus would return at midnight. All night, I couldn’t sleep. I was scared to death as I waited for Jesus to come. But in these final verses, Jesus says we’ll have no idea when he returns. But when he does, it will be obvious, like lightening in the sky, and sudden, when no one expects it. Verse 31 says, “On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.” When Jesus returns, there will be no time to return home for anything, as Lot’s wife tragically learned (32). Those outside should not go back inside to try to get their HDTV’s or their kitty cats.
When Jesus returns, there will be no second chances to accept him as Lord and Savior. The time for deciding about Jesus will pass in a single moment. Verses 34-35 say, “I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left." The sudden return of Jesus will result in sudden separation of those who chose to believe in Jesus and those who chose not to. Spouses will be sleeping in the same bed and friends will be working together when their believer spouse or friend just suddenly disappears. When Jesus returns, he will take his followers to be with him forever in the kingdom of God (1 Thess 4:14-17). Verse 37 says, “And they said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’" Those listening to Jesus’ words of warning wanted to know where all of this would take place. To answer their question, Jesus quoted a familiar proverb. One vulture circling overhead does not mean much, but a gathering of vultures means that a dead body is nearby. Likewise, one sign of the end may not be significant, but when many signs occur, the Second Coming (the end) is near.
In this passage, we learn how the kingdom of God plays itself out in our daily lives. The kingdom of God is not just for the future after we die and leave this world. But Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (21b), even right now. We learn especially that when we taste and enjoy the kingdom of God in our hearts we become like the unworthy servant who is so happy to work hard because of joy and thanksgiving to the marvelous grace of Jesus. We also become like the thankful leper whose joy of life is to always thank Jesus for what Jesus has done for us (11,25). But if we have no thankfulness in our hearts, we will only taste the kingdom of the devil. May God bless you to see Jesus who loves you and died for you, so that you may joyfully jump up and down (in your hearts) everyday, because you are enjoying the kingdom of God in your midst.