Working God's Kingdom

• 26th Sunday after Pentecost
Veterans Day Sunday
with Isaiah 65:17-25, Matthew 10, and 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
www.FirstChurchBville.com    @FirstUMCBville   @kerrfunk

• You cannot step into the same river twice (Heraclitus, 500 BC)

Is the river the water? Because the water is always moving. The water from yesterday is far downstream today. Stepping into today’s water is not the same as stepping into yesterday’s water.

Is the river its location? Where is the river across the street? Is it the same river ten miles upstream? Ten miles downstream?

You cannot step into the same river twice.

We have only the now. Work God’s kingdom now.

• I learned about the negative positive in today’s Isaiah passage, and let me just say in example: No elections in God’s kingdom. No 18 months of mudslinging campaigns, No riots before, during, after. No fear. No division.

Consider the negative positives in Isaiah 65: no longer will the negative situations define our circumstances. No longer will they even come to mind.

What a needful word of hope.

• In some ways this past week feels like the proverbial last days. Take a look at Matthew 10.
I do not come to bring peace but a sword… I have come to turn a man against his father, … a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household… (34-36)
Do not fear (v.26). Be radically hospitable (cup of cold water v.42)

We’re familiar with some of the deep division that Jesus describes. And Jesus tells us to fear not, and to be hospitable anyway.
Do not be weary in doing good.

• Isaiah 65 speaks a word of hope to a weary people. A new creation.
God is creating (ongoing) and will create (immanent).
Making Jerusalem a city of joy, her people my gladness.

Imagine that. Huntington, a city of joy.
Huntington’s people, God’s delight.

Once again, out of topsyturvey chaos shall come
God’s creation, order.

• About 57% of registered voters participated in 2016. (around 40% of total)
On the higher end, but rare to peek above 60% in last century. For a century or more, “the work” is done by sixty percent of the people.

Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, is aware that some folks are laying their tools down because Messiah is coming.

Imagine 40% of your body not working.
And recall that we are the body together. We are not a social club of a common interest or hobby, we are together the body of Christ, and together we participate in, together we do the body of Christ.

“If you have a sapling in your hand and someone says Come quickly, Messiah is coming! Plant the sapling, and then go and greet Messiah” (Rabbi Johanan ben Zakai, a contemporary of Jesus).

Stay at work in God’s kingdom,
regardless of the circumstances.
Share the love of God with people in a hurting world.

There have been protests and violence from both sides à stand against violence.

Hear the wisdom of President Lincoln:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations… (from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address)

• In congregation and in nation and in body of Christ, contribute. Work. Be not idle.
Participate in kingdom of God which is ongoing and immanent.

• Hymn 111 How Can We Name a Love

Isaiah 65:17-25 (The VOICE) 

17 This is what Sovereign LORD says:

Now look here! I am creating new heavens and a new earth. The weary and painful past will be as if it never happened. No one will talk or even think about it anymore. 18 So take joy and celebrate with unending gladness on account of what I am creating. Look carefully! I am making this place I’ve chosen, this Jerusalem, a city of joy. I’m making her citizens, My people, a people of gladness. 19 This Jerusalem, My pride and joy, and her people will be a delight to Me. Though you listen at every corner, you will never hear crying, never hear despair or grief.

20 Never again will a person not live a full life, for the young will live to be a hundred, and any who die earlier will be considered cursed. 21 People will confidently build houses and make them their homes; they will plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit for years to come. 22 They won’t worry that someone else will come along, drive them out, and take it all away. For My people will live as long as these age-old trees; My chosen will use up and wear out whatever they make. 23 They will not work hard for what others take away; they will not lose children to sudden terror and death. For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Eternal; they and their descendants will enjoy God’s blessings. 24 I’ll anticipate their prayers and respond before they know it; even as they speak, I will hear. 25 But they’ll all eat together like friends—wolf and lamb, lion and ox, and the biting snake will feed on dust. When that day arrives, there will be no evil, no violence, no hurt or wrong in all My sacred mountain. X

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (The VOICE)     

6 For the sake of the church, brothers and sisters, we insist in the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed that you withdraw from any brother or sister who is out of order and unwilling to work, who is straying from the line of teaching we passed on to all of you. 7 You know how essential it is to imitate us in the way we live life. We were never undisciplined 8 nor did we take charity from anyone while we were with you. Instead, you saw how we worked very hard day and night so we wouldn’t be a burden to even one person in the community. 9 We had the right to depend on your help and hospitality, as you know; but we wanted to give you a model you could follow, to lay a path of footprints for you to walk in. 10 This is exactly why, while with you, we commanded you: “Anyone not willing to work shouldn’t get to eat!” 11 You see, we are hearing that some folks in the community are out of step with our teaching; they are idle, not working, but really busy doing nothing—and yet still expect to be fed! 12 If this is you or someone else in the community, we insist and urge you in the Lord Jesus the Anointed that you go to work quietly, earn your keep, put food on your own table, and supply your own necessities. 13 And to the rest of you, brothers and sisters, never grow tired of doing good. X

Matthew 10   New International Version (NIV)  

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”