Rev Dr Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings
check the following homepage: www.livinggracetoowoomba.org
The
King
[Jesus was controversial (John
This was a friendly visit. Nicodemus paid
Jesus a compliment: Jesus, we
know that you have come from God and that God is with you. Nice recognition. Yet at the same
time Nicodemus made a big mistake
(frequently) our mistake. He thought
that he knew who Jesus was and what he could expect from him. He called him Rabbi
which is what many other teachers were called. (Jesus seemed to look like one
of them and act like one of them.) Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has
come from God
Therefore, (what
happened was that) Nicodemus came to
Jesus expecting to meet another rabbi and have an awesome conversation with another
teacher. Only Jesus was more than any rabbi and could give more than any
teacher.
This is how he answered Nicodemus: I tell you the truth, no one can see the
Now we may think that we are a little
more advanced than Nicodemus. We havent turned up here, saying: Rabbi, we know you are a teacher
He is more than that. Yet, what are we
saying? Many a time we demonstrate the same misplaced confidence as Nicodemus.
We think that we know who Jesus is, saying for instance: Jesus, we
know you are the Saviour. Jesus, we know that you died for the
forgiveness of our sins. But what
does this mean and is it enough? This morning can Jesus rattle your
self-assurance and make you see more? He said listen again to his words
John 3:3-5: I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless
he is born again
[and he also said to Nicodemus expanding on this] I
tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of
water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to
spirit
In my Christian upbringing these were
familiar verses. The phrase born
again meant a lot. A born
again Christian was someone that
had turned from his sins to Jesus and now believed in him for eternal life. He
was saved born again when he would die, he would go to heaven. Great this was the goal of all church
efforts: saving souls but it was and
it is not enough. We have lost something in the Western church, that is: the
kingdom. Jesus did not say: Be born again to have eternal life or be
saved. Jesus declared the maximum
reality: I tell you the truth, no one can see the
What is the
Jesus stayed on message Matthew 9:35: Jesus went through all the towns
and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the
kingdom and healing every disease and
sickness. He commissioned his
disciples to preach the same Matthew 10:7-8: As you go, preach this
message: The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive
out demons
He used many
practical illustrations, saying Matthew 13:24:
The kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. Matthew 13:31:
The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
Matthew 13:33:
The
kingdom of heaven is like yeast
Matthew 13:44: The kingdom of
heaven is like treasure hidden in a field
Matthew 13:47:
the
kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all
kinds of fish.
Jesus always preached the kingdom. When
people were worrying about the basic necessities of life food and clothing, he said Matthew 6:3: . seek first Gods [original: his] kingdom
and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Luke 12:32: Do not be afraid
for your Father has been pleased to give you
the kingdom. When Jesus was dying
on a cross, the written notice above him read This Is The King Of The
Jews and a criminal dying next to
him even then recognized the truth
and asked him about the kingdom Luke 23:42:
Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he
announced to the disciples Luke 23:46:
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in my [original:
his] name
Yet, this was also
about the kingdom because the Bible explains Acts 1:3: After his
suffering, Jesus showed himself to
these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared
to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the
How many sermons have you heard on the
Before he was sentenced to death, Jesus
had an interesting conversation with the representative of the worlds supreme
political power at the time the
Roman governor Pontius Pilate. I read
from John 18:33-37: Pilate then
summoned Jesus and asked him: Are
you the king of the Jews?
Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If
it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest
But now my kingdom is
from another place. You are a king, then! said Pilate. Jesus answered, You
are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for
this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of
truth listens to me.
John 19:10-11:
Pilate said. Dont you
realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered,
You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above
What is going on here? Are we to
conclude from Jesus words that his kingdom
is not of this world and therefore
we are not to be concerned with the nuts and bolts of living in 21st
century
However, this is not right. What Jesus
communicated to Pilate was that the origin of his kingdom was not of this world
and that he wasnt operating on the level of a Roman governor. He was above
Pilate and despite appearances exercising control over him. This is what
he said to him: You are right
I am a king. You would have no power
over me if it were not given to you from above
Whats more: Pilate and what he stood for would be unseated by Jesus.
As Jesus announced to Pilate, he had come to testify to the truth and his truth
as we know before long would
indeed take over the
What is going on with the
When you look at yourself and when you
pinch yourself, you can easily come to the conclusion that you are flesh and
bone. You are what you see in the mirror. Yet, this is not the truth. The truth
is that we are spirit-beings and the human body is only a temporary house that
we live in. In the Bible the human body is sometimes called a tent a temporary dwelling place which will be set aside when we die and come to live in heaven 2
Corinthians 5:1: . we know that if the earthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven
(cf.
2 Peter
Therefore, you are a spirit and your
fundamental needs are spiritual. You may not want to agree. You may think that
the immediate needs of the body run your life the need to sleep, to eat and drink, the cravings of
the body. You may think that food and drink housing and marriage are your
most pressing concerns establish your career first get a good income while religion can wait. But this is not
understanding yourself. You are a spirit-being and unless your spirit is in the
Everything in heaven and on earth is
spiritual in the sense that everything is determined by our relationship to the
When God first made the world, he made
everything perfect. The first human couple Adam and Eve were perfect
spirit-beings in complete harmony with God and his kingdom which also meant that their human bodies
and the whole creation of the cosmos were in perfect harmony with God and his
kingdom. There was no decay and dying. There was no hunger and sadness.
Everything was perfect including the body the weather the seasons of
nature and God even put us humans in
charge of this world Genesis 1:26-31: Then God said: Let us make man
[and woman] in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and
over all the creatures along the ground.
God blessed them and said to them,
fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
every living creature
From the beginning we were to share in
Gods dominion.
But then we humans managed to spoil
perfection and step outside of Gods kingdom. We turned against God and our
spirit died became entangled and corrupted
with rebellion against the holiness of God and sin. As Christians (if we are sensitive) we are still feeling these effects of sin even today. As Christians the
more we choose to sin the more we allow ourselves to drift away from
worship and obedience the more we
sense that our spirit is suffering. It is becoming disconnected from God and
begins to wither away. Adam and Eve ate from the one tree which was forbidden
to them and as a consequence paradise
the kingdom was lost.
Then, with the fall and corruption of
the spirit also came judgements in the body and life in a fallen world. Pain
and death entered our world and the rule of another kingdom the kingdom of darkness demons and Satan who
benefited from our rebellion against God and
therefore this is our world now
just one passage from the Bible Ephesians 2:1-3: As for you, you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air
[Satan], the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us
also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature
and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath [outside of Gods kingdom].
Yet, Jesus came to restore what went
wrong. With him the
We are now at the present time this morning seated with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of
heaven and therefore we look to him. When he performed miracles signs and
wonder he did not just draw attention
to his preaching (this is where Nicodemus went wrong), he demonstrated the kingdom Matthew 12:28: But if I drive out
demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So it is also with us today. As our spirits
are born anew and the Spirit of God from the
Then, Jesus further demonstrated that
the
Another Bible passage illustrates this
clearly Ephesians 6:10-18:
be
strong in the Lord and in his mighty power [be strong in the kingdom of
God]
our struggle is not against flesh and blood [it is not against
politicians or the government people and their behaviour are not our primary
target] but against the [demonic] rulers, against the [demonic] authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms
As we
conquer these with spiritual weapons as we conquer what controls human
behaviour the victory will show up in
the natural. More and more people will be born into the kingdom of God and
Romans 14:17: . the
Jesus came to establish the
How are we handling the teaching so far?
There is much to absorb. Maybe I summarize what we have established up to this
point. (1) You are a spirit and your spirit can be
born again. Your dead spirit can become alive to God so that you can see and
live in the kingdom of God. (2) In
the beginning when God created the world, the first humans lived in Gods
kingdom and everything was perfect. Their spirits were alive in God and
therefore even their bodies knew no decay or death. (3) They were made in the image of God and invited to share in Gods dominion over
creation but then they sinned and lost everything. (4) Sin separated them from God and made them
live under the rule of darkness the
[Excursus: Consider the precursor of the
kingdom in the
This is foundational teaching and there
is much to learn but we want to become practical now. The problem of Nicodemus
was that he couldnt see what was going on with Jesus and his kingdom
demonstrations (the healings and the
miracles) and the same problem persists
even with us. Chances are that this morning in this church we dont see what is ours. You do not yet
see the kingdom and therefore do not operate in its power.
All Christians struggle with this
problem and therefore the apostle Paul writes to his church in the Bible Ephesians 1:17-23: I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of
your heart [which are the eyes of our mind and inspired imagination] may
be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
the riches
his
incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of
his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all
rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not
only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things
under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.[1]
We need to have our eyes opened to see
how stupendous the truth is. Incomparably great power is available for us who
believe in Jesus Christ and his kingdom. It is the same power that raised Jesus
from the dead and it is ours this
morning now. We need to have our eyes
opened. All things are placed under the feet of Jesus Christ every single
government on earth and every single demonic power anywhere with the result that therefore everything
is placed under our feet because Christ is with the church and operates through
the church you and I.
This the truth and it is so stupendous so unbelievable (judging by our current experience)
that we fail to act on it. However,
this is going to change. It is time for us to become practical with kingdom
power.
The Bible teaches that we operate in a two-fold
manner according to our identity as both kings and priests. I read from the
Bible Revelations 1:5-6:
Jesus
Christ, who is
the ruler of the kings of the earth
[he] loves us and
has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us kings [or:
kingdom] and priests to serve His God and Father
Revelations 5:10: You
[Jesus Christ] have made them kings [or: to be a kingdom] and priests
to serve our God, and they will reign on earth. (cf. 1 Peter 2:9; Revelations
3:21; 20:4; Romans 5:17b).
As kings and priests we are to be like
Jesus Christ who himself is king and priest Hebrews 7:1-8:2: This Melchizedek was king of
From these two references we can already
learn the distinct practical functions of priest and king. As priest
Jesus Christ intercedes prays for
us (and the affairs of the world) and
as king he rules with the sharp sword that is coming out of his mouth, that is:
the word of God. The same two functions were already in place for him when he
walked the earth with his disciples in tow Luke 5:16: But Jesus often
withdrew to lonely places and prayed. He
prayed as a priest and then spoke as a king Matthew 8:16:
[Jesus]
drove out the spirits with a word and healed the sick. Luke 4:32: They
were amazed
for his word was with power. [Cf. 2 Peter 3:5:
by Gods word the heavens existed and the earth
was formed
Hebrews 1:3:
sustaining all things by his powerful word
Hebrews
Jesus shed more light on what he was
doing as priest and king when he explained himself, saying John 5:17-21:
My Father is always at
his work to this very day, and I, too, am working
the Son can do nothing by
himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the
Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all
he does
When Jesus was walking the earth as a
man, he was as dependent on God the Father as we are now which meant that he
could do nothing by himself. He had to spend time in prayer (as a priest) and
petition God. Then, the Father would respond to his prayers and show him what was
gained in heaven which Jesus then acted out (as a king) by speaking the rule of heaven into
existence. The role of prayer and spending time seeing what God the
Father was doing was to synchronize
the work of the Father and the work of the Son synchronize heaven and
earth so that Jesus could manifest the
kingdom of heaven on earth.
We are now to operate in the same way.
Jesus taught us to pray (as priests)
Matthew 6:9-10:
Our Father in heaven
your kingdom come
on earth as
it is in heaven
As priests we
pray for heaven to manifest on earth (notice
again how stupendous this prayer request is) and then we act on what
has been gained as kings. We speak with power. At one time Jesus made this very
clear. He said Matthew 16:18-19:
I will build my church, and the
gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven; whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. [Cf. Matthew 18:18-19; John 20:21-23.] Like Jesus before us as kings we synchronize heaven and earth
what the Father is doing and what we are doing. We manifest the kingdom of heaven on earth when we bind and loose on
earth what has first been bound and loosed in heaven. And to hammer this
point how are we doing this? By
speaking the words that bind and loose.
In practice this means the following for
us three short observations: (1)
We need to pray and speak the word.
Prayer alone without subsequent binding and loosing is often not enough and
in the same way binding and loosing
without praying beforehand is often not enough. We are both: kings and priests.
(2) When we pray, we need to see
what is going on in heaven. We cannot bind and loose anything before our prayer
request is granted. What is the season that we are in? Whatever we want, must
first be bound and loosed in heaven. E.g.: going on a mission trip, driving
out demons and healing people, buying a worship building. (3) We must see what is going on in heaven and what
the Father is doing because otherwise we will not have the faith and courage and
perseverance that are required for the action of binding and loosing (cf.
Hebrews 11). Only that which you can see
with the eyes of faith, you can attain (at least most of the time) because whatever you see is what will
manifest in your words of binding and loosing and that is what you will have.
We look at one example of what it means
to be a king and priest in the Bible. Even before Jesus was born, God had
intended for one forerunner nation to be a kingdom of priests for him. He had
said to them Exodus 19:6:
you
will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. However, only Moses the leader of the
nation acted on this privilege of
becoming a king and priest. When the nation sinned against God, Moses prayed
and acted like a priest, crying out to God Exodus 33:15-16:
If
your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here
What else will
distinguish
your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?
Exodus 34:9-10:
let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked
people, forgive our wickedness and our sin
[While he was praying for heaven to
shift in favour of his people, he came to manifest the glory of heaven in
himself first. His human frame that was made in the image of God took on even
more of God until the glory of God radiated from his face with power. Heaven
first manifested in him Exodus 34:29-35:
his face was radiant because he
had spoken with the Lord
and they were afraid to come near him
The same
happens to us as we draw near to God and therein lies also a secret of the
power which is needed for praying, binding and loosing 2 Corinthians 3:18:
we
with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory, [and] are being
transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.]
Then, Moses attained what he prayed for.
God relented and promised Exodus
33:14:
My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. At this point Moses switched his role from
priest to king because now he was to administer words of power Exodus
34:10:
the Lord said: I am making a covenant with you. Before all your
people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world
Exodus 34:27:
Write down these words, for in accordance with these
words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel
Moreover when it came to the heart of
the matter, that is: to have the Presence of God go with them heaven was to manifest according to Gods
precise building instructions for the tent of worship the tabernacle. In this case quite literally as it was in heaven, so it would be on
earth Hebrews 8:5-5:
[the tent of worship] was a copy and shadow
of what is in heaven
Moses was warned when he was about to build the
tabernacle: See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown
you on the mountain.
First Moses prayed (as priest) and
then acted (as king) by decreeing
how worship would take place according to the pattern in heaven. We are to do
the same. First, we pray Matthew 6:9-10:
Father
your kingdom
come
on earth as it is in heaven
Then,
we speak because Jesus said Matthew 16:18-19:
[these are] the keys
of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
A healing evangelist said that he would
always spend hours in prayer and waiting on God before each worship meeting. In
this time God would give him prophetic words for particular people and also
show him how healings would take place. What did God want to do. The evangelist
would see the faces and clothing of the people who would later be coming to the
worship service. Then in the actual
meeting the people that he had
seen earlier were sometimes not
sitting where he saw them in his vision and only when he physically rearranged them according to the
pattern that had been given to him the
healings would happen. We pray and then act out the word.
Now what does this mean for you? Where
in your life does the kingdom need to manifest in the way you raise your child freedom from
addiction building character getting a job growing a church
transforming a city? God wants it to
happen. Hes not the problem. Most of the time we are because we simply do not
see the kingdom. Open the eyes and worship the king.
In closing, I only mention in passing
that Jesus Christ came announcing the kingdom but he died while other people
mocked his royalty. They Matthew 27:28-31:
stripped
him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns
and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front
of him and mocked him. Hail, king of the Jews! they said. They spit on him,
and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had
mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they
led him away to crucify him.
The soldiers did not know what they were
doing. However, Jesus death would be his ultimate victory his blood would atone for our sin and therefore make him rise from the grave
with absolute power over Satan who no longer has any rights over us. Yet and this is the closing lesson
for us our King chose to conquer the
world by loving us with the kind of love that was prepared to suffer pain and
the loss of everything. Therefore, the same applies to us Ephesians 4:2: Be completely humble and
gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Colossians 3:13: Bear
with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one
another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Romans 12:14-21: Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
Do not repay anyone evil for
evil
Do not take revenge
If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink
overcome evil with good. [Cf. Luke 22:24-30.]
This is the way of our King and
therefore this is the way of his power. Someone may do you harm but let this
not darken again your insight. You may be hurting but see the kingdom. It is
coming. As it is in heaven so on
earth. Pray and then bind and loose
what has been bound and loosed in heaven. Amen.
[1] Cf. Colossians 1:9-20:
we have not
stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his
will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order
that you may
please him
bearing fruit
being strengthened with all power
according to his glorious might
giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of
light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into
the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins
by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities; all things
were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things
hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning
and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the
supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and
through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on a cross.
Colossians 2:9-15:
you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head
over every power and authority
When you were dead in your sins
God made you
alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins
And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of, triumphing over them by the cross.