THE WORKS OF THE KINGDOM (PART – 3)

Passage: Luke 15: 1-32 “The Parables of the Lost and Found”

The work of the Kingdom is reclaiming the lost one. The entire chapter of Luke 15 is about finding the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son. The uniqueness of all the three is that they belong to the owners once – then lost – finally found. It is not something that belongs to somebody – lost and found process gives joy and happiness to the person to whom it belongs.

I lost my purse in my theological college – booked my ticket at 12:00 pm. Searched from 9:00 am till 11:00 – full of anxiety – got it in the suitcase that was locked to take home – the moment I found it gave a great sense of relaxation and happiness – all my search for two hours gone in a moment, I always remember that moment while reading this passage.

As a Kingdom worker we must also reclaim the lost as a part of Kingdom mission because the Bible says the entire humanity rebelled against God and lost in sin, All have sinned and lost the glory of God (Rom 3:23). As a sheep we all have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own ways (Isa 53:6).

All the three parables in the narratives are stories that explain the hidden truths of the Kingdom of God. God is pleased when someone is found from the lost state. God is the one who reclaims his people or restore them from their fallen state. Israelite were in exile several times but God reclaimed them in all occasions with his initiation. He brought them back into the land he promised for them. Every work of the Kingdom brings greater joy unto the Lord.

Background: Luke 15:1-2 we see about the setting where tax collectors and sinners gathered around Jesus. Jesus loved being with them and dine with them. The Pharisees/scribes/ teachers of the Law were offended by looking at the scene. There was always conflict between the acts of Jesus and the religious leaders. Jesus broke all traditional bondages as a reformer. The parable of “Tax Collector and Pharisee” (Luke 18:9-14) illustrates how these two were entirely different in their thinking. The Jewish leaders hated the “tax collectors and sinners” thinking that they are pure before the Lord and doing all religious rituals. Jesus denoted only sick needed the doctor not the healthy (Luke 5:30-32). He condemned the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders as “Whitewashed tombs” (Mat. 23:27-28).

In this background Jesus spoke about the mission of God as finding the lost ones. The work of the Kingdom is also reclaiming the lost Person, Possession and Relationship. The three below parables picture them clearly.

1.      RECLAIMING THE LOST PERSON ( LUKE 15:3-7)

The parable of the lost sheep denotes the love of God towards the lost person. Throughout the Bible we see about the expression of God as shepherd and His people as sheep ( Psalm 23; Ps 100; 95:7; Isaiah 40:9-11; 53:6). The best chapter in the New Testament is John 10 where Jesus referred himself as “Good Shepherd.” Later in the New Testament church referred as the flock of God (Act 20:28).

We see in this parable all 100 sheep belong to the shepherd – one is lost or gone astray. Practically it is impossible to happen as for as sheep is concerned. Sheep is a very vulnerable animal that seeks company always – which is quiet opposite to goats. One missed must be a willing disobedience to the authority of the shepherd. Sheep has great awareness about the environment and wanted to be in the group always. Isolated sheep very often goes as prey to the wild animals.

Once the shepherd realized that one of the seep got lost – the shepherd himself went in search of the lost leaving the 99 in the wilderness (v.4) which is more dangerous – he might lose many more while leaving them. It is the love of the shepherd towards the lost sheep that he went and found it.

After reclaiming the lost sheep – He joyfully puts in his shoulder and was joyful with his friends and neighbors. The Kingdom work includes reclaiming the lost person. There is great rejoice in heaven towards the repentance of one sinner (v.7). The entire world is lost in sin and darkness – the work of the Kingdom is to reconcile them with God. God is seeking humanity from the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:9) – “Where are you Adam?” we have to reclaim the people who are God’s people unto Him.

If you are a Kingdom worker it is a command to reclaim the lost people unto God.

2.      RECLAIM THE LOST POSSESSION (VV 8-10)

The second parable is a woman who lost a silver coin and reclaims it after great efforts, at the end of the story she rejoices with her friends and neighbors as she found the lost. She had ten silver coins (Gk. Drachmas), each worth of a day’s wages (say Rs. 500). It was very hard for the common people to use coins; it is worth beyond the monitorial value for her. It means something for her – it is her possession – it is a terrible loss for the lady if she doesn’t find it.

A wise fool who searched his lost ring outside the tent he lived. A passer-by asked him of what he was doing – he said I lost my ring – he asked where? – Inside the tent – then why do you search outside? – Because there is no light inside the tent – he lit a lamp and searched – they found it at the end. People search several things what they lost but not from the place where they lost. It makes them to find is impossible.

The story ends as she searched it with determination – she lit a lamp – sweep the house – searched carefully until she found it. After finding she called her friends and neighbors and celebrated with them (v.9). It is so important that, we have to search the lost possession in the place where we lost it.

Humanity lost several things through the entry of sin. They are possessions given by God Peace, Joy, Love, Patience … etc. Most of the people in the world lost those valuable possessions and trying to find it in drugs, gambling, sex, money, selfish ambitions – they would never find it unless they go back to the place where they lost it. It is the reconciliation with God. Eternal life is a possession that God gave to humanity – it was replaced with death as man sinned against God. God replaces it with life for everyone who finds God (Rom 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21).

The nature of flesh is evident in Galatians 5:19-21 – a huge list of sinful behaviors which replaced the valuable possessions listed in Galatians 5:22-23. God wants them to be reclaimed – those who live to please the flesh will never enter in to the Kingdom of God (Gal 5:21).

We must reclaim the lost possession of the lost people. The person who is found by God reclaims the natures of the Holy Spirit. Once it is found it gives rejoice to the person and God is pleased as well (v.10)

3.      RECLAIMING THE LOST RELATIONSHIP (VV. 11-32)

Parable of a father and two of his sons – Younger son got his wealth and left the father – he came back and Father runs towards him and accepted him. There was great celebration at the end towards the son who returned back home.

Often the hero of the story is depicted to the younger son – the parable is said to be “Prodigal (Worthless / Waste / Irresponsible) Son” or “Lost Son” or “Repented Son.” The real hero of the story is the Father whose love remains the same regardless of the son’s behavior. The son in the story rebelled against the authority and love of the father. If a Jewish son says these words to the father it means – “You are dead to me – give me my possessions” – the father did not oppose him rather gave what he asked for. Amidst of this when the son returned home – he welcomed him in the long distance – reclaimed the lost relationship – huge celebration was offered on his behalf.

The entire humanity is in rebellion against the Lord of creation. Humanity is created in the image of God – They are called as children of God – became strangers in their rebellion – the relationship is broken – the father is still waiting patiently to reclaim the lost relationship. When someone repents and come back to the father – He receives them as His children not as strangers.

The younger son lost the relationship with his father – the repentance (vv 17-19) – I am no longer worthy to be called as your son but your servant (v.19) – be a hired servant. The relationship is reclaimed because of the love of the father not because of the works of the son. V.20 still he was in long way off… the father runs towards him and accepted him. The work of the Kingdom is reclaiming the human being’s lost relationship with God the Father.

Reclaimed relationship gives us right to call God as our father – From stranger to son (Eph 2:19; Rom 8:15; John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1). Reclaimed relationship brings joy to the father, as the Kingdom agents we must reclaim the lost relationship of people unto God.

The Pattern of All Three Parables:

·         “Lost state” is not the fault of God

·         God initiates the reclaiming work

·         God works to find the lost

·         God rejoices over the restoration

If it is the work of God, then it is the work of the Kingdom – it is entrusted on everyone who is in the Kingdom. We are carrying on the work of the Father in all above searches – As the representatives of God –we must seek to establish His Kingdom through our works. We must be,

·         Reclaiming the Lost People

·         Reclaiming the Lost Possession

·         Reclaiming the Lost Relationship

May God bless you!

THE WORKS OF THE KINGDOM (PART - 2)

Rebuilding the Broken Lives

Rev. S. Asap Singh

Passage: John 8:1-11 – “Jesus and the Woman caught in Adultery”

The work of the Kingdom of God is reversing the curse that came through the disobedience and establishing God’s reign over the lives of the people. The kingdom of God was perfect in the Garden of Eden – it was through the disobedience of the first couple, the human life is broken and sin overtook humanity.

SIN – The foundational problem which prevents people getting into the kingdom of God. Rebuilding the lives include breaking the chains of sin/tradition and lifestyle. Jesus being the Kingdom worker – he liberated people from their sins and rebuilt the broken lives. We see the same thing in the above passage.

Jesus speaks about His Kingdom mission of rebuilding the lives of downtrodden – poor people in various passages. Few of them mentioned below,

Luke 4:18-19 – Heal the broken hearted and release the oppressed.

Matthew 12:20 - A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.

Matthew 11:28 - Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Luke 5:32 - I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

All the above verses we see the Kingdom work of Jesus included the least – weak – sinful – rejected to rebuild their brokenness and make them a blessing to many.

John 8:1-11 we see the broken life of the woman because of the society and her sinful lifestyle. Jesus as the liberator broke the thought of the society and the sinful lifestyle of the woman in personal level. Even today the Kingdom works include rebuilding the lives of the people who are broken in various levels.

The passage Luke 7:53-8:11 was not found in some earlier manuscripts – we have no idea why the passage left out. But certainly there is some problem we could notice here.

1.      BROKEN BECAUSE OF THE SOCIETY (JOHN 8:1-5)

Jesus in this chapter was in the temple courts of Jerusalem. There were several people listening to the teaching of him - there comes the problem. A woman was brought before Jesus probably with less cloths – caught red handed in the act of adultery – v.4 ““Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.” Jesus did not bothered about it and started to write something in the ground –when they asked persistently he commanded the person without sin to throw a stone first – all of them left the place in guilty.

The problem in the passage is the life of women under Jewish society. The Pharisees and teachers of the law brought this woman before Jesus. As a patriotic society they had less or no regards for the woman. We see the reflection of the Jewish culture in the Biblical writings.

Matthew 1 – We see about the genealogy of Jesus (several other genealogies in the Old Testament). The records witness Abraham begot Isaac… etc. No man begot someone but Jewish society counted man as the responsible head of the family. No credit goes to the woman in the childbirth – it was counted as the fruit of men.

As for the issue of impurity in Old Testament law – the duration for impurity for a mother for male baby is 7 days – as for female baby 14 days and doubled the further impurity days (Leviticus 12:1-5)

Female witness is not considered admissible compared to that of men (in Talmud).

Luke 24:10 - 11 - The witness of Mary Magdalene was considered stupid.

Acts 12:13-15 - The witness of Rhode in was simply neglected as Peter arrived home.

Jewish man thanks God daily for not being made as Gentile, Slave or a Woman. The exact prayer lines are,

"Blessed are you, King of the Universe, for not having made me a Gentile"

"Blessed are you, King of the Universe, for not having made me a slave"
“Blessed are you, King of the Universe, for not having made me a woman"

This prayer is said every morning by millions of Jews around the world.

Adultery is sin (Leviticus 20:10) but the punishment for adultery is death for both man and woman who involves in it. A lady caught in the act of adultery where does the man go? (v.3). They should have brought them together – the society gave lenience to the man to escape. The life of the woman is broken because of the society. The problem is not in the commandment of the Lord but the society that broke the life – Jesus being the Kingdom worker rebuilt the brokenness that is caused by the society.

The missionaries in 17-19 centuries did the same in India. The people who are broken because of social evils were removed. Caste system, Untouchability, Education, Health care, Removing of social evils are parts of those initiatives. Kingdom people must seek to rebuild the brokenness caused by the society.

2.      BROKEN BECAUSE OF HER LIFESTYLE (vv.4-5)

This woman identified as adulteress – a sinful person. We have no idea what was her background? What was the financial status? What made her to involve in adultery? The answers whatever it may be. It is a sin – she is responsible for her lifestyle. The way of her living now brought brokenness that would lead her to death.

The entire crowd wanted her to die because her lifestyle was exposed while others yet in the same lifestyle but was not revealed to others. Her life is broken because of the way she lived. The crowd quoted the Law of Moses to justify her killing (v.5).

The entire humanity is in sin through Adam and Eve. The Bible says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Christ Jesus came into the world to save the sinners (1 Tim 1:15). Jesus do not condemn the lifestyle of the people rather he is the way to get rid of the lifestyle. He rebuilds the brokenness caused through sin. In several occasions Jesus said the people “Your sins are forgiven” (Mat 9:2; Luke 7:48) – Go and sin no more (John 8:11). Jesus being the remedy of sin – he rebuilds people who truly repent from their sins.

Jesus exactly demonstrated the Kingdom works by rebuilding the brokenness of her sinful lifestyle. We see lot of people in the world is broken because of their lifestyle – many commit suicide due to the brokenness in their life. As the people of the Kingdom we must rebuild the broken life through our message that is from God, “Go and sin no more.”

THE MESSAGE THAT REBUILT HER (vv. 7-11)

John 8:7-11: When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

The bold writings are the message that rebuilt the life of the woman caught in adultery. I am sure that was the point of transformation in her life. She certainly would have left the sinful life and become a follower of Jesus Christ. The words of Christ reconstructed her remaining life.

Jesus the liberator rebuilt what is broken in her life. Everyone who repents from the sin is rebuilt. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world (John 3:17). The rebuilding process may be difficult but the Kingdom worker must rebuild the broken life.

As a Kingdom worker we must seek to rebuild the broken lives through Christ – the King of the Kingdom.

Rev. S. Asap Singh

Passages:        1. Luke 4:14-30 “Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth”

                       2. Mark 5:1-20 “Jesus Heals a demon possessed man”

Luke 4:43 – Jesus said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

The mission of Jesus was to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God – He preached the same message in the beginning of the ministry (Mark 1:13-14); in the middle of His ministry (Luke 10:9); the end of the ministry (Mat 24:14) even after His resurrection from the death (Acts 1:3). The Kingdom of God being illustrated by Jesus through various parables we find in the gospels.

The good news in the above passage or the mission of Jesus is comprehensively mentioned in Luke 4: 18-19, The works of the Kingdom are,

·         Preach the Good news to the poor

·         Proclaim Freedom to the Prisoners

·         Recovery of Sight to the Blind

·         Set the Oppressed Free

·         Proclaim the Year of the Lord

All the above things in my opinion include three things in the lives of the people Restoring, Rebuilding and Reclaiming. Every saved believer is part of the Kingdom of God and in turn they get obligated to work for the Kingdom of God.

Most of the times church thinks the work of the Kingdom are preaching the gospel – Tracts Distribution – Open air preaching – Personal Evangelism – TV Preaching – or anything related to spiritual – Neglecting the physical side of the people.

Undoubtedly Jesus preached/proclaimed the Kingdom of God, that’s what comes first in the Nazareth Manifesto “Proclaiming Good news to the Poor.” The other works of the Kingdom often been neglected by the church and considered as “Non Spiritual” aspect. I want to take you through the Bible and speak the importance of Kingdom Works given to the church.

Restoring People from the Bondage is Work of the Kingdom

The three aspects I will be dealing are closely connected to one another. In original stage they were good and perfect – something happen in between – that brought a corruption – That needs to be fixed to establish the Kingdom of God among the people.

Restoration – Taking back something to the original state

Rebuilding – Building back something that is broken

Reclaiming – Claiming back something that is lost

In Mark 5:1-20 Jesus Restores (Delivers) a demon Possessed man (Legion) both physically and spiritually – which is complete restoration.

There is a TV program in History Television called “The Kings of Restoration.” People brings lot of old things 50-60 years old – fully rusted and spoiled machines of various kind – this team not only restores it outwardly but also make them to work mechanically as it was earlier on. They name themselves as “The Kings of restoration.” What they do is reversing the defects and makes them to work as it was earlier on. Spiritual/physical restoration is reversing the damages caused by the devil – restoration adds people into the kingdom of God.

The world is going from order to disorder – just like a cleaned home gets dusty regardless of closing all doors and windows – an arranged home gets disorder automatically – the process of happening is slow and invisible but it goes to disorder automatically. The problems must be restored to go back to the original state.

Nobody is born in this world with satanic imprisonment. In some point of their life they are bound or addicted to some satanic bondage. The man we see here is one of such varieties – it may be out of his own will. He needs a restoration to get freedom from the bondages – it cannot happen within rather someone has to help him to get delivered.

The Background: Chapter 4 ends with the miracle of Jesus calming the storm to get to the other side of the sea (Luke 8:26-39 the same incident in Luke’s writing). There was hindrance to deliver a man who is in the satanic captivity – Jesus overcame it by the divine power – the disciples astonished by looking at His authority. The other side of the shore we see this man who needs restoration. Jesus restored His entire being and established the Kingdom of God.

1.      RESTORATION IN HIS IDENTITY ( MARK 5:1-5)

The state of that man was - Demon Possessed. It was not his fault but the unclean spirits in him made him to lose his identity. Probably people would have called him as Demonic Man/ Naked Man / Tomb Man / Legion … etc. He probably had a name which was forgotten or overcome by the demonic possession.

Evil Spirits controlled him so that he doesn’t know what he was doing. He was in fact created in the image of God – the God created image is lost – people now realized and called him with different names. The verses describe about him as follows,

V 2:  Man with Impure Spirit

V.3: No one could bind him. 

V.5: Cried out day and night

V.9: His name was Legion

V.15: Naked man- Now dressed!

We clearly see about the demonic works that subdued the natural abilities of this man – He no more bears the image of God or with the name his parents might called him. Jesus as the Kingdom worker restored his identity at the end of the miracle.

There are people in our community today lost their identity – they do not know what they are doing – they need restoration – someone need to get into the spot to restore their identity and values of who they are.

Church Father St. Augustine (Augustine of Hippo) lived in the 4^th century was a robber in the horses with a gang – the Lord met him and restored his life – as his friends called him “Hi Augustine” he said – The Augustine whom you know died yesterday – this is a new man in Christ. His identity as a robber turned into Saint Augustine in later days – he wrote several books even in the third century.

2.      RESTORATION IN HIS RESIDENCE (VV 2-5)

We clearly see from those verses he lived in the Tomb! The passage states that “A man from tombs came to meet Jesus (v.2) – He lived in the tomb (v.3) – Night and day from the tomb he cried out (v.5) – He cut himself with stones…

Tomb is the place of dead – we see a living man among the dead. He not only lived among the tombs but hurt himself. He was restless day and night – nobody was able to control him with chains – he was screaming and shouting day and night.

The evil spirit wanted him to be in the tomb (v. 10 - he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area). His residence is the problem, he isolated himself from the world to execute the plans of demons – God on the other hand restores people in dead state to life.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 – Prophet Ezekiel in his vision was taken to the valley of dry bones – God by his nature revives the dry and dead (both physical and spiritual) to fulfill His plans and agendas. A meaningless/purposeless life will be restored when God gets into it.

One of my uncles an Architect Engineer – Wealthy and Rich – No idea about God – worked as a head engineer in L&T construction company - As God restored him – His selfish mindset gone – He left the place where he worked – Later he declared “I was a builder for a company, now I am a Kingdom builder.” At present doing the ministry of the Lord left his high position in L&T.

We see at the end of the story the man who had his residence in the tomb is with Jesus (v.18-20) and later became a witness to Christ whole through the towns of Decapolis. His residence is restored from tomb. There are people who live in isolation, rejection, fantasy world. They need to be restored with the life giving power of God. The Kingdom works include restoring people from their location of bondage into freedom.

3.      RESTORATION IN HIS MIND (VV 6-10)

Mind is associated to the body – the body and mind of this man is under the control of evil spirit. Someone who is in right mind would never hurt himself or scream out day and night. There are people mad at Christian workers and church because their minds are captivated by devil so that they are not able to bear when people are being freed.

Mother Theresa is known as a social worker not an evangelist dedicated her whole life for the people of India, however she is seen as an evangelist by some people because their minds are corrupted to see the lepers who got compassion from her but only how she lived for the Lord and led others to the love of Christ. Many of the leaders today criticize her works even after she passed away as a means to conversion.

Rom 12: 2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As mind is renewed, transformation occurred.

Phil 2:5, “Have the same mindset that is in Christ Jesus”

Restoration in mind is the foundational thing that changes the entire being. Jesus wanted to restore him of his demonic mindset but he replied in v.7 – “In God’s name don’t torture me!” – Some other versions say “Don’t upset us” – Jesus wanted him to get out of the troubles but he replied “Don’t send us out of this area.” He wanted to remain the same.

Restoration in mind is the hardest thing to do – once we overcome it the rest happens by itself. The work of the Kingdom is giving freedom to people who are captivated in their mindset to the evil one.

We are always challenged by the world when we do good to them – people hate you when you do good (Luke 6:22 – Mat 5:11), it shakes the foundation of the kingdom of darkness. You touch their ideology – the core of their (evil) values – we challenge the status quo of the world. The lie of the enemy in the passage “Being in bondage is freedom – freedom from the bondage is torture” (v.7).

The Process of Restoration (vv 11-13):

I wonder Jesus even heard the request of demons and sent them among the pigs (v.12-13) – He sent them in – about 2000 pigs fell into the sea and drowned.

The process of restoration is costly for the pig tenders – they lost their pigs – selfish people don’t want to see others being restored.

The Result of Restoration (vv 14-17):

The demon possessed man sitting with right mind – dressed – calm and quite (v.15) – the people on the other hand afraid of the miracle. He got 100% restored from the demonic oppression – the complete transformation cannot have 1% of the past nature but 100% new. 2 Cor. 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The people on the other hand asked him to leave the place (v.17). The restored man became a channel of restoration to many in that area (v.20)

The Kingdom work includes restoration from oppression/bondage. Jesus as Kingdom worker restored this man’s Identity, Residence and Mind. We as the Kingdom workers must also involve in restoring people’s lives.

The restored people must restore others – that is a command not an option (v.19)

Amen!

(* This sermon is modified based on the concept of Rev. Samuel D Stephens on the Annual Planning Meeting of IGL on January 10, 2019)