Evangelical Community Church of Abu Dhabi: 2011 Sermons

February 17, 2012

CHRIST THE FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Introduction

What’s the first name that comes to your mind if I ask you to give me a name of a fast food restaurant? I bet that most of you, regardless of your age will say McDonalds. Whether you like their food or not, McDonald’s is the dominant name when it comes to fast food. They are the largest fast food chain in the world by far. Let me give you a staggering statistic, every 18 hours, a McDonald’s restaurant opens up somewhere in the world. So have you ever wondered how McDonald’s came to be such a big giant? I have two words for you, Ray Kroc. Ray was the founder of McDonalds. He was a visionary whose dream was to open a chain of restaurants throughout the USA based on four simple principles, QSC&V; Q stands for quality, S for service, C for cleanliness & V for value. From early on, and starting with his first restaurant in Illinois, every system that Kroc developed, every person he hired, everything that he did in the restaurant was designed to accomplish QSC&V. Ray was also a great leader in that he was able to communicate and impart his vision to those who worked with and for him. See to be successful it is not just important for a person to have a vision, but also to get others to buy into that vision. Kenneth Labich said this about Ray Kroc:

“Don’t underestimate the power of a vision. McDonald’s founder, Ray Kroc, pictured his empire long before it existed, and he saw how to get there. He invented the company motto — ‘Quality, service, cleanliness and value’ — and kept repeating it to employees for the rest of his life.”

That vision of Ray Kroc is still alive and well at McDonald’s today and is what has made and continues to make McDonalds such a successful business. Having a vision is a powerful thing in life.

Two thousand years before Ray Kroc was born, Our Lord Jesus had the greatest and most powerful vision of all. I can sum it up for you in one phrase, the kingdom of God. How do I know that? That’s easy! Everything that Jesus did or said had to do with the Kingdom of God. He constantly spoke about the Kingdom of God. Out of around 140 times that the phrase the Kingdom of God or a variation of it written in the NT, and the majority of that was spoken by Jesus. He started his earthly ministry by telling people to repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. He told Nicademus that he must be born from above to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus spoke parables about the Kingdom, etc… In Acts chapter 1, we are told that Jesus appeared to the disciples for a period of 40 days and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God. I believe that Jesus was reminding the disciples of all the things that he taught them about the Kingdom of God not only to build them up in the faith but also to impart to them a Kingdom vision. Well having been myself saved in a church that emphasized so much the Kingdom of God, I know from experience that it came make a huge difference in our lives as Christians. I know for a fact that the deeper and better we understand the Kingdom of God, the clearer we see what the Lord Jesus wants us to accomplish in our lives. For this is the reason I have chosen the theme of the Kingdom of God for the men’s retreat. I thought it would be good to take a small glimpse this weekend about the teaching of scripture about the Kingdom of God, so that hopefully, so we can get excited about it and begin to develop a Kingdom vision in our lives.

We cannot talk about the Kingdom without first talking about the foundation of the Kingdom, and that is the King of the Kingdom, Our Lord Jesus Christ. As Evangelicals, we have been taught, and rightfully so, that Christ is the key to and the foundation of the Christian Faith. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:1 “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” But the importance of Christ and his work on the cross is most of the times explained to us in terms of our personal salvation and perhaps a little more. While this is very accurate and true, it is limited in its scope. In comparison, and as we have read in Colossians 1 earlier, the biblical view is a view of a far-reaching and all-inclusive cosmic Christ, who created the universe and stands at its very center and sustains it, the Christ who gives meaning to all of life, and the Christ who promised restoration of all of creation to the glory of God.

“¹⁵ He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ 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 the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20.

There are two main interpretations or aspects of the work of Christ in Scripture and in history, and they are:

A sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath because of man’s offense to God’s holiness.

Victory over the power of evil (Christus Victor)

Both aspects, both interpretations are accurate and true but must be held together and not be separate. However, the church in this or that paradigm or era of history has emphasized one aspect of the work of Christ and rarely held both views together.

A sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath because of man’s offense to God’s holiness:

³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Romans 8:3

Pastor Cam has been teaching us from the book of Romans that we, as human beings, are born with a sinful nature and cannot help but sin and therefore deserving of God’s Wrath. The Bible says that the consequences of sin is death, not only physical but also spiritual; which means eternal separation from God. But God, because of his love for us, sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross on our behalf. He became a sin offering in that he took upon himself the penalty for our sins which is death and satisfied God’s wrath. Jesus warns though that only those who come by faith and take refuge in Him will experience forgivness and have eternal life.

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. John 3:36

In Christ the wrath of God is taken away from us and his righteousness imputed to us, without Christ we remain under God’s wrath, under the curse and subject to eternal damnation.

This aspect of the work of Christ has been the dominant view for the last 1000 years or so of church history. But as I mentioned before, this view is biblical, essential, foundational, and accurate, but it is also limited. It does not give us the full picture of what Christ had accomplished on the cross. That brings us to the second main aspect of the work of Christ, His victory over the power of evil.

Victory over the power of evil (Christus Victor):

⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Rev. 5:5

In the first thousand years of church history the dominant interpretation of the work of Christ is that of victory over the power of evil (Christus Victor). The New Testament is highly conscious of the power of evil and their debilitating effect on every sphere of life, personal, family, economical, social and political. It is almost impossible read the gospel accounts without continually encountering a story that deals with the power of evil. Throughout his entire earthly ministry, Jesus was binding and dethroning the power of evil, and assuring his disciples that those powers and principalities will be utterly defeated by Him and ultimately routed, at the end of history, out of this world. In the book of John alone, there are over seventy references to the conflict between Jesus and demonic powers. The creeds of the early church deals specifically with the defeat of the powers of evil and teach that it was God who became incarnate, who became flesh, and was united in humanity in Jesus, the second Adam who defeated the powers of evil for “us and our salvation”

The New Testament material concerning the victory of Christ over the powers of evil is extensive. However, it can be organized under several themes that will help us grasp more firmly the shout of victory expressed in the words, Jesus is Lord.

Christ has bound Satan and all demonic powers

The binding of Satan by Jesus was evident in the earthly ministry of Christ even prior to his death and resurrection. In Mathew 12:29 Jesus said: “²⁹ Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.”

That is exactly what Jesus did in the world. He was binding Satan “the strong man” and plundering his house, to steal back men from the devil. We repeatedly read throughout the gospels that Jesus, by the power of God and the Holy Spirit, was binding Satan and was delivering people from the oppression of the enemy. That was signaling that our Lord Jesus had the authority over Satan and his demonic powers. We are even told that when Jesus had sent out the disciple to minister to people, he gave them the power to bind and overcome the evil one.

Through the death & resurrection of Christ, Satan has been definitely defeated and his power has been dethroned. We can see that clearly in Colossians 2:15

“¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

The word disarmed here means to take away or strip. It is a picture of a soldier that has been stripped of his weapons and left in a position of vulnerability. So Jesus, on the cross has stripped Satan of his power and authority. Through Christ bursting the bonds of death He rendered the enemy of our souls powerless. In first John 3:8 we are told that “the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the work of the devil” The word “appeared” here is in the past tense and not a prophecy about the second coming of Christ. Because of that triumph, People who embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior can experience freedom from the bondage of the enemy; Satan no longer has dominion over the redeemed ones of God.

Through His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, Jesus was declared the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His reign and rule was established as it was supposed to be from the beginning; the Kingdom of God has come to earth.

Jesus Himself said to the disciples in Mathew 28:18:”All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”

The apostle Peter said this about the resurrected Christ in Acts 2:32-36

³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
³⁵ until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”’
³⁶“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

In the consummation of all things, Satan’s power will be utterly destroyed and all of creation will be perfectly reconciled to God

²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

The final blow to Satan’s power is exercised at the end of history where Christ comes back to throw him in the lake of fire where his followers are suffering forever and ever. God’s rule will be perfectly established in the new heaven and the new earth. The last enemy, death, will cease to exist and complete victory will be ours in Christ to the glory of GOD the father.

-Between the resurrection and consummation, Christ has commissioned His church to progressively push back the power of darkness and extend God’s reign and rule, or the Kingdom of God here on earth.

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Mathew 28:18-20

¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Mathew 16:18

Armed with the love of God, with resurrection power, with the Holy Spirit, with the sword of God’s Word, and with the fellowship and togetherness of believers, we at ECC, as a local expression of God’s universal church are called by God to glorify His name by advancing the Kingdom or the reign of God here in Abu Dhabi, beginning with the hearts of men and women, and then spilling over every sphere of their lives. We are brothers and sisters called to push back the forces of darkness. Pastor Cam coined the phrase “agents in place”. You and I are God’s agents in place here in Abu Dhabi. Together, in the unity of the Spirit, we can impact this city for Christ.
Conclusion
I’d like to conclude this message by issuing a challenge, what is your vision ECC. If you are a follower of Christ and have been adopted into his family and kingdom, what are you here to accomplish. Are you here to just make money, or are you here to be part of kingdom expansion. Depending on how you answer this question, you might have to have a vision correction. Jesus said in Mathew 6:33 to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness… Are we seeking first that Kingdom in our lives? Think about it church. Amen