Christ’s Kingdom Comes!

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/26/20
Matthew 4:12-23


Christ’s Kingdom Comes!
I. Through the preaching of his word
II. Through the use of his people


Have you ever thought about the meaning of the familiar words of the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come”? Most of us have spoken those words countless timers in our lives and we’ll speak them countless times more, but like a good Lutheran, have you ever asked yourself, “What does this mean?”

Ask a few Christians what those words mean, and I assure you that you will get a vast majority of wrong answers. Most likely the answer you’ll receive from them will be something along this line: we’re praying for Jesus to come back to this earth as he promised. At the risk of sounding harsh, my reply is, “Wrong!”

Those of you who have studied Luther’s Catechism with me or another Lutheran pastor—do you recall how Martin Luther answered that question on the basis of God’s holy word? He wrote, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy word and lead a godly now on earth and forever in heaven.” The coming of God’s kingdom is not marked by the return of Jesus on the Last Day; it’s marked by the coming of God’s Holy Spirit into the hearts of sinners as he works faith in Jesus as the Savior from sin. That faith makes that person a child of God and a member of Christ’s kingdom. That’s how Christ’s kingdom comes to us.

That’s what we hear Jesus announcing in these words of our text, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” What we have here before us is the beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry. From here until the day of his death, Jesus was actively engaged in preaching to people that he was their Savior from sin. In doing so, he was bringing his kingdom to them. Christ’s kingdom comes. Let’s see exactly how as we delve into this portion of God’s word this morning.

Part I.

Our text opens with a bit of tragic news. It says, “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison.” “John” here is not the Apostle John, but John the Baptist. The tragic news for the kingdom of God was that King Herod had succeeded in silencing the preaching of this faithful prophet, the one who was preparing the hearts of the people for the coming of the Savior. John was now no longer a voice out in the wilderness calling people to repent. Crowds were no longer making their way out to hear him preach. It was a huge loss in the kingdom of God.

And what’s Jesus’ reaction? “He returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum.” From John’s Gospel we know that Jesus had been in Jerusalem proclaiming that he was the promised Savior. As the center of the Jewish religion and the site of the temple, that was the likely place for Jesus to be. When he hears that Herod had persecuted God’s kingdom by imprisoning John, what does the almighty Savior do? He doesn’t display his power through a miracle. He doesn’t redouble his efforts in Jerusalem. He doesn’t develop a new method of spreading the truth about himself there. He heads north into the “backwoods” of Israel. He goes to Galilee, a part of Israel that many Jews despised as “hick” and filled with “low-life” people.

And when he arrived there, he filled his time with the rather unimpressive activity of preaching. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” That’s it! That’s the sum and substance of his reaction to this great attack on the work of the kingdom. He simply preaches to sinners.

Actually, it was the proper reaction. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at that because it came from our perfect Savior. It would have done no good for the kingdom for Jesus to storm Herod’s prison and rescue John the Baptist. It would have done him no good to rally the Jews against Herod or the Romans and attempt a coup. Jesus came to establish the eternal kingdom of God. God’s kingdom does not come visibly with outward displays of force.

The kingdom of God comes quietly, imperceptibly through the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s what we recall from Luther’s Explanation to the Second Petition. His kingdom comes when his Holy Spirit enters hearts that are hardened in sin and unbelief and changes those hearts, converts those hearts into hearts that trust Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life. In doing so, he makes those sinners members of Christ’s kingdom.

And in order to do just that, he uses the word and the sacraments. That’s why Jesus reacted to this assault on his kingdom by preaching. That’s why he reveals himself here in this text as the preaching Savior who is a light in the darkness of sin and unbelief. That’s the best response—the only response—to the prayer, “Thy kingdom come.” His kingdom comes to us and to others as his saving word is proclaimed. Indeed, Christ’s kingdom comes! It comes through the preaching of his word.

So, let’s not be mistaken about how God’s kingdom comes. It doesn’t necessarily come through rallies that draw thousands of Christians. Nor does it come through block voting on hot moral issues. It doesn’t even come through enacting the proper laws. Those things may all bring many blessings, but they are no guarantee to advance the kingdom of God. Only one thing does—the preaching of the saving news of Jesus Christ. I suppose we might wish that God would cause some mighty display of his power and glory that would cause every unbeliever’s jaw to drop. But outward displays of God’s power don’t convert hearts; only the Holy Spirit does that through the gospel of Jesus Christ. But too often the preaching of that gospel doesn’t impress us. We wrongly conclude that there are other things more worthy of our time or attention. But the preaching of the gospel is what has brought us into God’s kingdom through the life and death of Christ. And through the preaching of the gospel God keeps us in his kingdom. Christ’s kingdom comes! It’s coming to us right here and now in answer to our prayer.

Part II.

Can you imagine listening to Jesus preach? It must have been an awesome thing! Imagine listening to the word of God from the Son of God himself! If only he were still doing that!

But he doesn’t. Instead, he uses others. That was always his plan. That’s why he shares with us here in this text how he chose his first disciples. And we might wonder about his choice. Our text describes such an important even in such ordinary fashion. He was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He saw four fishermen and he said, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Did he realize who these men were? They were common fishermen. They likely had little education, if any at all. Their religious training was slightly above minimal. They had glaring character flaws.

And they respond with what at first appears to be a snap decision. “At once they left their nets and followed him.” Did they really know what they were getting into? How could they on such short notice?

Actually, it was a very wise decision on Jesus’ part to ask them and on their part to accept his invitation. You’ll recall that we met these men in our sermon last Sunday. By piecing together the events in all four gospels, we know that this event in our text took place a full year after Jesus met these men. You see, Jesus had spent time with them and had explained to them what discipleship was all about. They had enjoyed ample time to consider following Jesus on a fulltime basis.

And that’s the way Jesus wanted it to be. He wanted them to respond to his call willingly. He wanted them to make a willing and informed commitment to him. These men were simply biding their time making a living fishing. They knew the day would come when Jesus would ask them to commit to him for the rest of their lives. That day came on this day described in our text.

But what about their background? What about their lack of qualifications? Couldn’t Jesus have made a better choice? Not at all. His choice of these men revealed the transforming power of his grace. The almighty yet gracious God took lumps of clay such as these men and transformed them through his word into fearless proclaimers of the saving news of Jesus Christ. In fewer than three years these men would begin taking that good news to the ends of the earth. These men were living proof that Christ’s kingdom comes. It comes through the use of his people.

A theologian named John Kelly once bemoaned that the church on earth had lost this vital mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. He was concerned that God’s people were no longer answering the call of Jesus to be fishers of men. He exclaimed, “We’re not fishers of men anymore. We’re merely keepers of the aquarium. We spend our time as God’s people only maintaining the tank of fish that we have, instead of going out and catching other fish.”

To the degree that you agree with his assessment we need to hear this morning that Christ’s kingdom comes through the use of his people, through you and me. First that kingdom comes to us as we recall our feeble attempts at fishing for men, and even the times when we refused that opportunity. In God’s kingdom we have forgiveness for all our sins through the death of Jesus. And, as members of that kingdom, Jesus empowers us to be his kingdom fishers. It happens when we take the time to share the truth of God’s love with someone who’s hurting. The kingdom of God comes when we help others see that they aren’t “right” with the holy God and then lead them to see their Savior, Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God comes when we invite friends and family members to hear the saving good news of Jesus with us.

Christ’s kingdom doesn’t come through the keepers of the aquarium. It comes through us as we work in his kingdom as fishers of men. God bless your work in his kingdom! Amen.