Eyes On The Throne // How God Became King - Read

Are you ready for a bold statement? Here goes: Our God, Jesus Christ, is the King of the World. And no—not in some spiritual, theoretical, or “far off future” sense. He is currently enthroned, ruling the world with grace and truth. That’s the truth. And that truth should change everything for us. Which brings us to a second bold statement: Most Christians don’t know or don’t live like this is the case. You see, when we realize the full weight of the fact that Jesus is King—how it happened and what it means—we will never see our faith the same way again.

If God is our King and we’re living in his Kingdom, that means all other “kings” and “kingdoms” must be exposed for the imposters they are. We need to rid our lives of unworthy things competing for our hearts. So how do we stay focused on Jesus and build a Kingdom mindset?

So good morning. Listen, you guys braved the blizzard. So shout out to you listen, I know it's March it shouldn't be. And yet here we are snow. I said the same thing last night was, hey, I was having a great week until the snow hits. So I still feel the same today, nevertheless. But I listen, I hope you had a great week. I hope you had an awesome weekend. If it wasn't a great week, if it wasn't a great weekend, I hope next week turns around. But if it was, I hope that that train keeps going and that you have a great week next week. But as we kick off our time today, I simply want to present a statement to you. And that is, Jesus is Lord. Therefore Caesar is not. And the statement specifically Jesus is lord is what Christians over the past millennia have given their life over. And yet for many Christians today, this has simply become a religious statement that describes or explains our personal individual and private convictions. But this claim, Jesus is Lord is at the very center of the Gospels and is at the very center of the Christian faith. The trouble is, is that many of us have either forgotten its significance, or I've never actually been taught its significance. Many of us have simply missed what it means for God to be king, not simply in our private lives, but King of all creation. And this is what we've been exploring over the past few weeks how God became king, it's the title of our series, but it's also the title of the series of the book that the series is based off of, which is how God became king by NC, right? I cannot recommend this book enough, like go read it, it's amazing. And then go read the other works by NT, right? It's absolutely amazing. NT right is crazy, wicked smart. So I'm gonna try and get like all of his things down. So he's a Pauline scholar. He's a New Testament scholar, He's a historian, a former Anglican bishop of Durham, and a current research fellow at Oxford. So do just out of this world smart, I'm also using this portion of our time to be a general citation. So a lot of the content from today is going to be coming from his book or at least inspired by his book or other writings of his that have to deal with this content. And so I'm using this as a general citation. Imagine if you're writing a paper and there's the reference portion, boom, I'm putting it upfront, not at the back. And so that the content I'm gonna be using is primarily from chapters between like seven and 10. But that being said, before we get into the far passage, Jacob gave me an amazing intro. My name is Donnie Sanchez, and the next-gen pastor here, cornerstone, listen, whether you've been coming for a short time, maybe this is your first time, or you've been coming a long time, man, Cornerstone has been your home for 40 years. Listen, if I have not met you yet, grab me after service I would love to do so I'd love to hear your story. I'd love to hear what God is doing in you how you came to Cornerstone that crazy wild story. Or even if it's just a chat about how the calves lost last night, whatever it is, I'd love to get to know you love to chat. But if you're taking notes today, the title of today's message is eyes on the throne, eyes on the throne. And as I was preparing this week, and looking at the scriptures, we're going to be reading, looking at the book by NC right looking at all that we've talked about throughout the series, I began to think about the concept of having our eyes on the throne, and began to think, Okay, what's another way we could say that? What's another way we could describe the eyes on the throne? We could describe it as holistic discipleship to Jesus, or we could describe it as being fully devoted to King Jesus. Now to begin to think about that a little bit further, I began to think about, what are the components of that? Like, what are the components of having our eyes on the throne, and I broke it down into three things, to kind of help us understand better how we can have our eyes on the throne. And so that's what we're going to be exploring today. Number one, we're going to be exploring what it means for Jesus to be Lord, that's the launchpad for everything to follow Jesus, that's where it begins. What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord? And then number two, we're going to be exploring how to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus. And then finally, we're going to explore how to build a kingdom mindset considering the new creation that was launched in and through the person of Jesus. And so to begin our time, and to begin our deep dive into the journey, we're going to be reading our passage for today, which is Matthew 619 through 34. Listen, it's a long one, but it's a good one. It's a long one, but it's a good one. So Matthew, Matthew 619, through 34. If you have a physical Bible with you, I want to encourage you to crack that thing open. We've embodied beings. And so we often encounter God through our senses. So when we have the scripture really tangibly in front of us, it does something to communicate it a little bit deeper. But nevertheless, if you don't, no shame, no shame. It's going to be on the screen but then You can also use the device of your choosing, Matthew 619 through 34 Jesus says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where Mars and Berman's destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where Mars and Berman's do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness. No one can serve two masters either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life what you will eat or drink or about your body what you will wear Is not life more than food and body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are they not much more? Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire. Will, he not much more clothe you, you have little faith? So do not worry saying What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So like I said, a long one but a good one. Let's go ahead and pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are present that you are near, you know our needs and you provide for us. I pray that today we would be able to sense your love in a very tangible way.

Lord, ultimately for our time together we pray that Your kingdom come your will would be done in us on earth as it is in heaven. It's in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, so we're exploring how to keep our eyes on the throne. Where does that begin? What do we do? What does that look like? So we're going, to begin with, number one, what it means for Jesus to be Lord. Over the past weeks, we've been exploring how God never gave up on humanity or on creation. You see, after the fall of humanity in Genesis three, after everything seemed like it was all for naught. Everything was terrible. There's no future, there's no hope. Oh, my goodness. Well, God never gave up on redeeming humanity and redeeming creation where we thought, well, everything's lost. God saw an opportunity for redemption. After Israel, the nation of Israel failed time and time again, to live into their vocation as the people of God. He was still committed to keeping the promises that He had made to Abraham, and that he had made to the nation of Israel. He had promised them saying, hey, a Messiah is going to come and he's going to free you from this terrible cycle that you're in of utter failure. And so by the time Jesus was jumping on the scene, Israel knew that there was a Messiah that would come. But the problem is, is they believed that he would re-establish the earthly kingdom of Israel and free them from the oppressive Roman government through military might. And while Jesus had come to reclaim God's sovereign rule over Israel in the world, and would indeed free them from the power of oppression, was not in the way that many people thought, Jesus had come to confront the evil powers that oppressed humanity since sin and death had entered the world. And so to say, Jesus is Lord and that Caesar was not, was to expose the earthly powers and the evil powers behind them as imposters. And this is what Jesus came to due to triumph over the evil powers that animated the worldly kingdoms, which ultimately oppressed God's people. The perfect example of this for our time today is Rome. The era that Jesus came into the Roman empire where Caesar was the emperor there, actually multiple Caesars but I'm kind of using Caesar as a title here, but also kind of as an archetype, in a way. So Caesar, who was the emperor made a wild claim during Jesus's day. You see, some Caesars have had already come by the time that Jesus was born, to the point whereby the time Jesus jumped on the scene, Caesar was making a claim to divinity. He saw himself as the son of the gods and Lord of The world. And so because of this Rome, along with the evil power behind it was in direct opposition to God. But to say that Jesus is Lord and that Caesar is not merely a spiritual claim. Remember, Jesus is Lord isn't about our private, individual personal convictions. It wasn't merely a spiritual claim, but it was also a political claim in the day of Jesus. It is to say that Jesus is the true Lord of the world, to be truly human is to live under His Lordship and follow his way, rather than following Caesar's way, or Caesar's lordship is to look to God for all that we need rather than looking to the worldly means or worldly rulers for fulfillment. And so if Jesus is the true Lord of the world, and has overcome the evil powers, then it doesn't really matter who has worldly power, because they're simply in subjection to God. And at the end of the day, they have no actual power. Listen to what Jesus says when he began his ministry and Mark 115. The time has come, he said, The kingdom of God has come near Repent and believe the good news. Well, a couple of things. Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God had come in and through him. It wasn't about some future event down the road. Well, yes, the kingdom of God is kind of close. It's going to be here, I promise. It'll happen one day, no, the kingdom of God had come in and through the person of Jesus on that day. But then also when we look at the term the kingdom of God, we can describe it as the rule and reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. And so God's rule and reign have come in and through Jesus, He is the true King of all creation. And it's shocking to say that Jesus is Lord and the ruling powers are not that shocking in and of itself. But it's even more shocking how God brought about that victory over the evil powers. This leads us to our second passage for today, which is Colossians 2:13 through 15. The apostle Paul is writing to the Clawson church, and he's writing to them about the freedom that they have in Christ. So Colossians 2:13 through 15, he writes, when you were dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. This is mind-blowing. Maybe not for some of us who grew up in the church where we go, yes, of course, yes, the cross and Jesus does the thing. And now I have everlasting life. Whoo. All right, what's next. So for some of us, it may not seem like it's mind-blowing, because it's become so familiar. But indeed, this is mind-blowing. Paul, along with the gospel writers are saying that on the cross, God has become king. He's absorbed the worst of the powers sin and death could throw at him and conquered them with his sacrificial love. Unlike the kingdoms of the world, Jesus did not establish the Kingdom of God through the bloodshed of his enemies. Instead, he established the kingdom through the shedding of His own blood as he forgave his enemies, which includes you, it includes me before we were in Christ. So the moment in which the disciples had thought all was lost, they thought it was the darkest day in history was actually the enthronement of King Jesus. And it was at this moment that God had dealt with evil on the cross, Jesus has dealt with our sin and canceled our debt, instead of giving us everlasting life in Him. But Jesus doesn't only secure our personal salvation. Remember, this isn't about a private personal conviction. He disarmed the powers and authorities, God has reclaimed his sovereign rule over all creation. He is taking back what's his and he's putting all things right. If this is true, if Jesus is Lord, if he's the True Lord of the world, if he holds what is good,

if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not Lord. If Jesus is Lord, then no world leader today is Lord. If Jesus is Lord, no political system, and no political party is Lord. Jesus alone is Lord. And this reality subverts every claim of all world powers in Jesus's day and in our day. And you want to know what that claim is. That claim is that we have the true vision of the good life, what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. If you want to experience the good life in If you want to experience freedom, you need to follow us. Because we know what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. But Jesus has already exposed those claims for what they are flat-out lies. The kingdom of God brought in and through Jesus has the true vision of the good life, what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. Anyone else who makes this claim is an imposter and has no power. That being said, if Jesus is King, if he holds the true vision of what is good, true, and beautiful, if the cross was really his enthronement if he has really won the victory if he has launched the new creation, and shown us the way to be truly human, we have to ask the question, how do we keep our eyes fixed on him? If Jesus is really, Lord, man, we should pay attention. Our eyes should be fixed on him. How do we do this? And if you've found yourself asking yourself this question today or in the past, as you follow Jesus, man, you're asking a really good question. It's because we suffer the same temptations as the Jews did when Jesus was on trial. And they cried out, we have no king, but Caesar. You see, we can be deceived by a politician, by a political vision, or by our own mere desperation, into placing other things as Lord over us rather than Jesus. This may even happen merely because we've been so distracted by the number of voices and the number of imposter Lords vying for our attention. So we end up unintentionally giving ourselves over to a false king. And so to explore this further, let's go back to that main passage, the long one, but the good one, Matthew 619, through 34. Just some quick context, this comes from a section in the Gospel according to Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in chapters five through seven. Jesus is essentially teaching to a large group of people, explaining to them the way of the kingdom of God. Often, you'll find statements about reality rather than commands because Jesus is saying, this is the way the kingdom is. And so if you want to learn what it looks like to live in the kingdom reality, read the Sermon on the Mount. In essence, Jesus's proclaiming the kingdom of God has been made available to everyone. And He's inviting us to live in this kingdom reality. And so our specific passage for today 19 through 34, can be broken up into four parts, four parts, all speaking about possession, security, and how to even go as far to say distraction. So we're going to explore these four different parts, the first one being 19 through 21, I'll read it really fast to read jog our memory. Jesus says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where malls and Berman's destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where mobs and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And so what Jesus is not saying is that instead of building a savings account at Huntington, which is where me and my wife bank, that instead of building a savings account at Huntington, you should start a heavenly savings account at Heaven's gates credit union. That's not what Jesus is saying. What he is saying it what he is doing is he's putting a finger on where we find our ultimate sense of security. You see in our darkest moments, and those moments of desperation, we can so often jump to storing up possessions, as if they'll give us the good life, as if, though, guarantee us freedom and salvation, although we probably wouldn't word it that way. We can store up possessions because we feel, man, if I lose these things, I won't have the good life. When possessions are our Lord, we say things like this, if I just had blank, life would be good. If I just had that house that I've been looking at, life would be good. The Good Life would be complete. You can end the end of the book there, I'm fine. Man, if I could get that promotion in that position. And life would be good. You can end the book right there.

You also find this in what is known as Gen Z hustle culture. So for our Gen Z friends, which I'm like a cusper. So I'm kind of like super, super early Gen Z. But those are friends who are coming up out of high school into college trying to figure out what they want to do with their life. You also find this in Gen Z hustle culture, which says, Man, if you grind in your 20s don't have a life. Don't start a family. Don't do anything, work, work, work, work, work and buy your 30s you can build a dream the life you've dreamed of. And by 50 you can retire and go off into the sunset and the book there. That's Gen Z hustle culture. But it's also all throughout our society as well. What both of those statements are saying is that the storing up of treasure will bring you ultimate joy happiness and fulfillment, it'll bring you the good life. It'll bring you in other words, salvation, and freedom. But when possessions and things or stuff are our guiding light, our North Star, they're a pitiful Lord. When possessions are our Lord, we will actually never experience contentment because there's always more stuff to obtain. Great. You got a 2020 Chevy Silverado or whatever truck of choice, guess what your buddy just got a newer one that has more bells and whistles. Okay, great. You got the house. So you guys were dreaming up forever. Or your buddy, he just got a bigger house down the street, and it's newer, and he's got a better loan, and he's gonna pay it off way sooner. There's always going to be more stuff to obtain great, you got the iPhone 13. The 14 is coming out next year. There's always more. And in this way of thinking when possessions are Lord to take a break is to be lazy. And the life you've dreamed of is always beyond the next thing you can buy. Man, I've been thinking, if I can just get my kids everything they want for Christmas this year. That'll save my family. Man, if I can get my wife that new ring, our marriage is going to be saved. I know it. Glory is just beyond the next accolade. If I can just get that scholarship. If I can just get that promotion, then life will be good and the book there. It's always beyond the next award the next bonus. Man, I've been working weekends so I could get to upper management, then I'd be good. And the book there I'm fine. We say things like Man, if I could get this I would be set. We have to ask set for what you get the car you get the house you get the promotion, you get the accolade you get the thing, then what your problems don't go away. In these three short verses, Jesus exposes our pursuit of stuff and things for what is a worthless endeavor. The next small section builds on the first in verses 22 and 23. Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness. How great is that darkness side note a little Bible nerd side note, healthy and unhealthy here can also be translated as generous and stingy. So to have a generous eye is to have a healthy eye to have a Stingy Eyes to have an unhealthy eye. It was a very Jewish way of teaching at the time. So when we have pursuit of money and possessions as our idea of the good life, we live with an unhealthy eye. In other words, we're cheap or we're stingy. We view those who have much as kings and queens to look up to. We say, yeah, man, there's no way that you got millions of dollars unless you're a stinking genius. I'm going to pay attention to you. And then we look at those who are down and out as despicable. People who deserve what they have, we look at them and say, Well, you probably chose this, you probably made some bad decisions since you probably weren't too smart mankind of made an idiot move their ninja. And then we drive by them on our way home from work.

When we have our possessions and our things as Lord, we're constantly worried about losing the trivial possessions that we've already gained. This way of thinking, honestly, I believe, in some sense, maybe just possibly have impacted our community and communities like ours. I'm speaking about the Midwest, the blue-collar Rust Belt town that had manufacturing at the center of its economy. I think of places like Akron, like Detroit, like Cleveland, like Youngstown, like where I'm from, and Maslen or in Canton, where manufacturing was the centerpiece of that town. And then the rug got ripped out from under it and everything changed. So that being said, who is here in Akron, it's heyday even if you're a small child, like I'm talking 5060s Like you saw what downtown look like you saw Oh Neil's nativity set at O'Neill's not here but at O'Neill's okay. Yes, yes. Okay, cool. Cool. Cool. So I'm probably going to bring up some good memories, but I'm probably going to bring up some bad memories as well. And so if so I'm really sorry. But if you don't know, whether it's just you've never learned much about Akron history, or you're not from Akron, Akron used to be a booming little Metropolis man. It was known as the rubber capital of the world. It processed over 50% of the world's rubber, Goodyear, Bridgestone, and Firestone all had their headquarters here and their main manufacturing here along with other rubber companies and manufacturing companies. And so when you look at the census data between 1910 and nine 20 population in Akron shot straight up, man. When you lived in Akron during this time in its heyday, you graduated high school you went and worked for Goodyear, you went and work for Firestone, one of the companies and you could build a life on that. Like you could do that. Boom, go work. And you can have a family next year, have a house within that year. It was just so much security, so much hope so much just prosperity booming, going constantly. You look at pictures of Main Street downtown in 1920. People everywhere, hustling and bustling, there's a reason we have four and five-lane roads when we don't need them anymore. It's because we did. There's so much going on so much all the time it was booming, to were at the height of Akron, prosperity and 1960 the population in the city alone, that's excluding Metro excluding Coventry, excluding Barberton, Kaga, falls Magor, all that excluding those communities. In 1960, Akron's population was 290,351. Man, that's a lot of people, right? Well, if you know the rest of the story, you know, things don't really continue to go that way by the 70s. And by the 80s, things started to go downhill manufacturing left to places where it was cheaper to make the same product, which meant that the businesses and the companies that were built around the manufacturing industry in Akron, also fell because there was no one to purchase their product anymore. And so Acuras economic health and population have been in freefall ever since, to the point wherein the latest census and 2020, Akron city population was 190,460 900,000 people gone. And so I say this to bring us back to this point, that I think when drastic changes like that happen, and cities like Akron or cities like Detroit or places where I'm from Maslen can't when things happen like that, it affects the community, it affects the town. And so I think there's this almost collective cultural community trauma. Net with fear that, hey, if we reach out, and we're really generous, and we really go after a thing together, man, there might not be enough for me and my family. I'd love for our community to get better. And I'd love to try and contribute. But like, Hey, man, if I do that, I might not have enough for me. And my I mean, the other shoe dropped for our community 50 years ago, who saying it won't for my family? There's that lingering question in the back of our minds? Yeah, but what if? Yeah, Akron is trying to revitalize downtown. They're trying to make the roads more efficient. Yeah. But like, what if? Great, but what if? What if all it does is make my commute harder? What if, as we'll explore in a second, Jesus gives us a better vision showing us that we don't have to be captive to fear or captive scarcity and that there's enough in him, there's enough for you and there's enough for me. possessions and money are a terrible Lord, even if they've become Lord over us because we lost them.

So let's jump to that third part of our passage today, where Jesus makes a clear claim. He says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. You see, money has power. And it's not entirely neutral. It's a destructive Lord. Is it a tool? Absolutely. But it is one to be stewarded extremely carefully because it is a very destructive Lord when money is our Lord. There's never enough. John D. Rockefeller, who give or take 100 years ago, was one of the richest men in the country. He wants to own 90% of the gas and oil industry. He's what we will call Jeff Bezos today. His family was set up for generations, there are still Rockefellers who are extremely wealthy today, because of the wealth that he gained. Then, one of the most wealthy men of his time, he essentially conquered the US economy. And he was once asked, all right, Mr. Rockefeller, how much is enough money. He basically conquered the US economy. How much is enough? Do you know what his answer was? Just a little bit more. This man set up his family for generations. Anything he wanted he could buy and how much was enough money? Just a little bit more. Money was his Lord. And it's clear that he was never able to experience the peace and the contentment that Jesus offers us and offered him. He was one of the richest men in the world, and he couldn't get enough. And so if you're struggling today with man, I just need more, I just need more. And that would change everything, I need more, I need more, I need more. For John D. Rockefeller was never enough. And it won't be enough for you. And so I'm hoping these examples will show us that when we place anything or anyone as Lord over us, aside from Jesus, the very thing that we put as Lord over us will consume and destroy us. We could also replace anything or anyone with money here. So we could say, You cannot serve both God and blank. You cannot serve both God and the Democratic Party. You cannot serve both God and the Republican Party. You cannot serve both God and Caesar. When our vision of the good life does not come from Jesus, it will destroy us time and time again. Our political climate is exactly proof that when we make money or our political party, our Lord, and our guide, we devour one another. So let's go to the final part of this passage 25 through 34. Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear, Is not life more than food in the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store when barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are they not much more valid? Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying about a single hour of your life? And why do you worry about clothes, see how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you have little faith? So do not worry saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And so we've explored Jesus's warnings. And we've explored how possessions and money they're a terrible Lord. But Jesus gives us a better vision. He shows us how we can keep our eyes fixed on him. And from what we read what's Jesus's better vision, unwavering trust in the Father. And that can be extremely hard to swallow sometimes. But the father is not distant. He's near. He knows our needs, and he provides for our needs. And also, he's a good father, not like the bad earthly fathers that we may have experienced in our life. But the life of worry and constant anxiety that Jesus explains was evident in society then. And I would argue that it's even more evident in society now.

It's what happens when our eyes deviate from being fixed on Jesus when we're bouncing back and forth looking to find our fulfillment in something going, do you have it? Do you have it? Can you tell me who I am? When our eyes are not fixed on Jesus, those things arise. So what happens when money, possessions, or anything else, but Jesus is our Lord. And so in our context, I think we could replace pagans, with Americans, especially with the rise of impulse shopping on Amazon, and the rush to gather more stuff in order to feel complete. We could almost say, for the Americans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. I'll go back to what I said earlier. If Jesus is LORD then Caesar is not every alternative vision has been exposed as an imposter by the kingdom of God brought in and through Jesus. And so we ask ourselves the question once again, how do we fix our eyes on Jesus? By first trusting we trust in Jesus and who he says he is because of what he has done. His resurrection from the dead is proof that he is King of the world. And so it is by fully trusting in Christ that we seek first his kingdom. To trust in Him is to truly believe his vision of what is good, true, and beautiful. Rather than placing our trust, for the good, the true, and the beautiful in world leaders in political ideology or in the American dream, we must look to God. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the impact of hoster lords, For if God became king, then he holds all that we need the imposter Lords to do not. Whether or were following Jesus as Lord, we find ultimate fulfillment, a false Lord will eat us alive. Again, simply look at the rates of anxiety and depression in our society, they're only going up, they're only going up. So when our eyes are moving back and forth are not fixed on Jesus, anxiety and depression and those things are bound to arise, because we will only find fulfillment in the True Lord of the world. We fix our eyes on Jesus, by building our lives according to his vision of what is true, good, and beautiful. He is Lord, we are not. Therefore we allow God to determine what is right and what is wrong, what is true, good, and beautiful, not the 1 million voices and imposter Lords that are vying for our attention. When we build our lives, according to his vision of what is true, good, and beautiful. We allow our cynicism in our skepticism to being transformed by the sacrificial love of Christ on the cross. We allow the Spirit to cultivate in us a deeper trust in God. Now, practically speaking, this looks like building regular rhythms, regular rhythms of prayer, scripture, reading, generosity towards others, gathering as the church which Good job by the way you're here,

and living life and community with other Christians. In other words, we allow God to tell us a better story of what it means to be truly human. We allow God to tell us the true story of his sovereign love. And so once we've fixed our eyes on Jesus, which by the way, this is a continual process through our whole life, of remembering what it means for Jesus to be Lord and proclaiming that to ourselves and others, and then fixing our eyes on Jesus, avoiding the distractions of the imposter lords. Once we've begun to do these things, although it's a lifelong process, we can begin to build a kingdom mindset. Once we've moved from the false kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God, you'll notice that we still struggled to follow the way of Jesus, we may still struggle to live in that better vision that Jesus gives us the one of unwavering trust in God. Specifically, when it comes to the state of the world, we know that Jesus has overcome sin, death, and evil on the cross. But man, it seems like the kingdoms of the world still seem to be rearing their heads to this day. And that can throw us off. I instantly think about what is happening in Ukraine, the terrible atrocities that are happening there, the bloodshed, the people who are being displaced, we may even ask, I thought Jesus was king. Why is this happening? And this is a very real reality. And I don't want to act like I'm presenting the idea that will answer every question you have, in one part of a sermon. But what I hope to do is to present to you how building a kingdom mindset helps puts put things into perspective for us. And so we're going to be diving into our final passage today for today, which is Mark 1042, through 45. Just some context for you. This passage is a really interesting one. So James and John, Jesus's disciples had come to Jesus net said, Alright, Jesus, when You come in power, who's going to sit on your right hand and on your left? And they asked him this question. And then the disciples get angry at them and say, How dare you to ask such a question? Well, who are you to decide? And but what they were asking was this, hey, when you come in military might and you overthrow the Roman government? Like who's going to be your right hand, man, who's going to have power? Who's going to have all the wealth, they still hadn't gotten rid of the idea that Jesus would come to be king through military might they were still thinking, Ah, okay, we're gonna, alright is now the moment and when the moment comes, like, can I be on your right hand, and then he'd be on your left hand. And so they start arguing about this. And it's because they were seeking worldly status and worldly power. And Jesus calls out their false idea and prevents presenting the kingdom's vision of power. In other words, he tells a better story. If you've been here past the past weeks, G pastor Jacob has talked about the way the kingdom of God is upside down and backward to the ways of the kingdoms of this world. And so this is true and how Jesus overthrew the evil powers. And it's true and how the Kingdom works in the world today. And so Matthew 1042 through 45, this one's a short one, but also a good one. Matthew 1042 through 45. Jesus called them that disciples together and said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. If you want me to be honest, I find this to be one of the hardest Christian teachings for Christians in our country to understand and live into. The disciples had let the worldly vision of power and importance block them from receiving the kingdom's vision of power, the way of the kingdom is sacrificial love and service. And so in the kingdom of God, the greatest star, those who are servants, those who are first are slaves of all. And this goes in direct opposition to the common conception of power in our world. The common conception of power holds that we must take our future and security by force if we want it, who's going to do it, we are.

You know, when I've had conversations like this, I hear, if we want the good life, we got to take it. If I want a future for my kids, I got to take it. And this common conception of power uses violence to stop the violence. But Jesus use sacrificial love and service as the means by which he conquered the evil that animates that violence. And so despite sacrificial love and service, being at the core of the gospel, something I often hear and conversation is this. Oh, yeah, Donnie, like, you know, like the Jesus thing. I can get down with that, like, great, great guy. I think the whole enemy love thing is cool. I'm definitely going to teach my kids that when I have kids. I'm gonna start teaching my kids that now. Like, hey, hey, Billy, like, love your enemies, like, don't fight other people. Like, I think that's all great. It's good stuff. But here's the thing, because we live in such kind of world. Listen, if we want to get anything done, we got to play by such and such kinds of rules. But the way this way of thinking absolutely misunderstands the gospel entirely. This way of thinking actually doesn't believe that Jesus is Lord at all. Caesar does not get to set the rules, because Caesar is not Lord Jesus is. And so we can replace Caesar with anyone you want a local authority, a national authority, a worldly authority, it doesn't matter. So and so does not get to set the rules, because so and so is not Lord, Jesus's. And so Jesus rebuked the disciples for thinking that they could bring about the Kingdom of God by using the tactics of the kingdoms of this world. Even though this is central to Jesus, we've even gotten it wrong as the church, the darkest moments of church history, or when the church has sought to bring about the Kingdom of God, using the tactics of the kingdoms of this world. When I was getting ready for this, I instantly thought of two examples. The first example is bad enough, is the Crusades. Essentially, the Church no longer had dominion over Jerusalem. They said, well, we should be able to have dominion over the Holy Land. Let's go take it back. And we're going to reestablish Christendom there. And along the way, there was terrible bloodshed and terrible injustice. The next one, I think, is even worse, which is the religious wars that followed the Reformation. Because Christians were killing Christians, over disagreements, brothers, killing brothers, friends, killing friends, simply because they were trying to bring about the Kingdom of God using the tactics of the kingdoms of this world. And he rightly puts it this way, when speaking about how do we be Kingdom people, then? How do we build a kingdom mindset? He says, reading the gospels, as the launching of God's renewed people, then, is not merely a historical note. Well, this is where and how our story began. It declares this is the sort of people we are suffering Kingdom bringers suffering, Kingdom shares. If Jesus is Lord and we follow Him, then we are suffering Kingdom bringers suffering, Kingdom shares. Do you notice it doesn't say, mighty kingdom conquerors? Suffering Kingdom bringers suffering Kingdom shares. So how did Jesus launch the kingdom of God and overthrow the evil powers and authorities through sacrificial love and service? How do we followers of Jesus participate in bringing about the Kingdom of God in our world today? Through sacrificial love and service. And so to live in the kingdom reality and build a kingdom mindset, we must follow in the way of our King, which is sacrificial love and service. We build a kingdom Mindset by exercising sacrificial love and service, in our families, in our marriages, in our friendships, and in our communities. I think of places like our work, our school, or our extracurricular activities. And so we've claimed that Jesus has won the victory over sin, death, and evil. But we still have that lingering thing of evil being in the world. What do we do with that? Great, Jesus has victory but like, why are these terrible things happening? What do we do with it?

Well, for this, I bring you another quote from the empty right. And when speaking about the powers and authorities, he says, Its legions will make still make a lot of noise and cause a lot of grief. But the ultimate victory is now assured. This is the vision the evangelists offer us as they bring together the kingdom and the cross when he talks about the evangelists. He's speaking about the gospel writers. So this is the vision that the gospel writers offer us as they bring together the kingdom and the cross. And so the ultimate victory has been one on the cross. And this is how the kingdom was established. This is how the Kingdom of God is established in our world today, cross-shaped, sacrificial love. And so now as the people of God we are to participate with God, to bring about the kingdom by the example of the kingdom that we see in through Jesus, in the words of NT, right, those who are put right with God through the cross or to be putting right people for the world when explaining this idea of Jesus having the ultimate victory, but they're still being bad things going on. I like to explain it like this. So back in the day, I'm talking way before telephones way before any sort of instant communication. Think ancient Rome, when one ruler would be fighting another ruler, one kingdom, trying to take over another kingdom, there would be a moment when the victory was decisive, there would be decisive victory, okay, so and so has won so and so has lost. The trouble is, is what that victorious emperor that victorious king had to do was, he then had to send his messengers out to his kingdom, and his new kingdom, to say and proclaim that he has won. So he would go to the kingdom, he was already ruling and saying, Hey, so and so is still king, everything's fine. Then he would go and send the messengers out into the kingdom that he had just conquered and said, hey, just let you know, so and so is now King, and you now live under his rule. And when we go through that time, what would tend to happen is, is that although he had won the decisive victory, there would still be fighting going on, because the message hadn't gotten out yet. So there would be still fighting going on with the enemy, the losing army would still be in its death throes, holding on to the little that it had left, even though they had lost. So they're still suffering, there is still death. But nevertheless, there would be a new rule and reign in that territory. And so the enemy is in his death throes. He knows that he's been defeated and is powerless over those who have their identity in Christ. All he can do now is try to deceive people through his native language of life. And so what we must do as the people of the kingdom is keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, which looks like proclaiming that Jesus is Lord to ourselves and to those around us. We must then keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, blocking out the distraction in the voices and the imposter Lords vying for our attention. And then we must finally maintain a kingdom mindset in every situation, even in moments of intense suffering, know that the victory has been one, victory is assured. You see, we are the messengers who are sent out to proclaim that the victory has been won. And will be fully realized when Christ returns and he makes all things new. When Christ returns. It's like that moment where that ruler comes back to his kingdom back to his palace, sits on his throne, and can preside over his territory. The victory is already been won and will be fully realized when Christ returns and makes all things new. There are no practical three action steps to take home today. Just simply proclaim Jesus as Lord to yourself and to others. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and maintain a kingdom mindset in every situation. So to end our time, let's go ahead and pray. Lord Jesus, you are the king of the world King of all creation. Lord Jesus, you are Lord of all. And we do not say this flippantly. This isn't some merely private, individual conviction, but it is a reality that has come and will be fully realized. Lord, give us the grace, to be Kingdom bringers who suffer and to be Kingdom shares who suffer. Lord, forgive us for the moments when our eyes have not been fixed on you where we have forgotten what it means for you to be Lord and we've not maintained a kingdom mindset.

But give us the grace to continue on once again, proclaiming your victory, keeping our eyes fixed on you, and maintaining the kingdom mindset even in our darkest moments, For we know that you have won the victory, that true life what is true, what is good and what is beautiful, has come in you. Send your wonderful name, amen.