Jess: 00:06

Heavenly father, thank you so much for the opportunity to gather together here today to worship you and learn more about who you are. Lord, we ask that you could just free our minds and our hearts of any distractions today so we're able to clearly learn and hear what you have for us in the message that pastor Cameron's going to bring. Speak clearly through him, with truth and conviction. We we thank you. In in your name, we pray.

Jess: 00:34

Amen.

Pastor Cameron: 00:35

Amen. Thank you, Jess. Morning, Conda. How are you? Good.

Pastor Cameron: 00:42

Good to see you this morning. Last week last week, we started, we started a series called, talking points. And that series sought to, talk about or engage with kind of the intersection between our faith in Jesus Christ, our our position or our citizenship in heaven, and the modern day political phenomenon that is that, well, just exists. And, so this morning, what I wanna do is I wanna start by kind of reminding us of some of the things that we talked about last week. I think they're they're they're incredibly important for our life going forward, or our, our time going forward.

Pastor Cameron: 01:48

And then, and then talk a little bit about, what is what is central to or what is distinctive about the kingdom of God of which we are citizens through faith in Jesus Christ, and the kingdom of the world. Right? And we remember from John chapter 18 verse, I think it's verse verse 36, that Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world. Right? It is or another way of saying it is that his kingdom is not worldly.

Pastor Cameron: 02:21

Meaning, it it does not it does not operate on it does not hold the same types of values. It does not have the same types of opinions. It does not have the same type of perspectives. So we started out last week. We, we talked about this kind of one main point.

Pastor Cameron: 02:40

It's that the the whole point or one of the points of this whole sermon series, I would say I should say what the sermon series is not about again. This sermon series is not about getting you to align with either my personal political ideology or conduit's political ideology because that does not those things do not exist. Right? This this series is not about trying to get you to to vote for a certain candidate, hold a certain perspective, have a have a certain opinion about a particular political issue. My my what I see as my calling and my my job, my goal, my my mission for really all of my life is this, is to to remind you that as followers of Jesus Christ, as those who have faith in Jesus Christ, who walk with the Holy Spirit of God in us, that all of our opinions, absolutely every single one of our opinions, any side that we take, any perspective that we have must be formed by God's word, meaning that we must be aware of our own tendency to be discipled by the culture.

Pastor Cameron: 04:03

What I mean by that is like, we must be aware of our tendency to with If we don't take intentionality in our discipleship that we can drift towards becoming conformed and transformed into the same types of values that the culture holds. And so all of the time, it's important for followers of Jesus to be reminded of that both like verbally in a situation like this, but also day to day, your walk with Jesus in your in your, like, prayer life with the Lord is, Lord, align my heart with your word. Align my heart with your word. Align my heart with your will. Lord, help me to see where I am being formed and transformed and discipled to the ways of the world.

Pastor Cameron: 04:49

Help me to avoid those things. So, so we we wanna be reminded that as followers of Jesus, all of our opinions, sides, and perspectives should be formed by God's word. And then, recognize how sometimes in current like political rhetoric and language and conversation that we allow our opinions and perspectives to be more informed by the loudest voices rather than the authority of the word. And so to take a moment to say, okay, lord. Like, how how is your word transforming what I believe about this?

Pastor Cameron: 05:26

How is your word transforming what I believe about that? And then asking the Lord for the grace to do the work of transformation in us, so that we don't continue to live in alignment with the world rather than alignment with his word. Now that's not to say that we must abandon all that we must abandon abandon any attempt to be culturally astute or to be informed about positions and perspectives and issues, and that we can't offer out of our own sense of conviction to the Holy Spirit and alignment through his word, a response of wisdom, a response of grace, a response of anything. Right? But we must understand that being culturally astute, being aware of the issues, we still must be grounded biblically and let the biblical grounding of our perspectives be the fuel that helps us to make the decisions about what we support and don't support.

Pastor Cameron: 06:31

All of that is to say that, there will still be disagreements among us. And you say, well, if we all just believe the scripture and believe let the bible form our views, shouldn't we all believe the exact same things all of the time? And, what I would say is that is is no. That's actually not what that means. And so we must have, and there's a lot to talk about there.

Pastor Cameron: 07:04

There's a lot of nuance that exists and kind of that statement of biblical unity versus biblical agreement. Right? Unity and agreement are are 2 different things that's neither here nor there for this for this conversation. But we must we must make a we must make a commitment as followers of Jesus to say that we can actually disagree in this case politically and still love unconditionally. We can have varying perspectives, even perspectives that exists on the extremes of a spectrum.

Pastor Cameron: 07:46

In this case, a political spectrum and still be able to love one another unconditionally and still be able together as one body, the body of Jesus Christ, have a unity of our purpose and a unity of our mission and our unity of a vision to see our whole region transformed through the power of the gospel that is in Jesus Christ. We can disagree politically and still be unified in the mission to see people transformed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is no more like this is, represented even in we talked about this last week that, that Jesus 12 disciples. So Jesus gathering this ragtag group of guys to carry on the message of the good news of his coming. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 08:46

The gospel of Jesus Christ. And you would think that, well, like, okay, if I was gathering guys around me to take on this, like, huge, huge endeavor that's gonna change the world. Right? I would probably be like, okay. Who are the guys that are gonna align most with what like, they're they all have the same vision and the same goal, and they believe the same things, and they look the same way, and they talk to, like, we gotta get together the ultimate team here.

Pastor Cameron: 09:15

But if you look at the way even the people that Jesus himself chose, it tells you something about how he envisioned unity versus diversity of political opinion and how that affected or didn't affect the mission of the gospel to the world. For example, Jesus chose a guy named Simon the Zealot. Now, Simon the Zealot, right? Like from the word zealous, right? Was, the zealot, the he was called Simon the Zealot because not because he was zealous for something.

Pastor Cameron: 09:51

He was. But the Zealots were a political party of the Jewish people during the time where Roman where the Romans were occupying Jerusalem and the the promised land. And the Zealots would and did zealously pursue the overthrow of the Roman government so that the promised land could be returned to the Jewish people. And they did this not with like a picket line. They did it with swords and spikes and clubs and fire.

Pastor Cameron: 10:25

Right? They they they created, sometimes very violent political uprisings in order to try and wrestle back the kingdom of the promised land from the Romans and reestablish it for the Jewish nation. And so he was Simon the Zealot was a political revolutionary by every stretch of the definite by every definition of the term. So you have this guy over here and he's on team Jesus. Jesus is like, yeah, you're with me.

Pastor Cameron: 10:56

Come join the come join the group. But then, on the other side over here, Jesus chose a guy named Matthew who was a Jew who was supposed to be loyal to the Jewish nation, who Simon would have been like, hey, Matthew, like, what are we doing here? Come on, join. Let's get the nation. Let's get the promised land back from the Romans.

Pastor Cameron: 11:19

But Matthew actually worked for the Romans as a tax collector. I mean, like, it was like the IRS of the Roman government. No offense to anyone who's in the IRS here. Like, we love you, but, bro, let's get some new jobs up in this year. But you had a guy over here who was like Simon the Zealot was like, down with the Roman government.

Pastor Cameron: 11:52

Down with the Roman government. Down with the Roman government, by power of the sword. And you have Matthew over here who was like, I work for the Roman government. Now give me your tax money, so I can give it to them. They could not be further apart on the on the political spectrum, certainly.

Pastor Cameron: 12:11

And I can't imagine the type of conversations at the old Last Supper table that was had, right, about disagreements. But what is implicit there in Jesus choosing of 2 guys who cannot be further away in their political views is that his understanding of the building of the kingdom was so much greater than the than the political disagreements, no matter how large they were, that could exist with his disciples. No matter how much they disagreed, Jesus said, it doesn't matter because the values of the kingdom of God, the direction of the Kingdom of God, the vision of the Kingdom of God, the mission of the Kingdom of God far surpasses and supersedes anything that the world is going to use to separate and divide people into these little camps. What Jesus was doing was bringing together people in a way that they could be unified despite their extraordinary differences, even to accomplish amazing, incredible things. Jesus had a vision for unity in the body of Christ.

Pastor Cameron: 13:28

That was really nothing short of a kind of a miraculous vision of unity. He he believed Jesus, believed and prayed for and taught about how you and I, through faith in him, are in are are so intimately connected with one another in our eternal identity that we share through Jesus Christ the same type of unity that he shares with his heavenly father. And this is exactly what he prayed for for his disciples and for he said, for all who believe in my name. For all who will believe in my name in John chapter 17. Jesus began to pray that they would be united as you and I are 1.

Pastor Cameron: 14:19

They would be 1 for the glory of God in the pursuit of mission in the world. Jesus prayer was that you and I us would be so united that we would have to wrestle with this theological idea that the same unity that exists between the Heavenly Father and Jesus himself is the unity that Jesus prayed for would exist between me and you and you and her and him, and liberal and conservative or republican or democrat or whatever the case may be. Whatever whatever label the world put on, whatever the label the world puts on you or you or you, Jesus both did and, I believe, continues to pray that we would be united with one another in mission to the world as he and the father are united. Without the ability to separate, without the ability to break apart. Unity listen.

Pastor Cameron: 15:30

Unity happens on the basis of our eternal identity in Jesus Christ, not on our American citizenship. We do not understand unity in the Church. We do not understand unity in the Kingdom of God based on the fact that we all live in the same country. And it's a great country. And I love living here.

Pastor Cameron: 15:54

And I think it's a blessing from the Lord. And it's something that we should value and uphold, but also understanding that the unity of the Kingdom of God is not built upon the fact that, hey, we all kind of grew up in the same place with the same constitutional rights, with the same direction of our country. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, our identity changes. It could not be more different from when it was before. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1 that through faith in Jesus Christ, we are adopted now as his sons and daughters.

Pastor Cameron: 16:31

We are we are now part of his family. And not only are we not only are we adopted, that we are redeemed. We are we are rescued from the world of darkness. We are made new. We are changed.

Pastor Cameron: 16:43

We are set forth. We are saved not just from something, but we are saved now to something. And that in that adoption and redemption that God has placed his seal upon us and put his Holy Spirit in us, guaranteeing for us an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade away, kept in us, kept for us in heaven. That is the basis of our unity with one another. It's not our maybe, our common belief in this or our common belief in that or a hobby we may have over here or an interest we have over here, which is all incredible and an amazing gift from God when you can relate with people who have similar, interests and hobbies and perspectives.

Pastor Cameron: 17:32

That's that's a gift, but it's not what keeps us together as the church. It is not it is not what welds us together in spiritual unity. The thing that brings us together is our eternal identity in Jesus Christ, that we are citizens together of the Kingdom of God, that you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ, have more in common with a follower of Jesus Christ that lives in the Middle East than we have with a non believer that lives in Jamestown. Because we do not base unity or we do not base our relationship in the kingdom of God on the proximity of the person. We base our unity with others on whether or not they we we identify with them in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Cameron: 18:25

We have an eternal identity with them. Our citizenship, Paul says, my citizenship, your citizenship, if you if you follow Jesus, if you've surrendered your life to him, if you've repented of your sin, if you're seeking to make him Lord of your life, our citizenship is in heaven. That is the primary location of where we belong, where we come from, how we live. And the values of the place in which we live are the values in which we're asking the Lord to make our in our own life, in our own heart. We we do not uphold strictly American values as citizens of heaven.

Pastor Cameron: 19:11

We uphold heavenly values, kingdom values, because I think we can all recognize how the values of the world, our country included, are different than the values of the kingdom. They are at odds, sometimes so extraordinarily so that it is not difficult to say that the world in which we live is dark and evil and twisted all upon itself and far away from the Lord. And so if we identify primarily with a world of darkness, our world will be dark. If we identify primarily as a citizen of heaven, then we look to our king, who is Jesus himself to say, make in me the culture of heaven. Like, bring take the culture of heaven and bring it into me.

Pastor Cameron: 20:07

Take the culture of heaven and bring it. Let let me let me let the let the let the culture of heaven inhabit me so that I may live it in an incarnational way in the world. And this is exactly what Jesus, how he taught his disciples to pray in regards to the kingdom. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 10, when the disciples were asking Jesus, hey, Jesus, teach us how we should pray. He says, okay.

Pastor Cameron: 20:33

Let me teach you. You can pray like this. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, what? Come.

Pastor Cameron: 20:43

Thy will be done. Where? On earth as it is in heaven. The prayer was not, hey, Lord, come save us out of this dark world. Come come bring your judgment upon this world.

Pastor Cameron: 21:03

Like that's not we weren't Jesus didn't teach his disciples to pray that. Come come come rescue us from this world of darkness. We don't like be we don't like living here anymore. It makes us spiritually uncomfortable. Jesus said, no.

Pastor Cameron: 21:19

The way in which as as citizens of the kingdom, we should pray is that is that the kingdom would not be far off and we look for it and pine for it and want to get there. Right? But that the kingdom would come near to us and that the same values that are of the kingdom in heaven right now would become the values upon which we live now here in our day to day lives. It's not save us from this world. It's, lord, make your kingdom so alive in my life that as I live in this world, I become a colony of heaven in a world of darkness.

Pastor Cameron: 22:04

That everywhere I go, it is like the fragrance of Jesus Christ to a world that only stinks around me, that every bit of my being is incarnating Kingdom values. Our life here should be marked As we're thinking as you're thinking about as you're being forced to, force fed thinking about an election, Force fed thinking about who you're gonna vote for and who you're gonna support and what's important and how to think about this issue and how to think about that issue and what to do about this. Like, listen. It is it's never been more polarizing. The political landscape of our country has never been more more polarizing.

Pastor Cameron: 22:58

In all of my memory, my assumption is all of your memory. We've it's never been it's never been, like, the tactics have never been more obviously, like, motivated by an enemy that seeks to disrupt and create disunity and brokenness and darkness. It's so clear. And so in a world and in a season where we are being told that, like, you have to pick a side. Pick a side and you only have 2 options, really.

Pastor Cameron: 23:42

And here's your 2 sides and you're either on 1 or another. If the person that's sitting next to you is on the other, guess what? Our life listen, our life here, Our life both here as a community, but also our life living in as a colony of heaven in a world of darkness, our life should be marked by kingdom centered priorities, not American centered priorities. Our life should be marked by pursuing the things that are important to the king of the kingdom to which we belong. And if you if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, if you are filled with his Holy Spirit, you do not belong to the kingdom of the world.

Pastor Cameron: 24:35

You belong to the kingdom of heaven. And the kingdom of heaven has a king. And his name is Jesus. And he was not shy to tell you what his kingdom is like, what it's all about. Now, I'm going to be honest with you.

Pastor Cameron: 24:54

We could spend I could spend 6 months preaching through the gospels all of the, like, little times that Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like a little bit of yeast that works its way through the whole batch of dough. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who went out to settle his accounts with his with his servants.

Pastor Cameron: 25:29

The kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of heaven is like that all over the place in the gospels. Now, if you're interested in reading more about that, like, I would recommend that you pick up your Bible, right? And that you just start reading in the gospel of Matthew, the very first book of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew. Matthew has Matthew talks more about the kingdom.

Pastor Cameron: 25:54

It is the thing that Jesus talks about the most in the gospel of Matthew is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven. And so if you want and I if you want because I can I'm only gonna deal with, like, 2 or 3 of them just this morning so that we can get to Davidson's before the Baptist too. I don't know where that came from. Sorry.

Pastor Cameron: 26:28

But if you're interested in, like, hearing more, like, reading more about, like, okay. What does the what does Jesus have to say his kingdom is like? The gospel of Matthew is your place. Digest it. Eat it.

Pastor Cameron: 26:42

Right? Let it let it get down into you. Okay? But we're going to talk about a few things that Jesus says his kingdom is like. But but there is like a there's a, I guess that like there's a like a preliminary thing that needs to be like that we need to we need to grasp and have an awareness of.

Pastor Cameron: 27:07

Is that, even Jesus in his ministry would say to people, not everyone. He said this to the Pharisees. He says, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, right, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of the one who sent me. There was a there there there was qualifiers to citizenship in heaven. That it wasn't, it was not an open, like, open.

Pastor Cameron: 27:39

It was not a it's not a universalist policy. Right? That the gates of heaven are open and it and it matters not what our response is to the king of heaven that everyone, it just comes in because sometimes we we get a little, we're not clear on the nuance. Not really nuance. But we're not clear even on the language of saying that like, Jesus offers entrance into his kingdom for everyone, which is a true statement.

Pastor Cameron: 28:13

There's there's no one who is not, who is not offered citizenship to use the term in the kingdom of heaven. But there but that's not the same thing as saying that everyone will be or is. That there that there is a necessary response to the reality that there is a kingdom, that it does have a king, and that he is calling us to leave behind our life in the world of darkness so that we may trust and follow in him instead. And over and over and over again, both before the ministry of Jesus and in the ministry of Jesus, the constant refrain is this John the Baptist said it first, and then Jesus repeated it right after his temptation in Matthew chapter 4. And then later in Matthew chapter 10, he said the same thing to his disciples that that they should go out and say this about the kingdom.

Pastor Cameron: 29:22

But John the Baptist came as a as a guy that kind of like primed the pump of the message that Jesus would bring and kind of primed the pump of the the coming of the kingdom of Jesus. And he said this, he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Repent. And this wasn't just a John the Baptist, message. This is a message of Jesus in Mark chapter 1 verse 15.

Pastor Cameron: 29:53

The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Jesus say, it's the kingdom of God is now near, is here in me. Repent and believe the good news. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus says the same thing.

Pastor Cameron: 30:13

4 17, from that time on, Jesus began to preach these words. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Primary to citizenship in heaven. Primary to our, to our position in the kingdom of God is the decision to repent of our sins, to lay down the deeds of darkness, to turn away from a life that has rejected god, and to walk both towards and with Jesus in full trust and hope that his sacrifice for us on the cross and our faith in him as the son of God has brought forgiveness of sins and access into eternal life with the father. That that Jesus coming to say, hey, look, the kingdom of heaven is near.

Pastor Cameron: 31:33

The kingdom of heaven is here, But you must repent. Repent of your sins. Turn towards God. Turn away from sin. Turn away from evil, turn away from darkness, turn towards his grace, turn towards his love, Receive redemption.

Pastor Cameron: 32:01

Become adopted as a son or a daughter. Be filled with the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. Listen, brothers and sisters, we must repent of our sins and turn towards Jesus by faith if we desire to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the baseline message of the Kingdom that Jesus has at the very beginning of, like, the gospel of Matthew that lays out what exactly is important in the kingdom. The time has come, Jesus said, and the time has come for us as well.

Pastor Cameron: 32:44

The time has not changed. The time for repentance has not changed. It is time to turn your heart, to turn our hearts towards Jesus in repentance. To hear his Holy Spirit calling us to leave behind, turn away from our sin, and embrace His forgiveness through Jesus. That is the foundation upon which the kingdom is built is repentance.

Pastor Cameron: 33:22

But Jesus goes on to say in Matthew, like we talked about, nearly 30 different examples of Jesus saying the kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of God is like this. So I'm gonna deal with, we're I have, like, 3 kind of little groupings of them understanding that, like, it's not it's not possible to deal with all of them this morning, but we're gonna deal with some of the bigger ones. And then we're gonna talk about maybe 1 or 2 of them again tomorrow or next week. What is important in the kingdom of heaven?

Pastor Cameron: 34:00

Well, first understand that, like, the values of the kingdom of heaven are kind of like in juxtaposition or in almost like mirror opposite of the values of the world. Okay. So if you see, if you see a value that the world, constantly upholds as important, especially here, maybe as we're talking about, like, in the political realm, you can you can probably you can probably, assume that the exact opposite is true in the kingdom of God. And here here is one of the ways here's one of the ways, that that's exemplified. What is important in the kingdom of heaven?

Pastor Cameron: 34:47

The, one of the things that's important in the kingdom of heaven is the reversal of worldly power structures. The reversal of world, worldly power structures. Well, what do I mean by that? How does how does the world exert power? How does the world search for prominence or prestige or, or riches or authority or you might even say, how does the world seek after leadership?

Pastor Cameron: 35:28

In many ways, it is a it is a climb the ladder. Climb the corporate ladder to the top. Work your way up, step on a few people if you need to on your way to get up there, but look out for yourself. Make sure you're make sure you're only looking out for yourself. Protect yourself as you climb the ladder.

Pastor Cameron: 35:55

Race to the front of the line to make sure you're first. Exert your authority in all the places that you have it. Puff your chest up in a proverbial show and display of power and leadership. Display very little humility because humility is a weakness to those around you and if they see humility or vulnerability, they'll take advantage of it and, you'll be kind of like shoved down. You won't be a good leader.

Pastor Cameron: 36:25

Right? You won't stand out. You won't be first. You won't get ahead. When we say things like one of the things that is important in the kingdom of heaven is the reversal of worldly power structures.

Pastor Cameron: 36:40

What we mean when we say that is like in the kingdom of heaven, it is not the first that shall be first. It is the first that shall be last. And it is the last that shall be first. In the kingdom of heaven, it is not the rich who are powerful. In the kingdom of heaven, it is the poor who inherit the kingdom of god.

Pastor Cameron: 37:10

In the kingdom of the world, it's those who exemplify extraordinary pride that stay at the top. Right? But in the kingdom of heaven, pride brings humility where humility and service bring what in the kingdom of heaven? Exaltation. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 37:32

Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will what? Lift you up. The first will be what? Last and the last will be first. The rich shall become poor and the poor shall become rich.

Pastor Cameron: 37:45

Everything that the world leverages and uses to help individuals or people or groups get ahead on the, at the oppression of others, the kingdom of heaven takes the principle and turns it upside down. How did Jesus defeat the power of evil? With a sword and a shield and a bow and an arrow and a massive army, Jesus defeated the power of evil by taking the very way in which the world exerts its power and flipping it upside down in his head. He instead became humble, unto death, even death on a cross. That he may come victoriously through the power of the Holy Spirit in resurrection over power and death.

Pastor Cameron: 38:38

It was a reversal of the way in which the world displayed its power. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3 and Matthew chapter 5 verse 10, these things. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 4, he was asked this really, really interesting question by his disciples.

Pastor Cameron: 39:16

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? If this is not a question that we hear, like, ad nauseam in the political landscape about every certain thing, I don't know what is. Who is the greatest? Who is the greatest at this? Who is better at that?

Pastor Cameron: 39:36

Who's done this more? Who can do this? Who can do that? Like, puff yourself up. Bring your credentials to the top so that you can be seen as the one who is the greatest in the conversation or the world.

Pastor Cameron: 39:49

And what does Jesus say is the display of those who are greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Pastor Cameron: 40:34

It is those who are is is the citizens of heaven that ascribe to a worldly system of kind of authoritarian, forceful, power laden, top down structures. When we when we give ourselves and we ascribe to the values of the world, what we do is we remove our distinctly heavenly kingdom style of witness from a world that so desperately needs to see that the way to the top is serving from the bottom. That the way that that the way that the way to to build to build in love is to serve in humility, not not seek power from the top. It is the unified witness of the colony of heaven in the kingdom of darkness that willingly lays down every bit of authority, every bit of power, every bit of prestige that we would have so that we can willfully take the initiative of a place of service, serving others from the bottom so that God may be glorified in our witness. The value of the kingdom of God is not that we would seek power through our own means by getting ahead of everyone else, but that we would seek kingdom influence by serving from a place of humility.

Pastor Cameron: 42:13

We live and we serve and we love in humility and gentleness and truth, reflecting the character and the heart of the king of heaven, not the kings of this world. What is important in the kingdom of heaven? I this next one, I'm gonna be careful with because I I wanna preach a whole series about it right today. And in fact, we're gonna we have this sermon today, and then we have 2 more in this series. And then the very next series starts like in, I think like in the middle of August or so is a series on forgiveness.

Pastor Cameron: 42:58

We did a series on forgiveness about 5 or 6 years ago. We're gonna do another one, at the end of this summer. But what is important in the kingdom of heaven? Radical forgiveness is important in the kingdom of heaven. Radical forgiveness.

Pastor Cameron: 43:18

There's many options for us to see how this is displayed in the gospel of Matthew or in scripture in general. Matthew chapter 18 is a particular one where Peter, a disciple of Jesus, asks, comes up to the Lord, in Matthew chapter 18 verse 21 and says this. He says, then Peter came to Jesus and asked, lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to 7 times. What was the basis of the question that, Peter is asking Jesus there?

Pastor Cameron: 43:56

He was like, hey, Jesus. I'm trying to identify the limit of my of my forgiveness and get you to kind of rubber stamp how many times I have to do it before I can just be like, yeah. I'm not forgiving anymore. How many how many times do I how many times do I have to forgive? Is it like it's gotta be like up to 7 or something.

Pastor Cameron: 44:19

That seems like a nice biblical number. Right? So Peter wasn't he wasn't asking about the beauty of forgiveness. He wasn't asking about the gospel of forgiveness. He wasn't asking about the forgiveness of the Lord.

Pastor Cameron: 44:34

What he was asking for was the, hey, hey, Jesus, give me can you kind of, like, give me a limit so I can kind of, like, get out? Like, this dude's done it 8 times and I'm about over it. So is it okay if I don't? And Jesus' response to him is very clear. He's like, Peter, I I tell you not 7 times, but 77 times, which is a way in which he was saying is, like, there there is no limit, Peter.

Pastor Cameron: 45:02

It wasn't like he was saying, well, the 78th time, you're fine. It was a it was a figure of speech that sought that sought to magnify the amount of or the frequency of, of forgiveness. And we know this by the context of the rest of the parable as well. But Jesus went then on to tell a parable about forgiveness. And it wasn't just a story.

Pastor Cameron: 45:27

He said it in relationship to the reality of the kingdom of heaven. He's like, I want you to hear this. Jesus answered, I tell you not 70 times or 7 times, but 77 times. Verse 23, he says this, therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And then he goes on to tell a parable about forgiveness.

Pastor Cameron: 45:55

And I'm going to skim through it here really quick because we are going to talk about it in our series. But suffice it to say, like, Jesus was rooting a radical heart of forgiveness as a kingdom of heaven value and ethic that we cannot escape from. Like, we cannot we cannot live and find our citizenship in a kingdom that upholds radical forgiveness if we are unwilling to make a decision to forgive. So I'll just read it here. We'll we'll talk about a few points and then move on.

Pastor Cameron: 46:39

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began to settle as he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 talents, was brought to him. Now it's important that you understand the the difference in money here. I mean, We can preach this. Like, 10,000 talents essentially is 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars, An unpayable amount of money.

Pastor Cameron: 47:15

Since the man was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him and canceled the debt and let him go. Wiped it away.

Pastor Cameron: 47:39

Not He didn't say to him, Okay, I'll give you a little bit more time. The guy asked for patience in paying it back. Right? Give me a little bit more time. The master said, no, we're not going to do the patience thing.

Pastor Cameron: 47:50

The debt is gone. It exists no more. You no longer owe me anything. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a 100 denarii. So understand the difference between 10,000 talents and a 100 denarii.

Pastor Cameron: 48:17

You're talking about, like, a couple days work. 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars. So the guy, the servant was forgiven of a debt worth 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars. And then he goes out and finds someone who owes him a couple of bucks. Didn't Venmo him after lunch or something like that.

Pastor Cameron: 48:36

Right? He found one of his fellow servants who owed him a 100 denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. And his fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me.

Pastor Cameron: 48:52

I will pay you back. Sounds familiar. But he refused. And instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what happened, they were greatly distressed and they went and told their master everything that had happened.

Pastor Cameron: 49:11

And the master called the servant back in. You wicked servant, he said. I canceled all of that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had upon you. And in his anger, his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed.

Pastor Cameron: 49:35

This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive one another from your heart. What can we learn here in brief? Like I said, we're gonna study this a little bit more extensively here in a few weeks. But a kingdom principle of radical forgiveness first starts with understanding the extent to which you have been forgiven as a citizen of the kingdom. It comes it comes at, like, to with the ability to grasp the level of forgiveness, the height of forgiveness, the depth of sin that was forgiven on your account by the master.

Pastor Cameron: 50:19

And taking that grateful reality and holding it with you as you approach every single relationship that you are in. That you that you never set down the awareness of the extent to which you have been forgiven. Because that awareness is then what you carry into the relationships where wrong has been done to you, and you apply that awareness to your relationship with someone that has hurt you. I understand the extent to which I have been forgiven. And so as a response and gratefulness to the to the forgiveness that has been extended to me, I will extend the same forgiveness to others knowing that my father, the master, will treat me in the same way in which I treat others according to forgiveness.

Pastor Cameron: 51:17

This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother and sister from your heart. So it's an awareness of what we've been forgiven of and a commitment to extend forgiveness to others in the same manner. Lastly, what is important in the kingdom of God is this. It is important that we understand how the kingdom of God calls us to have a singular and abandoned purpose to serving the king. That we cannot serve 2 masters.

Pastor Cameron: 52:08

We cannot hold and uphold and live by the principles and values of the kingdom of the world and still at the same time live and value and live by the principles of the kingdom of heaven. That it is it is the act of abandoning all other all other pursuits, all other passions, all other missions, all other things that are in, the the purview of our vision that we might gain and keep the value of the kingdom. Jesus puts it this way in Matthew chapter 13 verses 4 through 6, he says he uses these 2 small little parables. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like it's like a treasure. It's a valuable thing, right?

Pastor Cameron: 53:06

It's like a it's like a it's a it's a treasure hidden in a field. And a man comes upon it and finds it. And in absolute awe and wonder of what he has found and discovers, goes and sells everything else that he has, abandons everything else so that he may come back and buy the field that the treasure is in so as to now possess it. Because he recognizes what the kingdom is and how precious it is and how valuable it is and that it brings life. And so he abandons all other pursuits in order to attain the kingdom.

Pastor Cameron: 54:01

Now don't take the analogy too far. We're not talking about buying our salvation. We're not talking about, doing good works in order to gain salvation. We're not talking about any of that. What we're talking about is the the understanding and the idea.

Pastor Cameron: 54:17

Right? That, that our that that we are that we'd be willing to leave behind and sell proverbially everything at the pursuit of living in the kingdom of heaven and living with kingdom principles and living with kingdom values and living in the spirit of the kingdom. Jesus says again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Life in the kingdom calls us to have a singular and abandoned purpose as we repent of our sin, as we pledge our allegiance and lordship to Jesus Christ, as we reject the values of the world that keep us living in darkness and sin.

Pastor Cameron: 55:15

And as we pick up life in Jesus Christ through faith in Jesus Christ, that we might be faithful citizens in God's kingdom, exemplifying values that are singular in purpose despite our varied backgrounds and beliefs. Give you a little bit of a preview here in closing of our next the next 2 weeks of the series. Next week, we're gonna be getting maybe a little bit more, no less biblical, but maybe a little bit more practical about, okay, as citizens of heaven, how do we live in and work in and interact in and exist in a world of darkness. Even sometimes at the very highest levels. We're gonna be studying, we're gonna be studying Daniel.

Pastor Cameron: 56:21

And Daniel, who, Old Testament prophet who worked for, who worked for and in the upper echelons of the Babylonian Empire, which is like the most godless empire that you could ever possibly imagine, but who did so while maintaining his faithfulness to the Lord and and being a colony of heaven in a very dark world. Right? So we're gonna look look at Daniel and what Daniel did and what was too far for Daniel. When was the moment where Daniel was like, yeah. I will I will I will serve and I will live and I will function in this world that is dark and in this empire that is dark.

Pastor Cameron: 57:05

But I have a limit, and my limit is my worship of the lord. My limit is to the faithfulness of god. And Daniel said, no. No no further. It's the same story.

Pastor Cameron: 57:19

The same the same book or same time period that the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego comes comes in. And so we'll maybe be looking a little bit of that. Like, what does it mean as citizens of heaven to live in a world that is intent on upholding values of darkness? K? And then, the following week, we're gonna we're gonna, really simply, and really quickly, we're gonna answer the question, how do we heal America?

Pastor Cameron: 57:48

It'd be a real simple answer. Real short, message. But, we're gonna we we are gonna answer. We're gonna answer that question. We're gonna answer we're gonna try to, at least, answer the question and say, how how do we as citizens of heaven, as a colony of heaven in a world of darkness, how do we see and experience healing in this land that we live now, by by upholding kingdom principles?

Pastor Cameron: 58:24

Okay? Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for our time together this morning, and ask, lord, that, you would align our hearts with yours. Father, that all of our positions, all of our sides, all of our perspectives, all of our opinions, lord, would be guided by, formed by, motivated by what we see in your word. Lord, I pray Lord, I pray that where we are where we are unsurrendered, where we are when we are where we are living with, a purpose that is defined by worldly values, lord, that you would give us a singular purpose for your kingdom.

Pastor Cameron: 59:29

That we would be that we would be like the, the people in the parable that Jesus, talked about in Matthew chapter 14. Recognizing the extraordinary value of the of the life of the kingdom within us and giving everything that we can to possess it, To live faithfully by it, Lord. Father, we ask that you would, touch our hearts, Lord, with your presence. Lord, we do not just seek the gifts of your hands. Lord, we seek the presence of your face amongst us.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00:12

In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Spirit of god, would you pour out yourself upon us? Lord, that Jesus would be known through us. Lord, we humble ourselves to you.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00:36

Let your spirit breathe life into your church, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Conduit, you are loved. Have a great week, and we will see you next time.