Proclaiming the Kingdom

We are God’s people. We have been given the gift of salvation because we have heard the Word of God proclaimed to us and we have listened. We have been called to preach and teach the Gospel to the entire world. We are God’s called people.

In this passage of Acts 28:23-31, Luke ends a story that is still not finished today. Perhaps that is the reason we are not told that Paul dies in Rome. Instead, Luke tells us that Paul preached and taught the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ to all those who would listen. This is important for us to think about because Luke could have ended with Paul’s death and then a persecuted people could have been left with another martyr. But rather, we are being told that death does not stop the preaching of the Word - because as long as the Holy Spirit is active, nothing and no one can silence the Gospel.

In the area I grew up, we had a lot of flooding and so a dam was to be built where a town resided. The town was to be flooded, as part of a large lake for which a dam was being built. In the months before it was to be flooded, all improvements and repairs in the whole town were stopped. What was the use of painting a house if it were to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village was to be wiped out? So, week by week, the whole town became more and more bedraggled, more gone to seed, more woebegone. "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present."

This world is cynical and without hope. Too often we can let ourselves be dragged down into the same cynicism and hopelessness such as that town that no longer had a future. We, as Christians, are called to be in the world but not of the world. When we feel like outsiders and like nothing will ever go our way, we need to remember the future belongs to Jesus Christ who is The WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIGHT.

When Paul gets to Rome, we read the first thing he did was to go to the Jewish leaders and began to speak to them about the Gospel and Jesus. He spent a whole day talking to them and using the Law of Moses and the Prophets to try to convince them. He was telling them about the faithfulness of God as he deals with a faithless people who have so often rejected the messengers of God. He was telling them that there was still hope if they would allow themselves to listen. Some of them did, but more did not. His last words to them were from Isaiah to explain why some can hear the Word and others cannot.

Paul warned them that their rejection would mean the Good News would be preached to the Gentiles because he knew they would listen. That does not mean Paul was telling the Jewish people they could never be saved. On the contrary, Paul knew that they would always be God’s people but now the Gentiles would be included. Why is Paul so sure that if Jewish people will not listen to the Gospel that the Gentiles will?

The unbelievers or gentiles are not wicked and evil people. They are just like you and me, but have not heard about the grace they may receive through Jesus Christ. This is why they will listen to what Paul has to say. They have no idea the salvation of God is for everyone and when Paul shares this Good News with them it is like when in Luke the rejected host sends out for the maimed, the blind and the lame to sit at his dinner table. These outsiders come because they have nowhere else to go. Unless someone invites them, unless someone shares the Gospel with them, they are without hope. The poor will come, the gentile will listen because they are empty enough to hear and accept the invitation that is being offered to them. They see the gift and they are willing to receive it.

We need to learn to thirst and hunger. We need to want God deep inside of us. When we empty ourselves, we are able to be renewed. We have been blessed by God, for it is God that gives us all we have, but we have stopped responding to his blessings. Why does God bless us? So that we may bless others!

Why is Christianity growing in the poor countries, in the places where people are belittled and hungry and sick? They are empty and someone saw that and began to preach the Kingdom of God to them. Then the sick, the blind, the hungry were filled with hope from the Holy Spirit, they were given the gift of salvation and were made a promise that God will keep even when we break our end of it. The blind were given a vision; the hungry were given food that does not perish. Jesus tells us we cannot live by bread alone. But here in America we sure do try!

D.L Moody, an American evangelist of the 19th century once said, "I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled."

If we could learn to empty ourselves, if we could remember that everything we are given is not by our own efforts but those of Jesus, we would be better for it. Our faith would not be timid and our lives would hold conviction. Luke 24: 48, Jesus tells his disciples that they are witnesses. We are a called people. Jesus has given us the gift of salvation and we have been called to witness to this promise of life everlasting. We witness through blessing others as we have been blessed. We witness by speaking out against injustice and hate. We witness by opening our hearts to those we have closed them to. We witness by loving Jesus and making no excuses for it.

As we witness to those around us, we need to remember Paul did not preach on the subject of an unknown God who is near, but rather he talked about the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus. He was specific and he was purposeful in his message, even to those he knew would not like what they were hearing. We may not be able to walk into a synagogue or a mosque, but that does not prevent us from reaching out to those of other religions and faiths to make contact. We are all God’s children. We are all called by the Holy Spirit to lead good lives of faith. The only way to do that is by welcoming every person into your heart and extending your hospitality to those who have never had the chance to discuss who Jesus Christ is.

We do not bring people to salvation, but we can help them hear the Gospel by preaching the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is about listening to the unconditional promise of salvation. Hearing the words and understanding the Truth in them, the truth that is Jesus Christ. Our faith in Jesus comes from the working of the Holy Spirit. That means we cannot get there without the Lord.

But before we can see that and act upon it, we need to be empty enough; we need to be hungry enough to keep seeking Jesus in every moment of every day. If we are not looking for the Lord in all that we say and do – then we are missing the point. The Lord created the world out of nothing which means all things come from Him. Let us thank Him for the blessings he has bestowed upon us by sharing the Gospel, by proclaiming the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to all those who would listen.

Amen.