Christ’s Church Part 5 – Nature of the Church (The Kingdom and the Parables of Jesus)

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom The New Testament describes the church in a number of different ways Each of these ways illustrates a basic concept of the church and points out the kind of behavior which should be exhibited by Christians The first description which we will examine is the church as the kingdom of God

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom “For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13) Notice the tense of the verbs – past tense Christians are already in the kingdom! What is this kingdom? Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)

Jesus further explained, “… unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5) Why can’t a person see the kingdom without being born again? What is this kingdom which one may not enter unless he is born of water and Spirit?

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah Christ or Messiah means “anointed one” Israelites had been expecting a coming king for nearly 1500 years This expected deliverer-king they called the Messiah Peter explained that Jesus was the Messiah on the Day of Pentecost, 30 A.D. – see Acts 2:36

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom The apostles kept preaching Jesus as the Christ throughout the book of Acts – Acts 3:20, 5:31, 17:3 We see that Jesus is the “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15) Jesus is now king over what? All things are not yet in subjection to Him – 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 However, Jesus has a kingdom, and Christians are now in that kingdom

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom The Old Testament prophesied the coming of a kingdom – see Isaiah 9:6,7 The angel confirmed that Jesus would be King over that kingdom in his visitation to Mary – Luke 1:32,33 Daniel also prophesied the coming of the kingdom of God – Daniel 2:44

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom With the appearance of John the Immerser, excitement about the coming kingdom began to build “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) Jesus took up the same message, and so did the apostles – Matthew 4:17, 10:7 Jesus even told His disciples that some of them would not die until they had seen the kingdom of God come with power – Mark 9:1

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom Many misunderstood the nature of the kingdom Some intended to come and take Jesus by force, and make Him a physical King over Israel – see John 6:15 Jesus explained the nature of His kingdom to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world … but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36)

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom With the establishment of the church in 30 A.D., the message concerning the kingdom slightly changed Read Acts 8:12 – what could this good news about the kingdom be? Read Acts 20:25 – what was this kingdom which Paul went about preaching? No longer was it that the kingdom was at hand, but rather that the kingdom was now here

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) The kingdom of God has already come! The kingdom of God is righteousness… Now we understand the events on the Day of Pentecost The church, the kingdom, was ushered in with great power, just as had been foretold by Jesus

Christ’s Church – The Kingdom From that day in 30 A.D., the inspired men of God no longer spoke of the kingdom as yet to come, but announced the good news that it had come The kingdom of God equals the kingdom of heaven – Mark 4:11, Matthew 13:11 Kingdom of God is the same as the kingdom of Christ – Mark 9:1, Matthew 16:28 We enter the kingdom when we are born of water and Spirit – Colossians 1:13, John 3:5

Christ’s Church – Parables Most of Jesus’ parables are about the kingdom of heaven Since we have established that the kingdom is the church, we can now proceed to interpret the parables We can test our understanding because Jesus interprets a couple for us, leaving the rest for us to work on by ourselves

Christ’s Church – Parables The parable of the tares is recorded in Matthew 13:24-30 and explained in verses “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field” ◦We recognize that Jesus is talking about the church and our present age ◦Jesus’ mission was to seek and to save the lost ◦We therefore conclude that the man who sowed good seed is Jesus, sowing His word in the world

Christ’s Church – Parables When we check our conclusions with Matthew 13:36,37, we find we are on track “But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat” Who is Jesus’ enemy? The tares (empty weeds) would be those following the devil Checking with verses 38 and 39 shows we are still on target

Read Matthew 13:26-27 Remember that the wheat represents Christians and the tares, non-Christians Then who would the slaves be? That is correct, according to verse 39 Read verses What would the harvest be? Verses prove that it is the day of Judgment The bad are removed; the good shine Christ’s Church – Parables

We are now going to attempt to interpret the parable of the mustard seed “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…” Once again Jesus is talking about the church “which a man took and sowed in his field…” Jesus would again be the man, and the field would be the world

Christ’s Church – Parables Read Matthew 13:31-32 It seems as though the church was going to start small in comparison with the businesses of the world, but when full grown, would be larger than any of them Looking throughout history, that is precisely what we see The church started with 12 men, and has since gone to the ends of the earth

Christ’s Church – Parables The parable of the leaven is found in Matthew 13:33 “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven (yeast) which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened” The kingdom is the church The three pecks of meal is the world The woman represents Christ

Christ’s Church – Parables Just as yeast works upon a loaf of bread to make it rise, so the church works in the world to impact its policies and thinking The church uses the world to reproduce itself just as yeast does in bread dough

Christ’s Church – Parables The parables of the treasure and the valuable pearl both have the same point Read Matthew 13:44-46 The purpose of these two parables is to communicate the great value of the church Most people think of these as communicating the value of heaven, but they particularly relate to the church

Christ’s Church – Parables Why should it surprise us that the church is the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great value? Jesus bought the church with His own blood – Acts 20:28 If the church was worth all that to Jesus, shouldn’t it be worth all we have as well? This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33) The church of Christ is to be eagerly sought for, and, when found, is worth all a man has

Christ’s Church – Parables Read Matthew 13:47-50 This time the church is pictured as a dragnet All the fish are in the net – both good and bad There are both good and bad within the church This parable is not concerned with the fish that “got away” Hypocrites will be sorted and judged in the end

Christ’s Church – Parables Read Matthew 22:2 The king is the Father, and the son is Jesus Read Matthew 22:3-6 Jesus had always intended for the Israelites to be the first to inherit the kingdom The prophets that the Lord sent to announce the coming kingdom were mistreated long before the “good news” came When it came time for the Jews to become members of the spiritual kingdom, most rejected God’s plan of salvation through the Messiah

Christ’s Church – Parables “But the king was enraged and sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and set their city on fire” (Matthew 22:7) God gave the Jews a forty year grace period following the establishment of the church In A.D. 70, the Roman armies utterly destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple This brought an end to the Jewish nation and priesthood

Christ’s Church – Parables Read Matthew 22:8-10 With the Jewish rejection of the Messiah, the gospel went to the Gentiles The church is to search everywhere and invite those who will come to the marriage supper of the Lamb Read Romans 9:25-26, 10:21 Those who answer the invitation primarily come from the ranks of the Gentiles

Christ’s Church – Parables Read Matthew 22:11-14 This brings us through the entire church age to the day of judgment Here we see a Gentile Christian who didn’t have on his wedding garments Read Galatians 3:27, Romans 13:13,14 Those who are called must keep putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Again we see that the church is the means by which the lost are called

Christ’s Church – Parables Summary The church is the kingdom which was anxiously awaited for 1500 years The nature of the church is set forth in the parables about the kingdom The church is primarily pictured as the means God is using to spread His word and save the souls of people around the world

Christ’s Church Part 6 – Nature of the Church (The body, those who are being saved, a family, a congregation, the bride)