What the Kingdom of God Is Like

St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Scripture Passage

Mark 4:25-34

Worship Video & Worship Audio

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Sermon Script

How wonderful it is for us to gather here together and worship God.

Jesus said,

Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)

If this is not the Kingdom of God, what is the kingdom of God?

Believers gather together, eat together, share our love with each other and worship together.

God sent us into this cold, cruel, and selfish world but he didn't leave us alone. He gave us this spiritual community through which we experience love and encouragement.

That was how the early Christian community lived.

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47)

Small kingdom of God was created.

Jesus tells us about the kingdom of God today.

We can learn two things about the Kingdom of God through Jesus' teaching. These two are connected.

First, verse 27.

The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. (Mark 4:26, 27)

He does not know how the seed grows. That's what the Kingdom of God is like.

We don't know exactly how the Kingdom of God grows. The kind of change God makes within us is not visible to us. It's a mystery, hidden to us.

Don't be discouraged because you cannot see the change. You may not see it but change is happening right now.

You don't see God's work but God works. Not in your own terms but according to God's will.

Do your best and leave the result in God's hands even though you don't see the change right away. That's what faith is.

The kingdom of God is not something that I can make.

It is what God makes. It is not made by our own power and ability.

It is established by God's power. We don't know how the kingdom of God is established.

When I first started the ministry at this church, I had a dream about inclusive community. That's why I didn't put the word Korean in our church name.

I wanted this community to exist not just for Koreans but also for all those who believe. I wanted this community to be a place where everybody is welcomed and loved.

Now we see its fruit. I don't know how it happened. It is what God gave us.

We have to experience changes that God grants to us.

Life is more than our own decisions. Life is more than doing what we want.

So many things happen in our lives. God uses all these things to mould us, shape us, renew us, and bring about changes within us.

God gives us peace, joy, hope, and the heart to love. It is what God does in our lives.

The second, verse 32:

yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. (Mark 4:32)

The kingdom of God grows to become big so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Becoming big does not refer to the quantity but the quality. Your heart becomes big. This community becomes big in heart so that it can accommodate all people.

That was the pain the early Christians had to go through. To become big, they had to overcome their own tradition and the law. Their own culture.

It was painful to let go of things like culture that was like their identity. Culture was so deeply ingrained in them and so letting go was a growing pain.

I said before. To become big, you have to be ripped apart.

Only when you are ripped apart, you can become big. Being ripped apart is painful.

I hope that our heart becomes so big that we can even embrace our enemies.

I pray that this community becomes big so that we go beyond our ethnic identity and become truly a spiritual community.

The Kingdom of God!

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