March 10, 2013, "Thy Kingdom Come"

Luke 11.14-26

When children pray:

"Dear God, I went to a wedding and they were kissing right there in church. Is that OK?"

"Dear God, thank You for my baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy."

"Dear God, it must be super hard to love all the people in the world, especially my brother. I don't know how you do it."

"Dear God, I love Christmas and Easter. Could you please put another Holiday in the middle, there's nothing good in there now."

"Dear God, my Grandpa says you were around when he was a little boy. How far back do you go?

"Dear God, if you watch in Church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes."

Jesus takes the disciples to a place where he prays, and when he’s done praying, one of the disciples says to him, LORD, teach us to pray.

Jesus says, When you pray, pray like this.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus reminds the disciples that God is reliable … Ask, and it will be given; knock, and the door will be opened; seek, and you will find.

With a simple illustration - If you know how to give good gifts to your own children, and you’re not even all that good, think of how much more your heavenly Father, who is profoundly good, will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

The Holy Spirit, the love of God …

As the hymn puts it:

Spirit divine, attend our prayer,
And make our heart Thy home;
Descend with all Thy gracious power;
Come, Holy Spirit, come.

And why the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth … and in a world likes ours, so many different truth-claims: in the time of Jesus: Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes … the Pro-Roman groups and the revolutionary groups … those who loved Herod the King and those who thought the whole thing stunk to high heaven.

How do you sort it all out? 

In our time, pretty much the same: religious groups vie for our attention … political parties want our money … creationists and evolutionists hurl charges against one another.

With huge questions on the table: What role does human activity play in Global Warming ? … shall Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security be cut to ease the nation’s deficit? … what kind of Immigration Reform do we need? … shall the US be using drones in US airspace? … 

And on a more personal level: How do we deal with the hurts and sorrows of our own life? … what about a job, career, education? … what about dating and love and getting married? … how in the world can we sort it out all out?

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.

Spirit divine, attend our prayer;
Make a lost world Thy home;
Descend with all thy gracious powers,
O come, great Spirit, come.

Luke takes us now to a scene of healing … a mute spirit is cast out … and the crowd is amazed … 

But some spoke with bitterness about it all - He does by the devil … this isn’t of God … it’s evil. 

Good grief. How in the world could they be so bitter? Were they jealous? Were they simply out to get Jesus. Maybe they didn’t like the man who was healed; maybe they carried grudges against the man’s family.

Others kept pressing Jesus to do even more … demanding signs from heaven … and what more could Jesus give them? Than the liberation of a human being held prisoner in silence … someone unable to say I love you to a child … unable to say, Blessed be the name of the LORD.

Jesus speaks to the naysayers … negative folks who rarely have a good word to say about anything … critical, negative, complaining, grumping and groaning … refusing to see the good, even when the good stands smack-dab in front of them.

The story gets involved … Jesus replies to the naysayers with something that, I think, would have brought a smile to some faces:

If you say that I do these things by the Devil, then at least we might all agree that the Devil’s kingdom isn’t going to make it, because a kingdom divided against itself will soon fall.

But I do what I do by the hand of God, the kingdom of God … and that’s a kingdom undivided … a kingdom solid and good to the core … a kingdom that cannot fall or fail … a kingdom that endures, no matter what … a kingdom of life and light and love.

To those naysayers, Jesus says, Look, you may think you’re smart and strong, and you may be smart and strong, for sure … but you’re not smart enough or strong enough … sooner or later, someone or something stronger than you will come along, and then what?

Maybe you keep a clean house … but it’s empty … every room is clean, but there’s no life in it … no laughter, no joy … no festive dinners, no guests sleeping … it’s clean, but it’s not a home …

Whenever I tell this story from the Bible, I think of a family from my childhood years - they were nice people, with a very nice home. I remember Sunday afternoon visits at their place  - a home with white carpet, white furniture, all covered in clear plastic, and no one ever sat in the living room, and everyone had to be careful. I remember my folks talking about it: What good is home if ya’ can’t live in it?

Jesus looks at the naysayers - Ya’ have a home, but ya’ can’t live in it. And don’t be surprised when the evil spirits return with all their friends.

It won’t be long before it’s a mess, worse then ever.

Jesus doesn’t mince words: If you are of a critical spirit, it’ll only grow worse … if you love to carp and criticize, your heart will grow hard … if you keep on saying “No!”, pretty soon you won’t know how to say “Yes!” … if you can’t let go of bitterness and negativity, pretty soon bitterness and negativity will bring along all of their friends, and what a mess it’ll be.

Many years ago, a young family came into the life of the church, and we became friends.

In time, the young man told me of some prison time, but now had a good job, a wife and a son … wanting to make something of himself.

The Nominating Committee offered his name up for Ruling Elder … I was pleased, and fully believed he was ready and able, spiritually and otherwise, to take up the mantle of eldership … though I realized, and ignored at the time, that he was a terrible racist.

After his election, it became evident to me that something was wrong … his favorite word at every Session Meeting was “No!” … with other favorite expressions like, “It’ll cost way to much; we don’t have the money for it, and who needs it anyway?”

The Spirit of Negativity … maybe he felt important with it, but this much I know for sure: It’s easy to be negative. Doesn’t require one bit of creativity or intelligence to say No! And it does satisfy some psychological need for attention - how much time and effort we all devote to the negative people in our lives? How we have to watch our words and be careful around them.

About that young man and his family … things ended badly … I won’t go into the details; they’re not important. But the lesson has always been this for me - Negativity doesn’t make for life, it just makes for trouble, and the trouble it makes gets bigger and bigger - negativity will win, if we entertain negativity in our life; if we think we can get away with it; if we believe that a little negativity is okay - but it isn’t okay; it never works, and it has no place in the life of a Christian.

Jesus says: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Dear friends in Christ, is this not the kingdom of God?

Where there is good, celebrate it.

Where there is life, enjoy it.

If someone is doing good, help them.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen and Amen!