The Kingdom of Heaven Part 1 – What the Kingdom of Heaven is Not By Pastor Dan Kennedy © November 7, 2010 www.pastorkennedy.com (On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online.) Topic submitted: “I want to know what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like!” There are 31 verses in the Bible, which include the specific wording “Kingdom of Heaven” and these passages are all found in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. In preparing this message I went through each passage seeking to determine what God had given, in His Word, to reveal to us what the Kingdom of Heaven would be like. There was one passage that I chose to not include in my beginning study on this subject, because the passage dealt with what the Kingdom of Heaven was not like, rather than what it was. Even though I had chosen to leave it out of this message, as I continued to prepare, the Lord kept bringing it back to my attention. Sometimes looking at what something isn’t, gives us good insight into what something is, so, instead of avoiding it, I am going to begin with the study of what Jesus Christ reveals to us, in His Word, what the Kingdom of Heaven is not. Let’s begin by looking at the first 13 verses Matthew 23! Matthew 23:1–13 23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. The Kingdom of Heaven does not elevate any personality but God - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We humans like to glorify ourselves or other humans. We have our super-stars, super-heroes and super-spiritual, but the Kingdom of Heaven does not allow these human “supers”. The only True superstars are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s day wanted to become superstars rather than servants of God. This church, and every other church in the world, should only exist for one reason: To Glorify and Worship God alone, and to seek first His Kingdom. Those who are given earthly authority are simply servants of the Most High God; they are not given authority or special gifts to lead His Church, in order to become super-stars. Anyone who is put in a “super-star” position and begins to believe this about him or herself instead of realizing that they are given their gifts and position to minister as a servant of the Living God naturally becomes power hungry, proud, greedy and self-serving. Jesus Affirmed Positions of Authority. In Matthew 23, Jesus begins teaching those around Him about what the Kingdom of God is not like, by affirming God ordained positions of authority: 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you…” Where we sometimes become confused is in the natural need for leadership in the Church. God has given a “Heavenly Kingdom” perspective to those who lead His Church. It is not the same as the authority often exercised by politicians, kings or other human rulers. Jesus put it like this: Matthew 20 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 1 Peter 5 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Paul and Barnabas appointed elder leadership in the towns in which they established churches (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). Spiritual appointment of church leadership is necessary, or strong personalities in the church will seek domination on their own, whether or not they are spiritual or unspiritual, honorable or deceptive, power-hungry or servant-based. What is interesting is that there are those in the body of Christ who do not want anyone in leadership in the Church to guide them; they want to dominate themselves, so they cry, “foul” if a Church leader gets in their way! Whenever there is carnal competitive strife in the church for domination in the leadership, it is not consistent with the standards of the Kingdom of God. A. Six Traits to Beware, found in Matthew 23, in people who want others to see how religious they are. People who manifest these traits from their heart are not part of the Kingdom of Heaven. 1) Beware of those who preach that people must do certain things to please God, but do not practice what they preach. (v. 3b) Matthew 23:3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 2) Beware of those seeming to be spiritual, who expect others to keep heavy legalistic “spiritual rules”, but justify how they avoid keeping the “rules” themselves. (v. 4) Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 3) Beware of those who do spiritual things to be seen by others. (v. 5) Matthew 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others…. 4) Beware of those who always love places of honor and the best seats and cannot defer to others as better than themselves. (v. 6) Matthew 23:6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues… 5) Beware of those who love self-recognition in public. (v. 7) Matthew 23:7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 6) Beware of people who crave to be seen as “The Teacher”, “The spiritual Mentor”, or “The Instructor”. (v. 8-10) In the Kingdom of Heaven, no one but God is known as “The Teacher, The Father, or The Instructor,” and those whom God gives authority to preach and/or teach in His Church here on earth, should evidence attitudes befitting true servants of the Lord, with submission and deference always given to God’s Word… “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” (v. 11) Matthew 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. B. Seven Woes for the Spiritual Hypocrite who is not part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ gives spiritually hypocritical people the warning of seven terrible “Woes”: 1) A Woe for those who hypocritically proclaim religious standards necessary for pleasing God, but their standards instead cause eternally damnation rather than Eternal Life! Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 2) A Woe for those zealously religious missionaries proclaiming legalistic teaching leading to damnation for those who follow their rules, their “visions”, or their doctrine, instead of the Righteousness of Christ! Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 3) A Woe for those who spiritually mislead with their own “traditional teaching”. Matthew 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 4) A Woe to those who teach exacting prescriptions of legalism while they are neglecting the weightier matters of the Law: Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness. Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 5) A Woe to those filled with greed and self-indulgence, while acting as if clean and righteous on the outside! Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 6) A Woe to those who work at having an outwardly beautiful appearance while, on the inside they are actually filled with all uncleanness, hypocrisy and lawlessness! Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” 7) A Woe to those who give accolades about the “righteous ones” of the past (including those who died as martyrs when giving forth God’s truth), while evidencing the same carnal, self-preserving spirit as their fathers who killed them. Matthew 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Eight Lessons Learned from Matthew 23 1. Study God’s Word for yourself, so that you will know how to discern Truth from error. 2. Understand that God is not impressed by religious knowledge, religious fervor, or religious missionary zeal, when it is hypocritically accompanied by a deceitful, sinfully practicing heart, or the desire for one’s personal glory. Repent before God, if you are living a hypocritical double life. 3. Those in Christ’s Kingdom should have “servant-status”, not “super-status”. Jesus reveals the hypocrisy of those who have an overwhelming desire for special recognition, thinking they have some sort of “super-status” because of some position they have in life or in the church. Those in Christ’s Heavenly Kingdom will evidence servant-status. 4. Zealous religiousness, for its own sake, can condemn people to hell just as surely as those carnally promoting a sinful lifestyle. 5. Closely observe the lives and families of those who aspire to be leaders, mentors and teachers to see if what they teach is being evidenced in their daily lives. 6. Seek to live a life with short accounts when it comes to sin in your life. Confess your sin and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is not made up of those who want to look like they are Christians, but the Kingdom of Heaven is only made up of those who are truly Christians from their heart. 7. Live, in your most private life, honorable to God and faithfully serve the Lord without seeking the accolades of men. 8. Instead of being most concerned about keeping up our outward appearances, our networking, and our programs for the church, we should be more concerned with the weightier matters, which are God’s greater concerns: justice and mercy and faithfulness.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Part 1 – What the Kingdom of Heaven is Not

By Pastor Dan Kennedy

www.pastorkennedy.com

(On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online.)

Topic submitted: “I want to know what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like!”

There are 31 verses in the Bible, which include the specific wording “Kingdom of Heaven” and these passages are all found in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament.

In preparing this message I went through each passage seeking to determine what God had given, in His Word, to reveal to us what the Kingdom of Heaven would be like. There was one passage that I chose to not include in my beginning study on this subject, because the passage dealt with what the Kingdom of Heaven was not like, rather than what it was. Even though I had chosen to leave it out of this message, as I continued to prepare, the Lord kept bringing it back to my attention. Sometimes looking at what something isn’t, gives us good insight into what something is, so, instead of avoiding it, I am going to begin with the study of what Jesus Christ reveals to us, in His Word, what the Kingdom of Heaven is not. Let’s begin by looking at the first 13 verses Matthew 23!

Matthew 23:1–13

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

The Kingdom of Heaven does not elevate any personality but God - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

We humans like to glorify ourselves or other humans. We have our super-stars, super-heroes and super-spiritual, but the Kingdom of Heaven does not allow these human “supers”. The only True superstars are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s day wanted to become superstars rather than servants of God.

This church, and every other church in the world, should only exist for one reason: To Glorify and Worship God alone, and to seek first His Kingdom.

Those who are given earthly authority are simply servants of the Most High God; they are not given authority or special gifts to lead His Church, in order to become super-stars. Anyone who is put in a “super-star” position and begins to believe this about him or herself instead of realizing that they are given their gifts and position to minister as a servant of the Living God naturally becomes power hungry, proud, greedy and self-serving.

Jesus Affirmed Positions of Authority. In Matthew 23, Jesus begins teaching those around Him about what the Kingdom of God is not like, by affirming God ordained positions of authority: 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you…”

Where we sometimes become confused is in the natural need for leadership in the Church. God has given a “Heavenly Kingdom” perspective to those who lead His Church. It is not the same as the authority often exercised by politicians, kings or other human rulers. Jesus put it like this:

Matthew 20

25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

1 Peter 5

3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elder leadership in the towns in which they established churches (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). Spiritual appointment of church leadership is necessary, or strong personalities in the church will seek domination on their own, whether or not they are spiritual or unspiritual, honorable or deceptive, power-hungry or servant-based.

What is interesting is that there are those in the body of Christ who do not want anyone in leadership in the Church to guide them; they want to dominate themselves, so they cry, “foul” if a Church leader gets in their way! Whenever there is carnal competitive strife in the church for domination in the leadership, it is not consistent with the standards of the Kingdom of God.

A. Six Traits to Beware, found in Matthew 23, in people who want others to see how religious they are. People who manifest these traits from their heart are not part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

1) Beware of those who preach that people must do certain things to please God, but do not practice what they preach. (v. 3b)

Matthew 23:3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

2) Beware of those seeming to be spiritual, who expect others to keep heavy legalistic “spiritual rules”, but justify how they avoid keeping the “rules” themselves. (v. 4)

Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

3) Beware of those who do spiritual things to be seen by others. (v. 5)

Matthew 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others….

4) Beware of those who always love places of honor and the best seats and cannot defer to others as better than themselves. (v. 6)

Matthew 23:6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues…

5) Beware of those who love self-recognition in public. (v. 7)

Matthew 23:7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

6) Beware of people who crave to be seen as “The Teacher”, “The spiritual Mentor”, or “The Instructor”. (v. 8-10)

In the Kingdom of Heaven, no one but God is known as “The Teacher, The Father, or The Instructor,” and those whom God gives authority to preach and/or teach in His Church here on earth, should evidence attitudes befitting true servants of the Lord, with submission and deference always given to God’s Word… “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” (v. 11)

Matthew 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

B. Seven Woes for the Spiritual Hypocrite who is not part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ gives spiritually hypocritical people the warning of seven terrible “Woes”:

1) A Woe for those who hypocritically proclaim religious standards necessary for pleasing God, but their standards instead cause eternally damnation rather than Eternal Life!

Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

2) A Woe for those zealously religious missionaries proclaiming legalistic teaching leading to damnation for those who follow their rules, their “visions”, or their doctrine, instead of the Righteousness of Christ!

Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

3) A Woe for those who spiritually mislead with their own “traditional teaching”.

Matthew 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

4) A Woe to those who teach exacting prescriptions of legalism while they are neglecting the weightier matters of the Law: Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

5) A Woe to those filled with greed and self-indulgence, while acting as if clean and righteous on the outside!

Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

6) A Woe to those who work at having an outwardly beautiful appearance while, on the inside they are actually filled with all uncleanness, hypocrisy and lawlessness!

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

7) A Woe to those who give accolades about the “righteous ones” of the past (including those who died as martyrs when giving forth God’s truth), while evidencing the same carnal, self-preserving spirit as their fathers who killed them.

Matthew 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Eight Lessons Learned from Matthew 23

1. Study God’s Word for yourself, so that you will know how to discern Truth from error.

2. Understand that God is not impressed by religious knowledge, religious fervor, or religious missionary zeal, when it is hypocritically accompanied by a deceitful, sinfully practicing heart, or the desire for one’s personal glory. Repent before God, if you are living a hypocritical double life.

3. Those in Christ’s Kingdom should have “servant-status”, not “super-status”. Jesus reveals the hypocrisy of those who have an overwhelming desire for special recognition, thinking they have some sort of “super-status” because of some position they have in life or in the church. Those in Christ’s Heavenly Kingdom will evidence servant-status.

4. Zealous religiousness, for its own sake, can condemn people to hell just as surely as those carnally promoting a sinful lifestyle.

5. Closely observe the lives and families of those who aspire to be leaders, mentors and teachers to see if what they teach is being evidenced in their daily lives.

6. Seek to live a life with short accounts when it comes to sin in your life. Confess your sin and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is not made up of those who want to look like they are Christians, but the Kingdom of Heaven is only made up of those who are truly Christians from their heart.

7. Live, in your most private life, honorable to God and faithfully serve the Lord without seeking the accolades of men.

8. Instead of being most concerned about keeping up our outward appearances, our networking, and our programs for the church, we should be more concerned with the weightier matters, which are God’s greater concerns: justice and mercy and faithfulness.