Right out of seminary, I pastored a small church in north Georgia. The church I pastored was about 1.5 miles from one of the biggest and fastest growing churches in the United States. I used to joke that our church was the church everybody drove past on Sunday mornings to go to this megachurch!

One day I was talking to another pastor and he asked me if I heard about what happened in this great big church. I said I had not. He told me that the church had hosted a conference on leadership the week prior. Thousands of pastors attended. A big-name national leadership guru had been brought in. The book table held his many best-selling books.

My friend who was telling me this story had attended the conference. He was in the room when this happened.

Now, this megachurch was surrounded by multi-multi-acre asphalt parking lots. They had shuttles that would bring folks from the far end of their parking lots to the sanctuary. The church sat on a big highway on one side but, on another side, it actually sat on a fairly typical road. Whenever I drove down that road, I always found the sight of that massive church and sanctuary overwhelming!

Well, it just so happened that on the other side of the small road that bordered the megachurch there was a very small house church. It was basically a ranch-style house with a little steeple on the top. And a few folks attended that church.

I will not deny that the shocking contrast between the two churches when you drove down that road was sometimes humorous. It was just such a contrast: the massive, huge megachurch to the left and the little tiny house church to the right. The megachurch looked like it could just eat the little church like a chicken nugget!

So my friend was at the leadership conference at the megachurch. And he told me that the famous speaker was talking about the great things God can do, the big things God can do. He extended his arms out and looked upwards and swayed left and right, saying to the crowd, “I mean, just look at what God has done here! Look at this amazing sanctuary! Look at this crowd! Look at how many baptisms this church has! Look at this staff! Look at how amazing this is!”

Then he paused. Then he continued: “And, compare this with that little church across the street. It is so small. It is so tiny!”

At this, a number of people in the audience laughed.

“Now,” he continued, “you have got to ask which church you want. This? Or that?”

A number of people amened.

Then, there was movement at the front of the sanctuary. Somebody stood up. It was an older man. He stood up by himself. He made his way out to the aisle and then slowly up the aisle to the exit doors. And he left.

That man was the pastor of the little house church across the street.

By this time the speaker had started back up and was moving on to his next big point.

My friend said it was terrible. He felt terrible. And he suspected others did as well.

And I think the reason why he felt terrible was because he knew something about the Kingdom and about the great God we serve, and it is this: God does great big things out of little tiny things so little tiny things must never be despised. In fact, the little tiny things are a good picture of  how the Kingdom of God comes into the world.

Matthew 13. Listen:

³¹ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

I would like to talk about the Kingdom of God. I would like to talk about the Kingdom that is at first dismissed as too small, too insignificant, too paltry, but, in time, will be shown to be mighty indeed.

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Matthew 27

³² As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. ³³ And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴ they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶ Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

I grew up in a great church: Grace Baptist Church of Sumter, South Carolina. I have so many wonderful memories of that church. One that stands out is Melody Parker, the wife of our pastor Gary Parker, singing the old African American spiritual, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” I can see her now, standing off to the side of choir, and I can hear her even now. It made quite an impression on me.

Why? I do not quite know. Maybe because that spiritual was so different than the songs we normally sang. Or maybe it was her voice and the feeling she put into that song. But I remember that when she sang it, I stopped my looking around and really paid attention. She would sing:

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, were you there when they crucified my Lord?
(Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?
(Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?

(Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Well, were you there when the stone was rolled away?
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
(Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?

The point of the spiritual—or so it seems to me—is that, in one sense, we were not there but, in a deeper and more meaningful sense, we were there. After all, Christ died for my sins, was crucified in my stead, and rose again for me…and for you…and for us all.

But it does raise the obvious question: Who was there? And when Matthew answers that question in Matthew 27:32–44 the image is decidedly negative and hostile. And yet, there is more happening in this scene that is readily apparent.

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The Kingdom of God is the “already/not yet” Kingdom. It has “already” come in Christ, breaking into the fallen kingdom of the world, and yet will come in fullness only when Christ returns. In that sense, it is “not yet.” So we live out of the Kingdom now, but we will not live fully in it until the King ushers it in in fullness.

Professor David Briones got at this “already/not yet” reality nicely when he wrote:

According to Scripture, believers are

• • alreadyadopted in Christ (Romans 8:15), but not yet adopted (Romans 8:23);
  • alreadyredeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), but not yet redeemed (Ephesians 4:30);
  • alreadysanctified in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2), but not yet sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24);
  • alreadysaved in Christ (Ephesians 2:8), but not yet saved (Romans 5:9);
  • alreadyraised with Christ (Ephesians 2:6), but not yet raised (1 Corinthians 15:52).

We live in a theological tension…Underlying this theological tension is a theological structure: the already–not yet framework. It is, according to Cullmann, “the silent presupposition that lies behind all that [the New Testament] says.” The New Testament authors thought, wrote, and lived through the grid of this biblical framework or mindset. It determined the way they spoke about God’s dealings in this world in light of the world to come.

If we don’t understand this mindset, the theological tension we live in will become a theological disaster. We will inevitably misread Scripture. And if we misread Scripture, we will live misled lives.[1]

I believe this is very well said and very true! We most hold to an “already/not yet” mindset. We previously considered the “already” mindset when we considered the strange customs of the Kingdom. Let us now consider the “not yet” dynamic and how Jesus spoke of the Kingdom as not having arrived in fullness yet.

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Matthew 27

²⁴ So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” ²⁵ And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” ²⁶ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. ²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

In an article in Nature, authors Lee and Schwartz argue that the act of physically washing one’s hands seems to have psychological effects on human beings. They write:

Hand washing removes more than dirt—it also removes the guilt of past misdeeds, weakens the urge to engage in compensatory behavior, and attenuates the impact of disgust on moral judgment. These findings are usually conceptualized in terms of a purity-morality metaphor that links physical and moral cleanliness; however, they may also reflect that washing more generally removes traces of the past by metaphorically wiping the slate clean. If so, washing one’s hands may lessen the influence of past behaviors that have no moral implications at all.

They continue:

…the psychological impact of physical cleansing extends beyond the moral domain. Much as washing can cleanse us from traces of past immoral behavior, it can also cleanse us from traces of past decisions, reducing the need to justify them. This observation is not captured by the purity-morality metaphor and highlights the need for a better understanding of the processes that mediate the psychological impact of physical cleansing. To further constrain the range of plausible candidate explanations, future research may test whether the observed “clean slate” effect is limited to past acts that may threaten one’s self-view (e.g., moral transgressions and potentially poor choices) or also extends to past behaviors with positive implications.[1]

Well, that is most interesting! Even so, be that what it may, physical washings cannot remove the stain sin. And yet, symbols are powerful, and they can be used for good or ill.

Our text is filled with symbols, one futile, one pernicious, but both corrected by the higher realities of the Kingdom to which they unwittingly point.

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In a very interesting article entitled “Strange Cultural Traditions Around the World,” Rebecca Pittore points out the oddest of the odd customs of the various peoples of the world. For instance:

At age 13, the boys of the Satere Mawe Tribe become men but must prove their worth through the initiation ceremony. The boys head off into the jungle to harvest the angry bullet ants. One sting from the inch-long ant is said to be 30-times more painful than a bee sting, or about as painful as a gunshot, giving them their name. Back in the village, the chief elder intoxicates the ants in an herbal mixture, knocking them out just long enough to weave them into a special pair of gloves, with the stingers pointing inwards. When the ants wake up, the ceremony begins. The boys show courage by placing their hands in the gloves for 10 minutes each while being led in a traditional dance. The ceremony repeats 19 more times before the young boys can call themselves men. According to the Satere Mawe traditions, the bullet ant initiation prepares them for the pain of adulthood and how to manage pain without showing weakness.

Or this:

[The El Colacho] tradition in Castrillo de Murcia, in the north of Spain, has its origins in pagan rituals and has been a local tradition since the 17th century. As a way to cleanse a new baby’s soul, the tradition is commonly known as ‘baby jumping’. Every year, on the Sunday after the Feast of Corpus Christi, the event, which is now a mix of both pagan and Catholic traditions, begins with a procession through town and at the end of the walk, babies born in the previous year are laid on a mat. Men dressed as the devil run between and jump over the babies. Next, the leaders of the Catholic Church in the Burgos Region cleanse them with holy water.[1]

My goodness! There are lots of strange customs in the kingdoms of the world, customs that make outside observers ask, “Why would they do that?”

But there is another Kingdom with its own odd customs by which the world is confused. I am speaking of the Kingdom of God.

This Kingdom is the “already/not yet” Kingdom; the Kingdom that has come in Jesus yet is coming with the coming of Jesus.

What we want to do is consider the “already” aspect of the Kingdom of God. How does its arrival in Jesus and our entry into it through Jesus affect us here and now, right where we are? What does this Kingdom look like in our lives? What are our strange customs?

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Matthew 27

¹⁵ Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. ¹⁶ And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸ For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. ¹⁹ Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” ²⁰ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. ²¹ The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²² Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” ²³ And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

Gayook Wong wrote an interesting article at Psychology Today entitled “The Psychology of Mob Mentality.” In it, she spelled out a number of causes for the mentality that can take over mobs. These are:

• Deindividuation—when people are part of a group, they experience a loss of self-awareness.
• Identity—when people are part of a group, they can lose their sense of individual identity.
• Emotions—being part of a group can lead to heightened emotional states, be that excitement, anger, hostility, etc.
• Acceptability—behaviors that are usually seen as unacceptable become acceptable when others in a group are seen carrying them out.
• Anonymity—people feel anonymous within a large group, which reduces their sense of responsibility and accountability.
• Diffusion of responsibility—being part of a group creates the perception that violent or unacceptable behavior is not a personal responsibility but a group one.
• The larger the group or crowd, the more likely there will be deindividuation and diffusion of responsibility.[1]

All of this is both fascinating and helpful. And, undoubtedly, these dynamics played a huge role in the mob’s clamoring for Jesus’ crucifixion in Matthew 27. And yet, in this case, there was another dynamic at play: the spiritual dynamic. Let us be clear: The devil was working in this mob frenzy. And yet, God will use even this for the fulfillment of His great plan for salvation.

Let us consider the major characters in this drama, and the roles that they play!

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Ever heard the wheelbarrow joke? It is an oldie but a goodie and one that circulates every so often. There are lots of good versions but here is the version I heard:

In a Russian factory back in the Soviet Union days a factory worker got in the exit line at the end of the day pushing a wheelbarrow. When he reached the gate, the guard looked in and saw nothing but sawdust and wood shavings. “What do you have in there, Petrov?” he asked. “Nothing, sir. It is just sawdust and wood shavings.” The guard took his baton and poked around in the sawdust before staring suspiciously at Petrov and then letting him go.

This happened again the next week with the same result. Just sawdust and wood shavings. There was nothing else in the wheelbarrow.

The guard was suspicious but what could he do. Petrov was not smuggling anything out. Week after week after week this happened. Finally, at the end of the year, the guard held Petrov and his wheelbarrow back after the other workers had departed.

“Petrov,” he said, “I have known you for a long time. And I know you are stealing something. But every week it is the same thing: sawdust and wood shavings. Listen: I am retiring. This is my last day. I like you. I will not report you or turn you in. But I have got to know: What are you stealing?”

Petrov smiled, paused, then looked around. He leaned in close to the guard and said, “Wheelbarrows, my friend. Wheelbarrows.”

A classic! I love that joke!

The joke, of course, is that the answer was right under the guard’s nose the whole time, and he missed it! It happens. In fact, it happened to the Pharisees in Luke 17 as Jesus revealed in His answer to their question about the Kingdom.

²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, ²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

This is a powerful and, as we will see, controversial text.

We said earlier that the Kingdom of God is the “already/not yet” Kingdom, as it has been famously put. The Kingdom has already broken into the world in Jesus but it has not yet come in fullness. So it is here, but it is coming. And in our text, Jesus is highlighting the “already” nature of the Kingdom, the fact that it has arrived in Jesus here and now, even as we wait for it to arrive in fullness and unveiled glory and power.

Let us consider what Jesus is saying here about the already Kingdom.

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Here is an article that reads like something out of an Indiana Jones movie!

It was Jan. 27, 1492, when workers at work in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which was undergoing major renovations at the time, discovered, behind a brick, a lead casket, closed by three wax seals, and on which was written Ecce lignum crucis, “Behold the wood of the cross.” Inside the casket was the Titulus Crucis. The first to report the news of the discovery of the “arcula plumbea” that preserved the Titulus Crucis was a chronicler of the time, Leonardo di Sar zana (or Leonardo Sarzanese), who a few days later, on February 4, wrote a letter in Latin to a learned correspondent of his, Jacopo Gherardi known as “il Volaterrano” (the missive is preserved in the Vatican Library, in a codex, the Vatican Codex 3912, which collects a number of letters sent to Volaterrano): “there is no doubt, reverend father,” the letter reads, “that this piece of wood is a part of that most sacred wood on which our Savior was hung, fixed with nails, and are truly the titles of his gallows, of which the evangelists testify.”[1]

Wow! That is a fascinating thought, is it not, that we might possess the actual sign that hung over Jesus on the cross? But is this authentic? Do we have the actual inscription? While the titulus crucis certainly has its champions, the evidence would appear to point elsewhere: That it dates somewhere from the 10^th to the 12^th century. So, sadly, likely not! Such is the way of relics!

And yet, this much is true: There was a sign hung above the head of Jesus on the cross and it did proclaim Jesus as King. In fact, the fact of the inscription on the cross belongs to a group of facts that is actually mentioned in all four gospels: in Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38, and in John 19:19.

It would be quite a find to find that sign, but would you like to know what would be even better? Even better than finding the sign that says “Jesus is King” would be you and me becoming the sign that says “Jesus is King.” And, in fact, we are called to do this very thing: To be living advertisements for King Jesus, to point the world to Him through our words and our actions.

Church, Jesus is King! No consideration of the Kingdom of God can proceed without a close consideration of Jesus as King!

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Matthew 27

¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” ¹² But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” ¹⁴ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

There is an interesting article at News Nation Now entitled “‘Muzzle him like Hannibal Lecter’: ‘Banfield’ on Waukesha suspect.” It is about the unruly behavior a defendant named Darrell Brooks, Jr. who was representing himself in a Waukesha County courtroom on “77 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and 61 counts of reckless endangerment, for allegedly driving his vehicle into a Nov. 21 parade.” Brooks’ dismissed his attorney and represented himself before Judge Jennifer Durow.

Representing oneself in court is unusual but allowed, based on the 6^th Amendment. The real problem with Darrell Brooks’ approach here was not that he represented himself, but how he did it. The article talks about Brooks’ “constant outbursts” in court, his occasional refusal “to recognize his own name,” and his extremely “disruptive” behavior.

“It’s what you call remarkable judicial restraint,” NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield, who has covered hundreds of controversial, high-profile court cases, said while discussing the case with her Friday night panel. “It has also had a lot of court watchers steaming mad that she didn’t smack him down, put him in his place, and just muzzle him like Hannibal Lecter.”

“Banfield” story editor Paula Froelich said she “can’t believe this is happening in a taxpayer-funded court.”

“This man is literally acting like a 9-year-old. The judge can’t get a word out. … I don’t know that much about the law, and I just have to ask, How is this happening? Why is he considered competent? How is this allowed to go on?”[1]

In point of fact, some judges finally do have enough of unruly defendants and have them muzzled or their mouths duct taped.

That is an amazing thought, is it not: a defendant who will not stop talking and who is so disruptive that they have to be muzzled!

What is most interesting about the trial of Jesus is that people were disturbed by the exact opposite behavior. Jesus’ silence seemed to enrage or perplex the authorities before who He was standing. Pontius Pilate seemed to be particularly confused by it. And this raises an interesting question: Why was Jesus so silent throughout His trial? When He speaks, it is brief and oftentimes enigmatic. But, mainly, He is silent. Why?

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The story of the world is the story of a King and His Kingdom. That this fact has been neglected by many evangelicals is a deep tragedy, for without a proper doctrine of the Kingdom of God we read scripture poorly, we pray poorly, we worship poorly, and we understand the gospel poorly. That Jesus is King and that He has come to proclaim the Kingdom is at the heart of the gospel itself.

We have defined the Kingdom of God in this way:

The Kingdom of God is the reign and rule of God that has broken into the fallen world definitively in Jesus, is now proclaimed by and demonstrated in the lives of God’s people, and will come in fullness and completion with the victorious coming again of Jesus.

Now we need to see how the Kingdom of God fits into the story of the world.

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