Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mt. Olive, Illinois July 26, 2026
Mysteries of the Kingdom
Matthew 13.10-17
Main Teaching: God’s kingdom is the best kingdom of all. It is a kingdom of power, a kingdom of grace, and a kingdom of glory. There is no other kingdom like it. Believe in it. Live in it. Bring it to others.
1. Why do we have kingdoms?
2. How is God’s kingdom different from other kingdoms?
3. How do Christians live in two kingdoms?
Introduction
The past couple of Sundays the Gospel lesson has featured Jesus’ kingdom parables. We have heard the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, and today the Parables of the Hidden Treasure, Pearl of Great Price, and the Net. All these parables begin with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” Today I would like to take a step back and encourage you to think about the Kingdom of God and what it means to be part of the kingdom of God. I especially want to focus on these words that Jesus spoke when the disciples asked Him, earlier, why He spoke in parables. Jesus said:
“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Today we will consider why we have kingdoms; why God’s kingdom is different from other kingdoms; and how we live in God’s kingdom and man’s kingdom.
Why Do We Have Kingdoms?
When sin came into the world human beings became selfish. Men began to steal and murder. In a sinful world only the strongest survive, and humans quickly realized that there is strength in numbers. However, to keep the numbers together and to survive as a group, you need leaders. In Genesis eleven men had united to create a global kingdom of power and attempted to displace God. This was the first attempt at a one world government, and it was symbolized by the Tower of Babel. This tower was to reach to heaven and to be a symbol of man’s autonomy. God confused their languages and forced them to become many nations. Among these nations some were better, and some were worse. God used the better nations to hold the bad ones back from their destructive aims. Evolutionists have told us for years that human beings are not much different than animals. Yet, seven thousand languages and five thousand tribes and kingdoms confirm the Biblical teaching of God’s creation and His creation of nations to preserve life by curbing the evil of men.
How Is God’s Kingdom Different from Other Kingdoms?
Yet over all these kingdoms there is a Divine Ruler. The Bible says He is: “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6.15-16). Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, asked Jesus at His trial, “Are you king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world… I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18.33, 37). Before His ascension Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 20.18). The apostle Paul said, “[God] raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1.20-23).
Jesus’ kingdom is different from all those of men. First, it is a kingdom of ultimate power. In Revelation 17.14 John said that the kings of this world will make war with the Lamb, the King of kings, and He will overcome them. The kingdoms of men increase and decay, they rise and fall. But God’s kingdom will never fail. His kingdom is a kingdom of truth, justice, and peace. All who resist this will be destroyed.
That is why it is important to know that Jesus’ kingdom is also a kingdom of grace. All of Jesus’ preaching and teaching is summed up by St. Mark who recorded Jesus’ words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel” (1.15). There is no birthright citizenship to this kingdom. No one can buy their way into this kingdom. The only way to come into this kingdom is by grace, the grace of the gospel. This gospel teaches us to repent of our sins and be forgiven by the love of God in Jesus, who gave His perfect life on the cross for our imperfect lives. We come into this kingdom by baptism as Jesus said, “God therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28.19-20).
Finally, Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of glory. In the kingdoms of men, as they struggle with each other there is suffering. But St. Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8.18). And again: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3.20-21). When we die and when Jesus comes again, all those who were with Him in the world will also be with Him in the glory of heaven.
How Do Christians Live in Two Kingdoms?
Two of today’s parables focus on the value of the kingdom of God – the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price and the Parable of the Treasure Buried in a Field. This kingdom is so valuable, it is worth everything we have in this world to obtain it. The greater miracle is that we don’t buy it ourselves with everything we have. God has bought it for us giving up what He loved most – His own Son, so that we could be included in His kingdom of power, grace, and glory.
Once two businessmen were riding on a train late at night. One was an American and the other was a Korean. The Korean man sat near the American and wanted to have a conversation with him. But he didn’t know English, and the American didn’t know Korean. That didn’t stop the Korean man from trying. After a while he started to annoy the American, and the American was just about to tell him to be quiet when he heard a word from the Korean that sounded familiar. It sounded like “Yesu.” The American looked at the Korean and asked “Jesus?” “Yes” the Korean man responded nodding his head joyfully. “Yes.” It turned out the Korean and the American were both Christians. While their earthly nationalities and languages separated, their common faith in the eternal Kingdom of God united them. Suddenly, with just one word “Yesu,” the two men were united in the one kingdom to which they both belonged.
All Christians belong to God’s kingdom. They also belong to one of man’s kingdoms.
Jesus was a Jew, a subject of King Herod. Jesus was also king of His own kingdom. Paul was a Roman citizen and a citizen of God’s kingdom. On Pentecost there were people from seventeen different nations from Libya to Rome who were baptized into Christ and were “supernaturalized” into God’s Kingdom. This kingdom has been spreading ever since to Europe in the north, to Asia to the East, to Africa to the south, and to the New World to the west. The Kingdom of Christ is the most ethnically diverse kingdom of the world.
How we live in the Kingdom of Christ and in our respective earthly kingdoms is important. First, we recognize that the Kingdom of Christ is preeminent because God is the creator and ruler of all nations. Jesus is also the Savior of all nations and the only hope for the curse of sin and evil in this world. Secondly, for this reason, Christians pray for their earthly kingdoms that they would abide by the will of God as much as possible. Thirdly, Christians are always ambassadors for God’s kingdom wherever they live. They are always pointing people beyond earthly leaders to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Earthly leaders can help us, but only God can save us through the forgiveness of sin. Don’t put your faith in earthly leaders. Put your faith in God. Fourthly, when earthly kingdoms turn against God, and many do; Christians must faithfully resist just as Peter and John and Paul refused to stop preaching the gospel when they were ordered to do so by earthly authorities.
Jesus specifically said that He taught with parables because many people are stubborn and sold out to sin. They do everything they can to stop people from believing and belonging to God’s kingdom. Yet the parables and all the teachings of Jesus and His apostles have a powerful way of breaking through. This is why Jesus said: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Conclusion
Jesus spoke more about the kingdom of God than anything else. In the Lord’s Prayer, He taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come.” Our little catechism explains this beautifully: “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and live godly lives in time and in eternity.” I encourage everyone to look to Jesus and to ask for His help to live a godly life now in our earthly kingdom and forever in His eternal kingdom. You will never regret that. Amen.
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