Preached in Markham Baptist Church, April 13, 2003.

Text: John 18:28-19:16

A JUDGE MEETS THE MASTER

Christians are foreigners in this world. We, through faith in Jesus Christ have been made citizens of the Kingdom of God. You understand what it means to be a citizen of this country. It means that you live under the authority of the Canadian government, you enjoy its protection, you live under its rules and enjoy all the rights and privileges of this country. It means that you can proudly stand up and say "I am Canadian."

Well, at one time you had your citizenship not only in Canada but also, according to Scripture, in this world. You lived under the rule of this world. You lived according to the principles of this world. You lived for the values of this world. You were card-carrying world citizen.

Scripture tells us that really isn't something to crow about because citizenship in the world meant that we turned our back on God and lived for the things of this world.

Well, when you became a Christian you gained a new citizenship. Your citizenship papers in the world were torn up and you were given citizenship into the kingdom of God. And now you live under the rule of God, with all its rights, joys, privileges and responsibilities. Now this is something to be excited about, for the Kingdom of God is the greatest enterprise in the universe. And it is a great privilege to be able to now say, "I am a Christian". (See Philippians 3:20 and Ephesians 2:19)

But what does this kingdom look like? What are the characteristics of this kingdom? Certainly the Gospels could be called the Good News of the Kingdom of God. For the gospels give us the details the characteristics, the responsibilities and the privileges for citizens of the kingdom.

But this morning we are given a wonderful picture of the rule of God, the Kingdom of God as it has a head on collision with the Kingdom of this world. And John in his gospel holds up for us a picture of the nature of the Kingdom of God, to which you and I now belong:

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” 

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face.

Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters£ again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat£ on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew£ Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. (John 18:28-19:16) (NRSV)

Pilate can hardly believe it when he sees Jesus face to face and he asks in verse 33, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus replies, "Is that your idea?" or, "do you really want to know or are you just repeating what you have heard?"

Pilate doesn't take the chance to find out - he replies in verse 35 with a curt, "Am I a Jew? It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

And Jesus gives us a picture of the kingdom of God, saying, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

What is the nature of the kingdom of God? Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world."

That is, God's kingdom that is separate from the kingdom of the world in that it does not spring from this world or originate from this world. It is a Kingdom that springs from God and belongs to God. It is a kingdom that is active in this world and seeks to bring its authority and rule in this world but it is a kingdom that is other-worldly.

And we need to understand that this kingdom that we belong to is not some small insignificant kingdom. Think of the Kingdom of God in terms of space and we soon discover that it is not some piddly little enterprise. It is not constrained by the tiny borders of this world - for it is not of this world. It is not limited by earth and sky and sea. We think of our little earth, a small ball in space. There is our galaxy, we are brothers with Mars and Saturn and Pluto. But that is just one small corner of space, there are galaxies upon galaxies, black holes, millions and millions of years of light. That is the Kingdom of God. And we send up our telescopes into the skies and marvel at the galaxies but we haven't even begun to grasp the beginning of the Kingdom of God. Juan Carlos Hortize calls these discovered galaxies the front garden of the mansion of God we haven't even discovered the back yard yet! And what about the mansion itself?!! The Kingdom of God in space is limitless.

Or think of it in time. The kingdom of God is not of this world. It is not limited by time. The Kingdom of God is for ever and ever. It is eternal. It has not beginning and no end. Think of it, there is no enterprise on earth that will last forever and ever. We cannot say, IBM forever and ever. You cannot say, Canada for ever and ever. But the Kingdom of God is forever.

So space-wise it is limitless. Time-wise it is limitless.

The Kingdom of God is not of this world. Now practically speaking, we need to remember this because sometimes we Christians want dual citizenship. We want citizenship in the kingdom of the world and we want citizenship in the kingdom of God. But it doesn't work like that - when you became a citizen of the Kingdom of God you forfeited your citizenship in the kingdom of this world. It is not both - it is either one or the other.

Now, the text continues, Pilate hears the word "kingdom" and immediately says, "You are a king then!"

And Jesus is wonderful, for it gives us a characteristic of the kingdom of God. And says, "you are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me."

And so Jesus tells us that He came to this world armed not with legions of soldiers. He did not come carrying a sword or spear, but came armed with truth.

He came to tell the truth about God. He came to tell the truth about sin, about our need for a Saviour, about the nature of holiness and citizenship in the Kingdom of God. He came to declare and lift up before our eyes this long-lost and buried truth. He came to testify to the truth. And so we learn that the Kingdom of God is characterized by truth. And that's good news because we are surrounded by so much untruth.

There are many who would echo Pilate's question, "What is truth?" Had he become so jaded to supposed truth that he wondered if it existed any more? Had Pilate had enough of the Jewish leaders who lied and manipulated facts to get their own way? Did Pilate give up any hope of knowing or even finding truth because it had been so distorted, abused and twisted?

Perhaps, it certainly is a danger in our age. Even in our own time truth has been abused and twisted to such a degree that we have grown skeptical and cynical and wonder if there is such a thing as truth. We have discovered so many times that what we first received as truth was not the truth but the exact opposite to the truth. The former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, says, "I did not have sex with that woman." It was a lie. Well, not quite, we were told, the president didn't define sex like everyone else. We were told that during first Gulf War the SCUD missiles were highly effective in defending innocent people. Well we discover now that they pretty much useless.

So we begin to question and doubt. We have come to realize that sometimes what we receive as truth is only a presentation of the facts, or a selection of the events in such a manner that we are made to think and react a certain way. So not wanting to be manipulated again we grow skeptical.

But does that mean that truth can never be discovered? No. Jesus said that He is "the way, the truth and the life." There is no falsehood in Him, there is nothing in Jesus that seeks to deceive you, there is only honesty, and plain truth.

Perhaps we are right to be skeptical about governments and the media but do not be skeptical about Jesus Christ and His word to you. There is nothing in His heart but love for you. There is nothing in His motives that is impure or selfish. There is nothing that He will not do for your ultimate good. There is nothing in His word that is untrue. Stop your skepticism of Him, know that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Or, if you can't stop your skepticism, at least suspend it for a bit and test Him. See if His word doesn't come true. Put Him to the test. Seek first His kingdom rule and His leadership in your life and see if He doesn't add all those things which you need. Trust Him and see if He doesn't give you peace. Put His word to the test and see that it is true.

We belong to the Kingdom of God, it is a Kingdom not of this world, it is a kingdom of truth. And then this and this is the best part. It is a kingdom that is offered to you not by power but by love.

All through this passage Jesus speaks of His power. He speaks of His servants who would rise up and prevent His arrest if He just gave the word. He speaks of His power over Pilate and how Pilate is only in the position of governor because it was given to him from above.

But who is bound? Who is on trial? Who is flogged? Who is eventually hung on a Roman cross? Where is the power that He is supposed to possess?

The answer is that He set it aside in order to express His love. Listen - this is important - there is an inverse relationship between power and love. The more power you have, the less love you express. In any relationship, whoever is expressing power is not expressing love. The more you love, the weaker you get.

And the great news of the Kingdom of God is that two thousand years ago, the all-powerful God who set the world in motion and hung the sun and moon and the galaxies in place - that great God said "The time has come to express My love. And if I'm going to express My love, I've got to set aside My power." And He did. And believe it or not, the God who created the universe became a baby in the manger that wet Himself and if Mary hadn't smuggled Him out of town, Herod's troops would have cut God to pieces. He was vulnerable, He came in weakness. He came in powerlessness.

This is what our passage illustrates for us. And this is what the second chapter of Philippians teaches us. Jesus Christ had power, but in order to express His love he set aside His power.

He who thought it not proper to be equal with God emptied Himself and took the form of a ..... and the real word is what? Slave. Now, how much power does a slave have? None.

Our Saviour did not come in power, He came in weakness, in meekness - He came in love.

You may still say Jesus had power – no, He didn't have power; He had authority. Power is based on force. It was Tony Campolo who said, "If you obey me because you have to - I have power. If you obey me because you want to - I have authority."

The scribes had some power, Herod had more power, and Pilate had even more power, they all had power but Jesus had authority. Authority is built on sacrifice.

The good news of the kingdom is that this is how our God came into the world 2000 years ago to establish His kingdom and that is still how our God comes to you to bid you to be part of His Kingdom. He does not come in power, forcing us, twisting us to His will, commanding us to obey, making us abject citizens of His kingdom.

No, He comes in weakness, being lifted up on the cross - and it is through the cross, that He draws all men and women to Himself.

What is the nature of this kingdom? It is not of this world. What is a characteristic of this Kingdom, it is a kingdom of truth. And it is a kingdom that expresses itself in love, not on power.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - April 2003