Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): As a disciple of Christ, you are a light to the world. Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe shares how you can shine Christ’s love into others' lives. But first, this month we want to encourage you with a special resource from Jill Briscoe that beautifully captures the heart of what it means to walk with God every day.

It's her poetry book, *Barefoot in My Heart*. Her words will point you back to the One who satisfies every longing and rekindles your passion for Him, even in life's busiest and most difficult seasons. We’d love to send you a copy of *Barefoot in My Heart* as our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life in Christ through the biblical teaching and encouragement of Telling the Truth.

So request your copy when you give and let Jill’s words refresh your heart and remind you of God's faithfulness this Christmas season. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here's Stuart with his message, "The Call to Shine."

Stuart Briscoe: Matthew chapter five and verse one. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him and He began to teach them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Now, this is the opening of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. And the first part of the Sermon on the Mount is a whole section where Jesus pronounces various blessings on certain people. And that little section is called the Beatitudes.

Now, you'll notice the first beatitude in verse three of chapter five says this: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The final beatitude in verse ten says this: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Now, obviously, there's a similarity between those two. There is a statement that these two groups of people enjoy the kingdom of heaven. Now, that is a particularly literary device called an inclusio, where you have a term at the beginning of a section and a term at the end, and that shows that the whole piece is about that particular term. And so the Beatitudes are about the people who constitute the kingdom of heaven.

Now, if you go back to chapter four, verse 17 of Matthew, you read this: From that time on Jesus began to preach. And this is what He did: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. So here we have an account of the very beginning of Jesus' preaching ministry. And as He comes out of the starting gate, raring to go to preach the message—remember, He's been on earth 30 years now before He starts His public ministry.

This is the day He's been waiting for. The first thing that He starts to preach is: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. And He gathers His disciples, and He begins to explain to them about the kingdom of heaven. So clearly, this was a dominant theme as far as Jesus was concerned.

Now, sometimes you'll read in the New Testament about the kingdom of God, and other times you'll read about the kingdom of heaven. The Jewish people believed that the name of God was so holy that they should not allow it to fall from their lips. So instead of saying God, they would use another term that clearly related to God. And so they would talk about the kingdom of heaven.

For instance, there are some people who will often, when they're surprised by something or startled by something, will say, "Oh my God!" Incidentally, I cringe every time I hear that because they're calling on their God, but I wonder who their God is and how important He is to them as they speak of Him in such ways.

There are some people, however, who would have sensitivities about saying that. They wouldn't say, "Good God," but they would have no compunction whatsoever about saying, "Good heavens." Now, that's the same kind of idea. That the Jewish people would say that the word God is so holy it should not fall from their lips—certainly not casually. And so to avoid any mistakes in that area, they would talk about heaven. And so when you read about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, it's basically the same thing.

Now, a kingdom, when you read about it in this sense in the New Testament, is a realm over which a reign is exercised. In other words, when we're talking about a kingdom, the emphasis is on the one who reigns there. And as the emphasis is on the one who reigns there, we recognize that there is a great area of influence that emanates from the one who reigns there. That is the kingdom.

Now, if it is the kingdom of God, clearly it is the area of influence in which God's power or God's authority is in evidence. Now, specifically, the kingdom of God is defined in theological terms as follows: The kingdom of God is the reign of God in Christ, destroying all that is hostile to divine rule.

The power of God, the rule of God, the authority of God moving into areas where there is hostility to God's rule, and the kingdom of God exercises the power of God and begins to destroy, piece by piece, all that is hostile to the divine rule. Now, the Scriptures talk about this world of ours being in the grip of the evil one, and I doubt very much if anybody would dispute that.

There's enough evidence of evil, there's enough evidence of sin, there's enough evidence of death for us to recognize that things are not as they ought to be in a perfect world—a perfect world which, incidentally, God made in the first place. There is much that is opposed to, there is much that is hostile to God in our world. But God says, "This is my world, and I want it back."

And so He is moving into our world and establishing His kingdom. He's bringing His rule, His power, His control to bear, gradually, relentlessly, inexorably, in an ever-growing, expanding way. And He does this through the incarnation of Christ. When the Lord Jesus came into the world and began to work in this world, He said, "Now then, you need to recognize the kingdom has come."

He announced right at the very beginning of His ministry, "The kingdom is very near," and then very shortly afterwards, He says, "The kingdom has come." Now, that was in a very interesting context. He was confronted with a man who was possessed of demonic powers, and Jesus exorcised these demonic powers.

And then He turned to the people roundabout and He said, "There you are, you see? There's evidence that the kingdom has come." What did He mean? Well, the demonic powers were just one little evidence of the rule of Satan in this world. But when He exorcised the demons, that was evidence that He was more powerful and that He had overthrown that little piece of territory of the evil one.

And in that sense, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, had arrived in that situation. Now, of course, there are many, many enemies to the rule of God in our world. And the greatest enemy and the final enemy is death itself. But one day, that enemy will be overthrown, too.

The Apostle Paul picked up on this theme, and this is what he said in 1 Corinthians 15:24: The end will come when Jesus hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

So here's the picture. This world of ours is under the grip of sin and Satan and evil and death. But Jesus came, and in coming, announced the coming of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven—a powerful overthrow by God of all that is hostile to Him. Not in one great cataclysmic event, but in a slow, relentless movement where the kingdom begins to spread like yeast through dough.

Now, says the Lord Jesus to His disciples, eventually the kingdom will conquer all forces of evil, and then the kingdom of God will be established. That is why He said to His disciples, "You must pray for this." And the way that you pray for it is to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Listen: Thy kingdom come.

That is the great longing of those who know the Lord. They recognize that in a sense His kingdom has come, but in another sense, His kingdom will come.

Guest (Male): More powerful teaching from the Briscoes is headed your way, so don't go anywhere. We’ve made a wide array of resources and content available to you online for free at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app. There, you can listen, read, and watch powerful teaching from Stuart and Jill on relevant topics, like the sovereignty of God, the importance of the church, and how to grow closer with Jesus Christ.

You can also request this month’s featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth. Now, here’s Stuart with more of today’s message from his series, "Let Your Light Shine."

Stuart Briscoe: It is here, it came 2,000 years ago as He established His kingdom here through the reign of the Lord Jesus. But slowly and relentlessly and inexorably, the kingdom is spreading and expanding until one day there will be the great glorious resurrection and death will be defeated, and the kingdom will be established. And that is what the believer looks forward to.

This is the theme of his or her life: Thy kingdom come. Now then, the Lord Jesus also said to His disciples, much to their surprise, "This good news of the kingdom must first be preached in all nations, then will the end come." So, in other words, the kingdom was introduced in the ministry of Jesus.

It will come to final consummation in the glorious triumph of Christ over all things in the glorious resurrection at Christ's return. But in the interim, it is the task of the church to be proclaiming the good news of the kingdom so that the good news of the kingdom will be spreading from one place to another, from one person to another, from one society to another, until in the end, the gospel of the kingdom has been preached in all nations, and then, and only then, will the end come.

So the Lord Jesus is introducing His disciples, right at the beginning of His ministry, to a dominant, powerful theme. Now, of course, there's always the issue of, well, what's that got to do with us? Well, what it’s got to do with us, I think, is rather obvious in this sense: that the original little group of disciples who were told that they were to be involved in bringing in the kingdom have long gone.

In fact, generation after generation have gone, but each has contributed to the bringing in of the kingdom. And now we are the present generation. We are the ones who are involved in this great, grand, eternal scheme of God to finally bring in the kingdom of heaven.

And so in the same way that Jesus said to His disciples, "Let your light shine," in this sense—in order that you might be bringing the message of the gospel of the kingdom to all nations—in the same way that he said that to them, He says it to us now. The challenge to the church of Jesus today is: Let your light shine.

Why? Because the message of the kingdom must still be proclaimed. Now, this is basically the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus, and that's the application of it to us today. Now, notice, if you will, three specific things concerning this that I want to draw to your attention.

If we today are to take seriously the idea of being part of this great kingdom movement of the Lord, and we are to take our place in it and let our light shine, the first thing we've got to do is appreciate our calling. The Lord Jesus said to his little group of disciples, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."

This was a powerful statement. It was a powerful statement, first of all, concerning their identity. "This is who you are," He was saying to them. "Look at yourselves. You may not think this, it may not have dawned on you. It's a good thing I told you, you'd never have guessed. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."

Well, who's He talking to? He was talking to people who are described in the Beatitudes. Let me identify for you eight ideal characteristics of the people who are members of the kingdom. And let me identify for you eight specific blessings that are theirs—eight specific privileges of those of us who are in the kingdom. This, in order that we too might be clear about our identity.

Look at what Jesus says in chapter five, verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit. In verse four, blessed are those who mourn. Verse five, blessed are the meek. Verse six, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Verse seven, blessed are the merciful. Verse eight, blessed are the pure in heart. Nine, blessed are the peacemakers. Ten, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

Now, there you have eight ideal characteristics of those who have come intentionally under the rule of God in Christ—who are members of the kingdom. They are kingdom people. First of all, notice that they are those who are poor in spirit. It does not necessarily mean that they are poor economically; it does mean that they are poor spiritually.

People in the kingdom of heaven are those who recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy. They're the kind of people who say, "We have done those things that we ought not to have done." They add further, "We have left undone those things that we ought to have done." And they may conclude in the words of the Anglican Prayer Book, "There is no health in us."

We cannot live the way we ought to, we cannot undo what we've done, we cannot retroactively do what we should have done. We cannot make ourselves fit for heaven, we cannot reconcile ourselves to God, we cannot forgive our own sin. We are spiritually bankrupt.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. What is the attitude to be of those who are poor in spirit? Well, the attitude of some people who know they're poor in spirit is to say, "Well, I never claimed I was perfect anyway." "Well, I never suggested I was a saint." "Well, we're all in the same boat, aren't we?"

"Well, anyway, if you'd known my parents and the dysfunctional family I grew up in..." "Well, of course, the school I went to, you wouldn't believe the kind of stuff they taught me there." And they simply casually shrug it off and say, "Of course, I'm bankrupt spiritually. Isn't everybody bankrupt spiritually?" But that's not kingdom talk.

Kingdom talk says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, and they mourn it." It grieves them. It cuts them to the heart that they recognize how spiritually bankrupt they are before God. And when God leans out of heaven and points out their spiritual bankruptcy to them, they aren't offended.

They don't get angry about it. Or when a preacher tells them that this is what the Scriptures say, they're very meek about it and they're responsive to it, and they're accepting of it. They're not rebellious, they're not reactionary. They are prepared to say, "It is absolutely true. I am spiritually bankrupt."

It deeply concerns me. And if God says this is the case, He's absolutely right, and I accept it as I should. Not only that, I have an insatiable hunger and thirst to be different. I don't like being the way I am. I mourn it, I grieve it, I accept that this is true about me. I'm facing the reality of my own spiritual bankruptcy and, oh, how I long to be right with God.

And how I long to live rightly before God. And because I'm to live before God among people, how I long to live rightly before God by treating people rightly. I hunger and thirst after righteousness. This is a description of kingdom people. Not only that, kingdom people, as they relate to people, do it on an unusual basis.

They are incredibly gracious to them. They are merciful to people, they are forgiving of people. Their attitude is not "Do unto others before they do it unto you." Their attitude is not "Don't get angry, just get even." Their attitude is to be gracious, and their attitude is to be merciful.

They are not interested in winning through intimidation. Their mantra is not looking out for number one. They are merciful people. In fact, they are transparent people, they're pure in heart, and they're simply saying, "All I want is to reach out before God and to live rightly before him and to be..."