The Gospel of Luke: Longing for the Kingdom - Audio

Sermon Notes 5/3/26 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.” 22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.[i] 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”[j] 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse[k] is, there the vultures[l] will gather.” Luke: 17: 20-37 We, innately, have a longing for a king and powerful leader and the influence that brings to us individually. . In this verse, Jesus starts with addressing those on the outside first - the Pharisees - telling them the kingdom is not a physical place, or one of worldly influence. Jesus says that his kingdom does not display what we assume kingdoms should. If we go looking for the kingdom of God in the places we expect a kingdom to be. Any kingdom we find that promises everything we want, and claims to have Jesus, is nothing more than a house of cards. Instead, the kingdom of God is in the “midst of you.” The Pharisees are told, point blank, that the Kingdom is not within themselves, but rather standing physically among them at that very moment! It is Christ Jesus! The kingdom of God is not locked up in political power, or a location, but in a “Who.” To see the kingdom of God, look to Jesus and not take our eyes off of Him. . Then Jesus turns his attention to the disciples. He uses this as a moment to warn us. Hardship has a tendency to make us desperate. Struggle will increase, and in your longing, false prophets will tell us “the end of your struggle is over there.” But Jesus tells us, DON’T GET DISTRACTED! Many of us define God’s will by the path of least resistance. That’s why we’re so easily distracted and lead astray. In our desperation and longing for Christ, we are easily distracted by counterfeit christs who offer us ease, and require nothing of us. Stay. On. The. Path. Don’t turn to deception in our exhaustion, because that’s when deception is at its strongest. Christ gives us several descriptions to protect us! He tells us when He comes back, everyone will know. It will be undebatable. There will be NO room for skepticism. None will foresee it, but everyone will see it at once. He also tells us that His return will come with suffering and persecution. Jesus tells us His kingdom will come through suffering. So, the return of Christ will NOT come with ease and everything we want. So we should not lose focus on Christ in our own suffering. When you suffer for Jesus, it doesn’t mean you are outside of God. It means that you are most likely, right where you need to be. And we should remain undistracted by the normal good of life. The pursuit of the normal good life can be incredibly distracting. When Christ comes back, life will be normal. We’re living, working, playing, eating and drinking, and we’re in relationships. It’s SUPER easy to build a life without Christ. People think that there’s going to be a lead up to the return of Christ - things changing, stuff start shutting down. But it’s going to be abrupt. That’s what Christ is telling us here. The normal good life carries the ability to mask our pursuit of Christ. Jesus will one day show up, and the life we live with is the life we will be judge by. The normal good life doesn’t sound too evil. But if we’re hypnotized by it, and we have no energy placed in the pursuit of Jesus when He shows up, then we’ll lose our life and the life we hoped to live. Lastly, the arrival of the Kingdom will cause separation. Many, in the end, will cling to the life behind us. We shouldn’t. In order to say hello to the kingdom of God, we must say goodbye to the kingdom of men. And not be surprised when we must cut ties with people who love us and things we love. The king you were made to long for is not any person who exists in your time. You were made to long for Christ. Keep your eyes fixed on Him through the distractions.