The Vineyard Church of North Grand Rapids, MI

Newsweek ran an article this past week: Biblical Living
Interview A.J. Jacobs, formerly senior editor of Esquire that spent a year following every rule and prohibition ever listed in the Bible.

Jacobs spent the year carrying around a stapled list of the more than 700 rules and prohibitions identified in the Good Book, and also consulted with religious leaders and spent time with the Amish, Hassidic Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses.

What, if any, rules are you still following?
I'm not Ghandi or Angelina Jolie, but I made some strides. The experience changed me in big ways and small ways. There's a lot about gratefulness in the Bible, and I would say I'm more thankful. I focus on the hundred little things that go right in a day, instead of the three or four things that go wrong. And I love the Sabbath. Also, during the experiment I wore a lot of white clothes, because Ecclesiastes says let your garments always be white, and I loved it. Wearing white just made me happier. I couldn't be in a bad mood walking down the street looking like I was about to play in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Are you a more religious person as a result of this experiment?
Well, I started the year as an agnostic, and now I am a reverent agnostic. Whether or not there is a God, I believe in sacredness.

Most of the religious figures you met with seemed very willing to help you with your quest. Were you afraid anyone would be offended by the idea of you doing this as a commercial project, or see it as a gimmick?
Yes, I thought I would encounter that. I didn't encounter it that much, and I don't know why. Maybe because I went in really curious, I didn't go in to mock religion. It was much more a journey to understand. There are parts of the book where I take the Bible literally and show that that is not a good way to read the Bible. So there is that aspect to the book, but at the same time it is an earnest spiritual quest where I'm trying to figure out if something's missing in my life and what I should tell my kids about religion. I actually invited a Jehovah's Witness over to my apartment, and I think I'm the only person in history who out-Bible-talked a Jehovah's Witness. After three hours, he looked at his watch and told me he had to leave.

What rule was the hardest to follow?
Two kinds of rules were hard. Avoiding sins we commit every day like lying, gossiping and coveting was hard, and then there were the rules that were hard to do in modern life, like stoning adulterers. But I did manage to fulfill that one. What happened was, I was in the park, dressed in my white garb, and this man in his 70s came over and asked what I was doing. I explained I was trying to follow every rule in the Bible as literally as possible, including growing my beard, not mixing fibers, stoning adulterers, and he said, "I'm an adulterer, are you going to stone me?" I said, "Yeah that would be great." The Bible doesn't say what size the stones have to be, so I had been carrying around these pebbles in my pocket for just such an occasion. I took the pebbles out of my pocket, and he instantly picked one up and threw it at me, so I decided, an eye for an eye, and I tossed one at him. I tried to say to the guy, you shouldn't sleep with other women, but I don't know if it sunk in.


Is that what it means to live Biblically? What really is the point of the Bible? What is at the center of the Christian message?

If you've ever visited other churches, you know that you can tell a lot about what's important to a church by the Sunday service. Some churches put worship right at the center. They put a lot of money into making the music exciting and loud. Some churches put the Bible right at the center. Some churches would say Bible study is the heart and soul of their church life. You'd know it because on Sunday you'd hear the click-and-clack of notebooks opening during the service and whooshing of Bible pages turning. If you've ever visited a charismatic church you'd notice that the center of their faith is experiencing the power and presence of God. People talk about visitations from angels and spiritual experiences. Their congregation might travel extensively to find a speaker with a lot of anointing. Still at other churches you might sense that the center of Christianity is protecting people from the danger of the world. They'd probably dress differently than the rest of American culture. Hairstyles might look like the 1940's. There might be a whole new language system developed and kids would be protected from playing with other kids in the neighborhood. Many churches look like that.

This morning we're starting a new series, called Naturally Supernatural, and it is a study of what is at the center of the Vineyard movement of churches. It defines what we're about and what we think is most important. Now, of course, some of the other things I mentioned are very important to us as well, like worship, and knowing the Bible, but in this series we'll look at a topic that is foundational for the Vineyard Church. We believe this is what Christianity is about, its what Jesus taught.

Let's turn to the beginning of Mark's Gospel. In chapter 1:14, Jesus begins his public ministry.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"

In all four gospels, Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God, and in three, this message begins his teaching. Why did the gospels writers begin this way? Because the "kingdom of God" was and is the central teaching of Jesus. That's what he talked about most. That's what most of his parables were about. That's what he sent his disciples out to preach.

As we read this in 21st century America, we're forced to ask the question, where in the world is the Kingdom of God? Just ask the another person sitting in your row: do you know what Jesus was talking about? The Kingdom of God is near? Most modern Christians don't know what Jesus was talking about.

Was he saying, "come on, its just over this bend, just along the yellow brick road, I'm off to see the wizard"? Was he talking about heaven, as in, "soon you'll die and see God's castle in the sky?" Was Jesus saying, I'm about to start the church a new religious organization called the church, and that's the kingdom? Was he saying, its like this, you've got to alter your state of mind so you can see the kingdom, so like a hippie you could say "yeah, there it is, the kingdom of God, I see it now"?

Quite frankly, those are modern ideas. None of the people listening to Jesus that day in Galilee would have heard any of those things. Because in that phrase (the kingdom is near), Jesus was simply reviving an old hope that everyone knew well: "God's kingdom come."

I. Jesus revived an old hope: ‘God's Kingdom come'
Any Jew would say, we've been waiting for the kingdom. For 600 years we've been waiting for the kingdom.

Our prophets promised that God would come for us. That he'd rescue us from the Babylonians, that he'd rescue us now from the Romans. We've been praying every day for the kingdom. And you're saying its near?

The Jews were waiting for a very real kingdom to come that would overthrow the occupying government. The prophet Daniel had spoken of a very real kingdom that God would establish: "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." (Daniel 2:44)

Isaiah proclaimed that "The LORD will march out like a champion...and will triumph over his enemies." (Isaiah 42:13)

ILLUS: fantasy on the bus of a karate instructor

That's where the Jewish people had lived for centuries.
As a people group, they'd been embarrassed, overtaken, oppressed, enslaved. The kingdom come meant God was going to come down and validate their religion, validate all their suffering, validate their righteousness. Finally the world would see their true greatness.

ILLUS: religious person: wouldn't it be wonderful if God would come down here and validate me?

But look at the passage, right from the beginning, we see that Jesus' message wasn't going to meet expectations. Let's read again, "After John was put in prison...

Repent! Why repent? Most of us read the word repent and think, ‘oh Jesus is going after their sin.' Just like fire and brimstone preacher, Jesus is about to take them task on all the white lies, the cheating, the stealing. Somebody's gotta pay.

But ‘repent' has a much bigger meaning. He's saying: the kingdom is here and you've got it entirely wrong. You've gotta turn your whole worldview around. I didn't come to destroy your enemies, I came to save them. I didn't come to validate, I came to renovate. I'm about to turn some tables on this whole religious enterprise.

The Jews that heard him knew that God was going to come, but they didn't think it would look like this, but

II. When the Kingdom comes, Heaven Invades Earth
And heaven suprises everyone

Let's look again at Mark's gospel:
After calling disciples, the story really begins fast. (I'm going to give you the play-by-play)
Verse 21, says "They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. And then a man at the synagogue lets out a shriek because he's being afflicted by an evil spirit.
Most rabbis would remove the agitator, but Jesus sends away the spirit breaks the power of evil in his life. And news spreads over the whole region we see in verse 28.

That night, he goes looking for more disciples and discovers a man name Simon whose mother-in-law sick. According to some in the Jewish community, her sickness was also thought of as a spiritual punishment from God. But Jesus steps into their bent religious system and heals this woman.

Verse 29 says that that evening the "people brought to Jesus all the sick demon-possessed from the whole area, and he heals them all.

By morning, he can barely escape to pray, and his disciples come running, saying, "Jesus, everyone is looking for you!"

The text says he went all throughout the region preaching the kingdom and casting out demons.

As he traveled, Mark tells us a leper approaches Jesus, which in those days would have been an enormous for the man. But Jesus, filled with compassion, reaches out to an outcast, a man that was considered unclean, the walking dead, and heals him. Everyone knew that there was no cure for leprousy, only God can heal a leper.

And it just goes on, we read about Jesus healing a paralyzed man, even forgiving his sins.

But just when they start to think he's a religious leader, he has dinner with tax collectors and sinners. Now in those times, having dinner wasn't like sitting down for some fast food across from strangers. Jesus was wining and dining, relaxing and enjoying the company of people whose live's would make a Jewish parent cover their children's eyes.

In Jesus, we see the hope of heaven, the kingdom invading earth.
When the kingdom comes, its not a castle in the sky, not a religious organization, it's the King Himself defeating evil, changing lives, bringing hope.

III. When Heaven Invades, We Discover the King

The Kingdom is not a place, a church, a state of mind, its not heaven, its simply God's will [as it is being done in heaven] invading earth.
That's why Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is [already being done] in heaven.

You see, in heaven, God's will is being done all the time: There is no sickness, no evil, no pain. There are no outsiders, no loneliness, no oppression. That is what it looks like when the King gets his way, and that's great news!

Now you may have thought the Vineyard was all about worship (we have our own record label, great contemporary music), but what we're really into is the Kingdom, giving God His way in our lives. When God gets his way, that's good news.

Lisa: healed during worship

God broke through the barriers in my life (pastor's home) through worship

Alpha class: I felt moved to tears during worship

In the same way we see the crowds pressing in to see Jesus in the gospels, we see people press in when Jesus' spirit is present with us during worship.

This weekend I had two of the leaders of the Vineyard church in Indonesia in my home. They told me how heaven is invading earth in Indonesia:
uncommon generosity with Muslims,
orphans welcomed into family (70 teens)
God is even revealing himself to Muslims in dreams and they're joining the church.

That is God getting his way

As you read Naturally Supernatural, you'll read all kinds of stories, not of wild experiences with angels in the basement of a Pentecostal church, but stories of how God breaks into the world to give hope and life and healing to people that don't even believe in Him.

But some of you would ask, why doesn't the King always get his way? Why does God not heal everyone? Why do we sometimes pray and the sick get sicker? And so we're tempted to think that maybe Jesus was talking about the next life.

But clearly, Jesus preached and demonstrated with miracles that the kingdom is near, that you can experience it, you can taste it, its spreading. But Jesus also said that the kingdom is NOT fully here. You're tasting it, but its not coming all at once. When Jesus talks about the kingdom, he sometimes says its here and you're already receiving it, but then he talked about the kingdom in the future, one day the Son of Man will come again, with "all the nations gathered before him...and will say "here's your inheritance, the Kingdom of God."

Many people are caught off guard by that. There is a delay to the kingdom. We see heaven invade earth, but we still live with the hope of heaven. Some people are healed, some are not. Sometimes we pray and the sick get sicker. We ask for heaven to invade, but this is not yet heaven.  God is waiting, he's giving us a chance to receive his kingdom willingly, and not by force.

And so we live with great pain and disappointment in life, even as we await Jesus' promises for the life to come.

III. While the kingdom is delayed, we live by faith

We're believing the good news from Jesus...that God is near, that He's good, that He intends to get His way in the end.)

Now this is difficult for a lot of people, me included, and so some of us are tempted in one of two directions.

Some Christians think that faith means believing so hard that God answers your prayers. Like, maybe I'm not doing it right. The preacher told me to name what I want and claim, and its not happening. Maybe I've just got to believe harder, get all the doubt out of my mind. Maybe I'm not receiving all that God promises, all that Jesus' died for because I haven't found the right anointed person to pray for me.

That's not faith, its fantasy (or worse).

1. Real faith kingdom is trust, not fantasy: trusting Jesus' good news, that God is good, and he's kind, and he's able to heal, just like Jesus showed us.

Jesus told his followers they'd have trouble in this world, that they'd have to wait for heaven, but he showed us that God is powerful, that we can depend on Him, that He's good.


Some people are tempted to go another direction. We don't see  the kingdom in our lives, and so we decide not to pray anymore, maybe God is just gonna do what God is gonna do. Jesus is gone and all we have is his book. I'm just waiting for heaven when I die.

2. But Jesus invites us to real faith, not fatalism.
Jesus taught us to think like this during the Sermon on the Mount: "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish will give him a snake. If you though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask them."




Carol Taylor, one of our home group leaders, spreading her husband's ashes yesterday.
Saved in the 70's, dopers meeting Jesus People, high on Jesus.

Years ago, started listening to a popular Christian teacher who built her faith, "stirred us to greater faith, taught us to base life on the ‘The Word'", but she said also left her with this perspective that if Bible stories are true, than "it gotta happen, it must happen to me, all the time." She said, in those years, "I was almost afraid to admit I was ever sick, like I was admitting defeat, or a lack of faith.

A few years ago Carol and her husband first came to Vineyard, she said "It rubbed me the wrong way: all this kingdom talk about ‘some get healed, some don't.' And yet it was nice to ‘be real' for a change, I could tell God was really here."

Now Carol's, Russ, at the time, was pretty reluctant about coming to church, in fact for most of their adult life he hadn't wanted anything to do with church. He'd spent most of his life making a living, but doing drugs and staying clear of religion.

But a couple years ago, Russ was diagnosed with cancer. And by the time it was diagnosed, it was pretty far along.
And so of course, we started to pray for Russ, and we prayed with a lot of faith.

And something dramatic began to happen. Russ experienced a spiritual awakening that all of his adult children saw, Carol said she felt like she was married to a new man. Russ said for the first time in decades, "I just want to be as close to Jesus as I can." But still, his health worsened.

A year ago in July, Carol said she felt moved to go to a prophetic conference on the other side of the state. While her and Russ were, the speaker actually called him out, and said, "I see God working in your life, and I see the diagnosis, its being wiped clean. There's long life in you, you'll live to see grandchildren." Carol said, "We were believin' it."

After the conference, Carol and Russ really tried to stir up their faith. They were both sayin', I know he's healed. I know I'm healed. I'm believin'.

But as Russ' conditioned continued to get worse, Carol's daughter said, "Mom, what are you going to do if you don't get your miracle."

And by January of 2007, Russ passed away. A miracle had happened Russ had become a new man, for the first time in decades he was full of life and hope and trust in God. But, his life was over. Carol said, it was a miracle, a real answer to a lifetime of prayers, but not the one I was expecting.

That is the tension of the kingdom. Its here, but we don't see it all.

Carol also told me how well meaning Christian people tried to explain it, "well, maybe there was some doubt, you know you gotta get the doubt out.

Carol said, I even questioned afterwards, "did I fail him?" Did I doubt.

Without understanding the tension of the kingdom, people say the craziest things.
Some old acquaintance whom Carol ran into said, "you know, you should call this friend of mine from another church, her husband died of cancer and she said, "Oh, I don't even need a husband. I've got the Holy Spirit." She's so filled with faith she's never had any grief.

Jesus invites us to faith, not fantasy, not fatalism.

But because of Jesus' message, we don't have to blame, we can just accept that life is complicated, the kingdom is delayed.


Carol's leading a Naturally Supernatural home group this fall, she's already sped read the book, and so I asked her, do you think you can still go on praying after Russ' death.

She said, "I don't understand why Russ is gone, but I know God can heal and that he's good, so I'm still praying for others.

3. Faith is the trust to keep asking

Some of us have lost true faith: that God is still good. Or that he doesn't need his arm twisted by our "Believin"

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