evening sermon

I did not get to hear the morning sermon since I was driving in from Fort Worth. More on that perhaps later. Maybe. The gospel reading provoked three questions from the pastor:

1. What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

2. Who are my mother and my brothers?

3. Does a kingdom divided on itself inevitably fall?

The first two have been discussed a lot. I think he gave good answers. But I am interested in the third question since he had a unique take on this. He said that the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God are on completely different levels. God is the creator, Satan is simply God's creation who rebelled and became evil. Satan's kingdom, like a worldly kingdom, can fall when divided.

But God's kingdom is on an entirely different plane. God's kingdom can and will be divided. Past experience and history shows us that the church of God is always fighting amongst themselves. Yet it will stand because God will make it stand. Jesus goes on to explain that if one wants to steal from someone, first you bind him up, then steal from him. If you are not able to do that it would be foolish to try.

Well no one can bind up Jesus. He is God's son. However that is just what Jesus did, he bound up Satan and plundered the souls that Satan proposed to take for himself.

So when Jesus spoke of a kingdom divided upon itself he was talking about earthly kingdoms, the kind his hearers would be familiar with. But God's kingdom is uniquely different. Thank God that even with division God's kingdom will finally stand. It has stood for two millenia now and so we can be confident that despite all the petty fighting and disagreements on doctrine it will continue to stand. This is to God's glory really. Praise God that he is God and we are not!