Can we commit to the Kingdom?

By Paul Granger
May 16, 2025

This comes from a sermon given at East End Fellowship on May 4, 2025

Kingdom Commitment

20 years ago I was in the old, tiny gym at Campbell University for some sporting event, which is odd, because my friends can tell you I am not a sports guy. I have no idea why I was there, but I’m fairly confident I didn’t want to be there any longer than required.

So you can imagine my reaction when my friend Randy slides over and whispers, “hey Paul… don’t go anywhere, stay here when everybody leaves.”

When I asked why, he simply looked at me coyly, said “I can’t tell you,” and slipped away.

Here’s the thing: I knew Randy to be a guy who could make unexpected things happen. Having enough faith in his vague invitation to stay, I remained, even though there were a million things I’d rather be doing. Eventually the crowds cleared, and though I was tired of waiting, Randy still said to trust him. The clock approached midnight, and I still had no idea why I was there.

Finally, when the gym was empty, but for a scattered few, Randy glanced around, and confident there were no rogue ears, quietly announced, “We’re about to play basketball with Lifehouse.”

If you aren’t familiar, Lifehouse rose to fame in 2000 with their hit “Hanging by a moment,” (“Desperate for changing”) and Campbell University happened to snag them for a concert on campus. They arrived in town a night early, and when the SGA officer Michelle picked them up, they said, “Hey, we know it’s getting late, but we want to play basketball. You think you can arrange that?” Michelle had to find a way to get enough guys for a game, without alerting the entire campus to the presence of a rock band, and she knew Randy was the guy to get it done.

So, as the rest of the campus went to sleep, I joined a small crew of guys in losing to Billboard Music Award winning Lifehouse in a pick-up game of basketball. I even have photo evidence of hanging by a moment with them.

I nearly missed this opportunity. I was far from satisfied with Randy’s explanation and was sure I had better plans for my night. I believed Randy knew something I didn’t, but since he wasn’t going to force me to stay, I had to commit to remaining in that space. I had to choose to believe his plan was better than mine, and stay at the table no matter how long and confusing it became.

Over the last 4 months my spiritual family has spent time learning of another strange invitation, to commit to a Kingdom that often makes no sense and presents significant unknowns. We have use the “Kingdom Come” Sermon series to explore scripture where Jesus attempts to describe what this Kingdom is like while ultimately knowing we will struggle to grasp it, even to the point of rejection. His life and message make it clear that to pursue the Kingdom takes faith – even the size of a mustard seed – though it requires something more.

Jesus says in Mark 12:30 that our most important call is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus emphasizes that loving God with only our understanding – our mind – or even also our faith – our heart – is incomplete. We are called to love God with all our mind and heart, as well as all of our soul and all of our strength; every aspect of who we are. This requires a level of commitment we rarely live into anywhere in life, because it demands everything.

We want it to be as easy as it was for me to commit to Randy’s mystery plan; when God says “Trust me”, we simply stick around. The stakes were low that night; it often seems the opposite in Scripture. It’d be like if Randy said, “Trust me, there will be something great if you wait… but heads up, you may be insulted, persecuted, or killed. There’s a chance you could be publicly tried for heresy, or have to face a huge army, or get thrown in a furnace… Trust me though!”

When it comes to our willingness and ability to commit to something, we all have lines drawn in the sand; what do we do when Kingdom Commitment is miles beyond all our lines?

Our text today comes from Philippians 3, starting with verse 4:

4 If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Our citizenship is in heaven. This is the promise of the Kingdom Come sermon series. We do not have to settle for any of these fallible earthly kingdoms, nor be under the control of corrupt earthly leaders. We are invited to a Kingdom whose Savior has the power to bring everything under his control and transform us into something glorious.

We have heard this. Perhaps we believe it. Maybe we want to seek it. But if you’re like me, it’s easy to stop at the line in the sand, unable to take another step toward Kingdom commitment. It’s easy to choose these earthly kingdoms, and as a result live as enemies of the cross of Christ, following other gods as we set our minds on earthly things.

I want to take us to a hard place, but before I do, know that there is good news ahead. If we feel the weight of the hard, it may actually equip us to embrace the good.

The hard place is that committing to God’s Kingdom may be impossible for even the best of us.

We see this throughout scripture:

In Luke 9, we encounter several potential disciples invited to follow Jesus, who say, “Yes… but first I need to do something else.” Jesus bluntly responds in verse 62, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” They desired to seek the Kingdom, but their minds held other things as higher priorities.
In Matthew 19, we meet a man who has kept all the commandments but can tell something is missing, and so asks Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” When Jesus tells him to sell everything, he walks away sorrowful; he desired to seek the Kingdom, but the cost seemed too great.
In Isaiah 58, God describes a body of people saying, “day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways,” and then reveals that their fasting is actually yielding the oppression and harm of others. They desired to seek the Kingdom daily, but continued to live in the old, self-focused human kingdom.
In John 6, Jesus’ teachings get harder, and when a large group of disciples grumble, Jesus makes it clear that flesh would never be able to accept his words, and they needed the Spirit from God in order to follow him. John 6:66 follows, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” They desired to seek the Kingdom, giving up their livelihoods to do so, but it became far too confusing, foolish, and difficult.

And we have already heard the Apostle Paul’s story. He was convinced that he was “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” as he faultlessly followed every Jewish tradition from infancy, religiously excelling to become a Hebrew of Hebrew and revered Pharisee, entrusted with rooting out and eliminating all threats to God’s Kingdom. He was the best of the best, and then Jesus knocked him off his feet. Imagine the pain of that moment when all his efforts to serve God seemed to be for nothing, all his understanding flawed, so much of his life wasted.

All of these stories reveal the limitations of our good intentions, our efforts, our knowledge, our expertise, our outcomes, our confidence. The best of us on our best day can find ourselves like any of these, invited to commit to the Kingdom and falling short.

This is such hard news because we have all been there. We know what it is to desire to seek God, to make efforts to pursue him, only to misstep, or get distracted, or outright reject him. If you’re like me, you have a long list, a daily list, even an hourly list of not committing to the Kingdom of God. Paul captures it well in Romans 7, beginning in verse 14:

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

More than many others, Paul explicitly knew how he was called to live, and so when he with his own heart, mind, soul and strength did the opposite, he felt wretched, “the chief of sinners.”

Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God,” and if even the Apostle Paul can’t do it, what hope is there for us to serve in the Kingdom?

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me… our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:12,20-21

Jesus is the good news. It is impossible for us to fully commit to the Kingdom, but, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

One of the reasons it’s impossible is we don’t comprehend the Kingdom; one of the ways God makes it possible is He is revealing His mysteries.

For centuries His words were studied but the fullness missed; as Isaiah 6:9 puts it, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” In a desire to understand them – perhaps even control them – God’s words were molded and contorted to fit our earthly kingdoms, creating fruitless, conflicting, often destructive paths. God sent prophets to clarify His voice, though many didn’t want to hear it.

Jesus came and spent years revealing the truth of God’s word, though people misunderstood the Kingdom so thoroughly they called him a heretic; he replies in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

At one point Peter catches a glimpse of the Kingdom, and Jesus was quick to make it clear how: “this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) In fact, Jesus knew it would be so hard for them to embrace the Kingdom that there was already a plan in place:

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:25-26

This Spirit then goes on to speak through Peter, and Stephen, and others in Acts, revealing spiritual realities through uneducated mouths. The Spirit even spoke through educated mouths, upending the false understandings to make way for Truth. As Paul says in Colossians 1:25-27:

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

This brings us to today: the mysteries of God have been revealed while we are still wrapped up in our earthly kingdoms, and He invites us to commit in a way far beyond our capacities and desires.

Kingdom Commitment comes not through us, but the Spirit through us.

We need the Spirit; we continue to live as though we don’t. When we let earthly kingdoms hold real estate in our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, we can end up not just missing the Kingdom of God, but opposing it. We just talked about the Spirit revealing the truth of Jesus to Peter; do you know what happens mere verses later? His mind is so caught in his human kingdom understanding that he rebukes Jesus for not avoiding death.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:23

Let’s be honest: we often don’t have in mind the concerns of God either. Fortunately, Jesus immediately reveals the way:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

Paul affirms this in Philippians 3:7-9:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him

The way to Kingdom Commitment is denying all else but the Kingdom. “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” not just first as in priority, but foremost, fully, all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This will be hard, because our logic, understanding, and desires are so convincing; scripture does not hesitate to call this out:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-20

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? …23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:18-20, 23-25

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

The kingdoms of this world say that your life is the most important thing; the Kingdom of Heaven says whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

The kingdoms of this world say the “here and now” matters; the Kingdom of Heaven says the “here and now” will eventually become “there and then”, and only the eternal remains.

The kingdoms of this world will say a lot, and will always miss Truth. Today, you have a God who loves you, a Savior who made a way for you, and a Spirit that guides and equips you.

It is impossible for you to live into Kingdom Commitment; it is possible for God to live it through you. Today we can choose which Kingdom will hold our citizenship, and then live into that truth. It is an invitation that spans scripture, like Joshua 24:15:

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living [insert our gods?]. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

I want to invite us to marinate in this invitation. Today, we can choose citizenship in His Kingdom, and the King can empower us to commit. This can all sound profoundly lofty and spiritual, so let’s make it simple:

Right now, you can step toward Kingdom Commitment in a simple way. Invite the Spirit to speak; feel free to use prompts like these:

Are there ways you are struggling with commitment to the Kingdom?
Are there ways you are rejecting the Kingdom?
Is there something you are sensing God inviting you to do today as an act of choosing the Kingdom?
How has the Spirit already enabled commitment that you can celebrate and continue?

As you process, I invite you to engage physically by literally taking a step; you can step toward someone on the wall for prayer, toward the pillows along the stage, or toward someone nearby, sharing what God has revealed. If it all feels too much, you can even take a simple, discrete toe-nudge forward where you are to show God you are trying. Ultimately, we are seeking to love God with our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and responding with our body can bring that verse to life.

As Philippians 3:16 exhorts, only let us live up to this Kingdom we have already attained.