So what do you know about the kingdom? Jesus talked about a kingdom, and I want to talk about that tonight. I want to talk about what you know about that kingdom.
And he talked about it in two different ways. He called it the kingdom of heaven; he called it the kingdom of God. There are theologians that debate what the difference what the difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God is.
But what do you know? What do you know about the kingdom? Like, what does that mean to you? What does that conjure up? What experiences does that remind you of?
Because for many of us — and many in the world — there’s kind of a dialogue that’s been going on for a long time about the kingdom. And one group of people believe that the kingdom’s to come. You know, that it’s not fully here; not fully realized. That it will come when we die or some later date, and that we’ll see the kingdom. But it’s not here now, but it will be here. And it’s a work in progress.
But others believe that the kingdom is fully present right here, right now, and that we just don’t always notice it. We don’t always experience it. We don’t always live into that.
And then the question of: Well if it’s here now, then why not? Why don’t we experience it? Why aren’t we in that experience of the kingdom if it’s fully here right now? What’s going on?
And as we start these 40 days of gratitude, I want to talk about this kingdom. Because I think that gratitude has a role in accessing that level of goodness; that level of life; that level of abundance; that level of God; that level of goodness. That Jesus talked about as a theme over and over again; he talked about the kingdom.
So the Gospel of Thomas, which is an uncanonized Gospel, was found in the ’40s. Many Bible scholars believe that it was the authentic words of Jesus. But it’s a Gnostic Gospel. So in the Gospel of Thomas in Saying 113 we read this:
“The disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’ And Jesus said, ‘It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying, ‘Here it is’ or ‘There it is.’ But rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.'”
Right? So he’s pretty clear — right? — in this verse that it’s already here. That it’s present; it’s right spread out upon the earth. That there is the dimension of life that we live in, but there is this higher dimension. There’s this higher possibility that is fully available to us, and yet most of us don’t see it. Most of us don’t experience it. Most of us don’t really believe. Most of us have not really accessed it at the level that’s possible.
But we see spiritual teachers throughout time that have talked about a kingdom and have lived it; have touched it; and have talked about it. In Luke 12:20-21 we read:
“Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, ‘When will the kingdom of God be coming?’ And he said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will we say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is’! For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”
So I want to challenge us tonight. I want us to challenge our current reality. And I want you to see your current reality as your life exactly the way it is. But I want you to be curious about: What if there’s more? What if there’s infinitely more? And yet we were raised in an environment that doesn’t allow us to fully experience; doesn’t allow us to fully see it.
In last week’s talk, I talked about seeing with new eyes. And I told story after story about perceptional differences; about how one group sees it this way and another group sees it this way. I told the story about the study with the kittens who couldn’t see. And that one group could see vertical lines and one group could see horizontal lines. But the idea is — what I want us to really access — is this understanding that: How do we move from a sense of separation to oneness? How do move from lack to the infinite? How do we move from fear and hatred to love? How do we move from feeling victimized to living on purpose? How do we move from a sense of isolation to a sense of connectedness? How do we move from our current reality to the experience of the kingdom?
And I’d like to suggest tonight that gratitude is one of the most significant ways for us to access the kingdom of heaven. That for the next 40 days — as we say, “Thank you, God; thank you, God; thank you, God!” over and over again — it moves us from a sense of lack and limitation and separateness and fear and hatred into this experience of a much bigger, broader experience of life; of goodness; of possibilities; of the Divine.
And that we think that we’re saying, “Thank you for all the stuff.” But what happens is, when we commit to living a life of pure gratitude, is it moves us out of a realm of limitation into a reality that Jesus called the kingdom. Where you were in the experience of the full goodness of God. Where you stepped out of the ego reality, and you stepped into a level of spiritual reality; of oneness; of a divine nature.
And so over and over again, what I want you to see is: I believe the kingdom fully exists! That it’s fully present right here, right now. And that most of us don’t get it. Most of us haven’t touched it. Most of us live in our limitation and our reality of lack.
And over and over again, as we focus on gratitude, I imagine it as a set of stairs that take us to a higher plane; that take us to a higher reality; that take us to a higher possibility. And that it’s fully present right here, right now.
And you’re, “Richard, that’s just a little weird.”
I know! [Congregation laughs] Right? I know! Right? I mean, I know!
But what if the kingdom of heaven is at hand? What if it’s fully present? And we spend our years missing it? That would be disappointing! Right? It would be disappointing if we spent all of our life wanting something, needing something, believing in something, and it was always here … but we missed it!
In Mark 1:15 we see:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.”
Now, repent is a scary word. Right? I went to concerts; you know, I came of age in the ’70s, and I went to concerts in the ’70s. And in the ’70s if you went to a concert, there was always the guy with the 20-foot sign that said, “Repent or go to hell.” Right? Did you all see him? And he was scary! Like, I mean; I knew I was doing stuff that was definitely on the edge, right? [Congregation laughs] And I was already worried about that, right? So he’s got this big sign and, man, I’m already worried that I’m a half-step there. And it was scary! Right?
But really, the definition of repent just means to change! It’s just talking about a transformation. It’s talking about a change: of changing from seeing life one way to seeing another. To believe in the Gospels. To believe that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
See, you can’t see what you don’t believe in. You can literally not see what you don’t believe in. If you believe that you’re unworthy of the kingdom; if you believe that you’re unworthy of all the good that God is, that’s your reality.
And repenting is the transformation of going from not seeing it and going … How many of you remember the movie, Field of Dreams? There’s a great scene. Remember his brother-in-law? His brother-in-law is, “You’ve got to sell the farm; you’ve burned up all this cropland making this baseball thing.” And then his daughter; she hurts herself. And in that moment, he looks up and he sees it. He says, “You can’t sell this farm! You can’t sell this baseball field!” Because he sees it! He went from not seeing to seeing that quickly.
And we see people — we read about people — who have been blind to the possibilities and then, in a moment, they see it.
Mark 10:
“And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, ‘Let the children come unto me and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. For truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not be able to enter in.’ And he took the children by the hand and he blessed them, and he laid his hands upon them.”
So here’s my understanding of this, and this is why this is important. You know, people talk about this Scripture and they talk about childlike faith. That we have to have childlike faith to experience the kingdom. And what I truly believe it is: It’s that place of innocence. That place of pure innocence, where we are in the experience of the goodness of life; the goodness of God; the goodness of the moment. Where we feel completely safe.
And I want you to think back to a time in your life where you felt completely safe. Where you just absolutely were in the experience of goodness. Where you lived and moved and had your very being in that experience of goodness. And then for most of us, there was something that happened that traumatized us. You know, that was disconcerting; that was painful; that shut us down.
And next week I’m going to talk about forgiveness. Because I believe that, if we’re going to live in the kingdom of heaven, that many of us — if not all of us — have things that we have to forgive to move back into that state of original innocence. That there are conditions that we’re holding on to that are actually keeping us from experiencing the fullness of God that we have to forgive. We have to forgive!
And so next week that’s where we’re going, because if the kingdom of heaven is at hand; if it’s the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom, then we have to be willing to step into this … not from our place of woundedness. Like, from your place of woundedness, you can’t see it. You can’t have it. Not because God doesn’t want to give it to you, but we have to have the eyes that allow us to see the kingdom that is fully available to us.
Matthew 10:7 says:
“Proclaim as you say, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'”
Will you say that with me?
[With congregation]: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
“Thank you, God, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Together: [with congregation] “Thank you, God, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And I want to challenge you that, no matter how great your life is today — no matter how special or wonderful or fabulous or not — I want to challenge you to step into a higher realm and to step into a higher possibility where you’re accessing a level of divine oneness; goodness; peace; love; joy that is radically wonderful.
John 16:33:
“Have I not said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”
Right? That’s what forgiveness does for us. It allows us to move from our woundedness and to step into the kingdom of heaven.
And over and over again, as we give thanks we step into a higher realm of possibilities.
Also from the Gospel of Thomas, the third verse:
“The kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you. When you come to know yourself, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the Living Father.”
Now, it’s universal. “Daughters of the living Father.” Right? That the kingdom of heaven is within you and it’s outside of you. When you become …
“When you know yourself, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the Living Father.”
From Matthew 6:33:
“But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and then everything else is given unto you.”
Like, this is the most important thing! That we move out of our sense of separation and our reality of separation, and of our reality of lack, and we step into the kingdom of all the good that God has. And I truly believe … And if we start from this place that gratitude is the path. Because if you say, “Thank you, God!” over and over again for the next 40 days, you will cultivate a spirit of gratitude. Not just in your mind, but in your soul and in your heart! You will live a sense of gratitude! And we actually then begin to access a greater level of life.
Because I believe — and this is scientifically unproven … [Congregation laughs] I believe that 97% of life is wholly perfect and wonderful exactly the way it is. And I believe that 3% of life is what we’re working on. But if we focus on the 3%, it denies that 97% of our life is fantastic!
And you can ask people who are 97% blessed, “How you doing?” And they’ll start giving you a list of the 3% of what’s wrong! [Congregation laughs] They won’t give you the list of the 97 things that have worked out for them: that they crossed the street without the bus [congregation laughs] or they had lunch, or whatever it is. They won’t give you the 97%; they’ll give you the 3%.
And so for the next 40 days, we’re going to focus on the 97%. And we’re going to give thanks so much and so often, it’s actually going to lift us out of the limitations in our life and move us into a higher realm of being, where we can see more clearly the glory of God all around us.
So there’s three levels of gratitude I want to talk about tonight.
The first one is: “THANK YOU FOR …” And this is just … How many of you learned to say, “Thank you” when somebody did something nice for you? Right? Somebody opened the door for you; they gave you a piece of pie; whatever it was, right? “Thank you.” Right? It was just proper manners, right?
And if you didn’t say, “Thank you” in my house, then there was going to be an ear pull. [Congregation laughs] LIke, did anybody else get their ear pulled? I think that’s why my ears turned out the way they did, right? [Laughs] It was ear pulls, right? [Congregation laughs] And you’d get an ear pull.
And in my house we learned to say, “Thank you” for everything! “Thank you, God!” No, not, “Thank you, God,” but “Thank you, ma’am,” or “Thank you; thank you; thank you; thank you!” We learned to say, “Thank you.” And the first level — the lowest level of gratitude is when we say thanks for that which is there. “Thank you for …” And we just make a list.
And some of us need to work on our list, because we’re not even noticing the things that we’re already blessed with. But it’s “Thank you for …” “Thank you for this day”; “Thank you for my job”; “Thank you for my health”; “Thank you for the clothes”; “Thank you for my family.” Thank you; thank you; thank you! And those lists should be miles long. Miles long! “Thank you for this; thank you for that.” I mean, we should be spending every moment of every day, “Thank you for …”
The next level of gratitude is “THANK YOU EVEN THOUGH …” You know Psalm 23 says this:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.”
“Even though …” And even though is the level of life that is not working according to the way you thought it should. Like, “Even though I’m still single” or, “Even though I didn’t get that job” or, “Even though I didn’t get that promotion” or, “Even though my husband can sometimes be a piece of work …” [Congregation laughs] “Even though,” right? I say, “Thank you, God!” Right?
And this is our opportunity to expand our sense of gratitude. That even though it’s not going exactly the way my ego wanted it, “Thank you, God!” Even though, right? And we get to practice this because this does take us deeper. “Even though it’s not exactly the way I wanted it, ‘Thank you, God!'”
And the third level is “THANK YOU BECAUSE OF …” And this is the deepest level of gratitude. This isn’t “Thank you for the good things in my life” or even, “Thank you for the things that aren’t going quite as planned.” This is the level of gratitude that says, “Thank you because of the trials in my life; you are perfecting me. You are making me God-like. You are perfecting my soul. Thank you, God, because this situation is taking me to a deeper place. Thank you, God! Because of this, I’m a better man. Because of this, I stand with more faith. Because of this, I have more trust in life.”
Because of this! And when we can give thanks for the “Because of this,” that’s really the next level. Because that takes us to the place where, not only did we not want it, but it’s sometimes hard!
How many of you have had an experience that you knew was for your soul’s benefit, and yet it was still hard? Right? That it was really carving deeper place in your soul, and that when we can say, “Thank you, God, for this, because I know it’s doing a good work in me, but I would rather punt it to somebody else.”
Like, you know, if there was like a swap meet and you could come and bring your hardest thing and say, “I’ll trade you my hardest thing for your hardest thing, because your hardest thing doesn’t look as hard as my hardest thing.” Right? I mean, it would be fabulous! But most of us wouldn’t want to trade, because at least we know our hard thing.
So for the next 40 days, “Thank you, God; thank you, God; thank you, God!” And the promise is — the promise is! — that if you’re willing to spend 40 days in deep, profound gratitude, you will see more good; you will see more God than you’ve ever seen before. Because gratitude is the path that reveals the kingdom. The more we develop a grateful heart, the more we see all the good that God is.
Jesus said the most important thing was to love the Lord, your God, with all your mind, your heart, your soul. And I believe that the reason that was the most important thing is because the more you love God, the more you feel God’s love for you. The more you give thanks for what you have, the more you see how much you have. Even in the darkest — even in the most difficult — places in your life, when you can give thanks for the impact that it’s having on your soul, then there is only good coming to you from every direction.
Will you say it with me one more time?
[With congregation]: “Thank you, God; thank you, God; thank you, God!”
One more time just for grins! [With congregation]: “Thank you, God; thank you, God; thank you, God!”
Let’s pray.
I want you to open your mind, your heart, your soul to a spiritual commitment tonight. That tonight, between now and Thanksgiving, your only thought — your dominant thought — is “Thank you, God!” When your mind wants to argue with you; when you want to feel like a victim or disappointed or frustrated, you dig deep and say, “Nope; I made a decision. For the next 40 days all I get to say is, ‘Thank you, God.'”
Thank you, God, for this moment just exactly the way it is. For my life exactly the way it is. That I want to see God right here. I want to see the kingdom exactly the way my life is right now. Thank you, God; thank you, God; thank you, God! And so it is. Amen.