47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net. It was let down into the lake. It caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and gathered the good fish into baskets. But they threw the bad fish away. 49 This is how it will be on judgment day. The angels will come. They will separate the people who did what is wrong from those who did what is right. 50 They will throw the evil people into the blazing furnace. There the evil ones will weep and grind their teeth.
51 “Do you understand all these things?” Jesus asked.
“Yes,” they replied.
52 He said to them, “Every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house. He brings new treasures out of his storeroom as well as old ones.”
53 Jesus finished telling these stories. Then he moved on from there. 54 He came to his hometown of Nazareth. There he began teaching the people in their synagogue. They were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom? Where did he get this power to do miracles?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary? Aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Then where did this man get all these things?” 57 They were not pleased with him at all.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own town and in his own home.”
Jesus tells a strange story. He says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net. This net catches people. Everyone is caught up in the net. They are like fish, which are brought to the shore. Some are good to eat, and some are not. The ones which are good to eat are kept, and the others are thrown back. This means that some people will face the punishment for their sins. It will be a terrible day for them. Others will enjoy everlasting peace and joy with God. But who is who? I recently went for a walk, and picked some mushrooms. I was very keen to eat these mushrooms. My friends said ‘do not eat the mushrooms! They said that it is difficult to tell the difference between a safe mushroom and a poisonous mushroom. They might look the same, but their nature is different, and their effect is completely different. Appearances can be deceptive. So it is with the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, to the untrained observer, fish might look the same. But they have a different nature. Their DNA is distinct. So it is with people. People might go to church. But it does not make them a citizen of heaven. Other people might think they are good people. That does not make them good people before God. What matters is that they have been changed. Jesus teaches that he pays for all our sins. He says that a human being must be born a second time to enter the Kingdom of God. So when we have faith in Jesus, we are forgiven, and we are changed. That means that we are truly citizens of heaven. We are children of God. This will be revealed on the day of judgement. So the big question is: who are you? Are you a child of God? Have you truly believed in Jesus’ power to save?
How can someone accept the invitation to the Kingdom of Heaven? What’s the difference between being religious and being a child of God?
When I came to England, I was 6 years old. I know how to live in New Zealand, but I didn’t know how to live in England. I had to change my habits. My accent changed, my clothing changed, my habits changed. So it is with the Kingdom Heaven. We have come to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. We know that God is one. We know that God is good. We know that God has given us commands to live by. Perhaps we learnt these from the Old Testament, just as the Jewish scholars did. We might even learn them from our parents. But now, God has put his Holy Spirit in us. We have been forgiven. So we are learning to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. We learn to live by faith. We learn to forgive others. We learn to love one another. We are trained for a new kingdom. There is no entry exam into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not a test. When I came to the UK, I was a citizen, because of my father. But I still had to learn how to live here. So it is with Kingdom of Heaven.
How can we train to live in the Kingdom of Heaven?
Every society has core values. These are the things which are most fundamental to it. Once you understand these values, you can live more easily in the culture. When I left England to live in the West African desert, I had to learn the culture. There were things which were very important to them, which were not so important in England. In England, we assumed that your property was your property. Your house was your house. If you didn’t work, you would be poor, and that was normal. But in the new culture, there was a very strong emphasis on generosity and welcoming people. Your duty as a host to guests was very important. Working hard was not so important. In religion, there is a big emphasis on doing the right thing. You should keep the rules. You should have good, religious habits. This is the culture of a religious society. It is possible to be religious and have no faith. The people in this synagogue were cynical about Jesus. They thought they knew him and his family. They could not take his miracle and his teaching seriously. They came to the synagogue to pray. Perhaps they had faith in God. But they did not have faith in Jesus. They were stuck in a religious culture, and they did not understand the culture of the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, without faith in Jesus, their religion became powerless, worthless and hopeless. Faith in Jesus is the basic culture of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Faith is the basic culture of the Kingdom of Heaven. By faith, we trust Jesus to save us from sin. By faith in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. By faith in Jesus, we live for eternity. We live for God, who we cannot see, rather than for ourselves or for this world. By faith, our prayers are answered. By faith, we see changes in us and around us. By faith, we are shaped to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. So the question is: do you believe? Have you stopped praying because you lack faith? God is calling you to believe in his promises and receive his grace. How can you do that? One thing that we will do now is pray. We will pray for God to give us faith. That faith unlocks all the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. All the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control which are the marks of the Holy Spirit come when we believe. We trust God’s promises and we pray for God’s power.
Pray: that God will give us deeper faith in Jesus
