The King's Kids || Pastor Christian Carson

I want you to lift up a shout of praise to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the only one who's kept you in your right mind, the only one who's uplifted you in times of trouble. You're right where you're supposed to be. And so Father, in the name of Jesus, before you we ask you for anything, we thank you for everything. We thank you for being the God of safety, that when life gets hard and circumstances get difficult, your word says you're a strong tower where the righteous can run in and are safe. Lord, we thank you for being a sustainer. You're a God who doesn't just create things, you keep things. And so Father, we thank you for your keeping power. And Father, we thank you for being the God of always, that you are unchanging in your nature. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so Father, today we pray that your Holy Spirit rest, rule, and abide in this room. Father, I pray that you regulate dysregulated emotions. I pray that you heal broken hearts. I pray that you comfort tormented minds. Father, I pray that you reverse unfavorable doctor reports. I pray today that you have your way, because you are the God who keeps us in his unchanging hand. And so we thank you, we love you, and we honor you in Jesus' name, amen. If you agree with that prayer, somebody say amen. I was okay if it was for me, but for the King of Kings, can I hear a praise? Can I hear a shout? Well, what's up, family? Please sit down, please. Y'all, I only got 30 minutes, I only got 30 minutes, y'all. Listen, family, my name is Pastor Christian.

And I have the privilege of serving as the spiritual formation pastor of Change Church. And I'm excited to be here. Listen, I'm extremely honored and humbled to stand on this stage, because we have the privilege of serving under two of the greatest pastors and leaders. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Pastor Darius and Pastor Shamika Daniels, if you're grateful for your pastors, make some noise. And so I honor them, and I want to thank them for this opportunity. I want to honor my beautiful, fine, voluptuous, vibey, my wife, Dr. Tasha Carson, is here. And she graced this stage on Mother's Day. She did an incredible job. And so I'm just trying hard not to come in second in my own house today. And y'all, today is a very special day. I want y'all to know this is actually one of the most important days in my life, because today is actually the birthday of my first daughter. She's one years old today. They're going to put a picture on the screen of my daughter. They're going to put a picture on the screen. Her name is Grace Christian Carson, and she's one years old today, y'all. How crazy is that? And this year of being her father has been the most fulfilling year of my life, but not only has it taught me a lot about myself and my capacity to love, this year has shown me a greater revelation of the Father's love for us. And so because it's my daughter's birthday today about her, and my sermon today is not just dedicated to her, it's actually inspired by her. And so the text I chose is for my beautiful daughter, Grace. It's Christian Carson. So if you could join me in Matthew chapter 18, I'm gonna read the first four verses. Matthew 18 verses one through four, it says,

at that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said, truly I tell you, unless you change and become, it doesn't say choose and believe. It says, unless you change and become like little children, look at the definitive, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Family, I wanna tag this title to the text. I feel good today. My title is simply this, the King's Kids. ♪ The King's Kids ♪ Family, here at Change Church, we have a synthesizing sticky statement that informs and describes our philosophical approach to ministry. It is simply this, there are three ways you can live your life. Culture's way, church's way, or the King's way. And we affectionately refer to the King's way as third way. It is the Jesus way. It is God's way. It is an alternative way to an iteration of Christianity many of us have found uncompelling and underwhelming. As Ruth Haley Barton states,

it is what we turn to when we have come to the end of what the traditional evangelical discipleship model can offer us. And so everything we do comes from the conviction that God intends for us to live the King's way. Now, throughout the whole of modern church history, the central biblical focus in describing the gospel, which is a Greek word that simply means good news, has primarily been the cross. And I'm grateful for the cross. I am fully and utterly dependent on the finished work of the cross. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. But my argument for the purpose of this preaching presentation today is that if you look closely and objectively at the life and the ministry of Jesus in the actual four gospels, his obsession was not a cross, but a kingdom. An overwhelming majority of Jesus' teaching ministry was devoted to this one topic. Jesus told 52 parables in scripture, 13 of them were about the kingdom. That's exactly 25%. He said things like, the kingdom is like leaven. The kingdom is like a great debt. The kingdom is like 10 virgins. The kingdom is like a hidden treasure.

The kingdom is like a feast. The kingdom is like a pearl. The kingdom is like a mustard seed. The kingdom is like a net. In Matthew 4, we are introduced to Jesus' first public statement. He has disappeared from the scene for 18 years, because sometimes you gotta pop out and show. And his first public statement is found in Matthew 4. It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach, repent, the kingdom is at hand. In Matthew 10, he sends out his 12 disciples to preach, but he does not send them out without the teaching manuscript. He says, as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In Matthew 4, it summarizes the ministry of Jesus. It says, Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sicknesses and diseases. Notice, Jesus doesn't die until Matthew 27, but in Matthew 4, he's already preaching the gospel. I'm not gonna bother that. Matthew chapter six, Jesus gives us the Lord's prayer. It is the model prayer. And Jesus says, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. This is the first request in that prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

in earth as it is in heaven. In Matthew 6, Jesus gives us the primary focus for the believer. He says, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. In Luke chapter nine, Jesus takes a liking to a young man and invites him to become one of his disciples. And the young man makes what seems like a reasonable request. says, my father has just died, let me go bury my father first and then I'll come follow you. Jesus looked at him and said, let the dead bury their own dead. You proclaim the kingdom of God. In Luke chapter 12, I'm making an argument here. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells us what pleases God. It says, fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. In Luke 16, Jesus draws a line of demarcation between the teaching ministry of the Old Testament and the New Testament. He says, the gospel was proclaimed through the law and the prophets until the time of John, but now the good news of the kingdom is being preached. In Matthew chapter 24, the disciples asked for a sign of the end of the times. They said, how will we know when the world's gonna end? Jesus says, in the last days, there'll be wars and rumors of wars, nations will rise against nations,

there'll be famines, there'll be earthquakes, there'll be persecution, there'll be betrayal, there will be false prophets, but he closes that statement by saying, and then, and then this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. In John chapter 18, this is the day Jesus is going to die. He's sitting across from Pilate, and Pilate, after interrogating him, he looks at him and says, you a king? He says, you said rightly, I'm a king. For this reason was I born. When Jesus was conceived, King Herod said, where is he who was born king of the Jews? When Jesus was crucified, Pilate hung a sign over the cross that said, here lies Jesus, king of the Jews. So from his birth to his death, his life was defined by his kingship. And here's my argument. You cannot properly interpret the Bible if you do not properly interpret the kingdom. This is the crux of my argument today. Jesus spent his entire life announcing his kingdom. He died inaugurating his kingdom. He rose proclaiming his kingdom, and yet the average Christian cannot confidently tell you what it even is. Miles Monroe was a late pastor, author, and spiritual leader from the Hamas,

who was one of the greatest spiritual influences on my life, and he had a staggering quote. This is what he said. They're gonna put it on the screen. Whenever an American picks up the Bible, the Bible is automatically in jeopardy. He says, Americans don't understand the concept of kingdom because they've never lived in one. And so we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and not the gospel Jesus Christ preached. Now you have to understand the Bahamas for 300 years was a British colony of the United Kingdom. Miles Monroe's argument is even though the Bahamas is 4,000 miles away from the United Kingdom, I understand the biblical concept of kingdom because I lived in one. And his argument is we superimpose our concepts, our ideas, our practices, our languages, our culture on the Bible. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13, in a parable of the kingdom, that good ground is ground that hears the word of the kingdom and understands it. He don't say you have to earn it. He don't say you have to be perfect. He says you're good ground when you hear the message and understand it. He says you're stony ground when in church you receive the word with joy. But when you leave the church, you quickly die out

because you have no roots. So we often think whoever receives the word with the most joy in church is experiencing the most kingdom out there. But Jesus says the key is understanding. So today I didn't come to make you shout. I came to make you shift. I didn't come to make you think differently about pastor Christian. I came to make you think differently about your Christianity. Now what is a kingdom? The most effective way to articulate what a kingdom is is to start with what it's not. Because when I say kingdom, I don't want to take for granted that you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Because we can have the same concept with a different cultural context. You know what I'm saying. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. My boy Ike, he got on some Nike dunks, okay. Travis Scott, he wanted you to know they were Travis Scotts. He wanted me, he wanted you to know they were Travis Scotts. Based on where you're from, who calls those Nikes sneakers? Okay, based on where you're from, who calls those Nikes tennis shoes? Look, look, look, look, look, look. Same concept, different context. In the back, I just had a Sprite. Who calls that a soda? Who say, that's a pop, that's a pop? Look, look, same concept, different cultural context.

When I go to Publix, I grab a shopping cart. That's what it is. When you go to Publix, who grabs a buggy? Look at this, look at this, look at this. This is what I'm saying. It ain't no bugs, nowhere on the. Now, we're laughing, but I'm trying to make a serious point here. Because when I say kingdom, what you probably picture in your mind first is some type of fairytale scenario. You probably think of a medieval context like Game of Thrones or one of my wife's favorite shows, Bridgerton, or maybe a Disney movie like Cinderella. In America, we have restaurants like Burger King. We got movies like Lion King. And the enemy does not just tempt us with immorality, he tempts us with ignorance. So what he does is he tries to rob us of the revelation of kingdom concepts so we never experience it. In our American cultural ecosystem, part of the enemy's scheme is to get us to reduce kingdom to fast food and fairytales. The first changed church location I attended was in Orlando, Florida. It was in Orlando. And 20 minutes down from the church was the Magic Kingdom. It was literally an amusement park. We subconsciously think that kingdoms are these mystical, magical realms that aren't real. But I came today to tell you the kingdom is not an amusement park. The kingdom is not a social club. The kingdom is not a network of gifted men and women with influential platforms and large streaming audiences. The kingdom is not a religion. The kingdom is not your denomination. The kingdom is not an organization. The kingdom is not a church. The church is an institution in the kingdom, but the church is not the kingdom. Now this might not make you shout, but it should. The kingdom is literally a style of government. It is a style of government.

And because we are not from a kingdom, we have a style of government called democracy. And a democracy is different than a kingdom. Very different. In a democracy, the people have the power. In a kingdom, the king has the power. So here are the differences you need to see. One of the differences between democracy and kingdom is inauguration. In a democracy, leaders are elected. In a kingdom, leaders are born. So Jesus does not have to engage in a political debate to become king. He is not just the son of God, he's the son of David. Another difference is that in a democracy, laws are litigated. In a kingdom, laws are decreed. Jesus does not have to win a majority vote in Congress to pass a law. When a king speaks the word, it automatically becomes a law. So in Genesis chapter 1, when God says, let there be light, the next verse says, and there was light. When Jesus says, peace be still, the winds and the waves have to obey him. When Jesus says, take up your bed and walk, everything in your body has to come in alignment with the word of God. When Jesus says, your sins are forgiven, there's no amount of guilt, shame, or regret that can undo the finished work of Jesus. It's a law. Another difference is favor. In a democracy, when you get access to personal resources you haven't earned, that's called corruption. In a kingdom, when you get access to personal resources you haven't earned, that's called favor. Jesus does not have to coordinate a filibuster to get to you access and resources you don't deserve. And here's the big one, obedience. In a democracy, we don't obey political leaders. There's no expectation that we obey the president. But in a kingdom, you obey the king. And my fear is that subconsciously, some of us treat God like a president. God gives you an instruction, and you vote.

God gives me a direction, and I vote. Now, in Romans 14, Paul tries to define what this kingdom is. He says the kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking. He said the kingdom is not physical. It's not castles and armies and feasts. He says the kingdom is peace. The kingdom is joy. So God's kingdom is not a physical kingdom. And this is what the disciples struggled so hard to understand. They were waiting for Jesus to take over Rome and establish an earthly kingdom. But Paul is like his kingdom is not physical. When Paul describes the kingdom, he describes cultural characteristics of a people group. He says this is what the kingdom is like. It's like who you change and become into. God's way is better. Because second way produces a system. But third way produces a culture. Here's a sticky statement for my note takers. A religion produces a change in your schedule. A kingdom produces a change in your soul. And because many believers don't have this foundational revelation, their salvation is secure. But their souls are suffering. That's why it's possible to come into this building and have an authentic, tangible encounter with the living God on Sunday and be completely lost and anxious and hopeless by Wednesday. And this dichotomy is seen in the children of Israel. The children of Israel are slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. And they want God to deliver them out. And in Exodus chapter 3, I'm about to shout right here, here's what God says. God says I have come down to deliver them out and bring them up. Y'all missed it.

He says I have come down to deliver them out and bring them up. Down, out, up. Down, out, up. Say it with me. Down, out, up. Y'all stop playing. We in church. Stop. Down, out, up. God responds to the cries of the Israelites by saying I'm going to come down. I'm going to deliver you out. And then I'm going to bring you up. And I don't know who I'm preaching to this morning. But I'm looking for 30 people in this room who say in this season, I don't want to just come out of some things. I want to come up. I don't want to just come out of anxiousness and depression. I want to come up to joy unspeakable and full of glory. Peace that surpasses understanding. I don't want to just come out of a job that I hate. I want to come up to a life of fruitfulness and fulfillment. I don't want to just come out of a financial crisis. I want God to open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing I don't have room to receive. Blessed in the city. Blessed in the field. Blessed when I come. Blessed when I go. I want to come up. I taught a small group on godly dating. Any of my small group in the building make some noise, small group. Let me see if they back me up.

I don't want to just come out of toxic relationships. I want to come up. And I want a man or woman of God who loves me unconditionally. And doesn't just appeal to my pleasure. But partners with my purpose. I hear you, lord. Here's the interesting thing to me. The children of Israel didn't even pray for up. They just prayed for out. But I serve a God who is so committed to my advancement. That he says if you're big and bad enough to put your trust in me, getting you out ain't good enough for me. I'm so good I can't help but to bring you up. And here is my concern. My concern is like the children of Israel. God is faithful, so he comes down and he delivers us out and we stay right there. We spin the block and flirt with the bondage, we pray for him to get us out of it. And the primary way the enemy keeps us from experiencing the kingdom isn't by making us not want it. It's by making us think we're already in it. And there are two primary ways I see that he does this. One is through hyper-religious traditionalism. Two is through haughty religious elitism. They're going to put it on the screen. Hyper-religious traditionalism is the spiritual disposition that elevates inherited religious expressions, customs, and systems to a place of ultimate authority, measuring faithfulness by conformity to established practices rather than continual surrender to the living God. Haughty religious elitism is the spiritual disposition that seeks identity, significance, and superiority through perceived spiritual achievement, knowledge, authority, or religious performance, creating hierarchy where Christ calls for humility. Hyper-religious traditionalism is personified in ignorance and leans on ritual. Haughty religious elitism is personified in arrogance and leans on retention. Traditionalists attempt to take God's responsibility. Elitists attempt to take God's ability.

Both put God in a box and say he can't reveal himself beyond my comprehension. And they cause you to miss moves of God you think you've already mastered. The enemy rarely has to convince believers to abandon faith in God. He only has to convince them to replace it with faith in tradition or faith in themselves. And I want to give you some models for this. Because one chapter before Matthew 18 in Matthew 17, the Bible describes a scene called the mountain of transfiguration. And the Bible says Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to the top of this mountain. Now he's got 12 disciples, but he only takes three. There's a principle there. When you're going up, everybody can't go. Because there are very few people who can handle both your victories and your valleys without feeling entitlement, jealousy, and insecurity. I'm not going to bother that. So he takes these three up the mountain. And the Bible says Jesus has this encounter where his skin is glowing, his clothes are shining, and Peter looks up. And the Bible says when he looks up, Moses and Elijah are standing next to Jesus. Now Moses and Elijah are superheroes in the Jewish faith. It represents the pillars of their tradition. And here's what Peter says. When he sees all three of them, he says, whoa, this is so good, let's build an altar for all three. Because hyper-religious traditionalism elevates religious culture to the same level of Jesus. And a voice comes from heaven. God actually speaks from heaven and says, this is my son, listen to him only. That's hyper-religious traditionalism. So whether you got hyper or you got hearty religious elitism. And I see this in first Samuel chapter 16. Because in first Samuel chapter 16, there's a man named Samuel. And Samuel is responsible for selecting kings. And here's what happens. God says to Samuel, I want you to go down to a man named Jesse's house. One of his sons is going to be the next king.

And Samuel goes to Jesse's house and Jesse has eight sons but he only calls seven. He only calls seven of the sons. And what's typically highlighted is that David is not invited for an opportunity to become the king. But I want to show you something. It says, God says to Samuel, fill your horn with oil and go to Jesse. I've chosen one of his sons. Samuel says, what if Saul hears? Because Saul is the current king. And no one knows that God has rejected Saul except for Samuel. So to everybody else, Saul is still the king. The Lord says, take a heifer with you and say, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Take a cow with you and say, I'm coming to sacrifice. Now in the Jewish culture, when you took a sacrifice and you sacrificed the animal, that was their expression of worship. So Jesse doesn't know Samuel is looking for a king. He thinks Samuel is just coming to have a worship service. Jesse wasn't preventing David from an audience with a king. He wasn't inviting him to church. Because religious elitists simply can't imagine God choosing someone outside of their qualifications. The people we overlook often reveal the places we've overestimated ourselves. But the kingdom is full of people religion would have never interviewed. And when your qualifications become more important than God's calling, you'll leave kings in the field because you're too consumed with the counterfeits in the house. And so, here's what I want you to see in my clothes. I see both of these spiritual sicknesses in the disciples in Matthew 18. I see hyper-religious traditionalism because they come and say, which one of us is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And they are pulling their idea of significance from Jewish culture. Because in Jewish culture, it was a culture where honor was

grabbed rather than given. So, the Jewish hierarchy consisted of high priests, then chief priests, then the Sanhedrin council, then scribes, then rabbis. So, their concept of significance and success comes from culture, not Christ. But then I see hardy religious elitism because the text opens with these three words, at that time. Put Matthew 18 back up there. It says, at that time. At what time? Right before this on Matthew 17, in Matthew 17, Jesus enters a town called Capernaum, and him and his disciples are about to enter the temple. But to enter the temple, you had to pay a tax. So, the tax collectors come to Jesus and say, yo, Jesus don't pay the tax? And look at Jesus' question. He looks at them and he says, who do kings collect taxes from? Their kids or other people? And they say, oh, kings collect taxes from other people. And Jesus says, then we exempt. The king's kids. Jesus says, we exempt. But the Bible says, he pays the tax anyway, because he didn't want to offend them. So, Jesus identifies himself as the king's kid, exempt from the tax, but he voluntarily pays it to avoid an unnecessary argument. There's a relationship principle right there. Jesus is redefining greatness in this very moment. He possesses supreme authority, but he gives it up. Because that's what true greatness looks like. And the disciples don't ask, what is the kingdom? They don't ask, how do we enter the kingdom?

And they don't ask, what pleases the king? They assume they already know those answers and start competing for a crown they weren't designed to carry. And I have actually found that elitism is often rooted, can I say this? It's often rooted in religious hypocrisy. Some of us have experienced in toxic family dynamics. That it's actually something we weren't taught, but we caught. Coming up in churches with religious pretension and church politics and spiritual bullies. And here's why I say this, because two chapters later, two chapters later, two chapters later, James and John's mother comes to Jesus. And she says, can I ask a favor? He said, what you want? He said, hey. She said, when you enter your kingdom, can my kids, can my two boys, can they be at your left and right hand? And Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking. You don't understand the cup you have to drink for greatness in this kingdom. Because when Jesus entered his kingdom, there were two people on his left and right hand, but they were on crosses. And Jesus reframes this assumption that their mother makes in Matthew 11 when he says, among men born of women, there's been none greater than John the Baptist. But whoever is least in the kingdom is even greater than him. So back to my clothes, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Really quickly, let me give you my points really quickly. Two minutes. Number one, how do I become like a child? Number one, you got to seek the kingdom.

When I was a kid, I played this game called hide and seek with my dad. And he will always hide in a place where I could easily find him. So Jesus... wants us to seek him not because he's evading us, but seeking him reminds us of our dependency on him. So God wants you to keep this childlike sense of wonder and awe and curiosity until your relationship with God ceases to be a duty and becomes a delight. Number two, submit to the kingdom because he calls this position of a child a lowly position. So this means it requires trusting God. It requires not sacrificing intimacy for your responsibilities. You got to trust God. Number three, you got to serve the kingdom. Notice I'm not, notice I didn't say serve the church. Now you can serve the kingdom by serving the church, but that's not the only way. And our pastor taught a sermon called For the Streets that identified that there are different streets that we occupy in which we serve the kingdom. It could be the educational street, it could be the governmental street, it could be the entertainment street, but you use your talents, your skills, and your gifts to serve the kingdom because the enemy often zaps the passion of purpose in exchange for paychecks. Serve the kingdom. Number four, savor the kingdom. One thing about kids, my daughter, she's one years old, she'll find fun doing anything. Enjoy the kingdom. In the book of Genesis, the Bible says God made all kinds of trees. They say, Adam, you can have all of them, just don't eat this one. How many trees are you ignoring because you're so focused on the one God said you can't have? Enjoy the kingdom. And number five, share the kingdom. Child psychologists say that sharing out of pure benevolence typically happens around eight years old. That under that age, kids are very temperamental and they're very selfish, but something shifts at eight years old where they start to share with their friends benevolently and abundantly. And so you want to seek the kingdom. You want to submit to the kingdom. You want to serve the kingdom. You want to savor the kingdom. You want to share the kingdom. And one of the ways you sink the kingdom best is through prayer. And what the enemy does is he

keeps us from bringing an authentic version of ourselves to God in prayer. My daughter's one years old, so she's at that stage where she thinks she can talk, but she ain't saying nothing. So she'd be like, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Now, what kind of father would I be if I was like, hey, stop, talk right. Talk right. That's not how you say that word. Say it right. That's not the heart of a good father. A good father is happy with the attempt. Just because she's trying to talk to me, I get excited. And you know what I do? I come down to her level and I say back, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, because even though I don't know what she's saying, the intimacy is there. And so for everyone in this room who says, Pastor Christian, I want the kingdom, just raise your hand. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. I want the kingdom. I want the kingdom. Close your eyes, and I just want you to repeat this affirmation. Say, I am the king's kid. I am the king's kid. I am the king's kid. In Jesus' name. Can you make some noise for the Word of God today?