St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – 4th Sunday After The Epiphany – January 30, 2011
“When Not Yet Is Now!”
Text: Matthew 5:1-12

Old, passing-away world that we live in, there is the future
and there is the present, the “not yet” and the “now”. Although
technology companies & communication companies & computer companies tell us
we’re already living in the future, that the “future is now”, most of
us would probably agree with Abraham Lincoln who said, “The best thing

about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.”

I like that! No matter how over-whelming, how unpredictable, how
technologically fast the future might seem to come rushing at us, the
future is still the future, still “not yet”, and there are times when
it’s good that “not yet” is just that, “not yet”, or that “not yet”
comes only one day at a time.
Is it time for farmers to get into the fields? Not yet!
Is it time to put away snow shovels & snow blowers? Not yet!
Is it time for high school seniors to start coasting toward
graduation and the end of the school year? Not yet!
Is it time to retire, time to move to assisted living, time to
move off the farm?
Not yet! Let’s take it one day at a time!
But then there ARE times, remarkable times, wonderful times for
Christians, when “not yet” CAN also be “now”. Not that everything
has to be newer, easier, smaller, quieter, quicker, faster, happier,
better right now. But in the new world Jesus Christ came to usher in
one CAN experience things deeper, richer, truer, more meaningful, more
enduring, more fulfilling now and in the long run.
So, old, passing-away world that we live in, let’s focus on these
two things: first the “not yet” and second “the now” of being in and
belonging to the Kingdom of God.
First, in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, Jesus speaks of things “not
yet.” In Jesus public teaching & preaching to the crowds and in
His private time with His disciples, Jesus speaks of the coming
of the kingdom of God as a new age dawning; a turning-upside-
down, a reversing, a restoring, a fulfilling of things that will be
gloriously better & happier than the mess & misery of the world we
live in now.
We’ve probably all thought about this or wondered about it. To a
lot of people Christianity seems to be mostly a “not yet there” religion!
Christianity is where you get your entrance ticket to heaven, get your
passport to eternal life, get your seat on the bus, get your life in
order, get ready to go.
This is true. When Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount He speaks
in the future tense - “The day is coming when those who pledge
themselves to follow Him & His way shall be comforted - shall inherit
the earth – shall be satisfied – shall receive mercy – shall see God

– shall be called sons of God.”
Real as it is, sure as it is, in this future sense, the kingdom of
heaven is a kingdom anticipated; a kingdom still to come, a paradise
of God’s power & glory & comfort & peace & mercy & perfection that’s
promised. It’s not yet, not in all its fullness, but it’s coming.
What’s sad & what often happens then is that this very real & dark
& ugly & evil & violent & passing away world that’s all around us –
that’s too much with us, is what makes it a challenge, makes it hard
for Christians to believe there is anything special, anything joyful,
anything rich & rewarding & genuine & deep & fulfilling about the
kingdom of heaven to experience and to celebrate NOW.
But there is! There is! Evil though the world is, hard as this
world is to take with all of its darkness & brokenness & sinfulness;
never-the-less, Jesus declares: “Blessed are the poor in spirit
- Blessed are those who mourn - Blessed are the meek – Blessed
are those who hunger & thirst for righteousness – Blessed are the
merciful – Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Yes, the fullness & power & peace of the Kingdom of heaven is “not
yet” here, but to be blessed in the Biblical sense is to know that
one is already included in the coming Kingdom of God! Are we there
yet? No! Not yet! But hang in there, don’t give in, don’t give up,
the Kingdom is coming! Blessed are you – one with God are you who –
I’ve got wonderful news for you. This is how Jesus starts off His
Sermon on the Mount. Not yet! But Jesus does not leave it here.
Second point! In these nine Beatitudes, Jesus also speaks of
earthly things being changed & transformed now. Along with “not yet”
Jesus declares the reality & impact of God’s Kingdom now!
If “the best thing about the future is that it comes only one day
at a time,” . . . “The most effective way to ensure the value of the
future is to confront the present courageously & constructively, with
confidence & compassion.” Now we’re talking now; when not yet is now!
One commentator puts it this way. If you want in on the “now”
of God’s Kingdom, if you want to be a part of the new world, the new
kingdom that’s now, you need to hear & believe that Jesus quietly,
humbly entering this old world at Bethlehem, is Jesus landing (as it
were) in enemy held territory, establishing a beach-head, setting in
motion the first waves of a new world that is to come - already coming
now.
In Jesus’ birth, in Jesus’ life, in Jesus’ teaching & preaching,
in Jesus suffering & sacrificing, in Jesus death on the cross & His
resurrection from the dead for us & our salvation, the Kingdom of God
is not yet but it also comes now!
“Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus
answered them, ‘The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be
observed, nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for be-
hold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20,21)

The Kingdom of God is “God acting in and through Jesus to turn
this old world upside down, to turn God’s chosen, covenant people
inside out.
On the one hand all sheep of the Good Shepherd can say: “Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Not now, not yet, but “I
will”! The time is coming.
On the other hand, all sheep of the Good Shepherd can sing now
& every day in this old, passing-away world, “The King of love my
shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never. I nothing lack if I am
His, and He is my right now and forever.” (LSB, 709)
This doesn’t mean being sheep of the Good Shepherd in the kingdom
of God right now becomes a sort of heaven on earth where we have fewer
problems, or fewer things going wrong or fewer things testing our
patience. No. What the “now” of God’s Kingdom means is that “here
& how” we have someone special to trust in and something special to
live for NOW!
For example, here & now when we are part of something deeply
moving, something beautiful & remarkable & blessed; whether it’s
music or poetry or some sermon that touches us on a level we’re are
not accustomed to being touched; when we hear it, experience it now,
we sense that we are standing on holy ground, touching eternal truths
not yet fully realized yet very much a part of a new world, a new
reality that’s here & now in Jesus Christ.
Such times for me are the times we are together here in worship
or at the Lord’s Table on Sundays, like next Sunday, when in words
& hymns & the simple elements of bread & wine we acknowledge & we
experience & we celebrate the very Real Presence of our risen Lord
Jesus Christ, here & now, King of glory, King of love.
Jaroslav Vajada, Lutheran hymn-writer & author who has given us
good hymns to sing like the baptism hymn, ”See This Wonder in the
Making” and the communion hymn, “Go My Children With My Blessing” is
also the author of a good hymn we sometimes sing at the beginning of
Holy Communion, a hymn titled, “Now the Silence.”
Talk about the “not yet” and the “now” of our faith being one &
the same, listen . . .
Now the silence Now the peace Now the empty hands uplifted
Now the kneeling Now the plea Now the Father’s arms in welcome
Now the hearing Now the pow’r Now the vessel brimmed for pouring
Now the body Now the blood Now the joyful celebration
Now the wedding Now the songs Now the heart forgiving leaping
Now the Spirit’s visitation Now the Son’s epiphany
Now the Father’s blessing Now Now Now. Not not yet, but “now!

(LSB, no. 910)

In the Kingdom of God’s grace & mercy now; in the Kingdom of God’s
gracious rule in Christ now; every time we forgive, every time we do

not return evil for evil; every time we stand for justice & righteous-
ness; every time we seek to show mercy or work for peace or endure
some unfair persecution, we show our citizenship is in heaven and
that “here & now” we are truly blessed acting as members of the Body
of Christ & heirs of eternal life.
Praise & thanks be to God for the “not yet” and the “now” of the
Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you in being joined to Christ; and may you be richly
blessed in living for Christ; may you be richly blessed to be a
blessing to others in Christ.