US Supreme Court, a photo by dbking on Flickr.
The first thing that Jesus began to speak about after He was empowered from on high was, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Try, as if for the first time, to wrap your brain around the concept of a Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus didn't come to earth preaching a religion, he was preaching the coming of a Kingdom. Read Isaiah 9:6-7 and John 18:33-37. What was Jesus' "truth"? The answer is that there is a Kingdom and Jesus is its King! He came to proclaim the Kingdom and his kingship; everything else was secondary. In Matthew 16 He confers this Kingdom onto us, we are citizens of this kingdom. If this was His paramount purpose, we need to be living the Kingdom life!
Don't miss what Isaiah prophesied, "The government shall be upon His shoulders." What does the word "kingdom" bring to mind? Perhaps King Arthur, knights, courts, nobles--this is actually just a form of government. Let's change the wording here to what Jesus might say today, "Behold, the government of God is near." We usually call this "church", being the "church", going to "church"; we don't talk much about being under the government of God.
Worldview Shift: I have been called through Christ into (not just fellowship, relationship, priesthood, service, land of love) a kingdom government.
We think of faith in Jesus as our personal savior, but this is something more: faith in Him as the King of the Kingdom, and faith that this Kingdom is coming to earth. Salvation in this sense is not so much pardon from sin, as it is a changing of citizenship (Colossians 1:13). David had a friend with a Russian dad and American mom, and he chose to give his allegiance to the United States. We make this same decision to switch citizenship, placing ourselves under a new form of government. And it ain't like good ol' USA. It's amazing how American churches sometimes look just like an American democracy! We must learn to embrace not only our wonderful savior, but also our Lord and King who has a sword to rule the nations.
Here are some key concepts of the kingdom form of government: one ruler, total submission, duties and responsibilities, total ownership by the king, the king inherits the kingship, refuse to pay the king and things will not go well for you, structure and authority. America was actually based on rebelling against this model. Our citizenship switch has put us into real conflict with the world. We have been translated into the Kingdom of the Son, and the world no longer recognizes us. David's Russian friend was scorned and even disowned by some of his Russian family. When we make this decision, we face the same thing. If we do not understand the Kingdom authority and principles of being in this world but not of it, then it is crucial that in the next few weeks we wrap our brains around this concept.
So far, the church hasn't done a great job of this. The Jews had everything removed from them because they shut the doors of the Kingdom (Matthew 23). The church has now been given this same mandate, and now we pray, "Thy Kingdom come." We have to mean it and live it. We can't force conversions (the Catholic church tried to force Christianity into new places and blend it in with local religions, it didn't work well), but we try to get everyone else to jump ship with us and come under a new government. Jesus said to Pilate, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me," and "The princes of the Gentiles lord it over them....But it shall not be so among you." We live under different principles. We have to know the laws of our government if we're going to live here and share it with others. The Kingdom has dominion over its territory, but not over others; the Kingdom laws don't overlap in the other world, so we have to know where the lines are drawn. One day God will come to take full dominion over everything, but until then we stand firm and "occupy".
So far, the church hasn't done a great job of this. The Jews had everything removed from them because they shut the doors of the Kingdom (Matthew 23). The church has now been given this same mandate, and now we pray, "Thy Kingdom come." We have to mean it and live it. We can't force conversions (the Catholic church tried to force Christianity into new places and blend it in with local religions, it didn't work well), but we try to get everyone else to jump ship with us and come under a new government. Jesus said to Pilate, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me," and "The princes of the Gentiles lord it over them....But it shall not be so among you." We live under different principles. We have to know the laws of our government if we're going to live here and share it with others. The Kingdom has dominion over its territory, but not over others; the Kingdom laws don't overlap in the other world, so we have to know where the lines are drawn. One day God will come to take full dominion over everything, but until then we stand firm and "occupy".
Our journey over the next few weeks is to understand the government of Jesus Christ, how we submit to it and exercise the rights and privileges that come with it, and how we understand the boundaries and limitations of this world with two kingdoms.
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