Skip to main content

The Kingdom of God

             But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43)

 

            My goal is to spend some time considering the kingdom of God. The problem is that this is in “real-time,” like most of my blog posts, so it’s not my sharing the culmination of my findings after years of research. I may get distracted or bored and wander on to another topic, but that’s not my plan. In fact, the problem might be said to be that I don’t really have a plan.

            But, since I’m a definitional person, let’s begin there. We tend to think of a kingdom as a place ruled by a king or queen. It has borders, rules for citizenship, laws, taxes, and a spot on a map, just like any other country. This is the problem the Israelites had when Jesus came. The Messiah was supposed to set up the Kingdom of Israel to make Israel a powerful and possibly dominant nation among the nations.

            Dallas Willard pushes that idea aside to get at something more basic. A kingdom is where the king's rule is effective. If you aren’t in the kingdom, the king’s rules have no power over you. However, if the king’s rules have power over you, you are still in the kingdom, even if you are thousands of miles away from the king in question and in another country. And, even if you’re not physically in the kingdom, the kingdom is in you.

            Early in His ministry, Jesus said that He was sent to announce the kingdom of God. It wasn’t about saving our souls or dying on the cross to bring us salvation. As important as those were, they are like handing us our citizenship papers. They are necessary to bring us into the kingdom, but they are not the kingdom. They are not the goal. Living within the effective range of God’s will is. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more