Kingdom thoughts part 3

The kingdom of God is at hand and present in the world, that is according to Jesus anyway. Some would argue the point, but I side with Jesus. Clearly it is not present in its final form, but it is present. The New testament tells the story of the kingdom becoming present, how it moves, and that it will someday come in its full expression. It seems that the bible isn’t telling us a story where the creator God wants to rescue His created people from His created world. It seems more like it is a story of God rescuing and redeeming us to rule with Him over His rescued and redeemed world. Taking spirits with souls out of this world to a place out in space somewhere called heaven doesn’t seem to be a theme in the bible. (of course I am not implying that there is no heaven, I am just saying that God is bringing heaven here) It is more like we will be resurrected just like Jesus to function on a recreated world. Christianity is not just about getting saved so we can escape earth and go to heaven; however, it’s not hard to see why this concept is popular with the evil that is in the world, and if I’m just getting saved to go to heaven it eliminates my need to be responsible to this world. We talk about gifts, callings, and purpose on this world for a reason. We do have things to do, and Apostle Paul insists that what we do for the kingdom is not in vain.

There are many that believe this to be true; however, there are also many ideas about what it looks like. There are ideas of exhortation and self-help motivation, morality, social agendas and so on. None of those things are wrong, the body has many parts; however, we can get so stuck on our way and expression that we say the others are wrong. The kingdom is not singularly any of those things, nor is it simply the sum of those things. It is not just natural expressions such as feeding the hungry, it is also super natural expressions such as miracles; however, it is also much more than those things even. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the kingdom will someday come in its full expression and the world will be free of evil, sin, and death. This is something that even in our best work we can not do. When we look at Jesus we look at the kingdom, it entered the world when He entered the world. When we look at Jesus we see the natural expression when He feeds the 5,000. We see the supernatural in the healings, and resurrection of the dead. We also see the deciding blow to evil, sin, and death at the cross, and in God’s time we will walk on a world that is fully free of it. The kingdom is not just advancing social and political reform, etc, and it certainly isn’t about escaping the world, it’s about the rescue and redemption of God’s creation, and His glory. There are some things that literally only God can do, but there are certainly things that He does do through us. Even at the very foundation we are created in His image, meaning in the very least we are to reflect Him in the world. There are countless scriptures, and parables that speak of our responsibility as stewards. There are certain things that we cannot do such as what is mentioned above, and it is the height of human arrogance and pride to think that we can bring together the summation of all things; however, there are things that we are meant to do for the kingdom.

I know God has set you apart, and equipped you to do the things He has called you to do.

God is for you , and I am for you!

Kingdom thoughts part 2

It seems that most people, at least in America, have one of two opposite views of extremes. Some say everything is getting worse and worse, while there are others that say everything is getting better and better. I would suggest that it is possible that neither one of those are correct. In part 1 it was suggested that evil is still present, but it doesn’t mean everything is spiraling into the abyss.

If we go back to the very beginning, God declared that His creation was good. This is important to note because so many Christians declare the opposite, that the world is a terrible place. It doesn’t appear that the early church had this view. I don’t think they believed everything was getting better and better, or worse and worse. I think they believed they were in God’s created world, and that through Jesus there was started a plan of rescue and redemption.

I think a helpful shift in our hearts and minds in this area may be to move from thinking horrible world and wonderful heaven, to thinking kingdom present and kingdom to come. I would suggest that we no longer look forward to abandoning the horrible world, or waiting on evolution/progress to create us a kingdom, but put our hope in God’s plan of rescue, redemption, the cross, resurrection, recreation, and the kingdom of God. We tend to think of leaving this terrible place, but the bible insists that heaven is coming to earth. Jesus even instructed us to pray that heaven would come to earth. We tend to think of heaven as out in space somewhere, and hell under our feet. So a popular concept is that we will one day float off to heaven as a transparent spirit with a soul. This matches several theologies, but I don’t think it matches the bible. If this were the case then it seems that death would only be partially defeated. If part of what God created gets lost in death, then how is death defeated? In the beginning when God said that creation was good, Adam and Eve were body, soul, spirit. When Jesus was resurrected, He had a physical body that Thomas could touch. I tend to think the bible says we will to, especially if we will be as He is, which is what the bible says. 1 Corinthians 15 is a good place to read some of this as well as Romans 8, and of course there are many other places. Of course I don’t know what all of this looks like, but I do think it can be said that there will be a physical body. The bible gives us more directional signs and symbols than 3-D pictures and blueprints.

We have to believe God when He said His creation was good in the beginning. I believe that it was supposed to reflect Him. With humans specifically, I think were supposed to reflect worship back to God, but also reflect His nature into the rest of creation through stewardship. We have of course failed in this from the beginning, but it is important to remember that God never fails. The things we do for the kingdom now, and the present expression of the kingdom are just a dull glimpse of what it will be when Jesus returns. Where we fail as stewards, God steps in rescues and redeems through Christ.

It is important to keep our faith in the good things that God is doing in His time and wisdom. Continuing to worship Him, and keeping our faith in His good work will also remind us that Jesus is the one coming with God’s kingdom (this doesn’t change our actions in being co-laborers with Him). This helps avoid some of the ditches that we can fall in with kingdom now theology such as pride, arrogance, and the building of our own empires while putting His name on the door. Sometimes things that begin with good kingdom intentions can fall out of alignment. People can be lured into worshipping power, pleasure, wealth, etc by the enemy. It is possible to fall into the trap of worshipping the created rather than the creator. However, I think this can be avoided if we keep our hope in God’s plan of rescue, redemption, the cross, resurrection, recreation, and the kingdom of God.

There is so much I don’t know, But I know my hope is in Him, and His kingdom is beyond what I can imagine.

God is for you, and I am for you!