The kingdom of God.

There are many references to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven in the Bible. Let me just point out a couple in order to help you understand where our ministry is coming from.  As we have pointed out before Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world….My kingdom is from another place.” This other world is not the church.  God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His dear Son. He did not rescue us and bring us into the church. It seems the church is very good at finding its own members. True, there are citizens of the kingdom who belong to a church. But there are also many who belong to a church that are not in the church. And the church, as an organization is observable,  while the kingdom is not. So more important to us is the recognition that we belong to a kingdom.  And since it does not come with careful observation, where is this other place. 

Jesus said, and very plainly so, that “the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)  This agrees with the statement made by the apostle Paul that we no longer live, but that Christ lives in us. Why is this so important for us to know this?  It is because the strategy and the interpretations used by the church points to the kingdom as a place in the world and it is not. Yes, we act just like citizens of the world while at the same time we say we do not belong to the world. Our organizations, our budgets, our social activities, out fund raisers, just about everything we plan and do is observable.  

We have been told not to judge. But we judge others anyway.  And why?  Because the reasons for our judgments are observable.  The fact that God has reconciled Himself to the world and therefore no longer counts men’s sins against them, means practically nothing with regard to our observations.  Our “good works”, which are supposed to go unseen” are purposely exposed so that they are seen.  The point is this: Jesus Christ rules and reigns in our hearts, but the world would never know it, nor do most church members.  

We have a long way to go when it comes to understanding that the kingdom of God is within us. This kind of understanding would change the way we interpret the Bible.  It is the first step in renewing our minds.  For instance, we would begin to interpret the Word from the viewpoint of grace through faith and not from the ways of our humanity. 

Now honestly, I must tell you tell you that to understand that the kingdom of God is within you, will not do a heck of a lot for our behavior. It’s like the apostle said, “The good that I should do I do not do.”  But what’s important for us is the renewing of the mind, the understanding toward God and His kingdom.  You know that in the Old Covenant, it is said that the people were destroyed for lack of it.  That is not going to happen to us however, because Jesus will not lose anyone whom the Father has chosen.  But one of the benefits of understanding the kingdom is the fact that you will get a little more rest from your own labors and therefore stay out of much of the trouble that we get ourselves into because of our worldly view of the kingdom.  When you start believing you are not a sinner any more, notice how some things change.

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