Matthew 6:25-34, "Do not be worried... (don't be) worried... why are you worried?... do not worry... But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself..."
Five time Jesus says, "don't worry." And yet I am filled with anxiety. What is wrong with me? Why do I keep thinking about the fact that today I do not have enough for tomorrow? Why can't I see that yesterday I did not have enough for today, and yet today is miraculously taken care of?
Over and over this scripture plays in my mind. I worry and the Holy Spirit answers with, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness." And so I do. After all it was the kingdom of God that Jesus came preaching, and it is the gospel of the kingdom of God that will be being preached when He returns. In fact Jesus says preaching the kingdom of God was His very purpose. (Luke 4:43)
So as I have this time of forcing myself to ignore the anxiety and the lies creating it, I throw myself into seeking God's kingdom, and seeking holiness on the level of Christ. And amazingly I am discovering so many things about the message, and about the kingdom that I never knew.
Perhaps I will share some of the revelation in future post. Until then, if you are full of anxiety like me, focus on the kingdom of God, seek the meaning of the message and watch the anxiety disappear.
Matthew 22:37, "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
I've been reading yet another book by one of my favorite authors, T Austin-Sparks. This one is called "The Gospel of the Kingdom." In it he begins with defining the "kingdom" as the sovereign rule of God. He uses this definition as the explanation or the reason that all of the parables on the kingdom of God work together.
Of which I agree with the reasoning yet find it incomplete. And it is incomplete because all of scripture functions on multiple levels simultaneously, and to limit the message based on such a confined definition is in my opinion ungodly. After all, all scripture points to Christ. It functions in the past, present, and future. The Spirit of God can use all of it to prophesy into the life of the individual, the community, the nation, and/or the globe. Additionally, scripture describes not only the world around us, but the world inside us. Namely the world and interaction of the spirit, and soul housed in the body.
So with that in mind I must argue by the Holy Spirit that included in the definition of the kingdom of God, the most preached message of Jesus while on this earth, is the inclusion of territory. Just as a photon of light is both energy and particle, the kingdom of God is both the sovereign rule of God, and the territory where that rule operates.
Jesus spends a lot of time discussing who would be "in" the kingdom of God. If sovereign rule were the exclusive definition then at least one of the numerous references should say "under" the kingdom of God. But it is territory that brings understanding to how the kingdom of God can suffer violence. (Matt 11:12) Because on the border of the kingdom, where the territory of God's sovereign rule meets the resistance of Satan there is a battle. And this battle rages not only in a physical realm, but inside us.
Jesus commands us to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind. In that there is a whole, then there also is a part. Therefore this "territory" of the kingdom of God is in part what portion of the whole is under the sovereign rule of God. Have we brought our whole heart under His authority, or only a portion. It is this process of taking over the whole heart, whole soul, and whole mind, where we begin to see the territory represented by the kingdom of God.
Jesus said the kingdom is in you. It is in our heart, mind, and soul. He said that the kingdom is leaven. As such, it is alive and growing inside us. Our heart, mind, and soul is the flour, it is the territory, where the kingdom of God is expanding. Just like the kingdom of heaven is the man that sows good seeds in the same area the enemy sows the tares. The territory where seeds of good and evil are constantly sown is the heart, mind and soul. The kingdom of heaven is stumbled upon sometimes like a treasure in a field and sought by others like a merchant looking for a pearl. But in all cases it is a priceless discovery when found. The kingdom even has a life of it's own, and is neither stumbled upon or sought, but sometimes finds us like a dragnet pulled through the oceans catching all manner of mankind.
In the end, the kingdom of God is a territory. If nothing else it is a territory within us. And once inside us, once the seed is planted, it is ever growing, every changing, and ever opening of our eyes.
Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. (Matt 6:33) That kingdom is just how much of our heart, mind, and soul we allow for God to have His sovereign rule in. It is a battle and a violent act that allows His territory to overtake ours. It is death as the cross of Christ come to bear on the self. It is the resurrection that permanently establishes His kingdom where it once was unwelcome.
Proverbs 28:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."
This scripture meant to me that in order to achieve success in anything, include spiritual task there must be a vision. There must be some leader to see the vision, formulate the strategic plan, and cast that vision before the troops, workers, parishioners, whatever group is to be lead to fulfill the vision. Even when I began this simple blog, I saw past the significance of the obedience and began to add my own desires to it. I began to create a strategic plan for it's growth. I thought of "formulas" to keep it fresh. I took a simple act of obedience, and turned it strategically into a ministry. Perhaps not even that. Initially I was going to make this a "Christian" business of sorts. I thought it would lead to full-time ministry, and an income. Problem is that was not God's intent to this point.
So it makes you think... Did I miss God's vision? Am I not seeing His purpose clearly? If my heart is saying full-time ministry, then where is the ministry?
What I should have been asking is what is God's vision? What is it that we loose sight of leading to death?
The prophets of the old testament had plenty of vision. They articulated this vision in a multitude of prophecies. And yet, this vision when looked at collectively is all a prophetic word about Jesus. Everything in the old testament points to Christ. Jesus sited the prophets and their prophecies numerous times when referring to Himself. He was their vision.
Yet there is more to this concept of vision. Vision not only encompasses the person of Jesus Christ, it has a mission implied with it as well. We know the opportunity to see begins at salvation. Jesus said in John 3:3, "...Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
This is the vision that keeps us from death, from a spirit in perish. To see Christ, high and lifted up, in His kingdom. In seeing Christ where He is, we can also begin to see His kingdom is inside of us. And if His kingdom is inside of us, then Christ has an action for that specific local. Regardless of where we stand in this dynamic kingdom of God, Christ has a task of being Him. As we grow in knowing Jesus, we begin to be a better, brighter reflection of Him wherever we are. We carry inside of us the kingdom of God. Sometimes that kingdom is surrounded by the kingdom of Satan, and other times that same piece is surrounded by more of the kingdom of God, but regardless see that is critical to being a reflection of Him. Seeing His kingdom, seeing His action is what is true spiritual success.
I will go on to say further that wherever we are, we are with Christ in His kingdom if we are born again. That is our spiritual local, and we can see that if we will ask for that vision. On the job, in church, at home, at play... there is an ever present opportunity to be a reflection of Christ. We do not need to work in a building with a cross on it to do this. We do not need to wear a white collar on a black shirt to have this vision.
May God open our eyes to see the kingdom, and to see Christ in His proper place.... Head of the body, directing us in unity. Seeing how the parts fit together. Seeing His vision for His kingdom.
Matthew 13:33, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven.."
Whoa... hold on a minute Jesus, I thought leaven was compared to the teachings of the Pharisees. I thought that the bread of communion was unleavened to represent Your sinless nature, and therefore sin is leaven. How can the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, be like leaven?
(For those who do not know. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are largely interchangeable. This is because authors like Matthew follow the tradition of not speaking the name of "God." Therefore they substituted heaven in the place of YWHA, or God.)
Leaven in modern terms is the result of yeast being active in something like bread. In the context of the kingdom of God being like leaven, Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like yeast.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Yeast is a living fungous substance. When added to dough the living organism begins to comsume the dough as well as multiply. The resulting by product is a gas that causes the bread to rise and become fluffy. Likewise when yeast is added to fruit juices it again begins to multiply. It also consumes the sugars and as a waste product secretes alcohol.
As a result of this leaven, juice becomes wine, and in the process gives off gases. These gases, if not released or contained in a flexible "new wine skin" can cause the vessel to burst during fermentation. We do not see the gas of wine, but we all can relate to the gas that is released from a bottle of champagne. Champagne is nothing more than wine that has undergone a second fermentation where the gas is not allowed to escape.
The result is that when a bottle of champagne is opened and poured, the bubbling experience is effervescence Effervescence is the escape of gas from an aqueous solution and the foaming or fizzing that results from the release of the gas.
With me so far?
The kingdom of God is an effervescent life within a life. It is a living, growing thing inside our very soul. It is producing a cleansing gas, that from time to time will result in a spiritual burb. Expelling the gas, expelling the waste byproduct is necessary as the kingdom of God expands. As it converts what is in its way to itself, the waste must go.
I know this, because it is what I experienced with 12 or 13 living examples of Christ at love machine. With all hell breaking loose around me, with what feels like life hanging in the balance, God chose today for me to burb up some shame.
How fitting that this blog's theme is shameless surrender. How characteristically God that in a season where hell itself seems to be on a personal vendetta against me, that God would have me pause in the pressure to release some gas. I laugh because there is a condition that divers can experience under extreme pressure called the bends. If they come up too quickly without the gas buildup in their blood being released they will experience extreme pain and even death. Today for me was a decompression. Today's painful burb is preventative to spiritual bends tomorrow.
Even now I hear some of you asking how. How did you have a spiritual burb? To that, I have no answer other than God is just God. The specifics however were a release of shame. Shame of failure. Shame of not being a better person. Shame of not being smarter. Shame of not thinking the right thing, of not treating people with perfect love. Primarily I feel shame because I don't believe my life reflects Christ completely. I feel shame because I don't think my heavenly Father is proud of me. None of which is true... but all of it needed to come bubbling up. It is the effervescent life of God inside my very soul that surgically brought all of the shame to the surface so that it could be removed. These lies were buried in my soul. They were affecting my actions and my obedience. Fear of shame was causing ungodly reactions to normal pressures.
The fathoms of the issue are irrelevant. What is relevant is that we need not resist God's effervescence. We need not push down those feelings that rise to the top. New wine skins, a born again soul... expand as needed, but they are also porous allowing the gas to escape. Expand with the Holy Spirit but let the CO2 off. There is no life in it. Let God breath into you, and as necessary exhale the crap, the lies, the barriers, the walls, the myths, the teachings, everything that exalts itself against God. Allow the leaven that is the kingdom of God leaven your entire soul.
And if you want to see this practically applied. If you want to learn to exhale, contact me and I will put in touch with someone to help you in the process.
Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
It has been previously discussed in The Kingdom of God post that this concept preached by Jesus of the kingdom of God is a place, a thing, a noun. It is a place that is bordered by a boundary.
Moving a little further in this attempt to articulate my perception and experience in the kingdom, I can say that the kingdom of God is where The Father is. It is the spiritual space occupied by His radiant glory.
I will not get into an argument or theological discussion about the doctrine of the trinity. But it willl suffice to say that The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, but seperate. A prime example is the Father cannot look upon sin, but Christ can.
So in this seperate but one mentality, the kingdom of God can be looked at as that spiritual space the Father occupies. Additionally, those that are inside the space have access to the Father and an understanding of His glory. I have a full theological development, and biblical proof of all of this, but will forgo the details to say that Matt 5:8 speaks of this when it says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The pure at heart experience God the Father in this life, not just postmortem.
In the end, this recognition of the kingdom of God reveals the life cycle of the Christian. We are saved through Christ. His blood covers our sins, allows the Father to look upon us from His kingdom, and allows the Holy Spirit to start His work. When we look at the kingdom in this Saved state we see a formidable wall. We see a Father high on His throne, and that throne is inaccessible. And so the Holy Spirit begins His purifying work. The cross of Christ bears down on our soul, and works until it brings that very soul to surrender. At the place of surrender we are empty of ourselves, and it is here the empty vessel can begin to be filled with Christ. The surrendered soul is the purified heart. And it is once again Christ, and Him living in us that grants us entrance to the kingdom of God and access to the Father. It is here spiritual vision begins.
From outside the kingdom the boundary appears a formidable wall only breached by physical death and being resurrected inside. But from the inside the kingdom you can see that this wall is not a wall at all, but people, alive on the earth today, linked arm in arm who at about the work of the Father to expand it.
From outside the kingdom denominations are truths or lies. From inside the kingdom denominations are communities and parts of the body. They are a subset of the whole, the whole being the complete body of Christ.
From outside the kingdom adulterers, homosexuals, drunks, can never ever get in, or achieve eternal life. From inside the kingdom you understand that the blood of Christ covers the person not the behavior. You can see that they are not a Sinner, but a potential child of God because of the blood. The sin is not who they are, therefore hope remains.
Inside the kingdom love is clearer, and it looks nothing like the world's definition. Inside the kingdom favorite scripture has new meaning.
Luke 4:43, Jesus said, "But He said to them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.'"
What is the kingdom of God? Why did Jesus mention those exact terms 57 times? Why did some gospel writers substitute kingdom of Heaven for the same terms? Why did He send out people to "proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing."
Christians in mass understand salvation, and that Christ died for our sins. Charismatics in mass understand there is a power of the Holy Spirit available for so much including power to heal. But not many understand the kingdom of God. And to be frank, I can see a whole lot more than I understand, and can articulate even less. But scripture says Jesus was sent for the purpose of preaching the kingdom of God.
This would make sense given that nearly everything coming out of His mouth was about the kingdom of God. Nearly every parable was about the kingdom of God. But wait. I thought Christ purpose was to provide the body with salvation?
This is true, but this is a bi-product or necessary precursor for His real purpose of proclaiming the kingdom of God. Salvation is the first step to entering the kingdom of God.
For generations we have been taught that Christianity is about salvation, then overcoming, with no discussion of entering the kingdom of God until we die. I for one have been taught that the part of us that enters the kingdom of God is some resurrected form of our flesh after we physically die. But the kingdom of God is not to come in some distant future, to be experience post physical death. It is here. Jesus said, it is at hand.
So what is it?
The kingdom of God is a place that exists on a spiritual plane. The Greek word used by Jesus in every case was Basileia. Somewhere in history this word lost its original meaning of a physical place, a kingdom, and took on a more action oriented meaning of a reign or kingship. To Plato, a Greek, he understood the word to be a royal palace, and why not? The royal palace is the seat of power for a kingdom. But a kingdom is a place, a place that has a boundary. And the kingdom of God has a boundary. It has a boundary in existence and even has a boundary within our very being, in our soul.
We know the kingdom of God is spiritual and inside us because of Luke 17: 20-21. We know that the kingdom of God can be entered, and that this entrance is granted to child like nature according to Mark 10:15. But not only is there the requirement of a child like nature, but our spirit must be reborn to even see it. John 3:3.
Please understand. Salvation is not a guarantee to enter the kingdom of God. Salvation is a guaranteed escape of hell, but it is only a guarantee that we will "see" the kingdom of God, not entrance. An entrance that can occur in this lifetime. I know the entrance into this spiritual place of the kingdom of God is for this lifetime because God's word say it.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven. It does not say their's SHALL be the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, "But if you cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Matt 123:28) - Here and now.
Not only can we enter it, we can be removed from it... Matt 21:43, "... the kingdom of God will be taken from you..."
The kingdom of God is a mystery that some are given understanding of. (Mark 4:11). In Luke 8:10, "... so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."
The kingdom of God comes with power. Mk 9:1.
I could go on and on, but the kingdom of God is a spiritual place, with a spiritual boundary. A boundary to which entrance has some requirements, the first of which is rebirth. But then remaining requirements are accomplish with surrender to the cross. The result is a restoration of our child like nature, and innocence. But once you penetrate that boundary, the world is a completely different place. Inside the kingdom of God you understand more fully that we are in the world but not of it. Inside the kingdom of God is a kingdom perspective, that effects body, soul, and spirit.
And most important to me, and the reason I am writing a book title The Father, Son, Holy Spirit, & Coming Kingdom Revival is that Jesus said, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." There are a lot of gospels being preached. Mainly a gospel of salvation. The kingdom gospel is what is coming, and needs to be preached. The revelation and revival the kingdom of God will create will fulfill Revelation 11:15, where is says, "... The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever." This is not a concept. This is not heresy. This is what must occur. This is what will occur. There will not only be an understanding of the kingdom of God, but it will occupy the spirit and soul of every Christian. It will motivate every Christian. It will bear the fruit of love.
The beauty of it all is that unlike many of my predecessors, and peers I do not believe it is anything more than a choice. It is not a salvation issue, it is an issue of becoming what the Bible calls "The chosen generation." "The royal priesthood" that sees the return of Christ. What is further beautiful is that God has already picked that generation. He calls to every generation to be it, but only one, somewhere in time, will stand up and accept the call. One will, in mass, enter the kingdom of God and fulfill Gods work of having man be instrumental in Satan's final stand. But until that day... YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Whether others join you or not is immaterial.
But be careful what you wish for. Count up the cost. The price of admission is everything. Everything must be honestly and completely subjected/surrendered to Him, or it must be stripped from you. I would say too, that there appears to be no turning back once you ask to come in. You will have to pay the admission, and it appears to be a non-refundable purchase.
