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God loves us and wants us to be happy. That’s an important aspect for us to keep in mind as we go through life living in this “already – not yet” kingdom of God. Paul reminds us in Romans 14 that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, something the Roman Christians were losing track of, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I like Wikipedia’s definition of joy; the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
That’s what God wants for his people. Intense, long lasting happiness. God’s people in Rome were getting all worked up about what foods were clean to eat and what foods weren’t, and were passing judgment on one another and condemning each other. Paul tells them in verse 14 that he personally, was convinced that nothing is unclean in itself, but if it distressed his brother in the Lord, that he would not eat certain types of food, because that would not be acting in love.
Acting in love is what God did for us in rescuing, redeeming and restoring us; in bringing us into his kingdom through the blood of Jesus the Messiah. Bringing us into his kingdom is all about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is about well-being, thriving and flourishing. It is about feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God in terms of joy as well. In Matthew 13:44 Jesus says the kingdom of heaven (or kingdom of God) is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. When he buys the field he is filled with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
When we buy into the kingdom of God, we too get to experience that same happiness.
For us to experience this joy, we must have the Holy Spirit. Living in the kingdom of God means living under the reign of the King. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to the joy that awaits us in the kingdom and in the King, and who invites us to be a part of the kingdom. And it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to live in peace and to thrive with our kingdom brothers and sisters.
Paul writes in Ephesians 5 that we should be filled with the Spirit (18). When we are filled with the Spirit, we are filled with joy and sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord (19). This also gives us the ability and desire to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (21). The Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to a strange, new realization that goes against the grain of this world’s general operating system. That realization being that we will be happier people, not by domineering other people, but by submitting to other people. Not by ruling, but by serving. Not by throwing our weight around but by throwing our energy into helping others.
So, we may not be judging each other or condemning one another about what we are eating and drinking, but there is a fair amount of strife among Christians about different political and social issues. We can’t bury our heads in the sand when it comes to these issues and act like they don’t exist or are not important. But we also shouldn’t condemn to hell as reprobates those who hold different opinions than we do. We should remember, and, with the power of the Holy Spirit, live in the kingdom of God together as righteous, peace loving, children of God, and that will fill us with joy.
Most people in the United States live in the Kingdom of Man. Their priorities are wealth, entertainment, and acceptance, especially on social media. They want those things and find a certain amount of satisfaction in striving for and attaining them.
How different that is from the Kingdom of God. Jesus made contrasts between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man in his sermon on the plain, found in Luke six.
The first contrast is with wealth and riches. Jesus says to his disciples –
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.”
To get a better understanding of what Jesus was trying to communicate, it is important to define three words from his radical statement. The first word is blessed.
Blessed is translated from the Greek word makarios and can also mean happy or fortunate. Perhaps a better way to understand this word is to think of being happy because one is blessed by God.
Kingdom is another word to be defined. It means a realm associated with or regarded as being under the control of a particular person or thing; the spiritual reign or authority of God.
The last word to consider is poor. It is the Greek word ptochos and is also translated destitute, helpless, powerless to accomplish an end. It is a much stronger word than what we normally think of with the English word poor.
With these definitions in mind, Jesus seems to be saying, “Happy are you who are destitute and powerless, for you are are most welcome in the realm of God.”
Those living in the Kingdom, or realm, or normal world of humanity, surely find the above statement to be most ridiculous.
The rich, young man of Mark 10 certainly thought so. He comes to Jesus and asks him what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus ultimately tells him, “Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”
The conclusion? The rich man went away sad and grieving for he was very wealthy. He was essentially telling Jesus that he would take a pass on the whole eternal life thing because his “Life”, his “Kingdom”, was firmly rooted, embedded and controlled by his riches in the Kingdom of Man.
Jesus tells his disciples that it is hard for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God. Peter pipes up and reminds Jesus that he and the other disciples left everything to follow Jesus. They were basically destitute. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Jesus assures them that no one who has left house or family for the gospel’s sake will fail to receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, and in the age to come, eternal life.
The message? Those who are poor, economically and spiritually, and realize that, and follow Jesus, eventually become rich in ways beyond their imagination, and those who are rich economically, and believe they have no need of Jesus eventually become destitute, maybe not in this life, but definitely in the life to come.
That is illustrated in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus.(Luke 16:19-31) The rich man dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury everyday. At his gate was a destitute beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.
They both died and the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham’s side in heaven. The rich man found himself in Hades, where he was in torment. He was so destitute and powerless that he begs for Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool his tongue.
The tables are turned, just as Jesus taught in Luke 6.
Verse 20 – “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.”
Verse 24- “Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
Other contrasts between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man that Jesus makes in this chapter:
Verse 21 – Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Verse 25 – Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Verse 21 – Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Verse 25 – Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Verse 22 – Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
Verse 26 – Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
The choice? She’s a clear one. As humans, we need to recognize our need of Jesus. We need to recognize our spiritual poverty; that our hunger for happiness and satisfaction can only be filled with Christ; that we mourn for lack of justice in this world and realize hope can only be found in Him who promises us that one day we will laugh and all will be well. Choose the Kingdom of God over the Kingdom of Man.
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In the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
He said that to keep our lives for eternal life we must hate our lives in this world. That’s important. I don’t know about you, but I kinda like the idea of eternal life. So, if you are like me, we better figure out what it means to hate our life in this world if we want to enjoy eternal life in heaven.
One thing we can figure out it is that hating our lives in this world is at odds with loving our lives. Jesus said that those who love their lives will lose them. So they are opposite. It is some kind of paradox. If I love my life I will lose it, but if I hate my life in this world then I will keep it for eternal life.
I think the key is the phrase “in this wold”. John uses the word “world” a lot, more than the other gospel writers. We all know John 3:16, “For God so loved the world….” In the context of that verse, the world seems to be something good, something worth dying for. Something worth God dying for. Let’s keep investigating.
John 1:9 says, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” That’s good. Verse 10 says, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” That’s not so good.
It gets worse. I mentioned John 3:16, which most people know, but how ’bout John 3:19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” So now we have gone from the world not recognizing the Light, to the world hating the Light because its deeds were evil. I think maybe we are beginning to figure out why we should hate our lives in this world.
In John eight, Jesus is talking to a crowd of Jews and he says, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
Here Jesus is saying that he is not of this world – this world that does not recognize him and this world whose deeds are evil. Jesus is saying that he is out of this world, and in a sense he is inviting the crowd, and us, to leave this world with its evil and sins, and to join him in some other world.
John wrote in his first letter in chapter one, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Here John is echoing what he wrote in his Gospel in chapter 12. Hating our life in the world means hating the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If we love our lives, Jesus is saying we love lust and pride. If we hate our lives in this world, then we are loving another world that God is inviting us into, otherwise know as the Kingdom of God.
Jesus talks a lot about this Kingdom. His first sermon in Matthew is in chapter five, the Sermon on the Mount, and is all about this Kingdom, and how it contrasts to the world. Jesus says that in this world, people have hate in their hearts which many times leads to murder. In this world people have lust in their hearts, which many times leads to adultery. In this world people have egoistic pride in their hearts and they hate their enemies. They hate people who are different from them.
Jesus invites those who hear his words to leave this world and join his Kingdom. He tells them rather than the world’s way of hate and kill, go the Kingdom way of reconciliation. Rather than the world’s way of sexual lust which leads to sexual immorality and sexual manipulation, go the Kingdom route and think graciously and considerately of all humans. Rather than the world’s way of hating your enemies, consider the Kingdom way of praying for them and loving them.
I read about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life everyday in the news. Awhile back a man who hated Muslims went into a Mosque in New Zealand and killed many worshipers inside. As retaliation, some Muslims recently went into Christian churches in Sri Lanka killing hundreds of believers. This is the worlds way, not the Kingdoms way. I hate the worlds way.
Here are some stories in the news today:
A white supremacist who chained a black man to the back of his pickup and dragged him around for three miles until he died was executed.
A postal carrier tried to stop a fight between a mother and teenage son. The teenager shot him.
An abusive ex husband secretly lived in a woman’s attic for weeks.
13 year old Houston girl dies after middle school fight.
Charity workers accused of stealing money meant for homeless.
Nursing home employee recorded sex tape with 78 year old man she scammed.
This is just some of the news FOR TODAY!!! It’s like this everyday in our world. I hate my life in this world! How about you? It’s no wonder Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, “YOUR KINGDOM come, YOUR WILL be done, on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN.” The more people hate their lives in this world, and love the Kingdom life of God, the more heaven on earth we will have, and the happier everyone will be.
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When I was a child I went to church because my parents took me there.
When I was a teenager I went to church because I experienced the love of God and wanted to learn more about Him and His great love.
When I was in Bible College I went to church because it was required by the Bible College and I enjoyed the preaching.
After I graduated from Bible College I went to church because I worked with the youth group and I was married and had two daughters.
After I divorced I went to church because I needed the fellowship and support of the Body of Christ, and I was committed to contributing to the life of the church in various ways.
I have gone to church my whole life, and for the most part it has been a positive experience. I have enjoyed the music, both the richness of the old hymns and also the lively contemporary tunes. Most churches that I went to had talented musicians who made that aspect of the service something special.
The sermons were usually my favorite part. Most of the ministers were highly educated, gifted speakers who made the Bible come alive. Preachers who explained biblical passages in their cultural and literary settings, and then offered practical applications for present day followers of Jesus.
I came to Mexico to help needy children thirteen years ago. These years have probably been the happiest years of my life. Living my life helping the fatherless and the incarcerated. Making a difference in the lives of poor children who have been abused and neglected by those who should have cared for them. Seeing smiling, happy faces everyday of young ones who would otherwise be living miserable lives, is an exceedingly rewarding experience for me. Laughing with inmates and bringing a message of encouragement to them; many who were falsely accused and unjustly imprisoned, is a great blessing for me.
Going to church in Mexico, on the other hand, is not such a great experience for me. The music is almost always too loud and hurts my ears. The lyrics are generally shallow and the theology of the songs suspect. The same can often be said for the preaching. I miss the music and sermons from the U.S.A.
So why do I still go to church? Because that is where I encounter the Body of Christ, the Community of Faith, gathered together to acknowledge the goodness of the God who has called us, redeemed us, justified us, rescued us, saved us and is sanctifying us everyday. I go to church primarily to look around and be reminded that God loves US and wants US to be happy. I go to church and see the Family of God, adopted sons and daughters of the Most High, brothers and sisters of the Faith.
In reality, every time I walk out my front door here at the mission, I go to church. The church is the people who I work with everyday, my fellow Christians. In one sense, I don’t go to church – I live in the church. I live and work with people who are dedicated to making beauty, doing good and sharing the truth in the name of Jesus. People who strive everyday to love God and love humanity. People trying to bring peace, joy and light into dark and unhappy lives. We do it all depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the strength of the Lord and the nurturing of our loving heavenly Father. That is the true church.
But when we all gather together, now that is something special. The presence of God is manifest in our lives in a unique way. I look around the auditorium and I see house parents who give their time and love to children desperate for love. I see cooks who make delicious, wholesome meals for children who previously lacked a proper diet and nutrition. I notice men who do maintenance; who keep the vehicles in working condition so the kids can go to school safely and the cooks can go and buy food and the teachers can go and buy supplies. I take in the school teachers who are so dedicated and give so much of themselves so that their students have a good education and can make something of themselves in this country where it can be so difficult to get ahead. God’s presence is with us all as we go about our individual chores and fulfill our responsibilities. But when we all gather together to worship God and look into each others eyes and pray for one another, that gives God an opportunity to do a work in our hearts and lives that would not otherwise be accomplished.
So I go to church and worship God with music that is too loud and where the preaching is less than stimulating, because I am part of a team that God has called. He has not just called us individually to salvation, but He has called each of us to come to Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, to work together and grow together and make a difference together. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I go to church to celebrate US. US who are God’s handiwork. US who are created in Christ Jesus. US who are doing good works that God has prepared for US to do.
I go to church to celebrate God with my brothers and sisters in the Faith. The God who has opened our eyes to the truth. The God who gives us a common vision of how we can participate in the Kingdom of God in the Tlacolula valley of southern Mexico. To celebrate the faithful God who gives us “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”
That is why I still go to church.
Don’t
live in the world
and go to church.
Live
in the
church
and go into the world!!!
What comes to mind when you think about the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of God?
They are connected. The Gospel is the Good News about the Kingdom of God. About the King. We constantly need to remember who is the King of the kingdom. I think the Good News about the Kingdom is that the King is also our Father! Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven … your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10). I think that news blew the Jews away. We read a lot about kings in the O.T. Some good, some bad. Some who strove to be righteous and others who were very evil. Some powerful, some weak. But none of them were portrayed as a loving Father. In Jesus sermon on the mount, which is all about the Kingdom and Gospel, he uses the word Father as a title for God more times than it is used as a title for God in the whole O.T. God as Father was almost a totally new idea for the Jews of that era. God as King – of course. God as Judge – they knew that God. God as Creator – Right on. But God as Father – What a concept!
Why are Gospel and Kingdom so important? Why is knowing God as a loving, compassionate Father something we need to embrace. Because God wants us to be happy. Because God wants Shalom. I have been thinking and reading a lot about Shalom lately. That word is generally translated as peace. It is a Hebrew word that is used throughout the Old Testament and it means so much more than what we think of when we think of peace. It is the glad result of Kingdom and Gospel. Shalom is the goal of God for everyone. Shalom is happy wholeness. Shalom is harmony and prosperity. Shalom is all encompassing. Shalom is living in peace and right relationship with God, ourselves, our family and community. Shalom is whole, right relationships between rich and poor, powerful and weak, black and white, Jew and Gentile.
Alas, we see far too little Shalom in the world today. Why? Because human beings in and of themselves do not have the power to live in and practice Shalom. Power is defined as the ability to do something. We have no a ability in ourselves to live in right relationship with God! And as for loving our neighbor – We despise our neighbor! I think this is why Jesus and Paul talk so much about the Power of God. There is no Shalom without that power. Shalom is the Good News that that power is available. When Jesus said the Kingdom is near, I think he was saying that Shalom is available to all who come to the loving, compassionate Father in an attitude of weakness and realization that without the Fathers power, we will live sad, miserable lives full of conflict and strife. Jesus is proclaiming Shalom and telling the people the Good News that God the Father is inviting people into the Kingdom of Shalom!
It is kind of like what we do here at the Home For Needy Children in Oaxaca, Mexico. We take in poor children who are broken and by the power of God and our love, they are made whole. Children come who are hurt and angry, confused and abused, betrayed and shamed. Here they experience Shalom. They grow into complete, happy people, full of smiles and laughter. It doesn’t happen overnight. It can be a long process. But when the children hear about the love of God and experience the compassion of their Heavenly Father on a daily basis, and depend on His power for their wholeness, then they live in peace and contentment. They live in Shalom.
I pray the Lord’s Prayer every morning. I especially like the part about “thy Kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Kingdom of God on earth is Already – But not yet. It already exists. It started with the new born King whose little body was laid in a wooden manger in Bethlehem and whose adult body was crucified on a wooden cross outside Jerusalem. It started out as the smallest of seeds, starting to grow over 2000 years ago, and is still growing, just like Jesus said in Matthew 13:31-32. It has not yet come to completion.
When George Bush was President he promoted a 1000 Points of Light program. I like to think of the Kingdom of God on earth as a Million Points of Light program. Everywhere that Christians gather together to glorify God and love Him and love their neighbors is a Kingdom Point of Light.
I live at a Home for Needy Children in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of those Points of Light. We take in children who are poor, abused, neglected and abandoned. They are hurt,sad, angry and confused when they come here. Here they experience the love of God and of Christians who care for them. Here they are transformed. We give them a safe place to live with plenty of nutritious food to eat and clean water to drink. They receive a good education and spiritual direction. Our goal is not just to make them into good people, but to make them into faithful disciples who love God and want to cooperate with Him in growing the Kingdom.
My wife and daughters and I spent Christmas day with a half dozen of these children, all under the age of 6. They are new comers to our little Kingdom Point of Light. Most of them are brothers and sisters who had been separated and put into different children’s homes in Oaxaca. Now they are reunited, happy and healthy, living in a loving Christian community that meets their every need.
New Kids at the Mission
Brother and Sister Reunited
God’s Kingdom is coming everyday in many different ways all over the world. In 2018 He may choose to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment; to completion. Then He will be the one to wipe away the children’s tears and there will be no more need for children’s homes. If that doesn’t happen in the new year, then God’s Kingdom will continue to come, on earth as it is in heaven. Little light by little light. Followers of Jesus will continue to spread the joy and peace of God and people all over the world will be coming into relationship with God, glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever. He is the One who truly puts the Happy in the New Year!
The Apostle Paul wrote 13 letters that are in the Bible. In his introductory
remarks at the beginning of each letter he includes this salutation, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the concluding remarks of his epistles he writes, “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
Peter wrote two letters. He begins his letters with the phrase, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” He ends his first letter with these words, “Peace to all who are in Christ.” The second letter ends with “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
I think grace and peace are the most important possessions we can have to be truly happy people. We need the grace and peace that comes from God to enjoy God in His happy kingdom.
Think of Paul before his close encounter with Christ. He claims that as for righteousness based on the law he was faultless, and as for zeal he persecuted the church (Philippians 3:6). He thought he could do it all spiritually speaking. He certainly tried, but apart from the grace of God he had no peace. Imagine the peace that flooded his soul when he encountered the grace that come from trusting Jesus and living in right relationship with God.
Think of Peter, living and learning from Jesus for three years. Boasting that he would never deny the Lord, willing to die for him if necessary. Hours later Peter claimed vehemently that he never knew Jesus. Jesus looked at Peter as Peter made his last denial while the rooster was crowing. He fled in tears. Not a lot of peace there. But later, he received abundant grace and forgiveness and was able to live and ultimately die, crucified upside down, in great peace.
It’s no wonder Paul and Peter begin and end their letters with reminders to their readers of grace and peace that are only found in Jesus Christ. It defined their lives. Those qualities of grace and peace were the foundation of everything they believed and did.
What did they have in mind when they used the words grace and peace.
With grace they meant the free gift of God that comes through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. This gift, totally undeserved by humans, transforms mere existence into Life, survival into thriving and flourishing.
Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but a deep and abiding sense that in the turmoil, confusion, pain and loss that we experience living in this broken world, there is Someone who is ultimately in control; a Savior who not only keeps us from going crazy, but who imbues us with a feeling of contentment. A God who loves us and wants us to be happy.
I live in Mexico and cooperate with God at a home for needy children. In the last two weeks we have experienced two really big earthquakes – an 8.2 and a 7.1 that caused incredible damage and took the lives of almost 400 people. Fortunately, by the grace of God, there was no physical damage to any of the buildings here at the mission, but many of the children, including my own two daughters, are constantly aware of what could possible happen and are reminded almost daily with the aftershocks. We felt four yesterday. To some extent we all waver between nervousness about whether or not there will be another earthquake, to outright fear. My daughters talk about earthquakes many times a day and sleep with us at night for fear of more of them.
I don’t understand much about God and natural disasters and suffering and loss. I can’t figure out exactly why God does what he does. I am perplexed at many turns on lifes long road. But I am grateful to God for that Peace that brings wholeness and well-being. That peace of God that makes me secure on the inside, even though things appear miserable on the outside. That peace of mind that comes from the God of peace. The peace of God which transcends all understanding and guards my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The peace I have when I trust in the LORD with all my heart, and lean not on my own reasoning.
Peter and Paul begin and end their letters with Grace and Peace. May we begin each day by meditating and contemplating the incredible grace we have through Christ, and end each day thanking God for peace in our lives.
To Enjoy God 