“For a group to be successful their goal must be more important than any individual’s goal”
Christ came to build a kingdom. You can’t get around it. Even a shallow glance at the New Testament will show us that Jesus’ main mission was to build the Kingdom of God. He said, “Turn from your sins (literally: change your mind about sinning) because the Kingdom of Heaven is open.” Almost every parable begins with, “The Kingdom of God is like…” He talks about it over 60 times!
It is obvious that the Kingdom is important to Jesus. He spent His short time on earth dedicated to it. He even died for it. He believed that a time was coming, and in some places had already come, where people really would love their enemies, pray for those who oppress them and be perfect as the Heavenly Father was. I find it interesting that we often filter this message out. We make following Christ all about where you go when you die and good moral choices (side note: That is what the Pharisees were so concerned about). He makes it about entering into a kingdom.
A kingdom is a dynamic thing. It is not confined to a textbook or a catchphrase. You can write all the books on American culture you want but you can’t understand what it really means to be American until you have lived here or met someone who has. Jesus came to reintroduce us to our true homeland. He told us what it was like and how we can get there. He begged us to be about building the kingdom with Him. He calls us to be His witnesses and ambassadors. That is what the Church is for.
We make the Church about a lot of things; I fear we don’t make it about the Kingdom enough. We have the goals of making our opinions known and “sharing information” about each other. We make it our mission to look good on Sunday, have the best behaved kids or upholding the status quo (the way things have always been). We are ambitiously gazing through the planks in our own eyes the point the finger at gays, abortion doctors and Democrats. I am not sure we care about entering into the present Kingdom of God. In short, I am not sure we care about what Jesus cared about. Maybe that is why the American Church by and large has been unsuccessful in the past century.
How do we get back on track? Why do you think Jesus set the Kingdom of God so high in His teachings? Why do we place it so low in ours?
Talk amongst yourselves J
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5 comments:
hey justin good thoughts. to get on track is just changing one mindset at a time. but it takes each individual in the kingdom to make this possible.
oh thanks for the pics and life update. are you going to fuel in october?
In my life I've only heard this "kingdom" really talked about by two people, (now three) & one of them was Jesus. Of the many things that Jesus said which i do not understand this is one of them which seems to be rather important.
I disagree with your statement that our churches are not about a Kingdom. I think they are, but unfortunately it is more similiar to Mr. Roger's magical land of make-believe where King Friday exists. My people like to pretend on Sunday that everything is ok & that nothing is wrong. (i'm sure your people don't do this) Depending upon your end-times view - another thing i don't understand - maybe you, me, & some other schmucks will let God use us to usher in the Kingdom on the other side of the trolley's journey in the real world. (again using the Mr. Roger's metaphor) That's all i have.
Quit reading Dallas Willard & you'll think about this less. :)
what's your email address?
ljgentry@gmail.com is where you can reach me
Thanks for the comments.
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