Gaining a Kingdom of God Perspective
HAVING A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE IS A VITAL COMPONENT IN OUR DISCIPLESHIP NETWORK.
Salvation. Getting
saved. Coming to
Jesus. Giving
your heart to God.
Being
born-again. Confessing
Jesus as Lord and Savior. Being
washed in the blood.
Following
the four spiritual laws. Making a
decision for Christ.
There are
a lot of terms out there that we Christians use for defining the salvation
experience. All of them can be useful, at times, in explaining the process people
follow as they connect their lives to God through a confession of Jesus of
Nazareth as God’s Son.
Here at
the Vineyard, we believe Jesus had a lot to say about this subject. As we read
the Gospels, we see Jesus encouraging people to make these very important ‘God-decisions’
in and through the light and wisdom of the Kingdom of God.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM
Throughout
the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we find Jesus constantly speaking
about ‘the Kingdom of God’ or ‘the Kingdom of Heaven’. As He travels from community to
community, Jesus consistently speaks about one message…‘the Kingdom of God’ (Matthew 4: 17). Nearly all His parables contain
the phrase, ‘the Kingdom is like’ (Mark 4: 26, etc). In other passages we see
Jesus teaching His followers to pray, ‘Your Kingdom come’ (Luke 11:2),
encouraging His friends to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’ (Matthew 6: 33), and
after His death & resurrection, we see the risen Jesus spending the forty
days prior to His ascension explaining ‘the Kingdom’ to His disciples (Acts
1:3). Apparently from the Gospel writers’ viewpoint, Jesus considered the
Kingdom (literally “God’s right to rule and reign”) as a crucial power point
when considering a life given over to God.
So if
understanding and embracing the Kingdom message is that important to Jesus, we
sense it must become vitally important to us as well, particularly as we make
decisions to follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
WHERE
ARE YOU ON THE MAP?
CS Lewis,
considered one of the best Christian theologians of the 20th
century, believed that our decision to follow Jesus was more than just a blind
leap of faith. For him, logic and good judgment played an important part in a
person’s ability to make a good life decision. If we choose to look at our
lives as a journey or an adventure, logic tells us that if we know 1) which
direction we came from, 2) our current location, and 3) our final destination,
our journey will have the best opportunity to being a success.
Here at
the Vineyard, we believe a Kingdom of God theology, seeing life through the
lenses of Jesus and His Kingdom, offers us the clearest road map on that
journey through life and allows us to make the best life decisions possible.
Let me explain, using my own personal journey as viewed through the following
ROAD MAPS.
ROAD MAP 1 - My BC days (before Christ)
Here is
my LIFE ROAD MAP prior to coming to Jesus. That smiley face is me. Oblivious to
most things outside of my present surroundings, I did realize I had a past and
that my history did have some effect on my present existence, but for the most
part, I wasn’t interested in exploring any detail to that fact. My future was
equally oblivious. I knew there was a tomorrow, but again, with my focus on ME
and RIGHT NOW, I didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the eternal
consequences of my future.
ROAD MAP 2 - My decision to follow Christ
When I
was a young boy, I attended church regularly with my parents, so I assumed my
life was OK with God. As Christians, my parents always enjoyed watching Billy
Graham on TV. While I would have preferred to watch Dick Clark and American
Band Stand, my parents regularly overruled me and we ended up watching Billy
instead. I remember listening to his messages of salvation, and was intrigued
enough to send off for a copy of Dr. Graham’s DECISION magazine. Though I can’t
pinpoint the actual date in time, I do know that I made a decision to place my
life into Jesus’ hands, trusting Him as my Lord and Savior. As I made that decision,
suddenly my life map came into more clarity. First, I realized my past and
future were no longer oblivious. The Bible taught me that “in the beginning…God”
and that my life was not just an accident on a planet spinning wildly through
space. The Bible also convinced me that God knew me personally and that He was
choosing to guide me through my life. Secondly, I realized the future was no
longer a blur of uncertainty, but that Jesus of Nazareth is coming back again,
and that there is a reality to such things as heaven and hell. Finally, I
realized the need for Mr. Smiley Face (me) to secure my life to the cross of
Jesus, trusting Him as my personal Savior, my Guide through this life, and the
Way through the dark curtain of death into eternity.
ROAD MAP 3 - Adding a Kingdom perspective
For most of my early adult life, my life map
(#2) worked very well in offering me a logical explanation to where I was on my
journey with Jesus. I was assured of my salvation by holding firmly to Jesus’
cross and I found myself holding on tight to Him through life’s ups and downs, looking
toward the future hope of spending eternity with Him in heaven.
Then in
the early 1980’s, I met John Wimber and the Vineyard. John was a very likeable
man. I loved his honesty, his simplicity and his desire to live out his life
being obedient to Jesus and God’s Word, but avoiding if at all possible, the
religiousness and rigidity found in most traditional church settings. As I
listened to this ‘fat man trying to get to heaven’, I heard him again and again
talking about the Kingdom of God. He told me that if Jesus thought
it was important to be a ‘Kingdom man’, then that was good enough for him. Wimber
was great in telling his own conversion story and talked a lot about how his
Christian life radically changed as he became more familiar with Kingdom of God
theology (via the writings of George Ladd, Oscar Cullmann, and others). John
told me to hold tightly to my plan of salvation map (#2) but also encouraged me
to slip on a pair of Kingdom of God glasses, so I could see more
detail on my road map. As I did, I began to realize that he was right.
Let me describe:
First of
all, my view of ‘in the beginning…God’ began to take on more clarity. As I
searched the Bible, looking for more Kingdom references, I was shocked to see
so many passages referring to God as our rescuing King. Actually one of the
Bible’s clearest messages from Genesis to Revelation is that the all-powerful
God who introduces Himself to Moses in Exodus, is not some distant, ruling
tyrant who is absent of emotion, but actually One who relishes relationship
with His creation and proves Himself again and again throughout history as our
pro-active, loving, rescuing KING!
Next, I
looked with Kingdom eyes into the future and was shocked to see so many
biblical references that mention so much more about the future than simply ‘a
judgment day when all are judged on our earthly behaviors and sent off to
Heaven or Hell’. Actually the Bible talks more of a future where a Coming Day
will bring our merciful King’s day of justice where all injustice and wrongness
is brought into the Light. Jesus, God’s redeeming Lamb, will return a second
time, not as the child who came 2,000 years ago to inaugurate (begin) God’s
in-breaking Kingdom, but as a ruling Prince, consummating (installing) God’s
Kingdom for all eternity. That Coming Day will bring a complete transition from
this Present Age (the world as we presently know it) to the Age to Come (the
fullness of God’s Kingdom) where His rule and reign are complete, and all of
God’s enemies (Satan, his hordes of demons, and even death, itself) will be
finally judged and separated from God’s creation.
Thirdly,
my Kingdom glasses let me see some major detail about this Present Age I had
missed earlier. First, as mentioned above, Jesus’ first coming 2,000 years ago
was not just a separate God-incident where the Son of God came to earth, lived
a perfect life, died on a cross, ascended back into heaven, only to wait for
some future moment to come again. No, there is so much more included in Jesus’
first coming! As Jesus says clearly in the Gospel writings, He not only came to
die on a cross for our sins, He brought with Him God’s in-breaking Kingdom
(God’s right to rule & reign) and with God’s pro-active Kingdom comes an inauguration
of a whole new period of time on planet earth. This unique time (Acts 2) is
called ‘the Last Days’ in the Bible and our calendars now show that these
unique Last Days, when God is establishing His ruling power over all darkness
and dominion, have been going on now for nearly 2,000 years! With Jesus’ first
coming, Jesus brings God’s light (John 1) to a darkened planet, revealing the
subversive nature of Satan. With a mighty blow of Jesus’ sacrificial death on a
cruel cross, God pushes back Satan’s power & authority that hold you &
me in his evil grasp, setting us free to live this life not as captives to this
present evil age, but as redeemed sons and daughters of a pro-active, loving,
rescuing King! (Luke 4: 18-19) Now that, my friends, is GOOD NEWS!
ROAD MAP 4 - So what are the Kingdom implications?
TWO LIFE-CHANGING IMPLICATIONS OF LIVING OUT A KINGDOM OF GOD PERSPECTIVE
1. The Kingdom is breaking-in on us RIGHT NOW.
2. We are commissioned to DO Kingdom
ministry.
Finally, the implications for you and I
living in the midst of this unique time (an overlapping season of time where
this Present evil Age and the Age to Come are both activated) are
mind-boggling. Rather than MR. SMILEY FACE (me) sitting here on planet earth,
contemplating the wonders of the coming age, twiddling my thumbs as I try to be
good while I wait for Jesus to return, I am called uniquely by God to become a ‘KINGDOM
man’ NOW.
Actually, the Bible teaches us that men and women and children, chosen
from every tribe and nation, are called in this present moment to become
KINGDOM PEOPLE (Revelation 5), taking the wonderful message of God’s
in-breaking Kingdom to every corner of the earth, encouraging others toward the
same type of Kingdom-living Jesus taught & modeled to His original disciples.
Apparently, as we go, responding to His commission (Matthew 28: 18-20), Jesus
tells us to 1) stick to the master plan, doing only those things the Father
shows us to do (John 5: 19), 2) rely upon the in-dwelling and empowering work
of the Holy Spirit for all aspects of living the Christian life (John 14), and 3)
continue doing His works (demonstrations of God’s in-breaking Kingdom) and
saying His words (proclamation of God’s in-breaking Kingdom) until the very end
of this present age (Acts 1).
So, come
on! Make that choice today to step into God’s in-breaking Kingdom! It’s here!
It’s near! Almighty God is here, NOW among us! Our pro-active, loving, rescuing
King has broken in on our behalf and now, because Satan’s powerful grasp is
being removed off our lives, we can choose to live in the Light! Respond today
to His invitation to see yourself as a precious son or daughter of the good
King. Join us in this lifetime to pursue that King, learning to worship Him in
Spirit and in Truth. Respond to His commission, to invest your life for His
Kingdom purposes on planet earth. He is coming soon. The time is short. This
age of mercy is a time when all people (saints and sinners, alike) can be
filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, going in His Name, to spread the GOOD
NEWS of God’s in-breaking Kingdom!
“The Spirit of the Lord is on
me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to
release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus of Nazareth Luke 4: 18-19
- Marty & Sandy Boller, Senior Pastors
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