Kingdom Come

As Grace has posted a quote from Baxter Kruger:

"As the light of Jesus shines into our darkness, we will not be yearning to escape the ordinary, we will be stunned and full of wonder at the ordinary presence of the blessed Trinity in our humanity.

Heaven is not a bodiless state in an invisible place. Heaven is the life of the Father, Son and Spirit coming to full and abiding expression in our human existence, and the earth and the cosmos are filled with the life and love and fellowship of the blessed Trinity.

Meantime we grieve over the self-centeredness, over the lust and greed, the social and racial, environmental and political and religious injustices that run wild around us, wreaking such havoc in our lives.

And we fast and pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us in our darkness.

We pray for people to be given eyes to see and that the way things are in Jesus Christ would indeed emerge more and more in our human existence." (Grace has added the emphasis)

I would like to discuss the details of what this means, how we bring it about, or more precisely, how God brings it about through us. Is this simply an expression of love? What is it that God wants us to do to see the Truth? Is there something we can do? Isn't it all Him?

If we look at the teachings of Y'eshua in Mark 12:29-31

"Jesus answered, "The greatest [commandment] is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. The second is like this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

and then at Micah 6:8

"הגיד לך אדם מה־טוב ומה־יהוה דורש ממך כי אם־עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם־אלהיך׃ ף"

"He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

We can see that yes, we must love and that love must be in action. Yes, we must pray that God's love reign in us, and that His Spirit reveal to us the Truth so that we may love as He loves, not as we would ourselves (thereby setting up a false and certainly wrong foundation and basis, a flawed rule by which to love by). It is by Christ that God has revealed Himself, God's expression of Himself, that is why John can use the phrase "logos," God's Word. But what does that mean to let Christ emerge in us? By faith certainly, by grace, most assuredly, but also, is it not, as James says, by action? Love without action is merely poetry. Words without deeds are not hollow, they are lies.

Suppose I told my wife I loved her but never showed her, never gave of myself for her. She wouldn't think me a good husband at all. (I'd never get to be her husband without showing her real love, would I?) The word husband means to manage or steward, which is an action verb, and so, my friends, as we often hear evangelical Christians say, so is love.

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." Love indeed requires action. So I plead that we, as believers must become doers. The scripture says that God saves us by grace through faith in Christ but does not preclude that we must not adhere to the Torah, the instruction of God, to do what God commands of us. Look back at Micah 6:8 again. What often becomes a point of contention though is when we put our faith in Torah (Law, Instruction) to save us; thereby we have made a false god. Our faith must be in God alone.

So only in Christ and His action, His love, do we now know, as Paul says, how important the Law really is! And Christ tells us that those who would follow Him must abide in Him and "do the will of My Father in Heaven." Christ is adamant about action, not merely words. He is not talking about the rituals we do, but the faith we have and thereby display in actions of love.

He was not crucified for merely what He said, but for what He did. He did not tell us love without giving the example of what that means. He healed on the Sabbath, He cured the blind, set free the captive, declared the year of Jubilee. He did not simply speak to the poor and downtrodden, He became one of them. He became one of us. He humbled Himself before us*.

It is my suggestion, we must become humble as Christ became humble. We must pray, and the more we pray, the more we see His love, the more we see His love the more we thank, the more we thank, the more we hope, the more we hope the more we love, the more we love the more we give, the more we act. True love is truly humble and when we are humble, then we will stop thinking about who is in the kingdom of God and who is not. We will treat and love and accept our flawed and perhaps, until now, unloved neighbors as God has loved us. His will done on earth as it is in heaven. His kingdom come.

Spiritual Gifts or The Kingdom

What is Christ's deepest passion? He was always about doing His Father's work. He preached, taught, proclaimed and died for the Kingdom of God. Christ came to establish His Father's Kingdom and I too must be about this work. No, not because I'm a citizen nor because of the benefits a citizen receives. Honestly, I don't know why, nor do I know if everyone should do the same, but He lives in me and I love my King so much I can think of nothing else night and day.

The Old and New Testaments scream to me, not of the Law, not of Israel nor her history, not just of peace, love nor even grace, but Christ. God has given us all these things in Christ. He bequeaths all to Christ and Christ returns all to His Father.

I know that in searching for Jesus, in trying our earthly best to love Him, we come across many doctrines, many people and many different "faiths." Pastors tell us to find our spiritual gifts, often misquoting Paul (usually just taking out of context what should be very simple). Priests tell us to pray more, Preachers exhort us to live holy lives. These are all godly things. Theologians give us correct doctrines and insist we stand against false doctrine. Theology can be good! I so wish I could be counted as among the best of them! As a tool theology can teach us many things. As a tool, but not as a weapon. Beware the weapon. As a weapon, it makes us terribly self-righteous and proud, not to mention argumentative and downright beastly, backbiting "Christians," dividing brother from brother. As well, in putting so much weight upon theology we are emphasizing knowledge rather than faith and life. That's taking fruit from the wrong Tree in the garden.

Spiritual gifts, too, are gifts to be used, but do we need to search for them, brag about them, (or even mention them? I'm not sure Paul or any of the other apostles mention theirs (unless forced to) - they simply used them. Spiritual gifts are just that, gifts. In fact, they are tools for use in His Kingdom. It's a very sad thing to spend more time cleaning tools rather than using them. They are not orchestral instruments in need of tuning, nor power tools that need cleaning and polishing, servicing and care. God will clean them. God will tune them and He does so while you use them.

According to 1 Corinthians 12, some are called to be prophets, some teachers, some to heal, some to work miracles. Those are not positions, but functions. When we get to heaven, do you suppose that God will say, "Good job, teacher." If we think we are what we do, we are sadly mistaken. God does not even insist so much on just what you do, but that you know Him and He, you! (Matt 7:23) God does not care so much your career or gift or any such thing. He gave them to you, they are of Him, but they are not Him. Placing on anything, even godly things, undue emphasis, creates idols before Him. He cares for you! It is the living relationship He desires.

The wonders of the Kingdom fall in this territory too, I'm afraid. Viola writes in an article on "deep ecclesiology,"

Jesus Christ is Hope (1 Tim. 1:1).
Jesus Christ is Peace (Eph. 2:14).
Jesus Christ is Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30).
Jesus Christ is Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
Jesus Christ is Holiness (1 Cor. 1:30).
Jesus Christ is Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).

Hope is not a thing to be sought after, it is a Person. Peace is not a virtue to be obtained, it is Christ. Righteousness is not a grace to be asked for, it is Christ, and on and on. One is a spiritual “thing.” The other is the Lord Himself. To put it in a sentence, Jesus Christ is not simply the giver of gifts, He Himself is the Gift!

As I survey the landscape of modern Christianity, it seems to me that spiritual things and objects have replaced the Person of Christ. ... When the Father gives us something, it’s always His Son. When the Son gives us something, it’s always Himself. This insight greatly simplifies the Christian life. Instead of seeking many spiritual things, we only seek Him. Our single occupation is the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes our only pursuit. We do not seek Divine things, we seek a Divine Person. We do not seek gifts, we seek the giver who embodies all the gifts. We do not seek truth, we seek the incarnation of all truth.

The Kingdom is born of the King. When the people taste and see that the LORD is good, that He is the center and purpose of everything, truly LORD OF ALL, we become a new nation, a new people, a new creation, under God. "A revelation that burns in the fiber of their being and leaves God’s people breathless, overwhelmed, and awash in the glories of Jesus."

God loves His Son so much that we have no words for it, no experience to match it. Be we do have Him. And we can experience Him. We are meant for that. The Kingdom is meant to revolve around the King, to glorify the King. We don't need gifts, we don't need prayer, we don't need wisdom, we don't need the things the Christian life produces. We need Christ. The gifts, the prayer, the holiness, these will come; they will come from the King. To Love Him, know Him, honor Him, and share Him is our goal, our life. May we be together, love one another, baptize each other, immerse each other in the name of, in the love of and in the life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

God bless and bless God!

Next: Our Salvation!