I have talked about the Kingdom of God often on this podcast. Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God a lot as well. But Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in the same way he taught about most things — indirectly. He gave parables, metaphors, and similes about the Kingdom and what it’s like but never really said what it is. Let’s start with one of my favorites from the Sermon on the Mount.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying,

In this short teaching, Jesus teaches us what the Kingdom of God is not. It is not what we eat, drink, or wear. We will receive all those things from God if we seek His Kingdom before all else.

But What is a Kingdom?

The English word gives us a clue. A Kingdom is that which is under the domain or rule of a king. So, to seek the Kingdom of God is to actively seek His rule on earth. It begins with each of us seeking to follow and obey God as King. But Kingdoms are more than land. Kings rule over people. Like a city, a kingdom is a group of people first and foremost.

The people Jesus spoke to were early first-century Jews and would have been thinking all kinds of political and national thoughts when they heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God. They believed that God, through the long-prophesied son of David, was about to fulfill those ancient prophecies and glorify Israel above all the nations of the earth. Many of those who followed Jesus believed him to be that messianic son of David. But when you look carefully at what Jesus said about the Kingdom, was restoring Israel to power really what he was describing? Or was it something else, something bigger?

While Jesus was on the earth preaching the Kingdom, he taught that he was the way, the truth, and the life. Finding faith in him was finding life itself. He sent his disciples out with the same task: to announce the Kingdom and lead people to faith in Jesus. Seeking the Kingdom has both a personal aspect and a corporate aspect. We must seek the Kingdom for ourselves, but when we find it, we must tell others. Consider the following verses:

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

These stories teach us two important truths.

* We must seek the Kingdom and find the Kingdom no matter the cost.

* We must share what we have found so that all may see it and glorify God.

How do we “seek first the Kingdom of God?”

We do this by show and tell. Consider the following statements of Jesus.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:

And Jesus came and said to them,

This Week

Rather than trying to argue people into the Kingdom this week, let’s all do our best to show them the Kingdom by loving each other and sharing the love of Jesus with those who still don’t know or believe. This week, let’s seek the righteousness of God’s Kingdom more than anything else this world might use to entice us and allow His love to overflow us to others.

Have a great week!

Recently, I have had heartbreaking conversations with people who have suffered trauma and loss in their lives. As sad as these stories were, there was something more troubling than the suffering and loss they experienced. It was their shattered faith. For various reasons, some known only to themselves, their losses had crushed their faith. Making their loss doubly tragic.

Today, I want to look briefly at the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a tiny book buried among the minor prophets that many overlook. He lived in Israel during a troubled time. The northern ten tribes of Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity by Assyria because of their idolatry. At the same time, Babylon was growing strong and threatening to take over the region. And his home in the southern kingdom of Judah had become as idolatrous, corrupt, and wicked as the northern kingdom had been.

Habakkuk was overwhelmed and cried out to God:

How long, O Lord, will I call for help,

God answers Habakkuk, but it’s not the answer he was looking for. God was going to deal with the wickedness that Habakkuk saw everywhere, but he was going to use a nation even more wicked than his to bring His judgment on Judah. He would use the Chaldeans, which is Babylon, the very thing Habakkuk feared. But along with this bad news, he was told that the righteous live by faith. Another day was coming when the evil of Habakkuk’s day would be overcome with goodness.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

Habakkuk tried to process all that God said regarding the coming judgment of his people and responded with a song of worship about God’s power, justice, and majesty. And the song ends with this remarkable statement of faith:

Though the fig tree should not blossom

What do we do when the miracle does not come?

When Christians talk about prayer, they often use language like, God did not answer my prayer, or I am still waiting on God when life is not the way they desire it. That perspective is often the right one. But sometimes, this attitude can be used to cloak denial of the possibility that God did answer, and the answer was no. Habakkuk did not like or even understand God’s response to his prayer, but the remarkable thing to me is that once he understood God’s intention, he did not fight it or deny God’s justice. He knew God’s judgments were just. He leaned into God at those moments, knowing that God would make everything right in time.

Habakkuk took the long view during those trying times, and so must we. During the darkest times in my life, through tragedy and trial, God’s presence was the most precious to me. God’s mercy carried me through even when my faith was failing. It is important to remember how short life is and how long eternity is when we are struggling with life. God’s view and our’s can’t be compared to each other, so we must trust in the goodness of God whenever life overwhelms us. Consider how Paul dealt with difficult answers to prayer:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

This Week

This week, I will take some time to remember the goodness of God in the past and His promises to us for the future. I will deliberately thank God and the people I meet for the many blessings I take for granted every day. Like Habakkuk, I must trust God even in crisis because I know He is good.

This week, I will try to remember the phrase I have told my students so many times:

No god small enough to fit in my head is big enough to worship.

Have a great week!

We live in a world of injustice and lies. We all wish this was not so, and we all want it to change. In our current culture, words change their meaning every day, making even a simple conversation anything but simple. We talk past each other at ever-increasing volume demonizing those we don’t like or agree with while cheering blindly for those we do. We watch as the guilty are set free and the innocent suffer while blaming others for it all. We shout, we demand, we slander, but the more we fight, the more violent the world becomes.

This is a difficult subject and today’s passage is a difficult passage. But I think it can give us some help in navigating today’s world.

For this is the will of God,

Vengeance vs Justice

The desire for revenge runs deep in the human heart, often using the notion of justice as a cover for its rage. But true justice is in the hands of God alone, according to this passage. Even Jesus, who suffered the greatest injustice in history, did not condemn his abusers but rather prayed that God would forgive them. Our job is not to bring down the so called “wrath of God” on people that offend us or treat us badly. The actual wrath of God is a fearful thing, and it is a real thing - it is not a phrase to be thrown around lightly.

As Christians, we should understand the fear of the Lord. And we should understand what the wrath of God would mean to a rebellious and sinful world. Our job is to demonstrate the grace of God — not his wrath, in the hope this kindness will lead people to repentance. Like Jesus, we are looking to bring forgiveness no matter the personal cost. And as hard as it is to hear, this may well mean suffering injustice without immediate retribution, revenge, or justice. We are to follow in the example of Jesus, not the example of this fallen world and our self-serving lower nature.

This can’t be right…

To modern ears, this passage seems to get everything wrong, to the point of being totally irrelevant in today’s world. It assumes slavery for one thing and then seems to give abusive slave owners a free pass on their outrageous behavior. And then, to top it off asks those being abused to accept this abuse like Jesus accepted the abuse he suffered on the cross. Why would God ask such a thing???

This takes us back to the counter-cultural nature of Christianity. We are to be light in a dark world, we do not repay violence with violence or hate with hate, which can only add dark to the darkness. We are to be salt to this world, something different that improves the world, not something that follows the world in a never-ending tit-for-tat exchange of violence and hate.

But to allow injustice is to empower it, right?

The assumption in this statement is that personally striking back for personal injury is just. Previously we looked at the preceding verses in this passage and saw that God established human government to reward good and punish evil. This passage talks about taking matters into our own hands and striking out against personal abuse for our own satisfaction. This is not what Jesus did. Everything Jesus did was in obedience to God and for the good of others. Therefore he willingly endured evil against his person for the greater good. We need to be willing to pay that same price if we are to truly follow Jesus. This is very, very counter-cultural and grinds against our most basic instincts.

But that makes no sense in a democracy!

This is an interesting thought for those who live under democratic governments of one kind or another. (Which, by the way, is not as common as you might think in this world.) The original readers of this letter had no voice and were truly powerless except to possibly make things worse for themselves and others. For the majority of people in the world today, this is still true, so they would more easily understand this passage than those who live in “free” societies where individuals have a voice(however limited) in their own governance.

I think doing good in a state where leaders are democratically selected does mean participation in the process, but we must never participate in the evil that often goes along with the political process. We must demonstrate what good looks like in a world that demonizes everyone but those who look, think, and talk like us. This will mean being slandered and misunderstood at times. After all - Jesus was.

But as this passage and others affirm, the best argument against evil is doing good to others. Grouping people up into “us and them” and blaming “them” for all evil is not doing good - it is the prelude to war and one of the main sources of the very injustice we all want to see abolished. Demonizing the “others” is how atrocities of all sorts have been justified throughout history.

So we’re all doormats then…

Here’s where it gets real. We are all free in Christ, so free in fact that temporal pain and suffering are trivial compared to the privileges we have as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. Would you describe Jesus as a doormat? I guess you might if you think the cross was a defeat. But the bible tells us, and history has shown us, that it was, in fact, the greatest victory against evil of all time. So the question becomes, do we believe we are free citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, or do we believe that this present world is all there is and all that will ever be?

To endure temporary hardship for eternal gain is not easy or fun, but it is logical and rational, and most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. I am not saying we go out looking for trouble, but if it finds us, as it often does, we must not simply react. Our first reaction is rarely the right one. Indignation and a self-righteous lust for revenge may feel justified in the moment, but justice is no friend to the guilty, and we are all guilty before God. None of us can ever stand righteous before God - on our own.

To stand righteous before God means to stand in faith that the suffering of Jesus fully paid the terrible price that justice demands of all of us. We were made righteous in Christ by his suffering. We did not earn this grace it was a gift from God. And now, it is a gift we must pay forward to the other thoroughly undeserving people on this earth so they, too, may have the chance to respond to this completely unwarranted grace of God. And should they respond to this grace positively and repent - true eternal good will come of our suffering, both for us and for them.

What does this look like on a Tuesday?

So what do we do when we are faced with injustice and injury? Do we fight to defend our “rights”? Is there even such a thing as a “right” to not be offended or wronged in this present age? The life of Jesus argues against the idea. Can we really expect to live in a world governed by fallen humans guided by selfish desires without being offended, injured, or mistreated? The short answer is - of course not, but responding to this reality is not always straightforward.

Peter tells us plainly in this passage that we are called to suffer at the hands of sinners, because Jesus did. This is true but for me, that fact needs a bit of explanation if I am to successfully endure injustice. As I think about all of this and the various experiences with injustice and abuse I have seen and had; there are a few things about this aspect of our calling that I find helpful.

The first thing, and the thing that helps me the most, is recognizing that the evil in my abusers and persecutors is the same evil that is in me. If you are like me, your knee-jerk reaction to this statement is something like, “Well, not exactly…” — but yes, we all wish it wasn’t true, but it is. That is the bad news. The good news is that if we can embrace this truth it helps us show grace to others because we are doing nothing more than reflecting the grace that God has shown us - to them. Now think about how great Jesus is. He was not reflecting the grace he was shown for his sin since he had none. Through his suffering, he became the original source of grace for all sinners everywhere - including us.

Next, we need to recognize that it was the kindness of God that drew us to repentance. If all we knew was his justice and wrath we all would have run away from him in fear and shame. When we show God’s undeserved grace and kindness to others we clear a path for them back to God. We offer a path of grace for them rather than a threat of judgment. Our response of grace and kindness could help them take that all-important first step on the path to God and eternal life.

An Important Distinction

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the suffering described in this passage is suffering for doing good. We should all expect to suffer for doing evil. It is not wrong for the police and the justice system to punish wrongdoers. But Jesus did good and was treated terribly in return. We also need to consider that doing the right thing will not always be rewarded or celebrated in this fallen world. But we must never respond to this kind of injustice by returning violence for violence or hate for hate. We must follow the example of Jesus.

There is a lot to think about here, so I am not going to try to sum it all up into some cute slogan about how to deal with something as difficult and painful as injustice and abuse. But we have an example in Jesus to follow. We have His Spirit in us, we have His word, and we have the gift of His grace. So we are rich enough to give this grace to others this week. This week take some time to pray through this passage and the ones I have included below. And let’s stop focusing on the way we feel and our need for vindication and recognize there are eternal destinies hanging in the balance for everyone, every day. Let’s make it easier for those who have yet to see God’s grace find it by reflecting the unspeakable and unearned grace that we have received toward others.

Have a great week!

Our world is a fearful place at this moment in history. The world has been here before, but that doesn’t calm our fears. As we read history, wars, economic crises, and political instability are common themes. But reading about them and living through them are two very different prospects. The natural response of many as they face a crisis is to look for a savior. But ironically and sadly, many look to politics and human wisdom for help instead of our actual savior, Jesus. Jesus is our king and our savior, and our wholehearted allegiance must be to his kingdom.

Jesus taught us to pray by giving us a template we call the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer helps us to focus on living in and toward his kingdom at the same time.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Often, when we recite this prayer, the phrases, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” are said as if they are three distinct thoughts. This is understandable, in a way, because this prayer is often recited together, and this phrasing helps everyone stay together. But this custom has a downside: these three phrases are actually just one thought, and breaking it up can sometimes obscure the thing we are asking for.

What are we really asking for here?

I have heard this topic discussed many times, and the answer to this question generally runs in three directions.

* We are asking Jesus to return and usher in the kingdom of God in its fullest form.

* We are praying that all would repent and follow the true King Jesus.

* We are praying for this present age to be changed to conform more closely to the principles of the kingdom of God.

To me, if you take any one of those ideas as complete, you are missing something in this prayer. We are praying for the kingdom of God to come. But this is hard to imagine if the king is still absent. The full realization of the kingdom only comes with the return of our king, Jesus.

However, the second half of this petition speaks of a change on the earth. And while the final and ultimate transformation will come with the return of Jesus and the abolition of evil. We are, nevertheless, to be salt and light. We are to be agents of change. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. A tiny seed that grew into a plant, a plant large enough for birds to nest in. In Daniel, we see it described as a stone that grows to fill the earth. In these metaphors and prophecies, we see the kingdom of God starting small and growing tremendously.

So, I think all three of these ideas are correct as long as they are taken together and not separately. Without the ultimate hope of our king’s return there is little motivation to try to change the hot mess that is this present age. Without actively engaging the wickedness of this age through the gospel and taking action motivated by the love of Christ, we become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

If we did nothing but sit and wait for our king’s return, the temptation would be to check out of this life in a vain attempt to find some safe place to hide and wait out the storm. But there is much to do while we wait.

Consider this story Jesus told describing the time of waiting for his return:

Therefore you also must be ready,

Jesus understood the tendencies of humanity very well. He knew that a failure to maintain faith in his imminent return would result in moral corrosion and, ultimately, destruction. In this passage, a vital faith in Jesus seems contingent on a vital faith in his return. This story also implies that his return will take much longer than many expect, making faith in his return all the more important to us today. But having faith also means we must continue actively serving our Master until he comes.

How do we respond to this petition today?

Given this understanding of the Kingdom of God, how do we respond to this beyond simply remembering that Jesus will return someday? This is where we really need to think through how our faith affects every area of our lives.

We say and think all kinds of things, but more often than not, we do what we truly believe. Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words. (Not always the happiest thought, I have to admit) Nevertheless, praying for the kingdom to come will have its first effect on us. It changes the relative value we place on everything we do. Much like having your house on fire, makes you reevaluate which things are really important in your house.

But this is not primarily a self-improvement prayer. It is a radical world-changing prayer. A prayer that reaches into the very core of why this world is the way it is and attacks its rebellious and thoroughly selfish heart. It is a prayer of revolution and rejection of the current world order and a focused effort to prepare the way for the coming king.

My kingdom is not of this world

When Jesus was on trial, Pontius Pilot asked him if he was a king.

Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

As we ponder how to be faithful servants of Jesus while we wait for his return, it is tempting to forget that the kingdom of God is not something that springs from this world. It is the kingdom of God. It belongs to Him, and it comes from Him. It is not the product of human effort and certainly not the product of human conflict. It is a gift that is either received with joy or rejected with contempt.

Human government will never be the source of the kingdom of God. We must never indulge in the idolatry of human effort in some vain and misguided attempt to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. The kingdom of God already has a King. The more we struggle against his rule, the worse our situation becomes. If we keep placing our faith in earthly kings in the ridiculous hope that they will force those “other people” to finally get in line. We are not honoring the prayer that asks for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We will instead be ushering in yet another human tyranny. Where there is no repentance, there is no change.

Our job is to announce the good news of the coming kingdom of God and to demonstrate this kingdom every day in our interactions with each other. This will not result in us bringing the kingdom of God into being — God already did that. But it is the fruit of the kingdom of God in us that will, in time, bear fruit in others. This is fruit worthy of the kingdom, and we will be rewarded for our labors when the King returns.

Our hope is not in the kingdoms of this world. Our hope is in the kingdom of God. The answer is not to be found in the wisdom of this world but in the wisdom of God.

Today, we pray for God’s kingdom to come, and we work as faithful servants of the King to proclaim the freedom that is found only in God’s kingdom, demonstrating that the kingdom of God is truly coming through our obedience to the King and our love for one another.

Have a great week!

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that in recent days, words have spilled over into violence in America(again). After the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump and the murder and mayhem associated with it, the words have not stopped. In some ways, they have intensified as the blame is assigned, then shifted and assigned again, breeding suspicion and more blame. And it’s not a matter of which “side” you’re on. The hatred seems almost universal on all sides. So today, I want to talk about words and the dark places in our hearts that give birth to them.

And he called the people to him and said to them,

What is going on here?

There were many food and cleansing laws in Israel at the time of Jesus, and the Pharisees strictly enforced them. Remaining ceremonially clean was a high priority with them. By saying this, Jesus was not trying to abolish the practice of washing your hands before you eat. He wanted to draw attention to an uncleanness that water can not remove.

To be clean in God’s eyes requires more than washing your hands and abstaining from certain foods. Jesus wanted to talk about their hearts. His blunt dismissal of the Pharisees, who could not see the difference between outward observance and inward change, is sobering. Jesus had no time for pretense.

But disciples, then and now, want to know more. So, he answered their question and explained his parable to them. This is always the way with God. Seek, and you will find. The Pharisees never heard the answer because they never asked. They never asked because they thought they already knew.

The Deeper Problem

The deeper problem with evil is that it does not come from dirty hands or improperly prepared food. Food quite literally goes in one end and out the other, as Jesus somewhat drily explains. The source of evil is much more disturbing. Evil comes from deep within all of us. It comes from our hearts.

But the darkness of our hearts does not stay in our hearts. It finds its way into the world through our words, and our words grow into evil and violence of all sorts. Jesus explained that evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander all flow from our hearts and are released through our words. Words based on this inner evil defile us.

Words are not harmless. They release all kinds of evil into this world and destroy our own lives in the process. Words grow into actions, and actions have consequences. Whether we are talking to ourselves or others, our words have power. James says it this way:

James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. [ESV]

And again:

James 3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [ESV]

We live in a connected world which in effect means we all live in a small town. Where words whispered among friends on social media can affect people on the other side of the country or the world. The words we hear are a toxic mix of truth, lies, and ignorance. They corrupt us as we receive them into our hearts and release them into the world.

What are we to do?

The short answer is we need to love with our actions. We need to do more and talk less. I think Peter said it best, so I will end with his advice.

For the culmination of all things is near.

Have a great week!

The public ministry of Jesus was one of seemingly ceaseless travel, preaching, healing, and serving. Along the way, he offered hope and peace to all who would follow him. This is probably best summed up in the following verses.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,

For those who don’t know, a yoke is like a collar fitted over the neck of oxen or other beasts of burden. Yokes typically paired two animals together side by side so they could pull together. This is the picture Jesus is painting here. We have all struggled alone and found the burden overwhelming. Jesus invites us to join him in his yoke, for working alongside him is an easy burden.

The invitation goes out to all, and it is an invitation to join in the work of Jesus, pulling side-by-side with him. It’s an easy yoke because he is pulling with us. This offer is welcomed by those who have tried and failed or are simply exhausted by trying to carry the overwhelming load alone. Jesus famously made broad and open offers like this when he went out to preach. The invitation was genuine and open to all. But what was he offering, and how was that offer accepted? That is what we will examine next.

The Cost of Discipleship

And behold, a man came up to him, saying,

The young man walked away because the price was just too high in his estimation. He did not go home healed, and he did not follow Jesus as a disciple. The crucial point for our discussion today is that Jesus did not chase him or try to soften his message. Jesus spoke the truth, and people either followed him or went home.

This brings me to the point I am trying to make. Jesus was not inclusive in the modern sense. He was open, inviting, and loving. But the invitation was not to come and be affirmed — it was to follow and be transformed. The way of Jesus excludes all other paths, and we are all asked to walk it. There are not many ways of Jesus. The path is narrow and straight, by his own description. We either abandon our own ways and walk the way of Jesus, or we do not. There is no third option. Love can not sacrifice truth because there is no love in a lie. We have all believed lies and still do to various degrees, even if unknowingly. The way of Jesus requires the same thing of all of us: to abandon our former way and walk the way of Jesus. We can’t follow our desires and walk the way of Jesus.

And he said to all,

The Reward of Following Jesus

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,

God proved His love for us all by His incarnation, teaching, and faithfulness until death. He gave us all the hope of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And life is a gift beyond price.

The example Jesus gave us in the previous passage is one of many that follow the same theme. The reward of life in Jesus is worth everything we have and everything we are. To follow Jesus is to leave our old lives behind to find eternal life in Him.

This week, let’s forget about the “cost” and instead focus on the reward. Let’s leave our old desires behind and allow his life to become our life. Let’s encourage each other into love and good works inviting others to join us on the way.

Have a great week!

When Jesus began his ministry, his message was simple. Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near. He also prophesied against the cities that refused to repent. The Kingdom of God is not destined to coexist with the kingdoms of this world. The Kingdom of God will instead fully replace the kingdoms of this world one day. Jesus declared after his resurrection that “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth,” so the disciples were told to go and make disciples of all nations. We now live in a world that is occupied by two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God — and all the rest of the nations who reside under the thumb of the defeated powers of evil. I think it is safe to say we live in interesting times. And the coming months are going to be no exception.

It’s political season again in the USA, so I thought giving the current worldly political noise a bit of kingdom context might be good. The relationship between earthly authority and the Church has been complicated for millennia. Worldly powers have persecuted the Church, and in response, the Church has often tried to isolate itself from the world because of its evil. At other times, the Church has attempted to take over or at least co-op the government. While all these responses are understandable in their various contexts, the question remains, “How should the Church interact with a world governed by lies and spiritual evil”? Why did Jesus leave us here, and how should we live while we wait for the full realization of His Kingdom?

Let’s explore some options.

1. Go along to get Along

Jesus did not “Go along to get along.” I think the gospels make that clear. But the crowd was another story. The crowd cheered for Jesus as he did miracles and announced the coming Kingdom of God. After all, they were sick of Rome and its demands. But the same crowd that shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday cried “Crucify him!” just as enthusiastically a few days later when the political winds blew in the other direction. This kind of “anyway the wind blows” attitude is a non-starter, or at least, it should be for Christians. Let’s look at the sermon on the mount for inspiration.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

2. Responding in kind

If we don’t follow the crowd, then what are we to do? Fight back? Organize resistance? Start a counter-culture movement? Well, we are a little late for this last option. Jesus has already started the counter-cultural movement to end them all. The Kingdom of God is the movement. Jesus began it with his first coming and will complete it when he returns.

Simply reacting to this world’s ideas accomplishes nothing. Throwing rocks, making noise, and breaking stuff is easy — building a kingdom is hard, and it’s not just hard. We can’t build the Kingdom of God with nothing but human effort. This point was made thousands of years ago in the story of the Tower of Babel.

Our job is not to build the Kingdom of God — God is doing that. Neither is our job to defeat evil — Jesus did that. Our job is to demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. We are to be changed so we may bring the hope of change to others. We are to be instruments of change insofar as it conforms to the Kingdom of God. That will not put us at peace with our current culture, but it will not turn us into bomb throwers either. We all long for unity, but true unity flows from our unity with Christ.

The world is tribal and often violent toward opposing tribes. In contrast, Christ humbled himself and sacrificed himself to save us all. By laying down his life, Jesus paid the price for human evil. He won the war by taking up his life again in the resurrection. Our job is to follow His lead as we give of ourselves for others. As we do that, we demonstrate the reality of God’s Kingdom.

Blessed are the merciful,

Preachers and Peacemakers

Jesus explained our new relationship to this world in Matthew 28.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Jesus tells us that we are to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. The world belongs to Jesus. He is the King, and he has been given all authority. We are to proclaim this good news and teach all nations to observe all that Jesus commands. So, what does that look like in the world today?

The writer of Hebrews describes the current situation this way: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Many have described this as “the kingdom now and not yet.”

We now live in the time between our redemption and freedom from slavery to sin and our inheritance in the coming full realization of the Kingdom. We are His messengers sent out to proclaim the victory of Jesus and demonstrate His Kingdom’s wonder to this world’s failing kingdoms. The Church lives at the intersection of these two kingdoms. We know peace in Christ, but we will always be opposed by the powers that be in this world since Christ signals the beginning of the end of their reign.

We are not called to fight but to proclaim. To teach and demonstrate the reality of Christ’s Kingdom. Thus giving this hopeless world a way forward, a way that we can all follow together as we work toward that coming Kingdom as we wait for our King.

To sum up, how should we live in cultures and kingdoms opposed to the Kingdom of God?

* Should we give in and follow along in a vain attempt to live in peace at the cost of truth and righteousness?

* Should we respond in kind and fight evil with evil?

No, to live as ambassadors of Christ in this foreign land, we need to be citizens of Christ’s Kingdom first and citizens of whatever earthly Kingdom we find ourselves in second. That does not mean checking out of society, but our engagement with culture must always be with a purpose. We are to proclaim the Kingdom of God by demonstrating that Kingdom in every situation. This will mean that we oppose everything that leads to slavery and death and support everything that leads to true freedom and eternal life.

Our goal is not to prove we are right but to expose the lies that will destroy us if we follow them. It is a tricky line to walk, but one Jesus walked before us. He found a way to love without compromise and stayed faithful regardless of the opposition.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

In the coming weeks and months, we will all need to learn to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. However, we are not alone in this challenge; we have each other, and more importantly, Jesus is with us to the end of the age.

Have a great week!

Anyone who has had children or has ever been a child knows the phrase, “Are you listening to me?”. It’s the kind of thing that parents shout over the noise. When I was young, the noise was my stereo. Now, it is any number of devices, but the problem remains the same. Jesus had the same problem with those who followed him around. They followed him and seemed to be listening, but did they hear anything he said? If not, why not? Today, I want to look at some things that make us deaf to the voice of God and each other.

External Noise

The easiest thing to pick on when it comes to noise and distraction are the things that originate outside of ourselves. We all curse these external distractions — when they annoy us. But why are we drawn to them like a magnet if we hate them so much? Why can’t we put down our phones? Why do we immediately go to the news, books, or magazines? Why do we spend so much time online?

But most of all, why are we so afraid of silence?

Here is where we have to get honest with ourselves. Why don’t we want to hear? What are we hiding from?

Internal Noise

The noise inside is by far the most difficult noise to eliminate. More often than we are ever willing to admit, we are deafened by a combination of self-will, self-righteousness, wantonness, and sloth. How’s that for some ol’ timey words? But those words still have meaning. How often do we use external noise to drown out the sound of our conscience? Worse yet, how often are we drowning out the voice of God in the process? Whether we actively resist the voice of God or passively ignore what we hear, the result is the same. We hear, but we don’t. Our self-will does not want to hear from God or anyone else. We want what we want. We ignore the sound of anything that challenges our desires, and our hearts grow numb.

Numbness of the heart takes many forms. And, while numbness can seem harmless, at least to others, it is anything but. One surprising symptom of numbness of the heart can be seen in all those who see and hear everything as an indictment of others. Their heart has been trained to deflect all correction towards others. They hear everything but take nothing in.

Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house,

But to what shall I compare this generation?

For this kind of deafness, repentance is the only road forward. But thankfully, repentance is not difficult in this case. The cure can be downright pleasant if we take the problem seriously.

This Week

Go outside and sit. Don’t bring a book, a phone, or a friend. Sit quietly, watch a bird, or look at a tree, but don’t fall asleep. Listen; your thoughts will be very noisy at first, but if you persist, they will quiet down. Then open your bible to Psalms, Proverbs, or the Gospels and let Jesus speak to you. He loves you more than you love yourself if you can believe it, and He will heal your deaf ears — he’s really good at that.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,

Have a great week!

Christianity has altered Western culture in many ways. You could say that Western culture depends on certain Christian ideas. However, I would never say that Western culture is Christian. Christianity is recognizing that Jesus is the king—forever. The kingdom of God is not a democracy. No one can send a delegation to Jesus to advocate for a change in the laws, nor can we vote for a new king. God is God, and we are not. Saying Jesus is king is a statement of fact, not wishful thinking.

God is God, and Jesus is King, but we have all followed our lower physical desires instead. Desires that often run contrary to God’s law and our own well-being. We are all slaves to sin by nature. Our situation is truly hopeless without God’s love and grace. Thankfully, God has given us grace in Jesus. Our situation is no longer hopeless. God has opened the door to eternal life for anyone who will put their trust in Jesus and walk away from those desires that ultimately destroy us.

This is the gospel. This is the grace of God, and it is glorious. Grace is the source of our hope and our joy. But like all good things, grace can be perverted into something it was never intended to be. Today, we are looking at the Letter of Jude, where we find the following troubling passage.

Beloved,

The faith we enjoy through the grace of God has been delivered once and for all. It doesn’t change because it doesn’t need to change. God’s grace is enough. But in Jude’s time, some wanted to alter the grace of God into something else. It seems they felt that grace gave them a license to sin. They imagined they were free to follow their lower physical desires since grace covers all. If grace covers all, then nothing we do matters. They desired the blessings of God’s grace but refused to change the direction of their lives. They had no intention of turning away from their lower sinful desires. Instead, They wanted to have the pleasures of sensuality and the joy of forgiveness at the same time. Jude describes this as a perverted grace, one without repentance or remorse. They saw grace as a license to sin. Or as Paul said to the Roman church:

What shall we say then?

Christianity is Directional

Repentance is an old word and often misunderstood. Repentance is a change of direction. We are either walking toward God or away from Him. Repentance is recognizing we are going in the wrong direction and redirecting our lives toward God. This will often take us in the opposite direction of our immediate self-interest and base physical desires. The grace of God leads to eternal blessing for anyone who turns and follows Jesus in faith. Then and now the call of Jesus is simple, “Follow me.”

The people Jude was describing, on the other hand, seemed to think the grace of God allowed one to indulge in sinful pleasures with God’s blessing. However, as Jude points out, refusing to follow Jesus is denying that Jesus is Lord and Master.

Where have these people gone?

Unfortunately, these people are still creeping around in the Church, sometimes unnoticed as in Jude’s day, and sometimes shouting their opinions from the housetops. There are many who desire to redefine the grace of God today. They would conflate love and invitation with acceptance and even affirmation of sinful behavior. They use words like inclusion and affirmation to negate the need for change in the lives of those who would follow Jesus. They are not offering freedom in Christ, but instead, they ask the Church to celebrate their slavery to sin by assuming that natural = good.

Natural does not equal good. We are all natural rebels and sinners. As a result, we were all slaves. The grace of God sets us free and gives us strength through faith in the power of God. Enabling us to live our lives free from our previous hopeless slavery to the desires of our lower nature. Paul tells us repeatedly that through the cross of Christ, our old lives have been crucified. We are now new creations - we are no longer defined and enslaved to our sinful desires. Our identity is not defined by our physical desires and habits. Our identity is defined by God in Christ.

Jesus turned no one away, that’s true, but it’s also true that no one encountered Jesus and remained unchanged. Either they repented and followed him or refused and went home with harder hearts than when they came. I don’t mean to be offensive. However, this is the gospel, and if it does not work for all, it does not work at all.

If some are exempted from the need to change, then why must I? If no one needs to change, then what exactly is the gospel? Is it a get-out-of-jail-free card? Does this get-out-of-jail-free card work the same way for murderers, rapists, drug dealers, genocidal maniacs and politicians? What about justice? These are serious questions and won’t just go away because they make us uncomfortable in our current culture.

So now what?

So what should a believer do in a world like ours? Paint a sign and run out on the street in counter-protest? I doubt it. We are called to be fishermen, not fighters. When we fight, those we push against instinctively push back—the odds of anyone truly winning drop to virtually zero.

Winning is not fighting to prove I am right and they are wrong. Winning is convincing them that Jesus is right and we are all wrong.And we all need to change.

The only answer is to turn and follow him. I can’t change the minds of government officials or denominational leaders, but I can follow Jesus, and I can tell the truth. I can pray that those above my station and sphere of influence can come to the realization that there is still one higher and that one day they will answer to Him—no matter who they are or think they are. Jesus is and always will be king.

I can also encourage others as the madness of this world threatens to overwhelm them. We can encourage each other to continue on the path of Jesus—despite all the pressure to turn and follow the culture to destruction.

When I say encourage I literally mean to fill each other with courage. Fear is the Devil’s main weapon. We are afraid to speak the truth, we are afraid to be identified as different. We are afraid of being called names. I was afraid to write this article, thinking maybe some of my supporters would stop supporting me.

It’s ironic that concern for the eternal well-being of others can be labeled as hate. But we live in a crazy world where boys are girls, up is down, and being popular is perceived as being right. A world that denies the existence of absolute truth but thinks those that disagree are absolutely wrong.

Jesus is the only legitimate authority all the rest are usurpers, posers, and wannabes. The day is coming when this will all become clear, but while we wait we demonstrate that the kingdom of God has come. There is hope for all who will recognize their hopeless state and turn to follow Jesus. Jude ends this difficult little letter with the following doxology of hope and blessing.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling

Have a great week!

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. These are the first words of Genesis. The gospel of John starts with: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But how has God revealed Himself to us? Today, I want to look at the four primary avenues of revelation God has chosen to use to reveal himself to us.

Though Creation (General Revelation)

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

Many would insist that the so-called “hiddenness of God” is one of the great theological mysteries. Obviously, I have not heard or read everything on this subject, but I am not convinced based on what I have heard. The underlying premise smells to me of something like, “God should be doing more than He is for us.” You see, we are the ones who rejected God, and as a result, we have lost direct access to Him. So, the hiddenness of God never seemed like a mystery to me. The mystery to me is why He did not destroy us outright then and there, not why He is not more visible to us.

But even in this state of exile from His presence, not even the worst sinner on earth is without a witness of God’s existence and power. The evidence is all around us in the things He has created. Paul explains this in Romans 1.

For what can be known about God is plain to them,(the wicked)

But God gave us more than indirect evidence of His existence and power. He also reveals Himself directly.

Through His Word (Specific Revelation)

So we have the prophetic word made more sure,

God used frail and failing humans to speak to us. In His sovereign wisdom, God chose the right person at the right time with the right words to speak to us all. He revealed Himself to those who have rejected Him so we could all understand His plan to save us from ourselves—a call to turn back to Him and trust in His love.

Through His Son (The Incarnation of God)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

In time, God’s word took on human flesh, and we could see Him in a form we could understand and relate to. God became a man and walked among us, teaching us and demonstrating His love for us all the way to His ultimate testimony of love. He sacrificed Himself for us to pay the debt we owed but could not pay, and through His resurrection, He became the king of God’s eternal kingdom. A kingdom that has begun but is not yet complete.

Through the Body of His Son (The Church)

...that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,

The Church is the “Body of Christ.” In other words, we, as the Church, are now the visible manifestation of Christ on the earth. Given this fact, we are now God’s revelation to the rest of humanity. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Thankfully, we do not(can not) do this on our own. Jesus is our head. He is our Lord, our Master, and our Boss. He is the one who fills all in all, and we incarnate that presence on the earth.

This Week

As the body of Christ, we have been given a breathtaking responsibility. We are to represent Jesus and be vehicles of His will and word on earth. Given the magnitude of all of this, where do we even begin? Thankfully, we have instructions on all of this in the words of the prophets and apostles and in the words of Jesus himself.

We are to forgive as we have been forgiven and love as we have been loved. This week, let’s remember those fundamental steps and take action. We are a living body, not a painting of a body. We are alive with the life of the resurrected Jesus. Let’s encourage love in action this week and spur each other on to love and good works.

Have a great week!