The Kingdom Perspective

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

What is God like? In one sense, this is a very difficult question. Why? Well, whenever we ask what something is “like”, we are trying to make a comparison to other things. But God is not like anything in creation. The most fundamental theological distinction is between the Creator and the creation. There is an infinite gulf between the Maker and the thing made. As God says in Isaiah: “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” (Isaiah 40:25, ESV). God, by definition, is a being like no other.

However, though we cannot fully comprehend God, this doesn’t mean that God is unable communicate Himself to us. God longs for us to know Him, and so, He has stooped to make Himself known. We may not be able to make sense of God, but God is able to make sense of Himself to us.

So, what are some things that God has told us about Himself? God has told us that He is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, love, purity, and truth. He has told us that He is not constrained by creaturely limitations. God is not limited in knowledge; He’s omniscient. He’s not limited by time and space; He omnipresent. He’s not limited in power; He’s omnipotent. Although we are limited by all sorts of things—time, matter, space, the will of others—God is not. He is totally free to do all His holy will.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Isaiah 40 (ESV)

9  Go on up to a high mountain,

  O Zion, herald of good news;

  lift up your voice with strength,

  O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

  lift it up, fear not;

  say to the cities of Judah,

  “Behold your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

   and his arm rules for him;

   behold, his reward is with him,

   and his recompense before him.

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

   he will gather the lambs in his arms;

   he will carry them in his bosom,

   and gently lead those that are with young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

   and marked off the heavens with a span,

   enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

   and weighed the mountains in scales

   and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

   or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult,

   and who made him understand?

   Who taught him the path of justice,

   and taught him knowledge,

   and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

   and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

   behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

   nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him,

   they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God,

   or what likeness compare with him?

19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,

   and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

   and casts for it silver chains.

20 He who is too impoverished for an offering

   chooses wood that will not rot;

   he seeks out a skillful craftsman

   to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?

   Has it not been told you from the beginning?

   Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

   and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

   who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

   and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing,

   and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

   scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

   when he blows on them, and they wither,

   and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me,

   that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:

   who created these?

   He who brings out their host by number,

   calling them all by name;

   by the greatness of his might

   and because he is strong in power,

   not one is missing.

*Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking here.

Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children

9. Where is God?

He is everywhere.

10. How long has God existed?

Forever. He has always been.

11. Does God know all things?

Yes – God knows all things.

12. Can you see God?

No, but he can always see me.

13. Can God do all things?

Yes – God can do all His holy will.

An Advanced Catechism

7. What is God? 

God is Spirit, (John 4:24) infinite, (Job 11:7) eternal, (Psalm 90:2, 1 Timothy 1:17) and unchangeable (James 1:17) in his being, (Exodus 3:14) wisdom, power, (Psalm 147:5) holiness, (Revelation 4:8) justice, goodness, love, purity and truth. (Exodus 34:6,7)

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

There’s a lot of things we can learn from science and other fields of study, but some things can only be learned from direct communication from God. Why is this the case? Well, it is one thing to study the works that someone creates, but it is quite another to have direct communication with the one who created it. So, by way of illustration, you might be able to learn a few things about a particular painter by studying one of their paintings, but we probably are not going to discern everything the artist intended without also consulting the artist directly. Likewise, we can learn a lot about an artist by studying their works, but we will never know the artist personally until we hear from them directly.

This is why Christians put such emphasis on the Bible. Classical Christianity holds that the Bible gives us a message we cannot get anywhere else. In a profound sense, it comes from the very heart of God. As the Apostle Paul says: “All Scripture is God-breathed….” It’s the intimate breath of God Himself.

And so, the Bible tells us God’s will for our lives—what we are to do and not do.

It explains our sin—how we’ve failed to fulfill God’s will in our lives. 

But most significantly, it tells us of God’s heart of mercy. It reveals how God Himself has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ, to take our sin and to give us Himself. It shows the love of God.

Let’s be clear, we would not know this apart from the Bible. That’s why we sing the simple truth of that children’s song: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

~John 3:16-21 (ESV)

*Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking here.

Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children

4. How do we learn about God?

God tells us about Himself.

5. Where does God tell us about Himself?

In nature and in His Word.

6. What does God tell us about Himself in nature?

His character, law, wrath and glory.

7. What special message does God tell us in His Word?

The good news of God’s love and mercy toward His people.

8. Where can we find God’s Word today?

In the Bible alone.

An Advanced Catechism

5. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify Him? 

The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (Ephesians 2:20; 2 Titus 3:16) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him. (1 John 1:3)

6. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

The Scriptures principally teach what God requires of His creatures and how Jesus Christ has fulfilled that requirement on behalf of all who trust Him. (Luke 24:44-49; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Timothy 1:15)

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

The Bible tells us that God is a king. But not just any king. A king who is totally sovereign!

Now, what do we mean by “sovereign”? All rulers have varying degrees of sovereignty. The greater the sovereignty the more freely that ruler can do as they please. Well, God is a sovereign ruler like no other. Why? The opening line of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, tells us that God created the heavens and the earth…out of nothing. He spoke everything into existence! From bats to butterflies, stars to galaxies, even time and space itself is all an act of unimaginable sovereignty. There have been a lot of powerful kings in the history of the world, but none that had the power to call entire universes into existence. But this is exactly what God, the Creator, has done! He is a ruler like no other.

Now, this fact has some incredible implications. For example, this means that whatever God decrees or wills—whatever He chooses to accomplish—will happen. He doesn’t need to get permission from some higher authority. He doesn’t even need to work around the laws of nature. He made the laws of the nature!!! And He certainly doesn’t need to get your permission. He made you!

This means that every act of creation (calling into existence that which does not exist) and every act of God guiding and providing for His creation (what the theologians call “providence”) will work to accomplish exactly what He wills. It is for this reason that we can be assured that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Psalm 33 (ESV)

1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!

   Praise befits the upright.

2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;

   make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!

3 Sing to him a new song;

   play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

4 For the word of the Lord is upright,

   and all his work is done in faithfulness.

5 He loves righteousness and justice;

   the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

   and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;

   he puts the deeps in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;

   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

9 For he spoke, and it came to be;

   he commanded, and it stood firm.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

   he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,

   the plans of his heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

   the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

*Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking here.

An Advanced Catechism

3. What are the decrees of God? 

The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His own will, in which for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. (Eph 1:11,12)

4. How does God execute His decrees? 

God executes His decrees in the works of creation, (Re 4:11) and providence (Da 4:35) to teach His creatures the good news of Jesus Christ.

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

To know the purpose of anything you must know what it was designed to do. For example, a smart phone is a great device for connecting you to the world; you can make a phone call, connect to the internet, text a friend, etc. That’s what it was designed to do. However, it is a terrible device for pounding a nail; that’s not what it’s made for. Likewise, a hammer is a great device for driving a nail, but a terrible device for “connecting” you to other people. Don’t try it! It’s not what it’s designed for.

So, what were you made for? Well, the Bible tells us we were made for the glory and pleasure of God. We were made in the image and likeness of our Creator, to put His glory on display. That’s why we exist—to enjoy God by delighting in and showing off His glory.

When God made you, He intended to put His own glory on display. And to the degree we refuse this purpose, to that degree we make a mess of our lives. It’s like using a smart phone to drive a nail or using a hammer to “connect” with our friends.

However, when we trust God and obey His commandments, we experience His pleasure. We enjoy the purpose for which He created us. We live in harmony with our design, and His glory becomes our glory, and His pleasure becomes our pleasure.

We were made to be filled with the eternal joy of God.

And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

  I have no good apart from you.”

  As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

  in whom is all my delight.

  The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

 their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

 or take their names on my lips.

 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

 you hold my lot.

  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

 indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

  I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;

 in the night also my heart instructs me.

  I have set the Lord always before me;

 because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

  my flesh also dwells secure.

  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

 or let your holy one see corruption.

  You make known to me the path of life;

 in your presence there is fullness of joy;

 at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

~Psalm 116:1-11 (ESV)

*Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our "CRC Family Devotional Guide" under the resources menu on the church website.

A Basic Catechism for Children

1. Who made you?

God.

2. What else did God make?

    God made all things.

3. Why did God make all things?

    For His own pleasure and glory.

An Advanced Catechism

1. What is the chief purpose of man? 

Man’s chief purpose is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31) and to enjoy him forever. (Ps. 73:25, 26)

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Imagine walking into a room and finding a device you’ve never seen before. Though you’ve never come across anything like it, it’s obvious it’s made by someone for some specific purpose. But for what purpose? How are you to know what it is, and what it’s for?

Well, the simplest and most straightforward way of knowing would be to find its inventor, the creator of this device. Or perhaps you could look to see if the inventor left any instructions, perhaps some manual or directions on how to use it.

Now, let me ask you: What’s your purpose? What have you been made for? Any deep consideration of our humanity, both body and soul, will lead one to conclude we are quite amazing inventions. Whoever created us designed something incredibly unique, and incredibly impressive! Human beings are standout creatures! This thought made King David cry out: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

But again, how I am I to know what I am created for? What’s my purpose? Well, the best way to know is to hear from the One who made me; and the good news is He is not silent on this subject. He’s given us His instruction manual, the Bible, and in its opening pages He tells us that we are made to display His glory in the world. We are created in His very image and likeness!

No purpose could be higher! And no calling more intense!

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

     So God created man in his own image,

     in the image of God he created him;

     male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

~Genesis 1:26-28 (ESV)

*Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our "CRC Family Devotional Guide" under the resources menu on the church website.

A Basic Catechism for Children

1.    Who made you?

God.

2.   What else did God make?

      God made all things.

3.   Why did God make all things?

       For His own pleasure and glory.

An Advanced Catechism

1.    What is the chief purpose of man? 

Man’s chief purpose is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31) and to enjoy him forever. (Ps. 73:25, 26)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Why do we resist humbling ourselves? Well, the Bible would suggest to us that there is a connection between our pride and our anxious worry.

Peter writes to us:

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 NASB95, emphasis added)

Notice that a part of the command to humble oneself is to cast all our anxieties, that is, our fretful worries, onto God. Why? Well, what is worry? Worry is our feeble attempt, as sinful and finite creatures, to rule the universe. We are anxious because we think we should control this or control that. We want to be in charge. We think we know what’s best, and so we want things to go our way. Such thinking exposes a deity-complex that is at the very root of sin.

When we forget God, we tend to take His place. This sinful pride leads to worry. And worry leads us to double down on trying to take God’s place. It’s a vicious cycle.

Now, God doesn’t respond to our sinful anxiety by shaming us, but by assuring us. “Cast all your anxieties upon him!” Why? “Because He cares for you!”

We see the same thing from God through the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 41:10 (NASB95)

“Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

God doesn’t just say, “Don’t worry!” Rather, He says, “I am with you.”

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Isaiah 41 (NASB95)

8 “But you, Israel, My servant,

  Jacob whom I have chosen,

  Descendant of Abraham My friend,

9  You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,

  And called from its remotest parts

  And said to you, ‘You are My servant,

  I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;

   Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

   I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

   Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;

   Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,

   Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,

   Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;

   I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

If what Jesus tells us is true, then the heart of our problem is the problem of the human heart.

Jesus warns that our basic problem is not merely external or being in this group vs. that group. Rather, in Mark 7, he gathers all the people and tells them this:

20 … “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

This reminds me of that powerful statement by the great Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as he’s trying to make sense of his experience in the Soviet gulag, the labor camp he was unjustly condemned to:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

Indeed, the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. And to destroy a piece of our heart, indeed, to be given a whole new heart, is exactly what we need, and it is exactly what God has promised us in Jesus Christ.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

~Mark 7:14-23 (ESV)

“I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

~Ezekiel 36:24-28 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

As modern people we are good at spotting external oppression. We can see a despot coming miles away. However, we often miss the more subtle oppression of our own desires manipulating us, and, unfortunately, in a techno-consumeristic society like our own, this is a far greater threat. As the late thinker Neil Postman put it: “Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us… But …[w]ho is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements?”

In his short but powerful book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman contrasts the competing dystopias of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell:

“Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley [Brave New World] and Orwell [1984] did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required…. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. …Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance…. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.’ In 1984…people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us. …Huxley, not Orwell, was right.” 

~Neil Postman (1931-2003), in his classic Amusing Ourselves to Death

And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

~Ephesians 4:17-24 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

How should we engage in a world that’s confused and sometimes even hostile to our faith? Should we make it our ambition to malign them, patting ourselves on the back about how good we are and how bad they are? No, rather, we should just be ordinary people, living ordinary lives, loving our neighbors.

The church in Thessalonica had experienced intense opposition (1 Thess. 1:6-7; Acts 17:1-15), and so they provide a great backdrop of how to live in a difficult context.

So, what do we learn from them? Essentially two things.

First, according the 1 Thessalonians 4 we should “excel” in modeling genuine loving community in our relations within the church. How we live together as God’s people—how we love and care for one another—is most critical.

But then, secondly, Paul directs us to:

11 … make it [our] ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to [our] own business and work with [our] hands… 12 so that [we] will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

You see, God doesn’t call us to be extraordinary—to be “great for God!” And He certainly doesn’t call us to be extraordinarily difficult people. Rather, He calls us to be extraordinary in our ordinariness. 

How do you live as a Christian in the world? Well, if you are a doctor, be the best doctor you can be. If you are a mechanic, be the best mechanic you can be. If you are a teacher, be the best teacher you can be. If you are an engineer, be the best engineer you can be. And do all of it, for the sake of Jesus. Why? Paul gives two reasons:

1) so that you can be of service to your neighbors and co-workers, and

2) so that you can provide for your own family, so as not to be a burden to others.

So, how are you doing with this?

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own bodyin holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

The kind of community that the New Testament calls us to is radically different than what you may find in the world. Non-Christians create all sorts of different communities where people feel welcomed, and many times it’s really quite wonderful. But such community is based on affinities such as shared hobbies or interests, political alignments, racial, ethnic or other identities. The community that the gospel calls us to is not based on any of these but is rooted in a shared experience of the love of Jesus. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Now, the “problem” with the love of Jesus is that it is indiscriminate. It is a love that comes to us despite us. It comes to us not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Not because of our identity, but because of His! It assumes our unworthiness but rests in His worthiness. This means that the love of Jesus forces me together with those that have differing natural affinities – maybe even those that I struggle with.

The Apostle Paul put it this way. Becoming a Christian is:

“a renewal [i.e. a radical makeover of identity] in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11)

Today, we might say, there is neither Republican or Democrat, black or white, privileged or under-privileged, etc., etc., but Christ is all, and in all.

The test of whether you have truly believed and received the grace of Jesus is not how strongly you demand that grace from others but how gladly you give it to them, especially those for whom you would have no natural affinity.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

~ Colossians 3:9-11 (ESV)