This is going to be my last videocast before we began to replay some of the mind change moments we've done over the last four years. I was in graduate school and beginning to grow long sideburns while wearing bell bottom pants in 1971 when I first picked up a copy of John Bright’s classic book, The Kingdom of God. It strikes me now that I was all most through a Master’s program in theology, but had heard almost nothing about Jesus’ concept of the kingdom.
4/17/11
Kingdom #5: The Kingdom and the Church
In the Scriptures there is a dynamic relationship between the kingdom of God and the church. The kingdom of God was the dominant theme of Jesus preaching and teaching. In the person of Jesus the New Age was breaking into the present age. Through Jesus and those who would become his disciples, God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The phrase kingdom of God in Greek is the term baseila tou theo which can also be translated the reign of God or the rule of God. Because of Jesus and through faith in him men and women can begin to live under God’s rule and reign right now in this present age.
To be in the Kingdom is to live a certain lifestyle and to treat people in a certain way—a way very different from the way we have all been taught by the world. As we said last week it is to live conscious that your citizenship is in heaven and you take your direction from there.
· So what about the church? Is the church the same as the Kingdom? No, that would not be the right way to put it. Well, is the church in some way the Kingdom of God on earth? While there is definitely a crucial relationship between the church and the Kingdom, to put it that way would also be to diminish the scope of the kingdom and make it something less than what it is.
4/10/11
Kingdom #4--Citizenship in Heaven
“Our citizenship is in heaven,” Paul says in Philippians 3:20.
When some people hear this phrase they think “Heaven is eventually where I will go.” Paul seems to have something else in mind. The Greek word for citizenship can mean a form of government or citizenship. Paul is saying that the form of government disciples of Jesus are under is ultimately the reign of God and as such our citizenship is in heaven… or if you will “our political thinking comes from heaven.”
A citizen is a native or naturalized member of the state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and can feel entitled to its protection. A citizen is to be distinguished from an alien or a foreigner.
It is most significant that Paul makes this statement to the Philippians, for their city was highly favored by the Emperor, and he had granted most of the people there Roman citizenship for which they were extremely proud. But Paul reminds the believers that their citizenship is really not Roman but it is in heaven.
4/3/11
Kingdom #3: The Sermon on the Kingdom
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus comes announcing the in-breaking of the Kingdom. And then Matthew presents to us what we usually call The Sermon on the Mount. We have come to call it the Sermon on the Kingdom, or, if you will, the sermon on kingdom living. This is the core of Jesus’ message and he almost certainly repeated many of the teachings found here on other occasions. Luke, in chapter 6 of his gospel, tells us about at least one of these times that is often called the Sermon on the Plain.
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