The Messianic Kingdom (2)

The Priority of Christ’s Kingdom 

Jim Davis

According to the New Testament, the central message of Jesus was the kingdom of God. He called for repentance in preparation for the kingdom that was “at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus said that the kingdom of God was forcefully advancing (Matthew 11:12).
Students of the Bible have argued over whether Jesus and his followers expected the kingdom of God to be fully present in their generation. The debate about the kingdom of God revolves around those who believe God’s kingdom has already come and those who believe that it is yet to come. 
The debate is difficult for many to agree upon because of the disagreement as to the nature of God’s kingdom reign upon earth. Is it a spiritual reign over the hearts of humankind or will God’s reign be a physical reign upon earth, or does it include both the spiritual and physical aspects of God’s reign upon earth?
One of the major conflicts between Judaism and Christianity was the nature of Messianic kingdom. Israel believed that God would restore a national Israel to a world power. The disciples following Christ believed this also. For the last thing they ask Jesus before his ascension to heaven was, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6 NIV) However, over time Christians developed a different view of Christ kingdom.
Jesus told his disciples, “Some of you will not taste death until you see the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1). It is little wonder why they were asking Jesus before his ascension, is it time? Jesus promised the disciples that he would give them the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). It was only natural for the disciples to ask about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel at the time of Christ's ascension. 

The Kingdom Has Come

The kingdom of Christ has come; the Colossian’s had been brought into it. Paul wrote, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). Paul says God’s kingdom is a place of redemption and forgiveness; therefore it is a spiritual kingdom. 

The Hebrew writer says that Christ is already reigning in righteousness upon his throne (Hebrews 1:8-9). Christ received his kingdom when he took the throne of David as he ascended to the Father.

Acts 2:29-33
"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear" (NIV).

Christ has made us kings and priest in his kingdom. John writes to the seven churches of Asia, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen" (Revelation 1:5b-6 NIV)

As Christians we are not waiting for Christ to begin his reign on earth; Christ reign began on Pentecost. It began in the hearts of those who chose to obey Peter's simple message of salvation.

Acts 2:38-41
"Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call.' 

"With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day" (NIV).

Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (NIV).

Luke writes, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The number mentioned here were those baptized into Christ’s kingdom. We look back and call that number of people the church, but they simply were those who had just been baptized into the kingdom of God.

Establishing Christ's kingdom was God's top priority in sending Christ to die for our sins. Christ's kingdom was established to afford us a place of safety as Satan assaults our world. We may lose our lives in service to Christ, but hell cannot prevail against the salvation of those souls who have entrusted themselves to Christ care.

It is reassuring as Christians to know we belong to a kingdom against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.  

Matthew 16:17-20
"Jesus replied, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven'" (NIV).

Matthew 10:26-31
"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (NIV).

One thing we may miss is that the kingdom of God must come afresh in each generation. The key is allowing God to reestablish his kingdom in the 21st century. It must go beyond simply duplicating first century disciples. We must allow Christ to prioritize our lives. 

The Kingdom Must Arrange Our Priorities

Are you just seeking safety or are you seeking the priorities of God's kingdom for your life? The spiritual kingdom Christ established is a place of safety. The kingdom is where we are protected under the umbrella of God’s grace. You must remember that the safety of the kingdom only comes to those who have put the kingdom first. We want to rest in the arms of God, but we can't rest in the arms of God until we accept the priorities of the kingdom. It is no accident that Christian baptism represents the death of Christ. It means we have died with Christ through accepting the priorities of his kingdom.

Jesus didn’t only come to establish the kingdom of God, he also taught the necessity of seeking first the kingdom of God above anything this world has to offer. Jesus told those listening to the Sermon on the Mount, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). The kingdom was created to be the priority of your life.

What is it that sets the priorities in your life? What is it that gets first place? An expert on time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration. As this man stood in front of the group he said, "Okay, time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" 

Everyone in the class said, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" 

By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" 

"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" 

One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all." 

What are the ’big rocks’ in your life? Do they have to do with the kingdom of God? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all. We must understand if the kingdom of Christ is to have a place in our lives, it must come first. I assure you that arranging our priorities differently will not leave room for Christ.

The two things that bother people the most today are a lack of time and a lack of direction. How many feel as though their lives aren't going anywhere? They know that life should have a reason and purpose, but they haven't found either. Most don't know what to do about their purpose in life, their destiny or basic reason for being. Are you pleased about the direction your life is headed? Are you pleased with what you have done with what has been given to you?

It seems that most of us are living more and enjoying it less. It doesn't matter how successful we are, or how we may seem to have it all together, we are all the same. There is something missing. The violence of our world reveals a deep hunger. We hunger for peace but are plagued by war. We live in a world where holy wars threaten all that is holy as they reveal the emptiness within.

We will never have much of a life until we figure out our basic reason for being here. Until we do so there will never be any real satisfaction. We were created with a hunger and thirst that only God can fill.

For the last couple of decades our world has truly been chasing the trivial. We have fought for our rights. These things have filled the major headlines of our newspapers daily for over two decades. When it is a matter of survival it doesn’t seem to matter where we pray or when we pray. That means that it was really never important. We have always said that there are no atheists in foxholes. 

A life-threatening experience has a way of rearranging our priorities.  That was true in the lives of former Texas Governor John Connally and his wife. Mr. Connally was wounded by the assassin who took the life of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. He noted that the experience profoundly changed their lives. In a newspaper interview, Connally explained, "As far as Nellie and I are concerned, I think the more lasting impression it made on us was that it inevitably brought into sharper focus what's really important in life. And we have since that time tried to act and conduct ourselves in a way [that] we don't engage in much trivia, and we try not to participate in things that are shallow or in the long run meaningless."

Discovering the Purpose of God’s Kingdom

It is our emptiness that offers our greatest hope. That empty feeling inside reveals our deepest need to find God’s purpose for living. It is not who we are but our purpose for living that makes our lives significant. Christ was God's Son, but if he had not fulfilled God's purpose, his life would have been insignificant. God's purpose gave significance to Christ's life. When God fills our lives with his presence our lives become significant.

Have you found God’s purpose for your life? The purpose of God’s kingdom is the salvation of your soul, but the question is have you found the purpose of God’s kingdom in your life? Christ was God’s only begotten Son. He spent his life living up to the expectations of the Father. 

God gave us the history of the world in the Bible. Many think that history isn’t enough, but it tells us only what is important to known. This is the only history that really matters. Everything that happened before Christ died pointed to the cross, and everything this side of the cross points back to the cross. As a result all history culminates in the life Christ lived and the death he died. Does your life point others to the cross? If it doesn’t you haven’t discovered the purpose of the kingdom of God.

The amazing thing about God’s kingdom is that it is not about a rigid heartless set of rules to obey, but a fulfillment of purpose. There is a vast difference in having to do something and wanting to do something. All of us can recall working at specific tasks that gave us a sense of fulfillment. We can also recall working at specific tasks because we had to. God’s kingdom is designed to give you a sense of fulfillment. 

Have you found God’s purpose for you in his kingdom? Have you found your role in the kingdom? God has designed each of us to fill a place in Christ’s kingdom. We must think soberly about our place in God’s scheme of things.

Romans 12:3-8
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully” (NIV).

Fulfillment and sense of purpose come when you find your place in God’s scheme of things and fill it with the measure of faith God has given you. 

Conclusion:

Becoming a member of Christ’s kingdom is important, but it will be of little service to you if you do not find your purpose and fill it.

Some evening when you have a few spare moments, get out your old checkbooks and read through the various entries.  You'll find it most interesting and perhaps somewhat shocking to discover just how all the money you have earned has been spent. In fact, the stubs will read like a family history book.  They chronicle every major event--births, deaths, and illnesses--and quite accurately reflect your tastes, habits, and interests.  They record your vacations, travels, and various other moves, and will also tell much about how expensively you dress and how lavishly you eat. The total amounts spent in each category will clearly pinpoint the things in life that make the greatest demands upon you either because of need or choice.

When you get through, ask yourself what priority God’s kingdom has in all you are doing.