Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,
Jesus replied, "The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be
observed, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom
of God is in your midst [some manuscripts say ‘within you’]."
(Luke 17:20-21)
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Why don’t we hear more sermons and devotionals on the Kingdom of God? We hear a great deal on grace, growth, and salvation—but less on the KINGDOM of GOD.
It’s interesting that Jesus devoted a majority of his teachings to this one concept. He spoke of grace, growth and salvation, yes, but always in the context of KINGDOM. Here the religious leaders (with whom Jesus is constantly clashing) want to know WHEN God’s kingdom will come. They’re thinking swords and spears, booting out the Romans and judging the ‘non-believers’. Yet Jesus challenges their whole notion of what God’s kingdom looks like.
‘It’s already among you’ Jesus says. And yet it’s easy to miss.
Here’s what God’s Kingdom looks like when it takes root within you:
It’s a group of people who devote themselves to serving others before themselves. It’s a businessman who decides to use his resources on something that won’t rust or break. It’s an older women who decides to offer help and wisdom to a teenage mom. It's a suburban small-group that decides to leave the livingroom and connect in meaningful service in another part of town.
The kingdom now appears in subtle but significant ways.
No swords and spears. No grand parades or political revolutions.
Subtle but significant servanthood. That's what God's Kingdom looks like now.
So here's some food for thought today...
You may have long ago converted to 'Christianity'. That's great.
But what would it look like for you to be converted to the Kingdom of God?
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1 comment:
the idea of living out the Kingdom of God in the "here and now" is also implied in the phrase "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6.10) as part of the Lord's prayer. i've always tended to think about and look at the Kingdom of God as something that will be experienced after i die but this passge in Luke along with the passage in the Lord's prayer indicates that our purpose is to bring the Kingdom of God to those we come into contact with in our daily life.
chet
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