The Day After. Duck Dynasty. Phil Robertson. A&E. And Jesus.

Yesterday, we all figured out how to digest Phil Robertson losing his job, yet he has more money than most of us will ever have. He'll be fine.

How about today and tomorrow we spend time figuring out how to help those who aren't as well off as Phil Robertson. For that matter, not even close to being as well off as us. The least of these.

It's Christmastime and there are people who are in great need around the world. We can help.

For some reason, we get more excited over an issue like this rather than helping the poor who are dying from bad drinking water and being malnourished. I think our priorities are wrong.

If we mobilized in a similar fashion to stop world hunger, to provide clean drinking water, good education or health care around the world, or to stand up for our brothers and sisters in Syria being slaughtered, I think the church would be a better witness for Jesus.

I wonder how we stand up for our rights and still look like Jesus. Can we do both?

I'm reminded of the humble act of Jesus at this time of year. He had all the reason in the world to not humble Himself, to stand up for His rights, yet He counted others as better than Himself and did it all for our sake.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:3-8 ESV).

This is the Christmas story. God emptied himself and took on the likeness of us. When we refuse to allow the true story of Christmas to be drowned out by all the noise and busyness of this season, we see that this example of God becoming flesh was done to teach us how to live.

It's tough to follow in His steps and consider others better than ourselves. That word, "better" in the original language has to do with something of surpassing or exceptional value. It's the same word Paul used in Philippians 3:8 when he says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." This is a radical teaching. Jesus had the attitude that we were better than He was. Jesus viewed us as better than Himself. Jesus. Me. Better. That's crazy. But that's what love is. And Paul calls us to have that same view toward others—an attitude that cherishes one another, extols the value of one another, and looks for the best in one another instead of the worst. When we do that--when we start to love others the way God loves them, it will be much easier to be humble and sacrifice for them.

Maybe we need to follow in His steps and do the same, humble ourselves and serve. It's always difficult though. How do we make the executives at A&E feel loved and that we view them as better than ourselves while also encouraging and supporting our brothers and sisters? I fear that they may feel just as attacked as we do. Have we fallen prey to joining in on a cycle of attack? If we cause them to lose their job over the stance that they took, are we any better? Are we actually viewing them like Jesus did, as being more significant than ourselves?

The boycott page on Facebook already has 1.3 million likes. That's amazing. That's more than World Vision has accumulated in years. We could stop world hunger if we had the will as a people. Western civilization eats more frozen desserts in a year than it would take to end world hunger. It is estimated that it would take about 4% of our military budget to stop world hunger. We just don't want it. It just breaks my heart.

I would love for us to mobilize like we are showing that we can for Duck Dynasty, except this time to stop world hunger. If we could channel this passion, fervor, and zeal into that, imagine what could happen.

I doubt we will. Our passion is more directed at this because we do feel threatened that our freedoms could be lost. Although, I don't believe this is a first amendment issue, it is an issue where we feel that we can't express beliefs that we share in fear that people will come after us. I'm reminded of Louie Giglio at Obama's inauguration ceremony, Orson Scott Card writing Superman, and then this. If you upset gay activists, they have proven that they will go after your job. I agree that it is scary.

But we currently have our freedoms yet we still have world hunger. Maybe we aren't using our freedom the way we should.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13 ESV).

We have been blessed to be a blessing.

**

I just wanted to link three of my favorite organizations doing the work I mention in this post. If you are looking for a place to direct a Christmas gift this year, I am sure they would appreciate your support.

Change Agent Network
Hope 2 Liberia
International Disaster Emergency Service

Randall Church Commits Crime to Get Back Into Prison

Man Commits Arson to Get Back Into Prison

Convict Couldn't Handle Being Free

Stepping out to freedom, “I didn't know how to use computers or cell phones or the Internet,” Church said. “The weirdest thing was walking into a store, like Walmart, and have parents hide their children from me, like I was supposed to jump at them.”

Fed up on July 10, 96 days after his release, he poured gasoline through a window of the empty house on the Southeast Side, then threw in flaming rags and paper towels, setting the place on fire.

The story goes on:

He made his way to San Antonio and was living on a small ranch with a relative of a friend he met in prison. On her property was a dilapidated, three-story house, abandoned for almost a decade. Things weren't getting any better, and Church decided to burn it down...Three days later, he turned himself in by treating himself to a hamburger, French fries and two chocolate shakes at the Jim's restaurant on Loop 410 and Perrin Beitel. He savored every taste, knowing he only had 31 cents in his pocket. Then he asked the waitress to call police, saying he did not want to cause a scene.

Her manager told Church he could leave if he never came back, so he told them he had committed a crime, Church recalled. 

Our Misguided Attempts at being Content

I googled “how to be content.”  There were a few articles from a biblical perspective, but the majority of the articles talked about meditating and emptying our minds.  There were also articles on goals, being self-disciplined, and organized.  These might be good things, but we do not achieve contentment through emptying ourselves, by going into some room and meditating, by finding a better filing system, or by having good long-term goals. 

In America, especially if you had to read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden in high school, we are inundated with an American ideal of self-sufficiency.  In this mindset, there is nothing more noble than having your own farm, living off of your land, and not needing anything from anyone.  It is an alluring concept out here in rural America, but it also does not lead to contentment.

Spiritual self-sufficiency is similar; it is independence from outside influences.  This doesn’t mean that there will not any outside influences; it means that we will be able to remain spiritually sound while experiencing or enduring them.  We are incapable of isolating ourselves from situations that will be bring us happiness or sadness.  What we need to do is reach a point where we will no longer allow those experiences to define who we are, so we can be content in all situations.  As a pastor, I can get suckered into basing my self-esteem on attendance.  When doing this, I would be happy on a good week; I would be sad on a small week.  This is an easy pitfall for a minister to fall into, but it misses the point.  On that path lays madness, pride, and discouragement, not contentment.

But what wrong target are you shooting at in your work life, in your family life, or in your life out in the community?  Where do you get your sense of self-worth?  Is your success based on your income, career, children, social status, or popularity?  All of those things can go away in an instant.  If we measure our success in any other way than being faithful to God and our relationship with Him, we will eventually be met with disappointment. 

We need to live in the understanding that we are not in charge of results.  We are given the opportunity to live in God's will, but we do not have to carry the stress of creating the results.  “Success” or “failure” in the world’s eyes does not really matter.  What matters is whether we are doing what we know God would want us to do in the situation we are in.  Knowing that we are in God’s will is how we can be content in plenty, in hunger, in abundance, and in need.  That is how we can be just as happy when our savings account is overflowing as we can be when we don’t know how to make ends meet.  The solution is not to ignore things, but to place all things in their proper perspective under Jesus and to rely on Him.  

Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Philippi:

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me”  [Philippians 4:11b-13 (ESV)].

Liberty and freedom are political catchwords right now.  They are our rallying cry to change this nation, but political changes will not produce true liberty and freedom.  Those are just a temporary façade.  True liberty and freedom come in being content in Jesus Christ.  If we are content in Christ, then we will be able to live life with total abandon in every situation - going after the will of God no matter what the cost. 

Prosperity might lead to happiness, but what happens when we our assets dwindle or lose their value?  Beauty might bring a sense of worth, but what happens when it dims?  Great friends might bring about good times, but what happens when there is conflict and the friendship is strained or broken?  All of these are good.  Who would not enjoy financial security, good looks, or great friends?  But none of these are a good foundation for our sense of self-worth.  Discontentment comes we place our inner peace on wrong foundations like these.  For the good things that bring happiness, when they are our focus, can lead to pride, overconfidence, and a blindness to the blessings given to us and the needs of others around us.  An inner life that is based on the situation we currently find ourselves in is fleeting and will disappear when adversity or failure comes. 

It is guaranteed that many of the externals of your life will change as you age.  Maybe you will find yourself wealthier in five years, but you could be poorer.  Depending on your age, you will either be prettier in five years or your looks will continue to wane.  Your car will need replaced.  Your house will need continued maintenance.  Loved ones might even pass on within five years.  Tragedy will strike.  Five years isn’t that long of a time, but within five years, all of the externals in your life might change.  Are you able to weather the storm of things getting worse?  Is your life built on the rock of Jesus?  Or is he just one of the decorations on the wall of your sand castle?

It's Easter Time - Let's Follow Jesus' Example

When I was a youth minister in Michigan, I had a roommate. How I got the roommate was not through normal means. I had heard through one of the students in the church about a guy my age who was homeless and living out of his car. I found out where he was sleeping, went over there, knocked on his car window, and invited him to stay at my house. He lived in one of my spare bedrooms for around a year and a half and we became good friends.

While living at my house, he was caught in a traffic violation and was put in the slammer. I did not know it prior to this incident, but he had some outstanding speeding tickets and a warrant out for his arrest. After his sister refused to pay his bail, he called and asked if I could post the $250 bail.

The church I served at was located right between my house and the local jail. I was on the one side of the church, free.  And he was asking for freedom while sitting in the jail on the other side of the church.  It felt surreal to have a friend behind bars less than a football field away from me. 

I prayed and felt that God wanted me to pay the bail, tell him it was a gift from God, and that it was symbolic of how God frees us even when we do not deserve it. I followed through partly. I walked over to the jail and put up his bail, but I never followed through on the half that I thought was cheesy; I never said that it was a free gift from God and symbolic of how Jesus frees us. He told me that he would repay the money. I replied that would be okay. In the end, I never received that $250, but the most important thing is that I failed to love him the way that God told me to.

Thankfully, Jesus is more faithful to us than I was to my roommate.  When Jesus reached the point of having to go through the great sacrifice of dying on the cross so that our sins would be forgiven, he went through with it even when he did not want to. 

Jesus withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  Luke 22:41-44 (ESV)

I chose to be unfaithful for $250.  My price was low.  Every day, if I examine myself, I see that I still lack faithfulness in many areas.  I give in to my own selfish desires too easily.  But the good news is that Jesus is still full of grace toward us, despite all of our failings.

Jesus set such a good example for us to follow and has paid the price for each of our sins.  The next time I catch myself being selfish and living for myself, I need to remind myself of the price that Jesus paid on that cross so that I can be free.  And then use that freedom, not for myself, but to further His will here.  That is a great privilege.  It's Easter.

What is a pastor? Are You considering ministry?

I've been given the opportunity to teach a career class this morning on what a Pastor does for his job.  I'm going to talk about the basic things like education, spiritual disciplines, and the untypical work week, but my heart comes back to two things.

Having worked in the paid full-time ministry, then outside the paid full-time ministry, and now back in the paid full-time ministry, I am so grateful for the people who have set me apart to do ministry.  What a privilege I have to study Scriptures, pray, write, plan service opportunities, and visit with people for a living.  Although I believe that every Christian has the opportunity to be a full-time minister in whatever career they are in, I find it liberating to have as my sole focus bringing about God's will in the community I live in.

But with liberation, comes responsibility.  Paul wrote,

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery...For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love...For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”  (Galatians 5:1,6, 13-14). 

It is a great honor and freedom to be set apart to do ministry full time, but it is also a freedom that we need to make sure we do not abuse.  All freedom should be used to become servants one to another.  Freedom becomes dangerous when it is morphed into meeting selfish needs.

The second thing that stands out to me is that because the people, in the church we serve or outside of it, who support us in our ministry have granted us this freedom, we have a tendency to try to please them and not focus on pleasing God.  Pleasing churchgoers and pleasing God seem like they would go hand in hand, but there is a slight difference that is more than just semantics.  Pleasing people might lead us to not challenging them and helping them grow because we don't want to rock the boat.  Pleasing God will lead us to doing the tough things even when they are unpopular.

I read a great fable on this over at another blog: The Nightingale and the Crow.  I could not find this on any other sites, so it might not be public domain like Aesop's Fables.  It's a touching fable that deals with a beautiful nightingale submitting herself to the judgment of pigs on whether a nightingale or a crow can sing better.  The moral of the story is to not let pigs judge you.  If we let anyone other than God judge us, then we are going to struggle in ministry because people are particularly cruel to ministers at times.  We would do well to remember who will always provide for us.

These are also good principles to live by in life outside of paid ministry.  We need to be grateful for what God has given us; we need to focus on ministry at every opportunity; and we need to please God when men are crying for the opposite.  No matter where we find ourselves in life, those are good teachings to be reminded of.

Walking the Tightrope of Faith Toward Love - Avoid the Pitfalls of Selfishness and Empty Religion - Finding Meaning in Life

We can stray to the right or to the left, but God has designed us to be on a path of faith.  It's like a balancing act on a tight rope; it's tough to do.  But unlike normal balancing acts, this one is filled with grace.  When you fall, you can bounce right back up onto the tight rope and continue where you left off.  If you teeter to the one side, you fall to short-term thinking seeking temporary pleasures; on the other side is seeking stability in religious traditions and rituals.  We're quick and often eager to point out sin in the form of living on short-term decisions, but the Bible does not ignore the stifling nature of empty religion. Galatians is a whole letter about the latter, which is just as dangerous as the former.

"Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Gal 3:3-6 (ESV).

The Galatians had a dangerous tendency to depend on religious rituals to make themselves feel right with God.  Paul wrote to remind them that it is not religious rituals that makes them right with God, but faith.
The Galatians were becoming strict adherents of a clear, Old Testament teaching, circumcision.  Abraham was the patriarch of the Israelites who was given the promise and told to circumcise himself and all of the males with him (Genesis 17:1-14).  The Old Testament was clear that those who were not circumcised were excluded from the promise (Genesis 17:14).

The fulfillment of that Old Testament covenant in Jesus changed things.  No longer was a religious ritual necessary to be right with God, it was now faith: Not just an intellectual faith that causes one to participate in religious rituals or abstain from short-term actions but a faith that spurs us on toward loving those around us.  Abstaining from selfish actions is painful because they produce short-term pleasure.  Refraining from relying on religious rituals is difficult because the ritual provides comfort and stability.  But love is where it's at.  Love is how we move further on the tight rope toward who God designed us to be, not refusing to be selfish or adhering to rituals.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery...For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love...For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”  (Galatians 5:1,6, 13-14). 

There was nothing wrong with circumcision; it was the sign of the covenant between God and His people.  The problem came when His people lost focus of the larger purpose of that covenant, and in so doing they really lost the meaningfulness of their relationship with God.  God blessed them so that they would become a blessing to the world (Genesis 12:1-3).  That is where the meaningful life is found.  It isn't found in us worrying about ourselves but in giving away ourselves to others through faith in love.


We're not called to be hermits.  We can enjoy the pleasures of life that God has blessed us with and we can find joy and encouragement in religious rituals, but when they keep us from moving forward in love, they become sin and prevent us from the life God has intended for us to live.

Prison, Sin, Freedom in Jesus, and Returning to Our Sin

“The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:22 (ESV)

In a 2007 study, 48% of released Michigan prisoners return to prison within four years.  What is it about the prison life that is so appealing?  Is it the health care, not working, or the three square meals.  Whatever it is, something is wrong when people feel that it is better to be in prison than to live in freedom.

Spiritually, we often do the same thing.  Jesus frees us from our sins, yet we have a tendency to come back and wallow in the mud time after time.  New Christians experience liberation and are some of the most inspiring people to be around.  They have a no-holds barred approach to Christian.  They taste the newly found freedom in Jesus and want nothing better than to live the meaningful life that freedom enables them to live.

Each destructive habit, lazy distraction, or selfish indulgence, all of which are sin, have a gilded allure.  They appear to be what we want, but inside they are just junk and empty of any lasting fulfillment.  The sins we find ourselves struggling with usually gives us a temporary high in the short-term; that is sin's gilded allure, but no amount of pursuing the wrong thing will help us be who God knows is best for us to be in the long-term.

The recent collapse of the banking system is an example of looking at the short-term over the long-term.  The executives, and the boards that made compensation decisions, valued thinking short over thinking long.  Best-selling author of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machinewas interviewed on 60 Minutes last Sunday.  He stated:

"The incentives for people on Wall Street got so screwed up, that the people who worked there became blinded to their own long term interests. And because the short term interests were so overpowering. And so they behaved in ways that were antithetical to their own long term interests."

When Jesus came and died on the cross to save us of our sins, he did it so that we can be free to pursue the meaningful and eternal life that starts in knowing God (John 3:16, John 17:3).  We do have a better hope for the future, but focusing solely on that is missing the redemption in the now.

He's freed us, but we need to be careful to not fall into the trap that many comfortable Christians fall into.  After the initial rush of finding a freedom that is unimaginable, we find our way back to our old familiar pig pen and begin to wallow in the mud and crap once again.  We find the allure of our aged vomit.  Those short-term pleasures of the meaningless life have a gilded allure, but they will not satisfy no matter how often we indulge in them.  Long-term satisfaction comes from surrendering our life to Jesus and living in the freedom he provides.

What Is Really The Good News Taught By Jesus? - The Gospel Is The Kingdom

What is the good news of the New Testament? That is a question I always thought had a simple answer: "Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we might have a proper relationship with him." Although, that statement is true, it is not the good news as it is described in the New Testament. I have compiled the relevant Scriptures here so you can decide for yourself. If I'm wrong, let me know because I like to know the truth.

I will post a verse and then follow that up with some commentary when I feel the need. The asterix marks more "relevant" verses.

Matt 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”

Early in his ministry Jesus started talking about the coming kingdom. This kingdom had been what people throughout the Old Testament had been waiting for. This kingdom would be a blessing to the world. It would finally be the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3: "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The kingdom that would bless the whole world was near! The people of Israel were expecting this, and Jesus’ proclamation that it was near was good news.

Matt 4:23 “Jesus went…preaching the good news of the kingdom”

Jesus' message could have so easily been the message of his death and the forgiveness of sins, but that isn't what he focused on. He focused on the good news of the kingdom.

*Matt 6:33 “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

Our striving needs to be for things of the kingdom, not for selfish spiritual things or our own enjoyment. Our lives should not be about us but about God’s kingdom.

Matt 9:35 “Jesus went…preaching the good news of the kingdom”

Did Jesus go around preaching grace? Maybe. Did he go around preaching faith? At times. But what does this section of Scripture show that he preached - "the good news of the kingdom." Up until four years ago I had never heard, or at least consciously acknowledged hearing, the message of the kingdom of God. The gospel focused on Jesus giving us the forgiveness of sins and entry into heaven. However, that is not what the living and breathing Jesus taught. We seem to (maybe subconsciously) think we have better messages than the one Jesus taught, ones that might be more relevant or palatable to the souls of those around us. We need to get back to discovering the message of the kingdom that Jesus preached and start living it and proclaiming it from the rooftops, soapboxes, and pulpits.

*Matt 10:7 “Preach this message: ‘the kingdom of heaven is near’”

Jesus has the twelve and he is getting ready to send them out for the first time. It was like the moment before the big game where the coach would make or break his legacy by giving his team a motivational speech and instructions for the game ahead. During the pregame locker room speech Jesus recapped the important stuff for their first journey out. His mission on earth rested in the hands of those twelve that he was talking to. What did he tell them to preach? He tells them to preach the message of the kingdom of heaven. Maybe, we should follow suit and preach that same message.

Mark 1:14-15 “Jesus went…proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come…The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’”

*Mark 9:1 “There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

This verse used to be one of those verses that made absolutely no sense to me. Jesus told people that the kingdom of God will come before some of those people standing in that crowd tasted death. If it hasn’t appeared yet, then some in that crowd would have to still be alive or Jesus was a liar.

However, Jesus is not a liar. The kingdom has come. Jesus brought the kingdom of God to earth when he established his Church. The Church and anywhere that God’s will breaks through into our reality is where the kingdom of God resides. We are part of the kingdom when we surrender to Jesus’ kingship and become active members in bringing His will into reality.

The event everyone in the Old Testament was waiting for has happened. We are so blessed to be part of it. Some of those people that Jesus talked to saw the kingdom of God come with power, and it is still here.

Mark 11:10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David”

*Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Here we have a list of some of the elements of God's kingdom. In God's kingdom the poor will hear the good news. The blind will receive sight and the oppressed will be freed. Sometimes we think that we do not see these events happening here on earth as they should in God's kingdom. That is true. God’s kingdom is not fully here, yet it is breaking through. A day will come when God's kingdom will arrive in its complete fullness. Until then, we are left with God's kingdom being one of many kingdoms on earth. We need to bring God’s will and His kingdom into our reality as much as possible. We need to preach the good news to the poor. We need to help the blind see. We need to help free those who are oppressed. We are the people on the ground to bring about God's kingdom.

*Luke 4:43 “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God…because that is why I was sent”

Jesus stated that the reason he was sent here was to preach the good news of the kingdom. We are often taught that the reason he was sent was to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins; however, that isn't what he said. He said that he came to preach the good news of the kingdom. His death on the cross is part of that bigger framework, not the goal. We should not make his death and resurrection the framework or else we miss the larger picture. The death and resurrection are glorious things indeed, but they are not why Jesus was sent. Jesus was sent to preach and bring about the kingdom.

Luke 8:1 “Jesus traveled…proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God”

Luke 9:11 “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God”

Luke 9:60 “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Another example of Jesus telling another person to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Luke 9:62 “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Being part of the kingdom of God is the goal. That is what people were worried about being part of.

Luke 10:9 “Tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’”

Luke 10:11 “The kingdom of God is near”

Luke 16:16 “The good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”

*Luke 17:20-21 “Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact the kingdom of God is among you.”

The kingdom of God, the kingdom we are citizens of, is "not coming with things that can be observed." This physical, yet invisible kingdom is not what the Israelites were expecting when the Messiah would come. If I was a Pharisee, I would’ve replied to Jesus, "You mean to tell me that you're going to start a kingdom but that kingdom isn't going to be visible. That is not a kingdom. You say it is already here? I see Roman soldiers just down the street. How can you say the kingdom is here among us when I see the Roman kingdom all around me?"

God does not always do what is viewed as "rational". He had Gideon lower his army from 32,000 to 500 before invading another nation. He had Joshua march around Jericho blowing trumpets in order to defeat them. He saved the world by having Jesus die on a cross. In hindsight his acts are glorious, just like his kingdom. But at the time, they seem to be a little off.

The kingdom of God was there among them and is here among us. Although I live in America, my true citizenship is in another kingdom. All of us who profess to follow Christ need to realize that we are part of a kingdom that is among us. Our nationality belongs to God, not to any of the kingdoms of this world. Jesus’ kingdom might not have physical borders or a common language, but it is a kingdom nonetheless, a kingdom unlike any other.

Luke 18:28-30 “I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

People will do things for the sake of the kingdom of God. By this point I'm sure that you are realizing that the kingdom of God is a message of importance to Jesus.

*Acts 1:3 “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

Jesus raises from the dead and spends time teaching his disciples. This is really the final huddle. It's the last play in the Super Bowl. The quarterback has only a short time to motivate his players before they have to break and run the play that will decide the fate of the game. Their whole season depends on it. The quarterback reminds them of the most important thing. What did Jesus remind them of in a similar case? It wasn't the theological significance of his death on the cross. It wasn't his miracles. It wasn't his resurrection. Those things all fit in the context of the message of the kingdom of God. One last moment with the people he placed the future of his mission to, and the Bible records that he spoke about the kingdom of God.

Acts 8:12 “He (Philip) preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus.”

The message of the kingdom begins to be preached by those who are the early Christ followers.

Acts 19:8 “Paul…arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.”

Paul preached about the kingdom of God.

Acts 28:23 “From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.”

Acts 28:30-31 "And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered."

We see more examples that Paul preached the kingdom of God. That was the goal of all the stories of Jesus' life. That is the good news that Jesus himself preached, and Paul continued to preach it.

Rom 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

*I Cor 15:24-25 “Then comes the end, when he (Christ) hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put al l his enemies under his feet.”

It's at the time when the kingdom is handed over to the Father that the kingdom will be fully and completely here. Until then, we will live in a kingdom that has no boundaries, a kingdom that is just a foretaste of the greater kingdom to come, yet it is still the kingdom.

*Rev 1:5-6 “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father.”

We are priests in this kingdom. There are no soldiers, no union workers, no corporate executives, no janitors, no policemen, just priests.

Rev 11:15 “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.”

What a glorious day that will be!