New Kingdom Purpose

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)

Please prayerfully consider from the Scriptures what I am going to write here.

Consider the crowd that had gathered and asked Jesus the question as we have seen in Acts 1:6:

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Their expectations in a nutshell, as Jews, was that their conquering Messiah would return and restore the Kingdom back to Israel. That He would put down Israel's enemies once and for all and that they would reign with Him, thus fulfilling a whole bunch of biblical prophecies concerning the future kingdom and Israel's triumphant place in that kingdom. 

But we know from Scripture that His first coming was not to restore the national kingdom of Israel. He was advancing the spiritual Kingdom of God. His first coming was as a Suffering Servant, come to earth to die on the Cross for the sins of man. His Second Coming will be altogether different. He came to earth the first time and rode humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey. His final return will be on a white horse, coming down out of Heaven in power and great glory with all of His angels, and all who dwell on earth will see Him coming on the clouds.

Here is Jesus' response to their question:

“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

We shall be His witnesses. That is our purpose.

This is what being a new kingdom person is all about.

From Scripture and from our own Born Again experience with Jesus, what are we witnesses to?

"That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) 

"That Jesus came to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free those who are oppressed." (Luke 4:18) 

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13) 

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16)

These are just a few of the amazing truths and promises from God to those who will turn and receive Him by faith through His grace. And we are to be Christ's witnesses to the world of His amazing love and grace. 

And we are to be witnesses of His Gospel, which is: 

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

I can testify to you today that my whole life was a train wreck, my marriage was shattered and hopeless, and I had no peace or joy in my life until I met Jesus Christ and He set me free from the downward death spiral I was in due to my own pride, arrogance, unbelief and my selfish, hard heart. He forgave me all my sin and is transforming my life, day by day, by His grace to be what He ultimately intends it to be. My marriage is wonderfully healed and is full of His love, joy and hope.

Getting back to our opening verse from Acts 1:6. 

Jesus said that He did not come to restore a (political/national) kingdom to Israel, even though this is exactly what they were hoping for.

And I would appeal to you from the Scriptures and ask, where in the New Testament does Jesus ever tell us that we as His witnesses are to pursue a place where we can freely worship according to the dictates of our own conscience?

Believe me, I am very thankful that I live in a free country today. I am thankful for our laws and the authorities that were established to protect us from unlawful evil doers. And I am thankful for living in a nation where I have many rights and freedoms. Amen.

But where does Jesus ever promise us this? Or command us to go forth and pursue that?

I cant find it in the New Testament bible.

I do see though where Jesus commands us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone, to go and make disciples and baptize them in His name.

And  I see where we are commanded to love all people, to pray for our enemies, and to bless those who curse us and spitefully use us.

I see where He commands us to give to others in need and not worry about our own needs.

I see where He commands us to not love the things of this world.

I see where He said He sends us out as sheep among wolves, as lambs to the slaughter.

 I see where He promises that all who desire to live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution.

I see where we are commanded to submit to the government authorities.

I see where we are to forsake all that we have if we truly want to be His disciples.

 I see where He commands us first to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. Then He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

But I cant find where He commands us to fight to the death in defense of our rights.

What I do find is that He has translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into His Kingdom. Into His marvelous Light. Into His way of doing things. 

I do find where His Word says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 19-20)

When we breathe our last breath and step into eternity none of the earthly things we hold so tightly to today will even be remembered anymore.

So I will leave it at that—for you to search the Scriptures for yourself—and see for yourself what it means biblically, to be a new kingdom person.

What it really means to be His disciple...

To be His witness.

Amen.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

New Kingdom People

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

I love the image above. 

A man set free who was previously in chains. His hands are raised proclaiming his new found freedom. And he stands atop a hill, the sun rising at his back. Glorious. Grateful. Free.

I can easily see myself in that photo.

Our Savior, Jesus, called us out of darkness, and into His marvelous light.

So why do so many of us live like we're still in chains? Bound by the things of this world?

An old preacher once said to me, "You can't live with one foot in God's kingdom, and the other foot in the world." That's sort of like straddling a barbed wire fence.

We have to be all-in. 

We are ineffective and of no use if we still have one foot in the world—the kingdom of darkness.

 Prayerfully contemplate the following passages of scripture:

“Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

Those are just three of many extremely challenging passages from God's Word that require us to be all-in if we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and used by God.

We cannot serve two masters.

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” (Colossians 1:13)

We have been delivered from the power and kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

We're no longer old kingdom people—we're New Kingdom People now.

Think of all the things that rule, divide and consume the kingdom of this dark world: political bickering, the lust for power, material things, idolatry, covetousness, sex, drugs, alcohol, wicked entertainment, perversity, pornography, inappropriate relationships, pride, position, money, greed, dictates of the immoral culture, etc.

And yet, so many people who claim to be God's people—New Kingdom People—are ruled, divided and consumed by the exact same things as the kingdom of darkness.

We will never truly be free if we try to live with one foot in God's kingdom, and the other in the kingdom of darkness.

There are a lot of things that Christians today hotly defend or pursue. But I see no such things defended or pursued by Jesus or His disciples in the New Testament.

I believe God is sending the Church today a wake up call to each of us, to examine our own hearts, and repent of the things that are holding us back, keeping us bound, and preventing us from being all-in.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

We argue over, debate, defend and pursue so many worldly things that will be absolutely meaningless and forgotten once we leave this earth and stand before Jesus. Just let them go.

Be all-in.

We're New Kingdom People now.



—God is Love and Love Never Fails.