Expedition 44 Citizens of the Kingdom (Part 2): The Gospel of the Kingdom
When we talk about Kingdom, we need to have 5 ideas at play. All 5 are necessary ingredients to define the Kingdom of God
- King
- Rule or a reign
- A People
- A Law
- Land
So, it’s a king who rules by rescuing and saving people. A People who live the way of Jesus reflecting and imaging the king in sacred space… we are sacred space but our home and churches are also this space and we take this Kingdom with us and expand it as we live like the king and teach others to live under his Rule and his Law.
The Gospel
- Both Jesus and Paul derived this important word (Gospel) from the prophetic poetry of Isaiah in the Old Testament (Isaiah 52:7-10) where the future arrival of God’s Kingdom through the Messiah is called good news.
- The 4 Spiritual Laws and the Romans Road all contain “truths” but look a lot different than the way the apostles presented the Gospel in the Bible.
- The Gospel Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; 2 Tim 2:8
- The Gospel is about Jesus and not us. We can't let the benefits of the gospel run the conversation of the gospel.
- Simple Gospel:Jesus is King
- We have a response to make when the gospel is presented... which kingdom will you be part of?
Acts 17:5-7…no king but Christ. Are we being accused of turning the world upside-down by our gospel? And how we live it out?
How do we live?
Skinny Jeans
- All about social justice and humanitarian efforts
- Kingdom to them means: good deed done by good people in the public sector for the common good
- We often hear from these people that “I don’t want to work in the church, I want to do Kingdom Work”
Pleated Pants
- Usually means God’s rule or reign but rarely means his realm.
- Concentration on souls… salvation… Savior vs. Lord….Kingdom is purely religious and about getting to heaven.
- Kingdom work as public activism… trying to get our states and government to be “moral” or transform the culture.
3rd Way
John Nugent: “Our responsibility is not to make the world a better place, but to be the better place God has begun in this world through Christ. We are his kingdom work. We are ambassadors who proclaim what God has done, is doing, and will do. God’s strategy is for his people not to fix this world but to plant a new world in the midst of the old one and to woo the old world to Himself through it. As followers of Jesus, the body of Christ, the new humanity and new creation is us. A new creation as begun in the midst of the old world that remains. It is the new world of God’s Kingdom and its people. So God’s people are not responsible for making the world a better place, but for being the better place that Christ has already made… the early believers were vocal in proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and visible in living it out in community… the church’s calling centers on being the better place God began in Jesus.”
John 13:35 By our love for one another, the world will know you are my disciples.
John 17:23 By being in unity, the world will know that the Father has sent Jesus.
Phil 1:27; 1 Thes 4:10-12; Eph 3:10