Many believe the main cause for the problems facing
communities and nations
today is the absence of a Kingdom orientation and lifestyle
among Christians. In fact many would go on to say that many
of the challenges facing Christians is due to a lack of
Kingdom Living in the Church. And yet the Kingdom of God is what Jesus
spoke of more than any other topic. Kingdom Living is
essentially living a lifestyle of Spirit-led love.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
and the second commandment was to love your neighbor as you
love yourself. He also said to love our enemies and other
believers - that if anyone hated another person they did not
love God.
The vast scriptural knowledge of the religious leaders of
the day did not stop Jesus being most critical of them. He
called them hypocritical whitewashed tombs because they
looked good on the outside but inside were full of
‘self-indulgence.’ They had woefully neglected the essence
of living for God - justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Jesus’ comments strike each of us deeply today. Many of us
Christians today are as guilty as they are. Many of us have
neglected promoting justice (love acting through
structures); being merciful towards those we disagree with
or judge; and many of us have been unfaithful in trusting
God amidst adverse circumstance - particularly when it comes
to loving our enemies or those we hold responsible for the
adverse circumstances. Fearful of our comfort levels
being threatened, we have all to often used doctrinal issues
and reasoning to isolate us from other people or our
brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God.
The Christian church in many parts of the world is deeply
divided – to our detriment and to the detriment of the
world. Jesus prayed that all believers would be One as He
and the Father were One so that the world may believe. We
are told to be especially good to other believers. In fact
we are told that doing good is what overcomes evil in the
world. Slavery was primarily abolished in the British Empire by a
group of committed Christians who took these truths
seriously.
Today we all to often cry out for a great revival to come
and do it in so much isolation, indifference or
unappreciation toward the rest of the body of Christ. As we
fervently pursue new levels in our spirituality, the Lord
mercifully rewards our efforts to varying degrees, yet we
still fail to see widespread revival coming to our
communities and the glory of God filling our lands.
Could it be that we have failed to recognize the intensely
relational persona of God? When the brethren are dwelling in
spiritual unity God cannot deny Himself and He will come in
glory and in power! Revival will come, just as it did in
Acts. His presence, His Spirit, His Kingdom will come in
such overwhelming measure that many will receive Jesus as
Lord. We will have the problem the Apostle Paul had where,
within two years, there was no place left to preach the
gospel in Asia (minor)!
We wealthier Christians have so much autonomy (relative to
most of the world) that we unfortunately feel we can afford
to, or we expect to, live our lives seeking increasing
comfort. The blessings of God we call it. It is true that
God loves to bless His people but we then somehow fail to
reach out in love to those different to ourselves, let alone
those antagonistic toward us. Imagine Baptists asking the
Lord to make their Pentecostal brother or sister the best
Pentecostal that they could be, or Pentecostals asking the
Lord to make their Baptist brother or sister the best
Baptist that they could be!
Furthermore, wanting Kingdom values to come to our
communities we, instead of loving and praying them into
place, seek to legislate or coerce them into place.
Convinced that such values are for the good of all people we
can all too often attempt to enforce change in society in a
manner that so lacks the fruit of love that it makes the gospel a farce and causes total confusion among a watching
world. Behavior like this has caused great personalities
like Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi of India to sadly comment" I
would have become a Christian myself but I have not found
one true Christian yet."
Fortunately the kind of Spirit-led church unity alluded to
above is happening in many communities across the world
today and has also happened in many communities
historically. According to the Sentinel group, there
are at least 140 communities worldwide today that have
undergone radical Kingdom transformation as a result of
genuine Kingdom lifestyles being adopted by believers. The
social, economic, political and even environmental
conditions have undergone positive transformations as the
Lord has blessed the region.
King's Court Kingdom Living training is designed to help individuals, groups, organizations and
churches create an environment that helps individuals
maintain and sustain the Kingdom Lifestyle that Jesus has
called us too.
Rationale on Kingdom
Alliances.
Rationale on Kingdom Publications
Rationale on Kingdom Research
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