Jesus Came To Establish A Kingdom, Not a Religion.
“I must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” Luke 4:43 NASB
Jesus had more to say about the Kingdom than any other subject. Obviously, it ranks right up there on God’s priority list of topics His children should understand.
One major point of truth that we need to grasp is that Jesus did not come to establish a religion. This may come as a surprise to many, but it is true. Religion is man’s meager attempt to appease an invisible and unreachable god. Even Christianity is a religion. But Jesus did not come preaching a new religion, He came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.
Many restrict the work of Christ to the cross. However, Jesus came for much more than to die for our sins. The cross was a tremendous victory in innumerable ways. Not only did Jesus redeem us from sin and purchase a place for us in Heaven, but He took all of our sicknesses and diseases upon Himself and removed them from us forever. Yet, we continue to fight the good fight of faith, enforcing the victory of the cross in our everyday lives. This is because the cross is not for us an ending, but a beginning. You see, Jesus came to establish the rule and reign of God upon the earth and to restore the dominion to man that was lost in the Garden of Eden.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are not only saved from our sin, but become part of His Kingdom. He becomes our King, and we become His subjects. However, He is not looking for subjects, but sons and daughters who will rule and reign with him in this life, right here, right now.
Perspective Is Everything
Every one of us sees life through a unique pair of glasses. Every situation we encounter, every relationship we enter into is interpreted through this pair of glasses. Psychologists have given a name to this pair of glasses – paradigm. Paradigm describes the unique perspective that each of us have of life.
Our paradigm is the totality of our education, life experiences, and relationships. Unfortunately, our paradigm can be flawed, due to negative events in our lives. Like a bad pair of glasses, we do not see reality clearly. We interpret things incorrectly, draw erroneous conclusions and formulate bad decisions.
A “paradigm shift” is a term that describes a radical transformation of our perspective. Something causes us to see things in a completely different light and our thinking is instantly changed.
For example, suppose you are driving down the street minding your own business, when suddenly, a car comes racing past you, swerving in and out of traffic. They cut you off, nearly taking off your front fender. Ahead, they continue to swerve wildly in and out of the traffic, clearly presenting a danger to everyone.
You assume this is a reckless teenager, as has been the case so many times before. You decide that you should follow them up the road and give them a piece of your mind. You speed up and catch them at the next stoplight.
As you pull up, you roll down your window, ready to let them have it. However, you are shocked at what you see. Rather than a reckless young driver, you see a man who is obviously in crisis. You see the panic in his eyes. Upon closer examination, you see that lying on the seat next to him is a little boy with a large, bloody towel wrapped around his head. The man’s hands, tightly clenching the steering wheel, are red with blood. You hear his choked voice as he reassures the boy. “Everything is going to be alright, son. We’re almost to the hospital.” Before you can utter a word, the light changes, and they race off, leaving you in stunned silence.
In an instant, truth was revealed and your flawed perspective was radically transformed. Your anger dissolved into a profound sense of empathy and you suddenly wanted to aid this unfortunate family. You just experienced a paradigm shift.
Needed: A Kingdom Paradigm Shift
Based on what we see in the Church today, I believe that most Christians need a paradigm shift. One of the greatest losses of the Church in the last 2000 years is the loss of a view of the Kingdom. Somewhere along the way, we had a paradigm shift in the wrong direction.
Many of us have allowed the enemy to fit us with a pair of glasses that distorts reality. Rather than seeing life through God’s eyes, we take a carnal, earthly perspective. Big things look small, and small things look big. We miss important details because our vision is out of focus. Life is interpreted incorrectly and opportunities afforded by God for our benefit are missed.
We need to put on a Kingdom set of glasses, that we might gain a Kingdom perspective! We were never meant to view this earth through an earthly, natural perspective. We are supernatural beings, specially created in the image of God, with spiritual senses that are waiting to be awakened. The apostle Paul prayed this way:
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Eph. 1:18-19 NASB
I once heard Jack Taylor say, “Celebration is the fruit of perspective.” I believe this is a very profound statement. For the Christian, perspective lies at the very heart of celebration. Those with a carnal perspective can only rejoice when circumstances are favorable. Their celebration is limited by their natural perspective. However, a Kingdom perspective says, “Everything’s gonna be alright!” No matter what is happening, we know that we are part of a Kingdom, and our King is in control. Even if our circumstances don’t look so good, we can still celebrate because we have a Kingdom perspective!
A Kingdom perspective says, “God will be successful in all of His plans.” We know that He will never fail. Therefore, the only question in the matter is simply, will we be with Him? Only those who see through spiritual eyes will overcome this world. How desperately we need to gain a Kingdom perspective!
Until next time,
R<><
Kingdom Conversations 