Kingdom Chat Week 29: The Kingdom Concept
For this week’s discussion, I want to focus on the subject of the Kingdom of God. As you already know, this app is called Kingdom Life App, and our community is called “Kingdom Life Christian Center.” I thought it makes sense to elaborate on the concept behind the names we have chosen for this ministry and platform. Christianity is much more than religion. Christianity is not a religion; instead, it is about culture – the culture of heaven on earth. Jesus came to introduce humanity to a new culture. Culture is the collective thinking, mindset, values, and ideals of a people. The goal of religion is to get men to heaven. The purpose of Christianity is to bring heaven to earth or in the hearts of men.
The kingdom of God is not after the earth and its properties. It’s after the world/culture/mindset that affects the earth and the human heart that drives the reality of existence on earth. The goal of Christianity is to bring the world to a new consciousness of the reality of the heavenly culture. And the Bible is the blueprint that God has given humankind to seek out this Kingdom and its culture.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus admonished us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and God will give us all the things we will ever need in this life along with the kingdom. The verse I just quoted is popular among Christians, but only a few understand its true meaning. So, the Kingdom concept is the revolutionary idea that the future kingdom that the Bible speaks of is now, in some form, present in the hearts of Christians. The culture of heaven has now become a part of our consciousness. This culture includes right living and right standing with God (righteousness), the power of the Spirit of God working in and through us to do the impossible, and the power of true and sacrificial love manifesting in our desires, hopes, and aspirations. Everything good that Christianity represents today is a product of the Kingdom because the Kingdom of God produces the Church. And the church is created whenever someone hears about the Kingdom and opens up their heart to be influenced by the new way of life that the Kingdom represents through believing and accepting Jesus’ kingship and authority over their life and everything that exists in this life and the life to come. The Kingdom of God is about influencing society and culture and less about religion.
To complete this week’s Kingdom Chat, reply to this post. Here are some questions to consider as you think about your response. 1. Are you familiar with the concept of God’s kingdom? 2. How would you describe the kingdom of God, and what are some of the cultures of the kingdom that you can add to the list mentioned in this post?
- 5 Replies
Thank you so much for this wonderful posts about Gods kingdom.. The world that we live in on planet earth 🌍 were men and women are focused on acquiring its properties and Believe that abounding in material things as a proof of Gods grace upon their life as a manifestation of Gods presence ; we see that even the wicked , and unGodly have these things- so it’s brings me to the conclusion that the measure of man is not the amount of his possessions , money he makes from his profession, or acquisitions.
In Gods kingdom a a man is judged by his motivations , consecration , how he handles persecutions, the fruit of the spirit he/ she bears and how he/she carries out the commission to do the will of God on thier life .
The will of God is for his children to be a light to the world , and turn the hearts of the unsaved towards Jesus so that light can come in and pursue the darkness; and as easy as that sounds … It’s not an easy job , but by grace & faith we will do all things . The kingdom of God is not meat & drink , but righteousness , peace , joy…. So as we learn to seek those things that are ABOVE- we will become more like kingdom minded people ………. The only way to influence the world is to show them why you are not like them, and why your way of life is the blueprint , but if we try to conform, and are slaves to same things which enslaves them, then it’s difficult because we entangle ourselves with sin, and crucify Christ allover again….
Thank you @phil4krist for this educative post. Always refreshing to talk about the concept of God’s Kingdom which is the true essence of the Christian life. I will summarize with 5 points, of the words that jumped at me in the Kingdom chat:
– Christianity is not a religion but about culture – the culture of heaven on earth.
– The purpose of Christianity is not to take men to heaven rather to bring heaven to earth – in the hearts of men.
– The kingdom is not after the earth and its properties (For me this means it’s not about acquiring big lands, cars or luxuries to prove like the world does, that we are successful) but after the world’s culture and mindset which is what determines the world’s way of life on earth. This for me is the Kingdom concept. Paul says in Ephesians 6 that we are not fighting against flesh and blood rather we should brace up against the strategies (military tactics) of the evil forces in the unseen world, acting through deception. Also in 2 Corinthians 10:3 he says, that we do not wage war with human weapons but we use God’s mighty weapons (His concept, the Kingdom concept) to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning, corrupt culture and destroy false arguments. This is why we preach the gospel that God’s influence is here now, permeating into the hearts of people.
– The Kingdom of God produces the Church. Wow! Every time someone hears this gospel of the Kingdom and opens up their heart to be influenced by this new culture, a new church is created. So its not when we open a new church office or facility that a new church is created. It reminds me of cell division in elementary biology. Each cell produces its kind by growing then dividing into several cells which become a tissue, many tissues get together to form an organ; then different organs functioning together with the same goal become a system. As we keep up with this gospel, we form a strong SYSTEM on earth governed by the principles of God.
– Lastly, the Kingdom of God is about influencing society and culture and less about religion. I couldn’t agree more. I think this is the meaning of soul winning. The soul is the seat of human will, reason and intellect which runs by information. We win the soul through the information we input in its system and for us its about influencing it to think, decide and act based on the information from God. Praise God!
Excellent post @phil4krist ! Such a succinct definition of the kingdom. Only have one hand free so I decided to respond using video 😊
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