The Boldness to Build Kingdom

While much of the church has wandered into philosophies that speak more to the standards of this world and away from the true gospel that Jesus preached, there is a need to emphasize the simplicity of the gospels and to apply the principles that will cause us to be faithful and fruitful in this life and beyond.

This is the third article in a series of articles on “The Simple Way to Fulfill the Purposes of God in the Earth”.  In recent writings, I have outlined two things: Making Disciples and Creating Community. This article emphasizes the third point clearly expressed in the New Testament and exemplified in the life of Christ – Building the Kingdom of God! Making disciples leads to the creation of covenant community that leads to building the Kingdom of God. Before we go too much further, please see the deeper connection.

The Kingdom of God will not emerge unless a Christ centered Christian community is created! A Christ centered Christian community will not develop unless there is an intentional effort made to make disciples. Making disciples leads to the creation of community and the creation of community causes the Kingdom of God to come into view. This order is critical! You cannot build Kingdom without the first two being in proper order. If we fail to understand this, we will fail at fulfilling the call of God on our lives.

Let me prove from Scripture that what I am saying is so. Of course, Jesus is our high example. We know what Jesus came to earth to do, right? He came to earth to sacrifice His life for us so that we could find eternal life in Him. Woven into this purpose though is something many miss. Jesus came to establish His Kingdom. While some theologians will say that Jesus failed at this and therefore the Kingdom was postponed, we must realize that Jesus never failed at anything. He came preaching the Kingdom throughout the entirety of His ministry and His death would not indicate failure in establishing the Kingdom but success. His death and resurrection were a coronation and a release of the Kingdom to the highest degree. It was the fulfillment of His gospel message – the gospel of the Kingdom. In Matthew 4, it says,

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matthew 4:17-22)

The totality of chapter 4 outlines for us the process and purpose of the life of Christ. He was led, by the Spirit, into a confrontation with the devil modeling how to combat the enemy with prayer, fasting and the Word of God. He came out of that situation in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14) and launched into His purpose. The purpose of Christ’s life was to …

Preach and/or Build the Kingdom of God – He declared this is in verse 17. Then He began to actively walk out the means to this end. He immediately began MAKING DISCIPLES and CREATING COMMUNITY. The results were the formation of those the Father gave Him (the twelve) and the community of believers that were created and ended up in the Upper Room in Acts 2. Jesus’ prime directive was three-fold: MAKE DISCIPLES, CREATE COMMUNITY and BUILD and/or RELEASE KINGDOM. If this was His purpose and we are to follow Him in every way, then shouldn’t it be our prime directive?

But the Church has not embraced their calling in Christ because of debilitating fear and distracted focus.

The world, including much of the church, emphasizes extreme drama when it comes to the end times.  Too often, it strikes fear rather than hope in the hearts of God’s people.  We look at the Scriptures and see verses like Matthew 24:3-14.  It speaks of wars, rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes, false prophets, hardships and the increase of evil in the earth.  These things are always used to shout out that the Lord will be here any day.  But Jesus said in these same verses to be cautious for although these things will occur, see to it that you are not alarmed!

Jesus also gives us a good idea of when He will return.  Although no man knows the hour, we can know the season.  Jesus said that it isn’t the wars and rumors of wars or the other tough times and tough things that will occur that we should emphasize.  He said in verse 14:

“And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and THEN THE END WILL COME!”

The word ‘PREACHED” in this verse literally means a herald. A herald is defined as:

An official messenger bringing news. A person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen. An official employed to oversee state ceremony, precedence, and the use of armorial bearings, and to make proclamations, carry ceremonial messages, and oversee tournaments. A sign that (something) is about to happen: the speech heralded a change in policy.

The point is that we allow the fear of a lot of other things to distract us from the very thing that will ultimately bring our Lord back to this earth – the proclamation in word and deed of the gospel of the Kingdom to every nation!

This should be our ultimate passion – to proclaim His gospel in every place.  If we are busy serving the Lord in this capacity, we will find ourselves less bogged down with the cares of this life.  Yet we are so entangled with distractions to the point of spiritual paralysis.  Fear grips our hearts and causes great stress that disables us.  Because of certain fears and overwhelming stress, we pursue other things that we believe will bring us satisfaction even in the church.  For example, we seek the prophetic, we seek the gifts, we seek power and so many other things that may make us feel good.  But in reality, these things do not bring the Lord back.  Again, it is the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the world, which first includes your world!  Yet, fear directs our pursuits and hinders our proclamation! What is the fear that hinders you from the gospel of the Kingdom? For so many it is:

Financial Insufficiency

Is your debt Load unmanageable? The pressure of finances tends to distract so many in their service to the Lord.  Yet, my Bible tells me that financial blessings await those that are faithful to His Word.  What does His Word say?

Give and It will be Given to You

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."  (Luke 6:38)

Give and He will Rebuke the Devourer

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.  Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts.”  (Mal. 3:10-11)

Family Instability

Building Kingdom means building your family! Many want to skip this step thinking they can save the world all the while their family is headed to hell.

Too often, people want to do good deeds without focusing on their first priority as a way of justifying their failures with their prime directive. Because we reach a place of hopelessness in that which is familiar, we strive for success elsewhere. May we return to our first order!

Building the Kingdom of God is about building individuals. The first level is in the home with our spouses and children. Every home should be a microcosm of the Kingdom. Kingdom means government, order, righteousness, submission, and honor. These are the qualities that should be lived out in such a way that our children gain them early and display them consistently for the rest of their lives.

Future Insecurity

Many live in fear of the future. They stress over what they see politically, economically, educationally, culturally and so forth. To add more pressure, they hear from the pulpits a dooms day scenario that is coming. This is why we must understand what has been termed ‘the blessed hope’. This blessed hope refers not only to the return of Christ but the fact that He never left. That is if you consider the Holy Spirit to be the Spirit of Christ. Now I understand the theological technicality around what I am saying. But the fact remains that Jesus only went away in one form and remained in another form. He stated that He would be with us even to the end of the age. He said that He would never leave us or forsake us. So, in all reality, Jesus has been with us and will continue to be on into our future, yea, for all eternity!

Hope and positivity should be the characteristics of our Christianity. Yet, too many live is despair and fear having lost all hope for a transformed tomorrow. Proverbs 13:12 says,

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  (Proverbs 13:12)

Misdirected desire defers hope. When hope is deferred it makes room for fear. When fear is present, it robs us of our faith and without faith it is impossible to please God. We must learn understand how to develop and direct our desires so that they are fulfilled thus resulting in a tree of life. Psalms speaks to how our desires are developed and directed.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD. Trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.” (Psalms 37:3-6)

The Master’s delight determines hope. If we follow the spiritual logic in this verse this would be our conclusion. I understand the term delight as de-light or to rid yourself of your own light – empty yourself of what you think or know, avoid the way that seems right to you – and position yourself in the Lord. Then He will give you the desires of your heart. The reason He responds to you in this way would be because the desires of your heart have become the desires of His heart. You have be de-lighted of yourself and enlightened in Christ thus having your desires transformed into His desires. This then leads us to commit our ways fully to Him and trusting Him exclusively causing Him to act and bringing forth our righteousness as the LIGHT.

Now that hopefully explains the process of developing and directing desire in becoming a tree of life. The tree of life speaks of hope and wisdom that begins with Christ operating in us annihilating fear.

“Know that wisdom is thus for your soul. If you find it, then there will be a future and your hope will not be cut off.”  (Proverbs 24:14)

Maybe you’re frustrated because God’s not coming up with the goods?  Maybe you think He doesn’t care?  Maybe it’s time to change your focus! What is you focus?

The remedy for worry, fear, purposelessness, frustration, lack of provision and the recipe for a fulfilled, fruitful and God-pleasing life is seeking first the Kingdom of God.

“Jesus said, ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.’”  (Matthew 6:33)

The Kingdom of God is the Government of God – His Order Established in Our Lives!  Jesus commanded that we seek, pursue or focus on God’s order in our lives.  When this focus and pursuit is present and constant, all of life will line up properly according to His will for us.

We live in a time when the church has drifted from its divine purpose. It is focused on being popular or acceptable to a world that desires to water down God’s Word. In so doing, disciples are fewer and fewer. Christian covenant community is less and less. Kingdom is not sought after above all else. May we return to the pattern of Jesus for life and ministry. May we do it now for the sake of future generations!