By: Thomas F. Booher
1. The Kingdom of God & its Power Comes Down from Heaven in Christ
A. Many Christians and churches today have confusion about
what the kingdom of God is, and how we are called to seek out that kingdom.
i.
The Gospel
message is the good news of Christ and His kingdom coming down to earth.
ii.
Mark 1:14-15
says, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel.”
iii.
Mt. 4:23: “And
he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among
the people.”
B. To develop a thoroughly Christian worldview for all of
life, we must understand what the Kingdom of God is, and what it means to seek
first the Kingdom and God’s righteousness.
i.
Some say
since Christ's kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), Christians shouldn’t focus
on the things of this world – society, culture, politics, or even family.
ii.
Rather, it is
claimed that real labor for the kingdom is restricted to things like Bible
study, prayer, evangelism, worship, missions, preaching, etc.
iii.
But Jesus in
John 18:36 was speaking while on trial before Pilate; Pilate asks Jesus if He
is the King of the Jews, and Jesus says “if My kingdom were of this world, My
servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my
kingdom is not from here.”
iv.
Jesus will
go on to say in 18:37 “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was
born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness
to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
v.
In other
words, Jesus’ kingdom transcends the Jewish people, or any people or region or
land; His purpose is to reveal the Truth, and everyone who hears and receives
the Truth hears His voice and is part of His kingdom. It is a kingdom of Truth
with blessings of His Spirit.
vi.
His death on
the cross finished the work He came to accomplish, which was to bring His kingdom
rule/reign and power to earth.
vii.
So the power
of His kingdom isn’t in being King of the Jews, but in His perfect, righteous
life, His pure teaching/revealing God the Father, and His atoning death for
sinners – hence the power of His kingdom is not of this world,
but from heaven from which He came down.
C. Rightly understood then, Christ’s kingdom is an
earthly/worldly one, but with heavenly power.
i.
After Christ
is risen, He tells His disciples/soon to be apostles, "All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you." (Mt. 28:18-20)
ii.
Jesus has
overcome evil by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand
of the Father, and now pours out His kingdom blessings from heaven upon His people/body,
& we receive these blessings by knowing His Word in Scripture as the Spirit
helps & equips us.
iii.
The Church
is God’s kingdom people, and we must apply the gifts of His kingdom to every
facet of our lives here on earth – at home, at work, at church, even in our
government.
D. Consider: Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt. 6:10).
i.
Then right
after we are to pray for our daily bread, forgiveness, and to not be led into
temptation but delivered from evil.
ii.
Why?
"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever"
(6:13).
iii.
Scripture
reading & prayer doesn't of itself secure your daily bread, or a job, a
spouse, a house, a family, etc. But reading & prayer does prepare you to
pursue these things for Christ’s kingdom!
iv.
Daily bread
must be received by honest work, 2 Thess. 3:10, work that serves and loves
others with your skills, labor, time, and fulfills the dominion mandate to be
fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, (Gen. 1:28) for the sake
of Christ’s kingdom.
E. However, Matthew 6 goes on to warn about living for
riches and the treasures of this world.
i.
We are to
lay up treasures in heaven. You cannot serve God and money, so live for God,
seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and you will have enough
money/food/clothing/shelter so that you need not “worry”/stress about having
enough of these things to survive.
ii.
Indeed, if
we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things
[food, clothing, shelter, etc.] will be added to you” (Mt. 6:33).
F. Does that mean food and clothing are not necessary
pursuits?
i.
No, they
are, and the heavenly Father knows we need them (Mt. 6:32). The exhortation in
Matthew 6 is to refrain from seeking after these things as if they are the
kingdom itself! (“Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Mt. 6:25b).
ii.
An example
of one who idolized material wealth is the rich young ruler, who asked Christ “What
must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). Jesus tells Him to keep the
commandments, and the rich ruler says he has done so since his youth.
iii.
Jesus then
replies and tells him to sell all that he has and give to the poor, and then
you will have treasure in heaven.
iv.
The rich
young ruler refuses to do so and goes away sorrowful, to which Jesus says, “How
hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. (Luke
18:24).
v.
The
Gentiles/unbelievers seek after these pleasures and riches as the essence and
greatest good/joy of life (Mt. 6:32). And why? Because they do not seek Christ
and His kingdom.
vi.
But Christians/the
Church have Christ’s heavenly power/the Holy Spirit and His Word in their
hearts to seek first His kingdom/righteousness, and He will meet their bodily
needs.
2. The Importance of Politics/Government to the Kingdom of
God
A. Christ’s kingly authority and heavenly power doesn’t
extend over His Church only -- His sword is also wielded by His government/state
“ministers” to whom we must submit (Rom. 13:1), for they promote Christ's
kingdom by being a terror to evil (13:3) & praising good works (13:4).
B. Why would the governing authorities praise good works
that we do?
i.
Because they
are “God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does
not bear the sword in vain;
ii.
For he is
God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (13:4).
C. So we must be
subject to lawful government & pay taxes B/C our rulers are God’s
ministers.
i.
The word for
minister in Romans 13 is the Greek word diakonos, which can
mean servant and is the word for deacon in the NT). Government/governors are
God’s servants.
ii.
So we must
render taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs are due, fear to
whom fear, honor to whom honor (13:5-7). Even paying taxes serves Christ’s
kingdom!
D. Webster’s online dictionary defines politics as this: “Activities
that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting
and keeping power in a government.”
i.
The Lord’s
Prayer asks that we be delivered from evil, and we see from Romans 13 that the
job of punishing evil/wickedness in the civil realm is the governing
authorities acting as ministers/servants of God. So politics matters for us who
seek first Christ’s kingdom.
ii.
Our dismal
state of government is largely due to Christians disconnecting the Kingdom of
God from His earthly governments and rulers. God has Church and State Ministers
for good!
E. But this is all made explicit in 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Here
Paul exhorts that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks
is made for all men, and particularly kings and all in authority.
i.
Why? So “that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”
ii.
We are
commanded to pray that our governors rule well so that our life is free from
danger, distress, and disturbance as much as possible this side of glory, so
that we may serve God with all godliness and reverence and be able to seek
first His kingdom/righteousness.
F. Rev. 11:15 tells us that “The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever.”
i.
This is not
a mere future possibility but a present reality being progressively realized.
ii.
Remember, we
must pray that Christ’s kingdom come to earth & will be done on earth as it
is in heaven NOW.
iii.
The Kingdom
is growing like leaven (Mt. 13:33), working its way through the pagan nations
by the power of the Gospel regenerating individual hearts & uniting men to
the risen Christ.
iv.
Wicked kings
(not to mention false teachers/pastors in the Church) are fighting against the
growth of the mustard seed, they are trying to remove the leaven of Christ’s
kingdom.
v.
They offer
themselves as gods to take away all your ills (food without working) & promote
sinful lusts rather than righteous virtues, the fruit of Satan rather than the
fruit of the Spirit.
vi.
Wicked rulers’
in the State & false teachers’ in the Church are in league with Satan,
& Satan has orchestrated all rebellion, lies, and tyrannies from the
beginning.
G. These wicked
nations and their kings were already condemned back in Psalm 2.
i.
There we are
told the nations rage and people plot a vain thing. The “kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against
His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their
cords from us.’
ii.
God
responds, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in
derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His
deep displeasure:
iii.
‘Yet I have
set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’ ‘I will declare the decree: The LORD has
said to Me, You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will
give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your
possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to
pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
iv.
Further,
“Now therefore, be wise, O kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve
the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
v.
Kiss the
Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but
a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
H. Even through earthly governments Christ’s kingdom breaks
into this created world from heaven because Christ the King has brought His
kingdom down to earth from heaven with power.
i.
But is
Christ still here? No, He came from the Father and must return to the Father (Jn
16:28)
ii.
From where
does Christ reign? “I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6).
iii.
Where is Mt.
Zion? In heaven. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem… to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to
the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Heb.
12:22-24).
I.
So understood rightly, engaging in politics/government
is to engage in holy, heavenly war.
i.
It is to
pursue Christ and His kingdom. It is to seek righteous peace and prosperity in
our land, for our families and friends and homes, so that we may serve God
faithfully and freely, live for Him, and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified to all.
ii.
It is to
prepare for the glorious return of King Jesus as He inherits the nations (Ps
2:7-8) and the righteous Kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into
His kingdom (Rev. 21:24).
3. The Household is God’s First Government & is Restored
in Regeneration
A. We have seen that human governments are under Christ’s
authority, are His ministers, and must serve Him for the good of the world and
His Church.
B. Now, what is the first earthly government/economy that God
established? The household!
i.
In the Garden,
God created man/Adam with a task to rule the earth/subdue it.
ii.
He could not
do this alone, so God give man/Adam a helpmeet, woman.
iii.
Thus the
first economy/government/household.
iv.
Sin came
into the world through the breaking of the first government/household (Eve eats
the forbidden fruit as does Adam, who fails to protect her/lead).
v.
But sin is
destroyed and righteousness returns through the restoration of the first
government/household as Jesus is born to the virgin Mary, perfectly obeys His
heavenly Father, then dies on the cross as an atonement for the sin of His people
whom He will purchase and redeem to make His righteous bride.
vi.
In this way
the promise in Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled as the seed of the woman, Jesus,
crushes the head of the serpent/devil & and his seed.
C. God’s redemptive government in Christ restores the order
and goodness of His creation government of the family for His Church.
i.
“Honor widows
who are really widows. 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let
them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good
and acceptable before God…
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and
especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse
than an unbeliever.” 1 Tim. 5:3-4, 8.
ii.
Men must lead
as teachers and in prayer and as example in living godly lives, and this must
begin in the home, for he is to “rule his own house well, having his children
in submission with all reverence” (I Tim. 3:4) in order to be qualified as a
governor/ruler/pastor in the Church – “For if a man does not know how to rule
his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Tim. 3:5).
iii.
Because God
created women to be necessary and vital helpmeets to the man in the home, women
are commanded to “learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a
woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved in
childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.”
(1 Tim. 2:11-15).
iv.
So in the family
economy, widows must be cared for by their children/grandchildren, God has called
the man/husband to lovingly and sacrificially lead, rule, and teach, and the
woman/wife to lovingly and sacrificially help him in this through childbearing and
homemaking (see Prov. 31, Titus 2:3-5, etc.).
D. God’s order/government of male headship in the church is
in keeping with God’s order/government of male headship in the home in/at
creation.
i.
Thus we see
the harmony of the “economy” of the blood-bought kingdom of God with His “economy”
at creation. God’s saving grace restores nature, in government and the home.
ii.
Our English
word “economy” comes from the Greek oikonomia, “management of a
household, administration”, and is made up of two Greek words, oikos, meaning
“house”, and nomos, meaning “management” or “law”. Male headship is God’s
economy in the home.
E. Paul shows the connection between the church family and
flesh-and-blood family:
i.
He tells Titus
to establish elders in the churches in every city because “there are many
insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers… whose mouths must be stopped, who
subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not… They profess
to know God, but in works they deny Him (Titus 1:10-11, 16).
ii.
Paul tells Titus
to instead “speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine”
(2:1):
i)
“that the
older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience.”
ii) “the older women likewise, that they be reverent in
behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things –
that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their
children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own
husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
iii) “Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in
all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing
integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.”
(Titus 2:1-8).
F. In the Christian family, marriage of husband to wife pictures
marriage of Christ to His Church.
i.
Ephesians
5:22-33 says for wives to submit to the husbands as the Lord, and the husband
is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church. So as the Church
is to be subject to Christ, wives must be subject to their own husbands in
everything.
ii.
The duties of
husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself
for her to sanctify her and present her to Himself a glorious, spotless,
righteous church.
iii.
So husbands
are to love their wives as their own bodies, for no one ever hated his own
flesh but cherishes it, as the Lord cherishes the Church. And indeed, Eph. 5:30
says we, the Church, are members of Christ’s body, of His flesh and of His
bones.
iv.
If you destroy
this order in the home, you destroy the Gospel in the home, for Christ
came for His church, sought out His bride, and leads and loves her as she
faithfully serves Him.
v.
If men do not
lead in their personal lives & in the homes/families they establish, how
can they represent Christ to the world & their wife? Men slander Christ
with sloth and passivity.
vi.
If women rail
against male authority, especially their husbands, how can they represent the
faithful Church submitting to Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Women
slander the Church by their anger, contention, & discontentment with their
calling as helpmeets.
G. Part of seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
is pursuing -- for the great many who are gifted and called to it – marriage and
Christian families/households.
i.
That the
Church has forgotten this is largely why our nation & churches are
crumbling.
ii.
We
desperately need godly men “leaving and cleaving” to establish their own
households and lead their wife and children in the Lord & provide for them,
& we need wives and mothers who desire to bear, nurture, and train their
children and manage and beautify the home.
iii.
Jesus even blesses
our children & says they “belong to the kingdom” (see Matt. 19:13-15).
CONCLUSION: Seeking First the Kingdom of God &
His righteousness orients all of life and forms a cohesive, Christian
life-and-worldview encompassing Home, Church, & State.
A.
The Kingdom
of God, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, embraces all of life for the
believer.
i.
Three main
things must be wisely applied by the Christian in Church, State, & Home, &
each are restored to Christ’s kingdom people by the power of His Word &
Spirit within them --
i)
Our natures as
male and female made in the image of God (and especially seen in marriage
reflecting the bond between Christ and His Church).
ii) God’s law/10 commandments, which Christ summarizes as our
duty to love God with all our heart/soul/mind/strength & our neighbor as
ourselves (Mt. 22:37-39).
iii) The good news of Christ delivering us from slavery to sin
& punishment for breaking God’s law by His atoning for sin & giving His
righteousness to all who repent & believe.
B. KEY APPLICATION: If we do not
embrace our God-given masculine & feminine natures, then we will not pursue
Christ’s kingdom and glory in any of the spheres of Church, State, and Home.
i.
Gender relates
to how we bear the image of God: “So God created man in His own image; in the
image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:27).
ii.
This is why
homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, etc., is so dangerous and wicked.
iii.
If we go wrong
with what it means to be a male/man/husband and what it means to be female/woman/wife,
we are going to be wrong in every sphere of our lives to some degree.
iv.
We will fail
to establish godly households, godly churches, and godly governments.
C. But take heart – if you are in Christ, He has renewed
your natures as man or woman, He has written God’s law on your heart so that by
the Spirit you love it and keep it, and He has given you righteousness,
forgiveness, and the heavenly power of His kingdom by His sinless life, sin-bearing
death, resurrection to glory, and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with
the promise that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it” (Phil. 1:6)
when He returns.
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