The Kingdom’s call is for every person. Whosever will.
Overlayed on top of our individual backgrounds, we must strive for the kingdom culture.
The kingdom is its own culture.
There is neither Jew nor Greek
American or Mexican
African or Russian
Chinese or Indian
Urban or rural
Rich or Poor
When we are born again, we gain citizenship into a whole new Kingdom that supersedes and makes secondary every other designation we may claim or someone else may give us.
It does not erase our realities, but it places upon us the responsibility to bring all of those individual realities, prejudice, and preferences into subjection to Jesus Christ and all of those whom He shed his precious blood.
The Apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill and made the case for the God of the Kingdom and the people of His Kingdom.
He saw an altar with the inscription, “To The Unknown God.”
He pointed to that Altar and declared ” To the Unknown God, Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”
What a place to start a message about Jesus Christ!
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Notice what he says here in relationship to the nationalities, cultures, and races of people,
“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.”
“and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, “
I have always read that, made of one blood all nations to speak of our common humanity in our shared ancestors in Adam and Noah.
However, while meditating on this, I wonder if it might also be as meaningful, if not more meaningful that we have been made one by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We are made One by the Blood of the One!
We have been washed by the same blood,
We have been baptized by the Same Spirit,
We have been claimed and redeemed by One Name.
We are the Kingdom People!
Our Flag is the tapestry of type,
66 books
783,137 words
Beginning, Ending and Cornerstone is Jesus!
Our Constitution is in this same miraculous book.
Our Bill of Rights is the Be-Attitudes
Our Destiny is Heaven.
Our Duty is to Each other
Our Passion is to Worship God and Bless the People of the Kingdom.
Our culture is founded upon Jesus Christ and the infallible word of God.
It is upon this rock-solid foundation that we understand what perfection looks like.
Our challenge is not the kingdom, it’s when we think our culture is the kingdom.
Jesus stated this simple truth,
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”John 13:35
The Church world is not dealing with a culture problem, we have a love problem.
Apply this to both sides to any controversy and diagnose where the problem is. It might be on both sides. It really matters not the errors of the other, because Love on one side will bring healing to both sides.
“Love suffereth long, and is kind; Love envieth not; Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: ”
Love.