The Sword Room

Gnosticism cropped up early in the history of the Church. The beginnings of this heresy are seen in New Testament books like Colossians and 1 John. The word gnostic comes from the Greek verb ginosko: “to know.” The gnostics claimed to have a secret superior form of knowledge than everyone else, hence the name. Gnosticism was an application of Plato’s concept of dualism. This ancient Greek philosopher taught that there are two parallel worlds, the spiritual (real) and the physical (illusory). Most of us would agree that there are material and spiritual dimensions to the world; but for Plato the two were absolutely distinct. The physical world was a faint shadow or dim mirror image of the real spiritual substance. 

The Gnostics took Platonic Dualism a step farther by saying the material world is not only not “real” in the same sense as the spiritual realm, but that matter itself is bad or evil. From this starting point the Gnostics made applications which involved either punishing the physical body or simply ignoring its significance in the scheme of daily spiritual growth. God could not be experienced in the material world; one must somehow tap into the spiritual plane, which was seen as totally distinct from the physical universe. Some Gnostics called Docetists taught that Jesus could not have had a real body, and that He simply appeared to be human. Because the human body is not “real” but in fact evil, Christ could not be truly divine and condescend to a material existence. He just seemed to be human.

In today’s churches–especially in the singing, we see hints of Gnostic thinking. Songs which talk about wanting nothing in life other than Jesus are as silly as they are wrong. First, there is nothing wrong with wanting things in this world other than Jesus. God created us to want food, sex, money, power, and human relationship. True, we are to seek first His kingdom, but under that umbrella there is nothing wrong with wanting things. Secondly, anyone who sings that he wants nothing in life besides Jesus is really lying about himself. These ludicrous lyrics imply that wanting Jesus and wanting ordinary things of this material realm are somehow mutually exclusive. It is a kind of black and white dichotomy which is reminiscent on Gnostic Dualism.

Other praise songs talk about wanting God to be present in an extraordinary way. God is implored to open heaven and pour Himself out on the congregation. This is the same kind of thinking that sees God present when we are off in a spiritual corner praying or reading our Bibles. But Scripture teaches that God is present everywhere. He is providentially involved in even the most ordinary affairs of this life. We affirm the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions. God is present everywhere. Evidence of His glory abounds in the material created order. God is not synonymous with the material world, as in Hinduism, but he is present in and through it at every point. All of life is spiritual. All of life is worship–even the so-called ordinary things.

The fact is, God is no more present in a worship service than He is in your car–the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. And don’t quote Matthew 18:20: Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst. In context that passage is speaking specifically of the church discipline process and not the worship service in general. You see, we are not Gnostics. We do not go to church because we think somehow God will be magically present in a way He is absent when we are engaging in “non-spiritual” activities like washing the dishes or mowing the lawn. We do not go to church because we will experience God’s presence in an extraordinary way. We go to church so that together we can experience corporate fellowship with one another and be fed from the bounty of God’s Word. I suppose one could say he experiences God in a unique way at church through corporate fellowship with those whom He indwells–the believers. They are the real temple of God.  But there is really nothing  extraordinary about this. My point here is that there is no sense in pleading with God to open the windows of heaven and pour Himself out–He is already there! Just as He is with you wherever you are at this moment. He indwells you, and He is present in and all around you whether you feel Him or not.

Modern evangelicalism has it backwards; and this is what I meant when I said much of today’s Christianity savors of Gnosticism.

My PC is in the shop being overhauled, and my Toshiba laptop suffered a hard-drive crash on Monday. I am writing form a remote location to let you know that I will be computer-less for a few days. My daughter Jamie lost her newly finished college term paper and had to re-write it from memory.

Great time of fellowship at SFC last night, and I just spent a really good lunch hour with a Christian brother. He asked about my recent mention of modern choruses that savor more of gnosticism than Christianity. So I told him I would get to work on it. Others unfamiliar with gnosticism have asked for an explanation.

Stay tuned and we will be back in the saddle soon. If worse comes to worse I will find a remote location to write from while the computers are down.

Yesterday I spent some time talking to a seventy-something man whose wife has suffered for the past ten years with dementia. Half the time she does not recognize her husband or children. She loses many of her personal items–checkbook, debit card, daily planner, medications, etc., on a regular basis. She forgets where she is or why she is there and wanders off. Her husband told me that on the outside she looks just like she always did, but on the inside she is like a totally different person. It is as if he doesn’t know her and she doesn’t know him. The outer packaging is the same, but the inner substance is not.

We live in a new and different nation this morning. We still call ourselves the United States of America. We still have  a flag and states and a government. Our homes and towns look the same as they did yesterday. The streets, buildings, and landmarks are still there. Our neighbors are still there. Our jobs are still there–for those of us who have jobs. Cosmetically it looks like the same old same old. But on the inside this is not the same nation it used to be. We have become a godless, secular, humanistic, pluralistic, hedonistic, relativistic mish-mash. We are a nauseating bowl of  moral and spiritual stone soup. We are on a collision course, plunging toward judgment. Only God knows if it is too late to turn this apostate country around, or if we will go the way of ancient Rome.

The church is largely responsible for this mess. The state of the nation is but a mirror image of the church. The church is like the demented wife whose outward appearance is the only part of her left unchanged by her disease. Yes, we still have church buildings on every corner. Yes, people still congregate in these structures for an hour on Sunday. Yes, they still sit in rows, looking at the backs of the heads of the persons seated in front of them. Yes, there is still singing. Yes, a man (or woman) still gets up and talks. And, yes, people still still mill around and socialize after the service. It all looks much like it has for decades: the form is still there but the function is in most cases long gone.

The function of the church must center around Christ and His Word. But we have abandoned the teaching of the Word, we have left off proclaiming sound doctrine in these days of pluralistic diversity and political correctness for fear of pissing someone off. Yes, I said piss; and no doubt some of you are more troubled by that than you are for the sad state of the body of Christ. We have scratched every itch of the world with the twisted hope that titillating the flesh of goats would somehow woo them to the Good Shepherd. We have given them casual services with cool music and watered down sermons laced with humor, homey anecdotes, and self-help/psychobabble. When we have preached from the Bible we have promoted a man-centered caricature of the truth that challenges and convicts no one. We say we love Jesus with our lips but we do not do what He says. Croissants, latte’, and Christian comedians have usurped the place of the truth. Goats love garbage. If you feed them they will come.

The Bible tells us that days will come when there will be those who retain the outward form of godliness but deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5). The Bible also tells us that in the latter times God will send forth a deluding influence (2 Thess. 2:11). Those days are upon us–in the nation and in the church. WARNING: Do not be like the man freezing to death in a snowstorm. At first the cold bites to the bone. Then he becomes numb to the cold and begins to feel warm and safe and comfortable. He becomes drowsy and tempted to fall asleep in the nearest snowbank. If he yields to his craving for sleep it will be the last nap he ever takes. He is perilously close to death’s door, and he doesn’t even know it.

You slumbering Christians wake up. Drag your bodies out of bed and open your Bibles. Choose life today. Read, study, pray, meditate–then obey. You church leaders and pastors. Stop mincing words and trying to make nice with the pagan culture in the name of relevance. God has not changed. The nature and needs of man have not changed. The Word of God has not changed. Stop clinging to the outward form and get back to the original function of the church, for that has not changed either.

We live in a new America this morning. Time for judgment to begin in the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). Spring housecleaning, if you will. Starting with me. Time to bite the bullet!

PS–No, the passing of the health-care bill is not a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Get your nose out of the stupid LaHaye novel and into God’s Word!!!

Don’t ask me why I am writing on this topic today. Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about things that seem dumb or senseless, and here are a few of my selections.

I can’t understand why we have lawns: These big green carpets that need to be watered, fertilized, weeded, thatched, and whatever else you do to lawns. I guess you could say lawns look good and that is their purpose, but think it would look just as good to replace the lawn with a big concrete slab. You could paint it green with that rubberized paint and broom it for texture. Put an area drain in the middle of the slab and you’d have an attractive low-maintenance yard. Much more functional too. And remember, concrete is totally organic–a mixture of ground limestone and gypsum. Another benefit would be that when those inconsiderate neighbors bring their dogs by to leave their calling cards in your yard, cleanup would be a snap.

Making the bed in the morning seems really dumb to me, unless you expect company. But even then, what’s the point? Most people–or should I say most women–make the bed in the morning and then shut the bedroom door and never enter the room again until bedtime that night. The bed gets turned down and messed up again. Why not just leave it unmade? You’re just going to sleep in it again anyway.

The toilet-seat rule has baffled me for years, even after conversations with scores of females. The rule states that males must always put the seat down on the toilet after use. To Women this is not a suggestion, it is the 11th Commandment. But why? One reason I have heard repeatedly is that it is so much more convenient for females when it is left down. But one could also argue that it is equally convenient for males when it is left up. Another common rationale is that if a female, half-asleep, needs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, if the seat is up she might “fall in.” On the other hand, if the seat is left down the half-asleep male will have a smaller target, resulting in a big mess. Some women have told me that there is no really rational reason for the rule. They just feel like it is courteous and gentlemanly for men to leave the seat up. I can accept this, as long as the common courtesy is not elevated to the level of dogma.

Moving on to camping, I find it totally illogical for people to go to all the preparation and fuss to travel to remote places just to sleep on the ground. Now if there is hunting or fishing involved then at least there is a rational justification. But to go out into the woods to pitch a tent and sleep on the ground in an uncomfortable sleeping bag–what’s that all about? Why not just go out and sleep in the back yard and call it good?

One more. It seems senseless to me to buy or rent a big RV when you go on a trip. These monsters guzzle gas, and you have to find places to park them wherever you stop for the night, and that costs money. Then you have to hook them up to the power, water and sewer. You have to prepare your own meals, which means packing groceries, cooking, doing dishes, and disposing of garbage. Part of going away for vacation is escaping these chores. I prefer traveling by car, eating in restaurants, and staying in hotels. Probably less expensive than going by RV, with the following advantages. First, when you go to a restaurant, someone else cooks and serves the meal. You enjoy the food, and once you pay the tab and split, the mess is theirs to clean up. Same thing with the hotel. You can have a shower, watch cable TV, use the hotel wi-fi to check your email,  and get a good night’s sleep. The next morning after a continental breakfast prepared by hotel staff, you can drive off refreshed and leave the mess behind for others to clean up.

These are just a few of the things that do not make sense to me. What does this have to do with God, Scripture, and Christianity? Why add such an entry on a site like the Sword Room? Maybe that will be one of the things that makes no sense to you. Please tell some of your favorites.

I don’t know. I woke up today in one of those quirky moods.

Today’s entry is a spin off of responses to the posts of the past week, particularly the one titled Pulling Weeds. We begin with a definition of the word entropy, one of several listed in your standard dictionary. Here we are using the term to denote the inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society. We live in a fallen world that is subject to decay and is moving toward a state of disorganization and disintegration, despite the illusion to the contrary of modern technological advance.

The universe is wearing out. The planets are getting colder and the Sun is burning itself out. The moon moves a few inches farther away from the earth every year. Our bodies get old, cease to function at optimal levels, and eventually die and disintegrate into the dust whence they came. Put a ripe apple in the window and it will shrivel and turn brown and mushy. Build a fence around your yard: if it is wooden it will rot and crumble over time, and if it is metal it will rust and corrode.

After I wrote the Pulling Weeds post I ran into a friend who after reading it wondered why it is that it is so easy for our spiritual lives to become overgrown and entangled with the flesh. After some thought I was reminded of the story of the fall in the third chapter of Genesis. We live in a fallen world where entropy exists in the material, mental, and spiritual realms. All of life this side of the resurrection is touched by the contagion of sin. We are always working hard against and feeling the weight of sin pulling at us and trying to drag us down to defeat. Childbirth involves pain and labor. The marriage relationship involves a warped version of original male headship, to where husband and wife must work to safeguard against power struggles and verbal and physical abuse born of anger. In our daily occupations thorns and thistles mean eating one’s daily bread by the sweat of the brow.

In this fallen world of entropy staying on top of our spiritual condition involves daily effort. No amount of letting go and letting God will suffice–magical thinking will not cut it. Imagine a man who planted a garden and then, instead of weeding, thinning, watering, fertilizing and pest-proofing it, sat in the house praying daily and trusting God to cause it to grow. God in fact does cause the increase, but the means He has sovereignly chosen to bring it to fruition is human effort.

Imagine again an unemployed man is hired by a wealthy business owner to perform an important task. The new hire is  to be paid a handsome wage and receive excellent benefits. He spends his work week telling everyone how much he loves his boss, and he even sits at his door one day a week singing songs of appreciation to him. But no work is being done all week and things start falling apart. Sound idiotic? Well, this is how some so-called believers approach the Christian life. Just say you love Jesus but do not do what He says. Say you highly regard the Bible but refuse to believe, affirm, or practice its clear teachings. Then, one day a week go to church and swoon to ditties that savor more of Gnosticism than biblical Christianity.  Yes–spiritual entropy has taken a huge toll on the Church. On the surface the form is similar to what it was in bygone years, but this likeness is really cosmetic. We are talking apples and oranges.

So here is the bottom line. God expects YOU to do something about the tendency toward spiritual entropy in your life. He has not promised to do for you what He has given you the ability to do for yourself. In the physical world the bad stuff will flourish without your attention. Leave the weeds alone and they will grow. Stop working out and watching your diet and you will become a fat, lazy, out-of-shape slob. Anyone can sleep in every day. Anyone can be a bum. The good stuff in life–spiritually as well as physically–comes as a result of consistent daily attention and effort. It isn’t always easy or pleasant, but it is what it is. You reap what you sow.

The only realm in which entropy can be sufficiently defeated is in the area of personal sanctification. As we labor daily in the power of the Christ we can defeat the flesh and be dominated more and more by His Spirit. It is a gradual process, and there will be setbacks. But at the end of the day there will be real progress. Not perfection this side of the resurrection, but true transformation toward the image of our Lord and Savior.

This gift is listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and is not explained. The Greek word translated “helps” is used only here in the New Testament and carries the idea of laying hold of something or someone. A.T. Robertson suggests that it originally was used to denote assisting the sick and weak. The idea seems to be that of taking hold of and helping someone along who is too feeble to carry their own weight. By the time of the Paul it was used metaphorically to denote helping in a general way anyone too overwhelmed to problem solve on their own. Nothing is really said in the Bible about how this obscure gift functions, so we will use our imaginations today.

One afternoon when our youngest son Jeremy was about four years old I came home from work and found the laundry room floor blanketed with Lego’s. Jeremy was sitting in the middle of the room amid the overturned buckets and Lego’s. His mom assigned me the job of helping him clean up the mess, and I thought he ought to learn some responsibility. So I ordered him to pick up all the Lego’s and put them back into the buckets. He had made the mess, and he would have to clean it up. He looked around the room and then just sat there frozen, except for his trembling little hands. A few seconds later I said, “Jeremy, pick up the Lego’s and put them back into the buckets where they belong!” Out came the bottom lip, and the tears began to roll. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, “I’m scared.” What I think he really meant was “I’m overwhelmed,” but “scared” was the best he could pull from his four year-old vocabulary. I felt so sorry for him at that point that I sat down beside him and said, “Here, I’ll help you and we can do it together.” Within a minute we were making a dent in the mess, and you could see his eyes light up with hopefulness. He picked up the pace and soon every Lego was back in the bucket. I remember smiling, giving Jeremy a hug and saying something like, “There, that wasn’t so scary, was it?”

As adults we often feel like the little boy sitting amid what looks like an endless sea of Lego’s. We feel as if we have dug ourselves into a hole too deep to climb out of. Could be the problem is of our own making; then again, sometimes life circumstances just get the better of us. Often our situation is a combination of both factors. In any event we feel stuck like a car high-centered in mud, spinning our wheels and making no progress. Soon we became exhausted and hope fades.

These are the times when we need one caring person to come along in a non-judgmental way and listen to us with empathy. When we feel overwhelmed our mind often focuses on the negative, and we need someone to encourage us with a helping hand rather than unsolicited advice. The words, “Is there something I can do to help?” are like music to the ears at such times. This is how I believe obscure gifts like helps and showing mercy are to function–behind the scenes, one-on-one, with no bells and whistles, smoke and mirrors, fanfare and parade.

Be aware and sensitive to others around you, and God will give you many opportunities to be a helper in this way. It really isn’t rocket science, and I am finding that ordinary people like you and me can be used of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others. In most cases it doesn’t take a professional with a degree, license, and full blown diagnostic label. It’s a really great ministry for those who do not like larger groups and want to operate in an inconspicuous way. Hey, who cares if people see; the Lord sees and is pleased when we so much as offer a glass of cold water to a thirsty brother or sister.

Spring is right around the corner, which means lawn mowing for six months, weed-eating, edging, pressure washing the green stuff off the siding on the house, cleaning out gutters,  and replacing boards on the fence. The work is rewarded by some fun recreational activities too, like going to the park or beach, or firing up the BBQ and cooking/eating outdoors. I really enjoy sitting on the back porch playing my Martin D-28 guitar and annoying the neighbors with my attempts at singing.

Gardening is a rewarding exercise at our home. We grow radishes, bush beans, beets, carrots, pumpkins, squash, a row of corn just to see how high it will be by July 4th. We always grow something new just for fun. Last year it was those yellow round cucumbers that are the size of an apple, but they taste just like a regular cucumber with a thin skin you can eat. Delicious with salt and pepper or dipped in salad dressing. Pretty much burp-less too.

The worst part of gardening is the weeds. Worms and bugs can be handled with a little diazinon powder, and crows can be warded off by….well, never mind. But weeds just keep on coming back. They need no encouragement. You don’t have to plant them, fertilize them, thin them, or water them. They are like uninvited guests that won’t leave. Go away for a few days and leave the weeds unattended and they will grow up like….weeds and choke out the good plants. The only way to deal with weeds is to hack them away and pull them out a little bit every day–methodically and systematically. As long as you grow a veggie garden you will be fighting weeds. It is just a fact of life.

I find an analogy of the flesh here. We will never be free from the flesh, or indwelling sin. True sanctification and growth means hacking away at the flesh a little (sometimes a lot) every day without fail. Not only through the daily quiet times of study and prayer, but at those times throughout the day when the flesh rears its head with temptation. Go a few days and leave the flesh unchecked and soon your life is like a garden overgrown with weeds. What a chore it is to fight the weeds at that point! Better to face them a little every day and keep them at bay.

Some have found my little series Quality Time with God to be helpful. Check it out.

This is the fourth and final blog of the series. So if you have not read the previous posts, I urge you to scroll down and read them in consecutive order.

Many Christians today do not like the passages we have discussed in this series (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5) because they seem to demand that as born-again believers we submit to the Lordship of Christ as a condition of salvation. But this is not what Paul is teaching in these passages; rather, he is emphasizing the fruit or evidence of regeneration. If you claim that Jesus is you Lord, your King, and your Master, then it makes sense that obedience to Him is not optional. If you claim to be a member of His kingdom and a joint-heir with Him then how can you say that He is you Saviour without also saying He is your Lord?

Jesus put it this way: Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46); If you love Me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). Jesus is not your buddy–He is your Lord and Master. His commandments are not suggestions or exhortations. They are not optional. Time to put up or shut up. If you want to be a Christian then be one. If you want to live like a non-Christian then do not pay empty lip service to Jesus as your Lord or of your love for Him.

The verses we have studied in this series are not to be used by me or you to evaluate the lives and spiritual condition of others. We are not in a position to operate as fruit inspectors in the lives of others. I believe the passages under consideration were placed in the Pauline epistles as a warning to be heeded by those who professed to be Christians while at the same time walking in a pattern of flagrant unrepentant sin. The warnings serve as a wake up call and corrective to spiritual deception. Better to receive a shock now than to be lulled along in false security.

Here is an illustration of how these passages were designed to function. Remember that Christians did not have Bibles in the early Church. Imagine you are sitting in a gathering of believers and the Pauline letter is read publicly. When these warnings were read all would hear them, but those walking in habitual, flagrant sin would be convicted and make a personal application to their own lives. It would be much like being at a basketball game and the announcer says there is a car in the parking light with its headlights on. He gives the year, make, and color of the vehicle, followed by the license number. All would hear the announcement, but the person to whom it applied would know immediately and take action. This is how I believe these warnings are designed to work.

Strong medicine, but needed in this day of easy-believism and do-as-you-please “Christianity.”

By way of summary, here is what we have stated in the two previous posts. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God through the King of King and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, in the hearts and lives of His spiritually regenerated people. The kingdom of God is a present reality with an ultimately future fulfillment. Born-again believers are adopted sons of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, awaiting the full possession of the heavenly inheritance. They are assured of their future hope by the indwelling Holy Spirit, by Whom they are sealed for the day of redemption.

We began this series of blog posts with three Pauline passages which list various sinful practices followed by warnings. In two of these (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21), it is stated that those who habitually engage in such behaviors will not (future) inherit the kingdom of God. In Paul’s thinking this can only mean that they will not be possessors of eternal salvation. Some have suggested that Paul is here referring to a loss of rewards and that salvation is not in view. But there is no evidence for this position.

In the third of the passages mentioned in the initial post (Eph. 5:5) we read that, no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has (present tense) an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Remember that the kingdom of God is a present reality in the hearts and lives of regenerate believers. As Christians we already have a part or stake in the inheritance, although we await the taking of full possession. In Paul’s thinking being a born again believer means being a joint heir with Christ–you can’t have one without the other; so that when Paul states that those practicing the vices listed have (present tense) no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, in so many words he is saying they are not regenerate. They are not saved. They are not Christians.

In each of the Pauline passages under discussion Paul clearly distinguishes his readers (you) from the ones practicing the sins listed (he, they). Notice the interchange of the second and third person in 1 Cor. 6:11, where after stating in the previous verse that the ones practicing the sins listed (they–third person plural) will not inherit the kingdom of God, he switches to the second person plural (you): And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

We see the same kind of language in the Ephesian passage: Therefore, do not be partakers with them (third person plural); for you (second person plural) were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (vv. 7-8). It is obvious from this kind of language that Paul is not including the true believers among those who practice the sinful practices he condemns, and of which he states that those who practice them have no present or future part in the kingdom of God.

Very strong language, indeed. Why include it here in Ephesians? And why did Paul reiterate it on three different occasions? I believe it was as a warning to those who profess to be members of the kingdom without taking seriously the Lordship of Christ. Paul is not saying here that a true believer could never commit one or more of the listed sins: the present tenses in Greek make it clear he is talking about someone walking in an ongoing pattern of blatant flagrant unrepentant sin while at the same time paying lip service to Christ as Lord and King. The warning is to the effect that if you are in this position you should not feel safe and comfortable; rather you should examine your spiritual condition seriously and prayerfully. Do not presume upon God’s grace or some so-called decision for Christ you have made. Do not think you can refuse to obey the one you call your King and then magically die one day and wake up in the kingdom of God.

In the context of all three of the passages under consideration Paul warns those reading not to be deceived.

In the last post we saw that the Kingdom of God is the reign and rule of God through the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. There is a sense in which Christ is enthroned and ruling in heaven and on earth right now; but this reign of the Lord, while real, will not be fully realized in this present evil age. The kingdom of God will come to fullness and fruition in the age to come, inaugurated at the Day of the Lord (return of Christ).

Today we will look first at the nature of the kingdom and then at the entrance requirements. The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a messiah who was a conquering military commander, like David, who would deliver them from the yoke of Roman bondage and restore them to the place of prominence and prosperity enjoyed during the reign of Solomon. The same crowds who hailed Jesus’ triumphal entry would a week later cry out, “Crucify him!” once  they realized He was not the deliverer they had anticipated.

But Jesus made it very clear in his comments to Pontius Pilate (John 18:33-37) that His kingdom is not essentially a physical material political kingdom secured and maintained through the force of military might. When Paul declared in Romans 14:17 that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” he was declaring the kingdom to be spiritual in nature. Obviously we are not gnostic dualists, and we recognize that our spiritual life is connected to and influences our physical existence. We also know that in its fullness the kingdom of God will bring about a righteousness which will blanket the earth. But the kingdom of God is not to be identified in man-made material and physical institutions. The United States of America is not the kingdom of God. The church is not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not our reign but God’s reign. It is not something we build but something that only He can build.

Because the kingdom is essentially spiritual in nature it must be entered into through a spiritual process. Jesus told Nicodemus that, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Before we were saved we were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). We were devoid of all ability to trust in and submit to Christ as Lord and King. But through the process of regeneration God made us alive and transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Dear Son (Col. 1:13).

So here is what the kingdom of God is in this present world. The kingdom of God is the reign and rule of God through the King of Kings, Jesus Christ in the hearts and lives of His people–those whom He has taken from death to life through the process of regeneration (new birth). Christ reigns and rules in and through us as we submit to Him and obey Him as our Lord and King and seek to represent Him in this fallen world.

As regenerate believers we are adopted children of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ; we are partakers of all spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm in Christ (Eph. 1). But we are like the child who, although written into the father’s will and fully entitled to all the blessings promised therein, has yet to partake of them in their fullness. As we await our inheritance we have the seal of the indwelling Holy Spirit as the pledge or promise that we will one day take full possession of our bounty in Christ (Eph. 1:13-14). To be a born-again believer means to have an inheritance in the kingdom. These two elements–being born again and having a part in the inheritance–go together, and you cannot have one without the other. Tuck that factoid into a corner of your brain because we will come back to it.

Starting from this basic definition/explanation of the kingdom of God we will move on in the next post to an exposition of the three texts I cited in the first post.