Trust & Obey, Week 2: Matthew 16 & 18, Part 4
Can you recite the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father who art in heaven…
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus not only teaches his disciples how to pray, but also what to pray for. What he taught us to pray for has everything to do with this week’s blog series. So far this week, we’ve looked at what Jesus says about church. Frankly, he doesn’t say much. Instead, he talks frequently about his kingdom.
He teaches his followers to advance the mission of his Kingdom. Just as he prayed in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom moves from the abstract to the physical.
Jesus is saying that the Kingdom is real, that the Kingdom is his desire for his ways to be as much a reality on earth as his kingdom is the reality of heaven.
What does Jesus mean, “Your kingdom come?” He doesn’t mean “build church buildings, hire professionals, and have live worship events.” Those physical expressions of church are not wrong, but there is so much more that his “Kingdom come” refers to.
Instead of church buildings and worship services, when Jesus talks about the kingdom coming on earth, he envisions just what you would think about a king and a kingdom. A kingdom is a place where a king rules and reigns. So as we help to advance the mission of the Kingdom, we are participating in helping more people and places live the way Jesus wants them to live.
The Kingdom way is a generous way of life, giving sacrificially to help people in need. It is living simply so others can simply live. It is caring for all stages of life, from the womb to the tomb. It is working to tear down the structures of injustice, because in Jesus’ kingdom, injustice is not in charge. It is working to bring reconciliation, because in Jesus’ kingdom there is neither Jew, nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Jesus welcomes not just the healthy, but the sick; he welcomes not just men, but women and children. He has authority over evil.
When we passionately pursue the mission of the kingdom, we are not enthralled by church buildings, church worship services, or church professionals. Those human things can be an aid or a detriment to worshiping Jesus, to our lives becoming more like his.
Our mission is to bring his kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. The question we need to ask ourselves, then, is how are we as individuals and together as local church families actively, practically, helping bring Jesus’ kingdom more on earth? Going back to the title of the series, Trust and Obey, what are our actions revealing about our beliefs about church and kingdom?
Have we emphasized church buildings and worship services, while at the same time neglected the actions of Jesus’ Kingdom? Again, church buildings and worship services are not automatically wrong. But when we trust and obey Jesus, our lives, individually and as a church family, will emphasize the kingdom work just like he did.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 