“12 When Jesus heard that
John had been put in prison, he went back to Galilee. 13 He
left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee, in the
area near Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 Jesus did this
to bring about what the prophet Isaiah had said:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of
Naphtali
along the sea,beyond the Jordan River.
along the sea,beyond the Jordan River.
This is Galilee where the
non-Jewish people live.
16 These people who live in darkness
will see a great light.
will see a great light.
They live in a place covered with the shadows of death,
but a light will shine on them.”
but a light will shine on them.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Change
your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew4:12-17 NCV)
What does Jesus mean
when he says “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (KJV)?”
There are two extremely important theological tenets in
Jesus statement in verse 17, neither of which point to the Gospel Message of
Salvation that modern Christians seem to grasp onto as the only purpose for a
relationship in Christ. Yes, Salvation –
the promise of eternal life based on the gift of grace given by God and
represented in the death of Jesus on a cross through our faith – is the major
message of the entire Bible. God desires
deeply to save us from an eternity of separation from his love.
However, there is another, equally important component
to the Gospel message – Sanctification.
A relationship with the Christ (the spirit of God) should result in a change
of hearts and lives. In these verses,
Jesus calls us to change our lives. In
fact, in the chapters that follow in Matthew (Matt
5-7),
Jesus climbs a mountain in the region of Galilee and teaches the gathering
crowd what a changed life looks like.
The characteristics and virtues he discusses are not to be “holy goals”
where we choose a virtue here and there to maintain and fall short on the
others. They are in total, depictions of what it means to live a life in Christ.
“Change
your life” is a commandment that
can only be achieved by opening our hearts to the living Christ and allowing Him
to lead, teach, help, guide, and inspire us to become the Holy Children of God
we were created to be. If
Sanctification, becoming Christ-like, is not happening in our life then the
purpose of our Salvation, the purpose of God’s blessing of grace, is lost and wasted.
What is God’s purpose for Sanctification? Is it simply
to make us better people; giggly and worry free? No. It is really not about us at all. It is about the Kingdom of Heaven.
When Jesus states “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
he is not referring to a Revelation-type promise where someday he will return from
the heavens on a white horse with sword in hand reigning down judgment on all
but a chosen few. He is saying that the
Kingdom of Heaven is here, now. There is
“Kingdom” work to be done every day in our lives and in the lives of the people
to whom we come in contact. He is saying
that through our changed hearts and lives we can and will make a difference in
the world. That we can heal the sick;
relieve suffering of the poor; be merciful to the weak and less fortunate;
provide comfort to those who grieve; give food and drink to those who hunger
and thirst; work for justice and peace in our communities; and fight against the
evils of persecution, injustice, bullying, abuse, prejudice, and hatred everywhere
we go. The “Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”
and we each play a role in what His kingdom becomes.
In the incessant debate between Conservative and
Liberal Christians what seems to be lost is the idea of Wholeness as it
pertains to the Gospel message.
Conservatives tend to believe the Liberal message to be too liberal,
focusing too much on loving, accepting and helping everyone, regardless of
their beliefs or value systems. On the
other hand, Liberals tend to believe that Conservatives are too moralistic and
harsh with too strong of a focus on Salvation, Sin, and the Judgment of God.
Is it possible that both are wrong about their
differences? Is it possible that in God’s
kingdom the entire Gospel message, both Salvation and Sanctification are
important? If we choose to focus on only one component of the Gospel message are we
wasting God’s Grace?
In his letter to the Corinthians Paul seemed to indicate that divisions in our beliefs where we pick and choose what is important are wrong:
In his letter to the Corinthians Paul seemed to indicate that divisions in our beliefs where we pick and choose what is important are wrong:
“I beg you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with each other and not be split into
groups. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of
thinking and the same purpose.” (1
Corinthians 1:10 - NCV)
No comments:
Post a Comment