The Kingdom of God Against the Kingdoms of Men

What is our true Identity

Introduction:
There are few subjects in modern times that are less understood than this topic. As we get further into the End-Times this subject will need to be embraced because survival will require it. To be able to maintain the testimony of a faithful servant of God we will have to part ways with some currently favored ideas that are not the gospel, which Paul taught. This pamphlet is in a teaching presentation format of a presentation that was delivered at the July 2004 Searching Together conference.

The Kingdom of God Amongst the Kingdoms of Men

This work came about through the preparation of a book I wrote over the past several years, entitled: The Diluted Church, published June 05’. I boiled down the subject to its essence for the 2004, Searching Together conference in St. Croix, Wisconsin. The conference theme was the “one another teachings” in the New Testament. The point of my teaching was to articulate the objective of all the “one another teachings.” Our objective should be to be the Kingdom of God amongst the Kingdoms of men.

I started by asking a simple question. Do we really hold the Bible as the absolute authority on our practice and thinking? There are huge questions in my mind as to whether we really do.  Additionally, we need to ask ourselves several other questions that may seem a little intrusive, however let’s just be flat out honest.

Questions

1. How many of us identify ourselves as: Americans
2. How many of us identify ourselves as: Republicans, Democrats, or Independents…
3. How many identify ourselves as: Baptists, Methodists, Charismatic, Lutherans, Evangelical Free, Covenant, or some other denomination: you fill in the blank.

We all use some means to identify ourselves. So these are weird questions in a sense because most who read this will have lived in the country since their birth and their parent before them did as well. It seems almost stupid to ask such questions seriously, but I am. When I presented this teaching I used an illustration of which I shall try to describe. I put on a jester’s cap, [a hat with three tails] complete with little bells on the end. This was quite a sight because it is so out of my nature to do such a theatrical presentation. I proceeded to clip little tag on to each tail so as to name them. The tails each represent one aspect of identity that was just queried about.

1. One tail represents a nationalistic “identity” which draws attention to the fact that we have rejoined a territorial part of the world’s system.
2. Another tail represents a political “identity” which illustrates that we’ve relegated ourselves to being just another special interest group.
3. The third tail represents a religious “identity” where we divide the truth of God into little pockets and the fight over them and against one another.

To illustrate further I made several unkind comments concerning each aspect of identity in the hearing of the group while tugging on each tail of the cap representing that facet. My head would bob or be pulled to whatever side I tugged from, illustrating how what is in our head [what we hold as significant] affects us and grabs our attention. If we are Independents and someone degrades this group for any reason we are tempted to defend and protect what we’ve held dear. If someone were to say an awful thing regarding the denomination we belong to, we would be provoked to defend our connection and belonging to that group. If anyone degraded this nation, most likely a great amount of abuse will be unleashed on any person who would make such comments.

We’ve never thought we should let go of these identities and nobody has ever suggested that we should. And we do not realize how much of a grip the have on us. Many times we react to negative comments against these identities, not so much because the comments are wrong as much as we want to protect that which is important to us. A second error we make is that; what we belong to, in way of connections of an identity, are not absolute truths or realities. God isn’t a Baptist, and certainly not a Republican, yet many “Christians” react to negative comments against these groups as if God were a card-carrying member. We feel that any negative comment against the group we associate to is a comment against God because we want to follow God, when in reality we are sold out to one group or another as an identity. Thus, we are tugged side to side by these allegiances and identities we maintain.

In one sense we are like a fish with a hook in its mouth. A fish will fight once he is hooked. But the hook in his mouth and the intentions of the angler on the other end, largely control the fish. All fish will try to get rid of the anglers hook in order to go back to the freedom of his normal existence. Yet we respond towards the hooks of the world, which is outside our Kingdom. We defended these connections [hooks] as both being rightfully ours and being meaningful to our lives… The modern church has really become a people of a confused existence. We claim to be following God when in fact we are dedicated to many other things outside of God’s revealed intentions.

My purpose is to concern us with the common concepts we have about our identity which are also in direct contrast to what the Scriptures tell us. With all that is talked about today regarding the subject of the believer’s identity, there is one facet that is never touched, and that is: who we are not. Yet, until we deal with: who we are not, it is impossible to take on and live all that we really are as followers of Christ. If we never come to terms with: who we are not, we will not exit the place of; thinking, trust and belonging that we have always thought of ourselves in order to begin to live the truth.

In tandem, we desperately need to recover a reality of the Kingdom of God in the sense of the way we live and our sense and practice of community. Identity and Kingdom are mutually dependant. If we do not deeply understand our real identity, kingdom will be impossible to comprehend much less live. Today there is a wide chasm between the scriptural mandate of the Kingdom of God and the practical living experience of the modern church. Coming to terms with our true identity is the single entrance to being able to be the Kingdom of God that Christ initiated.

Question

Can anyone cite any major theme throughout the New Testament, which would allow a believer to maintain these types of identity appendages?(political, nationalistic and denominational)

For years, I have tried to get anyone to engage in serious debate on this question but dead silence the usual response.

We need to do three things regarding the Bible.

1. We should allow scripture to interpret itself.
2. We should see how texts were understood in the practices of the early church to bring back greater application in our own day.
3. In addition, we need to allow God to open our minds by speaking to us about the scriptures.

Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

14      For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;

15      and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

16      Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

17      Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; (all things have become new.) (NKJV replacing NASB)

18      Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

19      namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20      Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Several points about this text:

1. Many know the 17^th verse outside its context, but how about within its context? [The connotation of the common evangelistic use is that people get a fresh start…they don’t have to feel guilty anymore. Both of these concepts are on the shallow side of the whole truth.]
2. Paul is speaking from the perspective of being dead, yet resurrected in newness of life.
3. Paul’s outline focuses on the essence of the believer’s ministry in both reconciliation and ambassadorship. [We’ll deal with this detail more later on.]

Questions

1. How many things become new according to verse 17?
2. What is not included in this “ALL”?
3. Does this text speak to all people, even us today, or does it only speak to the Corinthians because of some specific detail the Apostle was trying to deal with at that time?

To help answer these questions let’s compare this text with another section of scripture in order to get a better perspective on the application of this “ALL” that Paul was talking about in Corinthians.

Let’s look at Philippians 3:1-12 NASB

1         Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

2         Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;

3         for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,

4         although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:

5         circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

6         as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness, which is in the Law, found blameless.

7         But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8         More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,

9         and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

10   that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

11   in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12  Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press     on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

In this section of the book of Philippians, Paul talks about putting confidence in his flesh, at least in what it accomplished before conversion, see: verse 7. As we can see in verses 5 and 6, Paul had much to be proud of in his flesh prior to meeting God on the road to Damascus. It is perhaps difficult in our day to understand the significance of all the things Paul was proud of, because they do not appear to be culturally relevant to our situation. It is this detail that may have prevented modern thinkers from drawing application of this text into our situation today. On the next page we will draw some comparisons between Paul’s day and our own.

We can see from the text that Paul counted all these things, accomplishments, status and identity, as dung! Do we realize the magnitude of Paul is saying here? When was the last time we have ever heard any teacher tell us to count all that we were before Christ, as dung? Look at these different aspects above. Most of us still place heavy stock in these. Yet, Paul is saying all of these things are sewage?

Philippians 3:5-6

 

 

We might be reeling, mentally scrambling to access: if this is true how this will affect our lives? Maybe we are checking our priorities, or maybe we are already justifying what we have accepted. Yet, the scripture here stares us in the face!

Backing up to our lead question what does the word “ALL” in 2 Corinthians 5:17 mean? Does this “all” deal with our identity, nationalistically, denominationally, theologically, socially or even our political affiliations? Or is this “ALL” just some esoteric hyperbole that has little to do with the practical day-to-day involvements of an identity? Indeed not! If Paul did not understand this “ALL” to include his identity, as the world reckons, he went through an awful lot of unnecessary trouble in ministry. Paul in fact was committed to living the lifestyle of being the kingdom of God over and against still identifying himself within the kingdoms of men.

Let’s Look At Acts 16 NASB

The story starts a bit earlier in the chapter at verse 12, our interest is with the end of the story.

22      and the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them, and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

23      And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;

24      and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25      But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

26      and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

27      And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

28      But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!”

29      And he called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas,

30      and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31      And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.”

32      And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.

33      And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

34      And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

35      Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.”

36      And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Now therefore, come out and go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”

38 And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. And they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,

39  and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city.

40  And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

Paul endured a savage and unlawful beating, according to the rights afforded him as a Roman citizen. Yet, instead of using these earthly rights to save his skin/back he instead used what the world understood, from a human point of view, for a Kingdom of God purpose. In short, his earthly status according the flesh became a tool that he used rather than continuing in his mind as a right or a substance that he owned: an   identity.

Today, we do not grow in our repentance on this aspect. We never make this particular turn of dealing with our identity. We instead revert back to reveling in state granted rights and the identity we had in America before Christ in the same self-serving ways the world does. Our manipulation through political activity is a demonstration of this point. Our activity isn’t as much an attempt at spreading the gospel as it is about keeping what we thinking is ours, and maintaining a safe place to just enjoy freedom with no concerns. In the last 40-years of consorted political effort, Christians collectively speaking have achieved far less for the Kingdom than Paul, and his sidekicks accomplished in 25 or so years. While we meander in group-think-politics we have forgotten about being the Kingdom of God, not only in this country but also around the world. The church in third world countries is now doing what the church in this country used to do, as far as building the Kingdom.

The issue of Paul’s citizenship as a Roman is a study few in the modern church have really looked at comprehensively. If we had, we wouldn’t be using pieces of the New Testament to support the patriotic mindset, which is in such vogue in today’s “Christian” teaching. Using his earthly recognized citizenship was never Paul’s first line of attack or defense. Paul used his citizenship as a tool in various ways.

1. In Acts 16:12-40; Paul took a beating and then used this beating as a means to keep the ministry going in Philippi.
2. In Acts 22:24-30; Paul used his citizenship as a series of stopgap measures to get a hearing with the Roman governor.
3. In Acts 25:8-12; Paul appealed to Caesar, based upon the world’s recognition of his citizenship.

Each case was a last-ditch effort, where Paul had no other alternative, or where just the gospel would be better served in doing so. In the last example God’s intentions were clearly spelled out in scripture just prior to the example, (cf. Acts 23:11). “…Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” After this text we find nothing that would indicate that Paul took matters into his own hands (doing it his way) to self-fulfill God’s prophecy as Abraham did with the incident of Hagar/Ishmael. Therefore we must conclude that Paul was directly cooperating with God.

The concept of Paul disassociating from the usual connections in the flesh, is not without significant evidence. Paul makes a comment of distinction between the Kingdom of God and the people of society, (cf. Gal. 6:10). In 3-cases Paul writes about our conduct towards “outsiders”, (cf. 1 Cor. 5:12, Col. 4:5, & 1 Thes. 4:12). Peter uses similar distancing language in writing to believers of gentile origin in I Peter 2:12. If the gentiles were still gentiles in Peter’s mind why would he warn them to be careful towards gentiles, unless “gentiles” in this case referred to those outside the community of faith? Paul makes another distancing comment in Romans 9:3 when he refers to the Jews as, “his kinsman according to the flesh.”

If Paul still saw himself as a Jew, why did he make this distancing comment: “my kinsman,  according to the flesh”? It is because he was no longer living or working “according to the flesh”. This phrase occurs 17-times in the NT under Paul’s hand, which indicates a strong message of disassociation from thinking in physical terms, in favor of living in spiritual realities. Paul was not alone in this concept. Peter, early in Acts, refers to the leaders of Jews as “your rulers” suggesting this same disassociation, (cf. Acts 3:17). (These examples are mere emulations of one thing Christ Himself said, and we’ll get to that text momentarily.)*

Question
Why is it important that our human achievement and status, i.e. our identity, die when we come to Christ?

The importance of how we think of ourselves is dealt with in, Proverbs 23:7.  “For as a man thinks in himself, so is he.” As we think about ourselves we will act in concurrence to these thoughts.

More Specific Detail

1. If our former identity isn’t dead to us it will be a detriment in our service to God because it will divide our attention.
2. Former belongings manipulate us and tempt us to walk off the narrow path and to go back to serving the gods of the land(s) around us.
   1. If someone takes away a right we will try and protect the privilege, defending against its seizure. At this point are struggling for selfishness sake, not the gospel of the Kingdom.
   2. These identities will make us trade our allegiance to the eternal, in favor of allegiances to the temporal. [Notice what multiplicitous divisions do, see: Mark 3:25]
      1. There will be unnatural insecurities about worldly assumptions of identity.
      2. We will always be challenged simply by the insecurity of the temporal.
      3. We will be challenged by being personally attacked on something we hold as significant, which in not based on the eternalness of being hidden with Christ in God, (cf. Col. 3:3).

4.We cannot walk in any depth with God if we do not totally identify with Christ in a death like His, to be raised in newness of life, also like His.

5. We will be divided against people of the Kingdom around the world by these aspects of identity. There should only be one division between people: they are either in or outside the Kingdom of God. Believers are ONE in Christ. (cf. Acts 15:9, Rom. 1:14-16, 2:9-26, 3:22, 10:12, 1 Cor. 1:24, 12:12-13, Gal. 3:28, Eph. 2:11-22 and Col. 3:1-15)

If this first details of what “ALL” refers to 2 Corinthians 5:17; our belonging, our affiliations, our identity, as delineated in Philippians 3:2-12 isn’t enough of a shock to the modern mind, then lets look at a textual factor. Going back to Philippians 3, Paul uses the Greek word “Hina”, [Strongs #2443] in verses 8. The word “that”, which can also be translated from “Hina”, is also implied two other times in verses 9-11 by the Greek text. The word “that” or the phrase “in order that” are conjunctions. While there seems to be no hassle here, what do these words mean in their context? Most people have written off Paul’s phrase “in order that” simply as hyperbole, which accounts for the way the modern church lives today. We cannot make this discounting argument since Paul’s actions, as we saw before in Acts 16, does not support this interpretation. Additionally, this phrase “in order that”, used throughout the NT in excess of 80-times, is in every case used to join a result to a restrictive clause, i.e. a condition. But in the case of Philippians 3, a significant condition is placed on salvation/fellowship with Christ.

Question
What is the condition referred to by this phrase “in order that”, in the Philippians 3:8 text?

The condition is: Everything that we were before Christ must be dead to us; the result is that we may gain Christ and fellowship with Him.

The first disciples understood that in following Christ, they lost everything of who they were, (cf. Mark 10:25-31). To clarify, I am not suggesting in any way that people today, which haven’t made the jump between kingdoms in their commitment to Christ, are unsaved. Rather, this detail was a transition process even in Paul’s day, and at this late juncture in church history, especially in the West, this teaching is a rediscovery. God wants to again dust off this aspect and bring it back to the church so that we may deepen our walk with Him and begin to know the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death so that we can adequately represent Him to the nations of this physical world.

To Sum Up The “Identity Discussion,” We Must Note

The importance of cashing in our former identities is that we have a new one in Christ and His Kingdom. We came to Christ as some subculture group of the world’s society but we are supposed to lay this down, in order to become resurrected in oneness with others of the Kingdom of God around the world. Additionally, we cannot be who we are in Christ, unless what we were before Christ is completely sacrificed. I am directly going on record to say that we are no longer American’s or whatever we thought we were before we came to Christ, according to the scripture! We are not, Democrats, Anglo-Saxon, Black, Protestant, Baptist, and Methodist, White-Collar, Middle-Class or anything else. We are now “ONE” as followers of Christ with a new citizenship, (cf. Phil. 3:20, Heb. 13:14). There is no such thing as a minority in the Kingdom of God, only in the kingdoms of men.

Let’s Jump To The Other Half Of The Subject

The word “Kingdom”, as it refers to the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven, is not some biblical obscurity. This single word is mentioned more that 130-times in most books of the NT. Christ, made reference to “the Kingdom” at least 90-times Himself. Take a look at just one of the times Christ used the word “Kingdom” in John 18:36. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” *(This is the text is that Paul and Peter emulated in their teaching and living.)

Question
Is this comment just some passing statement or is there more to it than just the recorded dialog between Jesus and the local Roman authority?

In reality, Jesus was making a clear statement about His purpose and the candor of His work through this comment. Both, the hangers-on around Him and His disciples interpreted Jesus’ “Kingdom” comments in their own way. They thought Jesus intended to throw off Roman power and reestablish Israel as a sovereign nation. The disciples persisted with these ideas up until Pentecost, (cf. Acts 1:6). The institutional church has our own nationalistic misinterpretations of scripture. For centuries we have discarded fundamental details in Christ’s teaching in order to support our own little sideshows. This has happened for so long modern believers wouldn’t know that they have lost much of what Christ taught.

When talking with people of the religious conservative bent [take dominion over creation and politics] about this teaching, you’ll usually get a volley of snide derisive comments. Sarcastically you’ll be asked, “How does this kingdom stuff look on a day-to-day basis?” To be followed by other throw-it-in-your-face retorts like: “If we are not part of the kingdoms around us do we run right out and tell everyone that, hey we are former Americans?” Additionally, “Do we become activists against the state and taxes as the Jews did?” Or, “Do we go out and become modern day zealots and militant protestors to announce our departure?”

Invariably, when someone proposes what appears to be “new idea” to the organized status-quo, it ALWAYS is thought to be extremist and opposite of all that is currently accepted. However, opposite is not the only option available to us. Some high profile people in the religious circles of this country talk about the “god given mandate” to change culture because of the moral implosion we see in society. A Russian economist named Ivan Illlich, was once asked, “What is the most revolutionary way to change society. Is it violent revolution or is it gradual reform? Illich gave a careful thought and answered, ‘Neither, if you want to change society, then you must tell an alternative story.”

Jesus told an exclusive alternative story. He said “I am the way the truth the life…” and society of that time was radically changed as a result of how the Disciples lived this truth and shared about this truth. Today we’ve stopped living as “an alternative to the society of the world” in turn we’ve rejoined it, hoping the mixed      marriage would reform the latter. In doing thus we have in as much said to the unconverted around us, “save thyself” by asking/forcing them to be moral without knowing the basis for morality. This world needs an example of truth and morality in the flesh, but it will not find these alternatives when it looks at the modern church in its current condition, the world will simply see itself.

Christ said His followers would be known by their love, currently the society around us knows us for a lot of others questionable things, in addition to our lack of love. This ought to utterly grieve our hearts because it grieves God’s. How can we have been so out of touch with what Christ said, unless we have totally departed from His way?

But to refocus, what is this Kingdom going to look like in practical terms? Since it does not have boundaries, what are its distinctives? How do we live the Kingdom instead of talk about it? Kingdoms and societies have their own culture that differentiates one group from another. In the same way the Kingdom of God also has it’s “dominate cultural values”, to use the sociologic term. Our next text is not generally viewed in the light in which we are going to use it. But we should not be so narrow minded as to miss the many applications that can be made from any text.

Let’s look At Galatians 5:22-25

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Christ said, we will be known for our love [John 13:35] and not just for those who love us [Matthew 5:44-48]. We are to be a culture of love that is measured in the aspects parsed out in Galatians.

Now we are beginning to talk about who we are. But for every aspect of who we really are, there are opposites or inversions. We need to see the contrast between the two so that we are not tricked back into worldliness.

1. We are ambassadors, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God”, (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20).

The inversion: Lobbyist, just another special interest group, trying to grab power

2. We are soldiers, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier”, (cf. 2 Tim. 2:3-4).

The opposite: Civilians, inactive in the spiritual fight

3. We are servants, “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God”, (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1) [Steward in the Greek meant slave].

The opposite: Co-Equals in the modern society of mediocrity

4. We are light, “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light, (cf. Eph. 5:8-11). “You are the light of the world,” (cf. Matt. 5:14).

The opposite: The darkness of religiosity

5. We are not our own anymore, “you are not your own. For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body”, (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19b-20), [Implied what we do with our life, not just what we ingest].

The opposite: Self-actuatating and independent, able to do what we want, when we want.

6. We are priests; “…But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5, 9).

The inversion: “Lower calling” laity being distinguished from the clergy “Higher calling.”

7. We are citizens of Heaven, “For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we also eagerly await for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”, (cf. Phil. 3:20).

The opposite: Citizens of the kingdoms of men.

8. We are salt, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men, (cf. Matt. 5:13).

The opposite: The common aggregate of society that is always treaded upon.

9. We are a city set on the hill, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house” (cf. Matt. 5:14-15).

The inversion: Putting ourselves under the basket of societies’ philosophy, conduct and protocol, thus hiding our light.

10. We are aliens and strangers, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts…” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:11-12).

The opposite: Those that belong to the society.

Note: The enemy always has a fast substitution for God’s plan, the only problem is that it is always involves a reversal of God’s intent. We need to be careful not to fall into the devil’s subtleties.

This short list of identity facets in the Kingdom of God are complemented and facilitated through certain norms of living. We need to live differently to be different. Many have stop short of being a real difference and just settled to be different by outward appearances or making their “difference” one of removal. These approaches are petty. Most would affirm all that was listed above but they choose not to submit to this kind of rigor.

Spiritual Disciplines Flow Chart

This is a tremendous list of details to concern ourselves with. There is the basic essence of discipline that builds us up personally. But it is for a purpose of a healthy carry-through into our groupings plus a direct representation in the world. There is so much that we are supposed to do, that we have time little to play somebody else’s game. I can not fathom how any conservative activist could take a flow chart like the one above and say that it is burying ones head in the sand just because it doesn’t involve; picketing, harassing politicians, browbeating people about their sin and flooding the airwaves with action alerts as “good conservatives” tend to do. If our only interaction with the world is through politics or political action we are desperately under represented in the right things and tremendously misrepresenting what we are, for all the wrong reasons.

One fellow, who drew attention to the dangerous trend of conservative politics in evangelicalism, wrote:

One soon becomes aware of the idea that politics constitutes a sort of ultimate issue for the Christian. For some not to engage is a betrayal of the entire Christian life. Politics becomes a test of the sincerity of one’s faith. The political order takes on such importance that all teaching seems to converge on this entrance into politics. Bible passages, which clearly have nothing to do with the question, are interpreted in a straight political sense. One rejects (or forgets) those biblical passages which minimize politics, or which treat it as a sphere of activity, which is evil.²

Another quote helps us to understand the peril we encounter as we seek to play the world’s game the world’s way.

The moment Christians make it a habit to understand questions, which the world has elaborated, they adopt at the same time a certain number of ideological positions, responses and doctrines, which also originate in the world… In doing so, Christians achieve an exact confirmation of the analysis of Marx, according to which Christianity is (merely) a superstructure (in a larger organism). When one takes world hunger as “the problem” and repeats the analyses of Castro and others, adapts Christianity to those views, then Marx is right…Christianity is then a religion which develops in terms of the world’s economic and technological evolution, and whose aim is to provide ideological and moral satisfaction to those who are in fact incapable of changing the situation… It is said that Christianity should arouse people to action in changing the situation. Those who enter that work area find out very soon how useless, futile and ineffective Christianity is in all that. Further, since the Christian is involved in a gigantic, technical and “weighty” endeavor, he soon discards spiritual preoccupations… for these are now mere embarrassments. To seize upon the world’s problem as the world states them, is to accept the world’s basic notions of them, its self-sufficient prescriptions or solutions, and to give them first place, is to become part of the dialectic trend as Karl Marx described it. This is accurate to the very extent to which Christians allow themselves to be confined, (by the world’s logic) to the extent to which they cease to represent the HOLY OTHER who intervenes and who introduces miracles into history. Now acting thus, Christians are abandoning the very thing which is their function with respect to the world, and which has a bearing on the course of events in this century. That function is to introduce a “tension”, an element of contradiction and conflict, which replaces the false dialectic of Marx with the true dialectic. However, this true dialectic cannot exist in the concrete situations of the world unless the Christians really have another Fatherland and are “ambassadors” for Christ, “strangers” among nations and “exiles” on the earth. If they are not that, they can keep on declaring that “Jesus is Lord”, but they still limit themselves to confirming the course of the world as it is.³

Still a third quote drives the point home.

You have noted that we have posed the ethical dilemma in terms of church-world. Our use of the images of the church as a colony and Christian as resident aliens was meant to set this matter in stark contrast. From a Christian point of view, the world needs the church, not to help the world run more smoothly or to make the world a better and safer place for Christians to live. Rather, the world needs the church because, without the church, the world does not know who it is. The only way for the world to know that it is being redeemed is for the church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people. The way for the world to know that it needs redeeming, that it is broken and fallen, is for the church to enable the world to strike hard against something, which is alternative to what the world offers. Unfortunately, the accomodationist church, so intent on running errands for the world, is giving the world less and less in which to disbelieve. Atheism slips into the church where God really does not matter, as we go about building bigger and better congregations (church administration), confirming people’s self-esteem (worship), enabling people to adjust to their anxieties brought on by their materialism (pastoral care), and making Christ a worthy subject for poetic reflection (preaching). At every turn the church must ask itself, does it really make a difference, in our life together, in what we do, that Jesus Christ and God is reconciling the world to Himself?”⁴

Taking an earlier directive to find out how the early church understood scriptures’ application, we must learn to live under the direction of Christ as aliens and sojourners as they did. As an example of their thinking a fellow named Mathetes AD130-150 wrote an “epistle” to another fellow named Diognetus. He had the following to say about our way of life as the kingdom of God amongst the kingdoms of men.

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life, which is marked out by any singularity… But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their   wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.⁵

The early church Historian Eusebius gives record of what another fellow said in regards to his identity, circa AD177. “Sanctus…steadfastly endured tortures beyond all measure…to every question he gave only one answer… ‘I am a follower of Christ’ instead of giving his name, native city, family…his race or whether he was slave or free.⁶

These two citings are not isolated instances. Entire books are dedicated to unearthing what the early church did and what they thought about the application of scripture to real life. We have not perfected in our day the simplicity of what the early church started; we have instead perverted it.

Closing Thoughts

I get fried with the constant modern drivel of upholding “family values” or “Judeo-Christian ethics”, what about Kingdom values and Kingdom Living! What about citizenship in the Kingdom of God being expected and lived in our midst? What about being a light to the culture around us by introducing an alternative, rather than attempting to coral it into a form of our values so that we can be comfortable in their society, much like Lot in Sodom. In Luke 9:62, Jesus makes an interesting statement that I think we forget, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Are we going to continue “touching” the kingdom of God with our mental commitments to Christ while we look back and lean on who or what we were in our life before Christ? God is beginning to call the church to come out from the world in the sense of belonging and identity in order to be the same alternative that Christ was in His earthly ministry. If we are following Christ can we be doing any different?

Let’s be done with extra identities and loyalties other than to God alone. Let’s stop being merely religious: having a form of godliness but denying its power. Let’s stop taking our significance from a belonging in the world. Let’s press into God and know Him more fully. Let’s be conformed to His image and represent Him accurately. Let the Kingdom of God; once again become the city set on a hill shining its light into the darkness of the kingdoms of this world.

Bibliography

1. The Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost/Alan Hirsh, Hendrickson 2003, pg. 33
2. False Presence of the Kingdom, Jacques Ellul Seabury Press 1972 Congress Catalog Card Number 77-163369-736-272-C-6, pg. 95
3. Ibid., pp. 50-51
4. Resident Aliens, by: Stanley Hauerwas, Abingdon Press, pg. 94-95
5. THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS The Writings of the Fathers down to AD 325. Compiled and edited by The Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D. (Ages Digital Master Christian Library Version.5), pp. 58-60
6. The Early Christians, by: Eberhard Arnold, Baker Book House 1979, pp. 77-82

Some suggested reading

• The Reformers and their StepChildren, by: Leonard Verduin*
• The False Presence of the Kingdom, by: Jacques Ellul*
• The Pilgrim Church, by: E.H. Broadbent*
• Hope in a time of Abandonment, by: Jacques Ellul*
• Unveiled at Last, by: Bob Sjogren
• Count Zinzendorf, by: Felix Bovet*
• Resident Aliens, by: Stanley Hauerwas*
• Hearing God, by: Peter Lord*
• Houses that Change the World, by: Wolfgang Simson.

The above list is a good start to a better understanding of the history of the church.  There is a plethora of material out there and these books will give you a lot of leads to other books that are impactful on the subject of our identity and responsibility as the Kingdom of God amongst the Kingdoms of men.

*I have found it helpful to go to Addall.com to find these books.  I hope you enjoy all these book as much as I have.

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