The Kingdom of Heaven Caveat

In my last blog I outlined three or four keys to the Kingdom of Heaven that I applied to the verse in Matthew 16:19. This one is much shorter because it should have been the last few paragraphs of what went before. The promise noted in the opening of the next paragraph is a direct expression of His goodness toward us which sounds a bit too wonderful to be true, except Jesus told Pilate as he was being judged prior to His crucifixion that, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) meaning, I have no intention of becoming the king of this world, for if what’s currently available to its citizens in this world is all you get, I feel sorry for you. "I am come that you might have life and life abundant."

Jesus said that, “it was the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) We are generally appreciative of that promise because we view it through the lens of earthly experience. Yet there is much more to that statement. There is an interesting caveat to this awesome offer that is not specifically specified in the offer itself and that’s the way we want to understand it because we all want to be the special ones, the unique ones, the called-out ones, for it sets us apart (and potentially above) everyone else. The caveat is this; that the kingdom gift was indeed given to you, but the whole of it is actually not meant for you. It was always meant for the benefit of others. Since this kingdom is the kingdom of Jesus and His Father, it seems natural that the one who sacrificed His life to create it would stipulate that giving us the gift of the kingdom would mean that His citizens would likewise serve those both inside and outside the kingdom.

Jesus did indeed say that the Kingdom was in you, (Luke 17:21) but then in Matthew 10:7-8 he says, “8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give.” These are specific expressions of the activity of those to whom the Kingdom of Heaven has been given. And as a citizen of the Kingdom they were told what they were to do, including what to tell those who were impacted by exactly what they were doing, “7 And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “at hand” simply means that because the Kingdom of Heaven is within me, it has come near you and you have been affected by it. By being in the Kingdom of Heaven you now have some capabilities you didn’t have before in that you are now a conduit for the power of the King of the kingdom which is provided directly to and through you to affect individuals who are not yet in the kingdom for their personal benefit. (Mark 16:17-18)

The above is the direct result of entering the Kingdom, which means as a Kingdom citizen you will be doing exactly what the Father shows you to do, speaking what He tells you to speak, going where He tells you to go, just as Jesus did. (John 5:19-22, 30)  “And Jesus answered and said unto him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. (Luke 4:8) There it is. Complete disconnection from the dictates, rules, regulations and principles, habits and affections, allegiance and alliances, along with the thinking the world has trained us in, for the sole sake of fulfilling the will of the Father, for the benefit of others.

As a consequence, in the process of working out our citizenship in the Kingdom, each of us must answer the following question, not intellectually, but experientially through action; Can I be obedient without explanation? Can I do what is asked of me without knowing the reason why?