“My kingdom is not of this realm… You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:36-37, NASB)
As a minister I get asked many interesting theological questions. One I’ve heard from golfers is, “Josh, do you think there is golf in heaven?” I don’t know that I have a satisfying answer for many, because we really do not know very much about heaven. However, I was surprised when I heard someone respond, “Well, if there’s not, I don’t want to go!”
I don’t want to pass judgment on this golf lover, but conversations like this help me realize that our view of heaven is far from what Jesus taught two thousand years ago.
The reason we know very little about heaven is because Jesus spent most of his time teaching about the piece of heaven that is available to us now: an intimate, life-giving relationship with God. The central theme of Jesus’ ministry was about the Kingdom of God (the gospel writer Matthew used the phrase Kingdom of Heaven). As mentioned yesterday, he taught an upside-down kingdom. Jesus announced that this kingdom was here. He used the Greek word eggiken, often translated as “upon us” or “at hand.” This past-present Greek word means it is already here, and we have been connected to it:
– “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 4:17)
– “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
– “But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27)
Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It is true that there are parts of God’s Kingdom still to come, but let’s not miss out on the joy of experiencing life in his kingdom now. The difficulty for many of us to live in the Kingdom of Heaven now is that Jesus teaches us that we must give up our lives for others to do so: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
This is the great challenge of Jesus’ teaching; he says our lives are to no longer be about us. He calls for a complete paradigm shift to live in his kingdom. Jesus flipped the script of religion; it’s not about us performing for God. He taught that the best way to love God is to love his children. This was modeled by Jesus and it was radically different from anything man had ever seen. A king was serving his subjects! Jesus threw out the religious temple model of the past and showed what it looks like to live as God on earth. Jesus manifested the character of God, and upon his resurrection he sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. This meant that we became a place for Jesus to go to work. Hence, our lives, when submitted to Christ, become an ever-increasing territory expansion of the king and his kingdom. The difficulty of this kingdom-living assignment is that it is the opposite of the kingdoms of this world that we are so attracted to despite knowing we cannot take them with us.
In which kingdom do you want to store up riches? One that gives life and lasts forever, or one that moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal? You cannot serve them both.
—
Josh Nelson
February 20, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.