The Kingdom of God. part 1

1For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:1-5 NLT).

I don't know about you, but I long for eternity. I long to finally be able to see God face to face (Rev 22:3-4). Sometimes, I can get so bogged down with this life that I forget that the Holy Spirit is, not only a guarantee of what's to come, but through Him I actually have a piece of eternity that dwells in me all the time. He is included as part of our inheritance in Christ (Eph 1:14). We must never forget that the life of the Spirit is eternal life. The Spirit of the living God knows no other way to live, but eternally. How much of your everyday are you actually living the life of Heaven?

If you're like me, than the answer to that question is pretty obvious. "Not as much as I would like." But, could there be any other answer? Probably not. Now the more I think about it, the more I think we need a different question, one that gets more to the heart of the original question which is in essence, How much of the Kingdom of God are you experiencing in your everyday life?

Yes, it is true, that the fullness of life that Jesus promises us (John 10:10) that believers experience is only in part (1 Cor 13:12) because it is only at Jesus' Second Coming will the Kingdom of God be fully realized where, as Paul says, we will put on our "heavenly bodies." But, believers must never forget that we can and do experience eternity in the here and now. Though it is but a taste, it is still a taste of God's Kingdom (Heb 6:4-5). Remember, we as believers actually carry around the Kingdom of God within us because the Spirit of God is of the Kingdom. So maybe the better question is: How much time are you spending with the Holy Spirit throughout your day? Because it is through Him that we experience the eternal Kingdom of God. "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17 NIV)."

Sacred Companions

"If I am to have a place of stillness at the core of my being, it will only be because I have learned to offer hospitality to the Spirit (47)."

We live in a world that glorifies the defiled image of God in people. The more outrageous, obscene, even offensive you are, the more attention you receive, both good and bad. This world thrives on lewdness, sex sells. We live in a pornographic world where porn stars are icons and pimps and gangsters are emulated. You may think these examples are extremes, but the truthness of this reality has impact a whole generation. This world operates from a use or be used mentality, in order to get anywhere in life you have to either climb over someone or step on them. Where is the redemption in that?

If we like it or not, this defiled image is at the core of who we are, that is reality. Jesus describes this perverted core when He talks about what makes a person 'clean or unclean:" "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mark 7:21-22)." But, it is exactly in this place, our sinful hearts, that we can offer hospitality to the Spirit of the living God. When a person gives their life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in that person's heart and begins to transform them by restoring and redeeming our defiled image. He becomes a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance of eternal life (Eph 1:14), a deposit of what's to come (2 Cor 1:22) which is to one day be in Heaven with Jesus. The more time we spend in showing hospitality to the Holy Spirit, the more of eternity we will experience in our day to day lives. Now, in order to show hospitality to someone we need to be present with them and in order to be present with them we need to be attentive to them. So, this practice of hospitality towards the Spirit means our spirit is actively present with the Spirit's presence in our everyday lives which means we are taking the time to be attentive to Him. Because it's only when we are paying attention to the Spirit are we then able to respond to the Spirit.

God is so amazing!

The Creation story told in such an amazing way with video!

Acceptance vs. Tolerance

I've just finished the book ChurchNEXT by Eddie Gibbs (IVP, 2000). In the scope of the whole emergent/missional church movement, it was published in the beginning stages and was groundbreaking in addressing some of the ecclesial models that were in transition at the time. What was of main interest to me was his treatment of the need for apostolic leaders. Being an apostolic leaders means being missionally-minded by living and keeping in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25), who reminds believers of Jesus' teachings (John 14:26) and leads them into all truth (John 16:13) while empowering believers (2 Tim 1:7) to continue the ongoing mission that Jesus began 2000 years ago.

"Apostolic leaders must have a profound understanding of the nature of their mission and be concerned to pursue that mission using all their God-given faculties. Yet at the same time they must remain open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, responding to course corrections and to unexpected, seemingly insurmountable obstacles - which are not always sent by Satan to frustrate progress but may be part of God's overall scheme, the complexity of which we humans cannot hope to fully understand, much less resolve (111)."

Now this mission that all believers are on needs to be confrontational, yet filled with grace and truth while focused on transformation. Living in a postmodern, even post-Christian world where truth is viewed as relative, where personal values supersede objective truth and where tolerance has seized the day, the reality of the matter is that conflict is inevitable. Now, while in the midst of this conflict, we are commanded to be lovingly accepting (Rom 14:9-13), but "The goal of acceptance is to work towards transformation, not that people should feel more comfortable about their sins (200)." This includes not only persons, but whole cultures becuase "The gospel judges each culture according to its compatibility with the focus, values and goals of the kingdom of God....There will be unfulfilled cultural aspirations that the gospel will bring to fruition. There will be demonic elements in every culture on which the gospel passes judgment (221)."