Kingdom Citizenship Values
This section deals with our relationship with God from the perspective of being part of His Kingdom. I will not make statements about baptisms or views of end-times or any such other theological drivel you can find on almost any site that mentions the word “Christ” more than 5-times. Church people have written and talked about “creeds”, “confessions” and “statements of faith” to ad nauseam.
This site is dedicated to being the Kingdom of God. There is little talk of this point in most religious clubs calling themselves church or on most sites alleging “Christian” beliefs. The church, as the Kingdom amongst the kingdoms of men, is not a common point of view even though it is constantly spoken of in scripture, some 132-times.
God
God has revealed Himself both through the Bible and to each of us that have come into relationship with Him as: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s written revelation, which is sufficient to lead us to relationship with Him. The Bible is like no other book in the world because men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote it. Even though the Bible has been translated in many forms it still contains all that is necessary to come into relationship with God. The Bible is not an end for the follower of Christ, but the very beginning. As we follow Christ, He reveals Himself in more personal ways through the scriptures, through our hearts and through the community of believers. Our understanding is deepened with experience with God, not through theological points about God.
Relationship with God
Relationship with God is the measure of a person’s state with God, the indicator of their eternal situation. This relationship is a continuous situation instead of a past single experience, followed by lifelong duty of doing religious activity devoid of personal exchange with God.
The security of this relationship is never in jeopardy on God’s part, nor man’s, provided man is responsible to the relationship. This responsibility is maintained by actively working with God towards ministry, putting away the old-man, and using the giftings and abilities God has given us to be part of His body. We can only have this kind of relationship with God by responding to His direction, not by doing our best according to our view of things.
Entrance into the Kingdom of God
The seeker is to enter the straight and narrow gate that leads to life. That gate is the denunciation of belonging to the world and an identity in the world’s countries and cultures. Those that try to enter into Kingdom of God by way of easy-believism confessions will weaken the work of the Kingdom in any local group in which they are allowed to associate. A believer must agonize over his sinful state and over the seriousness of turning his back on his prior identity. God requires an unconditional surrender of all that we have and all that we are to the rulership of Christ Jesus. When we repent [turn away from our sin, the world and its foolishness and/or agree with God] part of this repenting touches our identity as people in this world.
The Church (The Kingdom of God amongst the kingdoms of men)
The Church [The Kingdom of God] should be a closed community. “Non-surrenders” [those that have not absolutely surrender themselves to Christ] should not be allowed to meet with the community of faith. Sinners and searchers alike should meet members of the community of faith everyday in the context to business and trade. If a sinner is searching it should be done in the confines of contact with a believer and that believers’ work of representing the Kingdom of God to the unbeliever. However, “meeting with the community of faith” should be reserved for those who have surrendered their lives to Christ and it is evident and proven.
The church is not a place or a building. It is a meeting of the faithful, whenever, wherever and however it happens. It is spontaneous and planned. It is organized but yet unorganized. The church is not a denomination or a statement of faith, it is a living organism that lives on the words of God. God alone leads the church. People who become proven in serving, the use of their giftings in self-control and attentiveness to God’s direction are to be a part of the leaders in a local group.
Leadership is marked by servanthood, not time in service, age, "Bible knowledge", success in business or secular community recognition… Some of these maybe valuable in the Kingdom, but if they are not subservient to servanthood, they are of much lesser value.
The Church is a community of schooling, grooming and fellowship for the follower of Christ to be equipped and sent out into the everyday world to represent God and His Kingdom. The Church should not allow itself, nor should a person allow it (the meeting of the faithful) to replace their personal walk and relationship with Christ Himself. The community of the church is merely a synergy of each person’s conviction, motivation and energy that God has provided each member. Programs, teaching, outreaches or whatever else are the extension of what God is doing in the midst of all the people. They are not to be what guides, and occupies the believer.
Citizenship
The person that surrenders their life to Christ becomes dead to the flesh, the world and temporal thinking. They become new creations in Christ and are part of a nation of priests. Their citizenship is in Heaven.
The citizen of Heaven is an ambassador first and foremost. This means that we are resident aliens and sojourners in the kingdoms of men. This in turn means that we cannot operate under the assumption of rights afforded to us by the state. We are operating from a different realm and focus than the people of the world. We maintain a respect for the state and pay the taxes of the realm, but we are not bound to the mindset of mindless loyalty to the state.
As the state grants right we are free to use them if our conscience doesn’t not dictate otherwise. Because the state grants rights, it also has the ability to withhold, modify or selectively allow the use of its rights. The believer needs to be careful that in making use of state’s rights that they are not compromising themselves, their Kingdom or their identity. This is a careful balance.
We are to see how we can stay within the guidelines and culture of the state but at the same we have our own culture and objectives. This means that we will be found to be at odds with the empire more frequently than not.
More to come…
