The Kingdom Perspective

 

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If there is such a thing as knowing God intimately, it would make sense that just as true intimacy is impossible by flitting from significant other to significant other, so true spiritual intimacy is impossible without a committed and focused pursuit of God. 

This is the reason why the God of the Bible says that He is a jealous God.  Having created us, He knows that if we are to find true and experiential knowledge of Him, faithfulness will be required.  We will not be able to dabble a little here and dabble a little there but will need to apply all diligence toward a passionate pursuit of Him. 

So He commands us in Deuteronomy 10:20: “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him.”  It is not enough to nod your head in commitment to such a God.  Intimacy with the true God requires a singular passionate pursuit.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
   you forgot the God who gave you birth.
The LORD saw this and rejected them
   because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
“I will hide my face from them,” he said,
   “and see what their end will be;
   for they are a perverse generation,
   children who are unfaithful.
They made me jealous by what is no god
   and angered me with their worthless idols.
   I will make them envious by those who are not a
     people;
   I will make them angry by a nation that has no
     understanding.
For a fire has been kindled by my wrath,
   one that burns to the realm of death below.
   It will devour the earth and its harvests
   and set afire the foundations of the mountains.”

~Deuteronomy 32:18-22

 

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As it relates to religion, are you a snacker? A few years ago, Tom Levinson, author of All That’s Holy: A Young Guy, an Old Car and the Search for God in America, was interviewed by the University of Chicago Magazine. Listen to what he said:

“One of the interesting phenomenon is that Americans are blessed, and perhaps burdened, with such an array of religious and spiritual options.

“This wealth of choices has produced such interesting responses. Some people use the American spiritual buffet to keep snacking all their lives, to keep sampling. Yet what many people seek is a faith perspective that constrains their choices, imposes obligations, and demands fidelity to a way of life and a community of faith. Many see unlimited choice as a peril and faith as an antidote.”

Well put.

And indeed biblical faith is such an antidote. It requires that you sit down with the rest of God’s children at the table that God has prepared in Christ, enjoying every course that He serves.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Let us rejoice and be glad
  and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
  and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
  was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

~ Revelation 19:7-10

 

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The other day I was listening to Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”.  What a moving piece of music! While listening, I was reminded of the incredible richness and beauty of our world.  Of course, there is the beauty of what we call “nature” that is all around us—the beauty of the sunset, the mountains or the starlight sky.  But, in addition to this, there is the beauty that you and I create and enjoy—the beauty, for example, of art and music.  All of us have had the experience of being moved by a movie or theater performance; a poem, a great work of art or dance performance.  Though our particular tastes may vary greatly, we all have a sense of beauty in art. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, long, not only to enjoy it, but also to create it.

Why is this?  The reason is that we live in a world that is engineered for the creation and enjoyment of beauty.  And the reason for this is that each of us are made in the image of the greatest artist that has ever been, the Creator God.  

Out of nothing He created all things. But he didn’t do it with mere mechanical efficiency but with flare, with what you and I’d call “artistic license”.  He did it with a view to aesthetic beauty—because He Himself is beautiful and the source of all that is lovely.

Something to think about from the Kingdom Perspective. 

     Let the glory of the LORD endure forever;

        Let the LORD be glad in His works

                                     ~Psalm 104:31 NASB

 

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Have you ever considered how desires are a window into the meaning of the universe?  What do I mean?  Well, desires tends to correspond to the existence of something that was meant to satisfy those desires.  Listen to how C.S. Lewis put it:

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was meant for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not mean that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.  (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Thought-provoking, isn’t it?

Many of our desires know no limit, because they were ultimately meant to be satisfied by the limitless God.  You were not only made by God but also for God—for His pleasure.

Something to think about from the Kingdom Perspective. 

    You have made known to me the path of life;

       you will fill me with joy in your presence,

       with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

                                        ~Psalm 16:11 NIV

 

 Eternity in their Hearts [1:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (24)

I was looking at some pictures of my children the other day, pictures of them when they were much younger.  My how time flies!  How quickly they grow up!  It is difficult to avoid a mix of emotions.  Joy for the many good times past, but at the same time sadness that the joy of their presence with me is fleeting.   Some of you parents have already outlived the joy of your children’s younger years and perhaps you know all too well this melancholy feeling. 

Have you ever wondered why the tendency among us humans for nostalgia? The answer is that we’re ultimately made for something more than the temporal pleasures of this life.  If we are honest, the best this life can do is leave us with a longing for more, a sad suspicion that there is a happiness somewhere, some place, that doesn’t have a shadow side.  The writer of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes put it this way:  “[God] has…set eternity in their hearts….” 

We were made for something more than the mere pleasures of this world.  We were made for the pleasure of God—a pleasure that does not grow up and move away.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

~Ecclesiates 3:11 ESV

 

 What Does It Mean That Our Society Is Secular Society? [1:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)

Most sociologists agree that Western civilization has by and large become secularized.  But what exactly does this mean?  The philosopher Charles Taylor (Professor Emeritus at McGill University) helps us get a grip:  “To say that we live in a secular civilization is to say that God is no longer inescapable.  It doesn’t mean that we live in a society from which God has been expelled.”

I like this definition because it challenges the conventional wisdom.  Most would say that living in a secular culture means that by and large people don’t believe in God. But as we know from American culture, this cannot be the case. Though we are increasingly secular, the number of people believing in the existence of God remains relatively unfazed.  Polls continue to register 90+% believing in a supreme being.  So what’s the difference?

Being a secular society is not defined by whether or not people believe in God but in HOW they believe in God.  In a secular society “God” becomes privatized and is no longer the ground upon which the society is built. “God” is welcomed to town; He just needs to maintain his proper place at the margins of the public square.  He can help an individual find “personal truth”; but He can never be called upon to establish “public truth”.  Certainly, God is invited to participate; He’s just not allowed to rule.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.

~Psalm 115

 

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When Warren Buffet, the Pope of profit and conscience of the financial world, speaks, people listen. Who wouldn’t want to learn from one of the world’s wealthiest men?

In the midst of the business scandals several years ago, he wrote an editorial for the NY Times providing a prescription for the ailing image of the C.E.O. Listen to what he said: “C.E.O.’s want to be respected and believed. They will be — and should be — only when they deserve to be. They should quit talking about some bad apples and reflect instead on their own behavior” (NY Times 7-24-2002). Strong, but good medicine!

American Christians would do well to visit “Dr. Buffet” as it relates to the ailing image of the church. If we want to regain the respect of the watching world we need to earn it, just as the early Christians did in their culture. It has been said of the persecuted church of the first few centuries that they won the Roman Empire precisely because they out-thought and out-loved their pagan neighbors. Could this be said of us?

Listen to the Apostle Peter: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12). We mustn’t just be complainers but constructors of a better image. This will come at the cost of our own blood, sweat and tears and not by bashing those who bash us.

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

~1 Peter 2:11-17 NIV

 

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Listen to this challenge from C.S. Lewis:

“We can make people attend to the Christian point of view for half hour or so; but the moment they have gone away from our lecture or laid down our article, they are plunged back into a world where the opposite position is taken for granted. As long as that situation exists, widespread success is simply impossible. We must attack the enemy’s line of communication. What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects—with their Christianity latent. You can see this most easily if you look at it the other way round. Our Faith is not very likely to be shaken by any book on Hinduism. But if whenever we read a…book on Geology, Botany, Politics, or Astronomy, we found that its implications were Hindu, that would shake us. It is not the books written in direct defence of Materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialist assumptions in all the other books. In the same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really trouble him. But he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a…popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian.” (“Christian Apologetics” in God in the Dock)

I would assume that few of us are in a position to write a textbook. Nonetheless, the broader principle applies. Our goal must be not merely to promote Christianity AT our workplace but to carry out the task of our vocation IN a thoroughly excellent and thoroughly Christian way. This requires a radically different way of looking at things and that’s…something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

~Colossians 1:17-18 NIV