In various recent dialogues with people, I see a common thread concerning the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that we are frequently attempting to interpret and understand the Kingdom of God through the lens of the natural mind. This leads to a great deal of misunderstanding about the nature of the Kingdom.
God created mankind in His own image[1]. As such, He granted humanity the possibility of being god in our individual lives. He allows us the freedom to determine the course of our life. He grants the choice of ignoring or acknowledging Him to every individual person. While He invites us to participate with Him in the stewardship of the earth, He never forces us to participate either. The choice is ours to make.
The freedom He gives me to be my own god sets up a great battle between Him and me. I have discovered that the greatest battles in my life have not pitted me against the devil or some sin but against God Himself. The self-god continually seeks to be enthroned as the chief determiner of my course of life. The self-god rebels against any kind of submission to any other being, especially to God. The self-god desires to make God subservient to the ways of mankind and in so doing attempts to create a god according to my own image.
Throughout history, people have formed gods according to their own perceptions of what a god should be. In ancient cultures, craftsmen carved statues and images to reflect their own desires for the characteristics of their own god. This tendency still prevails today. While we may not carve idols, we do set up images of God in our inmost being, images that are determined by our desire to be god. We project our personal perceptions on God in an attempt to further our personal desires. This is the work of the natural mind.
The Kingdom of God (literally the rule of God) is diametrically opposed to the way of the self-god, the way of the natural mind. This sets the stage for a great conflict. On the most basic level, the battle is between the Kingdom of God (the rule of God) and the Kingdom of Self (the rule of self). Furthermore, I believe that it is impossible to comprehend the realm of God through the perception of the self-rule. From the self-perspective, everything God is and does is filtered through the understanding and wisdom that comes from self. Unwittingly, we reduce God to acting and reacting as we would act and react in any given situation. We interpret the Bible through the carnal mind, resulting in teaching and doctrine that, while sounding pious and correct, is at best far from the heart of God and at worst opposes God.
For instance, the ways of the realm of God and His Kingdom are outlined clearly in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew chapters 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount). Yet as we read His words, the impossibility of living according to the way given by Jesus becomes evident. The “how” questions bombard our mind. How do I love my neighbor? How do I keep from worrying? How do I rejoice when people speak evil of me?
The carnal mind, the self-god responds to these questions with one answer – I’ll try. I’ll try to love; I’ll try to quit worrying; I’ll try to rejoice. Yet Jesus does not ask us to simply try to attain these ideals. We must love; we must cease from worry. To which the self-god immediately responds, “Living that way is impossible”. From that perspective, these words of Jesus become unattainable ideals toward which we strive. However if we take an honest look at Jesus’ words, He never presents them as unattainable goals but the reality of living in the realm of God.
Therefore we are faced with a question – how do I ever comprehend God and His Kingdom if not done through my natural mind? How do I arrive at spiritual transformation if not by human effort? Like with other difficult questions, we find the answer in the life and example of Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the church at Philippi succinctly outlines the Jesus pattern.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.[2]
Notice the downward spiral in Jesus’ experience. He began as God with the rights and privileges of God. Instead of grasping for self-preservation, He freely relinquished His rights to all power and glory to enter into a place of nothingness. Any vestiges of self were demolished by the radical submission to the plan of the Father that led to and through the cross.
It is imperative to be aware that the primary objective of the self-god is self-preservation. Everything about the downward spiral into submission to the rule of God will feel unnatural. The self-god will protest vehemently. Emotions of fear, anger, worry, and doubt will swirl seeking to cause you to self-protect.
At this point we are faced with a crucial choice – Will I enter the vortex of emotions, abandoning all hope for survival in order to pursue the way of God? The greatest temptation is to retreat from the rule of God in order to self-protect. Somehow I must numb the pain; somehow I must regain control of my life. Yet the only way to reach the realm of God, the only way to enter His kingdom is a headlong plunge into and through the cross.
Paul spoke of this difficulty in entering into the realm of God as he and Barnabas encourage the first century believers.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”[3]
The Greek word translated as “tribulations” literally means “pressure, anguish, or trouble”. We experience the realm of God only through the pathway of difficulty. There are no shortcuts, no easy roads that circumvent the cross.
It is important to note that while the cross signified Jesus’ complete surrender to the rule of the Father, it was not the final destination. Paul goes on to explain the eternal results of Jesus’ repudiation of self to embrace the desire of the Father.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[4]
In the place of utter dependency on the will of the Father, in the place of complete death to the self-god, a spiritual transformation occurs. We find ourselves in a new dimension, the realm of God. We cease from striving, worrying, fear, and the related symptoms arising from living according to the self-god. In my experience, quite literally, the world becomes a different place. We cease to operate in the ways of man. We cease to understand through the filter of our natural mind. The dimension in which we find ourselves is one of supernatural existence. We discover abundant life. The nature of Christ becomes formed in us. We recognize our oneness with Creator of the universe and begin to live from that oneness.
However, let me be clear once again – we can never enter this dimension of God’s rule through our own efforts. We can never comprehend the Kingdom of God from the perspective offered by the self-god. There are no ways to circumvent the cross; we must fully embrace it and the pain it brings. It is only in a place of utter despondency, of complete poverty of spirit that we discover resurrection life. Jesus, in His great outline of Kingdom principles in the book of Matthew, puts it this way:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[5]
I passionately urge you to embrace the way of poverty of spirit. The downward spiral that leads to death of the self-god is the only way to experience and comprehend the supernatural realm of God. Oppose the temptation to self-preserve, to evade the cross. Lose your life so that you may find it!
[1] Genesis 1:26,27
[2] Philippians 2:5-8
[3] Acts 14:21-22
[4] Philippians 2:9-11
[5] Matthew 5:3
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2 comments:
Reminds me of Pilgrims Progress. The closer Christian got to the cross the heavier his burden became. I find it immpossible to motivate anyone to walk into more and more difficulty. Natural life teaches us to take the easy way. But the days will come when the easy life that many have been accustomed to will come to an end. Those will be the days when we will again cry out to God in desperation. This is the kind of cry that God will hear! History always seems to repeat itself. Will we ever learn? What is the Word of God for a time like this?
It is impossible to motivate people with the promise of difficulty. Our message is not one of difficulty but one of life. When people understand life, they will embrace the difficulty.
We, like Jesus, must keep in sight the joy set before us so that we might endure the difficulty. I used to think that the ways of God looked restrictive. However as I submit to what appears to be the restrictive ways of God, the "narrowness" is actually a portal that leads to abundant life. Following the pathway of God through the cross will always lead to resurrection life.
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