Friday, May 11, 2012

Kingdom - 5

We have seen that God extends his kingdom by penetrating the hearts of people. It can begin small, but can grow into a strong and dominating force. It can permeate its entire environment. It is intended to alter the texture, the look and feel of its society and culture.

We have not yet considered the change agents. Who\what are they? How do they work?

To understand the answers to the questions, I don’t think we need to look any further than Jesus. He spoke and acted in ways that radically affected the hearts of those around him. He began in an almost unseen, unremarkable way, but grew to become the focus of attention. His teaching and life profoundly affected everything.

We, as his followers, as his body, expressing who he is to the world, advancing his mission and his kingdom, should possess these characteristics of a kingdom change agent. Together, we should have the effects on the world that Jesus did.

We could go on to consider what he did and how he lived that rocked the world. But have you wondered why we do not seem to have the same effect he did? Since, Jesus is God, come to earth in human form, we might expect to NOT have the same impact. Except Jesus said we would a greater impact. Even if we assume that when Jesus said “greater” he meant greater scope (that is, we would impact a greater area or a greater number of people) then we still need to cope with the fact that whole areas do not have any knowledge of him or that whole population segments do not follow him. Many people in the world know of him, but they do not know him, because they have not seen him. And they need to see him in his children.

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