Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Kingdom Come.  CLF is celebrating our fifth anniversary by thanking God that He’s been pleased to establish and maintain His witness through us at this time.

This is important for us to realize since perhaps the greatest danger to a church is not how small it is, or what programs it does or does not have, but whether or not it will so compromise its witness that the Lord Himself will have to remove it from the place where He has put it.

Church anniversaries are also a time to recall why we’re here and how the Lord intends to use us according to His word.

Thus for those who intend to be around for our next five years it’s important to know that Christ Liberation Fellowship is an outpost of the kingdom of the living God. We’ve been placed here in this community and in this city at this time to demonstrate, display, extend and expand the eternal kingdom of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ our king.

God’s kingdom represents His rule, will and agenda as it exists in heaven, was given to Adam to spread throughout the earth and is now spreading through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus constantly referred to the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven to describe His work and His people in this present age and the age to come. What kind of kingdom is the kingdom of heaven? It is a reign of worship, praise and adoration to the Lord God. The kingdom is a reign of absolute dominion. The kingdom of God is one in which He actively rules by having His people carry out His commands for His glory and our blessing. It is a reign in which God’s righteousness, peace and justice are realized through His people. To sum up the kingdom of God can be viewed as the Lord expressing His majestic character, supreme nature and wise and good will through His people in Jesus Christ.
Thus wherever the people of God are the attributes of the kingdom should be also.
One of the best descriptions of the kingdom is found in Dan. 7.
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Finally, the kingdom is fully realized in and ruled by Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God.
It’s important to remember these things whenever you read about the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God in Scripture. To sum up the kingdom of God is a rule and reign of worship, obedience and transformation in and through Jesus Christ.

Are you a citizen of God’s kingdom? Does your life revolve around His worship, His service and His righteousness? Does His beauty, love, goodness, grace and glory move you to thirst after His worship? Does His word dominate your mind and heart as you make the many moral choices you face each and every day? Does He command your time, resources and energy to serve the extension and expansion of His kingdom?

One more thing about the kingdom. The kingdom the demonstrates how God is active and at work right now in the world, in our community and in your life. As a believer it is important to know that the goal and purpose of your salvation is to glorify the living God and that God is now at work within you to extend and expand the rule, reign, agenda and worship of His Son Jesus Christ. God has chosen the church as His vehicle to extend His kingdom. Thus the task, goal, mission and vision of clf is to spread the kingdom of God beginning in Overbrook.

God’s kingdom is a rule of personal transformation. The parable of the sower reveals the various responses to the preaching of the message of the kingdom. The parable as explained by the Lord is fairly straight forward. The point of the parable is true gospel transformation. Citizens of the kingdom demonstrate their citizenship through changed and transformed lives. The first three examples are about those who hear the message of the kingdom but don’t produce its fruit.
There are those who hear the message of the kingdom, have absolutely know understanding of it and simply going on living as they’ve always have.
There are those who hear the message and immediately receive it perhaps because some aspects of the kingdom really appeal to them. But because they are rootless they quickly reject the kingdom and deny the king as soon as a bit of persecution happens.
The other group is the one we may be most familiar with. They here the word and from time to time you see them dropping in and dropping out of church. At times they seem really into the things of God, but most of the time they seem caught up in the worries and cares of life and endless merry-go-round of just trying to make it. When you ask these folks about worship, service and obedience they always have a good excuse as to why they really would like to get with the program but just can’t at this time.

The final group are those whose hearts God has prepared and they are the ones who produce the fruit of the kingdom.

First off they understand what they hear. Because God has done a work in the heart their minds are able to put together what they’ve heard and the totality of the kingdom of God makes perfect sense.
They begin to bear the fruit of godly character. More and more their character is transformed to reflect the character of their Lord Jesus Christ. What does this look like? A quick glance at the beatitudes gives us a clue.

They know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are sinners desperately in need of God’s salvation through Christ. The see and understand that true wealth is found in a growing, vibrant worshiping relationship with Jesus Christ.
They are broken over their own sin, how sin personally hurts others and how sin is ruining the world and their community. They’re not the kind that can just sin and act as if it’s no big deal.
They learn to use their strength to help and build others up and not tear them down.
They having a urgent hunger and thirst for righteousness.
They grow to be more and more merciful, eagerly looking to forgive offenses and maintain godly relationships.
They cultivate purity in heart as well as speech, mind and actions.
They put themselves out to bring holistic reconciliation to broken relationships.
They joyfully endure insult, embarrassment, humiliation and other kinds of persecution because they identify with Jesus Christ.

The kingdom of God begins with transformed people. God uses those transformed people to reclaim His world and extend the kingdom of His Son.

One of the other characteristics of the citizens of the kingdom is how eager they are to spread the word and works of the kingdom.

Are you in need of a life makeover? Could your family use a life makeover? Would your community benefit from a life makeover?

As a people can we see the value and blessing of living in families and communities where people hunger and thirst for what is right, where people act out of pure hearts and motives and where giving mercy is the order of the day?

When all is said and done no matter who wins on election day and what party controls congress how many of us really believe that our politicians will provide true long lasting solutions to the real problems we grapple with?

Finally, the kingdom of God is an expanding kingdom.
The kingdom starts off small. Within this world the reign of God began in a small far off part of the world. What may seem insignificant in the eyes of the world may be of great use in God’s economy.
The kingdom is placed directly into the world and grows and develops within the world. We are not called to segregate ourselves from our communities. The kingdom is not in a hurry. It takes time to grow and develop, though it grows slowly the kingdom will eventually dominate the entire world.

The kingdom is a place of rest, refuge and restoration for those within her. By the grace of God CLF will grow and become a place of safety, rest and healing for those broken by sin just as we were.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance