Living In the Kingdom

4/20/2011
Living in the Kingdom

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Matthew 4:17 NIV

There is a question you should ask yourself when you read the scripture above. And that question is, from what time is Matthew talking about? Anytime you see a scripture that references something else, you have to look before it to understand the context of what the author might be saying. In this case, the “from that time on” refers to the time after Jesus came out of the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. That is significant.
We all will have periods of time when God may send us into what feels like a wilderness. A time when we are wandering around, nothing seems to happen in our lives. Maybe we have no money, no direction, no sense of purpose, no peace or whatever. We are somehow empty and wandering. But there is a difference between putting yourself in that position and God drawing you to that place. God led Jesus into the wilderness and when he came out, he began speaking something different. He began to tell people to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!
Why is this significant to us? Well, when you come out of these wilderness-like situations in life, you will have learned some lessons during your time of wandering. These lessons may be pointing you towards living life “kingdom style”. But in order to live that life you are going to have to repent. If you look up the definition of repent in English, it will say something like to be remorseful about your sin or something along that line. But we also have to remember that the bible was not written in English but in Hebrew and Greek. The New Testament was written in Greek and the word that they used for repent in this particular chapter of Matthew actually means to think differently. Jesus was telling people that they needed to think differently because the kingdom of heaven was coming soon.
I’ve talked for the last couple of days about your strength being your weakness in the kingdom of heaven. I have shared with you some of my weaknesses as it relates to this topic and how I have to think differently regarding this things I do well. I feel like I am still in a place of wilderness. And I have been led here by God. I chose to quit my job and go to school full time, to start a business, to write a book. And all of these things will eventually pay off one day. But in the meantime, I need to get my mind right, so to speak. I cannot think that what I used before will work now. I can't rely on what I used to rely on. When I get out of this wilderness, I need to think in light of kingdom values and kingdom principles, not human-centered values and principles. And I know I’m not there yet.
Just the other day I realized that I was embarrassed by the fact that I don’t have as much money as I used to. That I don’t have the professional prestige I used to. That I don’t have the same life plan that I used to. It was tax season, so I got to see on paper the financial hit I took by following God. It made me angry. It made me doubt that I had even heard from God in the first place. It made me want to go get back some control and power that I used to feel like I had. And I had to repent. I don’t live the life I used to live. I can’t go back to that. If I do, I would have to stop following the Spirit of God. And I really don’t want that. I would literally have to ignore God in order to go back to my old life. And it’s hard to ignore someone you love for too long. Eventually you have to talk to them. It’s just hard also to keep moving forward and to change your way of thinking.
But Jesus came out of the wilderness after being tempted by Satan, too. I'm being tempted everyday to do something. We all are. But when you are in a wilderness season it seems magnified. There is always a temptation to go back to your old way of doing things. The children of Israel kept complaining while they were in the wilderness that they should go back to being slaves in Egypt. They hated manna, they hated wandering around seemingly aimlessly, they hated Moses for bringing them there. They hated it all. And they wanted to go back. But you can’t go back. Either you die in the wilderness, or you keep it moving. And the only way to keep it moving is to change your way of thinking. What you relied on before may not work for you now. But that’s ok because God is in charge in this kingdom. God’s rules apply, and really the only thing we have to worry about doing is continuing to follow His leading. That’s the hardest job. He seems to take care of everything else. At least that’s what I believe. You can't take your old mindset into the new life. And this process will not be just one time in your life. This will happen in cycles throughout your life as God continues to shape, mold and conform you to the image of Jesus. It's up to us to cooperate with this process. It starts with repentance.