Kingdom Now
Because choice, posture, passports, memory and castles.
I think I have a choice to make.
Did God save me or am I in process of being saved?
…which is, I think, a trick question.
I have to land on both.
One of these, without the other, becomes fragile and broken.
A life that ignores the reality that we are being and need saving right now tries to live without God in the present, ignores sin, lives in perfectionism, and tries to fight a — very sad and lonely — white knuckle conservative fight against screwing up too badly before death.
This person, often, winds up an angry judge.
A life that ignores the reality that we are saved, complete, in total, done, from the cross, does not carry a required confidence and rest in the power of God’s work and becomes fragile in its pervasive weakness, cycles of pain, drama, anxiety, and fear.
This person, often, winds up a frightened victim.
I know.
I’ve been both these people.
At once.
.
.
.
…I am ever the overachiever.
It’s tricky, and, frankly, it is hard to see.
Because it is offensive.
The eye wants to slip right off of it.
Feel free to disagree… but it is totally, remarkably, undeniably offensive that I am so utterly insufficient that not only do I need saving, in some big and dramatic and total way that requires God to die… but I need saving the next day too.
And the next.
And the next.
And probably also Thursday. Though I would wish maybe on Thursday I would not…
But then Friday too.
And so on.
It’s ridiculous.
Is it possible that this awareness, this galling realization of need, is, in part, what He means here?
Matthew 5:3 NKJV
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
…which are the opening words to the ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ the single largest section of recorded speech we have from Jesus… and arguably the most defined, most taught, and most referenced of all the things He had to say…
Seems like that might be important, no?
(Go read it!)
There’s a surprising amount there, in those few words.
We are told of this ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’
We are told here that there is a state of being — ‘poverty of spirit’ — that denotes ‘possession’ of this kingdom.
…so what’s poverty of spirit?
I think it’s pretty much what we’re talking about today. The reality of ‘saved then, saved, now, offensively somehow still needing help despite all that.’
Poverty of spirit gets talked about a number of ways, but it all comes back to our relationship with God.
I’ve heard a lot of ways of explaining that but I like the way my wife Maria put it best, “that means not being proud with God.’
Realizing that we need him, now, today.
I think that’s amazing and exactly right. Reasonably straightforward.
Being poor in spirit is our remembering of Him. It is, maybe, our relationship with Him. It’s being ‘right sized.’
It’s reality.
…but what’s the ‘Kingdom?’
That’s worth… a lot of writing.
In brief — and only in part — we’re talking about a Kingdom that works radically different form any kingdom that has ever been present on Earth.
Citizenship is voluntary.
Follow this… citizenship denotes adoption denotes inheritance and becoming an Heir. Heirdom denotes both privilege and responsibility.
Romans 8:17
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
And,
Galatians 4:7
Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
And,
1 Corinthians 6:2
Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world?
Anyone was welcome, and the gate will never shut.
John 12:32
And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.
And,
Revelation 21:25
Its (the kingdom come) gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there.
…
…and ‘poverty of spirit’ is what denotes your possession of all of that. All of that being, essentially, all of everything. Ever. Because God.
Huh.
That makes poverty of spirit pretty important, doesn’t it?
So… if you’re anything like me, that all adds up to make the next question really, truly, especially, important… what happens when we lose our poverty of spirit?
If your entire relationship with God is based on your receiving His grace… and he’s not going to force you… it’s reasonably important that you know and remember you need it…. no?
Keep yourself from walking out the open gate on yonder Kingdom?
And that’s why we need the both/and of remembering that God both saved us in full and that we are also in process of being saved.
I lose my poverty of spirit all the time.
I forget I need saving, today.
I forget that God did all the work, before.
I misplace my passport on a daily.
And that’s okay.
It is, in the end, just one more way I am poor in spirit.
And it is the both/and awareness of the total saving grace of the Cross and the daily saving grace of becoming more like Jesus that enables me to find it again.
Because it’s okay that I forgot, because He did it all from the start. I am not fighting a loosing battle against sin. That battle was already won, in full, by Jesus.
Because it’s okay that I forgot, because dealing with needing help today is what I do. I am not a perfect snowflake of idealistic wonder. I have a battle to fight, against myself, and my pride, in the name of Jesus, every day.
Even the days I forget.
These truths work together.
They give me somewhere to stand, somewhere to fall, and somewhere to get back up again.
That place is the Kingdom.
That two foot stance is my posture.
That reality that God did a HUGE and saved me in full in wild grace and mercy… and is also saving me right now, today, as I hope to become more like him…
That is the truth.
Thank you Jesus.
All scripture referenced is NLT unless otherwise noted. I prefer NLT for postural discussion as it is both reasonably rigorous while retaining a conversational tone.
For study I strongly encourage the use of original language tools, multiple translations, and rigorous critical thought.
Please remember that when you read the Bible in English you are always reading someone else’s theological interpretation of the text.
