This podcast season may be a stretch for you. It is for many. For context we must keep in the forefront what we learn from Jesus in His gospels about His Kingdom. Church is only mentioned a couple of times in the four gospels while the Kingdom is spoken of over 100 times. So everything Jesus said and did concerning the church flows from this pattern: King First – then Kingdom – then Church.
Kingdom Organic traces the unfolding roots of the calling out and purifying of the Bride of Christ. The King of the earth has arrived to save the souls of mankind. Mankind had failed. God’s people (the Jews) and her leaders had failed. Our false religions and human secularism were empty shells. Jesus was sent because all hope was gone. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) Both King and Kingdom had now arrived – just as the Law, the prophets, and the Psalms foretold.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Turn away and turn toward, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2/Isaiah 40
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Turn away and turn toward, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17/Isaiah 9
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray it formed the basis for organic spirituality.
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, holy is Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us our daily bread each day. And forgive us our sins, as we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
So the organic Kingdom is all about connectivity with the King. We can ask. We can seek. We can knock. We can receive.
The entire God Story is one relational account after another of individuals within all nations searching for and finding our God connection. Or running away. Or shaking our fist at Him.
This is why we look for the way, the truth, and the life revealed in Jesus. How do we discern and then connect with spirituality that transforms our hearts and the hearts of others?
Some questions:
√ What is your picture/experience of the nature of personal God connection?
√ How do you find you hear God’s voice regarding your own journey?
√ In what ways is your faith formulaic?
√ In what ways is your faith intuitively connective?
Jesus said to them, “Every scribe (someone who cares) who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven (someone who activates) is like a head of a household (one who finds and applies vision), who brings out of his treasure things new and old (one who is fruitful).” Matthew 13:52
You and I are free to 1) avoid God, 2) choose religious effort, or 3) discover the connectivity that comes by embracing The Way of Jesus, the Truth of Jesus, and the Life of Jesus.
Make sense?
Dave and Burnadette
More:
The Garden Song