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If we want to be effective addressing the spiritual needs and interests of people today, the message we bring must be a message of Good News. "The gospel of the kingdom of God, as Jesus called it, was good news because it was the culmination of the message of ,the Law and the Prophets." The Law was given as “our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal 3:24-25). The Prophets proclaimed the future Promised One in anticipation of and preparation for the coming of Christ. Prior to their fulfillment, the Law and the Prophets in and of themselves were not good news but rather the promise of good news to come. Only when they found realization in Christ was the Good News complete.
When we promote the Law (legalism is the emphasis of religious rules and regulations) we negate the Good News of the Kingdom of God. “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) When we teach from the prophetic words of the Old Testament with purely historical, grammatical, religious or literary interests and without connecting to their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we fail to communicate a message of good news. “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)
In His “Sermon on the Mount” near the beginning of His earthly ministry (Matthew 5-7), Jesus unveiled the exciting implications of the good news that the Kingdom of God has finally come near. He begins with an entire redefinition of Blessing. Up until that time, the blessing of God was believed to be evidenced in terms of material possessions, social standing, power, influence, etc… Now, with the “Kingdom of God at hand” the blessing of God is available for those who are “poor in spirit,” those “who mourn,” the “gentle,” those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” the “merciful,” the “pure in heart,” the “peacemakers” and those “who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.”
Next He shows how the “kingdom of God at hand” redefines the understanding of our citizenship. As sons and daughters of the Kingdom, we are no longer destined just to survive our time here on earth and make the best of a bad situation. Rather, He says that we now are privileged to be “the salt of the earth.” We are “the light of the world.” We have the opportunity for our lives to make an eternal difference in the lives of others as they “see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Then Jesus reveals how the good news of the “Kingdom come near” enables the promise and practice of kingdom relationships which overcome the common evils of society; defining relationships with others from a whole new perspective. Now the self-serving and destructive behaviors of murder, divisiveness, adultery, falsehood, revenge, law-suits, favoritism and judging others are replaced with forgiveness, reconciliation, purity, loyalty, truth, peace, generosity and love for everyone " even the unlovely. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
In preaching the good news of the “Kingdom at hand” Jesus also redefines the practice of righteousness. He shows how various spiritual disciplines, such as giving, praying or fasting can now be done “in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” And He redefines our understanding of economic stability. With the Kingdom now at hand, we have no more cause to worry or be anxious for the various and basic necessities of life. We can store up for ourselves “treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” And as we “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,” all these other things will be taken care of as well.
These are some of the many implications of the Good News of the Kingdom of God having come near to us in the person of Christ. As Jesus began to unveil these things in His gospel message, is it any wonder that people were abandoning “Religiondom” in droves and “forcing” their way into the Kingdom of Heaven?
In Jesus our King,
Pastor Scott
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