Kingdom of God Membership: Beautiful but Perilous

When you live in this Kingdom of God, you experience a radical departure from the world's values.  

If your spirit feels impoverished by a world that doesn't notice you, much less cares, this Kingdom is for you. 

If grief so engulfs you all you can do is mourn, and joy is so elusive it seems almost nonexistent, the Kingdom bids you welcome.

If you fall to your knees, longing for God's presence, knowing all your love should go to Him alone, the Kingdom delights in your humility.

If your longing is as deep as desert thirst, then the Kingdom is an endless array of joy, love and power, all spread out for you on a table where your place there is assured. 

If you give mercy because you have felt His loving hand time and time again, the Kingdom is singing as you enter.

If your eyes can see God leading, even when the valley is filled with shadows, the Kingdom is a candle in the window, guiding you home.

If you stand in between those who ask for war and you offer peace, the Kingdom embraces you and those who seek His to sit under the trees, laying down arms and taking up the cup of fellowship.  

The Kingdom of God is lovely, warm and inviting to battered souls and longing hearts. 

But.  

That other kingdom, filled to the brim with values inspired by the father of lies, is not going to stand idly by while seekers, sinners and saints walk through the Kingdom's gates. 

There will be pushback.

Jesus makes that perfectly clear when He says, 

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." (5:10)

You can hear the Hopeful Bus screeching to a halt.

Jesus keeps going: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me." (5:11) 

Wait a minute, Jesus, you preach about the Kingdom of God as if only sincerity and humility are needed to enter, and now You are saying that there is a cost to all of this? Really? You are implying that following You and being in the Kingdom of God are somehow related, and we won't be welcomed anymore in the world around us? Seriously? 

Jesus drives on: "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you." (5:12)

What? But prophets speak God's words. Oh. Are You saying that if we speak the language of the Kingdom, inspired by what You teach and say, then we are a kind of a prophetic voice to the world?  The world does not want to hear from God, because they relish the freedom they have to do what they want, with no accountability and no consequences. Oh.  No wonder they will go after us.  So, we must decide: Are we will to ignite the fury of the world to bask in the warmth of Your light?  

But Jesus presses the point further: 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (5:13-16)

As a member of the Kingdom of God, you will be a target for the world's enmity, and the world will sense it has lost you.  How so?  You make others thirsty for what you have: They can either take their thirst to the Kingdom and find refreshment, or they can walk away angry that you have reminded them that the world cannot satisfy them, because it is not of God.   

But don't lose heart and the love that makes others long for what you have.  Some will come, so keep your intensity and know that God is at work.  Otherwise, you will one day find yourself outside the gates of the Kingdom, in the dust, indistinguishable from those who don't know God.

As a member of the Kingdom of God, your light, reflecting the light of Jesus, will draw others who are wandering in the darkness and you will be living proof that God is calling His children home. You will light up small places--where friends and family dwell.  You will light up enormous places--where many will see, gather and wonder who you are.

But you will then be able to share of this other Kingdom, the one filled with truth, warmth and mercy, and those whose hearts are open to new possibilities will thank God and praise Him for what He is doing in this world, after seeing people like you. 

Those for whom this Kingdom is unappealing because they dwell in the Kingdom of the Self, and whose accusing leader never lets up on bringing temptations (C'mon, do it!) and then bringing on recriminations (Oh no, now look what you have done--you are a terrible person!  Shame! Shame!) will want to shut you down, slamming a bushel over your candle or setting fire to the city on the hill, so it will be razed to the ground. 

That's persecution, the kind Jesus is warning about to those who desire to enter and dwell in this Kingdom. 

But being seated at the table, with Jesus presiding, soothing your soul and making you feel you are now part of something new and beautiful, is worth the grenades being lobbed the gates as you dine. 

The Kingdom of God isn't just something--it's everything.  As you dwell there, all aspects of your life will be refashioned to reflect your Father in heaven: your relationships with each other and with the Law; your prayer life; giving to the needy and to your enemies and living in His freedom, not in your worrying. 

Jesus will now show how the Kingdom operates in the the life of those who claim membership. The people, seated on the hillside, listening to Him will have no doubt, when He is done, that being part of this Kingdom will be demanding.  

But they will learn also that the Kingdom is communal.  It is not lived in tormented isolation, fearing failure in following the Law, but lived in glorious fellowship and freedom with the Father and with one another.