4. A New Kingdom Posture Towards Life
Week 9 • Day 4
As I started to prepare this lesson on the general epistles (James / 1st and 2nd Peter / 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John / Jude), I did not think I would detail out many scriptures. I collected several references but wondered if everyone would gain better clarity if they read and highlighted the scriptures which spoke to them individually, in their own Bibles. But as I was reading these epistles back-to-back I started to recognize a very clear and central message. The beauty of this message is evident in the repetition of the concept, over and over again.
As a result of the gospel of the kingdom, the general epistles clarify what it means to live the ‘kingdom life’ of (1) loving God with all of our hearts and (2) loving others even in the midst of terrible suffering.
It felt almost like the Holy Spirit was highlighting the text for me and burning it into my soul. I would like to invite you now into that same experience. Will you read these verses and write a brief reflection before we jump into today’s lesson? What is the Holy Spirit telling you?
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - James 1:2-4
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. - James 1:19-22
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. - James 2:17-19, 26
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. - James 4:7-10
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. - 1 Peter 1:6-9, 22-23
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. - 1 Peter 2:21-25
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. - 1 Peter 4:12-19
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. - 2 Peter 1:3-7
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. - 2 Peter 3:10-16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. - 1 John 2:15-17
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. - 1 John 4:7-12, 19-21
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - 1 John 5:1-5
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. - 2 John 1:6
Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. - 3 John 1:5-8
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. - Jude 1:17-23
Here is what the Spirit has shared with me.
As we have seen, there is a tension between our status as saved kingdom people “NOW” in Jesus Christ and our existence in a world that is marked by the effects of the serpent kingdom that has “NOT YET” been fully redeemed. How are we called to live in the world and in our own flesh that will be hostile to the kingdom of God?
As God’s kingdom ambassadors, there is a posture we are called to take and guiding principles describing why we take that posture. It was modeled for us by King Jesus himself. It’s incredibly easy to see in the scripture and incredibly easy to recite. Yet, it is incredibly difficult to live. Let’s explore this together by reminding ourselves of the “red letter” words of Jesus and digging a little deeper into the scriptures listed above!
KINGDOM POSTURE: OBEDIENCE
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” - John 14:23–24
Right away I noticed the need to be obedient. We were created with free will, so obedience is a choice. Thus, the first step of this humble kingdom posture has always been to listen, obey, and trust God’s rule about what is “good” and “bad” through what He says in the scriptures. We are faced with these kinds of choices every step of the way; the choice to consider suffering joy (James 1:2) and with that knowledge obey what the scripture says even when it hurts (James 1:22). We are challenged to humble ourselves (James 4:10) and accept that we will suffer (1 Peter 1:6). This should not be a surprise considering our fallen world that has been affected by the serpent kingdom and his minions who will do anything to keep us from the victory of Jesus (1 Peter 4:12). Therefore, it is not enough to merely state that we love Jesus but completely disregard him as Lord. Instead, if we truly love Him, our love ought to flow towards a spontaneous and radical obedience to the commands of God’s rule (2 John 1:6). This posture of obedience to the Holy Spirit while anticipating suffering and still choosing to represent God’s kingdom love to the nations is one that we are most certainly not inclined to do. Rather, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience no matter what comes our way.
KINGDOM POSTURE: FOLLOW ME
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
And after saying this he said to him, “Follow Me” - John 21:15–17, 19
It is also very clear that Jesus modeled the behavior of complete obedience for us. Throughout his ministry, Jesus chose to obey even though it led him to a brutal death on the cross. All the while, Jesus committed no sin, told no lies, did not retaliate to insults, and made no threats to those who inflicted the worst kind of suffering upon him (1 Peter 2:21-25). Thank the Lord that Jesus did fully place His trust in His Father - who would one day judge fairly - otherwise Jesus may not have followed through with God’s grand plan that he could not see. Yet because Jesus did follow through all the way to the cross, Jesus is able to provide everything we need to live for YHWH in this life if we come to place our faith and trust in him (2 Peter 1:3). Like Peter, since we have been “born again”, we as Christians are called to a kingdom posture of following Jesus because the living and enduring word of God has been written on our hearts via the Holy Spirit living inside of us as God’s kingdom place (1 Peter 1:23).
KINGDOM POSTURE: LOVE ONE ANOTHER
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34–35
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5:43–45
Finally, it is clear that we ourselves are able to model ‘kingdom love’ no matter what suffering this world brings us. Everyday on our journey toward becoming a servant of all, we are called to look to Christ and the Holy Spirit to fuel us for these kinds of servant-hearted actions. (Jude 21) In this process, we can’t rely on the appetites of the world; for everything of the world (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life) comes NOT from the Father, but from the world (1 John 2:16). Everything in this world will pass away, but only those who do the will of God will live forever (1 John 2:17). Based on biblical descriptions – the times of judgment on those who reject and oppose God will not be pretty or fun (2 Peter 3:10-11). Focusing on God’s love for us, reminding ourselves He is the source of love, and remembering loving each other allows His love to be made complete (1 John 4:7-12, 19-21). These things are the true food for our souls. His love allows us to remain faithful to our Christian brothers and sisters in our greater mission to spread God’s glory to the nations (3 John 1:5-8), to show mercy to those who remain clouded by doubt, and to even be fearless showing mercy and love to our enemies. In so doing, we model the ‘kingdom love’ of Jesus as God’s kingdom people even while we suffer in every kind of situation.
THE FLESH VS. THE SPIRIT
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. - John 14:15–17.
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. - John 14:25–26.
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. - John 15:26.
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. - John 16:8–11.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. - Jn 16:13–14.
Why is this kingdom posture still so hard to live by?
I have a friend and we were having a conversation about being house blind. You know – you have a pile of mail on the table, and it starts to grow. You aren’t really using that table, so the pile keeps growing. Eventually you eat at a different table, and you don’t notice the mail anymore. You start piling up catalogs on the current table you are eating at. Finally, company comes over, and you realize – when you can’t serve them dinner at either table, that you have all this mail and all these catalogs. You’ve actually become so used to them; you’ve forgotten they were piling up. House blind. Depending on your comfort level, you might panic and clean the tables before the company comes, or you clean 1 table, or you have company eat with you on the sofa in front of the tv.
I wonder, have we become house blind to comfort? Even that thought sounds ridiculous. Yet, as Christians, we are supposed to expect discomfort. We are taught to endure suffering and trials and consider them joy, while we are modeling Christ’s love to the marginalized in the world; and not to worry about fitting into this current world. The bible advises that in the last days it will be more important than ever to lean into the Holy Spirit, as there will be those who are ungodly scoffing at our way of life and trying to divide us. As we have lived in a nation with generally more than enough food; and jobs; and cars; and technology – have we layered comfort after comfort onto our lives? Have we become so comfortable, we only understand discomfort if it is egregious to us personally – a terminal illness, a major wrong against us, a decision that doesn’t go our way?
I am not advocating a complete turnaround and abandonment of all the things that bring us comfort in our lives, but what if we started peeling back some of those layers, to get closer to the suffering mentioned in the bible. The suffering as a result of living more like Christ. Walking in obedience to His commands – the greatest of which are to love God more than anything (including our comfort) and to love our enemies as ourselves – no matter what it might cost us! Are we doing this as a church, or are we clouded by the comfort we experience? Lord, I pray that whoever reads these words might go into the world boldly following your Spirit, no matter what it may cost them.
God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. - 2 Timothy 1:7
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33.
Regardless of the circumstances and what it may cost us, this is the kingdom posture we are called to take in this fallen world as we await the return of Jesus. But the general epistles also remind us that there are tremendous blessings to be had when we set our thoughts on the “Day of the Lord” that is coming; where sin and suffering will be no more and God’s rule will be made complete! In our final week, we will explore the book of Revelation. Get ready because it is always thrilling to learn more about the hope we have in the fully realized kingdom to come!
Share the Gospel: Jesus is calling us into his own lifestyle of love and obedience to his authoritative rule as God’s kingdom place as we love His people. Since we live in a fallen world, we should expect to experience suffering, but we are continuing to learn how to choose obedience to God’s kingdom rule above what is temporary on this earth.
