Don Baumann: Kingdom confusion

We each have added a new Fourth of July memory this week: the barbecues, family gatherings, and fireworks we enjoyed to celebrate our nation’s independence.

247 years ago, we left one kingdom — the British empire — and 13 colonies declared their independence. We seldom speak of kingdoms today, nor can we easily imagine living in one.

Two millennia ago, Jesus Christ proclaimed “the good news of the kingdom of God” (see Luke 4:43; 8:1) — good news meant for us, as well. However, many who heard him then, and many who hear his words today, get their kingdoms confused.

In Jesus’ day, many mistook him for another political leader. Surely, he had come to deliver Israel from Roman oppression. In fact, after Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men (and even more women and children), the crowds wanted to make him king on the spot! (See John 6:1-15) They pictured God’s kingdom as free food and less oppressive government.

But God’s kingdom doesn’t resemble those of this world. When confronted by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who demanded to know if Jesus was a king, he replied “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight… But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)

Our deepest needs demand a deliverance more potent than what politics can provide. We are made for a relationship with God, yet we’re separated from him by our very natures. The good news of God’s kingdom is this: He has done everything necessary to restore relationship with him and one another.

Religious leaders in Jesus’ day tried to fake it by appearing to follow elaborate rules while concealing unchanged hearts — and we can do exactly the same. Entering God’s kingdom requires a humble willingness for him to change us from the inside out.

That means first recognizing our desperate need for change, and our inability to accomplish it. What good news to then hear Jesus tell a religious leader, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3)

This new birth, a transformation wrought by God himself, occurs through faith in Jesus Christ. He died for our sins as our perfect substitute, and he rose from the dead to give us new life now and forever. That new life begins when we believe Jesus died and rose for us personally, and we trust him with our lives.

Today we still are capable of confusing kingdoms. Some Christians today feel that Jesus is now directing his followers to use political methods to establish his kingdom.

Making better rules and demanding outward conformity to them won’t bring about freedom from those thoughts, words, and actions that can enslave us and hurt others. In our modern but strife-filled democratic republic, let’s discover true independence from sin and selfishness through faith in Jesus, let’s follow him into his kingdom, one unlike any our fallen world can produce.

Don Baumann is a retired outreach pastor at Hilltop Community Church.