“Whose Kingdom am I serving?” This question is an underlying theme of the entire sermon on the mount. According to Jesus, it is the determinate of every other facet of our lives, from basic happiness, to social behavior, and even to our own sense of security and stability. It is a question that we live into each day, whether we know it or not.
And this may be oversimplifying things a bit, but it appears to me that we have three options…either we are serving our own kingdom, the world’s kingdom, or God’s kingdom. And while they aren’t mutually exclusive, the order here is the key. Which of these comes first? How we answer that will describe our behaviors, our values, and our overall state of mind.
If it is my kingdom first, then everyone who disagrees with me is a threat. Anyone succeeding where I am failing is held in contempt. Life becomes a game of chess and only the strong survive. My value is directly tied to my talent, health, and influence. It is a world of constant insecurity.
If it is a worldly kingdom then I must choose a tribe where we all agree. We band together and seek to figure out how to keep out the impurities of the opposing tribes. We create tests to evaluate who is with us and who is against us. Those on the outside are met with contempt and growing hostility. We live in constant fear of outsiders and inwardly struggle to remain in a place of belonging.
These tribal affiliations can look like race, nationality, gender, political parties, even religious affiliations. These can all become ways of delineating which worldly kingdom we belong to. They let us know who is safe and who is a threat. Who really “gets it” and who doesn’t.
And then there is God’s kingdom. A kingdom that transcends all the ways we naturally guard and defend our lives. It is a kingdom that extends both backward and forwards through time. A kingdom that places our identity, not in race, or sex, or social sphere. It speaks to the very center of our heart and tells us that our identity is not wrapped up in all our petty self-descriptions, but instead in our belonging as a child of God. As one deeply known and loved by God.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:28
Which allows us to give up our futile attempts at establishing our own kingdom and live into the inheritance promised us as God’s beloved. And to stop seeing others based on all the insignificant distinctions and rules we’ve decided upon, and see them as God sees them. As children too. Of equal value. A value that transcends all the rules of a worldly kingdom.
Our value is rooted in God’s endless love. Which frees us to give up our life, our kingdom, for something of much greater value. This freedom, this grace, becomes not mine to possess, but mine to give, to bless the kingdoms of this world with hope and a future. With mercy upon mercy. To love without needing to be loved in return. To forgive without insisting on forgiveness in return. To bless generously without insisting on compensation.
And to live into an inheritance that extends beyond the things of this world. The deep matters of the heart. The only things that endure beyond death. Things guarded and protected for each of us in heaven. Because everything of eternal value remains safe and secure at all times. This is the gift of God’s kingdom. This is true security and stability and peace. When we seek this first, all three kingdoms align.
And this is what it looks like for the church to be the Church. To be an earthly manifestation of God’s generous and merciful kingdom. One body, understanding that our identity is rooted entirely in God’s love. And then behaving accordingly. Until we do this, we are just another manifestation of an earthly or personal kingdom the world is right to refuse.