Poltiticians and Pharisees (12) - Different Kingdom
The Kingdom of God is totally different from the kingdoms of man.Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that” (Luke 22:25-26).
We do not get this. In the Kingdom of man, the political rulers lord it over other people while claiming to be their benefactors.
Most Christians find the modern political system acceptable, but they believe that it would work better, if Christians controlled it. They assume that in the Kingdom of God, Christians will lord it over other people and be their benefactors. This implies that the Kingdom can come if Christians gain a majority in Parliament or Congress.
If we believe this, we have missed the point of Jesus statement. When the Kingdom of God comes, the reins of power will not change hands, but will disappear. The kingdom of God means freedom. There will be no “lording over” by anyone, and especially not by Christians. Christians should not seek to control the political system, because the political system is part of what is wrong with the modern world.
In the kingdom of God, we will not need parliaments to make laws, because we will use God’s law. People will be led by the Spirit, so they will not need politicians to make them do good. If Jesus is Lord, then the political powers are not. As the Kingdom of God grows, the power of the political system must decline and disappear.
This is the final post in this series. The full series can be found here.
4 comments:
You know, Ron, most of what you've written in this series has been aimed at civil politicians. I believe your points can be applied to "politicians" in the church as well. They set up human forms of government and legislate from the pulpit, their office, by-laws, statements of faith and the like. Legalists love to control others.
Steve
You are correct.
I belong to a house church with fairly invisible leadership, so it is no longer an issue, but I remember how it used to be when I was in a more structured church.
Blessings
Ron
Steve
The worst implication of your comment is that it means that churches are training their people to blindly submit to political leadership. The first step towards getting free from the domination of political leaders is to get free from controlling church leadership.
Ron
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