Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2/2/2021
Can we Legislate God’s Kingdom?
In Luke’s account, having become convinced Jesus is the messiah, his followers expected him to reform the political structures and set everything aright. He’ll throw the bums out. Put the good guys in. Make the government of Israel as shiny as heaven itself.
Yet Jesus disappoints them.
There’s was a political panacea on its way. Instead of receiving temporal power, he says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” Acts 1:8 And now we come to my point. Two thousand years later, we still find ourselves in an age when too many religious people—in America, it’s mainly Christians—think God’s going to swoop down throwing thunderbolts, install some political savior, throw the bad guys out, put the godly guys in and save us all through a radical transformation of our government. We’ll get a legislative majority and impeach Trump again. Or we’ll get a majority and protect Trump. We’ll build a wall. Or we’ll stop the wall. We’ll line the U.S. Supreme Court with anti-abortion justices. Or we’ll pack the courts with judges who’ll defend abortion. We’ll end same-sex marriage. Or we’ll recognize the marriage rights of all adults. We seem to wait endlessly for a new messiah, or multiple messiahs, to rescue us: presidents, members of Congress, judges. Except they won’t rescue us. They couldn’t if they tried.
(Even though God is very much still Sovereign)
Still, I suspect that if Jesus were here again in the flesh, his message to us would be what it was to those first-century disciples. He’d say, “Bless your wayward little hearts. You’ve entirely missed the point again. I told you… you can’t legislate the kingdom of God. My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36 As William Barclay writes, “Jesus’ kingdom wasn’t ever based on political power. It was—and is—based on love. Generous, merciful, unconditional love toward everyone”. Toward Republicans and Democrats. Toward liberals and conservatives. Toward men and women. Toward straight people and gay people and transsexuals. Toward citizens and immigrants. Toward blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians. Toward racists and snowflakes. Toward the dumb and the dumber. God loves them all and thus… so must we. If you want God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done here as in heaven, start by getting your own heart changed. Give up your rights and offenses and unforgiveness. You’ll find yourself living in the new Jerusalem.
You’ll find yourself and, by extension, those around you, transformed. You’ll become a true witness for the Lord.
Chances are you won’t be able to do this under your own power, though. It’s infinitely easier to practice name-calling, finger-pointing, and one-upmanship. That’s why, as Jesus predicted, you’ll need divine intervention. Lord help us to see your way and not man’s way. Help us really plug into your holy spirit to have the courage to teach your message of love and hope. That you loved the sinner but hated the sin. Help us to know that meekness is not weakness. Lord open our eyes to see through the eyes of Love and your Holy Spirit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm-5GQ6uvDs This is Love – Medley Jenn Johnson Excerpts are taken from – You can’t legislate God’s kingdom onto this earth. Why do we keep trying? BY PAUL PRATHER
