Kingdom Thinking – Part 1

Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

In my travels, reading, praying I have noticed that there is a definite shift taking place in the Evangelical church today. We do not hear so much about ‘church talk,’ but more ‘kingdom talk.’ In other words, we are moving from a church mind-set to a kingdom mind-set.

 

What used to be within the walls of the church is now breaking out and encompassing the community as well as the systems and structures with the Gospel of the Kingdom. Christ-followers are now getting more involved within their community.

 

For example, I just got a letter from one of these Christ-followers who had gone for a walk and when she came back to her car she saw a homeless woman sitting on the curb. When she was in her car looking at this woman the Lord was speaking to her about going and talking with her and wanting to be obedient to the Lord and she did just that. End result was that they both wound up praising Jesus together. Also this homeless woman wants to introduce Jesus to others within her framework as well.

 

A kingdom mind-set interprets Matthew 28:19-20 as referring to discipling all nations. I sense that we are in what might be known as the ‘fourth wave’ and possibly this will be the final wave of missions.

 

The first wave under William Carey, brought in new structures called “mission agencies” and Christ-followers began to go out to unknown and unreached parts of the world. Most of the work was done along the coastal areas in these different places.

 

Later, the ‘second’ wave ushered in by Hudson Taylor, started going into the interior and with this new wave new structures were needed and so we read about the China Inland Mission, African Interior Mission, and etc.

 

At the beginning of the 20th century we moved into what ‘missionologists’ call the ‘third’ wave and that is reaching the different people groups or ethnic groups that are in different countries.

 

With these three waves the ‘church’ is reaching people with the Gospel and seeing lives changed. But now there is an emphasis on discipleship to see those whose lives have been changed by the Gospel moving into their sphere of influence – to see a change taking place in the culture. In other words, to see world systems and structures of sin torn down and coming under the sway of the King of kings.

 

Kingdom mind-set sees that Matthew 28:19-20 and Genesis 1:28 go together: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

 

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

Kingdom mind-set takes in the fact that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” John 3:8

 

Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

 

1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”

 

Kingdom mind-set works towards seeing justice and righteousness being carried out in the culture and society where we live. It begins with the Gospel because it is the Gospel that can change a man’s heart, but it does not stop there, but to see society around us being affected.

 

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