Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Kingdom thinking realizes that the offices mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-12 have been given by the Lord to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and that this ministry involves the community in which they live.
Kingdom mind-set realizes that only a few in the congregation are called to one of these offices in order to equip the saints for the ministry. This ministry includes all aspects of one’s society – government, market place, media, entertainment, etc. There is room for all to be trained for the ministry.
Back in the forties and fifties if a young man came to a pastor and said that he wanted to be in full-time Christian work the pastor would have told him to become a lawyer, judge, politician, business man, pastor, evangelist or missionary. However, recently the advice the young man would get is narrowed down to just a few – pastor, evangelist or missionary.
Praise God that this is beginning to change and kingdom thinking is coming in and seeing that every aspect of man’s society needs the influence of kingdom minded people.
Paul tells us in Romans that: “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (1:21) The word “futile” in Greek brings out the idea of making something empty. I asked my Marathi translator in India what that word meant in his language and he told me it means ‘nothing,’ or ‘zero.’
Look at our culture today here in the Western world where we have basically abolished God from our schools, public places, etc. and we see decisions made where good is becoming evil and evil becoming good. So many of our laws are senseless; they mean nothing!
Kingdom minded leaders see the need to equip kingdom-minded believers for the work that is needed in the different segments of society. In the reformation that took place in Germany a little over 500 years ago, the Word of God was placed in the hands of the common people and it changed the Western world. We now need a second reformation where the work of God is placed into the hands of the common people.
Kingdom thinking sees that there is no difference between the spiritual and the secular. It is God who is in control of all creation and there is no ‘upper’ (spiritual) and ‘lower’ (secular) floor (as Francis Schaffer points out) when it comes to God’s creation. It is all of God’s creation and we need to be involved in every aspect of it.
We need to realize that a man who is called of God to work in a secular profession is just as important as the man who is called of God to preach. We need godly men in both. Our work matters to God.
There are several things that we must look at. First, we must see that the church (an integral part of the Kingdom of God), the Body of Christ is not an institution, not an organization, but rather an organism. It is not something that is inanimate, but alive. It is a living, breathing organism. This is the first thing that we must begin to realize. This is important for us to see.
By “organism” we mean: “Life-pulsating people who are animated by the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ.” This pulsating life needs to infiltrate every aspect of our culture.