Week 27—Tuesday Matthew 6:31-33
Week 27—TUESDAY
“TAUGHT THEM ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD”
We come to our last item in the Divine Impact. The Word became Total Program: “Over a period of forty days he appeared to them and taught them about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NEB). This is the climax. Jesus was not out merely to come and dwell within individuals and rule them from within; he is a total Redeemer of the total life—individual and collective. The kingdom of God is God’s total answer to our total need.
This emphasis of the Kingdom was Jesus’ first emphasis, and now it was the last. “And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23). “The gospel of the kingdom” is the only thing he ever called his gospel. And now it was his final emphasis.
The Kingdom was important. It was the overall and in-all framework of the movement Jesus was inaugurating. He began by saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance was in the framework of the Kingdom. You were not to repent because you will get to heaven, or escape hell, or to join a group—the Church, but repentance was in reference to the Kingdom. The Kingdom was the ultimate order with the ultimate claim upon the follower of Jesus. “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall yours as well.” You were not to seek first heaven, nor the Church, nor correct faith in creeds—you were to seek first the Kingdom—all else subsidiary to it. A motto on our Ashram walls at Sal Tat, India, says:
Nothing above the Kingdom,
Nothing outside the Kingdom,
Nothing against the Kingdom,
Nothing less than the Kingdom,
Everything within the Kingdom.
An Indian doctor came to me to surrender himself to Christ. He said, “As the ship was leaving Hong Kong, a non-Christian Parsee called to me from the dock: ‘Seek first the kingdom of God.’ That has haunted me. I want to make my surrender.” He did.
O Jesus Lord of the Kingdom, we have tried to take you, the King, without the Kingdom. And we are in danger of losing both. Save us—save us to your kingdom. For without your total reign, we are in total ruin. Save us, we perish. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I come into a Kingdom which is total in meaning and total in possession.