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The Kingdom of God
is expanded in four ways.
- Preaching the gospel (individual)
As people receive the gospel, they are
born again into the kingdom of God (John 3:3; Rom 6:17,18). This
is the process by which people are brought out of the dominion
of darkness and into the kingdom of light (Col 1:12,13). The
Government of God grows as individuals are born into it, and as
they submit their lives to the authority of Jesus (Rom 12:2).
People have authority over their own lives. As they obey Jesus,
their lives comes under his authority. This is one of the most
important ways that the Kingdom of God grows. Being born again
is the only way an individual can enter the Kingdom of God
Ways
2-4 are institutional.
- Christians in positions of authority
submitting to Jesus
When a Christian, who has a position of
authority in an institution, exercises that authority in
accordance with the will of God, then that part of the
institution over which he has authority, becomes a part of the
Kingdom of God. The government of God extends as far as this
authority extends.
Authority is often attached to a particular
position or office. The centurion did not have
authority because of his personal charisma or family
connections. He had authority because of his position as a
centurion in the Roman army.
Christians should seek positions of
authority (as God calls), because it allows them to expand the
Government of God. There
has been a tendency for Christians to avoid positions of
authority in the world, as it is seen as a distraction from
being a Christian. This is a false view that comes from failure
to understand the way of the Kingdom.
Learning to obey Jesus in a position of
authority in an institution can be a difficult challenge.
The church should be providing people in positions of authority
with more teaching
and training.
- A Christian being promoted to a
position of greater authority in an institution.
When a Christian, who is in a position of
authority and exercising it in obedience to Jesus, is promoted
to a position of greater authority, the government of God is
expanded. This is something that should happen reasonably
frequently. Christians should be:
- willing to take responsibility
- hard working
- trustworthy
- honest
- diligent
In a world, where many people are
dishonest or unwilling to take responsibility, Christians should
rise to positions of greater responsibility. Daniel and Joseph
are two men who rose to positions of great authority, in a
world, which was hostile to God.
It is important that Christians get
promoted to positions of authority. Those at the lower levels of
an institution have limited authority. They can only exercise
the authority within the limits that have been delegated to
them. They will not always be able to totally obey Jesus, due to
the limits on their authority. If a Christian goes higher in an
institution, two things happen. First, they get more authority,
but more important, there are fewer limits on their authority.
They will be freer to obey Jesus.
- People in positions of authority
converting to Christianity.
When a person in a position of authority
is won for the Lord, two things happen. First, he is translated
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (which is
great). More
important, he brings with him a lot of authority. He can bring
all the authority that he exercises in his institution with him,
if he is discipled correctly. If he is taught to obey Jesus
when he make decisions in his institutional sphere of
authority, it becomes a part of the kingdom.
This is an area where the church has not
done very well. We tend to assume that it will be hard to reach
people in authority. However, the Bible tells us to pray for
kings and people in authority (1 Timothy 2:2). Paul was keen to
preach the gospel to King Agrippa (Acts 26:28). He longed for
many years to visit Rome (Rom 15:23,24). I believe he wanted to
go there because it was a centre of authority.
We should be
praying for key people in the institutions that shape our
society and looking for opportunities to share the gospel. One
of the best ways to expand the Government of God is for key
political leaders, business leaders, judges, and key people in
the mass media to become Christians. We should be praying for
this to happen.
If we are going to win people in
positions of authority for the Lord, we will need to be ready to disciple them
and teach them to exercise their authority in obedience to Jesus
teaching. This is a task that the church should be
getting ready for.
For example, before the church will be ready to disciple a
supreme court judge, it will need an understanding of the law
and how a Christian legal system would function. It will
need to know how a judge
would apply the law in obedience to Jesus. This is not an easy task that
can be taken lightly.
The church has not always done this very
well. It has tended to tell people in positions of authority,
who become Christians, that they should renounce their authority
and come out of the world. For example, when Constantine the
Roman Emperor became a Christian, the church was not ready to
teach him how to exercise his authority in obedience to Jesus. A
tremendous opportunity to extend the kingdom of God was wasted,
because the church was not ready when a man with immense
authority became a Christian.
Authority from Below
Note this very important point. As the
government of God expands in each of the four ways, described
above, the authority must always be from below. Christians must
only take authority that is freely given to them, or take
authority that comes with positions to which they have been appointed.
Daniel did not have to seize authority. He was appointed to a
position of authority by a king who recognised his ability (Daniel
2:46-49).
God will never force people to obey him.
The maximum force that God will ever use to force a person to obey
him, is the Holy Spirit working in his heart to draw him to the Father.
The most force God will ever use is prevenient grace. He wants
people to freely choose to obey his authority. He will not force
them to obey. In the same way God wants his people to take back
the authority of the world that has been lost, but we must never
take if by force. As the Holy Spirit works in the world and draws
men to himself, authority will be freely given back to God’s
people.
Time for the Kingdom
After 2000 years the church has started to
become very successful at sharing the gospel. Following on from
this success, it is now time for putting more effort and emphasis on the
second part of the great commission. Jesus said,
All authority on
heaven and earth has been given to me.
He then commissioned the
church to make that statement a reality.
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