The Gospel of the Kingdom is all about Being
Messiah Jesus called us to repent, believe and be forgiven. He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The moment we repented and believed, God our Father forgave us. By His love and grace, He saved us and made us new beings. He created us in Messiah Jesus, giving us a new birth and a new life. In the Messiah, He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven, set us free from the tyranny of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son. He gave us hope for life in the world to come. He made us His new being people to be to His glory. None of that is of our doing.
I started thinking on these things when I read, “We have focused on the DOING—God is looking for those who will concentrate on BEING.” Greg Austin
We would do well to think of ourselves and one another as new beings rather than only as human beings.
- The love of Christ compels us because we’re convinced One died for all and so all have died. He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose for them.
- And so from now on we don’t think of anyone only as a human being. Once we though of Christ only as a man, but not now anymore. So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new being. The old things have passed away. They have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 AAT
Messiah Jesus called us to repent, believe and be forgiven. That is the essence of the gospel of the kingdom.
God sent John the Baptist as messenger ahead of Messiah Jesus. He preached the baptism of repentance. “John the Baptizer came into the wilderness, preaching that people repent and be baptized to have their sins forgiven. … The One who is mightier than I is coming after me. I’m not good enough to bend down and untie His shoe straps. I have baptized you with water. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:4, 7-8 AAT).
Then came Jesus.
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 KJV
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed this gospel of the kingdom: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven, and you will be given the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 AAT).
In a sermon based on Jesus forgiving and healing the paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8), Martin Luther preached on the kingdom of Christ:
- The first theme here offered us is the Gospel when Christ says: “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven.”
- These words show and contain in brief what the kingdom of Christ is, namely, this sweet voice, these motherly and fatherly words penetrating our inmost soul: “Thy sins are forgiven.” In no other sense are we to view the kingdom of Christ, so far as it is understood, than how we are to live before God. As you, beloved, well know that our highest duty is rightly to establish the conscience that we may know how we stand before God and our neighbor. Therefore we must also hold fast to these words and become accustomed to the expression: “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven”, and like sayings of which the Gospel is full.
- From this it follows that the kingdom of Christ is realized where nothing but comfort and the forgiveness of sins reign not only in words to proclaim it, which is also necessary; but also in deed, as we shall see in this example. For he did not only speak these words into the ear of this sick man; but he also forgave his sins and comforted him. This knowledge is proper for us Christians to know. It is indeed easily and quickly said and heard; but when it comes to the test the light is early extinguished, and satan soon leads us astray; as you here observe that the scribes undertake to destroy this knowledge. I have before often said and will always say, that you should beware and properly learn the character and nature of the kingdom of Christ. For you know how reason is inclined in its every movement to fall from faith and from this knowledge to works. But here you see no works at all, no merit, here there is neither command nor law; there is nothing more than the offering of Christ’s assistance, his comfort and his grace, only kindness meets the man sick of the palsy.
For centuries, the “by grace you are saved” portion of the gospel of the kingdom had been obscured. Martin Luther put it in the forefront. The emphasis of the Catholic Church had been on doing works for salvation. Luther proclaimed being—being forgiven, “the offering of Christ’s assistance, his comfort and his grace, only kindness meets the man sick of the palsy.” Paul put it this way,
- You too were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you once followed the ways of this present world and the ruler whose power is in the air, the spirit who is now working in the people who disobey. Among them all of us once lived in our fleshly lusts, doing what our flesh and mind wanted to do, and by nature we, like the others, were people with whom God was angry
- But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us with such a great love. He made us who were dead in sins alive with Christ. [You were saved by a gift of His grace.] And since we are in Christ Jesus, He raised us with Him and sit with Him in heaven to show in the coming ages the immeasurable riches of His love by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. You are saved by a gift of grace which you get by faith. You didn’t do it. It is God’s gift. It isn’t because of anything you have done, or you might boast. He has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus to do good works, in which God long ago planned for us to live. Ephesians 2:1-12 AAT
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 RSV
Forgiveness frees us from dead works motivated by a guilty conscience. The gifts and temple sacrifices of the Old Covenant made people outwardly holy but didn’t clear their conscience. The blood of Christ washes our consciences clean. So let us come boldly to God’s throne of grace to get mercy and find grace to help us when we need it.
“Gifts and sacrifices are brought which can’t make the worshiper feel perfect in his conscience. Hebrews 9:9 AAT
How much more will the blood of Christ, who by His everlasting spirit offered Himself without a spot to God, wash our consciences clean from dead works to worship the living God? Hebrews 9:14 AAT
Fellow Christians, with the blood of Jesus we can now boldly go into the holy place by the new, living way He opened for us through the curtain, the way of His body, and we have a great Pries in charge of God’s family. Let us then come near God, sincere in our hearts and convinced in our faith, because our hearts were sprinkled to take away our guilty feelings, and our bodies were washed with clean water. Let us cling to the confession of our hope and not waver in it. We can trust Him who gave us His promise. Hebrews 10:19-23 AAT
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16 RSV
The gospel of the kingdom calls us to repent, believe and be forgiven. Now, we will consider repentance. Repent is a strong word and not to be taken lightly. The best definition I have found was written by Albert Schweitzer in the early 1900s.
- It [repentance] is not merely a recovery which stands in retrospective relation with a sinful condition in the past, but also—it is a moral renewal in the prospect of the accomplishment of universal perfection in the future.
- It is precisely this Old Testament conception of repentance, with its emphasis upon the new moral life, which one must have in mind in order to understand aright the Synoptical repentance. Both have a forward vision, both are dominated by the thought of a condition of perfection which God will bring to pass through the Judgment. This, in the Prophetic view, is the Day of the Lord; in the synoptic it is the dawn of the Kingdom. The Mystery of the Kingdom of God—The secret of Jesus’ Messiahship and passion, A. & C. Black, LTD., London 1925, pages 94-97.
Messiah Jesus shed His blood so our sins are forgiven and we are heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). In view of life in the kingdom that is and is to come in the new glorious world, we set our being to forsake wickedness and serve righteousness and justice. When we repent, we put off the old nature with its practices and put on the new nature.
- If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
- Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you once walked, when you lived in them. But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:1-10 RSV
Bill Bremer
The Gospel of the Kingdom is all about Being
Part 1 Messiah Jesus called us to repent, believe and be forgiven Part 2 The moment we repented and believed, God made us new beings Part 3 The moment we repented and believed, God set us new beings free from the dominion of darkness and equipped us to stay free Part 4 God made us new being people ONE to be to His glory.
