Rank in the Kingdom

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.  (Matthew 18:1-6 NASB)

According to what I’m reading here, unless I become like a child, I WILL NOT enter the kingdom of heaven.  What does it mean to be like a child?  In this context, I’d say that being like a child means I’m to be:  humble, vulnerable, tender-hearted, gentle, teachable, meek, sensitive, trusting, hopeful, carefree, and joyful.  After all, this is what most children are like.  The person who embodies such characteristics embodies what our Lord encourages us to embody. 

After all,…   “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  (Matthew 5:3-9 NASB) 

It seems pretty clear to me that there is not much room in the kingdom of God for pride, bravado, or hubris.  It also seems clear to me that if we take advantage of, abuse, or mistreat one of Christ’s humble, vulnerable, tender-hearted, gentle, teachable, meek, sensitive, trusting, hopeful, carefree, and joyful servants, we’d better think twice, as the Lord of Hosts will not let such behavior go unpunished – and I don’t think He means we'll get a little swat.

It’s interesting to me what we value today – even in the church.  We tend to value the exact opposite of what the Lord tells us to value.  We value the competent, the confident, the bold, the top performers, the popular, the movers and the shakers, and the politically connected.  What would happen if we changed that?  What would the church look like?  What would my life look like if I truly became like a child? 

Drop Your Belt

In my 20’s, I was involved in various martial arts.  Soon after obtaining my first belt (yellow) in Tae Kwon Do, I switched to a Japanese-American style of Karate where I worked my way up through the various ranks.  I can still remember my first class in Karate.  I was wearing a standard white gi (uniform) with my yellow belt.  The instructor, who was a friend of mine, quickly approached me and told me to take off my belt, as that belt didn’t mean anything in that class.  Feeling a little embarrassed and knowing that my friend knew how to hurt me in places I didn’t know I had, I quickly took my belt off – a belt which I had earned through my experience, albeit minimal experience.

In the same way, much of the church is waking up to a new reality – a new calling.  It is a call out of and up to a new level of kingdom living.  It’s a call away from the man-made, CEO driven, hierarchical model of corporation-style, performance based, attractional church practices.  It is an uprooting of hundreds of years of tradition.  It is a call to simplicity.  It is a call to return to the way of the Master.  It is a call in which the "great ones" are the ones with scraped knees and a towel tied about their waist.  It is a call in which we don’t attempt to copy the phenomenon of the first church, but rather return to its foundational principles.

And in this new reality, I believe the Master is telling us to take off our yellow belt and drop it to the ground.  The same tools, talents, and intellectual prowess that we’ve relied upon for so long no longer matter like they used to.  It’s not that the old way of doing things didn’t produce any results.  Let’s just say that and get that out of the way.  But the reality to which we are being called means that in many cases, we’ll have to leave behind our yellow belts in order to pursue the kingdom.

This “new” (it’s not really new – just new to us) type of leadership, is the leadership of “living-out.”  It’s the leadership of living out our calling to be salt and light.  It’s a leadership based on this simple principle: “Imitate me.”  Be with me.  Watch me.  Imitate me.  (1 Corinthians 4:16).  That’s it.  No fancy tools required.  No organizational strategies.  Just imitate me.  Are we ok with that?  Can we leave it at that?  Can we resist the urge to “improve” upon that?  Are we ok allowing the Spirit to do the Spirit’s work in people?  Are we ok when they don’t respond?  Can we walk away from the rich, young ruler?  Are we ok not being able to define or quantify kingdom reality beyond the fruit the Spirit produces?

It’s clear to me that I cannot continue to lead in the same way I used to lead.  The way I used to lead depended on me and what I could bring to the table via my experience, talent, and intellect.  In fact, I think my resume is rather impressive.  But the way I’m being called to lead now has very little to do with me, rather what the Spirit does through me.  It means tuning my ear to the Father and doing what He wants me to do in that moment.  It means being so in-tune with the Father that I no longer have to ask some of the questions I used to ask because I have the mind of Christ.  I am a willing servant to His will.

In (Mt 7:21-23 NIV), Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Clearly, these prophesying, miracle working, demon fighters were some heavy hitters.  They “DID” a lot of really “good” stuff in the name of the kingdom.  But Jesus sent them away and called them “evildoers.”  Why?  I’m not certain, but perhaps because these people weren’t doing the will of the Father who is in heaven.  How can that be?  Well… perhaps these folks were so wrapped up in what they were doing that they were not in-tune with the Father.  Perhaps these people did not have the mind of Christ.  Perhaps they were so consumed with the “idea” of serving God that they weren’t “actually” serving God.  Many of the religious elite of Jesus' day made the same error.  Perhaps in their zealousness, they missed the true kingdom of God.  I don’t really know.  But I do know that while these words in the book of Matthew are hard words, they are also true.

Will we diminish so that He can be great?  Will we remove our yellow belts?

Seek FIRST

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness… (Mt 6:33a NIV)

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  Before anything else, before we chase after anything (especially those things which we consider to be ostensibly good), we are to seek first His kingdom.  No matter the inconvenience, no matter where that might take us, no matter who we might offend (which will likely be other Christians), if we pursue anything other than seeking the kingdom of God, we’ve missed it altogether.

All of our attempts to seek community, all of our efforts to do “good,” all of our best intentions to change the world will amount to little more than dung if we don’t seek first the kingdom of God.  Aren’t they one in the same?  If we intentionally do “good,” and if "we" form some sort of intentional community, isn’t that pursuing the kingdom of God?  Not necessarily.

Of course we should serve others.  Of course we should live our lives in the context of real community.  Real community is God’s provision for the survival of His church.  But all of our sweating, strategizing, striving, and intentional serving doesn’t necessarily equate kingdom reality – no more than going to church makes you a disciple of Jesus.  It’s bigger than that… MUCH bigger.  It isn’t contained by 4 walls.  It isn’t managed by an organization.  The Apostles (the sent ones) couldn't even contain or manage it.  They knew that wasn't their role - rather the role of the Spirit.  The kingdom pops up and shows us beautiful glimpses of itself in the unlikeliest of places, in the unlikeliest of moments, and in the presence of some of the unlikeliest of people.

As I wrote in one of my previous posts:

Those who are born of the Spirit and live according to the Spirit freely go wherever the Spirit wishes without thought of consequence or religious and social norms.  They don’t fit.  They’re awkward... even strange to a world of boxes, systems and strategies. We ridicule them… make little jokes and remarks about them.  These Spirit walkers often seem foolish to us.  Sometimes their lives and actions don’t fit with the program.  You can’t fence them in or make sense of them.  You never quite get what they’re about – And just when you think you’ve figured out a piece of them, off they go again.  They’re usually not one of the boys/girls.  They’re on the fringe… outside the norm.  And while they love the Lord and love people, they’re not bound by our rules, nor do they answer to the world of men.  They're indifferent to the approval of men.  So shall it be with you.  “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 NASB)

But what these Spirit walkers have in common is that they seek first the kingdom of God, whatever the cost.  And when they do that, God be praised, they find themselves seeking “His righteousness” which comes by actively living out their faith in Jesus.   And God be praised, community is what we are blessed with when we seek first His kingdom – because His kingdom happens to involve people.  And God be praised, we call that community “the church,” which is the heavenly provision and anticipated outcome of God’s people simply being God’s people.  Cool, huh? 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness… (Mt 6:33a NIV)

This Book Will Break Your Heart

"This book will break your heart... in a good way."  That's what I said to the 15 or so guys that I had the pleasure of sharing the gospel with this past week at the local mission.  I taught on what it meant to be adopted into the family of God, and what it meant to be a child of the King.  As part of that, I read a page from the book Kisses From Katie.  This young woman (Katie Davis), when she was around 19 yrs old, left everything here in the U.S., moved to Uganda, fell in love with the children there, provides them with free schooling, and ended up adopting 13 Ugandan girls as her own.  She lives there with them today.  My wife has been reading this book to the family over the last week or two.