The Implications of King Jesus the Day before Election Day

'Twas the day before election day and I can't help but think about the implications of King Jesus...

I'm reminded afresh of who I am and who I serve.  At the core of my identity I am a part of a "chosen nation" (1 Pe. 2:9).   My "nation" is first not any earthly nation with borders, but the kingdom of God.  Allegiance to King Jesus always comes before any American patriotism.

I have been elected by God the Father not via democracy but by His sovereign choice.  I did not choose my Ruler.  I did not get a vote in the process of my election.  My Ruler chose me.    

As my pastor aptly pointed out in yesterday's sermon, I do not have deserved "rights" in this kingdom, as I do in America, anything I have is "undeserved."  Being a King's kid has thousands of priviledges that are greater then being an American, yet every priviledge is derived from grace and never from rights that I deserve or fought for.  Every priviledge has been given to me, even though I committed treason, by my sinfulness, against the King of the Kingdom.  I did not fight for any right, rather the King fought for me and bought me every "spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3).

My King served me in a way I could never serve myself.  King Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). This is an odd King.  Rather then sending His subjects and citizens to death--this King "gives his life."  However, that is not nuanced enough, for I too am called to suffer as a follower of King Jesus.  If the State demands my allegiance to say that anything or anyone else is "Lord" besides King Jesus, I do not bow.  At that point I am called to die in allegiance to King Jesus, rather then say anything or anyone else is my sovereign.

The kings of the earth, and many Presidents, think they rule and act in a way as if they are the only Sovereign.  Rather, they are ruled.  Any sovereignty of any nation's ruler is derived and curbed in the soverignty of King Jesus.  Jesus is the "ruler of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5).  I give a President to much clout when I am overly excited or overly depressed about the outcome of any election, because that President is ruled by King Jesus.

America is not my home.  In fact, the whole earth I will inherit.  The Gospel of the Kingdom has no borders.  The message of the Kingdom is for every border and every tribe and tongue.  I need to live in such a way that reflects that my concern is not chiefly American, but for the whole earth.  I am a part of a kingdom that is mutinational and multiethnic.  If I live and think and breathe only for the American agenda I probably am not living the life of the Kingdom as I should.  This does not mean I am to be unAmerican or a passive citizen.  On the contrary, I am to "honor the" President and to live as an honorable and dutiful citizen (1 Pe. 2:17).  I am thankful for this country and glad to be a citizen of it, yet I am an alien on the earth and resident of heaven, and an inheritor of the new heavens and the new earth where "righteousnes dwells" (2 Pe. 3:13).

I reject conservative self-righteousness and liberal naivete.  I am called to the upside-down values of the Kingdom: where the last is first, the internal is more important than the external, and the Gospel fulfills the Law.  

There has been a whole lot of "I" in this little blog.  That itself is a bit wrong-headed for the "I" individualism of the America does not reflect the corporate and "we-us" language of the Bible.  I am a part of the people of God.  "I" am called to live not for self but for "us."

Party-agendas and platforms, no matter what one, do not sum up who I am or what I stand for.  I am an ambassador for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the true Lord of the world and King of Kings.  I proclaim His message that frees people from sin, that which no political party's message can ever do.  I proclaim the historical event that Jesus died and was resurrected, and by doing so forgave sinners, defeated the devil, and triumphed over death.  This message, this Gospel of the Kingdom, is what I am called to live for and die for.  

Democracy may be good, but it is not eternal.  I am a servant of King Jesus.  My knee will bow to King Jesus, as my temporary vote is cast tomorrow.

Live-Blogging the Kingdom Paper

I'm writing a paper on the kingdom of God today. The following blog I will update off and on throughout the day on my writing and other's writings on this wonderful subject:

• Noon-ish: George Eldon Ladd writes, "The Kingdom of God is His kingship, His rule, His authority." (p. 21, TGK)

• Two-ish: I state: "Instead of subduing the earth and reigning as God’s good agent in creation, Adam rebelled and God subjected the earth to futility and the power of Satan, sin, and death entered God’s good world. However this subjection by God the King and Creator was not one of ultimate rejection. At the same time of sin came the promise, the protoevangelion, from the Creator that the offspring of woman would bruise the head of the serpent."

• Three-ish: Me again: "The kingdom of God is for God’s glory, and if this is obfuscated the kingdom is stripped of its meaning and its proclamation loses its very center and can become something else altogether. This is why Jesus consistently preached the kingdom in the power of Holy Spirit as a part His vocation and mission to give glory to His Father, and by fulfilling the Father’s mission Jesus—God’s Son and Son of man—was killed and resurrected by God and vindicated as Lord of the world and King of Kings. This God-centered and Jesus-centered nature of the kingdom is not simply an assumption but its pinnacle and its clear and radical proclamation is the responsibility of the ambassadors of the King’s kingdom."

• 4:48: The Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 15:24: "...Then comes the end, when [Jesus] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and authority and power." Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

• 6:00: I write: "The error of a ecclesiological triumphalism can occur in those that insist that all blessings of God’s new age are always available now at the whim of the human will cloaked within the guise of an overly spiritualized “anointing”, and in contrast, the greater error, is seen in the rejection of God’s Messiah Jesus as not being the fulfillment of the promises and as bearer of God’s kingdom “now” presence—Immanuel."

• 6:30: Written earlier: "The church now, as Jesus did, proclaims the kingdom of God and does so in its connection to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as the blessings of the “not-yet” kingdom came into the “already” by the historical Jesus, so now in the church does the future blessings of the coming consummated kingdom come into the present by the power of the Holy Spirit—who is the Spirit of Jesus."

• 7:00: Yes, me again: "As Jesus willingly went to His death, He knew that without the laying down of His life (the cross) and taking it back again (the resurrection) his vocation as inaugurator of the kingdom would not be fulfilled. Just because the cross-resurrection events of Jesus are at the end of the Gospels do not mean they are footnotes to the concept of kingdom, quite to the contrary,—they are indeed the consummation of what He inaugurated during His earthly ministry."