Kingdom of God; how to follow Christ
The Kingdom, and what it means
Jesus came to set up an entirely new kingdom. His kingdom was for people who trusted Jesus. The Holy Spirit now lived in these people. Jesus did not want to change things in a small way. He was a real revolutionary. (A revolutionary is a person who starts a revolution. But Jesus' revolution was not political. Instead, Jesus set up the kingdom of God.) That was why he was born in a stable, and not in a palace, or into a royal family.
People in this world often want only what will give them pleasure. Some people desire money and some people desire power. We recognise such attitudes in the way that the Pharisees and other people behaved towards Jesus.
But Jesus came to establish a new kingdom. People who belong to this new kingdom love perfectly. They serve other people humbly.
A kingdom for new men and new women
Like any other revolutionary, Jesus saw wrong things in society. For this new kingdom, he would need new men and women. He needed people whom the Holy Spirit had changed. They would have new hearts and they would love in a different way.
Also like any revolutionary, he asked us to obey him totally. But he is also not like today‘s revolutionaries. His methods are totally fair and loving. Other revolutionaries would not hesitate to use cruel methods to achieve their ambitions. But Jesus was gentle and humble.
How to follow Christ
Just after Peter‘s words at Caesarea Philippi, we read these words.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple. 25 Whoever wants to keep his life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me will have true life. 26 A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life. 27 I tell you all this because I, the Son of Man, will come back to this earth with God's angels. When I come, I will have the powerful beauty of my Father. I will see what each person has done on earth. Then I will pay them what is right. 28 I tell you this: When I, the Son of Man, come with power, some people who are standing here will see me at that time. Before they die, they will see me begin to rule in my kingdom.’
Matthew 16:24-28 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
Do we want to follow Christ? Then we must give up our own desires. We must give up the desire to do what other people do. We must give up our jealous ambitions. In these verses, Jesus showed that people are very foolish in this world. Whatever they gain in this world is not really useful. It will have no value when Jesus comes again to judge the world. It will have no value when we live with him, after death. But suppose that someone did gain the whole world. That person would lose his soul. And he would lose his life with Jesus. Jesus came to give us a completely full life (John 10:10). This only comes to people who follow him completely. So, when we serve Jesus, we should be totally sincere.
Earlier, when Jesus taught his disciples on the mountain, he said this. We cannot trust anything that we own. It is not safe to do this. In the end that thing will disappoint us. If we have money or valuable possessions, thieves can steal them. Many possessions will lose their value because time will spoil them. If we trust only our family or friends, they will also disappoint us. God made people. He designed people so that they would trust him alone. We are completely safe only when we do that. Jesus came to forgive us. He wants to give us peace with God, and Jesus wants to give us eternal life, and security. Because of Jesus, anyone can trust God. First, that person must be really sorry for his sin. Then that person can turn to God. God will make that person a citizen of the Kingdom of God. But we must give up the behaviour and attitudes of people who do not obey God.
What does a Christian have to give up?
What does the Christian have to give up? Jesus asks us to give up our sin. He offers to forgive us. He gives us eternal life. We trust him. So, we believe that God‘s word [the Bible] is true. And the Bible teaches new attitudes to us.
The life of the apostle Paul shows us this. When he became a Christian, he gave up a good career. He gave up the chance to be an important man in his nation. Even although he was young, he was already a leader. He gave all this up for Christ. There were more things that he had to give up later. But Paul always said that he gained so much more. What he gained in Christ was much better than his old life. Paul had new attitudes now. To do well in his career was not important to him now. Popularity was not important now. What was important was to please God. We can see this when we read his letters. Nothing else in life could satisfy him. He was really happy only when he was pleasing God. Here are his words.
7 All those ideas seemed very important to me then. But now they are worth nothing to me, because I trust in Christ. 8 Yes, now that I know Christ Jesus as my Lord, that is the most valuable thing. Nothing else is important at all. I have thrown everything else away, so that I can serve Christ. All those other things are like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I can have Christ. 9 I want to be united with him. Because I believe in Christ, God accepts me as right with him. I know that I cannot become right in any other way, even if I obey all of God's Law. When I trust in Christ, God accepts me as right because of my faith.
10 Yes, I want to know Christ better and better. I want to know the power which God showed when Christ rose from death. I want to have the same kind of troubles that he did. I want to obey God like he did in his death.
Philippians 3:7-10 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
The apostles could not possibly know this when Jesus was with them. Their ideas about Jesus' Kingdom were still wrong. But they knew enough to understand this. Jesus was the Saviour. God had promised this Saviour. So, they should trust him. And they should obey him.
Read: John 6
