#19: THE KINGDOM
So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Hello fellow sojourners. Welcome back to our weekly newsletter. This is where you can find prayers, promises, and treasures on the narrow way. Written for the one in need of a drink of living water.
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He [Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:19-21)
This is where we are being led—barren places to birth beautiful promises. There is only one way forward on the narrow way: grow strong in faith.
To trust anything, faith is required. There is always risk involved.
Every time we get in our cars we trust they will get us where we need to go. Every time we trust another person there is a risk they will let us down. Our bank accounts will fail us. Our jobs can't sustain us. Our bodies break and let us down (all the time).
We put our faith in perishable things because that's what we do. But why do we complicate putting our faith in the Lord?
God is writing a story in our lives of His faithfulness. Never in the Bible has the emphasis been on our great track record of doing the right thing. It is the complete opposite. We do what we wish we didn't and are constantly distracted from one thing to the next. Our sinful human nature from the fall of Adam dominates our thinking and way of life.
Until the second Adam came.
Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God. He is the One who created all things and upholds the universe by the word of His power. He is trustworthy to uphold our lives. I pray today we receive fresh faith to keep going. He who promised is faithful.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Cor. 4:7-12)
We live in the narrow way tension between the cross and the resurrection. We participate in the realities of both. We lay hold of the riches of resurrection while still having to endure this age of the cross. Although a life of constantly being pressed and changed can be exhausting, this is the most beautiful offering we could give Jesus.
Will You change me to be like You?
The tension is where we meet Jesus: enduring the cross and holding fast to His resurrection. We hold on to the promise that as we are given over to death, the life of Jesus will fill every empty place.
So death is at work in us, but life in you. When we say yes to the cross, grace is extended to others. We testify that the Holy Spirit dwells in us when our lives are founded on the kingdom of God. Our individual obedience strengthens the Church to lay hold of all Jesus paid for.
Jesus' resurrection is the promise of our own. When giving ourselves over to death, it is not to afflict ourselves out of religious zeal. It is also not to endure suffering and thinking that we please God because of our pain.
He is grieved by our suffering—to the degree that He sacrificed His Son to end it. We addressed last week how Paul never spoke about giving ourselves over to death without the promise of resurrection.
As we sow our perishable resources into the imperishable kingdom of God, it will look like death to our natural eye. This requires bearing the reproach of men's misunderstanding and comments of "what a waste". But there will come a day when the perishable meets the imperishable. When Jesus returns all of our shame will be transformed into glory in the greatest worldwide display. This is the day we are waiting for.
Jesus' resurrection is the outward declaration of death's destruction.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corin. 15:51-55)
What does it mean to give ourselves over to death? Colossians 3 gives us specific instructions:
We are told to put to death what is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying. (Col. 3:5-10)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly... (Col. 3:12-16)
We put off our old self by putting on our new one. We set our hearts on these things: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, long-suffering, forgiveness, love, and peace. Obedience to Jesus is not complicated. We could simplify obedience as loving the Lord and loving others the way we are loved by Him. The revelation of Jesus and ministry of the Holy Spirit flow through these virtues in us.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18)
There is nothing more important than being renewed in the word of God and His presence daily. The key to becoming like Jesus is to look at Him. It is not to make ourselves "die" more but look at Him more.
We grow in humility by looking at Jesus' humility. We grow in love by looking at how Jesus loved. We grow in forgiveness by looking at how Jesus forgave.
When we sit with Jesus, we ask the question: What is the kingdom of God?
Then, we dig and discover the answer.
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Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matt. 4:4)