A paradox lies at the heart of the new Kingdom that we are a part of. On one hand, the day that a person submits their life to Jesus, they are forever a part of a new Kingdom. Paul says “you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…”
In another sense, we will only ever experience a small fraction of the Kingdom life in this fallen world. Most of the Kingdom life is to come. In fact Jesus teaches us to pray “Your kingdom come (Your will be done)”[2] in the same sermon just a few verses later. There is a future, as well as a present, aspect to the Kingdom.
So how can the kingdom be here and yet still lie in the future? You may be thinking, “Pastor, that’s the kind of question theologians debate. I don’t care about that. That has absolutely nothing to do with my life.” In fact, it has a lot to do with your life. It is one of the most practical questions a person could ask. Our present role in the Kingdom and the promise of a future kingdom both lie at the heart of the Christian life.
Disciples are members of a new, eternal kingdom while they are still living in the kingdom of this world. Peter gives this exhortation in 1 Peter 2:11, “I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
I once had another pastor tell me that he stopped talking to his church about spiritual warfare. He was afraid that his congregation would start seeing demons around every corner and it would cripple them. Although I understand his hesitation, I’m even more concerned that we’ll forget that we’re in a battle if we don’t talk about spiritual warfare.
The new life of the disciple is opposed on every side: by the world, by the devil, and by our own flesh. We engage in an epic struggle every day! Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” For this reason, the Christian is engaged in a daily battle that is far more intense than anything they experienced before they submitted their life to Jesus.
Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:19-20, “19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”
If our King was tested, tempted, opposed, rejected, and eventually crucified by this fallen world, then it shouldn’t surprise us that being part of God’s kingdom will involve an ongoing, epic struggle against the world. But, we don’t struggle only against the world, but against our own selves. Paul said in Romans 7:22-25
“ 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
We often carry into the new kingdom old habits and old ways of thinking from the old kingdom. Even for a godly person, it can be an epic struggle to rid themselves of the sin that once reigned supreme in their life.[3]
The Beatitudes belong to an entirely different world than the one we currently dwell in. They are Kingdom principles for God’s people. They speak of how to invite God’s blessing into our lives both now and in the future.
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