(Quotes
are from KJV unless otherwise noted)
Luke
16:16 ERV says:
“Before John
the Baptizer came, people were taught the Law of Moses and the writings of
the prophets. But since the time of
John, the Good News about God’s kingdom is being told. And everyone is trying hard to get into it.” That sure does not seem true today does
it. In fact, I have heard of more and
more churches loosing membership or even closing. What has happened to this strong desire to
get into the Kingdom of God?
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary says (about Luke 16:16):
“…now that the kingdom of God is begun to be preached things take a new
turn; now blessed are the poor, and the mourners, and the persecuted.” The
Pharisees, to requite the people for their high opinion of them, allowed them
in a cheap, easy, formal religion. ‘But,’
saith Christ, ‘now that the gospel is preached the eyes of the
people are opened, and as they cannot now have a veneration for the Pharisees,
as they have had, so they cannot content themselves with such an indifferency
in religion as they have been trained up in, but they press with a holy violence into the kingdom of God.’ Note, those
that would go to heaven must take pains, must strive against the stream, must
press against the crowds that are going the contrary way.”
What
is the difference between our age and the days when John and others first
preached the Gospel? Remember, John did
not say that there was a God who loved and forgave those he spoke to (even
though that was true); he spoke to the needs of his listeners. He spoke to people who did not know they
needed deliverance from their sins. He
did not “tickle” their ears with platitudes.
He told it like it was (and still is), “Repent ye: for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matthew 3); “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,”
(Mark 1:4); “And he came into all the
country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins;” (Luke 3:3).
Now, lest you worry that
promoting repentance for the remission of sins might be too harsh and turn some
people off, over the years we found, like Paul, that we need to be like the
people we speak to in our witnessing in order to reach past their preconceived
ideas and allow the Holy Spirit to touch their souls with God’s Word. Does this mean that we join them in their
sins? No, absolutely not. Paul did not join men in their sins, he
looked at what was in their culture which would catch their attention to give
him a “in” with them so he could share the Gospel (Acts 17:18-34). Did everyone he spoke to believe? Sorry to say, no…but some did! “Howbeit
certain men clave unto him, and believed:” (vs. 34). The Apostle Paul did not compromise his walk
with the Lord to reach unbelievers, but he did pay attention to how they walked
and what could catch their attention.
God changed the Apostle Peter’s
pre-conceived ideas on how to share the Gospel and with who when He sent him to
see the Roman Centurion Cornelius. In
Peter’s time the Jews were not to eat with, discourse with or fellowship with
Gentiles (Acts 10:28), yet under understanding from the Holy Spirit (vs. 34-35)
Peter went and shared the Gospel with Cornelius and his whole household and
while he was still speaking the Holy Spirit manifested Himself to confirm what
Peter did was right (vs. 44). Peter
showed this group of people the way to the Kingdom by first showing the
difference between them and the Jews, then showing them that in Jesus, they
were accepted.
Well, we can often say that
the Apostles of Jesus did mighty acts and drew many believers into the Kingdom,
but we often forget that many other believers were obedient to the promptings
of the Holy Spirit, leading many to the Lord.
Consider the men of Cypress and Cyrene, who first heard the Gospel from
the martyr Stephen. Stephen only shared
with the Jews in his witnessing but these men took the message and went to the
Greeks at Antioch, “And the hand (the
power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed
turned to the Lord [for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as
Messiah and Savior],” ( Acts 11:21).
So, whether individuals or
groups, whether we are blunt “hell-fire-and-brimstone” preachers or propelled
to share the great forgiving Love of our God, we can have mighty results to our
witnessing in leading people to the Lord and confirming them for God’s Kingdom. As a believer YOU ARE a citizen of the
Kingdom of God and as such are called to be Ambassadors for the Kingdom in this
world still stifled with sin.
What
is the Kingdom like? Jesus said in Matthew
13 that the Kingdom of God is like:
- “The seed of the mustard plant. Someone plants this seed in their garden. The seed grows and becomes a tree, and the birds build nests on its branches.” (a mustard seed is about the size of a pin head but grows into a bushy tree thousands of times its original size).
·
“…Yeast
that a woman mixes into a big bowl of flour to make bread. The yeast makes all
the dough rise.” (if you take a cup of flour and mix it with water to make
a dough ball it will remain the same size and density no matter how long you
wait, but if you add yeast, mixing thoroughly, and let it sit for two hours it
will often double or even triple in size and become less dense and light).
·
“…A net that was put into the
lake. The net caught many different kinds of fish.”
(when I was ministering in Jamaica two of the local pastors went fishing on the
northern coast. They used spears but got
an excellent catch, enough to feed 15 people.
The fish they speared all looked different and full of brilliant colors
like you would see in a salt-water fish tank).
Do you see the theme running
through these verses? The Kingdom of God
is something that grows in abundance and variety.
So now, are you wondering why
I titled this article “Heavenly Minded”?
Have you heard the old saying that one should not be so “Heavenly minded
as to do no earthly good”? I propose to
you that this saying is a lie from the enemy.
Should we be earthly-minded and doing earthly things to win others to
Christ? We should “step-into-their-shoes”
as the Apostle Paul did…not joining in their sins but instead acknowledging how
and why they live and worship as they do – then showing them the TRUE way. We should “emulate” the Apostle Peter in that
we listen and obey the direction of the Holy Spirit and speak about Jesus to
whoever He directs…even those we consider undesirables (addicts, prostitutes, rapists,
killers, etc.). Jesus loves EVERY man
and does not want to lose even one, and so should we (2 Pet. 3:9). Are we being compelled to reach out to people
groups that are not normally accepted by believers to join the Kingdom like the
men of Cypress and Cyrene were? This group of men reached out with the only
thing they knew about the Lord Jesus and a great number of people was brought
into the Kingdom.
So, I
encourage you: quit being so
earthly-minded that you are no longer effective for the Kingdom and ask the
Holy Spirit to open your heart and soul to become Heavenly-minded so you can do
some wonderful earthly good “for
the kingdom of heaven is at
hand!”
(Matthew 3:2)