HEAVENLY MINDED

(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)