Thank you for joining us in this ongoing study on the Kingdom of God. For the introduction to this study, read the blog here. Follow this link to find the workbook for this study. Follow each of these links to see Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, and Week 7. Visit the YouTube Channel for teaching videos.

I highly recommend completing the worksheets for a week before reading the blog or watching the teaching video – listen to what God has to teach you through His Word.

From the moment Jesus ascended into Heaven, it fell on His followers to carry the mantle of His teaching. It was a very confusing time for the church as they learned to find their footing in post-Messiah Judaism while waiting eagerly for the return of Jesus. We see at this time in Scripture a distinct switch in wording, as well. While we have dug through all the Old Testament and the gospels to focus on references to the Kingdom and the coming King, the New Testament search for the Kingdom is necessarily different.

While we can find a few references to the Kingdom in the New Testament letters, what we find more often is the term “the gospel of Jesus Christ.” This is what the New Testament church is advocating and preaching throughout the known world. We can see, though, that this “gospel” is the Greek word “evangelion” which is literally translated to “the good news.” And what is the “good news” of Jesus Christ? That the King has come! And that by His coming He has created a way to the Kingdom. In essence, then, “the gospel of Christ” is the gateway to the Kingdom.

When we consider it this way, we can see there is much to be dug from the New Testament regarding Kingdom living – who is invited, how those of the kingdom are to live now, and what the threats against the kingdom look like.

When we turn past the pages of the gospels, though, we have one book that is the turning point between the life of Jesus Christ and the life of the Church. Acts is our window into what was happening among the followers of Christ after His departure and how the gospel was spread. About halfway through Acts, we can almost see the switch being flipped. While there have been sprinklings of hints throughout the Old Testament prophets and history, as well as throughout Jesus’s teachings, that the Kingdom would one day open for all of mankind to enter should they choose, at the beginning of Acts, the apostles are still very closely focused on the Jewish community. Yet, in Acts chapter 10, we see a God-ordained appointment between a faithful Gentile, Cornelius, who has seen a vision which instructs him to send for Peter, and Peter himself, the head of the Christian assembly, who has seen a vision instructing him to go with the men that arrive for him. But in Peter’s vision there is more – a clear indication that the rules are changing. Peter’s vision and this call to the house of Cornelius makes it evident to Peter “that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34).

To us, living a couple millennia after the time of Christ, it seems so obvious that the gospel is for everyone. But to the early church, this was earth-shattering. Because at the moment that Cornelius and his household believe, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Jewish followers of Christ did after Jesus departed. This gift of the Spirit coming upon Gentile believers shakes the very foundations of the New Testament church. When Peter shares this news with the Church, “they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life’” (Acts 11:18). It is not long after this point when they begin to send Saul, later called Paul, and his companions on journeys to carry the gospel to all nations. And for the rest of the New Testament we will see this tension between those born into the people of God by flesh and those born in by Spirit, and how the two will become one nation – a Kingdom for God.

So much of this tension comes when the Jewish believers don’t know how to welcome in Gentile believers – because are they Jewish now? And what about this law the Jews have been following? Because, remember, they’ve been trying to do this thing right ever since the time of exile centuries before. So, now that these Gentiles are here, shouldn’t they also follow the law?

It can be hard for us to understand, again, being so far removed from this time in history. But since the time of Abraham, being part of “the people of God” was something one was born into. It was culture and it was religion tied together as one in a way that could not be separated. If you were Jewish, that was everything you were – it was how you lived, how you worshiped, how you interacted with the community at large. Being Jewish affected what you ate, who you ate with, who you did business dealings with. Peter even eating with Gentiles back in Acts 10 would have been unthinkable, which is why God had to send him a vision giving him permission to do so.

If these Jewish believers had never even allowed themselves interaction with the Gentiles in their midst, can we imagine how difficult it would have been to understand what it meant to let them not only be in their assembly, but to worship alongside them? And when your religion has also been your culture for your whole life, can we imagine how hard it would be to figure out how to let these Gentiles, who don’t have any of your culture, worship your God beside you, without compelling them to follow the law and, in every way, to become Jewish?

And so it fell on the New Testament authors, particularly Paul, who was a primary emissary to the Gentiles, to explain this distinction, to both Jews and Gentiles. To help them understand that when they were entering this Kingdom through the gateway of Christ, they no longer needed the entry provided by the Law. This was completely incomprehensible. It can be equally incomprehensible to us – this idea of how to live for the Kingdom in a world that looks nothing like the Kingdom can be difficult to grasp. If you are American it can be difficult to grasp in the same way that it was for the Jews – because we are a country that was, in theory, founded on Christian principles, who for so long was considered to be a Christian nation (and still is by many in the Eastern world), and yet is so very far from the gospel. Separating our culture from our religion can be hard – and the converse is hard, too. How do we live as Christ-followers, Kingdom-bearers, when we are dwelling in a land that is so far from understanding the Kingdom?

We, like the Jews, can tend toward legalism, because it can almost be easier to point to a list of do’s and don’ts, so we know who is in and who is out just by looking at their lives and whether or not they’re following the rules. And, yet, what we read in the New Testament is so very contrary to this idea.

In Romans 8, Paul makes a distinction between a life lived according to the flesh – that is, the Law, which makes all of the rules for how the flesh ought to behave – and the life lived according to the Spirit – for whom “the righteous requirement of the law” (Romans 8:4) was fulfilled in Christ. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6). In other words – when we are so focused on the things our bodies can and cannot do, we are focused on the things of this world. We’re looking for lines we can’t cross, while asking how close we can get to the line. We’re looking for permission to do the things our bodies want to do. But if we’re looking, instead, not at what the “rules” say we can do, but at what would please the Spirit, it’s an entirely different view. If we’re seeking only to please the Spirit of God, and not for loopholes that allow us to please the flesh, we will be living lives of peace.

In Galatians 3, Paul dives into this topic even further. Here he discusses that the law given in the Old Testament was “our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Galatians 3:24-25). In other words, the law was put in place in the Old Testament to watch over God’s Kingdom, to give them a clear picture of what it looked like to be a part of His Kingdom, but only until the true King came to pave the way. Again, the law was the gateway to the Kingdom until the King came to be the way. Now that the King has come, our faith in Him is the only thing necessary to enter the Kingdom. And if faith in the King is all that is necessary, we are not bound as slaves any longer to the law. Therefore, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). So that now those who are children of the promise to Abraham – the promise to make his descendants into a nation – are not those who are descendants by blood, but those who are heirs and descendants through faith, which now comes through belief in Christ. God’s Kingdom is now open for all who believe and who are declared righteous through faith in Christ.

Of course, this release from slavery to the Law can also bring all sorts of questions and confusion. Does this mean, then, that anyone following Christ can simply do whatever they please, so long as they’re covered by faith? In theory, yes. But this is the difference between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit – because if the Spirit is dwelling within us, we will long to please the Spirit more than the flesh, not because we have to, but because that’s what love does. When we love, we long to do what pleases the one we love. This, then, is now no longer a law of the flesh, it is a law of love.

As Paul puts it, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13-14). If, as Jesus Himself taught, we are living lives that are so in love with God and with those He created, we wouldn’t need any kind of law anyway. So this freedom from the law is not a freedom that gives way to flesh – for, it’s mentioned multiple times in the New Testament that if we are living lives of the flesh, we are bound by the law and we will not inherit the kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21) – but it is a freedom that gives way to love others well because we have been well-loved.

1 John says it best, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [payment] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11). We have received a love that is so much higher than we could ever deserve. Therefore, let us love others in the same way.

So, then, what does this life lived in the Spirit look like? Well, that takes us back to Galatians. There, at the end of chapter 5, Paul contrasts a life lived in the flesh with one lived in the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). That last part is affirming, again, that if you are living in this way so that you are producing this fruit of the Spirit, you have no need of a law, because there is no law against loving others, having joy, living lives of peace, being patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, or self-controlled. What need is there for a law when this is the kind of life we live?

And what’s so much more beautiful about this passage is that these qualities are listed as the “fruit” of the Spirit. What is fruit? Google tells me it is the “product of a tree or other plant that contains seed.” And when we’re talking spiritually, what is the seed, again, that Jesus taught of? The seed was the word of the Kingdom. The seed is what led to Kingdom growth. If we consider the life cycle of a plant, we can see that the Word would be planted in us. And if our hearts are good soil ready for that seed, it sprouts and develops the Kingdom within us, so we become, as we discussed last week, Kingdom bearers walking around on Earth waiting for a Not Yet Kingdom. And as we are walking around on Earth, the Spirit now dwelling within us is producing fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc – and that fruit, these lives we live according to the Spirit, produces the seed for others – the seed that can be planted in their hearts that can lead to more Kingdom growth and more Kingdom bearers. This is how we spread God’s Kingdom on Earth – by living lives of the Spirit. By living out of love for God and deep, genuine, pure love for others.

This is how in a dark, broken, crumbling world, the hurting, crippled of the Earth can see God now. They can see His Kingdom now. In the love that we offer. This world may be owned by the prince of darkness, but God’s Kingdom is within us who have chosen to follow Christ and it is spreading if we are living in a way that seeks to please the Spirit within us. This is how God’s kingdom can come. This life of love is His will that must be done Now while we wait for the Not Yet.

But, as mentioned, if we are spreading God’s Kingdom in the midst of a world dominated by the Enemy, we are not working unopposed. Satan will fight back. He “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan does not want us to produce fruit. Satan does not want us loving others well. He will seek to cause division so we are so busy fighting one another that we don’t have time or focus to fight him. He wants us promoting the law, knowing that it will cause others to focus on the flesh and lose sight of the Spirit.

Ephesians 6 tells us more about how to be ready for this fight for the kingdom. Here in verse 10-18 are listed the components of our armor against the battle brought upon by the Enemy. We have talked much about faith – our entry to the Kingdom – and the Spirit by whom we live. These two are the most essential elements to our Spiritual battle. Our faith, as Ephesians 6:16 tells us, is our shield against the flaming arrows Satan sends at us, and the Spirit is our sword, our weapon to fight back. We defend ourselves in faith, we take ground against the Enemy through Spirit – through the Word of God.

Therefore, let those of us who are Kingdom dwellers, Kingdom bearers, fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12). Let us “be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men [have courage], be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

Find the companion teaching video for this week’s lesson here.

For the introduction to this study, read the blog here. Follow this link to find the workbook for this study. Follow each of these links to see Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, and Week 7. Visit the YouTube Channel for teaching videos.