Ministry-ment #2 - "Pursue the Kingdom"

My first smart phone was a Blackberry.  I loved that phone, an upgrade from my trusty Nokia.  It had a colour display.  Tactile keypad.  Mouse ball.  Stereo sound.  Surf the internet.  Download apps.  Text messaging all over the world for free.  No more click-click-click-click to type the letter “s.”  This was a serious technological advance with apps to keep the experience constantly improving.

And then, a year later, it was upgraded.  A new Blackberry.  How exciting!  The mouse ball was now a track pad, the colour display was bigger, there were even more apps.

And then, a year later, it was upgraded.  A new Blackberry.  Why?  The old one was working just fine.  Now I had to go through the hassle of transferring all my contacts.  I discovered some of my apps didn’t work on the new phone.  And this new iPhone thing had even more apps and a better camera . . .

And so it goes - “upgrade” after “upgrade.”  Each iteration of technology purporting to be better than the previous when, in reality, there is very little real-life advantage.  I quickly jumped off the annual upgrade hamster wheel.  I even bought new batteries to keep my old phones going - until the manufacturers figured out what I and thousands of others were doing.  Now batteries are integrated and can’t be replaced.

Technology is like that.

Faith isn’t.

Unfortunately, the nature of the “upgrade culture” with its promise of better apps and performance has influenced our faith expectations.  Living by faith is not for the faint of heart.  Jesus used some strong language to describe what it meant to follow Him (Luke 9, Matthew 8).  Paul described a life of faith as similar to the challenges faced by a farmer, a soldier, or an athlete (2 Timothy 2:1-7).  Living by faith demands perseverance and commitment.

Unlike smart phones, life cannot be improved by upgrades and apps.  It would appear there is a plethora of options out there to improve our quality of life.  Many of them are good and valid (after all, all truth is God’s truth!).  But a faith that matures in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) can’t be “improved” by a simple upgrade.  There are no add-ons to make living by faith more palatable or easier.  Instead we find these intimidating words of instruction:

 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  (James 1:1-4 NASB)

Or, how about this one:

Teach me good discernment and knowledge,
For I believe in Your commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes. (Psalm119:66-68 NASB)

There’s no life-hack or add-on there.  Faith is strengthened and matured through its challenges, not its comforts.

Jesus, whose listeners were distracted by the possibility that this One would finally overthrow their enemies and make ancient Israel the permanent world super-power, put it this way:

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:33-34 NASB)

Since worry is the byproduct of stress, Jesus is teaching His disciples - and us - that (a) stress in life is normal and (b) the solution is to pursue life in the Kingdom of God.  In other words, to commit to living by faith as a priority in life.  No short-cuts.  No hacks.  No upgrade solutions.  No apps.

And this brings us to the second “Minstry-ment:”  Thou shalt honour and pursue the Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ instruction to “seek first” doesn’t mean, “The top of your daily to-do list should be devotions.”  He did mean, “The greatest passion and priority in life is to engage with life as a citizen of My Kingdom.”  This is a choice we make.  Living in the Kingdom will challenge what we believe to be true, to have value, and to be real.  Faithfulness as a quality replaces success measured in quantity.  Serving replaces leading.  Suffering may displace comfort.  Humility replaces prestige.  Are we OK with those options?

We must be because there is no other alternative.  This is not to suggest that life in the Kingdom is guaranteed misery.  Far from it!  The Apostle Paul wrote: “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13 NASB) We love to quote that last line but are not so comfortable with the humble, hungry, and suffering part.  

This is life in the Kingdom.

It isn’t about our circumstances.  It is about what drives us, what satisfies us, and what captures our imagination.  When these things are defined by the Kingdom truths Jesus described in Matthew 5-6, then our faith will mature, we will experience authentic joy, and we will represent Christ well.  It is this process, accomplished by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, that will cause people to ask us for the reason for our hope (1 Peter 3:15-16).  This is the transformational power of the Gospel at work in us (Romans 12:1-2).