Work and the Kingdom of God
(The following is the text of the video, “Work and the Kingdom of God” found HERE.)
In your daily work as a Christian, what should be your peak priority? What should you aim for above all? Is the whole point only a secure and comfortable retirement?
You know the two greatest commandments: love God with all you’ve got and love fellow humans as yourself. Should those top your priority list? Actually, Jesus named something else: “Seek first his [God’s] Kingdom and his righteousness.” Put God’s Kingdom first and loving God and others will follow.
It seems, though, that a great many Christians have little or no idea what God’s kingdom is. How can you aim for something if it’s just a blur? Some think the term “Kingdom of God” is merely another way of saying heaven. For them, seeking first God’s Kingdom means going to heaven when they die.
But no, God’s Kingdom is not heaven when we die. Let’s unpack the word “kingdom.” KING. What do kings do? They rule. They have say-so power. The last half of Kingdom is -DOM, which means jurisdiction. So a kingdom is a king’s authority to rule.
What King has authority in heaven, where God lives, and here on earth, where we live? The name of that King is J-E-S-U-S. As he himself said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”Jesus’ authority to rule makes him King everywhere on earth. So wherever you live and work on earth, you are doing so inside his jurisdiction.
But there’s a serious problem. Other forces are competing for the authority over you. We might call these “evil rulers,” because if you seek to follow them, they will sooner or later ruin you. The first of these evil rulers is Satan, the devil—the one our foreparents decided to seek first instead of God. Afterward they were, so to speak, “chained” or enslaved. Because Adam and Eve let him rule them, Satan displaced God in their lives. In this way the devil gained for himself what the Bible calls a “dominion of darkness.” As Jesus put it, “the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.”
But this evil one, Satan, has two deputies to assist him in his evil rule. The first is SIN. Jesus said “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” And Paul cautions us not to “let sin rule your body.”Satan’s other deputy is SELF. Ego takes over when self rules. Paul speaks of the “old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires” (Eph 4:22).
This, then, is our predicament. Rulers other than God have bound us with chains we cannot break. Because God rules in heaven, his will is done there. But here on earth, where Satan, sin, and self rule, God’s will is not done.
Centuries ago, God said he would come to our rescue. This promise from Micah 5:2 echoes many in the Old Testament. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah . . . out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.” God promised to intervene and send the rightful Ruler to be born in Bethlehem.
When that Ruler, Jesus, came and began his public ministry, he opened it with these words: “The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent, and believe the good news.” The Kingdom of God had come near. Because King Jesus had come, the Kingdom of God had penetrated earth. As the rightful Ruler, Jesus had all authority in heaven and on earth.
On the cross, King Jesus died so our sins could be forgiven. But he did something to those other rulers that we could not do on our own. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Jesus’ death accomplished “disarmament.” Satan no longer has the right to rule us: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Sin has lost its power over us: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
And self, too, has been disarmed: “Our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
All this disarmament means that we can now live under the beneficial rule of Jesus in the Kingdom of God. With Jesus as our King, we are finally free to do what God designed us to do: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”
As you seek first the Kingdom of God, Jesus will establish his rule within you. This will open the way for him to rule through you in acts of self-giving love. In this way, your life and work will contrast sharply from the life and work of those still taking their cues from the old rulers of Satan, sin, and self.
How will making God’s rule your priority change the way you listen to those you work with?
How will seeking first God’s Kingdom steer you in dealing with the sexual harassment so common in countless workplace environments?
How will seeking first God’s Kingdom affect your stance toward workplace gossip?
How will seeking God’s Kingdom first change the way you use your employer’s property—including what you watch on company computers?
How will seeking first God’s Kingdom guide you when work issues are igniting outbursts of anger that wound and alienate coworkers?
How will seeking God’s Kingdom first in your work influence your willingness to forgive others who wrong you?
Centuries ago, Paul sent this written counsel to working people in Colossae: “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Think of it! Maybe you report to the political head of your country. Or perhaps you answer to the owner of a tiny firm. In either case, make God’s Kingdom your top priority. This will allow King Jesus to rule within you and to extend his rule through you in self-giving acts of loving service to others.
From Chapter Three:
“As Christ-followers do their work, they are able, under the true King, to rule their various spheres on earth” (p. 25).
