Luke 13:18-21
Then Jesus asked, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.' Again he asked, 'What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.'
Jesus has used a couple things as analogies for the Kingdom of God here: God's Kingdom is like mustard seed or yeast, which means God's Kingdom is not static, and it can continuously expand. It might be small at first, just like mustard seed or yeast. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He only left a few disciples behind, and from the view of people those disciples won't be able to do much, because they were merely fishermen or ordinary people. If it was up to you and me, we wouldn't have picked those people as disciples, but we'll pick some experts in marketing or management. The Lord, however, entrusted the mission to expand the Kingdom of Heaven to these seemingly ordinary people. Because they did not depend on their own might or authority, but rather depended on the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel everywhere, they brought forth change wherever they went.
In the Book of Acts, there were accusations against the disciples at the time, saying that they were turning the world around. Indeed, it is the mission which the Kingdom of God has given us while we're in the world, to expand the Kingdom and to influence the whole world. Kingdom of God is not just to spread the gospel, but it's also about bringing justice and equity into a wicked world. The unfairness in the world cannot be resolved by social reform, because no matter how many reforms take place the selfish nature of people will not be changed, and the reforms only lead to the formation of another privileged class. A society with true fairness and justice can only happen with the Kingdom of God. After the gospel was preached in China, the change it brought forth was more than spiritual, but rather change in culture and life, including abolition of feet binding by women, promotion of science and education, movement to ban drugs, establishment of hospitals, creation of newspapers, etc. These are all changes that were brought forth by the gospel.
Therefore, in the expansion of Kingdom of Heaven, we are facing an all-out war, just like a military war that is fought with army, navy and air force together. God's Kingdom must be expanded in all directions, so not only are full-time servants like pastors and missionaries needed, people of all professions and walks of life need to put on their armor of gospel and spread the gospel wherever they are. Have you ever thought about how to match your professional expertise with the Kingdom of God? God wanted believers like us to remain on earth in order to expand the Kingdom of Heaven through us till the return of Jesus Christ. May the Spirit of the Lord help us to see the will of God, and to be willing to offer ourselves to work feverishly for the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.