The Kingdom of God, Student Workbook, SW02

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T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

God’s Reign Invading

Welcome in the strong name of Jesus Christ! After your reading, study, discussion, and application of the materials in this lesson, you will be able to: • Show that the Church of Jesus Christ, as his body and agent, is itself the locus (the place and/or context) of God’s salvation, of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and of the authentic expression of the Kingdom’s life and witness. • See that the Church of Jesus Christ is not only a context, but an agent, a willing and available servant to God in order to advance kingdom purposes in the world.

Lesson Objectives

• Recite from memory a passage relating to the invasion of God’s reign.

The Violence of the Kingdom

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Devotion

Read Luke 14.26-33. No one would expect Jesus to be a person associated with conflict and violence. One so gentle and humble hardly seems the right candidate to have his name and reputation associated with such rugged and grisly realities. Yet, throughout his life and ministry Jesus affirmed that he did not come to bring peace but a sword, resulting even in the separation and alienation of so-called intimate family members (Matt. 10.34). He taught that allegiance with him and his Kingdom demanded all of the life of the disciple (Matt. 13.44 ff.), and that one would necessarily have to rid oneself of all one possessed in order to surrender fully to him (Mark 10.21). As G. E. Ladd has suggested, “The presence of the Kingdom demands radical, violent conduct. Men cannot passively await the coming of the eschatological Kingdom as the Apocalyptists taught. On the contrary, the Kingdom has come to them, and they are to actively, aggressively, and forcefully seize it” ( The Presence of the Future . New York: Harper and Row, 1974, p. 164). To be a disciple is to carry one’s cross, to hate one’s own life, and to forsake everything one has for the treasures in heaven. A kingdom lifestyle that demands no change, no violence is hardly one which is associated with the Son of God, who is the Warrior of God to restore the reign of God in the earth. Let us, therefore, stand and fight as soldiers fully armored for battle (Eph. 6.10-18), fully understanding that Jesus was