Years ago I heard a pastor tell of a conversation he had with a fellow passenger on an airplane. As they circled the city waiting to land, the city’s streets and buildings stretched out below them. The man asked, “so pastor, where’s your church? The pastor thought for a minute and then said, well some of them work at that school, another works there in city hall, Johnny owns that car dealership, Mary works at the airport. Of course this wasn’t at all the answer the man was expecting. I remember thinking, wait a minute, that’s right, the church isn’t the building, it isn’t the campus, it’s made of living stones.
Jesus described the Kingdom as being like leaven that when introduced to a large batch of dough works its way throughout (Mt 13:33). Christians are meant to be carriers of the leaven introducing the transforming power of the Kingdom of God wherever they are. Jesus described us as the children of light – light overcomes darkness. Paul said, ” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome (Greek: conquer) evil with good. Jesus gave his followers every expectation that they were ambassadors of a kingdom that cannot fail.
On a Galilean hillside the Lord laid out the philosophy of His kingdom. Blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who are hungry for righteousness…(Mt 5:3-12) As far as manifestos go – this is unusual. Is this the same Kingdom that will break the nations like a rod of iron (Ps 2:9)?
Leaven is very subversive. It works in a quiet, but exponential way. Likewise the invisible Kingdom advances through regenerating hearts and renewing minds. The package in the cupboard reads “active yeast cultures.” Oh that that was true of our churches. How can we make our churches more yeasty?
This is the first of a series of posts on the Philosophy of the Kingdom and the practical application of the beatitudes in the believers worklife.
Adapted from Blessed2Bless: Applying the Timeless Wisdom of the Divine Entrepreneur to Your Life and Business.
