One of my not so favourite childhood memories is that of my mum pulling my ears and forcing me to eat omena(an interesting delicacy of tiny little fish that is most enjoyed by those of us from the lakeside) Now, over the years of course I have come to appreciate it as a delicacy- it can even taste like pringles (depending on how it’s cooked of course), but when I was young it always felt like I had eaten a mouthful of stinging bitter stuff and I just could not swallow. I kept imagining them alive and swimming around in my mouth.
My mum with hands akimbo and a terrifying look on her face would say.
’In this house, we always eat what HAS been cooked. Umesikia?’
Over the years I heard my mum repeat that sentence a gazillion times varying just slightly on the point she was trying to make.
If you want to live in this house, you must do your chores or you don’t eat. (Never mind that we were having omena for supper)
In this house we don’t fight with each other
In this house you do what I tell you to do... etc.
The thing about going through the book of Mathew is that you find that in many ways Jesus is speaking about how things ought to be done in the fellowship of believers. In Mathew (as with the entire gospels) we find many references to the Kingdom of God.
I am not even going to pretend to go into the theology of The Kingdom of God Vs Kingdom of Heaven, whether a particular scripture is referring to the past kingdom the present kingdom or the soon coming kingdom; because I am not sure I’ve fully grasped it personally. Pastor Calisto when speaking on the bliss of zero defined The Kingdom of God as:
...a place where the reign of God is experienced, its much bigger than just the church and it is here with us today. He further said that once you accept Christ, you become a member of the Kingdom.
Ever been somewhere new and struggled to find out how things operate? What to do and what not to do? Based on Pastor Calisto’s definition and the idea of living Counter culture we will attempt to explore what it means to part of this Kingdom. How we ought to live, how we ought not to live. What’s our belief system, our values, our privileges? What about the principles and attitudes? What kind of relationships should we have with each other, with unbelievers? Do we have rights and responsibilities, as members of this Kingdom?
All these q's I believe have been answered and will be answered as we go through the book of Mathew and I cannot wait to put down the things that God will teach us through The Saturday PM. So every once in a while in a post tagged In this Kingdom I will share what it means to be part of this Kingdom. Just the way my mum wanted things done is a certain way in our family, we will find out how this family runs. A family of diverse races and walks of life, diverse ages and backgrounds, diverse tribes and skin colour.
The difference between my mum and the King is that it always seemed that there a rule or other to be followed in the house but in this Kingdom, this family, it’s much much more than just a list of do’s and don’ts. Its about freedom, joy and evalsting life.
Dr Myles Munroe is one of those teachers of the word who exposes the Kingdom of God in such mind boggling (yet simple) ways that makes you wonder whether you really are part of this Everlasting Kingdom and how much you really know about it. I listened to once and I have never looked at this teaching quite the same.
Let me know what you think.
For the Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the holy ghost. Romans 14:17.
