Living with a Kingdom Mindset (part 1)
When Jesus began His ministry, He came preaching the Kingdom of God. Preceded by the same message of John the Baptist, it was His primary sermon. Even before He ascended in Acts 1, He found it most important to spend 40 days instructing His disciples in the ways of this new reality and world (Acts 1:2-4). He didn’t teach the hearers about church… He taught them about the Kingdom of God. His mission was to instill the fabrics of the Kingdom into His apostles and followers. This glorious mission of declaring the domain of God still remains at the heart of His message today.
If Jesus were to darken our pulpits, He would more than likely bring the message of His Kingdom. I find it hard to believe that He would console us with self-help sermons that massage our humanity. He wouldn't encourage us with 3 principles of church growth, but would urge us to extend the Kingdom everywhere we go. He would bring the glorious reality of His Fathers domain, and how it is available for men to enter. I can imagine that He would introduce and demonstrate the vast realm of Abba’s world. He would urge us to enlarge our vision, open our inner man, and receive the revelation of what the angels long to see - the Kingdom of the Son. He would urge us with prophetic and penetrating realities, that there is so much more available - more than eye has seen, mind can comprehend, and heart can even perceive.
Therefore, we must enter into this Kingdom-mindset. We must think according to the ways of Christ’s Kingdom and domain. We must change the way we think, by challenging the mindset that we currently possess. In my opinion, the Western church has become so focused on events and more specifically our Sunday morning gathering, that we have lost the passion and purity of cultivating life in God every day of the week. In light of this, we have become event-driven rather than encounter-driven. We have portioned our daily bread to that one day a week, thinking that is the apex of our experience. Although I enjoy gathering with the saints on Sundays (as I do on a weekly basis), I know the Lord never intended for that to be our definition of Christianity.
Instead, He has promised us His presence every minute of every day, and I believe it is our mandate to seize it. He declared to us that His Kingdom is available on the inside, whether we feel it or not. Therefore, I believe it is our glorious responsibility to respond to the gospel by walking in the power of it, day by day. This is Kingdom living!
So, in my desire to think with a Kingdom-mindset, I have come up with a few points of having a Kingdom-mindset versus a Church-mindset...
Kingdom-minded saints are concerned about filling their life with glory. Church-minded saints are more concerned about filling the service with a good sermon-story.
Kingdom-minded is concerned about how much of the city is filled with His glory. Church-minded people are concerned about how many seats are filled on Sunday.
Kingdom-minded people wonder how much of their life they can surrender in service. Church-minded people worry about how long the Sunday service will take.
Kingdom-minded people labor to extend His Kingdom in the earth. Church-minded people work to build a Sunday morning crowd.
Kingdom-minded posture themselves to give the King their all. Church-minded people prepare to give the preacher 90 minutes.
Kingdom-minded people weep over an empty prayer room. Church-minded people cry over an empty chair.
Church-minded people wait for another good service to encounter Jesus. Kingdom-minded people never have to wait, for they cultivate a life of perpetual encounter.
Church-minded people go from circumstance to circumstance, while Kingdom-minded people go from glory to glory.
Kingdom-minded people are encounter-driven. Church-minded people are event driven.
