The Way into the Kingdom

Living My Way

I have always been a bit of a dreamer. As a kid I dreamed of climbing mountains and exploring jungles. I never followed the directions in the Lego kit, instead creating my own castles and spaceships. By my early teens, I was already designing the equine vet center I was going to build once I had my degree in veterinary medicine. I had a plan, and it was mainly about me.

God, of course, had a different plan. A better plan. Like Jacob at Peniel, it took a lot of wrestling with God before I could let go of my plans and receive his better way. I met Jesus in my later teens with an overwhelming experience of his grace and love. I began to read his Word and open myself to his Spirit. I had a pastor and a youth pastor who showed me a different way to live. I went to college with a growing realization God had a plan and a purpose for my life. During my freshman year I finally came to accept God’s calling for my life and let go of my own plan.

I switched my major from biology to theology and started down a different path. But I was still looking for a way to enact my plans. As a young pastor, I had a clear vision and a passion to accomplish that vision. I still believe it was God’s vision, to reach the lost with the Father’s love, help them become disciples of Jesus, and send them out to change the world in the power of the Spirit. The only problem was I assumed it was up to me to find a way to fulfill that vision. I didn’t understand that Jesus had already laid out a Way for me to follow. I spent many years trying to fulfill God’s vision my way.

I am not alone in this tendency to seek my own way. It is a human condition. The problem all started when Adam and Eve believed the lie that their way would be better than God’s way. Ever since a war has waged in the heart of every man and woman. Will I let God be King, or will I try to control my own life? The answer to that question determines the world in which you live. Will you live in a kingdom of your own design or the Kingdom of God? The kingdoms of this world or the Kingdom of heaven? The kingdom of darkness or the Kingdom of light?

Jesus led the disciples to Jerusalem for his final Passover. He told them repeatedly the difficult destiny that awaited him there. But, in spite of all that Jesus had taught them and shown them, James and John were still working on their own plan and vying for a good seat in the kingdoms of this world. They eyed the massive palace of Herod and wondered which room theirs would be. They asked Jesus, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.” (Mark 10:37-38) It wouldn’t be long before the kingdom of darkness had co-opted the kingdoms of Caiaphas and Pilate to enact its dark purpose. Very soon the sons of Zebedee would have to learn the hard way that God’s Kingdom is something completely different than their kingdom. They learned what we will have to learn as well; the only way into God’s kingdom is by dying to self.

Living in the Kingdom

Roman citizens lived in the Roman Empire by obeying the laws of Rome. Jews in first-century Palestine lived as subjects of the Herodians by obeying their royal decrees. But Jesus shows us that the way to live in the Kingdom of God is not by legalistic obedience, but by faith in and submission to our true King. Jesus did not wake up every day and resolve to try harder to do God’s will on earth. Rather he entrusted himself fully to the Father and so submitted completely to his Father’s will. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19) Jesus told his disciples, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (John 14:10) The secret of Jesus’ extraordinary life was his absolute trust in the Father to whom he fully submitted as his King.

Not that this was easy or automatic. Jesus is fully God but is also fully human. In fact, when Jesus was facing his final destiny in the Garden of Gethsemane, the pressure to follow his own plan was so great he began to sweat blood. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) In the end Jesus trusted his Father enough to submit to him, even to the point of death on a cross. Jesus says this is the same journey we are called to walk if we are going to live in his Kingdom, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

So how are we to learn to live this Kingdom way of life? I used to assume it was something I could learn on my own by reading the Bible, praying, reading books, watching videos, and practicing spiritual disciplines. I discovered that, while all these are good and helpful things, they are not the primary way we learn to live in the Kingdom of God. The way people like Peter and Andrew, James and John, Joanna and Suzanna learned to do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven was through a relationship--the relationship of disciples to their Rabbi. They were close enough to Jesus and spent enough time with him that they not only got to know what he knew, but they learned how to do what he did.

Discipleship is learning to live in the Kingdom of God by trusting and submitting to Jesus by the power of his Spirit. Our Covenant relationship with Jesus is the starting point for learning to live in the Kingdom of God rather than living in the kingdoms of this world. As we take up our cross and follow Jesus, our way begins to die and the Spirit brings us to new life so we can live in a whole new way. When Peter was faced with the sacrifice of dying to his own way of life, he asked Jesus what they would have left when it was all said and done. Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18:28-30) Following Jesus into a life of faith and submission in God’s Kingdom will cost us everything, but it is where we will find the abundant life we were created to live, both in this age and in the age to come.

Jesus said it this way, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) The irony is that we spend most of our lives seeking after “all these things” and miss the real treasure God has for us. What are you seeking after? Is it your kingdom or God’s Kingdom? Are you living according to the kingdoms of this world or the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you submitting to a Roman Caesar or the King of Heaven? Are you following Herod or Jesus? Is the Kingdom of Light shining in you, or does the kingdom of darkness have a hold on you?

Jesus shows us what God’s Kingdom looks like, explains how things work when God is King, and calls us to take up our cross and follow him into that Kingdom today. There is no shortcut. There is no easy way. There is only the Way of the cross. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14) As this new decade begins, will you trust Jesus enough to submit to him, take up your cross, and let his Spirit show you the Way?

Adapted from the new book Recovering the Way, Chapter One. For more information visit bobrognlien.com.