When our son was a toddler, my wife made up a song to make his bath time a little more fun. The song went something like this:
“King for the day—I am the king for the day!”
She would put a towel over his shoulders, which he felt for sure was a royal robe, and she would sing it loud and proud: “I am the king for the day!” It was quite cute and highly entertaining. (He’s a grown man now with his own toddler—so please don’t tell him I published this embarrassing story about him!)
We are BUILDING HIS CHURCH. Yes, this is the title of our current sermon series. But much, much more than just filling a preaching schedule, we are on a journey together this year to grow in our understanding and application of what it means to BUILD and BE his church during this year. We know what it means to build a building, but do we really grasp what it means to build Christ’s church?
We will build four walls to his church. For the next few weeks, we are working on Wall #1 – The Kingdom Wall. The Greek word for kingdom is Βασίλειο (Basilea). This is his Kingdom, and HE is the King of this domain.
In our western world view, we don’t think too much about kingdoms like they did in the first century, or even as they do in other parts of the world today. We mostly think about great kingdoms and civilizations in our study of history. Or, we might take a vacation tour with a paid local guide and view an ancient site or an archaeological dig of a kingdom that once ruled so powerfully, but now is only a chapter in human history—like the Egyptian pyramids, Roman Colosseum, Mayan temples, the Great Wall of China. Each of these ancient empires, dynasties, and kingdoms had kings and queens. What about the Kingdom of God?
As you prepare for Sunday, I ask that you put this phrase in your vocabulary—the Kingdom of God. Read the following passages before Sunday, and underline the word “kingdom” when it appears.
What did the disciples mean when they asked the resurrected Jesus, “Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
What did Jesus mean when he said, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?” (Matthew 6:10).
Think for yourself of passages in the Scripture that talk about the Kingdom of God.
See you Sunday morning as we start to build the first wall—the Kingdom Wall—as we BUILD HIS CHURCH.
