The Kingdom Of God

April 2013

Some random points of view on the subject of “The Kingdom of God”

I recently had occasion to research the subject of “The Kingdom of God”, in preparation for a life group study. Below are some random points of view., as expressed in various contexts. by theologians. I thought that they would be of interest to share. Please note that, in sharing this information, I’m not making a value judgement on the veracity of the views expressed!!

• The Hebrew word “malekut” and the Greek word “basileia” refer, in one form or another,  to ”the Kingdom of God”.
• The general concept of the “Kingdom of God” appears in all Abrahamic religions; in some cases the term “kingdom of God”  is used, in other cases the term “Kingdom of Heaven” is used.
  (i) The notion of God’s kingship goes back to the Hebrew bible, which refers to “his kingdom”, but does not use the actual term “kingdom of God”; (ii) The Quoran does not include the term ”kingdom of God”, but does refer to Abraham seeing “ the kingdom of heavens”; (iii) Bahai writings refer specifically to the “kingdom of God”.
• No overall agreement on the theological interpretation of the term “Kingdom of God” has emerged among scholars. The term is often interpreted to fit the particular theological “agenda” of those bringing the interpretations, eg: 

           - Christian lifestyle (the Kingdom of God is within us);
        - World evangelization (future world to come);
        - Re-discovery of the charismatic gifts.

• To the extent that there is a general preference amongst scholars, it would be that the term should be understood in the abstract sense, i.e. the “kingdom” is God’s reign; the “Kingdom of God” means primarily the rule of God, the divine, kingly authority, rather than a “concrete” kingdom.

One definition in this sense of “the kingdom of God”:  In the simplest terms, the “Kingdom of God” is “the rule of God”; thus it can be said that wherever God reigns there you have “the Kingdom of God”, and this is true whether in the life of an individual or in the corporate life of a group of people.

“The Kingdom of God” (or its equivalent form “The Kingdom of Heaven” in Matthew) is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Drawing on Old Testament teachings, the Christian characterisation of the relationship between God and humanity inherently involves the notion of “the kingship of God”.

• One seven-point summary: 

     The Kingdom of God is:

       (i) both a present reality and a future certainty;
      (ii) opposite to our human understanding;
     (iii) revealed in the New Testament in the ministry of Jesus Christ;
     (iv) revealed in the New Testament in the power of the Holy Spirit;
      (v) righteousness, peace and joy;
     (vi) entered only on God’s terms; and
    (vii) inaccessible to the wicked.

• Nowhere in the New testament is there a reference to “the kingdom of God” meaning specifically  the church.

Brian

12/04/13

Poems/Thoughts on the New Year

January 2013

We have started on the journey through another year. We don’t know what circumstances we will face during the year, but we can go forward with faith and a sense of God’s presence, guidance and peace.

Although not specifically Christian in content, I thought a couple of short poems have something to say to us as we begin the year’s journey. Here they are.

Another fresh new year is here,
      Another year to live,
To banish worry, doubt and fear,
      To love, to laugh, to give.
This bright new year is given me
      To live each day with zest,
To daily grow and try to be
      My brightest and my best.
I have the opportunity,
      Once more, to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree
      And sing more joyful songs.

William Arthur Ward

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

A happy year! Grant that I
     May bring no tear to any eye.
When this new year, in time, shall end,
      Let it be said I’ve been a friend,
Have lived, and loved, and labored here
      And made of it a happy year.

Edgar Guest

………………………………………………………………………………………...………………..

Every blessing. And shalom! Or Malenby (Ugandan for “peace”

Brian

Reflections on the move into the new auditorium

Reflections on the move into
the new auditorium
at the Mt. Martha Centre

In an earlier blog I reflected on the constancy of change.  The Greek Philosopher Heraclitus, some 2500 years ago, coined the phrase “nothing is constant except change”.  Author Alvin Toffler, in the 1970s, wrote the book “Future Shock”.  In the book he postulated that the generation then living had experienced more change than the previous 899 generations that had lived, up to that point in the world’s history.  When you think about it, history is change.
 
Our Mt. Martha Centre morning congregations face a significant change as they move into the new auditorium in October.  Two congregations worshipping as one.  A new time for the start of the service.  Other changes resulting from this significant change.

                                                                                                                                                                          In the lead up to the recent Special Church meeting, at which there was a report on the new worship arrangements, Pastor Duncan asked me to present a reflection on the move into the new auditorium.

 
At the time I happened to be reading a book entitled  “Ä Little History of the World”, written by a German author E.H. Gombrich.  In reflecting on history and memory, in a chapter entitled “Once Upon a Time”, the Author uses two metaphors:

(i) a shaft representing history; and

(ii) a lighted taper representing memory.

 

The taper is lit and dropped down the shaft.  For a start the taper is clearly visible  and the

light is clearly reflected on the walls of the shaft, representing the memory of significant

events, people etc.  As the taper spirals further down the shaft both the light and the reflections

gradually diminish until the reflected light on the walls of the shaft virtually disappears and the

light of the burning taper is barely visible.

 
So,, in looking back on world history, we can say: “once upon a time……”.
 
 
History, change and New Peninsula

 

There is a difference in applying the metaphors to the history of New Peninsula – our history as a church is not long enough for the light of memory to diminish to the point of obscurity.  But we can still say “once upon a time…..” as we look back on a relatively short history as a church.

• Once upon a time some Christians in Mornington and Rosebud decided to start a Baptist fellowship;
• Once upon a time each fellowship bought land and  built facilities;
• Once upon a time (in 1998) MBC sold their Moomba Street property, in faith, without knowing their future property location;
• Once upon a time MBC bought the Craigie Road facility and moved in (in 2000).
• Once upon a time (in 2006) the two churches united, as one church.

When we reflect on that short history, we can be thankful that the fellowships, when they were constituted as churches, did not include a clause in their Constitutions specifying that, under no circumstances, was anything allowed to change!

Fifty years from now the future generation of New Peninsula Members will look back on our church’s history.  The “history shaft” will be twice as deep as it is now.  As the lighted taper of memory spirals past the year 2012, what will be the “memory reflection” on the walls of the shaft?

 

Will it be a reflection of a picture of a positive, vibrant, faith-filled response to the continuing change and development as God leads us into His planned future for us, as a church?  Or will the reflection be a picture of negativity and fear of change, with an expressed desire that everything should remain the same, as we individually prefer it?  I trust that it will be the former, positive, response.
 
What keeps us stable in our commitment to our local church?

 

Pastor Duncan also asked me to reflect on the things that have enabled Sylvia and me to remain stable and committed as we have served as Members in nine churches, as we have moved geographically from place to place. Some things emerged from the process of reflection. We have consistently had:

• a love for God’s universal church;
• a  love for each local church in which we’ve served, as the particular localized expression of God’s universal church;
• a  love for the people, particularly those with whom we associate most;
• a  love of the ministries of each church;
• a strong sense that our local church membership is a significant part of God’s will, and call to serve Him.

Wilbur Ratcliff, the Treasurer of the Hughes Baptist Church, in Canberra, where we were Members for 14 years, had a way of saying that our commitment to our local church was like the commitment made in marriage – for better or for worse.  In which ever local church we worship and serve there will be the things we like (the “better” …and the majority!) and the things we don’t like (the “worse”).  Change churches and all you’ll do is change the mix!

May we be a people who celebrate change, as God leads us forward into the future He has planned for us as a church, and who remain stable in our individual commitment to New Peninsula, the local expression of His universal church, into which He has called us to worship and to serve.

Brian GOOD

August 25th, 2012

A Reflection on Conversion, Exuberance and Faith

At a recent Eldership Meeting, the question was asked about whether, as the years pass, we Christians tend to lose the sense of excitement and exuberance that we might experience at the time of our conversion, and relax into matter-of-fact Christianity.


My first thought was that our conversion experience differs, sometimes quite significantly. For example, for some people, (e.g. those brought up in a Christian home) conversion is often-enough a fairly “quiet” experience. There is really no dramatic experience of life change and life goes on more-or-less as normal, and there may not be a strong sense of excitement or exuberance. For others, however, conversion is a dramatic, life-style-changing experience.  Their life is transmogrified from experiencing the deep darkness of sin to experiencing the light of salvation in Christ. So, for them, there follows a strong sense of excitement and exuberance at the dramatic change that they have experienced. Personally, with my broken-home background and some of the implications of that on where I was heading in life, my conversion brought significant change, but I don’t recall expressing strong exuberance as I sought to understand my new-found faith and express it in worship and in service.


My second thought was to look back on my Christian pilgrimage and experience, in this particular context. A couple of things emerged from this process.
(i) First, in the context of my Christian faith, the older I’ve got the more questions I seem to have, although I’ve found the answer to many other questions that I’ve asked down through the years. At my present stage of life I’ve got many more questions, and there are many more things I don’t understand, even about the whole theology of faith, than when I was 28, or 38, or 48, or………..!
(ii) Second, I’m conscious of the more difficult and, in some cases, bruising experiences that have come my way. For example, even in my Christian employment, there have been some quite-hurtful things done to me (and to Sylvia) by people who should have known better. Whilst we’ve “weathered”, and come through, these experiences, they have left their mark, what I might term a “bruising of the heart”.  The impact of these things does tend to dull any sense of excitement and exuberance, at least for a time, and does tend to have a progressively- dulling impact on your outlook.


The negative “side of the coin”, as I reflect on the above (and other) aspects of my Christian pilgrimage, is that they tend to create some sense of pensiveness, as you continue to try to faithfully live out the Christian life. There is a positive side to this “coin”, however. Firstly, you realize that the experiencing of these difficult and, in some cases, hurtful circumstances, and your response to them, is part of that testing and faith-building which is a life-long process. Secondly, the fact that, in life, you seem to experience a never-ending series of questions about things, and your faith theology in particular, actually deepens the degree of faith which is necessary if you are to “hold fast”, as you continue to walk the pathway of faith, in response to God’s call upon your life.


Perhaps the line in the hymn “ I Serve a Risen Saviour” helps sum it all up:     “….And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair……..”.


Brian Good (31/5/12)

Nothing is constant except change (February 2012)

It was, I think, the Greek Philosopher Paraclitis who coined the phrase that “nothing is constant except change”. As Christians we would, of course, add “…and God”. We don’t have to reflect for too long, on our individual lives, to realize that this principle applies to each of us. Occasionally the rate of change can be quite dramatic. But, usually, it’s incremental and we have to stop and look back to realize just how much our lives and circumstances have changed.
The other day I was reflecting on the extent to which the principle of change has applied at New Peninsula. It’s as recent as 2006 that Mornington (MBC) and Southern Peninsula Baptist Churches voted to unite….and we became New Peninsula. Six years before that, in 2000, MBC experienced a major change when we moved from a fairly traditional worship centre-hall-manse property, in a suburban location, to a large factory-type building on 18 acres of Craigie Road land. At the Church Meeting which resolved  to tender for the Craigie Road property someone asked why we wanted to move out into the country, away from a suburban location. One of the foundation members of MBC  (probably Doug Butler) advised that, when the Church was considering buying the block of land in Moomba Street, years before, someone  asked the same question!

It’s interesting to reflect on the operation of MBC in the days following the relocation. Because of the administrative load at the time, the-then Diaconate (now the Church Board (CB)) met on a weekly basis. Now the CB meets on a quarterly basis, with the day-to-day administration/management looked after by the Management Executive, a primarily-staff group. David Coyle is the only current Deacon who was a serving  Deacon in those days, although he had a spell off the Diaconate in the intervening years. In the early days of Dale Stephenson’s pastorate, the Eldership was a group of three Elders – Darryl Wise, Ian Gilmour and yours truly, which met with Dale each month. Very informal. No agenda. No minutes. Just a group to support and advise Dale - a “far cry” from the 14 Elders now playing a significant shepherding role in the life of New Peninsula. Another very significant change, of course, was the completion of Pastor Dale’s pastoral ministry amongst us and the calling of Duncan to be our Senior Pastor.

Whilst our primary focus, in life, should be on the future, it’s a good thing, from time to time, to look back and reflect on the changes that have taken place and the good that has, generally, resulted from those changes.

Every blessing. And shalom!
Brian