Kingdom Ready

I often tease my husband by calling him, “Farmer Tony.”  He grew up farming with his dad, and loved it.  He no longer farms, but let’s just say he takes gardening to a new level.  His soil preparation is intense and when he is finally ready, he plants the seed.  Almost always, the seed comes up and brings forth a produce that our family can enjoy.  Other times, a certain seed will be old or conditions will be too wet and rainy, so that the seed fails to even break forth from the soil.

Jesus uses this scenario in one of his famous parables that he tells in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.  He speaks of the sower sowing the seed, and just like Tony’s garden, some seed takes root and is sown in good soil and produces fruit.  Other seed falls on soil that is not so receptive to the seed, conditions proving to be difficult, so that the seed does not thrive and fails miserably ~ some sooner than later.  Many have grown familiar with this parable, and read it quickly and say, ‘yeah, yeah, heard that’ and move on.  Such was the case with me.  I knew this parable, and in fact, when I would read my Bible, I would want to quickly get through the Gospels, so that I could move onto Paul’s writings, to apply his teachings in a practical sense to my attempt at Christian living.  Who would have thought that a tiny little detail in Jesus’ parable of the sower, would impact my life so tremendously, after having been a Christian for most of my life.

It was about six years ago now, that I was reading a book by Anthony Buzzard, entitled, “The Amazing Aims and Claims of Jesus.“  It was a simple little paper back book that turned my life upside down and topsy turvy [in the best way possible].   It was at that moment, he caught my attention to what that seed in Jesus’ parable really represented.  In Mark 4:14 and Luke 8:15, both writers note that Jesus explains the seed as simply “The word [logos]” but, in Matthew 13:19, Matthew records Jesus explaining that the seed is “the word about the kingdom.”  Anthony pointed out in his book, that although in modern times, we all refer to the whole of Scripture or the Bible as “The word of God”  (which I previously had thought this parable was about), here Jesus is being very specific and referring directly about the word [logos] of the kingdom of God.  This word [logos] means the plan or message about the coming Kingdom that God has planned for us, even before Creation!

You might be saying, “uh, so what?“  But this tiny detail, knowing that “the word” that was preached and taught by Jesus, by his disciples and also by the Apostle Paul, was not just a generic term, but specifically about the Kingdom of God, changed how I read and understood my Bible.  It impacted me in such a way, that I began to grasp the hope of my salvation more; that it was all about the future coming of the Anointed King of this coming Kingdom; that I was to look forward to my resurrection from the dead, and that I would someday rule and reign with my lord Messiah Jesus, and be a kingdom for him here on the earth [Revelation 5:10].  You might say, this was my “aha moment”!

This Scripture speaks of this same seed in I Peter 1:22  “By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

When we hear the word of the kingdom, and it becomes implanted in us [assuming we are good soil], we will be born again, and begin to live an obedient life to Christ Jesus, so that we can be found pure and blameless at his coming.  This seed or word of the kingdom is an imperishable, incorruptible seed.  This kingdom is our inheritance that is to come at the return of our King, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His [God’s] great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  I Peter 3:5.

You see, at our resurrection, at the return of our lord messiah, we will be raised from the dead.  Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but only the imperishable.  “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.“  I Corinthians 15:50, 52, 53.

Once we understand our hope and receive that seed or word of the Kingdom, we begin to run the race differently.  We begin to desire obedience and purity in our daily lives so that we can obtain this resurrection from the dead and inherit this imperishable kingdom that is reserved for us until the day Christ Jesus returns to the earth, to usher in this new kingdom age.  Paul writes, “And everyone who competes in the games, exercises self-control in all things.  They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”  I Corinthians 9:25-27. Before I understood this word of the Kingdom, I was aimless [and beating the air].  I was on a pursuit to learn all about practical Christian living so I could be a better Christian mom and wife, but after my “aha moment,” the level of my obedience to my God increased and it was like, “I got it.”  The light came on.  By pursuing His Kingdom and His righteousness above all things [Matthew 6:33], everything else seemed to fall into place.  My understanding of Scripture deepened by leaps and bounds.  Although I knew about the Kingdom of God before, I didn’t really get it.  Sometimes, I wonder… how could I have read and studied my Bible so much before, and never understood this?  How could I miss something so simple and obvious, yet important to my salvation?  God’s plan for His Son, Jesus, and the Kingdom, is the centerpiece of the entire Bible! Yet, I was stumbling around in the darkness and bumping into things.  When the light of understanding dawned, my aim and purpose was made clear; my path straight; my desire for obedience in my daily Christian living increased and became easier, because my goal was within sight.  By faith, I could see it.
I Peter 1:25 goes on to say, “but the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word that was preached as the Gospel to you.”  Yes!  This word of the Kingdom is the Gospel!

• This is the word [logos] of the Kingdom that Jesus was born to fulfill and accomplish.  Jesus became God’s plan, in flesh and blood [John 1:1, 14].
• This is the word [logos] of the kingdom that Jesus preached [Luke 4:43].
• This is the word [logos] of the kingdom that we are to plant deep inside us, that saves us from their wrath [Revelation 6:16].
• This is the word [logos] of the kingdom that we are to teach and preach and sow in others, so that they too, may inherit eternal life and receive their new imperishable, immortal bodies to enter into the unshakable kingdom that is eternal and imperishable.

“And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise, and to the foolish.  Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  Romans 1:14-16.

This word of the Kingdom is the Gospel.
It is the power of God for salvation.
It is what Paul preached, “explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the Kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.”  Acts 28:23.

So, too, should be our pursuit.

Jesus calls us to believe in this word of the kingdom and be saved by our faith in this Gospel of the kingdom and Jesus, who is the anointed King, or Messiah.  If this seed falls on good soil, we will be compelled, under obligation to our Savior, to share this with those around us, planting seed, so that others, too, can hear and be saved.  Some, like me, may not get it at first….it may take awhile to germinate….but God is working and if conditions are just so, that seed of the good news of the Kingdom will sprout and bloom where it has been planted, and begin to bear fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100.

Perhaps this will be your own “aha moment” today!