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

The hope that is within us (May 2012)

One dictionary definition of “hope” is “what one expects”. Today’s usually-understood definition of the word, however, is not as certain as this definition, which should be the expectation of Christians.There are more than 350 seniors in New Peninsula – around 40% of our Church Directory numbers – and a substantial proportion of these are 80plus years of age. So we have plenty of experience, in our Church, individually and collectively, of dealing with the vicissitudes that we experience in the later years of life. In this reflection I’d like to focus on hope, one of those certain expectations that will give us a good and hopeful perspective, as Christians, as we move inexorably towards the end of this earthly life.

In April 1948 I attended a church service in Oakleigh Methodist Church, one of a class taken there by a wonderful Sunday School teacher, Bert Bache. An American Evangelist, Hyman Appleman, was the preacher. That day I made a personal commitment to Christ. A week after I made that commitment, Bert took his Sunday School class to a Sunday evening church service at Brunswick Street Methodist Mission, where Pastor Walter Betts was the Missioner. An evangelistic organization called Open Air Campaigners (now OAC (standing for Outreach and Church Ministries), formed in NSW in 1890, was commencing its work in Victoria. There was a call for volunteers to become part of the new outreach ministry. As a young Christian, I decided it was a good opportunity to get involved, and express my new-found faith in service. So I became a voluntary worker in OAC.
One of the early activities of OAC was to conduct a a three-hour open air meeting, every Sunday evening, on the corner of Bourke and Russell Streets, in Melbourne. During those meetings we often sang a chorus, the words of which I still remember:
Some think so, some hope so, some trust so, some guess so,
But I know, I know, I am saved.
Some think they’ll reach heaven, reach heaven at last,
But I know, I know, I am saved.
For I’ve opened my heart’s door and Christ has come in,
And I know that He saves me and keeps me from sin,
And the Spirit Himself beareth witness within,
For I know, I know I am saved.

The regular singing of this chorus imbued in me, in the early days of learning my new-found faith, a deep sense of the hope that should be the expectation of every Christian, as we are told by the writer to the Hebrews when he said: “This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God Himself, behind the sacred curtain of heaven” (Living Bible). The Apostle Peter also speaks to us of hope, when he says, in 1 Peter 3:15: “Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer, to every person that asks you, a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (KJV). When he was President of World Vision, Tom Houston had this to say: “The worth of the Bible will be startlingly evident when those who speak about it are the most hopeful people in the eyes of the world”.

May that old saying “hope springs eternal” encourage and motivate us, as seniors, for whatever time we have left in life on earth, as we look forward, with hope, to life in the presence of God, in eternity.

Blessings & shalom
Brian

Worship all times

It can be easy to worship God when your life is going well, with good health and with family and good friends around, but there are times when all is not so well and we are struggling and He seems far away. David, who God called "a man after my own heart" sometimes felt like that. In fact it comes up in many of the Psalms. In Psalm 42 David remembers the times when he lead the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and thanksgiving but then says "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?"
Of course God had not left him, just as He doesn't leave us. This is our God who loves us, who sought us out and in Jesus and through his death and resurrection brought us into a relationship with him that will last for eternity. David even in his darkest days was able to say "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God." Job had similar thoughts "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him."
Paul had a lot to say about hope too, which included hope to know the presence of God's Spirit with us day by day in this life and also what Paul sometimes called "the blessed hope" the expectation of Jesus' return when "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.""
- Ian Gilmour