A Land Of Our Own

We all face this same choice. That’s what Jesus is referring to in Luke 17 when he says that the kingdom of God is within you. You don’t reach the kingdom of God by going someplace or doing some thing – you reach it by choosing, on the inside, to give up living for yourself and turn your life over to Christ.

How then should we live? Mark 12:28-34 tells us: Not by doing (burnt offerings and sacrifices), but by living a life of passionate love for Christ.

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these."

32"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

[I WAS A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND]

Slide graphic – baby with huge eyes – alien looking

Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying,

"I have become a stranger in a strange land."

Exodus 2:22

When I was growing up, my father was in the Army Corps of Engineers. We lived in Panama, Korea, Costa Rica, and Japan. As an adult, my job has taken me to Bolivia, Mexico, Curacao, and Russia. In all of these places, I easily stood out as a stranger. No one would have mistaken me for a native.

When I and a partner from Venezuela were in Bolivia on a business trip, we were the only ones over 4 foot 6 inches we saw in that country. I felt like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians. I was the only one with white skin. I was the only one without black hair. I was the only one who did not speak Spanish. I made people curious. More people stared at me than usual. Everyone new I wasn’t from around those parts – I was a stranger in their country.

Moses was a stranger among the nomads of the Sinai peninsula. Even when he married into the tribe, he felt out of place. When his son was born, he named him Gershom, which means “the alien” – a name that would have gone over about as well then as it would now. Can you imagine if your parents named you “the alien”?

Do you think that would be bad? Would you like to be called “the alien”? Actually, the Bible says that God, your heavenly father, named you “the alien”.

As the great German Reformer Martin Luther rightly observed, we Christians live in two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. But our primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God. We are resident aliens here, strangers and pilgrims. Our job? Live as citizens of that kingdom. Order the manner of your life after the customs and commands of that kingdom.