Securing the Borders of the Kingdom
Reading: Phillipans.2:1-11
What and where is my source of security.
There is a basic passion and desire in all, no matter what walk of life you may come from, to be able to live a life that is free from being molested, be its source internal or external. The actual drive is to live in peace, now peace is more than a state of no violence, no war; more than a state of non-aggression, it is a state of being at one. Singular objectives, singular purpose and being of one mind without any point of disagreement. Many people have recognised the fact that they will never reach this, nor in their experience have they ever seen it to exist, so they opt for something less. They opt for unexpressed aggression and call it peace. Yet in the bible we are told that there is peace for any who are in Christ Jesus, that those who are peace makers shall see God, that this peace of God passes all understanding, yet it is to be an abiding thing within the citizens of the Kingdom of God, as the very presence of God is what secures peace, as He is peace. If we are at peace with our creator, then the very basis of non-peace with fellow man and the creation is destroyed. It is because of mans rebellion from God that he is not even at peace with himself yet alone with anyone else, so when the reason for this state of non-peace is dealt with so those who are in Christ have no reason to be in a state of non-peace, as it is His peace found in His presence and life that we share.
Now Paul in Philippians 1:11 talks about our filling with the “fruit of righteousness,” having it’s expression in the “glory and praise of God.” This fruit is produced by the right relationship between God and believers; it is a simple fact that we are unable to produce this fruit outside of God by our unaided efforts. Now in this manifestation there comes the out pouring of praises to Him. There is a call in Philippians.4:8; to think upon praise-worthy things. Don’t have the world mind, but have the way of thinking that is at peace with the Almighty. Don’t not give habitation to a system that is unable to be at peace, unable to find rest, unable to find security; because they are unable manifest peace. Don’t give place to the mind that is not only warring against creation but against the very source of Peace Himself, but ponder, think upon, dwell upon the praise-worthy thinks of the Almighty and the Almighty Himself. Do not allow your thinking to be so limited and boxed in that God is crowded but. Our prayer, our drive, our desire is that God secures the borders of the Kingdom and not world mind ways of doing things.
A case study in the bible of the different approached in securing the borders of the Kingdom, is found in King David and King Solomon. David when he comes to the thrown has already grasped the fact the quite simply he is not going to be able to defend the whole of the borders all the of the time. He just did not have the resources, be it in manpower, equipment or finance. So there are two options open to him, form alliances with the surrounding nations or trust in the Lord God of Hosts.
Now David had been on the cutting edge of war with the other nations, he had even at one stage worked for the Philistines, he knew the type people that they were, he knew of their practices, he knew of their gods and the demands of their gods. He also knew the Lord God is Israel, he had tasted of something far, far better and the stench of the other nations was obnoxious to him and even more so to his Lord. David prayed for God to secure the borders, and what do we see when God secures the borders. Under David the borders of the Kingdom were increased to the largest they have ever been. Israel has even to this day never had a Kingdom so large. Notice also that under David there was a renaissance, a rebirthing and expansion of the praise and worship of the God with in the nation. Under David there was a massive expansion of the use of instruments and new types of instrument, there came the formal use of choirs. David was a man who learnt that the only truly secure border was one the was guarded and secured by the Lord God. They praised they worshipped they exalted the Lord God so when David and the nation walked in righteousness, the Kingdom was safe from the encroachment of foreign gods and influence, when they sinned God turned from the borders and dealt with them.
Now under Solomon the method of securing the borders was different, yes there was the development of the Temple along with the expansion of personnel but most, if not all of this, had been initiated by David. What Solomon did was to secure the borders by alliance, in fact a sad commentary of this policy is found in 1 Kings 11 the A.V. put verse one this way, “But King Solomon loved many strange women.....” He married to form alliances, he compromised the borders by compromising the very law of God, verse 2 clearly show that God had forewarned them that such practices of marriage outside of the Kingdom would start the destruction process of the Kingdom it’s self. This principle is still true today; Paul clearly shows that there is to be no marriage between the children of light and those of darkness. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, the use of the analogy of the temple is by no means an accident, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” Paul is saying what common ground is there between a child who is a new creation, who has come into the fullness of light and is abiding in the life of Christ, with one who is fundamentally different, who is not walking in the light who is unable to feed upon the things of the almighty God, who is in spirit dead and a child of wrath.
With the marriages and the bringing of the brides to the royal palace, came the importation of their gods and of course there had to be the building of places of worship for these gods. Since the wives of alliance lived in Jerusalem that was were the temples were built. He imported foreign gods and the fate of the nation was sealed as a result. We are told that he had 700 hundred wives and princesses, 360 concubines and the scriptures goes on to say that in his old age “.... his wives turned his heart away to other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” Notice that in the list of gods in Chapter 11 there is mentioned the god Molech. Part of the ritual to this god was child sacrifice, and often the parents of the child would have to stand and watch there child being sacrificed and there cries were drowned by the increasing drone of the temple attendants. No wonder the bible says that the “LORD was angry with Solomon......” Under Solomon there came forced labour for the Israelites, the selling off of cities to various kings and the shrinking of the borders, upon his death the kingdom split and eventually the whole of the nation ceased to have a land. They ceased to have an inheritance they sold their birth right for squalor and degradation, like Esau he sold the birth right of Israel for a bowl of pottage. Something of very little worth. Simply because the he tried to secure the borders instead of calling to the LORD God to do it.
There was a fundamental difference between the mind of David and the mind of Solomon. David, even though he did fall at various times, had a grasp, a vision, a comprehension, of the Lord God and a true perception of himself, that brought him to the place where he knew he was unable to do it, not only that he was unable to do it, but that it still never the less had to be done. Here is the difference David knew that God could do it and what is more would do it, but the world mind of Solomon failed to perceive this until it was too late.
Now are all told very clearly that we have been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which has come through Jesus Christ our Lord, and that this has been given not only for our fulfillment but for the praises and glory of God. David quickly grasped that in the praises of God, there comes a oneness of mind and purpose as his whole attention is fixed upon God Himself. That this only stems from the renewed mind that is fixed upon things worthy of praise, minds that dwell in the Almighty. In that expression of praise in single mindedness the border will be secured. The borders of the kingdom in your life and in the life of this church will not only be secured but they will expand, for there will be the habitation of the LORD God.
