The Relationship Between God’s Kingdom And Our Nation Series

The Relationship Between God’s Kingdom and Our Nation

Series: Cracks – Navigating Our Divided Times?

Brad Bailey – February 27, 2022

Intro

We’re continuing in our series focusing on navigating through our divided times.

It’s about recognizing that when you see cracks emerge ... we should assess the foundations... solidify them so that we can build a sound and solid future.

And today we are engaging the nature of how we relate to our national identity....in particular...

The Relationship Between God’s Kingdom and Our Nation

This relates to a breadth of underlying questions such as:

• In what way does the Kingdom of God, which Jesus inaugurated, relate to the United States?

• How should or shouldn’t we think of America as being a Christian Nation?

• How should we think about “saving” our nation?

These may not seem like big issues for everyone. We may think of ourselves as simply residing in this nation and exploring or having a relationship with Christ. But the relationship between the kingdom Jesus declared...and one’s national identity... was something Jesus sought to transform.

And this relationship is a very challenging issue...because it can relate to very deep parts of ourselves... to our fears for our country... our affections for our country... our identity with our country.

As such... let pause for a moment... bring our hearts before God... in prayer.

PRAY

Today... the whole world is watching as a nation is fighting for it’s survival.

There is a sense of pride and protection that anyone can feel for the place in which they were born.

And in a unique way... many feel a unique sense of wanting to protect this nation.

In the last 40 years... in just a single generation of time... there has been what many see as deconstructing of many of the distinctly Christian views and values that were foundational to this nation.....and to it’s strength.

As a Colombian Philosopher wrote:

“Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the values which created it.” – Nicolas Gomez Davila (Colombian Philosopher)

Many people sense the cutting of the branch we’ve sat upon. [1]

There’s a natural instinct within much of America’s Christian culture, to want to get the country to turn back to it’s Christian beliefs and values. But how? Based on what right? Based on what means? How does God’s Kingdom come?

These questions that involve a breadth of thought that I can only touch upon.... but I hope we can discuss together more in a time of discussion to follow.

The main issue we need to stop and consider...is about what it means to make a nation Christian.

I believe that we must allow our lives to be oriented ...or reoriented...around that reality of what Jesus made known about the Kingdom of God.

We do well to consider how Jesus confronted and transformed the whole narrative of those he first called. They had presumed that God wanted to restore their national identity by providing a new warrior king... who would sit on an earthly throne as the previous King David had.

Jesus showed no interest in Rome. He said, “Give Caesar the emperor what is his by way of running things here...but give to God what is His...which is yourself.”

They were so set on the fact that God’s goal was to restore them as nation... God’s nation...that they could hardly imagine what Jesus was saying. They thought what God wanted was to overthrow Caesar.

As Jesus was finally brought before the Roman governor Pilate... Pilate could tell this was being ushed upon him by the religious leaders who said that Jesus claimed to be a king...and that meant that Pilate had to execute him based on that being a threat to Rome. Pilate’s perplexed because it’s members of the Israelite nation who are demanding this... Jesus hasn’t threatened Rome. So he asks Jesus about his kingdom.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." - John 18:36?

It could be said that it wasn’t so much his threat to Rome that instigated this call for his execution... but his threat to the national pride of the religious leaders. He wasn’t going to be the warrior king.

And the grand reality is that the Kingdom of God transcends all earthly rule.

And this became the transforming reality for all who followed him. Jesus transformed them by his very nature of announcing a new kingdom of which he was the King of all... whose focus was not on an earthly nation.

The role of a religious nation, of a theocracy, was being transcended.

And when he defeated death... and appeared to them... it changed everything.