old kingdom v. The Kingdom

Hezekiah’s downfall at the end of his life warns me of traps that are all too easy to fall into. Also, I’m struck by how much it has to say about our system of modern church. Yes – we began with every good intention, but somewhere along the Way, we got off. We began to trust ourselves over God. We started to emphasize the establishment rather than the Establisher. We routed traffic patterns instead of routing out the sin of pride that creeps in and makes its home all too close to our heart. Look out modern church: if you don’t take the words of the prophetic voice in all this, at the very least - you will most certainly die with storehouses full (a building with no patrons). You may end up receiving a king’s burial (and a nice tombstone of course), but “success” is ultimately judged by one’s successors. Listen to the prophets because at the worst, your sons and daughters will be neutered by your own carelessness and rendered useless in the fight for tomorrow’s generation.

The modern church seems to take company with Hezekiah’s regime. She began small and well-intentioned. But with the growth of the capitalist boomers, the church became an Inc. and the people became stockholders – he who tithes the most reserves the loudest voice. How is this anything like what Jesus described as the Kingdom of God?

Instead of this Old Testament kingdoms ruled by men, what if we look to the fulfillment of those kingdoms in Christ? What if we follow the Way of the sermon of the mount for a new paradigm by which to live? What if we unleash the storehouses of wealth on the world’s poor and suffering? What if we yield all of ourselves to God’s will today? What if we actually learn more of what it means to take up the cross daily? What if we lay hold of the real power Jesus bestows upon us when we speak in his name? What if we love God and love people like Jesus did – not by words, but by actions? What if we tore down the temple only to have it rebuilt stronger within each of us? What if we did this together as the body? What if we ask Jesus for these things to rule in every one of our hearts? What are the possibilities?