Matt Nelson - January 31, 2021
Radical Kingdom Allegiance
Radical Kingdom Allegiance 1.31.21 True discipleship to Jesus means the gospel will offend you at some point. Genesis 3:1 He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. If the gospel is not regularly offending you or challenging you then you have probably grown content with your idols and half-hearted discipleship to Jesus. 1 Peter 2:9-12 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. In light of our current cultural situation, here are nine reminders of what a radical commitment to Kingdom living will look like: EXILES •Reject: the temptation to put our hope in the systems and structures of this world •Affirm: our primary allegiance as Kingdom citizens and belief that only Christ can renew and restore all things DISCERNMENT •Reject: the tendency to see life, faith, politics, and truth through the lens of the world, my own experience, or someone’s else opinion •Affirm: the Holy Spirit gives us discernment as we filter ALL things through the gospel, scripture, and the historical traditions of the church FOCUS •Reject: the temptation to get pulled into every problem, make every issue THE issue, or allow ourselves to get distracted from the bigger mission •Affirm: our gospel-centered, missional focus and our commitment to hold the essentials tightly and the non-essentials loosely FAITHFUL •Reject: the temptation to allow false idols, false gospels, secularism, and postmodern ideologies to inform my faith •Affirm: our willingness to contend for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Lordship of Jesus over our entire lives COVENANT •Reject: the tendency to value our individualism, our preferences, and our feelings above all other things in our relationships and community •Affirm: the life, power, beauty, and depth that emerges from covenant community with others based upon commitment PRAYER •Reject: the temptation to believe that it is somehow our work, our effort, or our strategies that bring God’s kingdom to reality on earth •Affirm: to live completely dependent on our Father in prayer and realize it is only in Him and through Him that His kingdom will come JUSTICE •Reject: the temptation to turn our eyes away from racial injustice, to act like it doesn’t exist, or to only see through the lens of our own experiences •Affirm: biblical justice is a gospel issue and we must commit to repentance, listening, expanding our circle, and moving towards action TRANSFORMATION •Reject: the tendency to believe that societal change and transformation is dependent on my opinions or actions •Affirm: real sustaining transformation always starts in our hearts and takes place through our obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit MISSION •Reject: the temptation to simply exist, to get distracted by our own struggles, or to pursue some version of the American dream •Affirm: our calling to a greater purpose of joining God on his redemptive mission: a life marked by surrender, sacrifice, and obedience KINGDOM PEOPLE WHO SHAPE THE CULTURE: 1) How well you love 2) What you believe 3) How you live