1 Thing Matters adb

Usually, a kingdom advances and is secured through things like military might or political force or worldly wealth. It can be tempting to believe the same holds true in the kingdom of God. Perhaps we think churches would flourish if we had the right rulers passing and enforcing the right laws. Or we believe that for a church to do good requires a robust budget. Political force. Worldly wealth. This way of thinking is breathtakingly wrong.



We need God to give us the top-down faith that grasps the fact that kingdom of God advances in ways that are imperceptible. Through something that seems insignificant to most—the gospel—the King of kings establishes his reign in human hearts. Even Jesus himself taught that the gospel seems unimpressive, for he often compared the gospel to a tiny seed. Yet within a seed is hidden life. As the seed of the gospel is planted, the largest of all kingdoms grows. 

Look at our lives—the problems, the pains—and it’s easy to conclude that we are losing. Look at the world—the brokenness, the bedlam—and it’s easy to believe that the devil is winning. It all can lead us to despair. Yet this turmoil is exactly what God said would happen already in the Garden. There God declared that until the end of time enmity would prevail between the devil and mankind. But God promised more than that. He promised that from humanity would rise one who would completely defeat the devil.



We need a top-down faith to understand that things are definitely not what they seem. Yes, the devil and his allies are constantly doing their worst. Their work always brings pain. Yet, ultimately, even in the face of what appears at times to be defeat, Jesus always wins. And his victory is our victory. 

After a long day of work, you have earned the right to sit down in your favorite chair, put your feet up, and watch your favorite program. After a hard week on the job, you have earned the opportunity to relax a bit that weekend. After doing your job well for many months, you have earned those two weeks of vacation at the beach. This is how everyone thinks: rest is something you earn through hard work. We even teach that to our kids: no gaming until homework is done, no playing with friends until chores are complete.



Since that concept of rest being earned is so deeply engrained in us, to properly understand spiritual rest requires a top-down faith. God needs to send us the Spirit so that we can grasp this truth. True spiritual rest cannot be earned. In fact, the harder you try, the more restless and the less peaceful you become. Spiritual rest is a gift that God gives. The rest we need most—from guilt, from worry, from shame, from hopelessness—is graciously given to us by the Lord of the Sabbath.

Jesus told his disciples that, though he was going to ascend into heaven, he wasn’t going to leave them alone. He was going to send “the Advocate,” a title for the Holy Spirit. But Jesus wasn’t sending the Spirit to replace him; rather, he was sending him to assure us of Jesus’ eternal presence and power in our lives. With the confidence of Jesus’ ongoing power to save, the Holy Spirit equips his church - us! - to participate in Christ’s saving work. Through our testimony, the Spirit raises the spiritually dead to life, just as he did on the Day of Pentecost. 

This world is broken. Oh, certainly, we still see beauty in nature. By God’s grace, we have plenty of happy moments. But that does not change the fact that this world does not function the way God designed it to. It is dangerous, especially for God’s children. Jesus once promised that those who live for him will be hated (just as Christ was hated) by those who live for the world. The even greater danger: the priorities prompted by this broken world tempt the careless Christian to devalue that which truly matters. This world is very broken.



For that reason, our gracious, living Lord promises that one day soon enough, he will take us to a better world. More, he promises that until that time, his Father will protect us, preserving our faith through the truth of his Word. This is the resurrection reality. By God’s grace, we will overcome this broken world.

The entirety of God’s Word can be summed up in one word: love. God’s Law is all about love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). The gospel is all about love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). From his compassion for the sick and broken, to his sacrificial death on the cross, to the peace he provided after his resurrection, Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love. Love is his business.



Therefore, love is our business too. The resurrection reality is that with the same supernatural power by which God raised Jesus from the dead, God now enables us to live a new life—one marked by radically selfless love. The motivation and ability to do this comes from seeing the endless love Christ has for us. We love because he first loved us.