Kingdom Power (3)

…for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things isacceptable to God and approved by men.Romans 14.17, 18

Working power
Power is always unto something. Power accomplishes things. Power changes things.

Explosive power destroys buildings or hillsides. Combustive power drives engines or makes steel. Nuclear power creates energy or threatens nations. Wind power drives sailing ships or turns windmills. Water power creates erosion or generates electricity. Food power replenishes bodies and releases energy for renewal. Persuasive power changes minds and hearts.

All power is unto something, some impact or result that, if we can harness the power at hand, can be channeled for good.

The same is true of the spiritual power of which the Kingdom of God consists. But if we are to engage that power, we must understand both its source and its ends, for we can only engage Kingdom power on Kingdom terms.

Power for righteousness
Paul tells us that the power of God’s Spirit, which is unfolding His Kingdom on earth as it in heaven, is, in the first place, power unto righteousness. Exalted at the Father’s right hand, Jesus, by His Word and Spirit, is advancing His rule on earth for the sake of increasing righteousness among the nations (cf. Is. 9.1-7).

The idea of righteousness is problematic in a relativistic day like ours. One man’s righteousness might be another man’s bane, according to a postmodern worldview. Which is why a postmodern approach to creating societies and cultures cannot possibly satisfy, as is now being seen. Ask anyone if the idea of “righteousness” – strictly as an idea without definition – is a good thing. Most will agree, that is, as long as they do not understand what we mean by this as a kind of mere self-righteousness.

Righteousness has to do, in most people’s minds, with rightness – with ideas of goodness, consideration, honesty, fairness, and decency. Everyone will agree the world can never get enough of such commodities. Though they may not call it “righteousness”, whatever power operates to bring goodness, honesty, justice, decency, and love into people’s lives is regarded as a good thing.

This is why the Kingdom of God is Good News – the Gospel of the Kingdom. It is for the sake of making things right – righteousness – that the Kingdom of God has come to earth through the agency of Jesus Christ and His Spirit. Where the power of the Kingdom is flowing, righteousness is one of the end results. Jesus rules over His Kingdom with a scepter of uprightness and righteousness (Ps. 45.6). And the power of the Kingdom flows through those who have made the Kingdom turn, so that they engage all other kinds of power for Kingdom ends.

The righteousness of God’s Law
Through the prophet Ezekiel God Himself spelled out both the mission of the Spirit and the particular brand of righteousness His power would bring forth in those who believed: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek. 36.26, 27).

The Kingdom of God, which comes with the Spirit of God, unleashes real spiritual power for righteousness. The righteousness Jesus is advancing in His Kingdom is the righteousness of His Law.

But this has nothing to do with self–righteousness, or with regarding ourselves as holier or better than others. And it is not a form of “righteousness” by which we might hope to “earn” salvation or the favor of God by keeping His Law. Instead, the righteousness which God’s Law promotes issues in love for God and neighbor, a self-denying, cross-bearing, others-serving, God-glorifying power that makes all things new (Matt. 22.34-40). Contrary to what many seem to think, the Law of God is not designed to bind and burden us, but to liberate us for love (cf. Jms. 2.12). The righteousness of God’s Law comes to expression in love for God and neighbors. Where the Kingdom has come on earth as in heaven, and where people have entered that Kingdom as citizens and ambassadors, there Kingdom power will be flowing, along a course marked out by the Law of God, unto love for God and neighbors, engaging all other forms of power for the purposes of righteousness.

The Kingdom of God, as it comes to expression from within us, directs its power to righteousness, demonstrated by loving obedience to God and loving service to others. If we are not experiencing that power as much as we might like, there is a simple remedy: Submit to the Holy Spirit as He leads you to read, study, meditate in, and obey the Law of God (Ps. 1). This was the path Jesus walked, and which led Him all the way up to Calvary in the greatest expression of righteousness and love the world has ever known.

And it’s the path we who would follow Him in the Kingdom turn must walk as well (1 Jn. 2.1-6).

Next steps: What role does the Law of God play in your church? Talk with a pastor or church leader about this question.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Kingdom Power, is the sixth of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.