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LUKE 19 1-10 SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 04 Living out the life of the kingdom of God
📖 Luke 19:1-10
18Nov2020 - *Living out the life of the kingdom of God* - _Luke 19:1-10_ - SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 4 – Bible reading: _Romans 8:11-14_
_Luke 19:2-4 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. (3) And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. (4) So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way._
Zacchaeus was up on the Sycamore tree to see who Jesus was. The life of Jesus had produced curiosity in him. Unless we have evoked curiosity in the minds of the people around us, we will not have the opportunity to present Jesus to them.
What is it that will cause curiosity in the hearts and minds of the Zacchaeuses around us?
Our life has to be the life of the culture of the kingdom of God, which is a counter-culture to that of the world around us. The life of the kingdom is an outcome of the wellbeing of the soul, which is because of the breath to breath relationship that we are in with Jesus.
The constitution of the kingdom of God must be lived out in us. Where do we find the constitution of the kingdom of God?
Matthew 5-7 gives us the details of life in His kingdom. Starting with the beatitudes and going into several other aspects of everyday life, Jesus gave us the practical application of the culture of the kingdom of God.
We are all keenly aware that the living out of the culture of the kingdom of God, has proved to have a phenomenal impact. This is the life that the church has to live out in order to effect curiosity to the world around us.
Yes, we have no doubt that the culture of the kingdom of God, explained so vividly for us in the Sermon on the Mount, is powerful, but how is it possible to live out the kingdom life. Is it possible to do so by our strength and the determination of our will?
How did we have the kingdom life in the very beginning? God gave us, ‘free will’ but God also commanded man that he should not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
_Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."_
Man was to take his free will and willingly surrender and submit it to God’s will. God had to be enthroned in his life. From the very beginning, the relationship that man had with God was of being subject to the King. Then sin entered. What was sin in its very core? Sin was man usurping the throne of his heart and choosing to rebel and reject God from being the King of his life.
When man came on the throne of his heart, he thought he was now in control over his life but this was not to be. Satan, taking the opportunity of the rebellion of the flesh in us, was now ruling through man.
Man became a victim, a prisoner, a vassal, a puppet seated on the throne of his heart but his life was controlled, dictated, manipulated by the devil, who pulled the strings.
This was and is man’s pathetic and terrible predicament. Jesus came to save and deliver us from this quandary and to bring us back to where we would be subject to God as our King and will no longer live for ourselves and the devil.
_II Corinthians 5:15 and He died for all, that those who live *should live no longer for themselves*, but for Him who died for them and rose again._
Our life of the kingdom of God can only be lived, when we are dethroned and Christ is enthroned in our hearts. The self in us has to be repeatedly taken to the cross, for we died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. _Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
_Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. II Corinthians 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body._
Secondly, we can live out the constitution of the kingdom of God, which is a counter-culture to the culture of the world, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
_Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God._
Jesus has provided us with all that is needed for us to live out the culture of the kingdom of God. We, the church, cannot give excuses that it is not possible to adopt the God culture described for us in the Sermon on the Mount.
If we do not live out the kingdom culture in the midst of a fallen, deplorable, world culture, we will not cause curiosity in the minds of the people of the world to want to take a look at us.
*Thought to ponder*
```Are you committed to living out the culture of the kingdom of God or are you content that your sins are forgiven?```