Transcript:

Hello! This is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective!

Have you ever considered that the act of public worship is a political act? No! Not a partisan political act in the way our division-prone society sees it, but a political act, nonetheless. What is the outrageously bold political act that we partake in every Sunday? Well, we gather, publicly, and declare that Jesus Christ (the anointed King) is Lord (the absolute ruler) of heaven and earth! Furthermore, we declare that He is coming back to judge the living and the dead—that the citizens of planet earth and their would-be rulers are all accountable to one political figure alone…a King who was brutally executed on a bloody Roman cross…for us.

How this fact has escaped our notice can only be explained by how the modern mind has neutered historic Christianity. Our contemporary notion of Jesus is way too innocuous, way too harmless. When you begin to ponder the implications of this assertion, it is shocking and, perhaps, a bit confusing. But one thing is for certain: it must change the way that we think about our engagement in this world.

The central claim of Christianity does not remove us from the affairs of life on earth; we are still citizens of the United States (or whatever land we call our own). However, it does affect the way we imagine our engagement in the affairs of this world. As Christians, we know that the kingdoms of this world (whether they are capitalist or communist, Democrat or Republican) are not ultimate kingdoms. All the kingdoms of this world will come and go, but His kingdom is forever.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;

let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him

and burns up his adversaries all around.

His lightnings light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.”

~ Psalm 97:1-5 (ESV)