The Kingdom of God – a primer on the Christian life.

“At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the church faces an identity crisis unparalleled in its history. There is much confusion among many Christians on issues such as, what is a Christian, how does one become a Christian, and what does the future hold for the Christian. The church’s unwitting capitulation to powerful cultural forces has caused it to lose its prophetic, other-worldly voice.”

These words are close to the beginning of this valuable booklet, written by W. Tullian Tchividjian, and produced in a Banner of Truth series. It only costs about £2, and in my opinion this is the best investment I have made over recent months.

In the course of 43 short pages, we are reminded that in order for the church to re-establish its voice in our time, we must know who we are. Our citizenship is in heaven. When we gather each week we do so not to escape from the real world, but to remind ourselves that this present world is passing by and is not all there is.

We are the citizens of the Kingdom of God, not of the kingdom of this world. It follows that we need to remind ourselves as to what the Kingdom is in biblical terms. The theme of God’s kingdom runs though out the Old and New Testaments – so clearly it is important that we have an overview as to God’s plan for the world in the past, present and future.

The booklet outlines the development of the Kingdom as it took place in the Old and New Testaments. There is a section on the (unique) characteristics that mark the citizens of the Kingdom. We are reminded that the Beatitudes “paint a picture of what human life and community begins to look like when people come under the reign and rule of God.” We are reminded that some Christians believe that – to reach the world, we must be like the world – so they copy its ways (style, way of talking, fashions and trends). In doing this, what message is conveyed? The watching world gets the idea that the world’s kingdom is more exciting with more to offer, and is more significant than God. We are called out of the world. We’ve been given a different heart, mind and destiny. We should not be looking at the world’s standards for any form of guidance. We are called to be salt and light – so we can make a difference, and we can’t do this unless we are different.

Other sections discuss the challenges (opposition) we face. The material looks at the temptations of the “broad” road and the difficulty of the “narrow” road. The latter involves us in resisting enemies who will try to lure us off the road. Some of these enemies will come from within the church and we are called to be on guard. There is a section on false prophets – who they are, what they teach, and how to identify them. The main themes proposed by the false teacher are that Jesus is not the only way to God (If you think this is truth refer back to John 14:6); and the denial of suffering in the life of a believer. We are told that the best way to detect false ideas about God, and the Christian life is to know what is revealed to us in God’s Word (the Bible) and to know it well.

I have already said that I believe that a £2 investment in this booklet is well worth it (even if I’m wrong and it is really £3); so I would urge each on of you to get a copy of your own and read it as soon as you can. The booklet title states on the cover that it is a “primer on the Christian life”, so let’s use it as such. This subject deserves our interest.