Is The Kingdom of God a Kingdom Now?

In a small group of pastors I asked the question, "how do you define the Kingdom of God?'

I was amazed at the response. 

There are Christian teachers who say, that we have been given the authority to set up the Kingdom of God here on earth, and we, 'the Church' will usher in His return by accomplishing this goal.  Once again, we have inserted our own theology into the scriptures.  Jesus gave His followers one mandate prior to His departure, and it's found in:

Matthew 28:18-19

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Now the authority was given to Him, and His commission to us was to go and make disciples based upon what Jesus taught, and what He did upon the cross.  

The Kingdom of God can be defined as who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and what Jesus will do when He returns. In Luke 17 Jesus was asked about this the Kingdom of God, look how he answered:

 ²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,  ²¹nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Notice, no outward signs, no taking dominion, and no theology that says "we are going to take dominion over the earth" and pave the way for the return of Jesus. 

The only sign will be the presence of Jesus when we gather in His name, notice what Jesus said in Matthew 18:20

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

The Kingdom of God is seen in Jesus Christ, and He becomes our kingdom.  Why do we need to invent new theologies to inspire His followers?  Isn't the cross sufficient in it's power to bring His kingdom into our lives by the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God? 

What more do we need?  Prosperity preachers want us to have it all now, claim it all now, and dominion preachers think we can conquer it all now, and prepare the earth for God. Sorry, to be honest, I don't see that in the scriptures.  Our purpose as His followers is to go into the world and make disciples who will give up their lives in following Him. To what purpose do these crazy theologies do to make disciples?  They only get people all hyped up over things Jesus did not commission us to do. 

Dr John Piper has a great word for you on the prosperity message, I think it will challenge you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s

Author and radio talk host Brannon Howse looks at Dominion Theology, and it's ramifications in our world today. 

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-radio/episode.php?episodeid=18532

Until next time, keep it honest and truthful......K