We read about Jesus and his incredible life, and we realize how little like him we are. We see God use others around us in remarkable ways, and we’d like to see God use us as well.

But we feel inadequate. We read the Bible and don’t understand it. We pray and don’t feel like anything happens. We wish we understood more about the Christian life. We wish we felt more excitement. We wish we had the courage to witness to others. We get discouraged and settle into a habit of just going to church and trying to be a good person.

Your sense of inadequacy is a good sign. Your desire for God to do remarkable things in your life shows his Spirit is at work in you. Many others who call themselves Christian have no such desire. They believe church membership and some small degree of involvement is all God expects of his people.

They do not understand the Kingdom of God. Perhaps you don’t understand it either. Perhaps that’s why you don’t see where you fit into God’s revolutionary plan to change the world.

This study will help you see just exactly what God is accomplishing in the world. It will help you understand what he expects of you. It will lead you to Scriptures that reveal the secret of releasing God’s power in your own life. It will show you the part you play in God’s plan for the world.

If you let it, it will revolutionize your life.

*****
This is an online book, not a random series of blog postings. To assist you in reading straight through, a link to the next chapter is posted at the bottom of each page. The categories at the right list each chapter in sequence.

I’m leaving these entries open for comments because I think the Holy Spirit teaches us better when we are in dialogue than when we muddle about in isolation. Constructive critiques are welcome; uncivilized excretions will be flushed. If you have questions, they may be addressed to kainosblog (at) gmail.com.

Next installment
02 – Mankind’s rebellion

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God crowned his masterpiece with mankind, created in his own image. God looked back on his finished work and said, “This is good. This is very good.”

All creation sang in harmony. Peace reigned between God and his creation and between the creatures themselves.

Mankind was free. Free of oppression. Free of sickness and death. Free of greed and hatred. Free to walk with God in the garden.

But mankind also was free to choose – free to go its own way. Free to listen to the voice of rebellion that whispered in the garden. Free to live with the consequences of disobedience.

Mankind’s choice? To listen to the Tempter. To abandon the role ordained by the Creator. To seek its own destiny.

Shock waves rumbled across the universe when mankind chose rebellion over relationship. The harmony was shattered. Peace dissolved into war. Freedom gave way to slavery. Oppression, sickness, greed, and hatred swept through the human soul. Mankind died – in body and spirit.

God’s masterpiece lay in utter ruin. His beloved child had turned its back on him and walked away. Their friendship was replaced by an awful void. Division. Separation. Alienation. A cherished companion had made himself an enemy.

How God’s heart must have ached – like a father whose precious child chooses evil over good, against his loving counsel. She cuts herself off from his care. He watches her suffer the consequences of her choices. Grief overwhelms him, and the tears course down his cheeks.

God’s loving plan for his creation had gone completely awry. Mankind had not gotten sick; it had died. And in the process the rest of creation died as well. Everywhere there was chaos.

And God said, “This will not do. This will not do at all.”

Read it for yourself!
Genesis 1.1 – 2.3; Genesis 3.1-24

Think about it!
In what ways do you see people choosing their own ways over God’s ways?

What price do they pay for it?

Next installment
03 - God’s plan

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

God determined to bring creation back to himself, to restore the perfect harmony destroyed by rebellion. He would put aside the injury mankind had done him and renew the relationship. He would rescue all of creation from its slavery to death. Once again, peace and freedom would reign.

This was no minor task. Mankind had chosen rebellion. Death ruled the universe. Only a radical change could restore the harmony between God and his creation. God committed himself to that revolution – bringing creation back full circle to himself.

God had several options. He could have obliterated the world and begun all over again. He could have sent the forces of rebellion screaming into oblivion. But he chose instead to win back mankind’s love. He wanted mankind to return to him the same way it left – freely.

So God made a remarkable choice. He decided to win mankind back by sending someone to declare his love. In fact, he decided to solve the problem by using the very source of the problem – a human life.

The task was enormous: Bring a rebellious world, locked in the grip of death, back into a loving relationship with its Creator.

For this assignment, God chose Abraham, a simple nomad who would respond in faith when called to a daunting task. He made a promise to Abraham: I will bless you beyond your wildest dreams, if you will tell the world of my love for them.

God’s promise had a purpose. God was willing to pour out his richest blessings if Abraham would cooperate in rescuing the world from death and reconciling it to the Lord. God reaffirmed the promise with Abraham’s children.

God’s agreement with Israel required the nation to serve as a nation of priests. That meant Israel was to stand between: interceding with God on behalf of sinful mankind; declaring to the world the Creator’s willingness to forgive.

This required Israel to be different from the other nations. God’s people could represent him only if they showed the rest of the world what it meant to live in peace and harmony with God and each other. They could not indulge themselves in the world’s rebellions and still walk beside the Father.

God called Israel to stand as a lighthouse to nations lost in darkness. As they proclaimed the message of love and forgiveness, he would draw mankind back to himself. Mankind could return as freely as it left. Rebellion and death would be left behind. Peace and harmony would be restored.

If only Israel would be different and proclaim the message.

Read it for yourself!
Genesis 12.1-8; Exodus 19.1-6; Exodus 23.32-33; Isaiah 49.1-6

Think about it!
Why do you think God is so determined to do whatever it takes to bring his lost children back to himself?

Next installment
04 - Israel’s choice

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

God lived up to his part of the bargain. From that one childless couple, Abraham and Sarah, he raised up an entire nation. He delivered the people from slavery in Egypt. He established Israel in its own land.

Israel liked that part of the bargain. But the “stand apart and be different, light to the nations” part was another matter.

Israel was not willing to be different from the nations. Israel liked the fact that other nations had gods you could see. “Worshiping” on a hillside with a temple prostitute appealed to them. They envied the wealth of kings and the might of other armies.

Israel didn’t want to be different. They wanted to be like the other nations. Time and again they wandered away in search of pleasure, wealth, and might.

Israel wanted the benefits of being God’s chosen people without the responsibility of being a kingdom of priests. They wanted blessing without obedience. In the end, Israel was unwilling to carry the light of God’s love to the nations in darkness. Nowhere was their disobedience more evident than in the Temple at Jerusalem in Jesus’ day.

The Temple was composed of several courtyards.

The innermost court was the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest entered here, and then only once a year. Outside of that was the Holy Place, where the priests offered daily sacrifices. Beyond that was the Inner Court, which was divided into areas for the priests and Israelite men. Outside that was the Women’s Court. Encircling the entire Temple was the outer court, called the Court of the Peoples.

It was in this area alone that non-Jews could come to worship and be taught about God. Entering the inner courts was punishable by death. Signs were posted to warn gentiles to stay out.

It was to this court that Jesus came on the day he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But instead of a holy place filled with God-seekers from all over the world, he found a marketplace filled with money traders. Merchants selling animals for pilgrims to sacrifice.

The Court of the Peoples was supposed to be the world’s house of prayer. It symbolized Israel’s mission of bringing all the peoples of the world back to God. Yet it had been turned into a den of thieves, a symbol of Israel’s compromise with the world. In anger, Jesus cleared the court with a crude whip. He declared that the Kingdom would be taken away and given to a people who would produce the fruit of the Kingdom.

Israel had convinced themselves that God had chosen them because they were special, instead of the other way around. They prided themselves in being children of Abraham and heirs to the Promise. But they failed to realize that, to God, the purpose behind the promise was more important than the promise itself. They failed to comprehend that redeeming the world was all that mattered to God. His revolution would be completed at all cost, with or without Israel’s help.

God had been patient. Israel had been given many opportunities. And God decided to give them one last chance.

Read it for yourself!
1 Samuel 8.1-8; Matthew 21.33-46; Mark 11.15-18

Think about it!
In what ways do God’s people today still fail to be what God expects of his people?

Next installment
05 – God’s solution

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

He sent his people to the world, and his people abandoned their mission. He sent his prophets to his people, and the prophets were abused and killed.

God’s own children continued to spurn him. Yet his love compelled him to keep trying to win their hearts. There was only one choice left. God made the ultimate gesture: He sent his only Son.

This was an extraordinary step. Ever since the rebellion in the garden, an immense void had separated mankind from God. In spite of God’s offer of forgiveness, mankind was unwilling or unable to cross the void. The radical problem required a radical solution.

So God crossed the chasm himself. More than that, God came on mankind’s own terms. The fullness of God came to earth in the person of a man, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus was God. Miraculously conceived. Nurtured by God himself. Jesus bridged the chasm that separated human flesh from divine spirit. He established an unbreakable link between God and mankind.

Jesus came to show mankind the way back to God. He came to call God’s people to finish their work. He came to demonstrate how flesh and blood can walk with God Almighty.

Jesus came to face all the struggles and frustrations mankind faces every day. He came to listen the whisperings of the Tempter. He came to rub shoulders with a rebellious, disobedient world and yet remain faithful to a holy God. He came to live free in a world of slaves.

Jesus lived the same life every man and woman must live. No one will ever face a problem or temptation more difficult than those he faced. Yet he proved God’s power is greater than any evil at large in the world. He proved a frail human being can, in the power of God, stand apart from the world and proclaim God’s unfailing love and forgiveness.

In Jesus, God had a messenger who could speak with authority and match his words with his deeds.

Read it for yourself!
John 1.1-5, 10-14; John 3.16-21; Hebrews 2.14-18; Hebrews 4.15-16

Think about it!
Why do you think it was important that Jesus be “God with us”?

Why do you think it was important that Jesus struggle with the same problems and temptations we do?

Next installment
06 – Jesus’ message

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

Jesus preached a simple, powerful message: “The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”

The time has come – For hundreds of years, the Israelites had been waiting for a special king, the Messiah. They believed God would send the Messiah to deliver them from their enemies and establish God’s kingdom over the entire world. It was their most cherished hope. Jesus came with the good news: The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived!

The kingdom of God is near – In fact, Jesus said, the kingdom is right under your nose, and you don’t even know it. It’s always been there, but you’ve been looking for an earthly king. Now open your eyes. What you want more than anything in the world is right before you!

Repent – Jesus wasn’t just calling people to be sorry for rebelling against God. Repentance does involve a personal action. It means understanding just how much you have hurt God. It means turning your back on rebellion. But it also involves an action by God: a complete transformation of your innermost being. A radical change in who you are. God creates a whole new you. Made in his likeness. In harmony with his heart. Capable of an intimate relationship with him. Capable of living a life that pleases God.

Believe the good news – This happens in the heart, not the head. It’s more than accepting the facts about a loving God, more than agreeing that Jesus is his only Son. It means trusting God to make this good news a reality in your heart and life. Staking your life, your reputation, your possessions, your family, your career on God’s ability to make good on his promises. Making a commitment to stand apart and be different from the world. To be God’s light in the darkness. To give yourself – body and soul – to God’s revolution.

Jesus’ message was not good news for everyone, however. He told Israel that they had badly misunderstood the nature of God’s kingdom. He told a people waiting for deliverance that it had been right under their noses all the time. He told a devoutly religious people that they needed to be completely transformed. He told them that their religious ritual was inadequate. God wanted sons and daughters, not casual acquaintances. God wanted revolutionaries, not functionaries.

Jesus knew the enormity – and the danger – of what he said. He phrased the message deliberately. Not everyone was glad to hear it. It was not to be taken lightly.

The stakes were immense. A day of reckoning was coming. Every soul would stand before God and account for rebellion. The faithless ones, who had made themselves God’s enemies, would spend eternity separated from God.

God was going to hold mankind accountable. He saw to it that one final, unmistakable word came to mankind. The word was Jesus, God’s own Son. Dispatched on a mission from God.

Read it for yourself!
Mark 1.14-15

Think about it!
Why do people need to be radically changed to have a relationship with God?

Have you really been radically changed? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?

Next installment
07 - Jesus’ mission

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

At the end of Jesus’ ministry, Israel was full of people who had not yet heard the good news of the Kingdom. There were lepers unhealed. Many people were still blind and lame. Jesus had not yet suffered and died on the cross, yet he pronounced his life’s work complete.

Jesus’ mission was revealing God to his disciples. God had chosen the Twelve out of the world to be Jesus’ comrades. Jesus taught them what God had taught him. He protected them from the Enemy. And they became obedient to God’s word.

Jesus could not preach to every soul. He could not heal every infirm body. A nation of messengers was needed to carry to the world the good news of God’s love and forgiveness.

God had raised up a people to carry his message of love and forgiveness to the whole world. That people proved unwilling. Jesus declared that the Kingdom would be given to a new people. This nation would be made up of people willing to bear witness. God raised up that nation from the disciples who followed Jesus closely.

Jesus did not build an empire around himself. He multiplied himself through his disciples. He laid aside ego and ambition and poured himself into the Twelve. He prepared them to continue the work he could not finish himself.

Completing God’s Kingdom was too large a task for one person. But Jesus would not have had the chance to complete it anyway. His message had set him on a collision course with God’s enemies.

Jesus’ message led him directly to the cross. He dreaded the suffering that was to come. He asked God to deliver him from that horrible end. Yet he was willing to endure that agony for the sake of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus could have walked away from Jerusalem that night. But that would have been self-serving. Jesus had given himself – body and soul – to God’s work in the world. He freely chose suffering for God over his own well-being. God’s mission was more important to him than even his own life.

Jesus was not casual about his relationship with God. He was not just concerned about the Kingdom. Jesus was consumed with God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself. His every waking moment was occupied with thoughts of the Kingdom. Every breath was drawn to share the good news of love and forgiveness. All his strength was poured out to bring others back into harmony with God. There was no other path.

Like God’s son, God’s people are consumed with his Kingdom, or they are not God’s people. They serve God, or they serve his Enemy.

Read it for yourself!
John 4.34; John 6.39; John 17.4-21

Think about it!
Emil Brunner said: “A church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning.” What do you think that means? Do you agree or disagree?

Would you say you personally are consumed with God’s kingdom or just concerned?

What does God’s Word say about Christians or churches that aren’t consumed with his mission?

Next installment
08 - Jesus’ enemies

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

The God of creation is sovereign. Everything, even God’s Enemy, exists by his creative act. He sustains it all by his grace. Nothing occurs without his permission.

Freedom reigns in the spiritual dimension of creation. With freedom comes the opportunity for rebellion. God’s Enemy takes advantage of that freedom, turning it into license for rebellion.

The Instigator of Rebellion rules the hearts of those who have chosen to indulge self rather than seek God. To them he offers pleasure, power, and wealth. In return, he takes their freedom – their relationship with God.

Jesus knew the Evil One. He had met him face to face and resisted his temptations. He knew the Enemy was not flesh and blood. He knew the Enemy was the spiritual force that expresses itself in selfish desires, tempting thoughts, and evil impulses.

God’s people had not been so discerning. The necessities and ambitions of daily life required their attention. Rome must be placated. Deals must be struck. A place in the world must be secured. The “real world” leaves no room for other-worldly idealism.

God’s people did not surrender to the Enemy outright. Instead, they made shabby compromises. They made peace with the world in order to assure their security.

There can be no alliance, however, between God’s people and his enemy. God’s expectations are too high. The Enemy’s demands are too great. One swears allegiance to God or collaborates with the Enemy.

Jesus faced down the Tempter and remained faithful to God. He found a more difficult adversary, however, in God’s people who had made alliances with the Tempter.

Such were the Pharisees and Sadducees. They held themselves up as models of righteousness and spirituality. But they had long ago abandoned the idea of confronting the world’s rebellions against God’s ways. Instead, they had become ambassadors for ritual religion. They represented the interests of a social institution. And their institution – like the others – was ruled by the Prince of Rebellion.

Another compromiser was Judas Iscariot. Raised in the Temple religion. Fervent in his hope for the delivering Messiah. Willing to lay aside everything to follow the Anointed One from God.

Yet in his heart, he harbored reservations. He had ambitions for power and wealth. He wanted to avoid conflict that might diminish the influence of the Temple or the nation. Perhaps he saw himself as the “realistic” disciple.

It was not the scheming of the religious leaders that left Jesus in the power of the mob. Nor was it the cowardice of the other disciples. It was the double-mindedness of Judas, who thought he could serve Jesus by negotiating with his enemies.

Jesus was not betrayed by those who hated him. He was betrayed by one who loved him dearly but not whole-heartedly.

Jesus’ worst enemy was a friend with divided loyalties.

Read it for yourself!
Luke 4.1-30

Think about it!
In what ways do Christians’ divided loyalties betray Christ?

List some divided loyalties in your life.

Next installment
09 – God’s power

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

As closely as the Twelve had walked with Jesus, they also took his death as his defeat. They had never quite understood what Jesus meant when he said: “The last shall be first.” Or for that matter: “On the third day….”

The Evil One celebrated a victory for death. The religious leaders congratulated themselves on their shrewd strategy. The disciples scattered in discouragement. But in the dank, musty tomb, God Almighty was performing the greatest miracle since creation.

For two days, Jesus lay cold and lifeless on a stone slab. But early on the third day, God bent down and breathed life back into his battered body. In the most incredible moment since the dawn of time, the crucified Son of God stepped out of his tomb and watched the rising sun scatter the last shroud of foggy darkness.

What power can turn death into life? Only that power which brought creation into being at a single word. Only that which could make lepers whole and cause the blind to see. Only that which fed thousands of people with a few scraps of bread and two small fish.

Jesus did none of those things on his own. It was the infinite power of God released in his life that left the multitudes in awe. It was this same power from God that enabled him to resist the Tempter and remain faithful to his Father. It was this power that enabled him to face the cross and endure its agonies.

This same unsearchable power that pulled Jesus from the grave would utterly transform those who gave their lives to him. This power alone can free a soul from its slavery to death. This power alone can create a new heart, capable of walking in peace with God. This power alone can vanquish darkness and banish the Evil One from his throne on earth. This power alone can restore the harmony between God and his creation.

This power is not lost in history. When Jesus returned to his Father, the power moved into the hearts of his disciples. It transformed them from a scattering of downhearted victims to the most powerful band of revolutionaries the world has ever seen.

By this power, God is able to accomplish infinitely more than any human can conceive in the wildest imaginings. This power lives in the hearts of all those who belong to Jesus. And it throbs with potential.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. In fact, he will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14.12).

Read it for yourself!
Luke 24.1-53; John 5.16-19; Ephesians 3.20

Think about it!
What Christian have you known whose life revealed God’s power in a remarkable way?

How does God’s power work in your life?

What would let God’s power work more freely in your life?

Next installment
10 - Our mission

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.

His work was done. He had endured the agony of the cross. He had suffered for the sins of mankind. He had laid down his life so others could make peace with God.

After God raised him from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples. He gave them proof of his physical resurrection. He taught them about God’s Kingdom.

Jesus also said that his disciples must complete the mission he had begun. He told them : “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” His mission became theirs. Through Jesus, God had been reconciling the world to himself. Now, through the disciples, that work would continue.

Jesus had given his life to spreading the good news about God’s love and forgiveness. Now his disciples would devote their lives to the same work. It was their turn to extend the Kingdom, their turn to demonstrate God’s revolutionary power in human lives.

The disciples also were told how to accomplish the mission. Jesus called his disciples from among the people he had contact with every day. He told them, in turn, to make disciples of those they met along the way. God would give them disciples, just as he had given them to Jesus. They would teach their disciples, just as Jesus had taught them.

Their lives would be focused on building the Kingdom. Along the paths of daily life, they had contact with people: Family. Friends. Neighbors. Business contacts. Casual acquaintances. Among them would be people enslaved by the Enemy. People living in rebellion against God. People needing to find peace with God.

They would build relationships with these people. They would come to understand their struggles and sorrows. In the name of Christ, they would meet their needs. They would share how the power of God had freed them from sin and given them new meaning and purpose in life. They would teach them about Jesus and help them make peace with God. Then they would help the new disciples begin the process all over again with families, friends, and neighbors.

God would give them the power and wisdom to do this, just as he had given Jesus power and wisdom. The work that had consumed Jesus would consume them as well. Jesus said they would do what he had been doing.

Jesus expected no less of his disciples than he expected of himself. In fact, he promised them they would do even greater things than he had done. Because he was leaving to be with the Father, his Spirit could be multiplied through all of them. Because of their numbers, because of the years that lay ahead, they could carry the good news to all the peoples throughout the whole earth. They could complete the revolution God had begun in Jesus: defeating the Evil One, freeing the captives, and bringing the world back into harmony with God.

Read it for yourself!
Matthew 28.18-20; John 5.16-19; John 14.12-14; John 20.19-23; 2 Corinthians 5.14-20

Think about it!
Who were the people who helped you see your need for Christ? How did God use them to influence you?

Who has God placed in your life who needs you to influence them for Christ? What are you doing to reach them for Christ?

Next installment
11 - Our enemy

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Copyright © 2007, Kainos Press. All rights reserved.