In this message we shall cover some further matters related to the believers’ experiencing the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately by entering into the kingdom of God.
Today the believers live the kingdom life in the church, for the church is the kingdom of God in this age (Matt. 16:18-19; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). This is a very practical matter involving much exercise. In one sense, the church is God’s family, God’s home (Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15). In this home we enjoy grace and receive the life supply. In another sense, the church is also the kingdom. The word “kingdom” denotes ruling. On the one hand, the church is a family, a home, full of grace and life; on the other hand, the church is a kingdom, a government, to rule. The church as the kingdom is a matter of exercise. The church is our family and also our kingdom. In our family we have the enjoyment of love, the supply of grace, and the riches of life. In the kingdom we have rule, government, exercise, and discipline.
A verse that strongly proves that the church in this age is the kingdom of God is Romans 14:17. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” According to some Bible teachers, the kingdom has not yet come. They say that now is the dispensation of the church, and the next dispensation will be that of the kingdom. But in 14:17 Paul does not say that the kingdom of God shall be; he uses the present tense and says that the kingdom of God is. According to the context of Romans 14, which speaks of receiving the believers, the kingdom is today’s church life. The reality of the church life is the kingdom. Romans 12 speaks of the Body life and Romans 14, of the kingdom life. This indicates that, in Romans, the kingdom life is the reality of the Body life.
In Romans 14:17 we see that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When the authority of God’s kingdom is allowed to operate in us, righteousness, peace, and joy will characterize our daily life. Righteousness, peace, and joy mean a great deal, for these items are the expression of Christ. When Christ is expressed, He is our righteousness toward ourselves, and our peace toward others, and our joy with God.
As the believers live the kingdom life in the church, they live righteously toward themselves. This means that, in the practical kingdom life in the church today, we must be strict with ourselves and make no excuses for ourselves. Toward ourselves we must be strict and righteous in everything we do.
Furthermore, to live the kingdom life in the church means that we live peacefully toward others. This means that our relationships with others must be characterized by peace. Toward others we must endeavor to pursue peace, continually seeking to be at peace with them. We must be careful to maintain peace with everyone related to us. This peace is actually Christ lived out from our being. Hebrews 12:14a says, “Pursue peace with all men.” In Ephesians 4:3 we have the charge to be “diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.”
Peace and righteousness are always related. If we do not have righteousness, we cannot have peace. Righteousness must come first, and then peace will follow. If we are righteous toward ourselves, then we shall be at peace with others.
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