Living for Christ in society
I saw a banner in a chapel with the title; “Living the Kingdom Life”. It was their theme for the year. Christians are to live God’s Kingdom lifestyles that make them have right standing with God and also relevant to the community in which they live.
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Living for Christ in society or living the kingdom life is a central theme for the Christian faith community.
We will discuss five essential elements of “Living the Kingdom Life. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it includes some key elements of “Basic Christianity”:
• New-birth in Christ (The foundation for Kingdom living)
• Hunger and thirst for righteousness. (The hall-mark for Kingdom living)
• Study God’s word; Abide in God’s word (A major key to Living the Kingdom life)
• Effective Prayer (A life line to Living the Kingdom life)
• Infilling of the Holy Spirit (Power for Living the Kingdom life; power to live the victorious Christian life, and power to serve Christ effectively bearing fruit that lasts.
New-birth in Christ
New-birth in Christ is what makes a person a true member of the Kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus observes that for any building to stand the test of the seasons, including rain, storm and flood it must have a solid foundation.
Similarly, for any person to live God’s Kingdom life of a fully functional and abundant life despite the varied sunshine-day and cloudy-day experiences they may go through, they must have a solid foundation of regeneration.
The person must be made a brand new person on the inside. (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is critical to “living the Kingdom life”. In fact, Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see (or enter) the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3 NIV).
The experience of new-birth in Christ is the foundation for “Living the Kingdom life”. The natural series of practical questions that follow are: How does a person experience new birth and gain a personal relationship with Jesus? What are the results of new-birth?
It is essential for pastors and church leaders to address these questions and carefully explain to and help people to experience new birth in Christ.
Is your Church work merely promoting church membership or Kingdom of God membership?
In our churches, there should be an intentional focus to monitor and evaluate pastoral and church leaders effectiveness in terms of how people are being helped to experience new birth in Christ. The experience of new-birth is critical to church renewal and growth.
Hunger and thirst for righteousness
The Lord Jesus is clear in His instruction to the members of the Christian faith.
“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” (Mathew 5:6). Righteousness generally means doing what is just and right either as a moral characteristic or in line with a legal or moral standard set.
It also refers to people’s treatment of one another in the community. In New Testament teaching, genuine believers in Christ have “righteousness”. That is “right standing of a member of the people of God”.
Righteousness, therefore, comes to mean, “Covenant membership”. Thus righteousness principally concerns membership in the covenant, and the behaviour appropriate to that membership.
Those believers who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus and become covenant members through experiencing new birth, must live lifestyles worthy of their repentance! Righteousness is right standing and consequent right behaviour.
It is extremely important to emphasise that “this righteousness is not gained by obedience to any law, or by any merit of any person, or any other condition than faith in Christ.
The person who trusts in Christ’s sacrifice for their sin becomes “the righteousness of God in Him”. That is to become in Christ, all that God requires a person to be and all that the person could never be in themselves.
We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) that “God made Christ who never sinned, to be the offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God through Christ”.
