Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Discipleship
Scripture: Matthew 28:18,19
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Now that we understand how we are translated into the Kingdom of God. Now begins the journey to experiencing the Kingdom culture. It starts with discipleship. Why does it start with discipleship? Now that you have come into the Kingdom, you still do not know or understand the culture of the Kingdom. So God has special sisters and brothers that are to disciple you in the ways and character of the Father to mature you so that you can handle the affairs of the Kingdom. Let’s look at this scripture because we have read it and read it but do we understand the directions and command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18,19
“And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”
Now, Jesus makes the declaration that all power is given unto Him in Heaven and on Earth. So Jesus is the source of the power for us. Now, He tells His disciples to Go and teach all nations. Now the word teach in the Greek is Matheteuo. Matheteuo means disciple. So you can read the scripture in the original Greek as “Go you therefore and disciple all nations.” Now before we look at this remember, God selected 12 disciples for Jesus.. Even though there were some 70 other people who came along and were called disciples there was specifically 12 that God gave to Jesus for Him to disciple. Now Jesus was discipling them into maturity knowing that His time on Earth would be short and the ministry and the culture of the Kingdom would continue starting with the original 12 disciples that walked with the Lord. Now if Jesus knew how to disciple the disciples, how was Jesus discipled? Jesus was discipled by the Father throughout His life, particularly from age 12 to 30 because it was this time that He would come into maturity to handle the affairs of the Kingdom and demonstrate Kingdom culture. Now Jesus has prepared these 12 disciples and told them to go disciple all nations. The word nations in the Greek is Ethnos meaning a nation of people. Jesus told them to disciple all nations. That means the entire world. This declaration and decree is what is called the Great Commission. This is not some optional thing that believers do. This is the commission to the sons of God that we are discipled and then go out and disciple the nations. The mistake that is made is the belief that it is the pastor’s responsibility to teach the flock. The pastor is an overseer and on some levels they are to teach the flock but teaching and discipling is not just delegated to the pastor but to the Body of Christ. But what can you disciple if you yourself have not been discipled, let alone spent study time with the Lord.
Now what has happened is we do not disciple the nations but make converts and church members. Now there is just a membership drive going on in the church and the people are becoming more ignorant to the culture of the Kingdom and ways and character of God. The church then really has no place to go in their mind but to turn to society because they have gone so far off base and they have to now do what society does to feel relevant and call it God. Now I do not fully blame the people for their ignorance in as much as I blame man’s systems and traditions. You have to be personally accountable for your life but there are also other that have accountability. So when the pastor or bishop see the people lacking in the knowledge of God they want to blame the people but they need to look at the systems in place to see if the system is broken. I am a strong believer in the Word of God being the centerpiece and less singing and “fluff” during worship services because it is the time that we as believers need to be discipled and hear from Heaven, the direction the King wants us to go in. We as a church have to get back to the Great Commission and disciple all nations. That means it will require to fight spirits of racism and social myths to do what Jesus asked us to do. The commission is for all nations not just your nation or race.
To begin to experience the Kingdom culture there has to be a spirit of discipleship and a heart and love for the people of God and those who have yet to come into the Kingdom to go out in the vineyard and labor for the Lord. Are you willing to be discipled? It is a part of the culture of the Kingdom.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
