In Bible times common names like James, John, and Joshua, were often distinguished by adding the name of their father, their character, or a prominent character trait.

• Joshua, the “Son of Nun”
• Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement.”  (Imagine what a great friend this guy would be!)
• James and John, the “Sons of Thunder” (Drama, anyone?)
• Judas, the “Son of Perdition.”  (Damnation)
• Jesus, the Son of God.  (A definite conversation-starter in first century Jerusalem.)

The kingdom of God is more like a verb than a noun.  It says “Go!” “Preach!” “Heal!” “Pray!” “Love!”  The kingdom is not about real estate, but real life.   It’s proactive, creative, dynamic, and visionary, and the only way we’ll see it is by engaging in it.  The kingdom isn’t a rest home, but a revolution – a movement of love, heroism, service, and sacrifice.  “… from the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven has been forcing its way in, and men of force take it.  (Matt. 11:12)   

One of the great noble themes of the kingdom is that our lives DO matter.  While other kingdoms lull the children of Adam into fatalism, nirvana, and welfare wards, the kingdom thrusts us into significance, action and adventure. Nike’s “Just do it” rings true to the human heart because it’s an idea that belongs to the Kingdom.  “If you know these things, you’ll be blessed if you do them.”  (John 14:17) 

Eighteen year old Micah asked to speak with me after lunch. “OK, here’s the thing: I want the kingdom. I don’t want to miss it like most people around me. I want it. But I’m afraid I’ll miss it. I’m afraid the weeds will crowd it out, or the cares of life will smother it. What do I need to do?”

What a great question. And what hope it gives me to see young people passionately seeking the kingdom. But how do we actually do it? Since the Kingdom is at its essence the most practical and real thing in the cosmos, there must be practical and real ways of seeking it.

These suggestions have helped me:

• Pray for the kingdom. It is, after all, the first priority of the Lord’s prayer. “May Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Faith inevitably becomes sight, and as we pray for the Kingdom we will eventually see it all around.

• Develop an ear to hear the King’s voice. As Jesus spoke to the twelve, He is still speaking. And if our ears are tuned, we’ll hear him saying, “Look here at this pearl, at this mustard seed, this party, this movie, this football game….” Pictures of the Kingdom are everywhere, and it’s the Father’s delight to point them out to us.

• Ask for “Kingdom Eyes.” Like fine art, good wine, and beautiful music, it’s a cultivated taste. “This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes.” We need the help of the Spirit to see the Kingdom.

• Take your expectations out of the church building. The kingdom became flesh in Jesus, and it’s been invading the streets and the neighborhoods ever since. You’ll see it in a homeless person, in the widow next door, in the fatherless child across the street. “Sanctuary religion” tends to cloud our vision of a world full of beauty, grace, and human need.

• Obey the small promptings of the King. Nothing opens the kingdom like walking the streets of human need with the King at our side.

“Don’t be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.” – Luke 12:32

The kingdom is the only true reality. It is life as God intended it to be. The Kingdom is everything in the cosmos working as it was designed, from brain cells to business calls, from muscles to music. This is why Jesus said his yoke “is easy” and his burden “is light.” (Matt. 11:30) To live by truth is easy. Respect gravity. Expect to reap what you sow. Don’t step in front of a moving vehicle. Don’t spend what you don’t have. Treat others like you’d want to be treated. Pay your bills. But to resist reality is to ask for trouble.

Societies founded on falsehoods crumble and self-destruct. Communism, Materialism, and Postmodernism all fail because they haven’t the glue of truth to hold them together. No need for God to destroy those societies any more than for Him to have to destroy a person who’s trying to live on raw sewerage. The choice is the judgment. But the Kingdom! Ah! It is unshakable (Heb. 12:28). It is the house built upon a rock. Storms may rage against the Truth, but they cannot change it. And the Truth of the universe is the bedrock of the Kingdom.

Ivan Illich, (the social philosopher, not to be confused with Tolstoy’s tragic figure), was asked one time about the best way to change the world:

“Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step forward. If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.”

Of course we know that the Kingdom is that fresh, alternative story waiting to be told. Jesus’ invitation to, “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” was simply an offer to step into the adventure of His story.

The old, threadbare script about alienated humans trying to reach God through religion, sacrifice and ritual (blah, blah, blah), was shut down, canceled, and should have been run out of town for good by the dazzling news that God himself had taken on flesh, moved into the neighborhood, and embraced humanity right where it was. God’s new story was a comprehensive plan to redeem not only the human race, but to overhaul the whole of life and culture from gardens to garbage dumps, from prisons to palaces. Even nature itself waits for us to take our place in the action. (Romans 8:19)

I’m praying today that my soul will be saturated with the script, and that I will become a master storyteller of the Kingdom Tale.

Boredom happens when we miss the story of God, the epic battle that began in the garden. My generation medicated the boredom with drugs and traded adventure for success. Or – if we happened to be evangelicals – we scurried from meeting to meeting in a frantic search for signs and wonders, prosperity and rapturous emotions until we ourselves became addicts of another sort.

Then the King sat us all down, (those who would listen), and said, “Let me give you a story to live.” It’s a tale of a good and glorious King, and a poisonous spell that darkened the minds of his people. It’s an epic of heroes and romance, of breathless battles and nail-biting suspense. And it’s a story with my name in it. (And yours too!)

This generation – the young people I just left in Budapest, the Attention Deficit Generation – are cashing it in for a part in the story. It’s a swelling movement of grace and power, of justice and mercy. This, I believe, is the Kingdom generation. And the action is about to begin. It’s time to fasten our seat belts, study our part, and enter into history. “May Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

Always a sucker for a castle, this one is in Budapest.

“What is the gospel?” The question sparked quite a discussion when it was tossed around the room at discipleship group last night.

For my first twenty-some years as a believer my answer would have been an incredulous, “DUH!? Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we could be forgiven.” And obviously that’s true as far as it goes. Only problem is, the gospel of Jesus went way beyond forgiveness. “Repent… for the kingdom of God is near” (Matt. 4:17) is vastly larger than “Repent so your sins can be forgiven.” When the kingdom of God entered human history in the person of Jesus, far more was changed than just the status of our guilt. Forgiveness was just the beginning. He quickly followed by adopting us into his family and setting off to restore everything gone wrong with the Universe. (Rom. 8:19-25; Eph. 4:10)

Today King Jesus is pouring his life, his beauty, his order, and his justice into all of human activity and experience. And that changes everything from the wonder of a rose to the way I play piano, from my work habits, to my relationships. The world has unfurled beyond imagination because the King has reclaimed His cosmos.