UNITY

I was watching a programme on the ABC called Q & A (question and answer) where a panel answered questions from the floor and by email. On the panel was Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister in the Howard government and an Anglican by religion.

A question came up about religious leaders pontificating about political issues. Downer said he had no problem with that as in a democracy, everyone has a right to an opinion about anything (unless the subject is homosexuality then you are not allowed any opinion except theirs).

He went on to say what he had a problem with was the fact that the religious leaders were always arguing with each other and could not agree on the essentials.

That got me thinking and asking myself why that was the case. I can only come up with one answer and this is it. The church as we know it is not the church. It is a man made institution created by people who were not called by God to represent him on earth.

That being the case, they are going to defend their position because they want to be seen as the one that is right so that they can attract more adherents and so claim supremacy and have the self satisfaction of being the ‘right’ one.

In other words, they are building their kingdom, not God’s.

God’s kingdom is not about being right; it is not about getting numbers; it is not about who is the best; it is not about who has the highest profile; it is not about determining who measures up and who doesn’t; it is not about giving jobs to the boys; it is not about me and my ministry.

The kingdom of God is about love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. You don’t need any structure or organisation to make that happen. What you do need is humility and relationship as such things cannot happen outside of them.

In the Kingdom of God we worship the king, not the pastor, priest or pope like they have been doing all week at World Youth Day in Australia.

In the Kingdom of God, the chief shepherd is Jesus, not the pastor or the priest or the reverend.

In the Kingdom of God, the power behind the throne is the Holy Spirit, not the denominational leader or headquarters.

In the Kingdom of God, we are not building our church because we don’t have one, we are allowing Jesus to build his church as he said he would.

In the Kingdom of God, the great people are the servants, not the power hungry people like the pope and the charismatic preachers.

In the Kingdom of God, he uses the nobodies and the ones who are not, not the charismatic and powerful. They don’t need God because they can cruise along on their own ability.

In the Kingdom of God, he uses everyone, not just a select few who have academic credentials and the approval of denominational HQ.

In fact, the church today in the main is the total opposite of what the Kingdom of God stands for. It is no wonder that the world sees the church as irrelevant. The fact is, it is irrelevant if we want to follow the scripture and go into all the world and make disciples of all nations and have the same impact as the New Testament Church did.