A Matter of Righteousness, Peace, and Joy

By Beth | September 21, 2018

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17

Evangelists use their gifts to grow the Kingdom of God. Praise God! The lost need to be saved!

But, there can be problems when salvation is seen as the end of the road rather than the beginning.

In Acts 18 when Paul arrived in Corinth he taught and reasoned with people in the synagogue every Sabbath. Verse 4 says he was trying to persuade Jews and Greeks, “testifying to the people that the Christ was Jesus” (Acts 18:5). Verse 11 says he stayed a year and six months, “teaching the Word of God among them.”

In Ephesus he stayed for two years where Acts 19:8 says, “And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.”

In three other places in the book of Acts Paul is said to be teaching or preaching about the “kingdom of God.” This goes beyond the message of personal salvation for the forgiveness of our sin (though this is a necessary part of salvation) to the greater concept of living as a part of the kingdom of God where nothing is left untouched by His Word.

The Compact Dictionary of Doctrinal Words defines “kingdom of God” as “A world that emulates heaven; God’s reign as king over all the earth. The Kingdom of God also refers to the kingdom of Jesus.”

In the book of Acts, Paul; preaches that God’s Kingdom has come! He reasoned with people from the Law and the Prophets so they would understand Christ as a part of God’s plan for His creation. From the beginning He was the One who would come to rule. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Paul faced great opposition from Jewish leaders and Roman rulers. This was not because he preached that Jesus came to save us from our personal sins, but because he was teaching that the Kingdom of God was upon us. Jesus had come as King.

The other leaders did not want to face a Divine Ruler they could not overtake or conquer.

The question this raises is, are our expectations and practices of evangelism today too small? Does a simple response to the salvation message and a prayer repeated as we recite the words for the “new believer” to follow save a person from an eternity in Hell?

If Paul preached and reasoned with people for days or months, persuading them of the truth from the whole of scripture, are our expectations too shallow?

Are we willing to follow Paul’s time consuming example of reasoning, persuading, and preaching? Is salvation the destination we want people to reach – or is it a commitment to obey the Word of God in every area of life?

Christ has left us His Kingdom as our home. In His grace, He has much more to offer us in this life than our initial salvation through faith.

“Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” are the blessing of a life committed to growing the Kingdom of God and obedience to His Law-Word.

On earth as it is in Heaven…

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