It seems that the differences between the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God are becoming more and more distinct. It would be a mistake to think that this is just a sign of the modern times. In fact, these two kingdoms (clearly delineated by Jesus in John 18:36) have always been, are, and will always be exact opposites.
If you want to know what the Kingdom of God is like; take the kingdom of the world and turn it upside down and inside out. Jesus went to great lengths during His public ministry to make this truth known so that His followers would understand that there is a difference in which one they choose to live. This was the point of John 15:19 where Jesus said “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” And then Paul reinforced this in 1 John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.”
The following is how Greg Boyd, author of the Myth of a Christian Nation, describes the differences:
The kingdom of God looks and acts like Jesus Christ, like Calvary, like God’s eternal, triune love. It consists of people graciously embracing others and sacrificing themselves in service to others. It consists of people trusting and employing “power under” rather than “power over,” even when they, like Jesus, suffer because of this. It consists of people imitating the Savior who died for them and for all people. It consists of people submitting to God’s rule and doing his will. By definition, this is the domain in which God is king.
Jesus’ kingdom is “not of this world,” for it contrasts with the kingdom of the world in every possible way. This is not a simple contrast between good and evil. The contrast is rather between two fundamentally different ways of doing life, two fundamentally different mindsets and belief systems, two fundamentally different loyalties. Here are five ways that it is different:
- A contrast of trusts: The kingdom of the world trusts the power of the sword, while the kingdom of God trusts the power of the cross, which is radical forgiveness (ital. added by blog authors). The kingdom of the world advances by exercising “power over,” while the kingdom of God advances by exercising “power under.”
- A contrast of aims: The kingdom of the world seeks to control behavior, while the kingdom of God seeks to transform lives from the inside out. Also, the kingdom of the world is rooted in preserving, if not advancing, one’s self-interests and one’s own will, while the kingdom of God is centered exclusively on carrying out God’s will, even if this requires sacrificing one’s own interests.
- A contrast of scopes: The kingdom of the world is intrinsically tribal in nature, and is heavily invested in defending, if not advancing, one’s own people-group, one’s nation, one’s ethnicity, one’s state, one’s religion, one’s ideologies, or one’s political agendas. That is why it is a kingdom characterized by perpetual conflict. The kingdom of God, however, is intrinsically universal, for it is centered on simply loving as God loves. It is centered on people living for the sole purpose of replicating the love of Jesus Christ to all people at all times in all places without condition.
- A contrast of responses: The kingdom of the world is intrinsically a tit-for-tat kingdom; its motto is “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” In this fallen world, no version of the kingdom of the world can survive for long by loving its enemies and blessing those who persecute it; it carries the sword, not the cross. But kingdom-of-God participants carry the cross, not the sword. We, thus, aren’t ever to return evil with evil, violence with violence. We are rather to manifest the unique kingdom of Christ by returning evil with good, turning the other cheek, going the second mile, loving, praying for our enemies. Far from seeking retaliation, we seek the well-being of our “enemy.”
- A contrast of battles: The kingdom of the world has earthly enemies and, thus, fights earthly battles; the kingdom of God, however, by definition has no earthly enemies, for its disciples are committed to loving “their enemies,” thereby treating them as friends, their “neighbors.” There is a warfare the kingdom of God is involved in, but it is “not against enemies of blood and flesh.” It is rather “against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).
This is not to say that Christians are called out of the world. In fact, again, just the opposite is true; we are called into the world to bring light by exclusively employing the culture, power and rules of God’s Kingdom.
And what is the culture, power and rules of God’s Kingdom? Paul spells this out in Romans 14:17, “For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Also, the word “righteousness” in this scripture passage is quite different than the meaning the world would assign to it. In the Kingdom of God righteousness is a matter of following the inward law of conscience (Romans 2:14); in the kingdom of the world righteous is measured by how much one aligns with the outward law of prohibition. The righteousness of the Kingdom of God is integrity, virtue, purity of life, uprightness, and thinking, feeling, and acting that lines up with God’s character and nature.
As citizens of the Kingdom of God, the challenge is to remain open to the voice of the Holy Spirit regarding what we think, how we engage others, and what motivates us. If Christians persist in trying to live in two kingdoms, their actions will mask the truth that the world has a Savior who gives “hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).”
We propose the idea that God’s pure love, which is the basis of His Kingdom, is difficult to reject. Will Kingdom of God citizens be rejected by the world if they are living according to the love of God? Who would ever consider the message of God’s love bad news?
In the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the only unhappy person remaining by end of the story was the son who lived on the generous father’s property and didn’t think his brother deserved to be welcomed back home and treated like a prince. Imagine if the father would have sent his obedient hard working son, to meet his brother at the gates of the city. What would he have said to his brother? What would we say to him? What would you have said to him?
Are we acting like worldly gatekeepers or like ambassadors of God “who so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16)
Catholic Apostolic Group 