Kingdom, week 7: Heaven-Mindedness and True Rest

"Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven...do not be anxious about tomorrow...seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew6:20, 34, 33).

Worry Roots

Our natural tendency to worry flows from several different avenues, but its primary root is a lack of acknowledgment of the Living God.  Our minds are set on comfort, satisfaction, and happiness from worldly and natural things (money, affirmation, possessions, power, family and friends idolatry, etc.), and because none of these things are guaranteed, we find ourselves in a constant struggle against anxiety.  It always feels like we're out of oxygen and ocean waves are crashing over us.  It's not that we don't believe in God...most of us do.  It's just that we function like we're God, and our narrative is the right one.  Because of this, we never find ourselves truly at rest and peace.

I remember being a younger man (not that long ago), and struggling with excruciating depression.  It was an extremely dark time that lasted several years and it never seemed it would let up.  I remember finding solace in reading the Psalms (especially 33, 42-43, 77), because the writers were brutally honest in communicating their anxieties and frustrations with God.  The reason I connected with that so well was because I saw myself the victim and God the mean "big man upstairs" who was withholding blessing from me and not giving me what I wanted.  No affirmation, no true fellowship, not a lot of success in the things which marked my livelihood (music, sports).  When it began to sink in that it wasn't going to work out for me, the darkness set in, and it didn't seem it would ever lift.
As I studied the Scriptures and came to ask Jesus about my struggles, I began to see that the reason I was so sad and angry was because I had allowed the world/culture to define "success" and "joy" for me, and since I couldn't measure up to that narrative, I was mad at everyone, including myself and God.  Instead of seeking out what God says is best for me, I was defining that myself, and getting upset at Him for not giving it to me.  I viewed God as a genie who was there to give me my wishes.  I remember writing songs and blog posts talking about how I was "waiting on God" and trusting Him, but it wasn't true.  I was really just upset with Him and trying to impress others with how "spiritual" and "patient" I was.  I was a poser, and Jesus knew it best, even if no one else (including myself) did.

Shifting Focus

Then things began to change.  When I moved back to my home state after college, I was in a church ministry capacity to teens.  It always seemed to me that the ministry of the Church was to teach the Bible.  As I studied it to get better at my "craft" (whoa to me for thinking ministry was my. craft.), I began to be enlightened.  I began to see that my hostility towards God was because I hadn't honored him or thanked Him, and in return, He had withdrawn His restraining hands and told me, "fine, let THY will be done" (Romans1:18-24).  I the creature was under judgment for not honoring Him the Creator.  I saw that not only was this the root of my sin, but that I was enslaved to it (John8:34), and that I had as much chance at changing myself as a leopard has at changing his spots (Jeremiah13:23). 
But then I saw that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1Tim1:15), calling lost people to forsake their self and follow Him (Luke19:10), and that if they'd stop trying to protect their self, He would start protecting them and never stop (Matthew16:24, 2Timothy2:12).  I learned that Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived, but instead of seeking glory on earth, He died for sinners to draw them back to God.  I saw myself as a sinner who needed Him, and He brought me to faith by His powerful Word (John6:44-45, 63).  I also saw that I had never truly believed this before because I was seeking glory from other people, and this hamstringed me from submitting to Him (John5:44, 1Cor2:14).
This is what happens to true disciples.  At first, their minds are set on mans' things, but then they begin to see God's things.  It's painful, and it often takes time, but it brings them to child-like faith, which is necessary, because without it, they'll never make to heaven (Matthew18:3). 
Peter rebuked Jesus for Jesus' saying He would be killed, and then Jesus told him he was being selfish (Matt16:22-23).  Then Peter denied knowing Jesus three times in Jesus' greatest hour of need (Matt26:69-75).  Then after Jesus rose, Peter was still comparing himself to others (John21:20-23). 
But Jesus loved him.  And He patiently broke down Peter's hard-heartedness.  Eventually Peter led a movement in Jesus' name for Jesus' glory...one that's still continuing today.

Resting

Once one has been taken through this rebirth process, they see Jesus not only as God who's worthy of worship, but as a friend who has loved them and always will.  They read that He has all authority (Matt28:18), that He is seated at God's right hand interceding to Holy God for them (Hebrews1:4), that He's returning one day to take them to their true home (1Cor15:22-24), and that He has promised to love them and protect them and always be with them (John10:28, Matt28:20) even through the hard stuff, because He is actually alive inside of them (Galatians2:20, Colossians3:4). 
Not only do they read these things, but they actually believe them!  He has become to them not only the King who sits upon the throne of their hearts, but the Shepherd who holds them in His arms and makes them lie down and rest.  "I'm not perfect...but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me His own" (Philippians3:12). 
"We who have believed enter that rest" (Hebrews4:3), one said about disciples' present reality of the future Kingdom which will come when Christ return.  It's a Kingdom of rest, because one has been brought to see their self subject to God (not man), and Christ has given them a permanent right-standing with God.  "There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans8:1), and "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (8:31).

There are surely moments of weakness and unbelief.  Temptation will come, and men will fail their Lord.  But He won't.  He'll convict them and bring them to repentance.  They'll grieve over their sin and confess, sure to be forgiven (1John1:9).
There's no greater way for a leader to gain the allegiance of those in his charge than to make them know he loves them and will go to the end of himself for them.  Jesus is the King of God's eternal Kingdom, and He has gained His peoples' allegiance by having born their sins and sorrows on the execution stake, and risen again to tell them about it.  They live in the world, but their King is the One who has always been King.  And He will continue as such until He returns and makes a new world.