(Youth) Understanding the Kingdom
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Time for a Social Studies quiz
What kind of government do we have in the United States?
Dictatorship?
Kingdom?
Democracy?
Anarchy?
Communist?
We are a democracy—actually a democratic republic.
What is a Democracy?
The people make the rules.
In our case, we elect political representatives who are supposed to make rules and policies that reflect the wishes of the people.
The world is filled with different types of governments.
And even those that claim to be the same type of government can be run different ways.
But the Spiritual world is different from the physical world.
The spiritual world is all about kingdoms.
The kingdom of God.
The kingdom of this world.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God created this world and gave it to mankind to take care of.
We were given authority over every part of this world.
It was our kingdom, which we ruled under God’s authority.
And while man and woman had the power to rule, they had only one command from God.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God had to give them a choice to follow him, so he put the tree in the garden.
But he wasn’t trying to withhold knowledge.
They already knew that to eat that fruit was wrong—God had said don’t.
But choosing to do something they knew was wrong would change everything.
So here comes the devil, in the form of a serpent.
He convinces man and woman to doubt God.
He tells them that eating the fruit won’t kill them, but will make them equal to God.
They decide to rebel and become like God, and they eat.
And in doing that, they actually gave their authority over to the devil.
They submitted to his will rather than God’s will.
They did what the devil wanted them to do rather than what God wanted.
Because of their actions, our ancestors became slaves to Satan and to their desire to sin.
And the children of slaves are also slaves.
So all of us have been born as slaves with Satan as our master.
So we have two spiritual kingdoms in play.
God’s kingdom
This world, ruled by Satan.
Jesus said
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
These kingdoms are not equal to each other.
God’s kingdom is far greater.
God’s kingdom is about eternal life.
Not just living forever, but having a life worth living forever—do you know what I mean?
This world’s kingdom is about slavery and death.
One day, this world is going to be destroyed, and every living being—including the angels and demons—will be judged.
Satan knows he will eventually lose, so he is determined to do as much damage as he can along the way.
Satan knows how much God loves us, and so he is determined to hurt God by keeping us separated from him.
We were born separated from God.
Our natural citizenship is to this world, as slaves to sin.
All Satan has to do is keep us from changing that dynamic.
But did you know that it is possible to change your citizenship?
This life you are living is filled with choices.
You can choose what you want to do for a career.
Your fashion in clothes.
Your hairstyle.
You can choose how you want to live your life.
And among those choices is what kingdom you will belong to.
Even though you were born a citizen of this world, you don’t have to keep that citizenship.
You can choose citizenship in God’s kingdom.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you remain a citizen of this world, you WILL die.
And you might be saying, “But I thought we were all going to live forever? God is going to judge us all, so we have to be alive then, right?”
But imagine a life that is worth than death, because it is a suffering that never ends.
The ones who remain citizens of this world will endure that suffering—a living death.
To be a citizen of God’s kingdom requires a price.
You have to die to this world.
And now you are saying, “That’s crazy! I’m not going to kill myself so I can go to heaven!”
We already read that the wages of sin is death.
We will have to pay for our sins—with death!
But Jesus came to earth to pay that price for us.
The verse just says that the price is death—it doesn’t say WHOSE death.
Jesus, who is God’s son and prince of the kingdom of heaven, died on a cross, and his bloody death paid the price to allow us to apply for citizenship in God’s kingdom.
Not everyone who lives in the US is a US citizen.
We have tourists and visitors.
We have temporary residents.
We have illegal immigrants.
We have citizens.
You can call yourself a citizen all you want.
You can dress in red, white, and blue.
You can plaster the American flag on everything you own.
You can memorize the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
But unless you have gone through the proper processes, you are not a citizen.
We’re lucky—we were born citizens.
But I have lived in another country before, and it’s hard.
I had to follow all their laws.
I didn’t have any of their rights.
In the same way, belonging to God’s kingdom is more than just saying you belong.
If you want to change your citizenship from one country to another, you have to renounce your previous citizenship and pledge your allegiance to the new country.
If you want to be part of God’s kingdom, you have to acknowledge that he is the king, and you have to pledge your loyalty to him.
But here’s one cool thing about becoming a citizen in God’s kingdom.
When you really choose to join his kingdom and make God your king, he doesn’t just make you a citizen.
He adopts you—you become royalty!
The kingdom of God is the only kingdom in the universe entirely made up of royalty.
All the authority that we were supposed to have on this earth, but gave to the devil, we now have in spiritual things.
We can expect to see miracles happen.
Most importantly, we can know that God is always with us, looking out for us.
When this earth is done, God is going to replace the entire universe with a new one that is perfect.
His citizens—his children—will live in that new universe with immortal bodies.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This world is messed up.
I don’t want to be a citizen of this world.
Every day, Satan tries to convince me that this is where I belong.
He hypes up the place, promising all kinds of pleasure and fun.
He’ll offer power of different kinds.
But all his stuff comes with a price—regret, rejection, people getting hurt.
If hyping the place doesn’t work, he tries to make me think I’m not welcome in God’s kingdom.
He reminds me of all the times I messed up.
He tells me I am dirty, ugly, and worthless, and that God doesn’t want me.
If that doesn’t work, he tries scaring me.
He tries to make me think he’s this big, scary thing that has control over me.
But Satan is a liar.
He doesn’t have nearly the power he would make you think he has.
His only control over you is if you are a citizen of this world.
If you make God’s kingdom your kingdom, Satan loses all authority over your life.
I still live in this world, be I am only a resident—not a citizen.
Because I live in this world, Satan can still manipulate circumstance to mess with me.
I will still have problems.
I will experience sadness.
I will experience loss.
I will be tempted to go back to my old way of living and renew my citizenship here.
But my kingdom is heaven, and I belong to God.
He is my king, and my father.
When I have a problem, I can go to him.
He doesn’t alway do things the way I expect him to, but he IS the king, after all.
And he IS good. He will always do what is best for me in the long run.
So what about you?
Where is your citizenship?
God’s kingdom?
This world?
Who is your ruler?
You might think that YOU are the one in control, but it doesn’t work that way.
Satan will give you rope you need to make you think you’re free, but the fact is that, as long as you belong to this world, you are still tied to him—still his slave.
And the ONLY reason Satan wants you to stay in his kingdom is to spite God, who really loves you.
He is more than ready to let you follow him into the lake of fire for all eternity, if it means that God won’t have you.
Satan is looking forward to the day when you finally realize the truth, but it’s too late to change your mind.
And now that you know about these two kingdoms, which one do you WANT to belong to?
If you want to be a citizen of heaven, what are you going to do about it?
Romans 5:10 says that, when we were still enemies of God, enjoying our sin in this world, God made the move to reconcile with us through the death of his Son Jesus.
So if you are ready to join God’s kingdom, you have to admit that you were once his enemy, trying to do things your way instead of his way.
And then you have to promise in your heart to really make God your king.
You will learn to listen to him and do things his way.
God will help you if you let him.
(Prayer time)
Who would raise their hand and say, “I am a full-fledged citizen of God’s kingdom”?
God is my king.
I try to live my life in a way that honors him.
Who would say, “I’m perfectly fine living in this world the way I am.”
Or maybe you’re not a citizen of God’s kingdom, but you’re thinking about it.
Is there anyone who would raise their hand and say, “I know I am a citizen of the world, but I want to be a citizen of God’s kingdom?”
I’m tired of being Satan’s puppet and slave.
I want to know that God always has my back and will give me the strength to handle whatever comes my way.
I want to know that someday I will spend eternity living a life with meaning and purpose, where there won’t be any more tears—only joy and peace forever.
If you are ready to be a citizen in God’s kingdom, repeat after me.
God, I realize that I am in the wrong kingdom.
Satan has been feeding me lies my whole life, and I have bought into them.
I have defied you. I’ve sinned. And I realize that I deserve to die for that.
But I know that Jesus came to earth to die instead of me. Because he did that, I am free to accept your invitation to be part of your kingdom.
I want to belong to you. I want you to be my king.
I pledge my allegiance to you, God.
Starting now, I am going to do things your way, and I am going to trust you to take care of me.
Thank you for becoming my king and my father. Thank you for loving me so much.
Amen.