This post was written by my son, Stephen who is filling in as a guest writer for this week. Eric

In what ways can the church demonstrate the kingdom of God and how can we proclaim the kingdom of God? More specifically, because they should not be mutually exclusive, how do we demonstrate the kingdom while proclaiming the kingdom? And what does that really mean? Allow me a moment to clarify what I am talking about.

Because the kingdom of God is synonymous with God's will being done by those in partnership with Him (who should be the church), demonstrating the kingdom of God is simply an open act of obedience to God. It is equally as important to obey God in public as it is to obey Him in private. If we miss one or the other, we are not truly being obedient to God! In the same way, proclaiming the kingdom is an open statement concerning the truth of the kingdom of God. Speaking about God's kingdom and His glory is important among believers, but it is as equally important to state these things when speaking with unbelievers.

It is probably obvious by these statements that the kingdom of God is not about comfort; not in this lifetime, anyway. Don't get me wrong, God is a great and mighty King who loves everyone enough that He was willing to offer His life to allow us to become His children. A King who loves like that will undoubtedly offer comfort and peace when His children experience sorrow, but we have to be willing to step out of our "comfort zones" in order to accomplish His will. The steps He will ask us to take may even seem to be nonsense in our own thoughts. "Stop fooling yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you will have to become a fool so you can become wise by God's standards. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the scriptures say, "God catches those who think they are wise in their own cleverness."" (1 Corinthians 3:18,19)

"Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." (Mark 16:20) We learn here in Mark and throughout the book of Acts that the proclamation of the kingdom was often coupled with miracles. Is every proclamation restricted to being accompanied by the working of miracles and other signs? Not necessarily.

"He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free." (Psalms 146:7) Demonstrating God's kingdom is open accomplishment of His will, and God has commanded us to feed the hungry and plead the cause of the helpless. These things are important demonstrations of God's kingdom. However, the signs told about in scripture shouldn't be unexpected when we feed the needy and defend the helpless. Jesus told us to expect these signs.

At this point it is really tempting to think, "Ok, all I need to do is feed the poor and defend the helpless and then I will be doing the work of God's kingdom." That is true, however, there is often a wrench in the works in our imperfect world. And the wrench is that the work of the kingdom must be done along with the proclamation of the kingdom, because there are many who feed the hungry and defend the helpless who are not doing the work of the kingdom of God. Here is where I oppose many of today's modern theologians and Christian philosophers.

Much of contemporary Christianity will tell you this, "Whenever someone does something good, it is because they are really listening to God. Even though they may not know or recognize Him, He is working through them. Because of this, every good thing is an act of God and through these acts anyone who commits them comes to know God." Despite several other ways this statement fails the truth, most simply, it conflicts with this scripture which is key to unraveling this unfortunate myth: "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:12,13)

The truly shocking thing about this passage is the usage of the Greek word "poneros" for the English word "evil". Any time the devil is described as evil in the New Testament, "poneros" is the Greek word that is used exclusively! "Whoa! Good doesn't come from the devil!"

You're right, true good doesn't come from the devil. The problem is that sometimes things that appear pleasant and even right, do. We have forgotten that things that are pleasant or nice in appearance are not always from God. In fact, if God is not glorified by the proclamation of His kingdom through the act, it is at best, vain and empty. In our "pay it forward" and random act of kindness society, we have too often twisted our view of God into that of a dispenser on niceness.

"If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body to fire, I could boast about it; but if I do not possess love, it would be of no value whatsoever." (1 Corinthians 13:3) "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God--for God is love." (1 John 4:7,8)

How then do we know we are doing the work of God's kingdom? By demonstrating and proclaiming the kingdom of God while acting in obedience to God and being motivated by His love.