[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-kingdom-perspective":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-kingdom-perspective-surround":65},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":12,"columnName":47,"date":48,"description":18,"extension":49,"image":50,"meta":51,"minRead":52,"navigation":53,"path":54,"postType":55,"publication":56,"publicationUrl":50,"seo":57,"stem":58,"topics":59,"__hash__":64},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fa-kingdom-perspective.md","A Kingdom Perspective",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11],"Colossians","Acts","Matthew",{"type":13,"value":14,"toc":43},"minimark",[15,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40],[16,17,18],"p",{},"What do your senses experience when your church gathers for worship?",[16,20,21],{},"There are sounds. Your preacher's familiar voice. The pleasant rustle of Bible pages turning. Little children chattering to their parents as they show off their crumpled take-home papers. Voices—ranging from soprano to bass, from melodious to monotone—join in unrehearsed beautiful songs of praise.",[16,23,24],{},"There are sights. Morning sunlight glimmering through stained glass windows. A sleepy-eyed teenager who looks like she stayed up too late last night. A neatly dressed old man who always sits by himself. You're glad both of them bothered to come.",[16,26,27],{},"There's the touch of a warm handshake, the smell of grape juice, the taste of unleavened bread.",[16,29,30],{},"Do you ever think about your Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who worship in settings quite different from your own? American churchgoers enjoy many blessings. But if we're not vigilant, spiritual myopia sets in—a sort of congregational nearsightedness—and we forget that Jesus is Lord of a church much bigger than what we see on the local level. We're part of a grand international fellowship of believers who take as their model the church of the New Testament. Thousands of those disciples worship in air-conditioned sanctuaries; but others meet in houses and grass huts and urban storefronts, on military bases and college campuses, in prison chapels and rented school buildings. When we became Christians, God \"brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves\" (Colossians 1:13)—a spiritual kingdom vastly larger than our American culture and our personal agendas. There are many reasons to keep this in mind.",[16,32,33],{},"A kingdom perspective reduces our discouragement. If you feel impatient with your local congregation's progress, you might conclude that God no longer adds to the church daily those who are saved (Acts 2:47). But worldwide, scarcely a day goes by without many receiving Christ—and from Heaven's point of view, many days probably rival the Day of Pentecost when 3,000 were baptized.",[16,35,36],{},"A kingdom perspective reduces our self-centeredness. Selfish ambition and unhealthy competition weaken the church. Are we like Jesus' disciples who, with apparent oblivion to the Master's suffering on the eve of his crucifixion, spent part of the Last Supper debating which of them should be considered greatest? Are we quick to vilify preachers and congregations we consider \"the competition,\" even when they're trying to do God's will just as earnestly as we are? Our enemy isn't the sister church on the other side of town but the devil who creates jealousy, suspicion, and division among Christians who ought to work together for the common good.",[16,38,39],{},"A kingdom perspective lifts our vision. In the daily grind of managing jobs, budgets, families, friendships, and church responsibilities, we tend to forget the big picture. The church isn't a place where we punch our spiritual time cards every Sunday to fulfill our religious obligations. It's the bride of Christ, the household of God—a divinely fashioned enterprise that exists to honor our Lord and bring new disciples into his kingdom. Throughout the centuries believers have considered this noble cause worth living for, and martyrs have considered it worth dying for.",[16,41,42],{},"When you join with God's people for worship, do you look past your familiar surroundings and sense the presence of the Almighty? Do you pause and thank him for doing something really big—and for inviting you to be part of it?",{"title":44,"searchDepth":45,"depth":45,"links":46},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1998-11-29","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-kingdom-perspective","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":18},"articles\u002Fa-kingdom-perspective",[60,61,62,63],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Intergenerational Ministry","zJUf2IatBxnrg771JBWPx-I2LGZ2F_kFEPTXW1VjNBI",[66,71],{"title":67,"path":68,"stem":69,"description":70,"children":-1},"A House of Prayer","\u002Farticles\u002Fa-house-of-prayer","articles\u002Fa-house-of-prayer","In 1976 I was a young minister serving in my first church, and Faye was a widow—one of the oldest members of the congregation—but we quickly became good friends. She lived in a tiny house trailer on her son's farm. When my wife and I visited her, we paused to admire the horses in the pasture nearby before stepping into her living room where she always greeted us with a cheerful smile.",{"title":72,"path":73,"stem":74,"description":75,"children":-1},"A Look in the Rearview Mirror","\u002Farticles\u002Fa-look-in-the-rearview-mirror","articles\u002Fa-look-in-the-rearview-mirror","Someone has said, \"A dad is a guy who carries photos where his money used to be.\" In my case, fatherhood means a driveway full of bicycles and footballs where I used to park my car. These days our driveway is part art gallery (covered with sidewalk chalk graffiti) and a community playground (with children hanging around)."]