Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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The One True Church
Chapter 29 – Jesus’ Church Leads to God’s Kingdom
There is the one true church and there is the kingdom of God. They are related but they are not the same. They both were works of the one true God, but they can be differentiated.
Before I describe more distinctions between the church and the kingdom, let’s review the ones I’ve show you so far.
| The One True Church | The Kingdom of God |
| lasted one generation | lasts forever |
| temporary and preliminary | permanent and enduring |
| involved Israel | involves all the nations |
| authority over Christians | authority over everyone |
| included human leadership | has no human leadership |
| like a growing baby in the womb | like a full-grown adult |
| like scaffolding | like a finished building |
| the first fruits | the full harvest |
| Christ revealed partially | Christ revealed fully |
The one true church was the bridge that led from the nation of ancient Israel to the kingdom of God over the entire universe.
The church was Jesus’ stepping stone to the kingdom.
Jesus preached the kingdom of God – not the church. The kingdom of God was the central theme of His preaching, being mentioned over a hundred times, while he mentioned the church only twice. Also, you will find references to the gospel (good news) of the kingdom in the New Testament (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Luke 16:16), but you will not find references to the gospel of the church.
The kingdom was the goal; the one true church was just the means to get there.
The New Testament church was like the booster rocket that gets the space ship into outer space. Once the space ship is free of earth’s gravity, the booster rocket has done its job and can be allowed to fall away. The space ship is, of course, the kingdom of God.
Ancient Israel was the caterpillar, the one true church was the pupa in the cocoon, and the kingdom is the butterfly.
Jesus’ church not only led to the kingdom of God in the 1st century, it can lead us to the kingdom today. It can do that by the example it set – which is documented in the New Testament. That is, reading about the church in the New Testament leads us to the kingdom of God…if we’ll let it.
The progression of the New Testament church from unrighteousness to righteousness was not smooth. Its learning curve was jagged at times – not always moving smoothly upward. I’ll have more to say about this in the chapters to come – including the apostasy at the end just as Jesus and His apostles had prophesied would come.
The New Testament – in fact, the whole Bible – uses the word “righteousness” to identify what people today would more likely call “morality” or “virtue” or “rectitude” or something similar. Righteousness is doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason in the right way.
Consider how Jesus spoke to His disciples about righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The righteousness of the New Testament church is what transitioned the world to the kingdom of God. And it’s what made them the one true church.
In the next chapter, I’ll go into some detail about how this was achieved.
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