One of the words on the bottom right of the cross looks like a misspelling. It's the word KINDOM
"Somebody forget the 'G'" - will be the response of many on Easter Sunday.
Not really.
It's intentional.
Christ's Kingdom is both a Kingdom and a Kindom.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the place where He reigns in the hearts of His people. He reigns now in our hearts, and one day His reign will be over all the earth when the curse is completely reversed.
Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Therefore, His rule is a Kingdom
But the Father has a family. If you will, you may call them "His kin." We who will live under His rule have a forever family.
Kin-dom is a word that reflects the kin of the King, or in other words, His people.
The Kindom of Christ is a shared community of equals who serve each other under the Kingship of Jesus Christ.
The inspired teaching of the New Testament reflects both concepts of Kingdom and Kindom.
The Apostle Paul plants small house churches, and then later writes to the people worshipping Christ in those assemblies. Paul calls the Christians gather adelphoi, the Greek word for sisters and brothers.
Christians are united in a family of people who share a common loyalty to the Lord Jesus.
Paul and the other New Testament writers promised that the Jesus would one day rule over all other empires of this world. His Kingdom and His Kindom will reign forever.
I love talking about Kingdom work, Kingdom service, and Kingdom ministry. When I use the word Kingdom, I'm using it in a biblical sense.The Kingdom is defined by our King. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We bow to His authority alone.
But I have no hesitancy speaking of a Kindom.
In the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Kindom is defined by "the least of His kin." Our objective as Christians is to be servants to all. Christ's Kingdom is best represented by a people who understand the Kindom.
In the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Kindom is defined by "the least of His kin." Our objective as Christians is to be servants to all. Christ's Kingdom is best represented by a people who understand the Kindom.
So this Easter, let's be reminded of what our King teaches:
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me." (Matthew 25:40, 45)There is no hierarchy of power, potency, and prestige in the Kingdom of Christ. In His Kingdom, worth is measured from the bottom up. Christ is as much in those the world calls the least and the littlest; the frail and the forgotten; the abused and the abandoned as He is anyone else who surrenders to His authority.
Christ's Kingdom is both a Kingdom and a Kindom.
Remember that the next time you hurt one of His kin with your actions and words.
The King does not take lightly the abuse of His kin.
4 comments:
Two thumbs up!
Kin
Wade,
You said and I agree, “The King does not take lightly the abuse of His kin.”.
I found “Is Ben Cole Leaving the SBC?” By Tony Kummer of July 12, 2008.” Kummer prints three pages of what Cole wrote.
Cole said, “Paige Patterson is a politically shrewd and quasi-cannibalistic junkyard dog. His wife is one-part old lace and two parts arsenic. An invitation to high tea with the pair can result in a trusteeship or a tombstone…To oppose Patterson’s fundamentalist agenda requires stamina…You have to be willing to say publicly what most Southern Baptist in-the-know say privately. You have to stop whispering and start shouting.”
Wade, people-in-the-know; know Paul Pressler’s book, “On a Hill which to Die” helped fundamentalist highjack the SBC. Cole said, “My book, which is near completion, ‘A Hill on which To Kill’ will not become required reading at any Southern Baptist seminary.”
The Lutheran martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote this about the Incarnation of Christ:
" The Incarnate Lord makes His followers the brothers and sisters of all humanity."
If one is privileged to worship with Believers in other nations, particularly those who do not speak English, the point of this is unavoidably clear. I have been blessed to fellowship with Vitelius Jacque .. a young man in Haiti who was watering a lawn ... where the only language we had in common was agape. And the young lady I chatted with ... in German ... while in Latvia (neither of us spoke the other's language). Or Sasha Medvedev in Russia ... we fellowshipped wonderfully.
Or perhaps the lady I saw in IHOP last week, wearing a "GOD DID IT" T-shirt. I knocked on the window, pointed to her shirt and gave her a thumbs up. Terrific moment of fellowship, wordlessly so.
KINSHIP? You betcha!
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