The Two Kingdoms

[aron]

I wanted to comment further on KSA's "Life after the LC" thread but was concerned that I might derail things because I sort of have an idea that I want to think about in public. So I will use his comments as my starting point.

KSA said that he didn't try to recruit other christians to join his fellowship, or advise them to leave their groups or fellowships. He received those who came but didn't try to influence the decisions of others.

To me, this is wise, and signals God's providential hand. There are two kingdoms, the kingdom within, and the kingdom without. The kingdom within was clued by the Lord Jesus: "Don't say the kingdom of God is here or there. No, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." I take this counsel on two levels. One, it is between saints as they fellowship. The flow of shared reality is a kingdom God is building. Second, it can be taken as "in your innermost being". The kingdom of God is in the midst of you, plural, as you fellowship together, and it is also in the midst of you singular. It is your soul.

Maybe this is too hopeful of a reading on my part, but consider when the Lord said, "What profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul life?" The soul is a kingdom worth more than all the treasures in the world. The soul is the most valuable thing of all the gifts God has bequeathed us. It is the cultivation of this kingdom, I surmise, that forms the basis of the 'inner life' experience.

But the inner kingdom cannot be imposed upon the outer kingdom. What my fellows do, what the politicians do, what the weather does, are all out of my control. As soon as I try to influence the external things, to impose my "soul" upon others, I distort their kingdom. The best I can do is be an example for them, a model of how to control one's soul, one's self.

Despite all their protests to the contrary, we did see a system where people controlled others. People were 'advised' to take a certain course of action; which course of action if they refused would lead to quarantine in this age and a thousand years in a dark room in the next. Fairly repressive advice, I felt. So I decided to move on. One lesson I learned is not to control others. Peter said this: "Don't lord it over the saints. Merely lead by being an example".

KSA's testimony of not trying to influence the walk of others, but merely to be faithful to take care of his own walk, is testimony to me that he is taking care of the first kingdom, the kingdom within, and leaving the second kingdom, the kingdom of "Everything Else", to God, where it belongs. I think there is much, much more to say on this principle, but that is enough for now. Thanks for considering my thoughts.