Flourishing in The Kingdom of God
Ever been to Portland, Oregon, before? Around this time last year, I flew there for the first time to attend some in-person seminary classes. When I got off the plane to meet up with one of my classmates, I was extremely thrilled to say the least. We had been planning this trip for some time and had an itinerary filled to the brim. Being that Portland is known as The City of Roses, we had to make the International Rose Test Garden one of our first stops.
photo credit: google images
Driving around Portland, we were charmed by how the city had roses to be found on every corner, but when we arrived at the garden, it was completely breathtaking. This photo above barely does it any justice. Picture rows and rows of neatly maintained roses in every color you can imagine. The incredible aroma of the flowers hits you in the face, and you simply cannot ignore the beauty before you. “WOW” was all that could come from our lips when we were drawn into the view of the garden. It was so magically attractive that it made you want to stay, soak it all in, and walk around for as long as you could.
For a garden as wonderful as this one, I reflected on how these roses didn’t just appear here on their own and flourish without some help. By their skilled gardener, they were planted in good soil and cared for by pruning and watering. They were maintained and sustained by a gardener who knew what the roses needed to blossom as beautifully as they did.
For us to truly bloom where we’ve been planted and flourish in the Kingdom of God, we as Christ followers must understand what the Kingdom of God is.
Graeme Goldsworthy defines The Kingdom of God as "God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing.”
If you do a word study (which you totally should— they are super fun!) on The Kingdom of God from Genesis to Revelation, you’ll find this Kingdom on display throughout. In the garden, the Lord intended His people to live in His Kingdom—His perfect design without sin, relationship with Him under his rule and blessing, reflecting His ways. After the fall, we see kingdoms come and go until Jesus Christ enters the scene. Jesus’ ministry on earth included him preaching that the Kingdom has arrived as he gave us a foretaste of the Kingdom that will come in full. It is by King Jesus that freedom arrives, as He ushers in a new covenant relationship, bringing us into His Kingdom of Light. We no longer have to be enslaved to the Kingdom of Darkness! Jesus is King, and the Kingdom of God is His! Christ is King of our hearts, and now we are able to live in response to what He has freely given us. Just like the church in Acts, we have been commissioned to go out that His Kingdom may be extended while we await King Jesus’ return to make everything right and bring full consumation of The Kingdom of God.
To properly flourish in this Kingdom here and now, we are to be cared for by the utltimate gardener—our Creator, by being rooted in Him, pruned by Him, and watered by Him.
I. Rooted In Christ
If we look to build our own Kingdom by grounding ourselves in any created thing rather than our Creator, we will be utterly shipwrecked when it fails us. The Lord desires us to bear fruit in His Kingdom, the way He initially designed for us. To truly thrive, we must find ourselves surrendered to Christ as Lord, rooting ourselves in Him and daily abiding in this sweet relationship with King Jesus.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:4-5 NKJV
Simply put, we cannot flourish in His Kingdom unless we abide in Him. This life in Christ is not about what Godly works we can accomplish in our own strength, but rather drawing near to Him relationally so that His beauty would transform us and shine through us.
“Life in His Kingdom isn’t about willpower- it’s about abiding.”
―Bill Gaultiere
Before we are concerned about the good works we are called to walk in, Jesus wants us to be concerned with sitting at His feet as His beloved. To be with Him. When we draw near to Him relationally and behold the goodness of God, His loveliness WILL change us! The fruit that comes out of our lives will point to what we are rooted in. Are the fruits of our lives that of The Spirit? This is what we were designed for: to bear these fruits that magnify the beauty of Jesus.
II. Pruned by our Loving Father
Some of you reading this have gone through some incredibly painful and difficult things in this life. Let me be clear, God does not take joy in sin. He hates it. He is the servant who is familiar with the suffering you’ve faced. He desperately cares and is near to the brokenhearted.
When we abide in Jesus, we have the opportunity to trust His character as He prunes, yield to His way, and worship Him even when the circumstances around us don’t make any sense. By His Lordship and sovereign care over our lives, He shapes us to look more like Him. In most cases, it does not come easily; it may even feel agonizing and at times confusing. But as the gardener who took care of those rose bushes in Portland, we can rest assured that our Father knows what we need and His care is for our good and done in His love for us.
If you google “how to prune a rose” the results will mention that “If you don't prune a rose bush, it can become overgrown, dense, and susceptible to diseases, leading to fewer blooms and potentially a weaker, less healthy plant” and that to properly tend to the rose so that it can thrive you’ll need to cut and remove dead things or anything growing in the wrong direction that is hindering the rose from blooming fully.
When you are planted in the garden of God’s Kingdom, He is not going to leave you as is, He is going to intentionally tend to you. As you trust and obey Him, you’ll find a stripping and pruning taking place that is absolutely necessary for you to mature in the faith. Years from now, the last place you want to see yourself is stubborn and stuck in old sinful patterns, producing selfish fruit rather than fruit of The Spirit, or holding back from truly enjoying Christ and living in the abundance of life found in Him.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis
Christ intends to live in you, and with that, He is going to do a glorious work of reordering things. As He becomes King of your heart and you delight in following Him, He is going to redeem, restore, and help cut away the things that are hindering you from the flourishing He designed you for.
God will lead us to step out and do difficult things that do not come easily. You’ll find several opportunities to say “no” to The Kingdom of Darkness and “yes” to The Kingdom of Light. Like giving up a bitter mindset, loving someone who makes it really hard to love them, releasing control and trusting God with the unknown, or practicing self-control when it’s easier to crash out. If you become familiar with a life of repentance, lean into His care, and trust in His process, He will bring beauty from ashes. Be encouraged, as you walk this out, He will be faithful to be your strength and empower you by The Spirit.
III. Strengthened by The Spirit
As we are rooted and pruned in relationship, God will strengthen and empower us by the watering of His Spirit. On this journey with Jesus, there will be decisions to be made, good and hard seasons to be walked through, and even though you won’t know all that’s ahead, you’ll get to depend upon His trustworthy leadership.
Where are you going for your water? How is that going for you? Are you still coming up dry? As Jesus said in John 4 when speaking to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Apart from relationship with Jesus, we will not be satisfied in the fullness of life that only He can give. Do we realize that the King of Kings is ours to run to? That we can call to Him for help and be strengthened by His Spirit?
“The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 a.m. for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”
―Timothy Keller
The Father delights in us coming to Him like a child. When we humble ourselves and are honest with our neediness, He will joyfully provide what we need in Him. But do we actually call on the Lord and depend upon Him like a child often enough? Is He the true Lord of our lives and King that we run to for water?
Our heart posture should be like that of Mary who sits at Jesus' feet in Luke 10. The goal is to be with Jesus, enjoy Him, and receive from Him. What you fill yourself with will ultimately spill out of you. I don’t know about you, but I want the loveliness of Jesus to spill out of me. Don’t let a moment pass where you can call upon Jesus to be strengthened by Him! We have full access to be filled by the Holy Spirit so that we can pour out where He’s planted us.
As we await Christ’s return to bring the fullness of His Kingdom, we can delightfully trust in the tending that our Gardener is doing in us as we abide in Him. Amid the darkness in this world, lives that are resting in Christ will give off a sweet and potent fragrance that can’t be ignored. As His people flourish in His Kingdom just like those roses did in Portland, the work of King Jesus will be on display, leaving people in awe of His beauty. This will bring great glory and honor to His name, and we will see His Kingdom come here on Earth as it is in Heaven.