Living in the Kingdom

Romans 14:13-23 The kingdom of God, mentioned in verse 17, is basically living as a child of God (a Christian) in the midst of the family of God (other Christians) under the Lordship of God through Christ. In this relationship we are governed by three sets of principles. The first and most important are the things that God’s Word says are all right or not all right to do or be involved in. Within those guidelines are the things that our own consciences will allow or disallow. Thirdly, and the area that this chapter is mainly concerned about, there are areas that God’s Word does not disallow, and our consciences have no problem with it, but our participating in it will have a profound negative impact on fellow believer(s). That is, our example could put their spiritual health in jeopardy. This is not to put us in a state of paranoia, wondering if this, that or the other thing will damage someone. Three more principles: If you know it’s a problem - don’t do it. If it is brought to your attention - don’t do it. If neither of these are true - don’t worry about it. We need to be living in the area of “don’t worry about it” because as verse 17 says “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, it is a positive, not a negative thing. The righteousness is the righteousness of Christ placed on our account that day by day we seek to grow into. The peace is the “okayness” between us and God, within ourselves and between one another. The joy that we feel is knowing that God is pleased. The Holy Spirit is like the conductor of an orchestra. When we keep our eyes on the conductor, we play the right tune at the right time and it sounds and feels good. As we learn the “music” we learn what to play and when to play it. The conductor, the Holy Spirit, adds the precision so that we are all playing the same piece and it all fits together. That’s what the Holy Spirit does for the church.