Part 5- The Kingdom Bible Study

Who will we worship?

The Second Roadblock to Kingdom Building

In the Part 5 blog post, we discussed the kingdom of God and its enemy. We learned that the kingdom is not a physical plot of land, but is in the minds of Christians. When we accept Christ as our savior, He is the ruler of our hearts and minds. God’s Kingdom grows when the good news of Jesus is spread and more people come to believe in Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in us, empowering us to complete the tasks we are called to accomplish.

We also discussed the first roadblock to kingdom building: Satan. He continues to work, trying to undermine our effectiveness for God and to block the kingdom from spreading. The battlefield where Satan tries to attack us in God’s Kingdom, our mind, body, and spirit. Satan cannot indwell a believer (1 Cor 6:19-20), but he can use deceptions, thoughts, our own choices, and desires to gain ground to distract and inhibit us from our purpose.

The second roadblock that hinders our effectiveness for Christ is our own sin nature. This is our own tendency to want to rule rather than to allow God to rule. Before we discuss sin in our lives and how it affects our relationship with God, we need to understand the concept of free justification.

It is our nature as humans to seek justification, our purpose, for our existence. What things do you do that you feel help justify your life? For example, there are times when I use my role as a mother, wife, churchgoer, PTA volunteer, or my profession to justify my existence.

In Tim Keller’s sermon, “Stop Trying to Prove Yourself,” he discusses the topic of “free justification.” (Stop Trying to Prove Yourself | Timothy Keller Sermon) Look up the definition of free justification. Write it down. Define righteousness. Is there anything we need to do to receive or maintain Jesus’ righteousness?

Read Ephesians 2:8-9. Define free justification in your own words based on this passage. As Christians, can we do anything to lose our right standing with God?

Christianity looks like every other religion when we falsely believe we must do good works to be in right standing with God. Our school and jobs are based on merit and performance. However, in God’s kingdom, you do not lose your standing as justified before God, because Jesus has already paid the debt for our wrong actions. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! THE GREATEST NEWS! You do not have to prove yourself to God because he already loves you fully. Your worth, your justification for living, is found in who you are to God as his child, not what you have done for him.

      When we believe in Jesus, there is nothing, NOT ONE THING, other than rejecting Jesus himself that changes our standing before God. (1 John 5:13) What this means is that whether you have a good day following God’s commands or a bad day, God continues to love you, bless you, and can work in you. God gave you Jesus’ righteousness when he went to the cross, so when you accept him, your standing with him does not change based on your good or bad works.

What do you think, then, is the difference between effectiveness and right standing? Read Romans 6:1,2,12-14. If we live in faith, should we continue to live in sin? (James 2:17) What is the consequence of our sin? (1 Thes 5:19) In Romans 6, when we sin, does it change our righteous standing before God? What about our effectiveness? What is the title of sin if we continue to sin, Romans 6:14?

Satan would like to use this lie that our standing before God changes when we sin. This lie can lead to false condemnation and shame, resulting in a feeling of unworthiness to connect with God. We are already unworthy on our own, but with Christ, we are seen by God as righteous. The difficult part is when we continue to live in sin, we are choosing a different Lord of the kingdom of our mind. The Master we are slaves to is sin, not God.

The Throne Room of our minds

While on this earth, we still struggle with our flesh because we will not be fully renewed or perfected until we go to heaven. We are given free will to choose God or choose ourselves as god. In our minds, there are two thrones and two trees. To help us understand this concept, I will share a time when I chose my flesh over making the right choice.

There was a relationship that I was struggling with that had a deep history of pain and hurt. I held onto the bitterness and pain, and with each encounter, it felt like a new stab in the heart. One day, I walked in the front door of my home and sat down on my couch. I felt sick inside from the years of pain. In desperation, I prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom about the situation.

I realized that I was eating fruit that was making me sick. In my mind, I was sitting on the throne of my own making, eating the fruit of bitterness from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Each time I took a bite of the bitter fruit, it made me sicker.

God showed me another way. He asked me to give him the pain of those interactions and the bitter fruit I had been eating. He desired to provide me with wholesome, healthy fruit to make my body strong and whole.

I had to step down from sitting on my own throne and bow before Him. I was called to be a servant, not to be served.  I am empowered to be a servant of God only by his everlasting love and faithfulness to me. (1 Peter 4:10-11, Jer 31:3) I am a servant of God. Once I bowed before the throne of God of heaven, my effectiveness for God was no longer hindered. He encouraged me to ask him to provide the healthy fruit from His Tree of Life, instead of me eating of the bitter fruit that was found in the midst of pride and selfishness.

Two Trees In God’s Kingdom.

What were the names of the Two Trees in the Garden of Eden? (Genesis 2:9) What did they signify?

In our minds, there are two trees that we can choose to eat the fruit of- The fruit of the Spirit or The fruit of the flesh (Knowledge of Good and Evil).

Read Galatians 5:1,16-26. Draw Two Trees and Two Thrones next to the trees. From the passage, write on the top of the left throne and left tree, my throne, the tree of flesh, and the right throne and right tree, God’s throne, and the tree of life. Then look at the Galatians passage and write the characteristics of the fleshly tree on the left and the Spirit tree on the right.

There is an old phrase, “You are what you eat.” In this case, it can also be rephrased as “You are what you think.” When we sit on our own throne, we receive the sickly fruit of the flesh, but when we bow before God’s throne, he freely gives us the wholesome fruit of the Spirit.

Read Proverbs 3:16-18. In this passage eating from the tree of life is related to finding wisdom. What are the blessings for those who pursue it?

In the storms of our lives, it is a testing ground for evaluating what kind of fruit we have been eating. For what is in our hearts will overflow from our mouths. (Luke 6:45)

In what ways have you been eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in your mind? When you have knelt before God’s throne, what fruit of the Spirit have you received from God? How did it make you feel to receive God’s fruit versus the fruit of the tree attached to your own throne?

Reference

Stop Trying to Prove Yourself | Timothy Keller Sermon. Directed by The Truth Sermon, 2025. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM2Xt8MKi-0.