THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE
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By Alex Onojah
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking [what one likes], but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For the one who serves Christ in this way [recognizing that food choice is secondary] is acceptable to God and is approved by men. So then, let us pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth]. Do not, for the sake of food, tear down the work of God. All things indeed are [ceremonially] clean, but they are wrong for the person who eats and offends [another’s conscience in the process]” ROMANS 14:17-20 The Amplified Bible (AMP)
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he Kingdom of God is not …What an interesting way to describe the Kingdom of God, by first stating what it is not. This becomes necessary particularly in situations where there are some misconceptions about an issue or topic. As we see the Apostle Paul address in Romans 14, there seems to be a dispute over food. Whether it is okay to eat certain kinds of meat or not or about holy days. (Romans 14:1) We are so quick to fight and quarrel over minor issues, to criticize and judge one another seems to come to us quite naturally. (verses.3-4) Some may have come to a point where the Kingdom of God for them is all about eating, drinking, and enjoyment, but from the above scripture we see that the Kingdom of God is much more than that. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of pleasure seeking and enjoyment, neither is it about selfish desires and personal ambition. All these only betray a superficial life and conduct. Today, one is left to wonder at this Twitter, Facebook and Instagram generation that has become so obsessed with selfies and making an impression. For them this scripture is quite instructive, as the ability to differentiate between what is important and that which is not so important has never been more critical. A
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lot of the things that we expend our energy on are simply temporal. No wonder the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:18 (AMPC) that “Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.”Everything that is visible is brief and fleeting, including cars, food, drinks, clothing, jewelry, houses, etc., but those things that are unseen or invisible are everlasting. The message is clear, the Kingdom of God is not built on trivial matters and superficialities. We should not allow these to preoccupy us to the extent that they become a hindrance to our fellowship with God and one other. In verses 1-16 of our main text above, Paul teaches us that regarding these matters we should live by the rules of love, acceptance, understanding, conscience, respect and consideration of one another’s faith, seeing that we will all give an account to God. “…For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone (verse 7). “For…each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” (verse 12)Now that we have looked at what the Kingdom of God is not, let us consider what it is…. “…. but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit …” (verse 17) So, we see three essential attributes of the Kingdom of God here which should remain our focus and priority at all times just as we are instructed in Mathew 6:33: “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.” Hence, we are always to seek, aim at and strive after God’s way of doing and being right. Our priority always should be to show God’s attitude and character to our world through our lifestyle.
Righteousness
The Kingdom of God is righteousness. What is righteousness?
