Who Gets to be a Part of God’s Kingdom?

I had a conversation recently with another former overseas missionary about passports.  They asked me, “When’s the last time you even thought about your passport?”  And I was like, “It has been a long time since I’ve thought about it,” which for both of us is strange, the reason being, living overseas with your family as we did, your passport becomes a very important document.  Overseas, living as an expat, you can’t do anything without your passport.  You can’t even legally be in the country without your passport and that little stamp in one the back pages, which is your visa, your permission to be in said country.  You know where your passport is at all times.  It's in your go bag, in case of an emergency.  It’s the one thing you double and triple check for before you travel.  Your passport is the proof you carry with you that you are, in fact, a citizen of the United States of America.  And that citizenship comes with some important privileges and protections.  The most important example of this is, I could get on an airplane and fly to the USA and be welcomed into my country simply by presenting my US passport.  I don’t need a visa.  I don’t need permission to be here.  I belong here, I’m a citizen of this country.  

But here’s the thing, as great as that is, as proud as I am to be an American citizen, there is a passport I carry that proves an even greater citizenship to an even better country, and that is The Kingdom of God.  I am a citizen of God’s kingdom. 

We’ve worked with refugees for a long time.  Many of them carry passports.  Many of them have IDs from the countries they’ve fled from.  But one thing we learned working with displaced people is that citizenship in this world can be taken away from you.  Your citizenship, your earthly, terrestrial identity can be lost.  We spoke with many refugees for whom that was the case.  But citizenship in God’s kingdom can never be lost.  That’s a passport you always carry with you, and it’ll never expire. 

Let’s go to God’s word and learn more about this citizenship we have in Christ.  Who gets to be a citizen of the kingdom? 

Mark 10:13-16, “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.   Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’  And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”

That’s an amazing thing for Jesus to have said, isn’t it?  If you don’t receive the kingdom like a child, you shall not enter it.  What does it mean to receive the kingdom like a child?  I believe there are two things in view here: First, you must have a childlike faith.  When a child believes something, receives something as true, they believe strongly.  The trust that a child puts in a guardian, or in their parents, is quite strong.  - When my son holds my hand as we walk together, he knows I’m not going to lead him off a cliff, I’m not going to let him be run over by a car, but he knows we’re going somewhere good, I’m going to keep him safe, and we’re going there together.  Anyone who desires to enter the kingdom of God, or to be a citizen of that kingdom, must have this same childlike trust and dependency on God, that God is good, and his plan for you is good, and he is leading you into good places.

The second thing, I believe, is that we must have the humility of a child.  Children, most children, understand that there isn’t a whole heck of a lot they can do without either the help or at least the supervision of an adult.  They are dependent.  My second born, Asa, he’s 5, and the majority of what I hear him say at this age is, “Help me.  Can you help me?  I need help.  Dad, Dan, please help me already!”  He’s very aware of his need for help and of the condition he'd be in without that help.  Children rely on adults to teach them things about the world and how things work.  They know that their knowledge is limited.  They also rely heavily on others to provide for them and make their situation in this world secure and joyful.

I heard this extremely sad story from a young lady who had volunteered to watch orphans at an orphanage in Russia one Summer.  She told me that some of the orphans when she had arrived at the orphanage didn’t cry.  They had stopped crying, because they had learned that it didn’t matter whether they cried or not, no one was coming.  They had received very little human interaction, and so that natural cry, that call for attention and for nurture was suppressed in them.  But after this young lady spent the summer with them, holding them, showing them affection, speaking to them, they began to cry again. 

We as human beings are wired to cry out to the one who made us for attention and for nurture and affection.  But if we are convinced that either God is not present, or that we don’t need him, that natural response will be suppressed in us.  But to receive the kingdom as a child means that you do realize you need him.  You are dependent on him for every good thing.  And he is the one who provides.  If we hope to enter the Kingdom, to be a citizen of God’s kingdom, we have to have a childlike faith and we must have the humility of a child, because those who receive the Kingdom like a child are the ones who will be a part of that kingdom.

In Mark 10, in the next few verses, there’s more on this topic, more to help us answer the question: who will be a part of God’s kingdom? 

I’m going to read for you V.17-27, “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”  And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

The disciples were amazed at what Jesus said because the assumption, especially in those days, was that being rich was a sign of God’s blessing.  If you were rich, God obviously favored you.  There’s some innate righteousness in you that warrants being blessed.  But that was a bad assumption.  The rich, actually, had something that gave them a spiritual disadvantage, they had a spiritual handicap, if you will.  They were so well off that they were in danger of losing their dependency on God.  Growing wealthy and self-sufficient can puff you up with pride, “Look at what I’ve gained by my own hand.”  It can cause you to lose the right perspective, that all good things come from God.  It can also make you greedy.  You clench your fists around what you have and fear losing it, to the point that you neglect the needs of those around you. 

So, going back to the children, here we see this great contrast.  Children have nothing of their own.  They have to rely on others to get the things they need.  They have to rely on the knowledge of others.  They have to trust their guardians.  The rich aren’t like that at all.  The young man who came to see Jesus was confident that all that was needed to enter the kingdom of God, he had accomplished.  He believed he had arrived.  He had it all together.  But Jesus said, “You are lacking.”  You’re spiritually handicap.  With you, it is impossible to enter the kingdom.  But with God, all things are possible. 

Do you see this?  How is it possible for anyone to enter the kingdom?  With God, it is possible.  God made a way for anyone to receive the kingdom, to enter into it, to become a citizen of it.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  So, ultimately, it is by faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead that we have entrance into God’s kingdom, and we can rest in that. 

So,

Seek a humble dependency on God through Christ, and have faith in what has been accomplished on your behalf. 

Trust him.  Don’t allow the riches of this world and the pride of life to prevent you from crying out to God and receiving all things from him. 

The kingdom is where God is king.  It is where he is glorified.  The kingdom is already breaking in, and at the same time, it has not fully arrived.  That comes later.  And those who receive this kingdom like a child running to Jesus, not like the one who already has it all together, will enter into it.  I hope this series has blessed you and that you’ve learned more about the kingdom of God from it. - I feel like I need to add a little post-script here: The Bible has so much to say about the Kingdom of God.  There is just no way we could get to many of the things God’s word has to teach us about this in a little 3-part series.  So, I encourage you, go and study for yourself and see what God has to teach you about The kingdom.