From the desk of Pastor Ben

Entering the Kingdom – Part 1

“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”         (Matthew 18:3)

The gospel of Matthew spends much of its focus on persons entering the divine kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ. The first component for entering is repentance. John the Baptist declared, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). This is the very same message with which Jesus began His own ministry (Matthew 4:17). Repentance calls for people to recognize their sin and have a genuine desire to turn from it. This essential component of salvation is not a human work but a gift that only God can grant (2 Timothy 2:25).

The second component necessary for kingdom entrance is the recognition of spiritual bankruptcy. This too is a divine work, beyond human capability because the Holy Spirit must convict a person of sin (John 16:8-11). The Beatitudes point us in that direction with Jesus’ call to humility, expressed there as poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3). Someone with poverty of spirit sees himself as utterly unworthy and undeserving of membership in the kingdom and brings a sense of guilt and frustration over his inability to remove sin. The Greek term from which we get “poor in spirit” denotes a beggar who has absolutely no personal merit to boast of. Because the repentant and bankrupt person recognizes his or her sin, they mourn over it (vs. 4); because they know they don’t have their own righteousness, they hunger and thirst for God’s (vs.6); and because they can’t cleans their own sin, they long for the purity of heart (vs. 8) that God must provide for kingdom entrance.

Ask Yourself:
Are you as convinced as you’d like to be that your sinful flesh has no ability at all to generate good deeds and pure motives? Why is this so important to admit and honestly believe? And what always remains missing from the believer’s life until he is sure of it?