Kingdom Of God

Romans 14:15-17,20 - For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

Matthew 3:2 - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Luke 4:42-43 - And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Application:

·         Christ so valued the weak brother as to die for him.

·         Paul recognizes a strong Christian’s right to certain freedoms, but qualifies it with the principle of regard for a weak brother’s scruples.

·         To be concerned with such trivial matters as eating and drinking is to miss completely the essence of Christian living.

·         The kingdom of heaven is the rule of God and is both a present reality and a future hope.

·         Different meanings for Kingdom of God in the Bible are: the eternal kingship of God; the presence of the kingdom in the person of Jesus, the King; the approaching spiritual form of the kingdom; the future kingdom.

·         Peace with God is not merely a subjective feeling but primarily an objective status, a new relationship with God: Once we were His enemies, but now we are His friends.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV