Friday, September 11, 2015

The Kingdom Constituency

Every nation, country or sovereign entity that has the responsibility of representing and serving a particular segment of society, has a constituency. If you are an American citizen, then you represent the constituency of the United States of America. If you are a supporter of the Democratic Party, then you are a part of that constituency. If you are a resident of a particular state, or city, or county, then you are a part of that constituency. The key to a certain constituency is that it is represented by a group for which it finds itself a part of.

This is the case with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has a particular constituency, a group of people for whom the Kingdom of God represents. And let me say very quickly, contrary to probably popular opinion, that constituency is not the church. Yes, the church is "supposed" to represent the constituency of the Kingdom, but not necessarily so. 

The Constituency of the Kingdom of God are the downtrodden, the oppressed, the downcast, the poor, the indigent, the abused, the ostracized, the polarized, the exploited and the isolated. It's the group of people that nobody, from a societal standpoint, really cares about. This, my brothers and sisters, is the Constituency of the Kingdom. This is the group that Jesus represents as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the group for which Jesus targeted His Message of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24). Jesus didn't go to the rich and wealthy. He didn't appeal to the "middle class" or the upwardly mobile. He came to lift up those who couldn't lift up themselves. This is the Kingdom Constituency.

Why is this important? Because when this next move of God hits, in what I believe will be shortly, we as the people of God will need to understand who the Kingdom of God is targeted for. As contradictory as this may sound, the Kingdom of God is not for the church. The responsibility of the church is to serve and worship the King. As we serve and worship the King, our Savior, we then become ambassadors for the Kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 5). This is the role of the church in the Kingdom. But those who have been ordained to "receive" the Kingdom, are those who aren't in position to help themselves. This was Jesus' Message after He came out of the Wilderness with power (Luke 4), "the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor..."

If we are to truly become workers in the Kingdom of God, not just workers in the church, we must come to realize that the Kingdom of God is an actual Political Entity. I know people promote "separation of church and state" and advocate that the church doesn't get involved in politics; but we have to understand that Jesus got crucified "because" of politics. King is a political title, not a religious one. And Jesus makes it very clear that He was "born" King of the Jews (John 18). Every king or political ruler has a certain constituency for which they target to build their kingdom around. Jesus is no different. It is the poor, the homeless, the fatherless, the widows, the disenfranchised, this is the Constituency that Jesus came to serve as King.

But remember, He died for the whole world. And when He was raised from the dead, He made it explicitly clear to His disciples that all power in Heaven and in Earth, was in His hands (Matthew 28). Therefore saints, His Domain is the Universe. But those for whom He serves and offers the Kingdom to, are not the religious, it's the poor in spirit (Matthew 5). It's those who don't have the money to wield political representation. It's those who didn't have the upbringing to "get an education" or to go to college. It's those who didn't have an advocate when the demons of abuse victimized them. And if we're going to be His representatives in the earth, then we must be mindful and sensitive to who represents the Kingdom Constituency.

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