Kingdom Design – Gregory Scott Blog

Knowing God Through His Work

I manage a number of attorneys at my law firm. They are all different, but it’s amazing how who they are as people is reflected in their work.

As a friend of mine once said, “The way you do anything is the way you do everything.” A person who is fastidious in their work is so in their private life. The person who is cautious in their private life is cautious in their work. If you have ever managed people, you know what I am telling you is true.

I think we all know instinctively that our work product is an extension of who we are. That is why poor performance reviews and job terminations are so devastating. Sure, they can lead to adverse financial situations, but so can a bad turn of the stock market, but that doesn’t devastate people like getting fired.

We don’t see a termination as a business decision but an indictment on our person, regardless of whether it is called a reduction-in-force, right-sizing, dehiring, or whatever other euphemism is used to soften the blow.

The reverse is also true. When we do well in our work, and it is recognized, we take it personally, in a good way. People become workaholics not only because they are driven by money but because their good work affirms what they want to believe about themselves.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, says:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made,
so that they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20

Why Jesus Set Us Free

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

There are a number of ways to justify Jesus setting us free, but the Apostle Paul is says it was for freedom that Christ set us free. In other words, it wasn’t so we could be successful, have a clear conscience, or be happy, although those are all results of walking in freedom. Instead, freedom is its own reward. It doesn’t need to be justified on any other basis.

Freedom is its own justification because it was God’s original intent for man. Freedom is the state in which man was initially created and intended to live. Adam and Eve were truly free, freer than man has ever been since. There was only one thing they were told not to do. They were not encumbered with original sin, spiritual strongholds, or a culture tempting them to sin.

What Jesus did on the cross was not just to save us from the suffering of hell but from slavery to sin. It was a divinely orchestrated cosmic reset, designed to put us back in the condition we were in in the Garden of Eden, where we were truly free. GS

On Professional Sports in the Kingdom

One of the purposes of this blog is to imagine what the world will look like as the the kingdom of God advances and the earth is reclaimed for King Jesus. This is another way of asking what God intends for the world.

In the realm of work, this question is essential because it establishes the reason a job exists in the kingdom of God. Answering that question correctly with regard to one’s job can bring a clarity of purpose and solution for other problems that typically arise in the workplace.

is In the movie, Moneyball, the Oakland Athletic’s general manager, Billy Beane, is pondering what he is trying to do in building a winning Major League Baseball team. He is in fact revolutionizing the game through the use of analytics in an effort to allow teams with less money to compete with teams with much larger payrolls.

But in the midst of despair Beane tells an associate, “Baseball doesn’t matter.” The statement is a shocker because by this time in the movie, the viewer is pulling for Beane to succeed and cannot help but ask, “Why does baseball matter?”

It’s a question that could be asked of any professional sport. Players are paid millions of dollars a year; they are idolized, and commercialized. Why? It’s just a game, right?

The King Of The Kingdom (Part III)

In part I and part II of this series, I built on the premise that Jesus used the metaphor of the kingdom to describe His rule because the concept of the earthly kingdom was the thing most like Jesus’ rule.

I suggested we could look at earthly kingdoms and where their characteristics aligned with the Bible’s descriptions of the kingdom of God, we could learn something about the kingdom of God. In the first two posts, I built on this premise with the issue of sovereignty. Here I address the issues of territorial sovereignty and royal lineage.

Territorial Sovereignty. Like earthly kings, Jesus’ sovereignty is complete and coextensive with the jurisdiction of His kingdom. Jesus’ sovereignty is not limited to a particular area but includes the entire natural realm and spiritual realm. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. (Matt. 28:18). As a result, Jesus has authority over the demons that dwell in the spiritual realm (Luke 4:36) and all the humans who dwell on the earth. (John 17:2). It makes sense that all authority in the spiritual realm and natural realm would be given to Jesus, because without it He would not be able to fulfill His role as King throughout His entire jurisdiction.

Should the Church or State be Supreme on Earth? (Part II)

In the previous post, I gave two examples from history, to illustrate the medieval controversy of whether the State should be subject to the church (the organization or “local church”) or the church subject to the State.

It was a legitimate question in the middle ages when Romans 13:1 was interpreted as vouchsafing the heads of state the divine right of kings and the organizational church was strong enough to contend with the State for leadership. At the end of that post though, I suggested those in the middle ages were asking the wrong question, that the question is not whether the church should be subject to State or the Sate subject to the church, but whether the Church (the true body of believers) should be subject to King Jesus.

In other words, rather than trying to put one organization under the other, which is the human impulse, we should recognize that both are under, and must answer to, King Jesus. The heads of States must answer to God (Romans 13:6), and Christians in government and in the church must answer directly to God as well. If both the State and church obey God, there will be no conflict between the two. The more the kingdom of God advances on the earth and the more people submit to God, the less conflict there will be between church and State, so long as those in the Church do in fact submit to King Jesus.