KINGDOM OF HEAVEN CHURCH or KINGDOM OF EARTH CHURCH?

In Acts 1:5, 6, we encounter the disciples who were convinced that the resurrected Jesus Christ was about to restore Israel as a kingdom. Some 500 years before this, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar had effectively ended the nearly 500 years old reign of kings in Israel, and exiled the Israelites. Although they returned to rebuild the destroyed temple about half a century later, they never had a legitimate king again. During the time of Jesus, even the Herods who ruled in Jerusalem were considered despots shored up by Rome rather than legitimate sovereigns. The Jews therefore always looked forward to a legitimate ruler described their Scriptures to deliver them. 

Jesus indeed is the said deliverer but He was about a kingdom far wider and beyond what was then left of the Promised Land Joshua took. At age 33, He was not about to depose Herod or defeat Rome with His 12 disciples and about 100 or so other followers. Such restoration is clearly what the disciples thought of when Jesus said they were about to receive the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit baptism. They were aware of their small number, but were confident that the Holy Spirit's power could do the trick. Yet they had underestimated everything woefully! They were thinking of a kingdom on a patch of earthly land with boundaries, when Jesus had all along been talking about a kingdom that will be established in the hearts of people everywhere on Earth. And this kingdom would even outlast the Earth, since all its subjects would survive death and live in Heaven or the new Earth eternally. 

Fast-forward to some 2,000 years after these marvelous claims, Jesus reigns to the ends of the Earth in various expressions of the church He promised to build. Yet, some still think His church is an earthly Kingdom. So, they seek lordship rather than servanthood in leadership, and see the church as a means to earthly glory or comfort. Just as the disciples asked then, "are we now going to become a kingdom again like other kingdoms?" (my paraphrase), they also ask today, "isn't the Holy Spirit meant to bring us earthly wealth and elevate our status?". How mistaken! They set their hearts on a Kingdom of Earth church, instead of the Kingdom of Heaven church. 

Setting your heart on a kingdom of the Earth church will bring you nothing but grief, because Jesus promised no such thing. Paul warns of the sentiment as follows: 

a: "For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone."(1 Corinthians 15:19 NET)

b. "For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."(Romans 14:17 NET)

CONCLUSION: Kingdom of Heaven Church Mindset

1. Subjects of the Kingdom serve one another, with neither compulsion nor with any aim of gaining wealth or attaining positions. (1 Peter 5:2-3)

2. Subjects of the Kingdom are not moved to prayer by fear of poverty, etc. Rather, they tarry just to be empowered to preach the Gospel. (Acts 1:8; 4:29-31)

3. Subjects of the Kingdom do not wait in line to inherit titles before they serve. Each goes into action right away, as in their own Father's house, according to the gifts given them by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 12:6-8)

4. The source of joy of the subjects of the Kingdom is the opportunities they get to serve or put their gifts to use, rather than the comforts they accumulate. Like Jesus, their food is to do the Father's work. (John 4:34)

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