What is the Kingdom of God — Zac Poonen

Poverty of Spirit as the Condition for the Kingdom

So, we're thinking of Matthew chapter five and verse three, that's what you've already been hearing from, and I'd like to continue on that. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

See, in the old covenant, in the Old Testament, until Jesus came, nobody could say, follow me. It is a unique command or calling that Jesus was the first person to say, because in the old covenant, even though people like Moses, Elijah, even John the Baptist, the great prophets proclaimed the truth of God exactly.

No one could say, all that is true in my life. So they would say, listen to God's word. Even Moses said, listen to God's word and obey it. None of them said, look at me and see what that word has done in my life.

But once Jesus came, he said, follow me. And he told his disciples to follow him. And the apostle Paul said in one Corinthians 11 and in Philippians three, follow me. And he said, not only me, follow others who are a good example, who are following Christ.

Follow me as I follow Christ. So when it comes to a word like this, blessed are the poor in spirit, it's not enough to understand it intellectually, what it means, then we will remain in the old covenant.

Our passion must be that that must be true in our life. That I, that you must become poor in spirit, actually much more important than whether you can preach on that subject or explain what you heard in this meeting.

So we thank God for good examples. I'm glad you heard brother Joji Samuel speak earlier. He's a classic example of what it means to be poor in spirit. And we don't have many examples like that, but I praise God for him.

So where a person demonstrates it, that is a message in itself, because the life is the message. And if our life does not demonstrate what we hear, then we might as well not have heard it. It's as good as not hearing it.

It's like food we eat, you know, the food is not digested and becomes part of our body. It's no use eating. You know, a lot of meetings are like eating, eating. And now for the next one hour or so, you're going to eat and eat and eat.

But if it's not digested in your spirit, you will never become poor in spirit. So your passion must not be to understand what you hear. Your passion must not be, oh, now I can preach this somewhere else.

That is all honor seeking and pride. Our passion must be, Lord, I want to be poor in spirit in my life, even if I can't explain it, even if I can't preach it, if I can manifest it in my life. And how will you know that you are poor in spirit?

Seeking the Kingdom of God Above Earthly Ambitions

Well, you will get the kingdom of heaven. Because it says the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. Now, kingdom of heaven is an expression only Matthew uses. The other gospel writers use, call it kingdom of God.

See, Matthew was mostly writing to the Jewish people, so he's comparing earth with heaven. The old covenant was a kingdom of earth. Canaan's land and defeating the earthly giants. And he was saying now Jesus has come to offer the kingdom of heaven with spiritual giants to be killed in our life, etc.

So it is the same as the kingdom of God. So we need to understand what the kingdom of God is. If you were to ask the average Christian, what is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven? They'll say heaven, where we finally go.

No, because how can I seek that? Jesus said later on in Matthew 6 and 33, seek first his kingdom. And let me show you a verse in Luke chapter 12, where it says, you know, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.

And this kingdom of God is something you have to seek first. That's what he saw in Matthew 6, 33. Seek this kingdom first. Then all the other things will be added to you. Seek for the kingdom of God as earnestly as all of you sought to get a visa, to get a job in Dubai or Sharjah or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or anywhere.

How earnestly you sought for it. If you can seek for the kingdom of God with 10 of that earnestness, I tell you, many of you would be much more spiritual than you are today. I believe that is the primary thing.

We must seek the kingdom of God first. And if we seek for earthly things, there's nothing wrong in that. We must earn our living. And I always say, earn the best you can and go wherever you can get a good job and take care of your children and educate them and all.

That's fine. But if that is first in your life, don't waste your time trying to understand Matthew 5, 3. It's a waste of time. It's just intellectual knowledge. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

But that will come only to those who seek that first. Very important. Combine it with Matthew 6, 33, where he compares it with living for food and clothing and shelter and everything on earth, which is necessary.

He didn't say don't seek it, but he said, make the kingdom of God first in your life. See, it's like helping people in the world. We help our own family first. There's nothing wrong in that. If God has given you a family, you take care of your children, their food and education and clothing, etc.

If you don't take care of that and try to help all the other children in the world, you're not a good father. There's nothing wrong in taking care of your children's education and clothing and housing and their future first.

And you can still help many, many other people. But it's a question of which is first. And every human being, sensible human being, takes care of their own family first. In the same way, I want to ask you, just like you care for your children first, rightly, and then others.

Can you say in the same way that you seek the kingdom of God first? That comes first in your thoughts and mind and life. And then only other things like your job and your health and everything else. If you are like that, and you can sincerely say that, not to me, but to God, Lord, you know my heart.

I'm seeking your kingdom first in my life. I do seek a lot of other things, but they're all below number 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. But not first. In my life, every day of my life, the passion of my life is your kingdom.

I tell you, then it'll be yours. But if you merely understand what poor in spirit means, you'll never get anywhere. It'll only be a theory. So I want to say that as a warning. Now, it says in Luke chapter 12, again, verse 31 and 32, speaking about verse 29 onwards.

The Command to Seek God's Kingdom Without Anxiety

Don't seek. It's a command. Do not kill. Command. Do not commit adultery. Command. Do not tell lies. Command. Luke 12, 29. Do not seek what you eat or what you drink. Do not keep worrying. Do you see these as commands?

The earlier commands I mentioned, the Old Testament people took it very seriously. I must not kill. I must not commit adultery. I must not murder. And I'm sure you take it seriously too. What about this?

Do not. The same God who said, do not kill. Do not commit adultery. And do not tell lies. And do not bear false witness. Also said, do not seek just eating and drinking. Do not seek. Do not worry about these things.

But seek his kingdom, verse 31. And these things will be added to you. God will not deprive you of it. Seek his kingdom first. It's one of the first things I was gripped by when I was converted at the age of 19 and a half.

And I realized that I must either be 100 Christian or live 100 for the world. And I was in the Navy and I was living 100 for my naval profession to go right up to the top. But I realized conversion must be radical.

Not playing the fool with God where Christ is number 10 in my list or even number two. Must be number one. And I'm very thankful that from the very first day almost, I tried to make him a number one, as I understood it.

And I said, Lord, your kingdom is going to be first. No longer do I have any earthly ambitions. And I have to say the truth before you. I sacrificed all my earthly ambitions and said, Lord, you give me whatever rank I should get in the Navy.

I'm not interested. Before that, my aim was to go to the top. And I said, I'm going to seek God's kingdom. And I tell you, that was 63 years ago. And God has added to me all the other things without my seeking after it.

I can testify the truth of what it says here in Matthew, Luke chapter 12 and verse 31. The other things will be added, added, added without your seeking it. And I want to pray that that will be true of every one of you.

That wherever you may work, whatever your income is, if it can be said about you at the end of your life, at least from the time, at least from the time you were born again, or at least from the time you began to take the Christian life seriously, that this man, this woman, from that time onwards, from a particular time in his life onwards, began to seek God's kingdom first.

That was number one in his thinking and in his life. And here at the end of his life, he didn't suffer. He didn't starve. His family didn't starve. God added everything needed for him and for his family and took care of his children and all the things that the worldly people seek after and work so hard for.

This man got by seeking God's kingdom first. That should be our testimony. That should be our testimony at the end of our life. If somebody could examine all the private areas of our life, for example, our financial accounts, I felt like that.

If somebody could, at the end of my life, look over all my private life, everything that they should say, here's a man who sought God's kingdom first. We have failed in different places. Those things are blotted out.

They will not, nobody will ever be able to see them because the Lord says, I will not remember them and he will not expose our failures to anyone. But our main goal in life is the important thing. Then we'll find, understand what real poverty of spirit is.

And here is a promise attached to this in Luke 12. First of all, we saw the command, seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you. And it says here, now don't be afraid because you say, if I see God's kingdom, who will take care of my family?

How will I provide my children? How will I educate them? Don't be afraid of these things. Your father has gladly chosen to give you the kingdom. Can you take that as a personal promise today? Will you say to the Lord, Lord, you said the poor in spirit only will get your kingdom.

Teach me what that means. Not in theory, not so that I can explain it to others. I don't want to explain it to others. I want to explain that by my life, what it means to be poor in spirit. And when they see that I have possessed the kingdom of God, they will look at my life and see what being poor in spirit is.

And father, I thank you. You have to say to God, according to Luke 12, 32, you have chosen, not only chosen to give me the kingdom, but gladly chosen to give me the kingdom. It's not sort of reluctantly.

God is being okay. I'll give it to you. No, he's delighted to give every one of you the kingdom, provided you fulfill the condition. Be poor in spirit. It's not given to everyone. I'm sorry. If you don't get the kingdom, it is only one reason.

You are not poor in spirit. Anyone who is poor in spirit, that promise in Matthew 5, 3 will be fulfilled. They will get the kingdom. And you will see one day in eternity that the people who got God's kingdom in their earthly life were the people who consistently sought for poverty of spirit, not to understand its meaning, but to live it in their life.

And experience the reality of finding all the other earthly requirements added to them, not only food and clothing. There's something we need more than food and clothing. You know what that is? Physical health.

To keep fit and strong. Yeah. Otherwise, how can we serve God? I say that, Lord, how can I serve you if I'm not fit and strong? I don't care how old I am. You know, if I'm 100 years old, I want as much health as you will give me to serve you.

That's all. I don't want help to make money and to become famous in the world. I want help to seek your kingdom. Give me help for that. Why do we eat food? It is to keep healthy, not because we love food.

So God has promised to give us the kingdom. Take that personal promise. Lord, you promised in Luke 12, 32, you're gladly chosen to give me this kingdom. So if I can receive it only by being poor in spirit, explain to me in my life, even if I can't preach on that subject, what it means to be poor in spirit.

Understanding the Kingdom Through Scripture and Christ's Life

So then the next thing we need to see is what is this kingdom of God? You know, the kingdom of God can be such a vague thing that we don't understand what it means. What does it mean to seek God's kingdom first?

Is it to go to heaven? Everybody wants to go to heaven. Is there any human being on earth, any religion who does not want to go to heaven? Everybody wants to go to heaven. Is that the kingdom of God? No.

But that everybody is seeking. But 90 of people don't get there. They may be seeking it. What does it mean to seek God's kingdom first? We need to understand clearly what is the kingdom of God. And that is many Christians, if you ask them, what is the kingdom of God?

You read about it, talk about it for so many years. You claim to be a Christian. You read the Bible, which speaks about the kingdom of God, kingdom of God. What does it mean? And you say, well, I never thought about it.

Really? Well, my brother, sister, then you read the Bible very carelessly. I want to give you one bit of advice now. From today onwards, when you come across a word in scripture, even a phrase that you don't understand, stop there and say, Lord, help me to understand this.

Isn't that the way you teach your children? Suppose they are studying mathematics and they have a problem with multiplication. They struggle, struggle, they can't understand. What do you say? Okay, forget multiplication.

Let's go on to the next subject. Let's do division. You never do that. You're not going to the next subject until you complete multiplication. If you take that attitude to everything you see in scripture, you would be an expert in the Bible in your life by now.

You'd be able to bless so many people with your practical knowledge of scripture. Why is it in our churches? We have so few people who can minister God's word in an anointed way. It's because they don't carefully study the scriptures.

If they in their place of work were as careless about their work as the way they study scripture, they would have lost their jobs long ago. But in their work, they're very careful. They try to understand how can I do this job better?

And they study in order to do that job better because they love money. Imagine if you love the kingdom of God like that and you began to seek to understand everything in scripture. What a tremendous blessing you could have been to multitudes by today.

Well, at least in the days to come. Make sure you're going to be there by saying, Lord, I don't want to come to a scripture and I don't understand something. Don't you tell your children that if you read a passage and you don't understand an English word, ask me or go to a dictionary.

See what it means. I've always said that the dictionary for us, the Bible, the dictionary of the Bible is the life of Jesus Christ. That's the dictionary. If you don't understand something in the Bible, go to the dictionary to the life of Jesus and you'll see the answer there.

In him is the definition of every word in the New Testament. Kingdom of God, I find it in him. And I also find it in the scripture. Turn with me to Romans 14 and verse 17. Very important verse. I myself in the early days of my Christian life.

Yeah, I knew the words, seek the kingdom of God first. And all these things will be added to you. And if you had asked me in those days, what are you seeking? I'd say, well, I'm reading the Bible every day and I'm praying and trying to witness to people.

I give out tracts and the buses I go and I witness to people in my office. And I'm trying to seek the kingdom of God first. I never knew what the kingdom of God was. And I was so defeated in those early days of my Christian life for many years.

I was defeated. I would fall and get up and confess and be cleansed and continue like most Christians are doing. And the reason was, I did not understand the kingdom of God. I thought kingdom of God is witnessing for Christ and being going to the meetings regularly and reading the Bible and praying and all these external activities.

Now, turn to Romans 14, 17 and see what the Bible says is the kingdom of God. And I discovered that by telling the Lord, Lord, I don't know. You're telling me to seek the kingdom of God first, but I don't know what it is.

I realize it is not preaching and going to the church regularly and reading the Bible and praying. It is not that. Then the Lord showed me in Romans 14, 17, what the kingdom of God is. It's got nothing to do with praying and reading the Bible and witnessing.

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking most of all, and it's not any of these other things. It is three things. Righteousness, peace and joy. And not just righteousness, peace and joy. But righteousness, peace and joy given by the Holy Spirit, which is an altogether different type of righteousness, peace and joy.

Our understanding of these words is very earthly. The Holy Spirit will give us a heavenly understanding of what righteousness is. That righteousness is not in the external action alone. It is in the motive.

It is in the attitude you have to people and not how you behave outwardly towards them. If you behave very nicely to a person, you're not a good Christian. If your attitude towards that person is not good.

If you think bad about someone and you speak nicely to that person, you're not a Christian. You're just a downright heathen. Because the kingdom of God is another place. Jesus said the kingdom of God is inside you.

Righteousness as Inner Truthfulness and Obedience

So that's the other thing you need to see. It's what is inside me. What I need is inside me. I need righteousness, peace and joy. Righteousness means total rightness in every area of my life. It means I never tell a lie even if I have to save my life.

I'll never tell a lie to gain something. I will never tell a lie to get some more money. I'll never sign a false statement to get a visa or any such thing. I will be 100 righteous. That is righteousness.

In the world, they don't follow that. They say it doesn't matter if you cut a few corners and tell a few small lies. Nobody's going to catch you. It's a small thing. And if you feel you did bad, just tell God to forgive you.

It's like telling your son when you go to the examination, cheat. And after the exam is over, ask God to forgive you. You'll get good marks and God will forgive you also. You see what your son will grow up to be if you teach him that.

He'll grow up to be wayward, godless and go to hell. No, we're not talking about that type of righteousness. We're talking about a righteousness that is from within in every area that we are conscious of.

There are many areas where we are not conscious of what righteousness is. That God will show us little by little by little. But in the areas that we know, I'll tell you something. If you seek to be righteous in the areas of your life that you know, and seek with all your heart, seek first to be righteous in the areas that you know, God will show you a little more.

It's like the land of Canaan. You first occupy one area, then God will show you something more to occupy, then something more, something more. Like that, they were supposed to occupy the whole land of Canaan.

Our flesh with all its lusts is like a land of Canaan with many giants. And first of all, you see something in your life that is wrong. That's like the first area like Jericho. You've got to capture that, pull down the walls and occupy that first.

That's the area that you see in your life. Maybe it's the way you speak to your wife or to your husband. You say, Lord, that's the Jericho I must pull down and conquer completely. Then I'll move on to other areas and little by little conquer the whole land that the lusts in my flesh are all conquered.

No giant remains dishonoring you in my life. You know, the number of giants that lived in Canaan and God was dishonored by the nation of Israel. Very similar to the number of giants that live in the lives of so many believers today.

Even those who are in CFC and talk about new government and all high sounding stuff. But there are giants ruling in the land. There are other brothers who can't explain truth so well. We're not great preachers, but who demonstrate in their life, humility, purity, love, goodness, peace, joy, may not be able to preach.

They're demonstrating the kingdom of God. Jesus said, you're the light of the world. You're the salt of the earth. Two examples he used. What is similar about light and salt? Can you tell me? Think about it.

Whenever you read something in scripture, think about it. We must meditate on God's word. Here's one thing. There are many things, perhaps. But one thing is light and salt do not make any noise. There's no noise in your food when salt is there or is not there.

Light, it shines. It doesn't make any noise. If a tube light makes noise, something's wrong with it. You've got to replace it. A good tube light does not make any noise. And the other thing about light and salt is you will be immediately aware of its presence or its absence.

You come into a room at night and you will immediately know whether there's light or not. Even a blind person can sense whether a room is lit or not. And you taste even a small bit of food in your mouth.

Immediately, you know whether you've got salt in it or not. Immediately, that is what Jesus meant when he said, you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. You don't have to shout and make a lot of noise.

Your life will be such a powerful expression of light that people who come in touch with you will immediately realize, hey, this person is different. You know, there are people who have got such a testimony in their place of work or even as students in school.

When others are talking about dirty jokes or something, this man comes there or this boy comes there and they immediately stop. They say, we can't talk about this. This boy has come or this brother has come.

What a testimony that they know that this man is upright and he won't tolerate all this nonsense, all this gossip and backbiting and speaking evil of the bosses. They'll stop when you come because they know you're a godly man or a godly woman.

That's the testimony we must have. Light. There's darkness there and you switch on the light when you come. When you come into the midst of a group of unbelievers, it must be like switching on the light in the room.

As much difference as darkness and light. That should be our calling in our place of work and everywhere. That is a person who's got the kingdom of God. Or like salt, when salt is not in the food, how eagerly we say, come on, please give me some salt.

The great lack is salt even among Christians. There's no taste there. There's no taste of heaven in their life. Our children must have a taste of heaven in our home. No use just instructing them in all the truths of the Bible, the story of Joseph and David and the miracles Jesus did.

It's all wonderful. They can read all the comic Bibles and all that. It's very, very good. That's good to have information. But if they don't taste heaven in the way that daddy and mommy live at home, in the peace and joy in their home, it is like salt without food.

Sorry, no food in the salt. Food without salt. You give food without salt to your children. But that's what we're doing if you're not manifesting heaven. So blessed are the poor in spirit for there's the kingdom of God.

We must have such a passion to say, Lord, I want to know what it means to be poor in spirit. Because I want this in my life. I want this in my home. I want this in my life. This is the only life worth living.

So let's turn to Romans 14, 17. Righteousness, peace and joy. This is what we will get if we are really poor in spirit. And the great difference between the word righteousness in the old covenant and in the new covenant is this.

Let me explain it to you. The Bible says there is none righteous. Romans chapter three, not even one in the whole world. Nobody is righteous. The best human being is not righteous. However, much better you may think you are than all the other believers in your church.

You are not righteous. That is why Jesus Christ, first of all, forgives every sin that we confess. When we come to Christ, everything is blotted out. But thereafter, the only sin thereafter, after you're born again, when you come to Christ, God doesn't ask you to confess all the million sins you've committed because none of us can do that.

We come to the prodigal son and say, I've sinned. That's all he said to the father. Forgive him. The past blotted out. I will not remember your past anymore. Isn't it wonderful to begin like that with a clean sheet?

But now the Lord says in 1 John 1 9 for believers after you're born again, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness or 1 John 1 7.

If we walk in the light as God is in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. What do those two verses in 1 John mean? To walk in the light means you'll be honest. That's all. Just be honest.

Don't say I did this because he did that. You keep on saying that you will not be forgiven. It's like children. You say, why did you hit him? Because he hit me and because he said this. As long as you're justifying your wrong by something that your wife did or said or husband did or said or somebody else said, I'll tell you in Jesus name, your sin will not be forgiven.

It will remain on your head forever. Your sin will be forgiven when you take the blame, no matter what other people did. Whatever way other people and other people treat me has no does not give me any excuse to respond in a sinful way.

No, I cannot give that excuse to God. He spoke to me like this or she spoke to me like this. That is why I responded like that. That is little children who don't know anything about God's ways. For us, if we confess our sins, not somebody else's sins.

Children are always confessing what somebody else did to them. We confess our sins. God is faithful and righteous to cleanse us from all of that. But what you don't take the blame for, you say, I did this because he did this.

It will never be forgiven till the day comes in your life where you take the blame saying, Lord, it's me, Lord, it's me. A very, very important lesson. It's something we should learn the day we are born again.

But we are not taught this. Unfortunately, we don't have good teachers in churches today because they themselves are not experienced. But we thank God that we can hear a lot of good teaching in CFC from many brothers.

Reverence for God and the Righteousness of Christ

The number one is be honest. What did David say in Psalm 51 when he confessed his sin of adultery? Lord, you desire truth in the inner part. Honesty inside is what it means to walk in the light. Then the blood of Jesus will cleanse you completely.

So that's the first step in righteousness. And then in our daily walk, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to walk in righteousness. When God cleanses us through his blood, he Christ himself becomes our righteousness.

That's the only way we can approach God. We read in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30, Christ is our righteousness. They didn't have that in the Old Testament. Do you think it is an easy thing to come before a holy God?

The Old Testament people did not even dare to call him father. They were scared to come anywhere near him. They would shut their eyes and say, oh, God, even the angels shut their eyes before God. Have you seen that in Isaiah chapter six?

The seraphims, they cover their faces, cover their wings. In heaven, those seraphs who have never sinned are covering themselves. And yet I'm surprised how so many believers come into God's presence in such a casual way as if he's an old friend of theirs when they can put their arm around.

No wonder there's no progress in their life. There is no reverence for God. The fear of God, which means the reverence of God is not there. That's why they never experienced this first part of the kingdom.

Righteousness. So if you are really poor in spirit, you will experience this righteousness because the kingdom of heaven, the father gladly gives the kingdom to those who are poor in spirit. I'm just trying to show you the great need for poverty of spirit.

That's where we begin. See, if a doctor can convince a patient, you need to take this medicine. Otherwise you'll die. He will take it. But so many illiterate people don't take the medicine in the villages and all because they don't believe it's so important.

It's like surgery. If a doctor says, unless you get the surgery, your cancer will not be removed. You'll die. He's convinced about it. He'll submit to any painful surgery and even spend the money for it.

So when we are convinced about something, then we submit to any painful experience. So when you say, Lord, I don't have this righteousness. I want this righteousness, which is inward. And I want to know what it is for Christ to be my righteousness when I come before God is so holy that even the seraphs cover their faces.

That reverence. Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sorry to say I have found very, very few people in my life who have a reverence for God. They approach God as so casually as he was an old friend of theirs.

And no wonder their lives are so shallow and they're not a blessing to others. There's not a powerful anointing. There's not a fire in their lives. And even if there is a fire, it disappears very quickly.

If you have a fire in your life, it must burn more and more and more and more and more. Yeah, that's how it is. The anointing must increase as we grow older. And so righteousness is not something static.

It's more and more and more. We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And we seek that righteousness till the giants are killed one by one in our flesh. And more and more our life glorifies God.

Peace With God and With All People

It's righteousness. And then it says the second part of this kingdom is peace. Peace with God and peace with men. This is the kingdom of God. Where I know in my heart every moment that I'm at perfect peace with God.

I can look into my heavenly father's face and say, Dad, I know you're happy with me, but we must long for that. Do you have a longing? I've many times I've thought of that word that the father said to Jesus at his baptism.

This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And I've said, Lord Jesus, you've called me to follow you and walk in your footsteps. I want to hear the father say that about me. I said, Father in heaven, can you say that about me?

This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. I want that from you. I don't care what anybody in the world thinks about me. I'm not interested in what people think about my preaching of my Christian life.

I want you to say about me that you're well pleased with me. What's the use of the commendation of everybody in the world? If God cannot say that about us. Dear brothers, sisters have this longing that God, your father can look at your life, every aspect of your life, the way you speak, the way you think, your attitude towards people, your attitude to money and everything else, the way you love your enemies and bless those who curse you.