Upside Down thinking

What does a church with a Kingdom-focus look like?  Aren't all churches focused on the Kingdom, you wonder? Perhaps once we ask and answer the question, "who is the church" we will have a better understanding.  Without hesitation, I think I heard all of you shout in unison, "We are the Church!" Yes, we are and that is where it all begins -- with Jesus, who empowers us.

Colossians 2:2 (MSG)
I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. 
 
The church building houses us when we gather, shelters us from the elements and often helps to identify us, but by no stretch of the imagination, is the church building more than this.  It is the people, the faithful followers who gather in the church that make up this mighty force and define Kingdom-focus.

Colossians 2:5 (MSG)
I'm a long way off, true, and you may never lay eyes on me, but believe me, I'm on your side, right beside you. I am delighted to hear of the careful and orderly ways you conduct your affairs, and impressed with the solid substance of your faith in Christ. 

When we the people, bring food to our neighbor who just lost a parent, we are doing Kingdom work. Those times we stop what we are doing and pray, when a fire truck roars down the highway with an ambulance in close pursuit. This is Kingdom work. We've just been introduced to Jeremy, a new widower in town. Instead of inviting him to come to our church we invite him to dinner tonight - that is doing Kingdom work and living a Kingdom-focused life.

In this upside down world Christians live in, we have to begin to turn things right side up again. That can be as simple as doing the things Jesus did. Sometimes I even stop and think, just what would Jesus do. And I know that He would embrace the moment and reach out in love.

Colossians 2:1-6