We can work and work for God's kingdom and still not know God and he will send us away from him.(Matt. 7:23) That is a hard one to swallow. Jesus said this, so this is part of the new covenant. What is faith and how do we get it? I guess we can have faith in all sorts of things, but using faith to see the Kingdom and enter the Kingdom, I think, is our goal as believers. Faith is an ingredient to miraculous living, but it doesn't always lead us to knowing God? Faith in the Father's Lordship and goodness is the secret to entering the Kingdom and living by Kingdom standards. When you live by faith in search of the Kingdom, that lifestyle will connect with you in a nourishing and fulfilling way to the Kingdom, even if it doesn't look very impressive from the outside.
Jesus said in Matthew 23 that it is good to practice and obey what the teachers of religious law tell you, "but," he said, " don't follow their example. Don't call them teacher or Father.
Then he said in verse 15, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!"
Verse 13-14, "For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's face. You won't go in yourselves and you don't let others enter either."
Jesus was not impressed with the ways that the religious leaders were leading the people of God. He was even pointing out their flawed perspective when he said, "You are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law--justice, mercy, and faith."
The religious leaders where ignoring faith??? They must have thought their whole life was built on faith. But their faith was in the law. Jesus needed them to be "born again" To learn how to think in a whole new way. To start over on how they see the world and God and themselves.
Jesus was showing the way into the Kingdom and it wasn't easy, the disciples continue to fail to understand what he was trying to get across. And the religious leaders where downright offended.
I think, to be a child of the Kingdom, one must be in a dependent relationship with the Father. We have to give over our "lives as a living sacrifice, and no longer be conformed the the things of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can test and approved the good and pleasing will of God." Romans 12:1-2
Just like Jesus said, "I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgement is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will." John 5:30
Then again in John 8:26, "I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won't For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful."... "I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. And the one who sent me is with me--he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him."
Jesus was so dependent on God for all that he said and did, that he even states above that he had thoughts that he wouldn't share because he was only willing to say what he heard the Father saying.
He was teaching us to set aside our selfish ways, or living by the flesh.
Then again, when Jesus was being betrayed and captured and his disciples wanted to fight back he told them to stop. "Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?" Matt. 26:53
It shows that Jesus did not lean on his own understanding or selfish feelings, but he set aside his carnal desires in order for the will of the father to be accomplished. Because the will of the father is to have his Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And sometimes Kingdom things do not serve our earthly bodies, but sometimes they do. Or at least Jesus' earthly body did have to suffer in order to bring the Kingdom access to sinful humanity.
I haven't even mentioned Jesus praying in Gethsemane, asking that he might not have to suffer, but laying down his will to have the will of the Father.
As we try to wrap our minds around the authority we have in Christ by faith, Jesus said, we will be able to ask anything in His name and it will be granted to us. Imagine if you have an incredible inheritance to give to your children. Each child, when born, already has a bank account with a million dollars in it. When you child turns 5-years-old, will you hand the account over to him? Or in love, will you withhold all of that power and authority until they show wisdom and maturity?
Holy Spirit, you are our promised helper. Please help us learn and know what it is like to live by this kind of faith. Where we can only do and say what we see the Father doing and saying. Help us to be in that kind of dependent relationship. What incredible faith that would take. Please grant us a grain of faith so we can begin to practice this lifestyle living in the power and authority that Jesus taught.