What Would You Pay to Have Access to the Kingdom?

I heard of a study trying to determine the value of ‘thoughts and prayers’ (a phrase often uttered after a mass shooting or natural disaster). It turns out no one is willing to pay for ‘thoughts’. However, Christians are willing, on average, to pay $4.30 of the $5 given them to receive prayers from a stranger. Atheists won’t pay anything. It seems they would want to be paid if you’re going to pray for them. One of the researchers admits $5 isn’t much and therefore it isn’t much of a sacrifice to pay for prayer at this amount. To me, the study begs an analysis of one of Christ’s parables...

In the parable, Christ describes the Kingdom of Heaven as like a field with buried treasure. A person stumbles across the treasure, buries it (or re-buries it) and then sells everything to get it. From previous blogs, it seems the Good News is that we have access to God the Father. We know this is through the Spirit, through prayer—a Good News that’s not dependent on your ethnicity or lineage, your deeds but more of your spirit’s alignment with His.

If you couldn’t have access now, if you didn’t know that God hears your prayers and loves you, what would you pay to gain the ability to pray and be heard by the One True God? Would you pay $4.30? Would you pay a day’s wages—median $211? Would you pay a month’s—$4000+? Would you pay a year’s wages? Would you give all of your net worth and more?

As a side note to the study, it turns out that if people pray for a charitable organization, they give less money, apparently believing the prayers are worth something.

Courtesy of PNAS.org and researchers

Supernatural

Recently I was asked how to talk to an atheist. My suggestion: ask them how to explain how different groups of people, even within the same culture, operate and adhere more strictly to different ethics and so their behavior is more loving, more just than others. Explain how different societies have throughout history have persevered even under persecution, slavery, holocausts, etc without relinquishing their identity. Explain how family members behave differently with regard to those around them—loving their neighbors and their enemies. How do you explain some of this even though the genetics, the environment, the nourishment, the nurturing is similar if not equivalent?

It’s not natural. It seems to be supernatural. Even Niall Ferguson in his book Civilization: the West and the Rest hints at some religious, supernatural inner drive of certain cultures that had shared values—shared Spirit?—seemed to thrive more than others.

Secondary Thoughts on the Good News of Christ

[John the Baptist’s disciples asked,] “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting...?” Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him...the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” (Matthew 11) If anyone questions that the saving belief is that it’s in Christ, His crucifixion and His resurrection—typically what we call the Gospel or Good News—you may have to look at when Christ said people were saved...and because of John 3.16 (and other passages like John 5.24)–‘everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life’—we can equate belief with salvation. Christ preached a Good News about the Kingdom of God (Luke 4.43; Matthew 4.23).

“...I would give you living water...” said to the Samaritan woman early in His ministry.
“...true worshipers will worship Him in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” also said to the Samaritan woman.
‘So He stayed for two days, long enough for many [in the Samaritan village] more to hear His message and believe’ (John 4)
‘Then the father [of a sick boy] realized that that was the very time Jesus had him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.’ (John 4)
“Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life...” (John 5)
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me!” (John 5)
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs...God blesses those whose hearts are pure for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5 Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount)
“Unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5)
“Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you...you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5; Luke 6)
“If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive you” (Matthew 6)
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate...” (Matthew 7) “I am the gate. Those who come in through Me will be saved.” (John 10)
“Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7; Cf Luke 6:46)
 “...many Gentiles will come from all over the world...and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 8)
“For if the miracles I did for you [Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum] had been done in [Tyre, Sidon, Sodom] they would have repented...it would still be here today. I tell you [they] will be better off on judgment day than you.” (Matthew 11)
“Take My yoke [my teachings] upon you. Let Me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11)
And Jesus said to the woman [who had washed his feet with tears and put perfume on them], “Your sins are forgiven...Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7)
“The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” (Matthew 12)
“Anyone who does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3)
“You [disciples] are permitted to understand the secret [mystery] of the Kingdom of God...the seed [God’s word] that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty or even a hundred times as much as had been planted.” (Mark 4)

So what picture of Christ’s Gospel is forming from His teachings?

Preliminary Thoughts on the Good News of God

I had set a challenge for myself to see if I could figure out what the Good News was that Christ preached. It couldn’t be: believe in Him, crucified and risen and inherit eternal life. People were believing without the event of the crucifixion having taken place. So what was the Gospel of God?

Let me start by saying what the Gospel of Man might be: work hard and you’ll succeed (the American Way) or be born into the right circumstances and you’ll succeed; you’ll know if you have God’s favor by evaluating your circumstances—if you’re poor, you and/or your forefathers were sinners... Life is a struggle and you’re lucky if you attain anything at the peak of Maslow’s Hierarchy

The Good News Christ preached seems to turn this on its head. John the Baptist challenges us to prove that we have repented by how we live—feed the hungry, clothe the naked/poor (in other words, serve and look beyond your own needs at the bottom of the pyramid). And then John promises a baptism of the Holy Spirit and water. Christ too tells Nicodemus that we need to be born of the Holy Spirit and that’s how we get spiritual life, eternal life. We can only do this coming near God’s Light in order to expose and expunge our sins. To the Samaritan woman, Christ tells her that God promises living water flowing within us, providing eternal life. And that nourishment (the bottom of the hierarchy) comes from doing the will of the Father. This is an echo of His rebuke of Satan in the wilderness that life comes from the word of God, and not from bread. And another echo is that we should worship and serve (top of the hierarchy) only God and not ourselves, our reputations (esteem). It’s this message that has the others in the Samaritan village acknowledging that this man from Nazareth is the Savior of the world.

In an early synagogue experience, Christ reads from the Isaiah scroll how the time of the Lord’s favor has come. For several chapters God outlines how Israel’s fortune will be reversed at the time of the Redeemer. The Light will break forth over the land. The time of separation from God, because of the people’s sins, has ended. All the people will be righteous. The land will be possessed forever.

So this is the start of the Gospel of God: the Holy Spirit has been released upon the people. Light is shining through the people of Israel. The kingdom of God is here. Miracles are happening—Christ’s disciples are performing miracles as well as others outside the circle of disciples (Mark 9.38-39). Blessed are the poor...Do not worry or be anxious because your Father in heaven loves you...only seek the kingdom...focus on love and service and all else will take care of itself.

These are preliminary thoughts but they are freeing, grace-filled, heart-warming thoughts that we can have access to the Father, not by what we do beforehand but by humbly, contritely approaching Him and asking for His grace and mercy.

The next thoughts are: how else did Christ describe the Good News? (He does tell Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up and belief in Him will bring eternal life.) What did the early church preach as the Good News—a transition between access to the Holy Spirit towards Christ and Him crucified (Paul in 1 Corinthians)? So I may be looking into the early sermons found in the Acts.