In His days on earth, Jesus proved Himself to be an underdog booster, a power breaker, a prayer broker, a religion buster. These qualities of Jesus - his love for the underdog, his upside-down view of power, his commitment to intimacy with the Father through prayer, and his fresh take on religion - are absolutely worth emulating and imitating. If we are on a transformative journey to Christlikeness, those are some aspects of Christ that are worth incorporating into our lives in bigger, better ways.

What else about Jesus? He was a kingdom builder. Not earthly kingdoms characterized by military dominance, or swallowing territory, or political influence. He came to build His Father's Kingdom. That priority permeated the values that Christ so generously displayed. That Kingdom would not look, feel or behave like other kingdoms. Its initial domain is the human heart, where Jesus obviously hopes for His values to find a host environment. This word values is a great word, the meaning of which can be lost by casual usage. Our values are the way in which we would measure and then order the importance of things or people in our lives. As for values, what was important to Jesus? His Father, people and bringing His Father and people together. As far as principles or behaviors, Jesus valued love, truth, grace, obedience, mercy, forgiveness, justice, humility, authentic faith. Jesus valued joy and deep peace. He valued generosity and even sacrifice.

Here's the hope - that His values, which are really only a reflection of His Father's values, would be born in us.

In Luke 17:20, Jesus is asked about the outward, observable signs of the coming Kingdom of God. His answer? "It doesn't come with your careful observation, as if you can say 'here it is' or 'there it is'. The Kingdom of God is within you." First and foremost, the Kingdom of God finds dominion, or a host domain, when we open our hearts to God. God inhabits His domain, God refurbishes His domain. Our heart loyalties are to God. Our heart priorities shift toward God things; God values. Our life ordering goes through a metamorphosis because the Kingdom of God is within.

But the Kingdom is also without. Jesus didn't always answer kingdom questions the same way. He also talks about the Kingdom as a narrow door and a hard way. He tells stories about great feasting in a heavenly Kingdom and about the great weeping and wailing for those who are invited to the feast but refuse the invitation. He talks about a day when he'll usher in a new Kingdom reality. It won't be a quiet entry like his first one. He'll be arriving with huge fanfare, and ushering in a reality that will make life on earth look generic and tame (where do people get such silly, tame notions of heaven?). The coming Kingdom will come with great cataclysm and settle into an unfolding drama of brilliant images and thunderous sounds. No sleepy cupids on fluffy clouds anywhere in scripture. It will not be a Hallmark moment. Jesus makes this abundantly clear, as do other parts of the Bible, and Jesus is always mindful of heaven. To Jesus, this earthly realm and this little life is very temporary - meaningful, but temporary.

During his short life walking the planet (32 or 33 years), and especially during his very short public ministry (2 or 3 years) the preaching of the Kingdom drove His agenda. We like to think that the particular pains and crises of human existence drove Jesus' agenda, because we like to think that our dramas are so ultimately important and, frankly, because life does hurt. So we like to imagine that Jesus woke in the morning and fell asleep at night devising new ways to make our lives hurt less and be more comfortable and pain free. Yes, Jesus often healed and helped, both because he cares and because He wanted to put the power of the Father on display. But… The truth is, Jesus' agenda was driven by preaching stops. He wanted to get around from town to town, city to city, region to region, so that the message of the Kingdom could spread like seed and grow like wildflowers.

In Luke 4:42, Jesus has been preaching and healing people in Capernaum. One morning, he goes to "a solitary place," as is his custom, and the people are clamoring to find him. Imagine that many are desperate with need - physical, mental, spiritual. Poor. Blind. Lame. Lonely. Sick. Hungry. What does Jesus say and do? He says, "I must preach the Kingdom of God to other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And he leaves.

Jesus? Cold to human need?

No. Jesus hot about ultimate need. Passionate about the Kingdom, ultimate reality, eternal life. The big picture.

And that's what dominated His teaching. He saw "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom" (8:10) like seeds of life and wholeness and hope. He came to plant those seeds, to scatter those seeds to the wind, and to grow healthy people with Kingdom hearts raised up like fields and orchards and forests of healthy plants. He knew that some seeds would fall along the path, and that the truth would land on some people to no real effect. The enemy would intrude and snatch it away. He knew that for others, the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom would be received with great joy, but that it wouldn't take root. It would starve and whither away, in the face of testing and trials. For some people, the Jesus thing is just one more self-help program, and if the trials keep coming, they just move on to Dr. Phil or something. Jesus also knew that weeds and thorns would choke some of us. We're so entangled that Kingdom things never really mature. That, by the way, is the real problem with our ongoing sin. Sure, we hurt others. Sure, we hurt ourselves. Yes, we dishonor God. But since Christ's blood covers us and we're forgiven, the real issue is entanglement. Sin entangles us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Loved by God, forgiven and blessed with new life, we never take off, bloom and bear fruit. For some, the seed takes hold, and the plant grows up, and with fewer entanglements, life becomes fruitful. Like a little mustard seed that grows into a mature plant that ends up seeding other fields. Like a little bit of yeast that has a dynamic influence on its environment, people who grow up in Christ, and end up owning His values - Kingdom values - live fruitful lives of influence characterized by health and spiritual reproduction. More people open their hearts to the Kingdom.

Realize, these are the ultimate questions of the day. Does the Kingdom of God permeate our values? Do I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night thinking about things that are important to God? Are my values permeated with eternal things or temporal things? Treasures in heaven or treasures on earth? Godly principles and qualities or self-serving notions are constructs for how to live my life?

And between waking and sleeping, does the Kingdom of God drive my agenda? As I order my day and lay out my calendar and strategize for navigating life, what's driving the sense of priority? If I have a job at HP or West Valley College or as a homemaker, why does God have to be placed in that environment, to do the job at hand in an honorable way? Yes. Scripture validate that. To make a living for my family? Yes. Scripture validates that. To make even more money so I can be more generous! Yes. Scripture validates that. But is there more? Am I an emissary, or an ambassador for another Kingdom that's eternal and ultimately important? If I am, what does an emissary of God's Kingdom do and say? What kind of life do I model? What kind of stories do I tell?

Wherever I am, what kinds of messages am I trying to teach? With my words, actions, and attitudes, am I sowing good seed? Am I spreading the knowledge of the secrets of God's Kingdom in the family, the neighborhood, the school, the gym, the workplace? Am I sowing good seed. Or am I just trying to maintain my own little private Kingdom; protecting my crown jewels; my private agenda; my privately held value system. There is one Person, of course, that no wall or hedge or garage door can block out. There is one Person who is always watching, quietly hoping, tenderly pleading, for us to let go of the selfish notion that we're here to serve ourselves only. God wants to dethrone you and me, and to set us free from the senseless burden of ruling our protective, provincial domains. He wants to be King, not to whip us into submission but to free us from the oppression of serving an incompetent master - me. He wants to free us up to live in His Kingdom of love and light.

But in dethroning us, He will not usurp our sense of volition. He, to some degree, will always guard our freedom to choose Him or not, so that we will not be prisoners in the Kingdom but partakers and proud free citizens.