The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-10

Fit For the Kingdom Of God Luke {:
TX, 62). /
| ooOs-.-.-.-s-s-.s-s-s-s
| to be the Kingdom in the sense Of
being the kings and priests of that
Kingdom-the royalty of that King
dom-the reigning family-the Queen.
the Lambs Wife, associated with the
Heavenly Bridegroom. King of kings
and Lord of lords, in his rule Of
thousand years.
Not Fit For the Kingdom.
| We now have before our minds the
two ways in which the expression,
Kingdom of God. is used and we can
readily see that our Lord could not
refer to the Millennial Kingdom and
say that any would be too degraded to
be fit for the influences of his Millen-
NAL Kingdom. because that Kingdom
is designed for the very purpose of
dealing with the unfit and gradually.
during the thousand years of its reign
of righteousness uplifting men out of
sin and death conditions, if they will,
to the full human perfection which
Adam lost. which Jesus redeemed, and
which is to be restored to the willing
and obedient, us ST. Peter declares
(Acts iii. 1920. 1t follows. then, that
our Lord must have referred to those
| called of the Father and accepted by
himself to be chiseled and polished
/ to be taught in the School of Christ
and eventually to become his Bride
and joint-heir in the Millennial King
dom. No man will be esteemed fit for
| share in that Millennial Kingdom.
unless he attains 10 the glorious quail
ties of character. saintship. which the
Scriptures set forth as the Divine
| standardA"Copies of Gods dear Son"
(Romans viii, 29y.
Fit for the Kingdomw Let us think
for a moment what these words signi-
fy First of all we recognize that, as
sinners. we were most thoroughly
unit for any favor of God. much less
this greatest of all favors. joint-heir-
ship with his Son and 'partakers of
the Divine nature" I'll Peter j. A.. But
that difficulty has all been overcome
with those who have come unto God
through Christ and been made partak-
ers Of his holy Spirit of adoption. OF
such we read. 1T is God that justi-
fieth. Who is be that condemneth"
Romans viii. 1884. 1t is Christ that
died for our sins and who now is our
Advocate. Who could in any wise
come between us and our Savior and
our Heavenly Father?
| But this justification is not enough.
/ If we were perfect actually instead Of
merely reckonedly we would not be tit
! for the Kingdom of GOd-We would
not be fit to govern others-to be
"kings and priests unto God and to
| reign on the earth titeveiation Xxx, IN.
We should still be unfit to be the
| judges of the world as the Scriptures
declare that we shall be, saying.
! know We not that the saints shall
judge the world Il Corinthians vi, ~.
/ Our Heavenly Father in bringing
many sons unto glory made the Cap
tain of their salvation Jesus) perfect
through sufferings. Should we think
| it strange that we, his younger breth-
rem, justified through his blood. should
J Uc iIOt iutltly w IlihC piO-
| fession OF Goodness. holiness. but also
| to approve or attest that sentiment to
! be a part of our very character! is
| not what we as the Church of Christ
! experience very reasonable indeed
who would be prepared to teach the
world meekness. patience. brotherly-
kindness. long-suffering. love. without
of nj 1nynlnnpc fhaSn yo,.
| qualities of character in himself? And
! how could he develop these and be
| tested except under just such schooling
and disciplining influences as now are
upon the Church of Christ. with a
view to making us fit for the glorious
position of our high calling of God in
Christ Jesus?
When the Scriptures refer to the
| Church as being tit for the Kingdom
and as being the 'overcomers" for
whom the Kingdom is prepared. and
who shall share it's glOrieS and honorS,
| because they are worthy" Revelation
iii. A.. we are to understand this wor
thiness and fitness. not that they were
! originally so, but that by Gods grace.
! through Christ, Il transformation work
will eventually bring some to this glori-
Gus position where God himself will es-
| TEEN them tGOrthy to be called his chill
dren. and to be joint-heirs with his
Son, the Great King.
Various Kinds of Fitness.
There is one certain standard of Gt-
ness for the Kingdom and none other
will do; but there may be quite va
! riety Of conditions which make one an
/ fit for the Kingdom. One of these is
murder. "No murderer hath eternal
I life abiding in him" Il John iii. 15,
! He would be unfit for the Kingdom.
! This would not signify. however. that
one who had once been a murderer
might not. by sound conversion and
| by faithfulness in the School of Christ.
| become a member Of the Kingdom
| class. But the word murder here used
! has a broader meaning than is gener
/ ally attached to 1.-THE meaning which
! st. John gave to the word when he
! said that whatsoever hateth his brother