The yeast of Kingdom come on earth

The perceived teaching of the Bible on the woman's and other issues are red flags to our culture, but it's widely misunderstood. We are only now beginning to understand the ancient texts in context. One huge misunderstanding is that not every admonition is for all times, and all circumstances. Moral commands don't change, cultural ones might. If Paul's command concerning men's hair was for all time, how come the Nazarite vow required men to let their hair grow? There are many examples, do women need to wear hats in church (1 Corinthians 11:14, 6; Numbers 6:5)?

The primary mandate of the disciple is to cooperate with God in bringing in the Kingdom of God (Mathew 28:19, 20). Kingdom come is revolutionary,  and if we don't see this, we have misunderstood Scripture. Cunningham and Hamilton's “Why Not Women?” is helpful with respect to women's issues. Kingdom come is revolutionary, but it doesn't promote violent revolution. Jesus told that the one who lives by the sword shall die by the sword (Matthew 26:52). In other words violence promotes violence.

Kingdom principles and practices are very different from the World's. The picture is of yeast working its way through the lump (Matthew 13:33). Kingdom yeast does not address the problems head on, and change comes only gradually as hearts are changed. Consider slavery. It would be easy to make a (false) case that the Bible endorses it.  But if we love our neighbour as ourselves, we'll set slaves free wherever possible (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31). The yeast of the abolition of slavery is contained in this commandment.

William Wilberforce worked the yeast of the Kingdom for the abolition of slavery through his speeches in Britain's Parliament. It was a life long battle. Similarly it was the yeast of the Kingdom working though the suffragettes a hundred years ago, that lead peacefully to a women's right to vote.  “Kingdom come” reforms things, rather than tearing them down.  When things are not done in a Kingdom way however, things inevitably finish up going overboard.  Far too often in the World, the oppressed become the oppressor. Surely Wilberforce's way, was preferable to the carnage of America's abolitionist war. And it's still not settled today! Violence promotes violence, and hatred promotes hatred. And this is exactly what we have in the West in the tyranny of radical race ideology, and in the extremes of the women's movement. There is  much hatred of men in general, and masculinity in and of itself is said to be toxic. To be sure violence against women and gays is still very much a problem, and yes there are inequities in all these arenas, but if we don't follow Kingdom principles in reformation, things will always go too far.

The Kingdom is all about changing and winning hearts, and bringing peace. A key principle, if not the key principle, is forgiveness.  And if there is to be peace, the victim has to be the better person. It's a hard lesson to hear when you've been abused, but while we are not responsible for the wrong done against us, we are responsible for our response to the wrong done. Even harder to hear is that if we don't forgive, neither will we be forgiven (Matthew 6:14). But as King David came to realize, the one we have all offended and sinned against the most, is God (Psalm 51:4).

Father, we pray Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us grace to do our part Lord, in Jesus Name Amen