Who is the highest in the kingdom of God?

One of the great tricks of the devil against the 12 disciples of the lord was the status competition that he created among them. That is why the disciples of the lord keep asking Jesus who is the highest in the Kingdom of God and some even request the highest position in the kingdom of heaven, so they can sit in the right and left side of the lord.

Those things pained the lord the most. Jesus told them, the devil asked to scatter you like the wind but I prayed for your sake. So it was wise of Paul to say “I don’t know about myself, but lord knows” rather than competing with his less in-status brother. Paul was clear in the fact that if you are given something, it is not wise to brag about it like you are not given. In the kingdom of heaven, you don’t compete for the higher seat; you compete for the highest work and sacrifice. You don’t compete for the highest rank, but you will compete to die on the cross first. Look to heaven and who is the highest of children of God, Jesus is. Yet, Jesus came to die for us and did not ask any other angel to die for us. That is the way of heaven. In the kingdom of heaven, those who want to rise above everyone need to serve the most. In heaven you don’t brag the most, you work and sacrifice the most. Jesus did that and now he is above all names in this and the coming life.

 

Since we are ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven on earth. We don’t operate by the rule of earth but by the rule of heaven. So, even on earth, if you are the best, you have to work the best. If you have better spiritual growth, you work with it to produce better fruit. You don’t compete in a war of words like little rappers. Angel Michael is not rapping 24/7 about his status in heaven, he is working 24/7 more than everyone because he is crated better than most. Jesus is the best among us, children of God, and Jesus is working more than anyone else. Let us focus on the work than on who is superior. Because we all agree those who want to be superiors are superior to us. Now let us work.

A brother in hate is in darkness and does not know where he is going. You need to kill any hate that you have against your brothers and sisters, and then focus on the work. Imagine you are the best, and you have the least brother. He is not at your level, yet he is trying his best. Is it sin because he is not as holy as you are, as perfect as you are, as knowledgeable as you are, and as spiritually grown as you are? You need to carry his cross because he is weak and you are mighty in lord. You don’t insult him, you help him. You are mature in spirit, he is an infant in spirit. Sometimes you may be angry to tell him “Stop your childish ways”, but that is not to impose your superiority over him, but to raise him to Jesus’s level. When Paul reproached people for their low spiritual growth, it was not to brag about it but to raise them to a higher status in the kingdom of heaven.  

 

If an inexperienced and undereducated layman is trying to rebuild the temple of the lord with his underdeveloped capability, you have to take the burden to your shoulders because you are a certified engineer with the necessary education and experience rather than insulting him for his poor skills. In heaven you don’t compete for status, you compete to outwork your brothers in arms. Paul did not spend 24/7 showing his Jesus-given certificate. He was running from city to city, from synagogue to synagogue, and from meeting to meeting to save lost souls to the kingdom of heaven. The goal of Paul was to found the faith among the gentiles. We have another problem, the temple of the lord, which is purchased by the blood of Jesus, is becoming a den of thieves and the cave of hate. This is not acceptable to the lord who purchased us by his blood. It is not acceptable to us, as we are given heaven; yet they are bartering it for earth. It is not acceptable for those who sin, because they are called for heaven to be lost on earth. We have to rebuild it for all of us. I mean all of us, the holy like you and the sinners like us. If they fall, we understand because we have been there. We are trying to show them the way up, we are not here to insult spiritually grown people like you. Jesus is tested to know our weaknesses, and we have been failures to help those who fail. If there is a second chance for us, how much second chance will the lord give to them? They sought the lord since childhood and they failed along the way. We were worthless of all and we still failed on the road, due to the mercy of the lord, we, the least worthy, are given a second chance. It is not the will of the lord that the sinner should die but that he leaves his sins behind. If a sinner repents, he is no sinner no more; if a holy one sins, he is not holy no more. If the lord can forgive the fall of the most worthless being, how much forgiveness will the lord have for others? This is our message of redemption. 

 

Historically the faithful were holy, yet the world hated them for the sake of Jesus, anyway. Since they could not find faults in their life, they had to make funny fairytales to accuse them, therefore. We grew up with those fairytales and we were among those who pointed fingers as a child. In this age, however, our sin is in TV, and now any fool can mock us without using made-up stories. We did fall from grace. The temple of the lord is burned down not by Babylon or Rome, but by us. Rebuilding it is our priority. In this work, both, those superior in spirit, like you, and those less endowed in spirit, like us, are working side by side as an army of God. In this process, what is the reason for competition and rivalry than work? Why are we fighting who is superior, as we all agree you are superior?

 

In this process, if a person of lower spiritual status, and lower spiritual growth is running hard to do something good. What is wrong with that? Is it not good that he is at least trying? It is written that when the temple of the lord is owned by sin; those who cry about it are holy. Crying about the temple of the lord by itself is holy. If this crying inferior can use whatever he had to correct it, it is also holy. In the kingdom of heaven, intention is more important than actual work. If you covet a married woman, you commit adultery. By the same logic, if you do your best for the kingdom of God, your intention is worth everything in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, God does not say those who are given 1, sit; and those who are given 10, work. God expects to profit from every one. From your 10, God expects 10 more, and from those who are given 1, God expects 1 more. So you, the superior, and the other, the inferior, in spirit have to work side by side for the profit of the lord. He is your fellow slave of the lord, who is trying to make a profit for the lord. How could this be a problem for you? Are you the Pope, sitting in the chair of Paul, to demand sole authority of the faith? Otherwise, we agree you are superior. Now let us focus on the work of the lord. We are not here to call the saints but to call those who fall from grace to redemption.

 

How could this be a problem to you unless you are under the dark cloud of hate? A person in hate is in the middle of darkness and cannot see his way forward. If you are better, work better. Go and rebuild the temple better. You, with your higher spiritual growth, with your exceptional knowledge, with your better language skills, and with your better understanding of the lord, why do you fight with the one who is least among you than on the work of the lord? If you are the heavy machinery engaged in rebuilding the temple of the lord, as you have more of the Holy Spirit, and if your spiritual growth, knowledge, experience, and language skills can witness to that, why do you waste your energy in fighting the least capable among you than in the actual work? Unless fighting with the coworkers and, eating and drinking with the rebels is your main work?   

 

See you are given 10, you work to make it 20. Why do you get angry, when the one who is given 1 tries to make it 2? Why is this problem for you? As Abraham said to his nephew, the land is enough for both of us. Take left, and let him take right. If you take north, let him take south. Yet, how can you question him because he tries to make a profit for the lord? Do you want him to go to hell? Do you hate him this much? Everyone has to work for the lord, the less like us, and the giant like you, because the lord will ask us for his profit. We are sorry if we offended you in trying to save ourselves. We prefer to offend you, by working for the lord, because the alternative is hell.

If you must fight with your brother, there must be a reason. You may have reason to believe he is the devil's own. As it is written if there are who claim to be disciples of the lord, when they are not, make sure to stand against them. It is expected from you. But be clear about it; say to them you are not Jesus own, as plain and as simple as that. If they are spreading heresy, stand and fight them in their heresy. Focus on it and fight it. Identify the heresy and rebuke them. To go around the jungle, however, and to express your hate against your brother by ranking yourself above everyone, in terms of the spiritual growth process, is unbecoming of a person of your higher spiritually grown status. Maybe you need to humble yourself in front of the lord and everyone, because even Paul cannot be sure about himself in the kingdom of heaven. Don’t go beyond what is written.

 

If anyone thinks he knows, he has to know that he does not know as much as he needs to know. Knowledge makes one arrogant, but love builds. We know partially, and our partial knowledge will be replaced by full knowledge, yet love stays forever. Love is more important than knowledge. When you correct brothers and sisters do it in love, by love, and toward the love of the lord. For older people, you need to correct them like your father and mother, and for younger people, you need to correct them like brothers and sisters. Whatever you do, do it in love.

 

If you think they are working for the devil, take the full armor of God. Put a belt of truth, a shoe of the gospel of peace, a breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, a helmet of salvation, a shield of faith, and a sword of the word of God. You don’t fight by your social science ideas and conspiracy theory; you fight by word of God; not against man but against powers of the dark. You say to the devil, it is written you are a liar. You don’t say according to my social science, I group you into 5, and according to my conspiracy theory, this is truth. That is not of the kingdom of heaven, it is the sociology department at best, and the playground of the less educated at worst.

Because you are distant from real social science, it may seem like knowledge to you; it is because you are not educated enough in science. A divinity degree is good for the bible but not for science. I advise you to join social science to learn more, because you seem to enjoy grouping things into groups of 5 then 4 then 3. You seem to connect dots but you don’t know that science is more than connecting dots. My advice as a brother is that you need to learn some science if your interest is in categorical-imperative.

 

Yet if you want biblical knowledge, I advise you to learn from Jesus. I don’t believe a degree is necessary, it is useful but not necessary. It is not written “they will learn in divinity college”, what is written is “they will be learned from God”. It is not written, that scholars of divinity will teach you right from wrong, it is written that “I will put my law in your heart” and “When you lose your way, you will listen to a voice telling you to turn back”. I know a divinity degree is a big thing for you, but the word of God is bigger. Education is important, but learning from God is more important. The reason why you brag too much for a divinity degree is because you don’t know much about science. Yet I am sure you have a good heart, and I have no doubt you are a child of God. In a matter of faith, let us work side by side, you with your 10 and us with our 1. In a matter of science, our door is open to teach you basic science, and there is no age limit. I advise you to learn more.

 

We did not spend a life of holiness to brag about heaven, but we spent decades of our age with countless books to identify scientific knowledge in the middle of ignorance. Now we have God, so which mountain is hard for us? We are slaves of the truth because Jesus is the truth. Learn from Jesus, he is the wisdom of God. The limit of wisdom is Jesus and children of God will learn from God is written. Consider everything you know worthless, learn from the lord. He is the real teacher. Like Paul leave your divinity degree and social science joke behind, sit in the foot of the lord, and learn from the lord. Don’t drink from the rivers of Babylon but from the pure water of heaven. Be learned from God.