Written by: Gordon Claasen
Article source: JOY! Magazine

The submission of our kingdom values to the national systems of our country must be heavily reconsidered in the body of Christ. To surrender our kingdom mentality and values to the system of the country where God has placed us is not biblical. If the culture of our heavenly kingdom is not stronger than our South African identity, we are going to cause delays in the Body of Christ.

God’s culture, not our world’s
The church must embrace our heavenly citizenship. We must accept that we are born from above. Our citizenship is in heaven and not in South Africa, America, Congo, and so forth… We must deny certain areas of our culture if they come into conflict / contradict our heavenly culture and citizenship. Our earthly culture must submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The culture of heaven is above the history of South Africa.

Our nation needs healing
In the historical context of South Africa, many people were a victim of apartheid and some think that they have the right to have a victim mentality today. Others feel guilty because of apartheid because they belong to a certain race. If you feel that you are a victim of apartheid, then you need healing. If you feel guilty for what happened during apartheid, then you need healing. Our heavenly kingdom is a place of healing.

Sick people cannot build God’s kingdom
If you carry a victim or guilt mentality, you cannot build God’s kingdom. If we want to participate in the building process of God’s kingdom, then we must first accept and embrace our identity as a Son of God, before we see ourselves as black or white. There is no black or white in God’s kingdom, there are no South Africans or Americans. In His kingdom, there is no first world country and no third world country. We are governed by the same principles. We also don’t have a ‘multiracial’ or ‘non-racial’ church. We only have the Body of Christ. Our kingdom is a place of healing and deliverance, and we need to demonstrate this healing and reconciliation to the world.

The light of the world
If we are slow to embrace our kingdom identity, then we are going to delay the process to become mature sons in the kingdom of God. We must vow that we shall never surrender our kingdom values and mentalities to our national and local systems. If you accept your kingdom citizenship, then race will never be a discussion in the church. God is giving the church in South Africa a great opportunity to demonstrate how we can harmoniously co-exist. The nations around are looking for a model that they can follow and copy…

…this series will be continued in the next issue of JOY! Magazine 

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Date published: 24/09/2022

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