For me, one of the most profound and exhilarating statements presented in Douglas Layton’s book, Our Father’s Kingdom, is found in the introduction where Mr. Layton frankly states,

“While righteousness in a nation undoubtedly begins with the commitment of individuals to Christ, more souls and more churches alone will not make it holy.  Godliness comes when a nation’s Christians make it their all—consuming passion to see God’s glory reflected in every domain of the land, its arts, sciences, media, government, schools, businesses, families – in every domain.  Unless they do, their salvation will benefit only them personally, and Christ’s laws and principles will not guide their nation as He intended them to do.”

Wow!  This bold statement so identifies with the Spirit of God in me that I can’t help but seriously think that this is actually the real reason why we do not see more of God’s kingdom truly reflected in every domain of our country as mentioned by Mr. Layton.  Personally, I believe this is precisely the reason our nation continues to slide farther and farther away from our Judeo Christian heritage and values in everyday marketplace life.  Unfortunately for our nation which was founded on the principles and values of the Bible, I think we have forgotten how to teach people to practically live the principles and values of our Father’s kingdom in their respective domains of influence outside of our churches and our families.  As a result, far too many Christians lack the practical knowledge and Holy Spirit inspired boldness to bring the values and principles of our Father’s kingdom to their spheres of influence in a way that facilitates real transformational change in our societal domains.

So then how do we practically do this? Personally, I believe that the only way we can effectively do this is if genuine Christ followers make an intentional effort to focus on the entirety of Jesus’ commandment in His Great Commission of His Church as stated in Matthew 28:18-20. “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we objectively measure our effectiveness in fulfilling the entirety of the Great Commission as commanded by Him, we are without doubt effectively building churches that are adding souls to the Body of Christ and even building more churches to do so in the kingdom; however, by the condition of our society in America, it just doesn’t seem to me that we are being as effective as we need to be in teaching disciples how to observe all things that the Lord commands us in the different societal domains of our nation.  If we were effective in doing this, I believe that our news stations would be different, our movies and films would be different, our government would be different, our businesses would be different, our schools would be different; but sadly, all too significantly often, these domains of influence in our nation are not different and they do not reflect the values and principles of our Father’s kingdom.

In his book, Mr. Layton brings further clarity to our Father’s kingdom mandate, stating, “When we speak of ‘winning a nation’ or ‘turning our nation back to God,’ we are really speaking about bringing God’s influence, laws, principles, and kingdom authority into each of these spheres. Anything less is less than what God commanded His church to do.”  So if this is what it means to win a nation for the kingdom of God, then who is strategically thinking about how to equip the saints of God to effectively bring God’s influence, laws, principles, and kingdom authority to each respective domain of societal influence? In order for the values, laws, and principles of the kingdom of God to have any real transforming influence in any societal or cultural domain, the Lord’s kingdom values must be practically lived by the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of God in the context of each respective domain.  To me, this means that spiritual leaders especially anointed by God in each respective domain have a spiritual leadership responsibility in the kingdom of God to live the values of our Father’s kingdom in their respective domain and simply teach others to do the same. Therefore, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we effectively equip, engage, empower, and encourage spiritual leaders to do this in their respective domains, I believe our nation will experience real transformational change in every domain of our land.  In fact, Mr. Layton profoundly states in his book that “When the Church is doing its job, the society around it will eventually reflect God’s laws and principles as well.”

Consequently, Christ followers working in the business domain are not absolved from this foremost spiritual leadership responsibility to reflect Christ in the marketplace. What an extraordinary spiritual reality for business leaders called by God and anointed by Him to lead in the business domain! But God doesn’t stop there, because the Great Commission doesn’t stop there. The spiritual reality of our Father’s kingdom is that He wants to raise-up influential godly spiritual leaders in every sphere of domain influence in our nation and the nations of the world.  Personally, this gets me very excited because it affirms that God has a full-time God-ordained spiritual leadership purpose, destiny, and kingdom responsibility for all marketplace leaders who love Christ and are called by Him to build the kingdom of God in their respective spheres of influence.  With that said, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and a minister of the Gospel, you can count me ALL IN, by His Grace, for helping marketplace leaders to make it happen in Christ!

Question: As a Christ-follower in the marketplace, do you feel engaged, equipped, empowered, and encouraged to reflect the values and principles of God’s kingdom in the marketplace?

Our Father’s Kingdom Copyright 2011, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Our Father’s Kingdom, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.