Kingdom People

On April 23, 1985 Coca Cola made one of the biggest marketing blunders in history by stopping production on their original formula and putting a product called “New Coke” on the shelves.

This move was brought on by the rapidly shrinking market share that the soft drink had. In the late 70’s Pepsi began their Pepsi Challenge Campaign and for the first time outsold Coke in supermarkets.

Coke’s market share dropped from 60 percent just after World War II to under 24 percent in 1983. So Coke execs made a huge change for their company by changing the formula to sweeten the beverage in order to compete with Pepsi.

The project failed miserably as Coke consumers rejected the new product, signed petitions and even filed a class action lawsuit demanding that Coke sell the original formula if they were not going to produce it anymore. On July 10, less than three months later, the original formula went back on the shelves as Coca Cola Classic.

The problem was not necessarily the product inside the can, which tasted a lot like Pepsi, but the name on the outside of the can. For 100 years people associated that name with a particular taste and they were not willing to accept anything else. To them, what was on the inside of the can didn’t match what was on the outside of the can.

For over 2000 years Christian people have been trying to live a Christ like life. It’s is so important that what we say as Christians matches what we do. In other words what is on the inside must match what is on the outside. We should live today as if we were living in the Kingdom of God because we are. If you are a believer in Christ and have entered into a relationship you are a “Kingdom Person.” Real quickly let’s look at Kingdom People.

What do Kingdom People do?
They are on mission with God. Notice that we are not on mission with God or on mission for God. We are on mission with God. He will send us but he will also go ahead of us. What is the mission?
John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Our mission is to tell the world about Jesus. We should always be ready to proclaim Christ. Acts 8:26-39 tells the story of Peter being willing to follow the Lord’s direction and go where he was told. He was also willing to proclaim Christ when the opportunity came.

How do Kingdom People live?
Obviously there are different principles for living in God’s Kingdom and living in the world. The teachings of Jesus are filled with principles for living in His kingdom. A great example of this is Matthew 18:23-35. If we would actually live what we read in the Bible we would be living like Kingdom People.

How do Kingdom People relate?

The word Koinonia means the fullest partnership and fellowship with God and other believers. That is how we are to relate to others. Understand that we are in partnership with other believers on this mission with God and we should fellowship with all people with God’s grace and mercy leading us. We should approach our relationships to other people with the same attitude that God has, Koinonia.

1 John 2:9-11
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.