Preach God’s Kingdom with the Right Viewpoint

What examples do we have to encourage us to preach God’s kingdom with the right viewpoint?

Our chief Exemplar, of course, is Jesus Christ, God’s Son. He appreciated that preaching God’s kingdom was the greatest privilege that could be extended to anyone. That is why he said: “I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth.” And he continued faithful regardless of what others did or failed to do.​—Luke 4:43; 8:1; Mark 1:38.

Jesus’ right viewpoint included having a close personal relationship with his heavenly Father. He found delight in preaching God’s kingdom because it provided him with opportunities to prove his unbreakable love for God, thereby furnishing his Father a reply to Satan’s taunt that humans will not serve him out of love for him.​—Job, chapters 1 and 2; Ps. 40:8; Prov. 27:11.

Jesus’ apostles likewise had the right viewpoint of Kingdom preaching. ‘They left all things and kept following Jesus’ to share in that work. ‘Without letup every day, in the temple and from house to house they continued teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ.’​—Mark 10:28; Acts 5:42.

In the apostle Paul we have another fine example of preaching God’s kingdom with the right viewpoint. He had much of which to boast after the flesh, but he gave it all up to preach God’s kingdom. What a record he made, as he tells it at 2 Corinthians 11:22-33 and at Philippians 3:4-8. Even when in prison he kindly received “all those who came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God to them and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with the greatest freeness of speech, without hindrance.”​—Acts 28:30, 31.a

In modern times, among the many examples that might be cited is that of the young American couple that had settled down in a fine home and were planning to raise a family. Then one day the husband came home and said to his wife: ‘Just what difference is there between us and the people of Christendom? We are contenting ourselves with mere token service when there is nothing to keep us from being in the full-time ministry. Let’s quit our secular jobs, sell our home and enter the full-time pioneer ministry.’ His wife gulped, for she had been looking forward to the joys of motherhood, to bearing and rearing a number of children. But she went to Jehovah in prayer and asked his help. And he did help her. So they entered the pioneer ministry and in a few years were invited to attend the Gilead missionary school. For some years now they have been very joyful serving as missionaries in a South American country.

How will having the right viewpoint help us to preach God’s kingdom?

The right viewpoint will help us to preach God’s kingdom because it means appreciating that God’s kingdom must come first in our lives. It will keep us from becoming lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God and it will help us to buy out the opportune time for preaching God’s kingdom. It will help us to turn off the television set in time to get a good night’s rest, especially on Saturday night.​—Matt. 6:33; Eph. 5:15, 16.

This right viewpoint will also help us because it includes appreciating that we are dedicated to a person, Jehovah God, and not just to a work. So regardless of how many doors are slammed in our faces we will be able to continue faithful, knowing that our work is successful so long as we are pleasing to God and contributing to the vindication of his name.

We will also be diligent to improve our skill in presenting the Kingdom message, to improve our tact in dealing with objectors, if we have the right viewpoint of preaching God’s kingdom. It will even motivate us to improve our voices if they are unpleasant to listen to. (Helpful along this line being an article recently published in Awake! December 22, 1970.) We may never have given it any thought, but really, whether we have a pleasing voice or not may make the difference between whether the householder behind the door opens it to us or not. Especially is a good tone of voice an asset to the public preacher of God’s kingdom.

In all such ways and many more, having the right viewpoint can help us in preaching God’s kingdom.

[Footnotes]