What is the kingdom of heaven like? Which metaphor describes it?

Is it a tower reaching to God?  Is it built out of man-made bricks like:

• Believing the right things to please God
• Doing the right things to please God
• Worship services, where believers look to the stage or vaulted domes to see God
• Defending the cause of God's righteousness for him by criticizing sinners
• Building a membership of those that behave a certain way to build God's kingdom

The Tower of Babel.  Are we repeating a classic mistake when we bring our offerings to God to build his kingdom?

Or is it a blossoming tree springing out from the source, the trunk, which is God himself, with branches like:

• God's truth, revealed by the Holy Spirit
• God's goodness, reflected in the lives of those that follow him
• Communities of believers that look to each other to see how they can nourish each other, as extensions of the arms of God
• Defending the cause of the powerless by fighting injustice
• Inviting and welcoming a collection of people who bring differences, variety, talents and ideas into God's kingdom

The Inverted Tower: the branches springing out from the source.  Are we building the same kingdom that God is?

Are WE building God's kingdom for him, out of man-made stuff?  Or is God building the kingdom out of his own passion for humankind?  Who is this kingdom for anyway, for God?  Or, for us? Is it God's gift to man, or man's gift to God?  


Something to consider, because if we think the kingdom is the tower, made by man, for God, we are probably building it upside down.


by Brad Duncan