Category Archives: kingdom of God

Seeing past Uzziah

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seeing-past-uzziah“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne” Isaiah 6:1

 

Apparently, for some of my friends, King Uzziah died Tuesday night. For varying reasons, they had pinned high hopes on a Clinton victory and were thrown into the depths of despair when Donald Trump won.

For other friends, King Uzziah will ascend to the throne in January. They feel that they have a king (president) who will lead the country to economic and military greatness, while following the leading of religious leaders. (Read about Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26)

Either way, let me encourage to follow Isaiah’s example: make this a time to see the Lord. Don’t focus on political triumphs or defeats. Don’t lament over lost human leadership nor rejoice in one who seeks to make a kingdom of this world great. Focus on the Lord, high and holy on his throne. He’s got something for you to do.

 

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:8)

 

Where gospel presentations took a wrong turn

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Bible and heartYesterday’s post was motivated by a growing trend I see in Christians today: the avoidance of the concept of sin. Jesus didn’t come because of sin; he came because people were being oppressed. The kingdom isn’t about helping sinners find redemption; it’s only about allowing otherwise good people to join in a great cause.

I blame it on the typical pendulum swings that the church goes through. There was a time in the past when gospel preaching was all about convincing people that they were going to hell, then offering them a chance at salvation. (which was often presented as a chance; you MIGHT get to heaven if you do things right from now on) The gospel was all about baptism. What about the kingdom? Well, the church is the kingdom, baptism gets you into the church, so it’s still all about baptism.

Over time, people rightly came to reject this distortion of the good news. Now it’s all about the kingdom. We help usher the kingdom into this world, attract others to the kingdom by the way we live, and live kingdom-style from now on. Jesus died to conquer Satan’s kingdom and establish his own. People outside the kingdom aren’t lost because of sin in their lives; they are lost only in terms of not having yet found the kingdom. (Some go further, moving on to universalism; everyone will eventually become a part of this irresistible kingdom, either in this life or after death)

I’m glad we’re talking more about the kingdom. I think we need more emphasis on the king than on his kingdom, but it’s healthy that we’re recognizing that the gospel includes a vibrant kingdom. But I’m sorry we lost the concept of sin along the way. Frankly, we lost the holiness of God, which made us lose sin.

I think the good news of the kingdom includes the bad news that we are sinners in need of grace. We need to see that when men come before the throne of God they cry out “Holy!” and they cry out “Woe to me a sinner.” (Isaiah 6) They fall on their knees and recognize their unworthiness (Luke 5:8). No one who has seen the holiness of God says, “Well, I’m essentially a good person.” They look and see their humanness, their flesh, and don’t like what they see (Titus 3:3; Ephesians 2:3).

In our people-pleasing, politically-correct culture, we’re scared to call sin by its name. We’re scared to recognize that the greatest need of our world is the forgiveness of sin. We need justice. We need mercy. We need love for one another. But the biggest problem mankind has is the problem of sin. And the only answer for that problem is Jesus Christ.

If Jesus is not at the center of your explanation of the gospel, you got it wrong. If the King and his Kingdom aren’t the theme of your presentation, you got it wrong. If the cross isn’t the power behind the message you present, that message is being driven by bad theology.

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Would people say that about you after hearing you talk about the gospel?

Worldview and the Kingdom of God

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Transforming Worldviews book coverI’m really dragging out my discussion of Paul Hiebert’s Transforming Worldviews, so I’ll limit myself to one last post. There’s lots more to examine in this landmark work on Christianity and culture, but you’ll just have to read the rest for yourself.

Toward the end of the book, Hiebert discusses a biblical worldview. He recognizes that there are many different worldviews represented in the Bible, but insists that there are certain ideas that are central to who we are as Christians. One of the main ones has to do with the King and the Kingdom. Hiebert notes that it is the King that defines the Kingdom. There is danger in overemphasizing the Kingdom itself, rather than the King:

A weakness of this view is that it loses sight of how lost human beings are without Christ and the urgency of evangelism. Another is that the church becomes a political player in the arena of world politics. It is no longer a countercultural community on earth, a prophetic voice of the reign of God in the lives of his people. Christianity becomes a civil religion, used to justify democracy, capitalism, individual rights, and Western cultures. (Kindle location 5921)

Bingo. In a pendulum swing, the church has moved from focusing only on evangelism to totally neglecting it. We build houses, feed people, promote justice… but don’t tell people about the King. The Kingdom only exists because there is a King.

Newbigin observes, “An entity can be defined either in terms of its boundaries or in terms of its centre. The Church is an entity which is properly described by its centre. It is impossible to define exactly the boundaries of the Church, and the attempt to do so always ends up in an unevangelical legalism. But it is always possible and necessary to define the centre. The Church is its proper self, and is a sign of the Kingdom, only insofar as it continually points men and women beyond itself to Jesus and invites them to personal conversion and commitment to him” (1980, 68). (Kindle location 5988)

When we emphasize the King, we talk less about who is in and who is out. The focus is on moving people toward Jesus, toward the center.

What about boundaries between saved and lost? For God, who sees into our hearts, the category “Christian” is digital. He knows who are truly his followers and who are worshiping other gods. For us humans, the boundary is often fuzzy. We see the outside, not the heart. Some whom we believe to be Christians may not be so, and some we believe to be lost may, indeed, be followers of Christ. (Kindle location 6035)

Our task isn’t to decide who is “us” and who isn’t. We aren’t defined by our relationship with other Christians, nor their relationship with us. It’s about our relationship with Jesus. We’d do well to spend less time fighting about who is and who isn’t part of the family and more time strengthening relationships with Jesus.

One last quote. This one is worth the price of admission:

The church and believers are called to worship God, to have fellowship with one another, and to bear witness to the gospel in a lost world. Of these three—worship, fellowship, and mission—the church and believers will do the first two better in heaven. It is only the last that they can do best here on earth. (Kindle location 6075)

Sharing the gospel deserves a privileged spot in the work of the church. It’s what we do uniquely now that we won’t do when the Kingdom is fully realized. That’s why attempts to define the church’s mission solely in terms of the Kingdom are inadequate. We can’t limit ourselves to what we will do when the Kingdom is restored. We have to be about pointing people to the King.

Olympic glory

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Watching the Olympics, it’s easy to get caught up in the color and pageantry. You see people who have traveled long distances to support their teams. You watch the athletes struggling to win, not just for themselves, but for their country.

I get jealous sometimes. I find myself wishing that our nation had a flag and colors to rally around. I find myself wanting to have a team so that I could point and say, “Look, that’s our people. Kingdom of God. That’s us.”

Then I’m reminded that the glory of our Kingdom doesn’t come from us. It comes from our King. That’s why we’re part of the greatest nation on earth. Not because of us. Because of Him.

Photo by sideshowmom on www.morguefile.com

Nationalism

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In discussing my post on Hugo Chavez and Jesus, a friend of mine defended the term nationalism, saying that it merely meant “having loyalty and devotion for….” He went on to speak of his loyalty and devotion for the Tennessee Vols and for his family. My friend asked if there was anything wrong with that.

I responded:

“Obviously, loyalty and devotion can run on different levels. The difference between what you feel for the Vols and what you feel for your family is great. One is relatively superficial, while the other reaches to the core of your being. You would probably be willing to die for your family, but I doubt you’d be as quick to die for the Vols.

“But let’s follow that line of thinking. How would you feel about singing the Tennessee fight song and school song during a church service (Aren’t there some hymnals that have “Rocky Top” in them)? Have church members prepare care packages for the athletes? Have regular prayers for “our Vols”? Hang a University of Tennessee banner in the front of the auditorium? Does any of that seem out of place?

“What if you did the same with pictures of your family? Sang songs praising your family? Regularly asked all of the church members to pray prayers of thanks for your family, “the greatest family in the world”?

“Those sorts of things happen in churches around the United States, not out of loyalty and devotion to the Vols or your family, but out of nationalism. That’s the scary thing to me.”

What do you think? Would asking everyone in a congregation to share in a show of devotion for my family or for my sports team be out of place during a church service? If so, why do we not find similar displays of nationalism to be out of place?

Yesterday I discussed the meaning of the term “allegiance.” In its most literal form, it refers to lordship. A man can’t serve two lords. Nationalism and Christianity do not mix.