Thy Kingdom Come?

by Duane Cottrell
November 1, 2004

Lately I've been stepping back and questioning everything about my faith, which is a terribly annoying phase of life to be in. One of the more difficult questions I'm asking is, "what does it really mean to be a Christian?" Once I find an answer, I'm sure I'll write a best-selling book about it, but until then I'm confined to the limits of my own mind and what little insight the Spirit will graciously allow me. On the forefront of this limited mind has been the topic of God's Kingdom. It seems that everywhere I turn, I'm reading someone like Dallas Willard or Todd Hunter who speaks so eloquently and insightfully about this subject. I feel as though I have to sort through my own understanding of it before I can truly embrace it and live it. God's Kingdom has been a phrase I have heard so many times, but it is beginning to have such a new and fresh meaning for me, I find myself in uncharted waters.

Defining Kingdom
First of all, what exactly is God's Kingdom? Jesus ought to have been thoughtful enough to give us a clear & simple definition-he certainly spoke about the Kingdom enough to warrant one. Unfortunately that is not the case and we are left to our own deductive reasoning or worse, someone else's opinion.

Speaking of someone else's opinion, Dallas Willard has defined God's Kingdom as everything that falls under the rule and reign of God. I happen to think Willard is a pretty smart guy, so for me this has been a good working definition and has been helpful in many ways. First, God's kingdom is not something in the future, a place we go when we die. The Kingdom of God is a present and working reality, as God is very much alive and active in our world today. Willard's definition also reminds us that God's Kingdom is made up of those who choose to place themselves under God's rule and reign by joining into the life of Jesus Christ. God's kingdom is made up of people who have chosen to make God's work their work, and come into fellowship with Jesus Christ. It is not made up of the institutions (government, church, etc.) those people create. That is a very important distinction.

Looking to Jesus' own words in the model prayer, he gives us greater clarification. He says, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." First, this reminds us that God's Kingdom is always moving. He asked for it to come on earth, which means that it does not exist everywhere yet, and God is interested in growing His Kingdom and bringing it into being where it does not yet exist. Second, Jesus tells us exactly what God's Kingdom should be like: as it is in heaven. Heaven is a place of no pain, so suffering, no hatred, and perfect unity with God and with others. What this means is that where you see injustice, work to bring justice. Where you see pain, work to bring healing. Where you see suffering, work to bring relief. Where you see hate and indifference, work to bring love. Where you do not see God, work to bring Him there. An interesting truth about God and His work is that He won't do it without us. No one is going to be healed, fed, clothed, or loved by God apart from another human being. Efficient or not, that is the way He has chosen to work. God is always at work, and we are called to work alongside him at whatever task he calls us to.

Kingdom Work
But what is the work of God's Kingdom? How do we actively bring about His rule and reign in the world? I believe this work is two-fold. First, God's work is to bring an end to suffering. Sickness, hunger, poverty, war, hatred, violence, etc. are all in direct opposition to God's person and character and therefore have no place in His Kingdom. The second side of the same coin, though, is evangelism. If God's Kingdom is going to advance and grow, then people need to be brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ and become co-laborers with God in his Kingdom Work.

Neither of these two parts of God's work can overshadow the other. "Soul-winning" evangelism without truly bringing people into God's Kingdom Work of helping the marginalized is not bringing about God's Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven." On the other hand, social justice ministry, or meeting the needs of the marginalized, without inviting people to connect with God through Jesus Christ and join in His Kingdom Work is not fully effective, either.

In the New Testament, evangelism was never seen apart from meeting needs. In our upper-middle class America, meeting needs is seen as providing day care for busy moms, or building a family life center in our church where people can work out, exercise and take classes on Christian financial planning. Jesus had a different idea. Meeting needs means going to people who are hurting and poor and suffering, and changing things. "Lord, when did we see you hungry or naked or in prison?" We can see it every day if we open our eyes. Particularly if we look beyond the wealth of our nation and see the rest of the world, there are more needs to be met than we could imagine. This is what Jesus intended us to spend our lives doing. As Jesus' followers occupied themselves by meeting needs, they were able to share the message of God's love and Jesus' redemptive work, and it meant something. "God loves you" was fleshed out in the hands of those who called themselves His followers.

For us, God's Kingdom work is inextricably tied to working with, and on behalf of, the poor, hungry, sick, and otherwise marginalized in our world. We simply can't ignore Jesus words and example on this matter. Furthermore, we must go beyond just meeting physical needs, and enter into the work of reconciliation. Jesus was about reconciling people to God, and reconciling people to one another. That is the work we are to participate in as co-laborers in His Kingdom.

For most people I meet, this is too much of a challenge. It takes a great deal of emotional energy, time, and sometimes money to do this kind of serious work of reconciliation. We are much more willing to teach Sunday School for one hour a week and call that "good enough." But I am more and more convinced that until we, the people of God's Kingdom, take up this Kingdom Work, we will be falling short of what God has intended for us all.

The Kingdom Life
Discovering and living a Kingdom Life begins with finding God's Call. Ideally, God has a task or job for you and you alone. As part of His Kingdom, there is something that you are meant to contribute that no one else can or will do. How we discover this call is the proverbial "million-dollar-question."

First of all, we have to begin seeing our life's purpose differently. We exist only to bring about God's Kingdom, and everything else is secondary. This is so contrary to our individualistic and ambitious culture, that it is literally repulsive to millions of Christians. I simply can't find another way to interpret Jesus' words "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things (food clothing, shelter) will be given to you also." We are trained to seek first our education, career, and family; then we can think about singing for God in the church choir. But if Jesus was right (and believing He was right is what it means to be a Christian), then our primary focus in life is to be working to bring about God's Kingdom in the world. If we begin to see our lives this way, God's call will be easier to hear.

Second, as terrible as it sounds, we need to realize that God doesn't care about 90% of what we worry about. It's not that God doesn't care about us, it's just that he doesn't really care where we work, or where we send our kids to school, or what kind of car we drive. He is only concerned about those things insofar as they impact our ability to fulfill our Call to a Kingdom Life. If we make this realization, we can narrow our focus of concern to things that really matter, which is where we are likely to hear God's Call.

Once you adjust your perspective, it becomes easier to sort through your heart and find the particular part of God's Kingdom work that resonates with your heart. Perhaps ministering to the sick in a hospital comes easy for you. Or, maybe you cry when you think of children dying of AIDS in an orphanage in South Africa. Listen to these signals, because they are indicators from the Holy Spirit that you are on the right path. As you narrow your life's focus to the one thing that you are most passionate about, you will be able to sum up your Kingdom Life in one statement. One of the best examples I have come across is a person who said, "My life's work is administrating a free clinic for the poor and homeless in a downtown urban area. I make money as a college professor in my spare time." This kind of thinking is revolutionary to us, but it is exactly what Jesus meant, and what early Christian leaders like Paul did.

When we step back and examine our faith clearly, no one would argue about the importance of God's Kingdom. It gets a lot more difficult when we get back into the mundane business of our day-to-day lives. Forsaking career, pride, money, and even our safety and security is a scary and difficult choice, but there is no other way to "seek first the Kingdom of God."

The Next Question
The more I grapple with these truths within the confines of this limited mind, the more excited and confused I get. So much of it seems contrary to what I learned growing up in church, yet it seems so much more true to Jesus words and teachings. Of course, I'm scared silly about trying to find my own Kingdom Life, but the more I think and reflect, the more passionate I become about helping others find theirs. So, as I struggle to answer the question "what does it really mean to be a Christian," and discover more and more about finding and living our Kingdom Life, I'm beginning to be nagged by another question, "what is keeping the Church from being effective?" I think the answers to these two questions are remarkably similar.