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.
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