I got to go to 5 lectures from Brian McLaren this weekend at Cornerstone, then I got to sit in a circle with about ten other people for a full hour and just talk to him in regular conversation. It was awesome.
I was having trouble with the idea of the kingdom of God. I know that Jesus came and that’s what he proclaimed everywhere. As professor Thompson says, “Jesus was all about the kingdom of God.” Now the kingdom of God is feeding the hungry, loving our neighbor, taking care of the widowed, etc. Really what it is a kingdom of people that brings God’s purpose here on earth. Now with that idea in mind, I got very excited when I saw God’s kingdom going forward. I saw God’s kingdom going forward in everyone, not just Christians. I would be excited if I saw a non-Christian giving to poverty causes, or a Muslim helping an old lady cross the street. The kingdom of God was moving forward through Christians and through everyone else too.
Then we have the people that want nothing more than to attribute people to the name of Jesus. As long as we can get people to say a thirty second prayer and get them to acknowledge a set of principals that we have come up with then we are happy. Doing good things comes second to that, and really we barely focus on that anyway because we just want more numbers, more people with the name of Jesus nailed to their hearts. We end up having a lot of shallow people with Jesus nametags on them, and we are content. To get back to the question on the previous entry: I would rather have a world full of Muslims and Buddhists that were worried about helping people and taking care of the poor and feeding the hungry than a world full of people that claim to be Christians who only sit in church every Sunday and it ends there. At the same time, I know there is only salvation found through the name of Christ. So really the question was a lose lose. I never saw the disconnect really, I would swing from one side to the other on the issue so much. One day I would only be concerned with rushing people into heaven by the masses, as long as they can get in I was happy. On the next day I would be concerned with seeing heaven on earth now, bringing justice and loving people now.
I brought up my concern to McLaren. I asked him to expand on what he thought of the Kingdom of God. Here was his answer in my paraphrase of course.
“We have this separation between two types of thinking. On the one hand, one group of people want to have a kingdom without a king. On the other hand we have people that want a king without a kingdom. We need to once again, as with pretty much everything else in life, come between them, acknowledge we need both and attempt to live in that balance.”
I love it. It’s not that we don’t need our King (Jesus), because we do more than anything and I never doubted that, but we can’t eliminate the call that our king brings us too. To move the kingdom forward by making disciples of Jesus Christ, and disciples do what their leader did, and Christ was the perfect example of someone whose concern was His King and His King’s kingdom.
i love it.. great entry man.. really made me reconsider my actions.. i think if we let our actions show Gods love it will draw people quicker then just telling them what the deal is .. thanks buddy
It’s kind of ironic, but this question of “King or Kingdom” almost completely recapitulates the battle between the the original Fundamentalists (a title which is wrongly used when applied to anyone who actually believes their religion is true) and the (liberal) Social Gospel movement. Clearly if this dialectic is still going on between people who call themselves Christian, we have not yet finished that battle.
I like that description a lot Andrew.
It seems to make sense to me.
Within that world order comes redemption, judgement and justification.
The best modern concept analogous to the kingdom I have found is “world order”. If we take the kingdom as being God’s world order, we can allow that people outside the church–the centre and source point for the progress of the kingdom in this age–are being used by God to order the world as He sees fit, but without their knowledge of it (cf. Isaiah 10 re: Assyria for an OT example that’s analogous as well).
I understand now what you mean, Nate. It is a good explanation of what the people are doing around the world.
On a side note, personally, I believe that a Christian giving bread and a non-Christian giving bread are similar in that they are both giving bread, but different in that the first has more of a redemptive punch that does more than physically fill the stomach of the hungry.
It is true that God uses anybody to advance His Kingdom, but oftentimes I find that He does this because the Church does not recognize that it is the one that must advance it. But i agree with you that God uses other means as well.
I guess we need to determine what the Kingdom of God is. I look at it as more than just a group of people, but a God’s will going forward (so poor being fed, sick being healed, etc.) and also his glory being revealed. Kind of like Romans 3 where Paul says that God’s righteousness is brought out by our unrighteousness. So when unbeleivers do good things, even if they do bad things, God can still use that to advance the Kingdom.
Thanks. I like when you post on my blog too, and send me e-mails, cause it challenges me and gives me stuff to stretch me, I LOVE IT!
Can the Kingdom be advanced my those who do not acknowledge the King? I don’t think so. In the Kingdom the poor are fed, widows are defended, etc. However to say that these works advance the Kingdom is somewhat strange. I think about Matthew 7 where Christ tells those people who did all sorts of great things “in His name” but yet Christ will have none of it or of them because they don’t know him.
I have to say I really enjoy posting on your blog. There’s a lot of good stuff on it.
Hey boys, thanks for the comment.
I don’t think i’m trying to say that just because people are doing good things that they are part of God’s Kingdom, cause that is only offered through Christ, the king. However, I am saying that God is using other kingdoms to bring forth his Kingdom, he is taking the messed up, broken, heretic kingdoms and changing them to bring out good. That is what excites me. That the Kingdom of God is going forward not just by Christians, but God is using even the unbeleivers to bring it forward!
I have to agree with my friend Ernie here Nate. But I’ll put a different angle to it. Christ, risen from the dead, is now seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From this place he is now putting his ememies under his foot and extending His Kingdom through his people. This Kingdom is opposed to all other Kingdoms BECAUSE they don’t have Christ is their King. I read in Luke the other day “He who is not for me is against me, he who does not sow with me scatters.” In otherwords, there is no “associate membership” in the Kingdom. The works of all who are outside of Christ are philthy rags to him, done without reference to God and his Christ.
Hi Nathan,
It’s me again. I would like to address your comment.
I think the problem that Nathan addresses is due to the fact that:
1. we are too lazy to improve the state of the new converts through follow-up, discipleship and sharing (when we proclaim Jesus)
and
2. we are too shy to proclaim Jesus (when we are helping the poor).
So, obviously, as we all know, we need both (proclamation and action).
————————————
Anyways, the real point of my comment is that what separates us from the other religions is that our redemptive message has POWER. The other religions don’t have power, they have idols that don’t speak or walk. So our actions and proclamations do more than what the budhists accomplish when they go out on their “street runs.” Our deeds are accompanied by the Holy Spirit. Such that using the name of Jesus can heal someone, or the anointing upon you is so great that even your shadow can heal someone. Isn’t that wonderful? Our deeds and words have salvific consequences that affect people’s destinies, strengthens their spirits, and gives hope of eternal life. What religion could honestly match that? Christianity– often imitated, never duplicated.
Kingdom Blessings