My friend likes to say, “Too many Christians have their suitcases packed just waiting to be picked up and taken out.”
In other words, the ‘great event’ of life is a future escape from this world.
But Jesus’ message is the opposite. The ‘great event’ is already under way. His Kingdom is—right now—invading earth. He set this in motion and it is still in play today. And taking part in this heavenly invasion—His Kingdom come—is the greatest privilege and motivator life has to offer.
In chapter eight of ‘Joining Jesus On His Mission,’ Greg Finke does a masterful job describing the magnificence of what Jesus is currently up to on earth and what He is inviting us to participate in.
With the arrival of Jesus who is the king, the invisible kingdom of heaven is now coming into the created realm of earth… breaking in… taking root… taking over (Mark 3:27). The work of this kingdom is to reclaim and restore all created things (Revelation 21:5) but Jesus wants us to know that this “taking over” does not look like what the world would expect (Matthew 20:25)…
And what does he mean by it [the kingdom of God]? A working definition would be: The Kingdom of God is the redemptive presence and activity of God in human lives…
He put into play a plan to redeem and restore the created universe, and people particularly, to himself—or, as the New Testament would say it, to his kingdom. This plan of redemption and restoration is the mission of God…
From now on, heaven has come to earth. There is now overlap. Intersection. Invasion. The kingdom has arrived. The kingdom has come and is now on the loose in our very midst…
For what purpose? To begin what God had promised from the beginning: the reversal of what has become of the created world since its fall and ruin in Genesis 3.
This, then, is now what is in play. Right now! As Finke says, “Game on.”
No more promising or waiting… From now on, Jesus said, redemption is on the loose. The full restoration of all things in in motion. The Spirit of God is on the move in the created world and will not be turned back until all things are made new.
The point is that we are not sitting and waiting for God to bring about some eschatological event. We are joining Him right now in the greatest time in history as He is working powerfully, masterfully, and intentionally to bring about change on this earth that will bring about redemption and restoration in the lives of people who DESPERATELY need it. Today!
What a privilege to partner with Him in this season. What a joy. What an opportunity.
And, finally, the church is meant to be the expression of that Kingdom come. The church is not the Kingdom. It is simply our individual and collective best efforts to live it and express it. Thus we must continually reassess how we live, go, and gather to better align ourselves with who He is, with His intentions, with His kingdom mission, and with His presence. Church expressions that are simpler, more organic, more dynamic, everyone-participating, and always-going are characteristics that reflect, for me, key Kingdom earmarks.
Comments
3 responses to “His Kingdom Come: Ultimate Motivation”
Thanks Roger for this wonderful reminder…”Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, ON EARTH, as it is in Heaven.” Such is our Father’s heart in and through Jesus, and all of us now, today. Still loving the journey through Dallas Willard’s “The Divine Conspiracy” for this very reason. Blessings!
The overall emphasis of this is both good and inspiring. I do look for a little more nuanced approach to the commencement of the Kingdom as ushered in by Jesus. To say, for instance, that “Jesus’ message is the opposite” (of the desire to be taken away) may or may not be true at the moment, whereas I do get the idea in reading, e.g., Matthew, that he was saying just that kind of thing *for his contemporaries.* In other words, “he set this in motion” is spot-on, but “it is still in play today” is a logical leap. What we have in the gospels, then, records many aspects of a new thing God was starting to do — the angel, and John the Immerser, and Jesus announced it, and Jesus started it all off. What we don’t have is a narrative that says, “This is how it started, and it keeps re-starting that very same way in every generation.”
In taking some exception here, I am not intending to quarrel with the overall import of what you’ve written. I believe, too, for example, that the Kingdom is present in the here and now in the hearts of those who are His. The “invasion” language is a little strong for me, setting up military ideas and almost suggesting physicality in God’s work rather than a spiritual work in this currently physical realm.
I love how you framed the church’s role in Kingdom in the last paragraph. I have little interest in such trumped-up notions as the rapture, and I do not wrap my comments in any particular millennial ideas. I do think, though, that such notions as “kingdom of heaven” and “eschatological event” should not be lost based on the belief that God is active as King right now. After all, if no eschatology at all is valid, we have to throw out a lot of Jesus’ and the apostles’ teaching. (I realize eschatology is complex and confusing arena in itself.) I’m sure you’re not wanting to negate the future in God, whatever position you take, but I am wanting to express that it’s not an either-or thing. I can look in hope to a future manifestation *while* I believe He is living and reigning in His people’s hearts and actions now.
Not that I am exemplary with this, but it is possible to believe — and live out — with all our hearts that Kingdom is now AND also to be expressed newly in the future.
Brian Casey (who is not “D,” has not entered “D” anywhere, and has found it exceptionally difficult to get approved by TypePad to comment here)
The “Black Mamba” retired, the Warriors got #73, but God’s Kingdom is forever, and that’s where da Moose is most of the time. };-) 💗