An Actionary View of the Kingdom

In my faith tradition we did not talk much about the Kingdom of God. When the topic came up it was usually in passing as we discussed eschatology (the doctrine of the end times.) For most of my Christian life the Kingdom of God was purely a theological concept that had little or no bearing on my life today.

A few years ago I decided to read the book of Acts in my devotional time. As a trainer of church planters I thought this would be a good book to gain a fresh perspective on. Little did I know how much the first chapter would change everything for me!

As I began to read Acts 1 the question that stood out in my mind was “How did Jesus train the first church planters?” I immediately began to think about all the things I train folks in (e.g. calling, mission, vision, values, strategy, evangelism, etc.) But what did Jesus talk about? What did He think was important?

As I reflected on Acts 1 I quickly realized that the Scriptures did not record Jesus talking about anything that I talk about! All it said was (v.3), “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.” Here is how Jesus trained the first church planters! He spent the forty days prior to His ascension talking to them about the Kingdom of God! That’s all the Bible indicates is important! It dawned on me immediately that (at that time) I never talked about the Kingdom of God! I was obviously missing something very significant!

That led me to go back and survey the gospels to study more carefully the teachings of Jesus. What I soon discovered was that only twice in the gospels is it recorded that Jesus used the word “church.” However, He talked about the Kingdom of God constantly! It was as if He was obsessed with this topic! Look at it yourself!

Frequently we see verses like Luke 4:43 where he says, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” His longest discourse (the Sermon on the Mount) is all about Kingdom living. Most of the parables are Kingdom parables. Jesus was a one-sermon preacher. It was always about the Kingdom of God.

The passage that tipped me over the edge was the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6. Jesus instructed us to pray like this, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (6:9-10). Could Jesus be suggesting that the Kingdom of God becoming manifest on earth was central to the mission of the church? What was Jesus trying to teach us in Acts 1:3? Could it be that the church will only be what He desires it to be if we understand His view of the Kingdom? And could it be that the Kingdom of God is not just a theological concept about end times, but a practical, actionable reality today?

That’s exactly what I’ve come to believe! Our mission as a church is to become apprentices of Jesus who continue His ministry of proclaiming and revealing His Kingdom on earth! That’s what Jesus did – that’s what we’re to do! We must have a practical, here and now theology of the Kingdom of God. We will never have a missional church without a proper understanding of the Kingdom of God!

Let me conclude with this. I do believe that there is a future reality to the Kingdom of God (see Rev. 11:15). But it is becoming increasingly clear to me that while the Kingdom of God has always existed, Jesus introduced a new manifestation of His Kingdom (Lk 17:20-21). I believe that Jesus expects His church to be an agent or instrument of the Kingdom that overcomes the power of sin, culture, and evil. The Kingdom of God will never be consummated on earth until Jesus returns. But in the meantime His church should be a spiritual force present today transforming individuals, communities, and the world. Only with that understanding will the church truly be missional! (For more on this see http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/notebook/CPN%20Kingdom.pdf.)

What do you think?