Church vs. Kingdom

Summary: There is always so much negative energy directed at the Church and churches in our day and age.  What will happen when churches fight back and become all they can be?  If we were to consider our commitment, energy, abilities, gifts, resources, money, etc, in relation to the St John’s mission, we will all discover how we might better engage appropriately at all levels of the vision of the church.

Scripture focus: Isaiah 2:2-5; Luke 17:20-37

Date: Sunday, 25 July 2010 (St John’s Sutherland, all services)

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This sermon is part two of a series Rod and I have called, “Church vs. Mission”.  The theme of this series has been to explore what it means to be a Christian, to belong to a church and, in today’s sermon, what does it mean to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

To help answer these questions, I’d like to tell you a few stories about myself: I believe that God was preparing me, in a way, to come to Australia from the time that I was quite young.  For no apparent reason, I used to walk down the streets of my neighbourhood on the left-hand side of the sidewalk —since I’m talking about my experience in Canada, it is appropriate for me to use the term “sidewalk” rather than “footpath”.  In high school, I tore out two pages of my Geography textbook that contained pictures of Australia.  I had never seen anything of Australia until then, other than that provided by the movie, Crocodile Dundee, but these were quite beautiful pictures of the Australian landscape.  In these instances, maybe I was just being a trouble-maker, but I’d like to think that both those actions primed me for when I would be accepted to come to Australia as a Youth Pastor in the year 1994.

Having received the call, I researched Australia and Australian culture, by reading books, talking to people who had lived here or visited, and by watching Australian soapies (e.g Paradise Beach).  Whether good preparation or not, I like to think I know more about Australia than some Australians do.

In the year 2008, I became an Australian citizen, having publicly declared my pledge:

From this time forward, under God,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Nevertheless, people constantly ask me whether I like Australia better than Canada, but my feelings in this regard don’t really matter.  I have decided to become an Australian citizen, so that means I have willingly placed myself in a position where I have to adapt to Australian customs and culture.  And that’s not nearly as easy as you might think.  For instance, I’m still trying to learn how to say, “G’day!” and “Strewth!” properly!

To be a ‘fair dinkum’ Aussie, I’ve got to learn to appreciate the subtleties of Cricket —and they must be subtle because I can’t figure out why you all like that game.  I’ve got to eat meat pies and not care whether there’s actually any real meat in them or not.  What hasn’t been hard for me is learning to love the Australian landscape —although, a little bit of green grass, once in a while, doesn’t seem like too much to ask!  What has been hard, especially lately, is to not be bothered when our politicians treat each other, and the Australian people ultimately, with so little respect.  But that’s just my opinion.

Even more important than being a Canadian by birthright or an Australian by adoption, I am a citizen of an entirely different kingdom, and it is the demands and values of that kingdom —the Kingdom of God— that are my ultimate concern, as it is the ultimate concern of everyone who would claim to be a disciple of Jesus.

It would seem to me that the concerns of that Kingdom really should influence all that we think, say and do.  Here’s another story: I recently bought a second-hand car … nothing very ‘flash’, but it will get me and my kids from point A to point B; not with the same grunt and glamour as a motorcycle, but we’ll get there eventually!

As you all likely know, the exercise of buying a second-hand car is never really a good experience.  I thought that it would turn out all right for me this time, as the car belonged to a young Christian woman, who was recommended to me by a Christian friend, and the car had only ever belonged to members of her family and was, seemingly, well cared for.  Unfortunately, the seller was not completely forthcoming regarding the actual state of the vehicle.

For instance, the front passenger seatbelt mechanism does not work.  Imagine the scenario: During the test-drive, the husband had to have sat next to me, held the seatbelt in place, and just hoped that I didn’t ask about it.  Of course, if I didn’t ask about the seatbelt’s functioning, then he doesn’t necessarily have to tell me, does he?  Am I wrong to think they should have told me about it, as its malfunction could involve injury or death to my wife or other passenger?

Since I was preparing this sermon at the time, I can’t help wonder, “Was he acting Christianly with me?”  Given the second greatest commandment of Jesus to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Mk 12:31a), was he demonstrating the values of the Kingdom in the manner with which he sold me their car or was he operating under the values of the world?

Perhaps I’m simply ‘crying over spilt milk’, but if living in God’s kingdom doesn’t influence how we sell our cars, then what difference is made by our faith?

What Is the Kingdom of God?

For the disciples of Jesus, the story of God’s revelation in human history helps us make sense of our world and informs how we should live in this world —in fact, the same should be true for all people.¹ That story can be summarised, to a degree, with two words: Covenant and Kingdom.  In order to be disciples of Jesus we must understand, then, what that kingdom is and what God, the king of that kingdom, expects of us who want to belong.  I’ll come back to how we live as citizens of the Kingdom of God in a few moments.  For now, let’s review that story:

Act 1     God Establishes His Kingdom: Creation

Act 2     Rebellion in the Kingdom: Fall

Act 3     The King Chooses Israel: Redemption Initiated
Scene 1     A People for the King
Scene 2     A Land for His People

Interlude     A Kingdom Story Waiting for an Ending: The Intertestamental Period

Act 4     The Coming of the King: Redemption Accomplished

Act 5     Spreading the News of the King: The Mission of the Church
Scene 1     From Jerusalem to Rome
Scene 2     And into All the World

Act 6     The Return of the King: Redemption Completed

What this biblical story reveals to us is that God is our Creator, and as our Creator, that makes him our King —he does not require our vote to be made king.  As our King, God has every right to make a claim on our life.  But following this King is never about submissive obedience to a tyrannical master; instead, God invites us, through the action of covenant, to accept his authority and to follow his wise advice as our Guide —perhaps the concept of player-coach captures the sense better?

The Kingdom of God could be the territory to which God lays claim and/or the list of rules and regulations that he lays down.  Instead, the Kingdom is better understood as the range of influence of our Creator-King, not in any way limited by territorial boundaries, but limited only, for a time and only because he allows it, by the sinfulness of humanity.  God’s redemptive plan is to allow his fallen creation to willingly choose to come within the range of influence of his Kingdom.  Let us not take that choice lightly or demean it through neglect.

What Must We Do to Be Included?

Another story for your pleasure: I was a rather shy and timid boy growing up.  It wasn’t really until I became a Christian that I started to come out of myself.  Through a variety of circumstances, I became convinced of my calling to be a church leader and missionary in my later years of high school.

Once that calling became clear to me, I can honestly say that I devoted myself to it.  Not that I became obsessed with training and discipline or what not.  That goal became the touchstone for everything I did.

I went to a Christian university, my first year, to study Math and Physics towards being a high school teacher and minister to youth.  I later studied Philosophy, Psychology and Religious Studies because I wanted to be able to share my faith from the perspective of a “normal” person, to respond appropriately to their questions and concerns.  I sought opportunities for preaching and created ministries, like hosting radio and television programs broadcasting Alternative & Progressive Gospel Music, so that I could develop skills I knew that I would need, and use the interests that I already had, to share the good news about Jesus with others.  And so on … at every step of my life’s journey, I oriented my life  —sometimes with right decisions and sometimes wrong decisions— towards fulfilling my call from God.

I have been comfortable with and committed to the Kingdom of God in this way because “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day” (2 Tim 1:12).

Now, it is written that to “declare with one’s mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in one’s heart that God raised him from the dead” (Rom 10:9) is the necessary condition for us to be saved, to become Christians, followers of Jesus.  However, expressed another way, to “be saved” requires us to understand correctly the story of human history, to see things as they truly are, to recognise God’s revelation of himself in Jesus as The Truth.  And so, if we do comprehend that God is our Creator and, rightfully then, our King, it is abundantly clear that to be saved, to be a Christian, to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God, we must reorient our lives (i.e “repent”), all of our choices and all of our resources, towards holiness and righteousness; but, doing so comes with a promise: we will live freely, abundantly and eternally!

As Chris Baxter reminded us last week, the ancient Hebrews did not reorient their individual lives nor their nation toward holiness and righteousness before God, and the consequence was exile from their homeland and suppression under a string of foreign rulers.  Thus, they suffered a loss of the fulfilment of God’s promise.  Therefore, we, who have been grafted into and included in God’s Kingdom (Rom 11:24), must commit ourselves to live worthy of that Kingdom, always!

The Kingdom vs. The Church?

“What does this all have to do with the Church?” you might be thinking.  To answer this questions, let me first dispel a myth: In case you didn’t already know, the Church is not the Kingdom!  That is to say that the activity contained within these four walls is not the boundary of God’s Kingdom … and how ridiculous we are to even think that might be the case!

What is true is that it is absolutely essential to our faith in Christ that we recognise our affiliation with the worldwide and eternal Body of Christ —the “Church”.  Our commitment to the Church is expressed best in our membership to a local community of believers (e.g. a “church”) —to be a follower of Jesus, a Christian, is to belong to a church.  But this church is just an expression of the worldwide and eternal Church, which is itself only an expression of the Kingdom of God and, more often than not, a poor expression of that Kingdom.

It is within and through such local churches that Kingdom-living is practised, the obvious milieu for our spiritual formation (Eph 4:11-16)!  What we do here, nurturing and challenging each other, resolving our conflicts holistically, is the launching pad for our Kingdom-living out there, in the world.

Of course, no one expects that this little church will become the sole focus of all our activity; however, we learn how to manage our lives spiritually and naturally in this place, amongst these people.  So yes, we commit our time, talents and resources to “building up the church in love” (Eph 4:16) because, in doing so, we are building up the Kingdom, we are making present the Kingdom.  That Kingdom will ultimately overthrow the world’s sin and it will happen, sooner or later, depending on our making it real in here, in our lives, and taking it out there, expressing Kingdom-living in the way we

• take time to read the Bible, to pray, to gather for worship;
• the way we make time for cleaning up the church, volunteer to play drums in a band, make the fairy bread for Playtime, the money we tithe; and,
• using our gifts to lead the services, read the Bible publicly, lead a LifeGroup, preach a sermon.

All of these activities influence positively the way we

• manage our time every day of the week;
• the way we conduct our business, the way we complete our school assignments;
• the way we interact with our spouses and our children, the way we pay off our mortgage;
• our hobbies and friendships;
• the groceries we buy, the causes we support;
• the way we stand for elected office, the way we vote; and,
• the Kingdom is demonstrated even in the way we sell our cars!

Conclusion

Above all else, we need to understand that, while the Church is not the limit of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom is best represented to the world by the Church.  It thus behoves us to consider how and to what degree we participate in our church.

The fact is that there is so much negative energy directed at the Church and churches in our day and age.  What will happen when churches fight back and become all they can be?  If we were to consider our commitment, energy, abilities, gifts, resources, money, etc, in relation to the mission of this church, we will all discover how we might better engage appropriately at all levels of the vision of the church.

Endnotes