Wed 11 Jul 2007
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This has been rattling around my head for several months now, and even though the summer life of student ministry is completely insane (Prozac, anyone?), I’m just about to explode. And, although our student ministry team is reading through McLaren and Campolo’s ‘Adventures in Missing the Point’, that’s merely been like the little agitator in my washing machine–all the ingredients have been there for a while, but now it’s all stirred up and causing trouble. Dang it. (And I’ll try to be coherent and not rant…) So, here goes…
Q: Why did Jesus come into the world?
A: To seek and save the lost? To reveal God to us? To show us how to live? To defeat Satan’s strongholds? To get me to Heaven?
Perhaps. In fact, I’d answer ‘yes’ to all of those. But I’d also argue that none of those answers are ‘the point’ to God showing up with skin on his face, walking this planet, and then checking out. In fact, in the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, John), Jesus tells us that he has come first and foremost to declare that the ‘Kingdom of God is at hand". Further, he goes to pretty great lengths to describe what it looks like: a farmer’s good seed, a mustard seed, a treasure in a field, etc. It seems that God wants his Kingdom established on earth now…not ‘when I die and go to Heaven’. (Matt. 6). Would you agree? Some say ‘no’.
If you say ‘yes’ then beware. Because it seems to completely contradict us evangelicals (and neo-Marxists, as well) in what we believe and teach about Christianity being an otherworldly, life-after-death-insurance-program-with-mansions-on-golden-streets-if-we-can-just-hang-in-there religion. And although we tend to look at God’s Kingdom through NT lenses, the OT describes it in several places. My favorite is Isaiah 65: 17-25. (You can also check out Zechariah 8 and Revelation 21 for other descriptions)
According to Isaiah, God’s Kingdom abolishes all suffering.
It ends the infant mortality rate so common among the poor.
It gives health and dignity to the elderly, as well as long life.
It provides a fair wage to every job.
It takes away the mother’s worry of her children being destroyed by drugs.
It restores the ecological balance of Eden to the earth.
So what?
So, thanks to John Darby and the once-popular Scofield Bible (and others, I’m sure) we’ve grown a generation or two of Dispensationalists (fundamentals and most evangelicals) who see our word as an evil, sinking ship and that it’s only going to get worse and worse, and sink lower and lower, until God has to intervene with the Second Coming, wipe it all out and start over with those that have endured to the end. Therfore, the best use of our collective efforts are to get as many people off the ship as possible before it goes down, huddle together, and try to hunker down and endure the oppressions, inequities, and injustices of this evil, horrible, and prejudicial world.
The problem is, IMO, that’s not Good News at all. In fact, it’s pretty desparing.
Isn’t the Good News that God is at work in the world (through his Divinity and through us), both inside and outside the church, bringing hope to the poor, liberation to the oppressed, justice and peace to the hopeless? Isn’t the Good News that the Kingdom is here? That we are indeed striving to realize this Kingdom here and now–even as flawed as we are. Yes, whatever we build of God’s Kingdom will never be fully realized until Christ’s return—only a face-to-face encounter with the eschatological Christ can fully make us Kingdom People. But in the meantime, we must realize that the Kingdom of God is not about me. It’s not about the hereafter. It’s about the ‘here’. It’s about the ‘now’. It’s about the whole of creation waiting for us to be instruments of God, through which it will be delivered fom it’s present (tragic) condition. (Romans8:18-22)
So, then, what?
So then, IMHO, building the Kingdom of God is the core of MIssional Living. It’s being an active participant in bringing the rule and reign of the Kingdom here and now…on Earth as it is in Heaven. It’s more than whether or not I vote Pro-Life or Pro-Choice. It’s more than supporting our troops. What about educating the poor? Feeding the needy? Providing vaccines to the impoverished? Mowing my elderly neighbor’s yard? But then…let’s take it an even more dangerous step closer to home.
Further, what does building the Kingdom, and living missionally, mean for hot issues such as welfare? What about conservation, global warming, and living green (remember God’s charge to Adam in the Garden) ?
What about immigration and securing the border? How does that look through the lenses of proclaiming the Kingdom at hand? Wouldn’t that mean that we would invite anyone/everyone into a land of abundance, flawed though it is, where wages, healthcare, potential of prosperity, education, and the basic standard of living surpasses just about anywhere else on the planet? Something about all that reminds me of the words of Jesus regarding the parable of the banquet… because for masses of people in this country, that would be Good News.
Consider the can of worms officially opened.
3 Responses to “ Missing the Point…Part 1 ”
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July 11th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I can see that you’ve been rolling around in my head lately.
Try reading Spencer Burke’s “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity” and then continuing to think in terms like these.
Maybe you already have. If you haven’t.
Don’t.
It will seriously jack your world up. (I edited that for your readership…did ya like that?)
It has mine.
I’m about to start a series of posts on it, myself….right before I get kicked out of the Association of Vineyard Churches…..hahaha.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Well, you know my thoughts. If we are to live now as people who recognize that God is running the show, then what does that say? We’re the richest people … ever. Yet we look for the best “deals” to indulge our passions. Even together, we consider it “good stewardship” to buy things at the lowest prices — as a rule not even bothering to inquire who suffered and how they suffered to produce that item at that price.
And I’m as bad as everyone else. Worse maybe. But together we must start caring about those harmed by the way we spend our wealth. How is finding the “best deal” on chocolate “good stewardship” when the beans for that chocolate were harvested by 15,000 child slaves in Africa? How does saving a few bucks on other products count as anything positive under God’s rule when those who have produced those items have done so in sweatshops or been paid so little that daughters have been sold into sexual slavery so the family can survive?
Can we solve every problem on our own and somehow usher in the Kingdom? Of course not. The age of such optimists is definitely past. But does that then mean it doesn’t matter what we do? Do people ever actually read the scriptural descriptions of the judgement? I really don’t think they do.
And hey Shae. I will get my life back into some semblance of order and post again. I haven’t vanished. I’ve actually sat at my keyboard several times with thoughts streaming through my head, but as I started to write had the sense that I just wasn’t ready to write for public consumption.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
at what point does the “old” pass away and the “new” take control? Are Jesus’ teachings for believers or for the world? Are the teachings of the prophets for the community or the individual?
Are we responsible for OT, subduing? Are we responsible for NT submission?
Where does one actually find the differences between guidance? Are there actually poor that the believers are to care for? Who are they? Is that for the believer in God or everyone? Careful with the answer theologically? It is an OT answer, not NT. Jesus said we would always have the poor with us, does that mean we should abandon our obligations to make Jesus right?/
How does the indivudal translate into the coorporate? Are there actually two different groups of believers? Can a believer believers function outside of the company of the community? Is the community responsible for the sins of the individual? Is the community punsihed because of the failings of individuals within the community?
Why do we live like the “rich” when we are called to work for the sole purpose of giving to those who are without (Ephesians 4)? That is a tough passage?
Are we not to live as sparrows and give what we have to those within the community who are in need, OT and NT? This could really drive a person crazy if they do not have a theology based on the congruence of the OT and NT and understanding the role of each when dealing with believers and the world.