Stan Moody:
Some 15 or so years ago, I had the good fortune to be invited to participate with a small group of Christian prison reform advocates to address the Democratic caucus of the US House of Representatives on the role of the Church in the incarceration crisis. Why, leadership was wondering, does the US, with around 5% of the world’s population, incarcerate nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners? As it turned out, the issue raised a forsaken doctrine of Christianity. We Evangelicals would prefer to fix it through evangelism at little cost to us.
Is the Sermon on the Mount Intended for Now on Earth or Later in Heaven?
During the afternoon, I was pleased to see my own congressman, Maine’s Rep Tom Allen, enter the room. I had known Tom before he ran for Congress but was left flat-footed by his question directed to me: “I have a pastor friend in Portland who believes that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, calling for love of neighbor and enemy, is intended not for now but for after the Resurrection of believers. Why is that?”
With nearly 4 decades under my belt in Christian service and ministry, I was left flat-footed. It redirected my focus, however, onto the dismissal of Jesus’ teaching on the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. American evangelicals have futurized the Kingdom of God in order to fully enjoy the worldview of the kingdom of America. In the words of Jesus, however, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt 6:24).
Why is the Gospel of the Kingdom Critical for Now?
I have written books, preached sermons, and written hundreds of blogs pushing for an understanding of God’s Kingdom now. It has been the toughest sell I have ever encountered. While Catholics hold to a firm Kingdom theology, albeit primarily centered within their own religious context, Evangelicals, who profess to be the last word of God to humanity, have pushed it out of the way fort he American Dream ethic of prosperity and success.
So, what exactly is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and why is it important to us in this time of political chaos?
In his book, The Prayer of the Lord R. C. Sproul left behind a helpful reminder of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Here are a few snippets from his treatment of the Kingdom:
When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” was He indicating that His kingdom was something spiritual that takes place in our hearts, or was He speaking of something else? The whole Old Testament called attention not to a kingdom that would simply appear in people’s hearts, but to a kingdom that would break through into this world…
So, Jesus’ kingship is not something that remains in the future. Christ is king right this minute. He is in the seat of the highest cosmic authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to God’s anointed Son (Matt 28:18).
The kingdom of God trumps every earthly kingdom. I’m a Christian first, an American second. I owe allegiance to the American flag, but I have a higher allegiance to Christ, because He is my king.
We experience the conflict of kingdoms when Jesus tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come.”
John Calvin said it is the task of the Church to make the invisible kingdom visible. We do that by living in such a way that we bear witness to the reality of the kingship of Christ in our jobs, our families, our schools, and even our checkbooks.
Nothing to do with OPS – “Other People’s Sins”:
Before you pat yourself on the back, saying, “That’s exactly what we are doing by looking to outlaw abortion and homosexuality,” let me state clearly that the precepts of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) do not spell out a moral path to righteousness for non-believing seekers of religion. The precepts of the Sermon on the Mount spell out a present and future hope for believers in Jesus Christ as Lord who have publicly confessed our total incapacity to love God or neighbor without divine intervention.
The Gospel of the Kingdom, then, is not about evangelistic altar calls, repeating the Sinner’s Prayer, believer baptism, or even church membership. It is a gospel of transforming love that we Evangelicals have found convenient to push into the future along with a Jesus who is sitting on a throne awaiting further instructions withheld until we get the world ready for His return.
To put it bluntly, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God calls us to a citizenship separate and distinct from America, 180 degrees out of phase with the power strategies of this world. What are the power strategies of this world? They encompass, in essence, the need to win – the corrupt drive to become a somebody at all cost, the cost being to leave the neighbor behind in our dust.
Take Up Your Cross Daily and Follow:
Jesus summed up the Gospel of the Kingdom in these words: “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Love of God and neighbor, then, demands that a person be prepared to give up earthly ease and comfort to bear the scorn sure to fall on anyone who struggles after holiness. This describes a lifestyle that stands in direct contrast to the American Dream of prosperity and success, where the struggle has devolved into beating our neighbor, or the church down the road, to the power trough.
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