Dr. Ron Sumners
September 7, 2003
I am always glad when anyone begins to seriously seek the will of God. This is a sign of spiritual maturity. Unfortunately, we often bring the same selfish tendencies we display in our understanding of prayer. We make seeking God’s will another selfish act. What does God want me to do? What is His perfect path for me? How can I assure my happiness and success? Some even define God’s will as giving health, wealth, and ease to His favorites.
More often, people approach the will of God with fear. We act as if God has His hands behind His back and we must determine which hand holds the blessing and which holds the wrath. We assume that God’s will is a narrow, hidden path surrounded by pits and traps – a divine obstacle course. One false move and we plunge to disaster.
In His model prayer Jesus told His disciples to focus on God’s Kingdom before they focused on God’s will. The prayer says, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Understanding God’s kingdom is the key to understanding and discerning God’s will. To seek God’s will without understanding His kingdom is like setting out on a journey without a map. Once we glimpse the kingdom of God, finding our path becomes simpler. The question becomes, “How can I work to establish the kingdom of God?” The focus becomes God and His kingdom’s work, not the specific plan for my life.
Unfortunately, most of us pray, “Thy will be done” with little thought about “Thy kingdom come.” We seek God’s will in our corner of the earth with little regard for establishing His kingdom to the four corners of the earth. When we seek God’s will for ourselves alone, we seek a means of personal blessing rather than guidance in advancing God’s kingdom in the world.
Many of us have ignored our responsibility to be about the work of the kingdom. We have assumed that God’s kingdom will come only when Christ returns. This is not what Jesus taught.
He taught that the kingdom of God is in each of us right now. The work of the kingdom is to take place now. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in our hearts, strives to lead us into godly activity for the advancement of the kingdom within us and in the world.
We are not the first to be confused about the timing of God’s kingdom. Jesus was asked when the kingdom of God would come. He replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).
This is marvelously clear. The kingdom of God is not something external we await. It is within us, waiting to be born on earth as it is in heaven. When we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we are not making a request. We are taking a vow! We are pledging our willingness to allow God’s kingdom to be established in and through us.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He was reminding us that the kingdoms of this world are not the kingdom of God. There are many competing kingdoms in this world: dictators and democracies, socialism and capitalism, corporations and religions. Some have been more successful than others. I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. But I understand that America and The kingdom of God are not synonymous terms.
Often Christianity, rather than standing in critique and opposition to these kingdoms, has imitated them. We are easily seduced by power, glamour, and success. When Constantine offered the church political power and legitimacy, it traded the kingdom of God for an earthly throne. The popes eventually led armies, as the church became the “Holy Roman Empire.” When Martin Luther rebelled against such abuses, his reformation was largely successful because German princes wanted to be free of clergy domination.
In England, Henry VIII made himself the leader of the church in order to justify his many marriages. The Church of England was created to be his political lackey. The Puritans were persecuted by this church and came to America to establish the kingdom of God. Of course, their kingdom was one where those who did not believe as they did were persecuted and even killed. They used their power to do to others exactly what was done to them.
It is easy to see the compromises of past ages. It is much more difficult to recognize how easily we are seduced today. In the past three decades there has been a move to redefine the pastor as a CEO, the church as a business, and church members as customers. In many ways, this movement fueled the emergence of mega-churches. These churches, designed to address every imaginable need of middle-class Americans, have as many as thirty thousand members and budgets in the millions. One mega-church pastor bragged, “We have beat the world at its own game.”
This desire “to beat the world at its own game” explains how prosperity theology has gained dominance in many religious circles. It has twisted the Gospel into a vehicle for personal profit, another strategy of self-enhancement in a cultural marketplace of greed. Promoted most heavily on “Christian” television, the Good News of Jesus becomes akin to a good stock tip or picking the right horse. The righteous get richer, and the poor have only their sinfulness to blame. The dirty secret of the kingdom is that most of the wealth ends up in the hands of those promoting this theology.
In the midst of so many competing secular and religious kingdoms, it might seem impossible to discern what the kingdom of God should look like. In fact, Jesus spent a great deal of time describing the kingdom of God. His descriptions and analogies make it obvious the kingdom of God is unlike the kingdoms of this world.
Donald Kraybill, in his book The Upside-Down Kingdom, suggests, “The kingdom of God points to an inverted, or upside-down way of life that contrasts with the prevailing social order.” In this upside-down kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first, the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted, sinners are forgiven and welcomed while the self-righteous are chastened, the poor are blessed and the rich condemned, the lost are found and the dead are made alive, the lion lays down with the lamb and spears are beaten into pruning hooks. This is the language of the kingdom.
The consistency with which the kingdom of God is the opposite of the kingdoms of this world should serve as a warning. Conventional wisdom and common sense are not signs of the kingdom of God. Jesus warned, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matt. 21:31). He announced, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). He shocked His disciples by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). His descriptions of the kingdom of God challenge human measures of success. It is a kingdom founded on grace rather than works; grounded in love rather than legalism, and open to all rather than a privileged few. It is a kingdom most concerned about those who have been neglected, ignored and even oppressed by the kingdoms of this world.
Jesus began His ministry with these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and the recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Unfortunately, this kingdom has not fully come to the world. Why not? Jesus told an intriguing story about a king preparing for a long journey. He left his affairs in the hands of three servants. When he returned, he sent for the servants so they could give an account of themselves. The first two had taken what had been entrusted to them and multiplied it. The last servant hid what he had received. The king was not pleased. (Matt. 25:14-30).
I wonder how often we are like the last servant. We sit and await Christ’s return and do little to advance the kingdom of God. Jesus seemed to think the kingdom of God would only appear as we work to eliminate poverty, free those who are prisoners, give sight to those who are spiritually and physically blind, and release the oppressed. Perhaps one of the reasons the kingdom of God has yet to appear in fullness is because millions of Christians have prayed the prayer of Jesus without keeping its vows.
“Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done” has been wishful thinking rather than a call to action. Being a Christian has been a status rather than a calling. Too often we relax in our good fortune in being born and nurtured in the church. We consider ourselves blessed. Jesus called us to take seriously our responsibility to establish the kingdom of God. Having the kingdom as our priority will cause us to seek God’s will for our lives and for the world.
One day, Jesus came to the pool at Bethesda. The small pool was surrounded with the lame, blind and paralyzed. They lay waiting for the waters of the pool to be stirred. Superstition said that when the waters were stirred, the first to be immersed in the pool would be healed.
Jesus came to the pool and saw a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the waters are stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down before me.” Then Jesus said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” (John 5:6-8).
So many of us today are like that invalid by the pool. We are crippled, blind and paralyzed. We are waiting for something magical to happen. We are frustrated and discouraged when nothing seems to change. We want God’s kingdom to come but all we do is complain and rail against the darkness.
Do we really want to see God’s kingdom expanded in us and throughout the world? Or are we satisfied with status quo? Are we willing to make our prayers preparation for action? Or, are our prayers a substitute for working for the coming of the kingdom? Do we want the kingdom to come only if it requires nothing from us? It is time that we get up and walk!
Establishing the kingdom of God is not about large financial donations, ministries that look like corporations or churches that resemble malls, even with food courts. It will not come with careful observation and with cries of “Here it is” or “There it is.” It will appear in the most unexpected places. It will seem small and insignificant in contrast to the kingdoms of this world. It will be most obvious in those places where men and women are acting in ways counter to the kingdoms of this world.
The workers of the kingdom of God will be recognizable because they always seem odd. They do the will of God even when it seems absurd. John the Baptist wore camel’s hair and preached repentance in the desert. He would be locked up in a mental institution today. St. Francis of Assisi thought that caring for insects, birds, and animals was important to God. He would be ridiculed as a new age tree hugger today. Adonirum Judson spent six years in Burma before he had his first convert. In the performance oriented climate of Baptists today, he would be pulled from the mission field as a failure. Sojourner Truth was unwilling to allow the color of her skin or her gender to keep her from preaching. Today she would be scorned as a feminist. Mother Teresa considered dying Hindus and Buddhists worth her kindest attention. She is still a puzzle to so many who don’t understand the kingdom of God.
These people were living in a kingdom where the world is upside-down. Doing the will of God was not about praying in the morning and expecting results in the afternoon. It was a conviction that God is slowly and carefully overcoming the kingdoms of this world and establishing His kingdom. They saw heaven on earth even while they worked in the hellholes of the world.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the kingdom of God, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matt. 9:37). Whenever I read a poll announcing that 90% of all Americans consider themselves Christians, I wonder. When I hear that there are two billion Christians in this world, I wonder. What would it mean if every Christian in the world prayed, “Thy kingdom come,” as a vow for their life? What would it mean if the Prayer of Jesus became a prayer of commitment?
What would it mean if every Christian at Meadow Brook Baptist Church prayed, “Thy kingdom come,” and meant it as a vow to the Lord concerning their own life? I wonder.
Commenti