If the Gospel is just about saying a prayer so that you can go to heaven when you die, then what's the point or purpose of discipleship?
The New Testament defines a disciple as someone who is with Jesus learning how to be more like him.
If you take the attitude that the Gospel is only about going to heaven when you die, then following Jesus in your everyday life becomes an optional, extra credit activity. But this isn't the Gospel. And for Jesus the idea of discipleship isn't an "extra credit" assignment, it's the only assignment.
Jesus only ever talked about the Kingdom of God. It was, in fact, the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom that he came to preach. The Good News of the Kingdom was that it was here and now and that you and I could enter it today.
The Kingdom of God is simply the reality that we experience when Jesus is our actual King. When He is the King or Lord of our life, then we are living in the Kingdom and He is our King.
The Sermon on the Mount is what life in the Kingdom of God looks like. He gives us a snapshot of what it might be like for Jesus to be our King and for us to submit our lives to His rule and reign.
One thing we notice right off the bat is that the reality that Jesus begins describing doesn't resemble anything close to the world you and I live in right now. Otherwise we might expect them to read, "Blessed are the rich for they will be comfortable. Blessed are the famous for they will be loved by millions. Blessed are the employed for they shall not need to worry about how to pay their bills, etc."
This is the reality we live in and were born into. All of us. But Jesus describes something that appears upside down to us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about a Kingdom where the poor are blessed. The meek inherit the Earth. The losers of this world become the winners in the Kingdom. Those who cry now will be filled with joy in the Kingom.
Here's a little nugget to keep in mind: The Kingdom of God is right side up. The Kingdom is God's reality. It's our world that is upside down and Jesus is coming to set things right.
What blesses us is not the condition we find ourselve in (meekness, mourning, poor in spirit, etc.) but the King Himself. We are blessed in spite of our low condition, not because of it. We are loved by the King and He welcomes everyone into His Kingdom, starting with those most of us overlook and avoid.
God loves to work through the least among us. He's always looking over the head of the tallest to see the shortest. He's always on the lookout for ways to include the people who are on the outside looking in.
This is why He chose Gideon, who was the least of his family, who was the least among his tribe, which was the least tribe of all the other tribes. It's why God chose David as King, even when his own father made a point to leave him out in the field with the sheep. It's why Jesus made it a priority to visit a well at noon to talk to a woman who was an outcast even among the Samaritans. It's why right now He's looking at you and welcoming you to enter into His Kingdom and follow Him.
You matter to God. You are not an outcast to Him. You are blessed. You are loved. You are significant. You're worth dieing for, and He's worth living for.
8 comments:
"Here's a little nugget to keep in mind: The Kingdom of God is right side up. The Kingdom is God's reality. It's our world that is upside down and Jesus is coming to set things right."
I love how you have worded this. Thank you.
I am curious to hear a more in-depth description of this "attitude that the Gospel is only about going to heaven when you die"...
Is the problem only when the gospel is reduced to "saying a prayer so that you can go to heaven when you die"? Or do you think it is problematic whenever too much emphasis is put on the life after this one?
Yes, Jesus preached that faith is something that begins NOW, and that our faith is defined by how we live in THIS life...
But as I read through it, I also can't help but encounter a number of verses which continually seem to put the entire sermon on the mount within the context of the coming judgement & rewards...
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." [Matt. 5:11,12]
"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell." [Matt 5:22]
"It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." [Matt 5:29 & 30]
"If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? [Matt 5:46]
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. [Matt 6:1]
"Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." [in vs. 4,6 & 18]
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. [Matt 7:13,14]
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” [Matt 7:21-27]
Why is Jesus continually speaking in the future tense when He speaks of entering the Kingdom of Heaven? Why does He keep talking about "reward"? What is refering to when He says, "on that day"...?
When you said, "The Kingdom of God is right side up. The Kingdom is God's reality. It's our world that is upside down and Jesus is coming to set things right", which "coming" of Jesus are you refering to? His coming to earth 2,000 years ago, or His future coming on the Day of the Lord?
Do you believe that we, as disciples of Jesus, are at some point going "turn the world right side up" by bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth? Or do you believe that this can and will happen only when the King Himself returns...?
Why does Jesus constantly speak in the future tense when speaking of the Kingdom? Probably because none of those he was speaking to had actually entered into the Kingdom yet.
His entire purpose for coming was to preach the Good News of the Kingdom and to announce that it was near, it was here now, and that it was within every human heart.
He only speaks of it in the "future tense" because he's asking his listeners to consider what it will be like if they ever decide to enter in. The door is open, but they (and we) must make a decision to enter in and to submit ourselves to His Kingship.
YOUR QUESTION WAS: "...which "coming" of Jesus are you refering to? His coming to earth 2,000 years ago, or His future coming on the Day of the Lord?"
Is it really that hard to guess? I'm referring to his first coming in the context of that statement. However his second coming will finalize the coming of the Kingdom once and for all.
You asked:
"Do you believe that we, as disciples of Jesus, are at some point going "turn the world right side up" by bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth? Or do you believe that this can and will happen only when the King Himself returns...?"
See above...
(In short, I was really trying to understand if you are espousing a type of "kingdom now" theology...)
Yeah, the world we live in is definitely "upside-down" from the Kingdom of God. And yeah, those who are living as servants of the King on earth are like "ambassadors" for His Kingdom... But does the fact that Christ has ambassadors all over the planet today, mean that the world will not continue on in it's "upside-down-ness"? Do we believe that we as Christians are called to collectively work to put things "right side up", here in this life? Or are we called to preach the good news, which points people to a Kingdom that is yet to come?
In fact didn't Jesus tell us that the world would become increasingly "upside-down" and wicked before He returns?
I guess I'm just not seeing how the various things you're saying would fit together in a cohesive way...
You start by deriding a gospel that is "all about going to heaven when you die"...
But then you say, "In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about a Kingdom where the poor are blessed. The meek inherit the Earth. The losers of this world become the winners in the Kingdom. Those who cry now will be filled with joy in the Kingom."
How is that not a description of everything we should be expecting to see fulfilled in the Kingdom of Heaven? We may taste those things here on earth, but we certainly don't experience them fully! You're right that the gospel isn't about saying a prayer so that you can go to heaven when you die... There is no "magic prayer". There is no easy formula, despite all the many attempts in this century to concoct one. But it is that "magic prayer" idea that is the problem, not the concept of looking forward to heaven. If anything, if we understand that there is no "magic formula", and that the world is not our home, it should only deepen our understanding and appreciation for the process of discipleship...(right?)
Heather/Daniel: I believe that the Kingdom that Jesus came to announce has come today. It began when Jesus (the King) showed up and preached the Good News (Gospel) of the Kingdom and proclaimed that it was here now, that it was near, and that it was "within" his followers.
I also believe that the Kingdom of God has yet to come in fullness. It is here now. It is coming soon. It is not yet.
As we individually receive Christ as our King and enter the Kingdom of God in our daily lives, we experience the Kingdom. It breaks into our reality at His discretion (when people are healed, when His gifts are poured out on His people, when His diciples are filled and empowered to serve others, etc.).
But one day, when Christ returns in His Glory with all the Heavenly angels, the Kingdom of God will come and overtake the kingdoms of this world. The kingdoms of money and lust and fashion and vanity and selfishness are all passing away (as we speak) and one day the eternal Kingdom of God will cover this entire Earth once and for all.
That is what I believe. Your mileage may vary.
Peace,
kg
Great post Keith! I agree that Jesus is talking about a kingdom that has broken into the work, in the present. Thanks to the Holy Spirit God's will *can be done* in the here and now.
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