Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome the Kingdom Perspective.

Increasingly, many from all different persuasions are tempted to become mere critics and complainers—trying to find fault and pin blame. However, this is not the roadmap the gospel gives. Jesus’s way is not that of finger pointing or trying to score cheap political points. Rather, Jesus calls us to put our faith to work, bringing not only a positive and hopeful attitude into the public square—blessing where there is cursing—but also bringing our own time, treasure and talents to help those in need.

How do we do this?

Biblically speaking, this means upping your game to the shared ministry of your local church, so that the collective ministry of the gospel can flourish in your particular community. Your local church is God’s embassy to your town. This means we must be careful to avoid bickering, whether in person or on social media. Rather, we must take up the burden of doing social good in the real world. For example, are there ways you can provide practical care to your fellow Christian or to your unbelieving neighbor? Are there ways, you can speak words of encouragement and reconciliation—that short-circuit the vitriol of the present moment? Are there ways you can increase your generosity?

What I am suggesting is not some add-on tactic to make the gospel look good. Rather, what I am suggesting is absolutely intrinsic to the gospel itself. God so loved the world that he did not sit back in judgment and critique. Rather, He gave Himself for us. As Jesus himself put it: He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life away for others. This is true Christianity, and those “infected” by it will be true to the pattern portrayed in it.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

~ John 3:16-17 (ESV)

“And Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

~ Mark 10:42-45 (ESV)