When Jesus began his ministry, his message was simple. Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near. He also prophesied against the cities that refused to repent. The Kingdom of God is not destined to coexist with the kingdoms of this world. The Kingdom of God will instead fully replace the kingdoms of this world one day. Jesus declared after his resurrection that “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth,” so the disciples were told to go and make disciples of all nations. We now live in a world that is occupied by two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God — and all the rest of the nations who reside under the thumb of the defeated powers of evil. I think it is safe to say we live in interesting times. And the coming months are going to be no exception.

It’s political season again in the USA, so I thought giving the current worldly political noise a bit of kingdom context might be good. The relationship between earthly authority and the Church has been complicated for millennia. Worldly powers have persecuted the Church, and in response, the Church has often tried to isolate itself from the world because of its evil. At other times, the Church has attempted to take over or at least co-op the government. While all these responses are understandable in their various contexts, the question remains, “How should the Church interact with a world governed by lies and spiritual evil”? Why did Jesus leave us here, and how should we live while we wait for the full realization of His Kingdom?

Let’s explore some options.

1. Go along to get Along

Jesus did not “Go along to get along.” I think the gospels make that clear. But the crowd was another story. The crowd cheered for Jesus as he did miracles and announced the coming Kingdom of God. After all, they were sick of Rome and its demands. But the same crowd that shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday cried “Crucify him!” just as enthusiastically a few days later when the political winds blew in the other direction. This kind of “anyway the wind blows” attitude is a non-starter, or at least, it should be for Christians. Let’s look at the sermon on the mount for inspiration.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

2. Responding in kind

If we don’t follow the crowd, then what are we to do? Fight back? Organize resistance? Start a counter-culture movement? Well, we are a little late for this last option. Jesus has already started the counter-cultural movement to end them all. The Kingdom of God is the movement. Jesus began it with his first coming and will complete it when he returns.

Simply reacting to this world’s ideas accomplishes nothing. Throwing rocks, making noise, and breaking stuff is easy — building a kingdom is hard, and it’s not just hard. We can’t build the Kingdom of God with nothing but human effort. This point was made thousands of years ago in the story of the Tower of Babel.

Our job is not to build the Kingdom of God — God is doing that. Neither is our job to defeat evil — Jesus did that. Our job is to demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. We are to be changed so we may bring the hope of change to others. We are to be instruments of change insofar as it conforms to the Kingdom of God. That will not put us at peace with our current culture, but it will not turn us into bomb throwers either. We all long for unity, but true unity flows from our unity with Christ.

The world is tribal and often violent toward opposing tribes. In contrast, Christ humbled himself and sacrificed himself to save us all. By laying down his life, Jesus paid the price for human evil. He won the war by taking up his life again in the resurrection. Our job is to follow His lead as we give of ourselves for others. As we do that, we demonstrate the reality of God’s Kingdom.

Blessed are the merciful,

Preachers and Peacemakers

Jesus explained our new relationship to this world in Matthew 28.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Jesus tells us that we are to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. The world belongs to Jesus. He is the King, and he has been given all authority. We are to proclaim this good news and teach all nations to observe all that Jesus commands. So, what does that look like in the world today?

The writer of Hebrews describes the current situation this way: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Many have described this as “the kingdom now and not yet.”

We now live in the time between our redemption and freedom from slavery to sin and our inheritance in the coming full realization of the Kingdom. We are His messengers sent out to proclaim the victory of Jesus and demonstrate His Kingdom’s wonder to this world’s failing kingdoms. The Church lives at the intersection of these two kingdoms. We know peace in Christ, but we will always be opposed by the powers that be in this world since Christ signals the beginning of the end of their reign.

We are not called to fight but to proclaim. To teach and demonstrate the reality of Christ’s Kingdom. Thus giving this hopeless world a way forward, a way that we can all follow together as we work toward that coming Kingdom as we wait for our King.

To sum up, how should we live in cultures and kingdoms opposed to the Kingdom of God?

* Should we give in and follow along in a vain attempt to live in peace at the cost of truth and righteousness?

* Should we respond in kind and fight evil with evil?

No, to live as ambassadors of Christ in this foreign land, we need to be citizens of Christ’s Kingdom first and citizens of whatever earthly Kingdom we find ourselves in second. That does not mean checking out of society, but our engagement with culture must always be with a purpose. We are to proclaim the Kingdom of God by demonstrating that Kingdom in every situation. This will mean that we oppose everything that leads to slavery and death and support everything that leads to true freedom and eternal life.

Our goal is not to prove we are right but to expose the lies that will destroy us if we follow them. It is a tricky line to walk, but one Jesus walked before us. He found a way to love without compromise and stayed faithful regardless of the opposition.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

In the coming weeks and months, we will all need to learn to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. However, we are not alone in this challenge; we have each other, and more importantly, Jesus is with us to the end of the age.

Have a great week!