Kingdom living – the idea of enjoying God’s blessings to in turn be a blessing to others – leaves me with much to wrestle with. Maybe foremost is growing in my walk with Jesus to the point that I am no longer consciously aware that I am living out Jesus’ Kingdom message. By that, I mean that I no longer see a person or a situation and have to say “Yes, I can help this person know that Jesus loves them” or “Yes, I can help this situation turn out differently because I am living for Jesus.” Instead, affecting people and their situations becomes as natural to me as drawing air into my lungs. I don’t think about it, I just do it. I am far from that, to the point that I often engage in a mental debate with myself that usually lasts until the decisive moment has passed. And so it goes.
Yet, there is hope. Recently, I was in a restaurant, and there was one server waiting on the entire dining room. Not only was this gal serving, but she was busing tables as well. It wasn’t long before the lunch crowd over-whelmed her, and dirty dishes began piling up on empty tables, leaving hungry folks nowhere to sit. In what is sadly for me a rare response to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as I was leaving, I quickly cleaned off a table, trying my best to not cause her extra work in my efforts to help. Now I say all of this not to give myself an electronic pat on the back, because like I said, this happens “not so much.” But the cool part to me was two-fold: 1) the lady didn’t know that I did this, as she was in the kitchen getting an order together. And 2) A local youth pastor was having lunch with some kids from his youth group in this same restaurant. As I was leaving, he said, “Hey, you’re making us all look bad!” His comment was given good-naturedly, but as I walked out, I simply replied to him that I was offering a cool cup of water to the waitress. And maybe, he was able to take what was for me a rare, but Jesus-oriented, act of kindness, and use that as a discussion starter with those kids. I think sometimes we are so intent on looking for God in the BIG that we miss Him in the daily.
Since that day, I’ve known that God was calling me to other Kingdom responses, and more often than not, I pass them by. As I’ve said, I need to grow in my walk with Jesus – I so desperately want the dust of The Rabbi to be upon me. But after the dust settles, we find a Rabbi with a basin and a towel, ready to serve us without hesitation. May you and I join Jesus in Kingdom Living, as we seek to bring His blessings to others as naturally as we take in our next breath.
Do you ever wonder what it was that got Jesus’ ministry – his mission – off the ground? In Chapter 4 of Matthew, from Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” version, we get a glimpse of focused purpose: “God’s kingdom was his (Jesus') theme . . . he also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their lives.” Wow. The “Good News,” as we’ve come to know it, isn’t mentioned and “heaven” isn’t the concern. People came to Jesus to experience his kingdom now.
It seems that folks’ immediate concern was not heaven but in living a different, better life now. That idea, that Jesus can give them a way out, a fresh start, a second chance at their life, brought people to him. And they found the anticipated Kingdom of God embodied in the Man Jesus. That discovery is Good News – Rejoice, for the Kingdom is Here!
I had lunch with a local pastor recently, and in thinking about the conversation that we shared, it dawned on me that he sounds a lot like the TSCC leaders over the last few years as he discussed PM and the “emerging church.” This PM reality is not a brand of cereal to try, or a new flavor of ice cream to order – PM simply “is.” It can’t be programmed or selected on the Purpose Driven jukebox. In saying that, I am pushed to consider the pastor’s offer to me to teach a series on PM at his church. It seems that he sees PM as a math problem to be dissected, or made simple like “Windows XP for Dummies.” Instead, we – all of us – must see that PM is the medium in which life is lived.
Promoting the “emerging” church as a program also raises the idea that this “flavor” (or experience) of church is better than church as the older folks know it be. Is it any surprise then that these same older folks are the ones who are often most resistant to change? Think, “You young folks had your turn!” and you understand my perspective.
All of this leads me to this thought: It is fruitless to push the PM agenda (whatever that means!) in your church, especially if it is historically established. The hurdles of tradition will likely prove too high. But if we take a step back, breath deep, and look at things objectively, perhaps we’ll find this: The church exists to make known Jesus Christ as the Son of God and glorify Him through works that bring His Kingdom to life. The church is not the place to have a debate about whether or not PM is affecting our culture. The basic underlying premise for the existence of a church must involve the question of whether or not Jesus is being made high and lifted up, and if so, what does that look like in that community? In answering that question, we open ourselves up to a deeper understanding of discipleship set in a context of connecting the hungers, passions, and desires that run through and connect the lives of the people that Jesus would have gather in His name.
Is it possible that Jesus being glorified looks like His people living in a sense of present tense Kingdom awareness? By that, I close my eyes and imagine Jesus followers living in such a way that the people in their circles of influence know healing, healthy relationships. They have enough food to eat. Their roof doesn’t leak. There is concern put into action over poverty and other social injustices. Valleys are walked through together. Voices are joined together to yell from mountaintops. Maybe Kingdom living is simply being free to live, and loving Jesus and people in the living.
This, then, is what churches should be teaching – Kingdom living in the present tense. Not seminars on PM and its influence of culture or debates about style. Let’s look beneath the nuts and bolts of philosophy and demographics to see how attitudes, actions, and communities are being formed. How are the eyes of the people Jesus wants to connect with judging our world? Are there chords that the church has yet to strike, and if they only would, could a new harmony begin to fill our collective ears? Could discipleship become less about facts and figures and more about learning from history, and hearing how Jesus proclaims throughout the ages that “LOVE WINS”? In an honest moment, I begin to understand that these are the very things that Jesus yearns to address, as we see His teachings on Kingdom living dominate our New Testament. May this become the focus of my efforts, and my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Care to walk this path with me?
