From the Vineyard newsletter on 11/18: The Great Commission-Part 1.

Our church mission statement is taken from the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (the stuff every believer is supposed to do). The Great Commandment is to love God above all else, with all of our strength/personhood. Then the Great Commandment is to go unto every people and teach them what Jesus taught the Apostles, which has been taught to every successive generation of Christians (also known as evangelism and discipleship). So literally half of our life mission as God’s people is to share the good news of Jesus with those who don’t know him and teach them to likewise obey his commission. However, telling people that does not usually make them want to run out and tell their neighbors about Jesus. Most Christians seize up with fear, others balk at the idea, explaining that is why we pay tithes so the pastor can do it, and if the pastor keeps talking about it, they eventually move on to another church that will do all of that for them (religious consumerism). 

So rather than telling people what they are supposed to do and brow-beat them into submission (or leaving), let me invite you to begin with prayer. Prayer is powerful! Of all the people that I have led to Christ over the years, not one of them came without prayer. Either mine or a faithful person who prayed for them other than me. Many a person came to Christ because of the prayers of a faithful mother, father, or grandparent. Over the years I have developed a list that I keep in my journal of people that I am praying for their salvation. I often add to the list, but I also get to cross-off those who have already come to Jesus. Some people have been on that list for a long time, but most are on the list for only months before coming to Jesus. On a rare occasion, I have the painful job of crossing-off my list someone who has passed away whom I don’t think ever received Jesus. In those moments my prayers become more fervent, not wanting any more on my list to perish without the gospel.  

So this week, I want to invite you, this is the time of year we begin making our lists of what we want most. Would you consider making a list of people whose salvation you are praying for? Then do me a favor? Send me your list! If you like, let me know and I will share that list with our prayer team so we can pray for them too.  

Grace and peace,
Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 12/3: Christmas Giving

Our church mission statement is a simple one: Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. Yet fulfilling that mission is no small task. Everyday we are faced with decisions about how we treat people, how we interact with God and men, and how we steward our resources (time, money, relationships, and stuff). As we move from Thanksgiving to Christmas, most of us are busy shopping and focusing on showing our loved ones how much they mean to us, as well we should. I don’t want to discourage the spirit of generosity. Instead I would like to add-on and ask you to pray about the very mission of Christmas. Jesus came into our world in the most disarming way, as a helpless baby, for one of the most demanding missions ever: to save the world. No pressure! In doing so he left the comfort of heaven to walk among a people who would later curse and crucify him. The very spirit of Christmas is one of making ourselves available and vulnerable to those who need the good news desperately but are not grateful we came. They don’t see our gospel as good news, and often reject us just because of who we are. To that world God gave his Son, and to that world God has called us to minister in the most inconvenient ways, sometimes to an ungrateful, disrespectful, and ever-suspicious world. One that is divided politically, racially, and theologically. To that same kind of world we have been called to continue the mission.

Over the last year we have been through numerous transitions, including a big change in staff. Meanwhile we have expanded our ministry and made several improvements to make our building more functional. We made numerous improvements to the community center (far exceeding the special donations given for that building) and expanded our community outreach . Currently we are wrapping up the new lobby entrance and ramping-up for the Christmas season and all of its related outreaches. Each step we have walked by faith, being diligent to manage every dime. As we look toward to the New Year, we are full of vision and we have some exciting plans. But as you can imagine, just like all of you, we have increased expenses at the end of the year, and in the new year. However, unlike retail, there is no Black Friday to help us; in fact, it is easy for expenses to exceed income during this time of year. So I am asking you to consider your giving in this season of generosity to include the mission and vision of VCC. Thank you for all of your support and confidence in the ministry of VCC. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Kingdom Life

One of the central tenets of Jesus' teaching while he was on the earth was that the kingdom of God was coming, and that the kingdom of heaven was near. The word in our New Testaments that we most often translate into English as kingdom literally means reign or rule. It is the picture of God as being sovereign (king), and that his ruling and reigning usher in true justice, righteous government, peace on earth, and freedom from sin, disease, sickness, and death.
For the Jews in Jesus' day, it was heavily tied to the hopes of the promise land, that a man, a messiah would come, and he would reign as the very vessel of God, bringing justice and righteousness to government, and that he would conquer all of Israel's enemies, and rescue them from the gentiles and their governments. As it turned out, his gracious offer was not limited to the Israelites but it was to be extended even to the gentiles, so that the promise God made to Abraham, that his seed would be a blessing to all people, would come to pass (Genesis 22.18). What is essential to our understanding of the kingdom of God is not location, or time, but rather the effect of God's kingdom. Choosing his rule, and submitting to his authority (reign) not only transfers our loyalty, and guarantees our ultimate redemption, but it sets us on a new course of living in this world, in step with kingdom of God living rather than kingdom of darkness living. Meaning, we start living in this world as if God's kingdom was already fully established, obeying God rather than men, and living victoriously rather than as those who are on the defensive. So then taking our eyes off of the world, what would it look like for you and me to live life victoriously?  
Living a victorious life means doing what is right without worrying about what others outside of the church are not doing right. (Not that I don't care but it does not control my actions or cause me to worry.) It means being stewards of God by fulfilling our original command to care for all of his creation (1 Corinthians 10.26). It means loving my neighbors, and not just those I like (Luke 6.32), and it means protecting the defenseless (Isaiah 1.17).
My favorite part about that message is that it's not defined by lists of do's and don'ts, it's not just rules and regulations of religion and restriction. Instead, its the invitation to do life better. Now that is something worth inviting your friends and family to experience; The kingdom of God is good news.

Servant Leadership

“Servant leadership” has become a catchphrase these days. It is a reaction to the type of leadership that is top-down, heavy-handed and autocratic that most of the world has known from the beginning of time. Human history is full of examples of absolute rule, the deification of monarchs (or at least the doctrine of the “divine right of kings”) and, in recent times, the dynamic and all-powerful CEO.

So to simply talk about leadership leaves many of us anxious about control issues, domineering bosses and, in some cases, outright oppression. That’s why we coin a phrase like servant-leader. Despite its buzzword status, the concept is wholly valid, and there’s a great need to redefine leadership vis-à-vis its importance for the church.  

On the historical world stage, enter Jesus, the Messiah, who came in the name of God. While his followers knew him to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the world did not know him. Instead they scoffed (and still do!) at a Jewish peasant whose life and message was becoming troublesome, turning the idea of leadership on its head. He was a leader, but also a man of the people — some would even say a king — who defied everything they believed about governance, the value of people, tribalism, and sexism.

In contrast to his day, Jesus said we are all created equal. In effect, he said the divisions of race, gender, status, and cultural identity were nothing but sociological constructs. Instead, we are, all of us, created in God’s image, descendants of one mother and one father. And because that’s true, none of us are better than, more entitled to, or inherently more valuable to the Father. Therefore, leadership in God’s economy is the responsibility of those who have influence, rather than a privilege to take advantage of. This new approach turned upside down the assumptions of position and power and privilege that were (and are) the way of most of the world.

Jesus’ radical vision for leadership was best illustrated in Mark 10. One night his disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus responded to their squabble this way: “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.”

The strength in Jesus’ words came from the life he had lived in front of them. Jesus’ life was one in which he did not invoke his rights or seek his own privilege or advantage. John Wimber, speaking on the subject of servant leadership, once said, “If there is anything that characterizes Jesus, [it] is the willingness to take a lowly, meek, and subservient role and place.”

There is nowhere in the Bible where Jesus ever demands respect or a place of honor. Instead, we read his advice to his disciples in Luke 14 to be humble, not taking a seat of honor for oneself but rather to let the host decide who gets the seat of honor. And if the host so desires to exalt you by moving you to the seat of honor, then you will be exalted, but if you have foolishly taken that seat, the groom might select another person for the seat of honor, which would lead to your humiliation at being asked to move.

Jesus’ model for leadership was not just serving but also humility. 

Ten years ago I shared the principle of servant leadership with a group of pastoral interns and explained to them that was why we asked leaders of the church to park in the lot farthest from the church doors every Sunday to make room for our guests. It’s why we ate last during fellowship meals to make sure everyone else had enough to eat. And it’s why we didn’t ask anyone to do what we were unwilling to do ourselves — so we gave the most, stayed the latest at events, and always cleaned up.

As I spoke, I shared my own ongoing struggle to be humble. One of my interns told me about a book that had helped him, titled simply Humility.

When he brought me the book a few days later, I remember assuring him that I would have it back to him by the weekend. He responded, “Take your time. It will wreck you.”

I remember so clearly how I brushed off that advice, thinking, “This book is no more than 100 pages!” But never underestimate the power of a small book to rock your world. I was completely undone. It became clear to me how mixed my motives were in the pursuit of servant leadership.

The problem was, I was working a system of governance I’d learned was the way we “did leadership” in the Vineyard. But it wasn’t until I was destroyed by that little book that I realized the difference between the ecclesiastical method I had learned from other pastors and the authenticity of leading others out of a servant’s heart, like Jesus did.

Don’t misunderstand me, though; real leadership does require skill. So I am still spending a significant portion of my reading and learning time on the subject of leadership. I have learned a great deal from Patrick Lencioni, Henry Cloud, Peter Drucker, John Maxwell, Andy Stanley, Jack Welch and others.

What I am saying is that all the technique, all the great Vineyard discipleship-modeling in the world cannot make you a servant leader, if underneath it all your only real motivation is to learn a new method or to understand the sociological and physiological buttons to push to get people to do what you want them to do. The leadership that Jesus lived and modeled doesn’t need a qualifier; it flows from the deep-well of a humble heart. I don’t know that you can learn that from a book … or can you?

Book Recommendation

Humility by Andrew Murray

This article along with many other great articles are available on the VineyardUSA monthly newsletter that you can read by clicking here

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 6)

The Case for Kingdom Theology 

(Part 5) –OR– The Miraculous Redemption of Creation.

The miraculous redemption of creation is a statement that can raise a few eyebrows. This is not some kind of new age theology or something like that. It simply means that from the beginning, all that God created, God called good. Then God put humans in place to rule and reign over creation. With that in mind, what was lost in the fall was not just human innocence, health, and freedom but the innocence, health, and freedom of all creation. Consider that human sin brought death to creation, because human sin was more than just two people’s private fall. Adam and Eve were rulers over the earth, and their sin was an abdication of the right to rule over God’s creation. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8.19-24a

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.

Reflect on those words, “… the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” All of creation is waiting to be set free, all of creation is longing, all of creation has been subjected to futility and is waiting just as the human soul longs for redemption. Therefore, creation also waits for that day when humanity will be redeemed, not just in the Spirit, but in the flesh. 

If the “green thing” and all the political stuff that goes with it bothers you, don’t let that keep you from getting this point. Simply read, all of creation awaits that great day, when all is revealed, and our bodies are redeemed. It is a beautiful picture of God’s restorative power, of his ability to redeem anything and everything that he has made and called good.  It is also a powerful reminder to every believer that sin is not a private, personal issue.  

Looking from a Kingdom perspective at the issue of redemption, keep in mind that throughout the Old Testament leadership was always held to a higher standard. Every prince, king, priest, or ruler of God’s people was held to a higher standard. Even their offerings were more costly. Looking at the collateral damage surrounding the fall and redemption of humanity, Adam and Eve’s actions are far reaching because they were the de facto rulers of creation.  Thus the far reaching effects of redemption include the restoration of everything damaged by their sin. (The implications of this for harmitology are huge.) 

Thus, the kingdom perspective on redemption is not limited to the redemption of humanity, especially as central as it is to the biblical narrative, but rather a more grand restoration of all God’s creation with humanity as the crown jewel. However, this more grand and inclusive kingdom perspective does beg questions about human stewardship of the earth like creation care, the treatment of animals, etc. As well, such a perspective also challenges the notion that it is acceptable to consume the earth because you think its all going to burn anyhow (2 Peter 3.10). That’s not just bad hermeneutics, but from this perspective, it’s bad theology. These points obviously need more in-depth development to address all the issues. 

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 5)

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 5)–OR–The glorious redemption of humanity 

At the core of the gospel is not only the restoration of God’s rule & reign but also the redemption of humanity.  It is this two-fold understanding of the gospel pulls the entire biblical narrative together. Without the fall of humanity there would be no loss of God’s rule and reign over creation, and without God’s rule and reign there would be no means of redeeming humanity. 

Yet, some have suggested that the Apostle Paul’s focus on redemption is a different gospel from that of Jesus’ kingdom of God narrative in the gospels, but such a view looks at the pauline passages regarding redemption in isolation. 

In contrast, a more holistic view of redemption in the Bible begins with creation in Genesis 1. In the creation account of Genesis 1.11-25 each kind reproduces seed after its own kind, until we get to man (v. 26) made in the image of God. While never stated implicitly, the implication is that we are of his kind, and thus man is set over the garden to rule and reign over God’s creation (v. 28). Likewise, the fall is not simply one of sin and death but a change of humanity’s status. Adam and Eve are no longer are masters but those who are being mastered. So the fall of man was not just about a loss of relationship with God, but in change in status. This is further illustrated by the new striving between man and woman, that she would desire to rule over him but he would dominate her (Genesis 3.16). 

The fall is not unidimensional. Despite reductionist efforts to limit the fall to a need for forgiveness, the idea of restoration in the Bible includes the redemption of man’s relationship with God, but also with other human beings (male and female, slave and free) in Galatians 3.28 and with the earth and the beasts in it (Romans 8.19-24), which will be explored more in the next article. 

The central point for this post is that our redemption includes our ruling and reigning with God (2 Timothy 2.12; Revelation 2.26-27, 5.10, 21) and one cannot be separated from the other.  The scarlet thread of redemption that runs from Genesis through Revelation is also the thread of the kingdom. 

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 4)

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 4)  -OR- Kingdom Eschatology

So then, if we accept the premise that the gospel does need a kingdom centered definition, the implications are that a kingdom centered gospel also includes a triumphant view with regard to the restoration of the rule and reign of God. What do I mean by that? 

So much of popular theology today is centered around defeat. The demise of Western culture creates a tendency in western Christians to put their cultural narrative over the biblical one. Add to that the American Church's huge impact on global Christianity (money, publishing, seminaries, missionaries, etc) and those concerns not only dominate western theology but they tend to redefine everyone’s view of the world, prophecy and any other eschatological concerns too. The end result of the Western church  losing ground in society becomes the driving premise in global eschatology that the church of Jesus Christ must essentially be defeated by the world in order for Jesus to return. In contrast, the Bible teaches that there are two kingdoms in conflict (and its not the USA vs. the devil) and that the kingdom of God is triumphant, overcoming the kingdom of darkness, so that the gates of hell are unable to prevail. The prophecies of Daniel tell us that the kingdom of Christ will fill the earth and crush the feet of the kingdoms of this world and that God will establish his rule and reign forever. Even now, in contrast to this defeatist eschatology, the global church is advancing all over the face of the earth (with the exception of the West) yet Christians keep declaring defeat because of the ground lost in the West. The truth is that the Kingdom of God is much more than the Western Church! In fact, the rule and reign of God is even bigger than just the church. Still, the point is that the church is growing in the majority world by leaps and bounds, even as it losing ground in the USA. As well, kingdom values like: human rights, justice, mercy, the sanctity of human life, loving our neighbor, the brotherhood of humanity, and even equality are all becoming more common among the nations. This is not some “Pollyanna” naive worldview, despots are not becoming benefactors. On the other hand, countries who once had terrible human rights records like China, Russia, Romania, South Africa, and others are engaged in the discussion of human rights, and the International Olympic Committee will not allow a country to host the Olympics if they are not making any effort to do what is right. These are advances! The point is that the Kingdom of God  is advancing and that the rule and reign of God is being revealed even to those who deny it.

Moving toward a more triumphant eschatology is NOT promoting Dominion theology or Christian Re-constructionism or even Kingdom Now theology. The church cannot make the kingdom come, but neither should it hide it's heads in the sands of reality, injustice, or the failures of society. It does not mean adopting the expectant humanistic eschatology of the late nineteenth century that saw the advances in science as the arrival of the kingdom. This is not advocating that we can bring the kingdom of God about, or that we will clean up the whole earth before Jesus’ return to vanquish his enemies. It is the celebration of the inauguration of the kingdom in Jesus. It is seeing the win, when there is a win to celebrate, as a triumph over evil, over temptation, over disease, sickness, and demons. And when there is a loss, that the people of God do not surrender to defeat, but pray all the more earnestly, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

This is important, because in contrast there is the dispensational eschatology of LaHaye and Lindsey, whose narratives essentially teach us that the church is the fallout (result) of the Jews rejecting Jesus as messiah.  It is a doctrine that says, Jesus failed. Subsequently, it teaches that Jesus went to the cross to save the gentiles, and that one day he will return and then the Jews will know that Jesus really is the messiah, but until then the church is fighting a battle against evil that cannot be won, in a heroic effort to save a few, while the majority go to hell. Then when it looks as though all has been lost, Jesus comes back, vanquishes his enemies, rubs there nose in their sin, and rescues the very few, and of course the Jews, and declares himself the winner, despite having lost the vast majority of people to sin and death. 
Is it really enough for God to be proven right? If that was so then he would not have needed to go any further than the garden. In contrast to these relatively recent eschatological views, John 3.16 says, God so loved the world, that he sent his Son, and the picture of Revelation 19 is one of triumph, of myriads of believers from every tongue, tribe and nation worshipping him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Then in Revelation 20 Satan is bound so that he can no longer deceive the nations. Once released he does not triumph! He is again defeated swiftly. Gog and Magog are not the dreadful events of the Left Behind novels but an exclamation point of defeat again. Followed quickly by the final judgment. It does not take a neatly worked out eschatology to know that God wins; that the triumph is not secret! Satan is not just beaten back but utterly defeated, destroyed, humiliated not only by the cross, but again, and again on the world stage. 

Likewise, Jesus' parables on the kingdom continually illustrate the idea of the church advancing over the face of the earth, taking ground not through wars or by force, but advancing through the subversive acts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. It is through subversive activity like loving your neighbor as yourself, self-sacrifice, generosity, and the like. These are not pacifist acts of acquiescence but the radical confrontation between kingdoms. This is taking kingdom authority over the violence that has been perpetrated against the kingdom of God. 

In Colossians 2.15 it says that the cross was triumph, disarming and making a public spectacle of  the powers and authorities that opposed his kingdom. Why then persist in a theology of defeat, doubting God, emotionally surrendering, forming social ghettos in the social media, television and music, making poor imitations of everything in the world. The goal here isn’t to offend but stop the bleed. When do we see the goodness of the world, and give credit to the work of God in the world? What if we give God credit even if he does that good work through those who are not Christians? Doesn’t the Bible tell us again and again, that people like Pharaoh, King Darius, and even traveling Samaritans do what is right? Doesn't Jesus celebrate their good works? Can't it be celebrated by the people of God giving credit to Yahweh God who is God of all creation (Psalm 24.1, 1 Corinthians 10.26) not just that which is redeemed? 
Look at the parables, the vision is one of the kingdom of God filling the earth, defeating nations (Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome). Add to that list nations not that have disappeared from the world stage after becoming a threat to Christianity like the Suleiman’s Ottoman Empire, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Stalin’s U.S.S.R., Mao’s P.R.C. Christianity has outlived them all and withstood the attempts of each of those nations to stomp it out.  At the dawn of the twenty-first century Christianity not only regained ground in each of those regions, but has over-taken much of the continent of Africa and continues to spread among almost every nation in the world, only loosing ground in the West. Given the evidence of Christianity’s expansion into nations once hostile to Christianity, there is every reason to believe that it will retake even the West in time. That does not mean that earthly governments will all become Christian, but it does means that the Kingdom of God and the church will be present and healthy among every people group and nation. 

With that in mind, a triumphant ‘hermeneutic' or principle ought to yield an eschatology that is throughly biblical, historically valid, presently viable, and expectant of the future. It should exalt Jesus as King of kings, and Lord of lords, it should expect his final vanquishing of his enemies, and give reason for every knee to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. It should not glorify man, except to the extent that God does, and it should substantiate the entire witness of the Bible, not confound it.  To that point what eschatology does all that? Here is hoping that a kingdom centered eschatology will yield that ideal.          

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 3)

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 3) -OR- The Authority of the Kingdom

Last week as I wrapped-up the second part of The Case for Kingdom Theology, I said that if we accept the premise that the gospel does need a kingdom centered definition the implications of a kingdom centered gospel also include the need to flesh out what is meant by the rule and reign of God. Namely, what does it mean for the the rule and reign of God to be already present (inaugurated) but not fully realized?

In my association, the Vineyard, these are common terms used to contrast statements by Jesus like, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11.20) and the experiences of praying for the sick that do not get healed. It is not capitulating to defeat or spirtualizing a lack of faith, but rather the recognition that even Paul prayed for a throne to be removed that wasn’t and that some of his friends took more medicinal routes to dealing with their ailments (1 Timothy 5.23). While this is not the primary intent behind the doctrine of the now and not yet it does become a simple but profound explanation that shrinks the divide between cessationist objections and pentecostal insistence. However there must be more to the idea of the now and not yet of the kingdom if we are to justify refining the gospel in a kingdom-centric way.    

For the sake of clarification, this is NOT to be confused with the concept of Kingdom Now theology or Dominion theology or Christian reconstructionalism, or anything like that. This is not advocating that we can bring the kingdom of God about, or that we will clean up the whole earth before Jesus’ return to vanquish his enemies. This is a statement of Jesus’ indisputable authority as present in the current age and in the age to come.  

The rule and reign of God is evidenced in this present world because Jesus Christ is able to set free the captives, not only in salvation, but from the present temptation, sin, disease, and the demonic.  It also means that he has control over nature, the earth, time, and even space. These last things being generally accepted to varying degrees by most modern believers even if they accept a cessationist worldview (i.e. The idea that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the Apostles).  Yet, even if you believe that the demonic has ceased to play a role in our world, then you would have to conclude that demons were vanquished by the authority of Christ, making the point that the rule and reign of Christ is both now and not yet. Now because some principal elements of the rule and reign of Christ are present leading people to salvation, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer, the power to resist temptation and sin and not yet when we acknowledge that not everyone has victory, that temptation and sin overtake us all at some time, that sin and disease, and even death has not been dealt the final blow.  So we wait as does all of creation for that final day when all is to be revealed (Romans 8.19).

This theology of the now and not yet of the kingdom is not limited to charismatic circles, nor to any specific eschatology. George Eldon Ladd who first put forth the idea of the inaugurated kingdom in his book The Gospel of the Kingdom was not charismatic, was a dispensationalist, and held a classical premillennial viewpoint. However, looking back over the last fifty-four years, his little 140 page book has been the catalyst for numerous discussions on the kingdom of God as the rule and reign of God, as a life realized, as a demand, and as something yet to come. Dr. Ladd did not make all the conclusions put forth in this series of posts. He did, however, realize the centrality of the kingdom to understanding the message of Jesus and insisted that it needed to return to the center of our understanding of the gospel. That is the pursuit that I am most engaged in. How do we do that? Even if you do not agree with the more charismatic points of these blog posts, of if you hold a more dispensational viewpoint. A common understanding of the the authority of Christ should move us toward a more kingdom centered gospel. It demands that we see his role as the means by which we have received good news, making our need secondary to his rule and his reign. 

Next week’s post will focus on the bigger challenge of  eschatology and probably the most difficult post for those whose minds are already made up. However, those pan-theology folks (those who believe it will all pan-out in the end) may yet enjoy the undefined (or maybe unrefined) nature of the post. My eschatology has gone from certain to very much in process as I am working out my conclusions about kingdom theology and the resulting kingdom eschatology.       

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 2)

The title, The Case for Kingdom Theology, fits this series of posts but the actual article  ought to be: Refining the definition of the gospel in kingdom perspective. Last week’s post focused on the need for a kingdom centered theology and view of the Bible. In that post one of the implications for a kingdom centric view was the need to redefine what we mean by the term ‘gospel.’ When you state something like that it immediately becomes worrisome to many that you might use this as an excuse to water down the gospel or as a platform from which to preach “another gospel.” So for that reason let me be clear that I have no issue with the gospel as it is presently defined in every evangelical church. The gospel is the power of God to save. Jesus Christ’s atoning death and resurrection is what paid for my sins. Any gospel that teaches me to depend on less than that is not THE gospel. So then what do I mean?

As I look across the scope of the Bible’s narrative, the Scarlet Thread of Redemption as some have put it, or the Scheme of Redemption, as others have put it, I see a bigger picture than “just” my personal salvation. I also see the triumphant restoration of the rule and reign of God, the glorious redemption of humanity, the miraculous redemption of creation, and the complete and final restoration of all that God has made. This is reflected in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ and subsequently the early church as it sought to make disciples of Jesus (teach and form in them the cruciform life.)

As mentioned in the the previous post, most of our creeds and our statements of faith were written in times of duress and sought to address the problems related to that duress. They are grand and well written. I can subscribe to everyone of them on some level, and to most of them in their entirety. The focus of these creeds spoke to Jesus’ divine and human natures, his equality with God, the equality and personhood of the Holy Spirit, and the virgin birth, and the bodily death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Nonetheless we tend to boil the gospel down to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Meaning that there is a large amount of Jesus life in the gospels that are not included in our over simplification of the gospel. These reductionist statements do not intentionally cut-out over three-fourths of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry as being non-essential to the gospel but in fact, it is what we do in practice, and in our theology when we say things like, ‘nothing else matters.’ How can any of the gospel matter less than any other part of the gospel? How can we conclude that Jesus’ life and ministry is anything less than the gospel? Do we believe that the apostolic biographies (the Gospels) have extemporaneous information? Or are our well written, but utterly human creeds and confessions, and our succinct definitions of the gospel lacking and in need of being broadened? The salvation of the individual is essential to the gospel, but the gospel is not only the saving of a human souls from hell. 

If we concede that the gospel includes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus,  and we include the birth and life of Jesus we should begin a move toward saved with a purpose, birthed into the mission and adventure of Christlike living, and transferred not just from the clutches of hell but into the kingdom of God. We begin down a path that is bigger than our tendency toward a man-centered gospel. Still we need to go further! After all, If all we do is include the life of Jesus and add a kingdom component to our definition we still have fallen short of the bigger picutre. We must put Jesus at the center of the gospel. The gospel is the reinstatement of God’s rule and reign over all creation through the completed work of Jesus Christ, which includes the restoration of all things, including those who receive Jesus Christ as King (Lord) and Savior.  

However, even as I read my kingdom centric definition of the gospel, I bristle with nearly five-hundred years of Reformation/Evangelical history that screams the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Can anyone relate? But this discussion still matters, because just like the Reformers, it is not enough for us to settle on the hindquarters of our tradition. On-one-hand, I am comfortable with what the Reformers said, on-the-other-hand, I am well aware of the results of this kind of reductionism, and the tendency of pop-Christianity to make it all about us, even as we claim it is all about Jesus. 

The definition that I put forth doesn’t solve all of those problems. I don’t presume to be the one to solve all the problems. Yet as a pastor I feel the need to address the problems with those entrusted to me. I feel compelled to engage not only in instruction but to be a student. I feel that I need to engage with the larger church and not simply work out my answers in a vacuum.  

The Case for Kingdom Theology (Part 1)

As a new Christian I heard a great deal about the kingdom of God, but I soon realized that when people used the phrase the kingdom of God that they all meant something quite different by it. Some people meant the kingdom of God in the sense of God’s rule and reign in the world, others meant the church of Christ on earth, some their denomination, and still others meant the physical manifestation of their eschatological understanding. Yet as I read the Bible, and the words of Jesus more specifically, I believed that these definitions fell short, in part because they approached the kingdom as one topic among many topics in the Bible rather than as the central theme of the Bible. That conviction has led my study of God’s word for the past fifteen years.

As I understand the subject, Jesus’ primary message while he was on earth was about the Kingdom of God. Even in his resurrection, in both Luke 24 and Acts 1, Luke has the risen Christ speaking to his disciples and “opening up their minds” to understand the Scriptures through the lens of the Kingdom. However, that changes our our praxis, and this inherently changes our entire understanding of the whole biblical witness, our entire theology, our view of church history, and should impact our understanding of ecclesiology too. Consider the following four fundamental assumptions laid out by N.T. Wright from his book, How God became King: 

First, that the climax of Israel’s story is the story of Jesus, and that he is the fulfillment and purpose of Israel’s story. The implications of this mean that the Old Testament apart from the New Testament, and New Testament apart from the Old Testament are little more than moralisms and mythology not unlike the Iliad and the Odyssey.  

Second, that the account of Jesus in Israel is not a new solution, but the story of Israel’s God returning to his people just as he promised.

Third, that Jesus’ earthly ministry inaugurated the restored kingdom of God and launched his renewed people (i.e. The church) into action. 

Fourth, the current status of things is one of war, a clash between kingdoms, that will conclude with the triumph of Christ’s Kingdom over the Kingdom of darkness. This victory will not be a secret victory, it will not be a theoretical victory, but it will conclude with the utter decimation of the kingdom of darkness and every power, person or thing allied to it.  

If you consider each of Wright’s four propositions, each is packed with implications that we do not have time to fully unpack in short post, but here are some implications:  

1. We need to refine what we mean by the gospel. Not because the gospel needs redefining, but that the current reigning definition is too small. Most of the church creeds, and other historical documents, that we use to define the gospel were written to address problems in the church, but are woefully inadequate to define the gospel entirely. If our gospel is only the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our response to that, then our gospel has left out the bulk of the text contained in the Gospels (biographies of Jesus), as well as the entire witness of Israel, the history of Acts, the apocalypse of Revelation, and much more. 
2. We need to flesh out what we mean by the rule and reign of God. What does that mean? For instance, Dr. John White, the famous Christian Psychiatrist gave four lectures on the kingdom of God after spending a year with John Wimber at the Anaheim Vineyard. His theme was the Authority of Christ, including Christ’s authority 1) over temptation, 2) over sin, 3) over disease, and 4) over demons. We could easily expand that to include Christ authority over 5) the earth & nature, 6) over time & space,  and possibly you can think of a few more. This includes the tension of the now and the not yet of the kingdom of God. The problem for us is to expand our understanding of the now and the not yet of the kingdom of God and not just use that theological tension as an excuse (i.e. cover) when Jesus’ authority does not trump a person’s sin, disease, demons, addiction, injustice or whatever we/they are battling against. We need to ask, what can we articulate about the now and not yet besides unanswered prayer?
3. We must consider what are the implications of the kingdom for eschatology. For instance popular church culture has embraced the eschatological concepts favored by Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye because of their popularity of their books on the end times. However, with those popular eschatologies comes a whole host of hermeneutical and doctrinal considerations.  As I understand it, the conflict between Kingdom eschatology and dispensational eschatology is that dispensationalism begins with a premise that Jesus did not accomplish his mission when he came to earth, and that the church is a stop-loss measure designed to give the Jews another chance. This has given rise to a culture of fear in the church, and taught us to acquiesce to the triumph of evil in society as a necessary progression toward the return of Christ, and does not agree with the assertions of the kingdom triumphant (Daniel 2.35, Luke 13.18-19, et al).
4. This also has implications for our soteriology. How big (or small) our understanding of salvation and restoration are will depend on how we view the continuance of the story. If we do not embrace points one and two listed above with regard to the kingdom, then salvation and restoration would be limited to only personal implications (personal salvation, escaping hell, etc.) However, if we do embrace the whole of Kingdom theology then we must include the restoration of all creation. Before you react to that, think about Romans 8.19-24, the whole of creation groaning in anticipation for the redemption of the sons. There are big implications from that vantage-point about creation-care, not just as theological pondering but as the logical out-growth of our entire theology. Not to mention what role does this play in our understanding of divine healing, or of other redemptive expressions of the kingdom. 
5. As well, the issue of Justice become more than a side-interest that leads to some neo-political social justice concern for the poor.  Authentic discussion of Justice moves to center stage, along with a renewed interest in the minor prophets, and our need to do more than hand out a few sandwiches.

There are other implications that arise from shifting to a kingdom centered theology and would invite any comments to that end. Meanwhile, I plan to unpack each of these a little more over the next few posts. So stick around, and engage. 

* 
Eschatology- a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind; specifically : any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment.

Soteriology- theology dealing with salvation especially as effected by Jesus Christ

Ecclesiology-the branch of theology that is concerned with the nature, constitution, and functions of a church.

Empowering Word

On occasion I get requests for copies of my Sunday morning sermons and I point them to the church website: VineyardChristianChurch.net Recently I got a new request from the blog site so I thought I would post a link to my most recent message on the web site. Currently we are in a series on Acts. I hope you enjoy it!

http://hernandovineyard.com/messages/message/20130512-acts5-mp3.html

Verse of the Day

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Matthew 21.43-44

Verse of the Day

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Matthew 21.31b-32

Verse of the Day

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18.29-30