Bringing the Kingdom Down to Earth

The late-night TV show host Stephen Colbert, a Christian, made a very penetrating remark, as shown in this photo: "If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and help the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." (You can click on the thumbnail photo to see it full-size, save it to your computer, then make it your desktop wallpaper or print it out and put it on your wall to remind you on a daily basis.)

The Lord Jesus Christ said to Pontius Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). This doesn't mean that the Kingdom of God is just something other-worldly, pie-in-the-sky by-and-by. Too many Christians have "kicked God upstairs," relegating Him and His Kingdom to somewhere up in outer space and sometime after we die, or they keep Him quarantined within the four walls of their churches. But in the Lord's Prayer, Christ taught us to pray - "May your Kingdom come, may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." What it does mean is that our worldview - our whole approach to life - ought to be completely reshaped by the Good News of the Kingdom: "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2). And in 2 Cor. 10:3-6 we read:

For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience will be made full.

An excellent article, "Orthodoxy Versus Christian Materialism" states it very succinctly:

Today the classical Christian view of the world is a distinct minority understanding living within the dominant modern culture. Its language and grammar live on within the liturgical life of Orthodox Christianity, as well as its larger devotional and theological life. Classical Christianity lives beside a dominant culture where the majority of Christians subscribe to the worldview that I've here described as "materialist" Christianity. I see no intention on the part of materialist Christians to be particularly materialist. Most would probably be offended to hear themselves described as such. However, I cannot find a more accurate word. (emphasis mine)

So then, what exactly is this Christian worldview? What did Jesus Christ do and tell us to do, right along with the many times in the Gospels that He mentioned the Kingdom of God? During Jesus' 40-day temptation in the wilderness, the devil "showed Him all the kingdoms of the world" (Mat. 4:8). Satan offered Him all the riches and power this world could offer. That is the dominant materialist worldview: money and power. But in contrast, Christ refused it and began to preach - "Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Mat. 4:17). The word "repent" means to turn 180 degrees around from the way we used to think and act.

Then He started "preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them" (Mat. 4: 23-24). So we see that from the very outset, the Good News of the Kingdom of God is associated with healing all sorts of diseases and maladies.

In Luke's Gospel, right after His temptation in the wilderness, He entered the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and began preaching:

The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, Because He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on Him. He began to tell them, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:17-21).

Not only is the Kingdom associated with healing the sick, but also with caring for the poor and oppressed. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.... Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mat. 5:3 and 10). We must repent and turn 180 degrees away from the pursuit of riches and power, and identify with those who are poor and oppressed.

In Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said: "Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the people of this world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy" (Luke 12:29-33). The "people of this world" - the commonly accepted, dominant worldview of pursuing riches and power - is diametrically opposed to the Kingdom of God: healing the sick and caring for the poor.

In all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, we learn that when Christ sent out the Twelve, "He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.... Jesus sent these twelve out, and charged them... 'As you go, preach, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give. Don't take any gold, nor silver, nor brass in your money belts'" (Mat. 10:1, 5, 7-9; see also Mark 3:13-14; Luke 9:1-3).

And then Luke recounts the Seventy being sent out: "Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come. Then he said to them, 'The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that He may send out laborers into His harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals'.... Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God has come near to you.'" (Luke 10:1-4 and 9). Here we see that Christ's commission to preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick was not just for the Twelve or the Seventy way back twenty centuries ago, but we should pray that the Lord "may send out laborers into His harvest" - which might just include you and me!

Later, when the Lord Jesus was having a meal with a leading Pharisee, He said: "When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind; and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:12-14).

When one of the guests questioned Jesus about the practicality of giving things to people who can't repay, He said: "Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!" (v. 15), and went on to teach the parable of the wedding feast: after a certain man invited the rich and powerful to the feast, they all made excuses why they couldn't come, so the master of the feast said - "'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.' The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.' The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you that none of those men who were invited [the rich and powerful] will taste of my supper'" (vv. 21-24).

Finally, after His crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, Christ gave the Great Commission to His Apostles: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. [Christ is the ultimate source of authority, not the Bible, or the Pope, or the Church.] Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe [not be mere spectators, but to fulfill or carry out] all things which I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mat. 28:18-20). What were the Apostles commanded to teach their disciples to do? - "all things which I commanded you" [to do], not just preach or listen to nice moralistic sermons, sing nice hymns, read the Scriptures and pray - keeping all this inside the four walls of the church - but to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons" and to invite "the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind" into the Kingdom of God.

Mark's account of the Great Commission is slightly different: "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:15-18). Can there be any doubt now about what the Lord Jesus did, what He taught His disciples to do, and what they were to teach their disciples to do?

As Stephen Colbert said, "either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and help the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 06 Jul. 2014.)