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- Reevangelizing the Church: What is the Gospel? February 2, 2012
- Opiate of the Masses? January 23, 2012
- $pending This Christmas or Spending It Well December 5, 2011
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit: www.battlefortruth.org
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Monday, January 23, 2012 | 10:32 AMEver since Karl Marx penned his denunciatory statement on religion in 1843 (that religion is the "opiate of the masses"), secularists, social progressives, and other opponents of religion have worked to convince us that religious faith is an outdated relic of the past whose inexplicable (in their view) existence remains only by means of a stubborn, unenlightened, and uneducated lower class.Indeed, there appears to be an abundance of data supporting the claim that religious belief in America is—generally speaking—in a state of free fall. In 2009, ABC News, citing a recent study by the American Religious Identity Survey, reported, "In one of the most dramatic shifts, 15 percent of Americans now say they have no religion—a figure that's almost doubled in 18 years. Americans with no religious preference are now larger than all other major religious groups except Catholics and Baptists" (Dan Harris, "America Is Becoming Less Christian, Less Religious, " March 9, 2009, ABC News).Greg Paul, writing in the Washington Post last year, argued, "As the survey results come in, as the irreligious best-sellers sell, and as the scientific analysis gets published, it is increasingly clear that Western atheism has evolved into a forward-looking movement that has the wind at its back, is behind the success of the best run societies yet seen in human history, and is challenging religion as the better basis of morality" (Greg Paul, "Atheism on the upswing in America," Washington Post, 9/20/2011). Despite the staggering display of historical and cultural ignorance represented by the latter part of that statement, Mr. Paul summarizes what I think many would like us to believe: "To be religious is to be stupid!"As for atheism, somewhere between 2 and 9 percent of Americans describe themselves as atheists (this broad range is due to the difficulty some have in defining the term). Apparently many self-described atheists don't quite understand atheism. According to a 2008 Pew Research poll, 21 percent of atheists said they "believed in God." Regardless, the number of those who claim to be atheists remains relatively static.In reality, religion in America is not so much in decline as it is in a state of transition and change. New Age spirituality—as nebulous as it is—may be growing but so is the Catholic church. Increasing numbers of younger Christians—those most often considered to be the target of the modern seeker-sensitive church—are migrating instead to more traditional ecclesiastic forms such as that found within Presbyterian, Anglican, and Orthodox churches. Anecdotally, I have observed an increasing desire among young Christians in particular for more intellectual and theologically rigorous faith expressions.There is no doubt that Christianity, as it has come to be understood in America, has been in decline. That may not be a bad thing. Frankly, I think the potential demise of culturalized, politicized, and Americanized forms of Christianity represents a hopeful trend! While Marx suggested that religion serves to dull and subdue attention to real life, I would say that false forms of religion do worse by offering a spiritual placebo, which only provides surface satisfaction with the "divine" rather than true reconciliation and intimacy with the Creator.In the wake of this cultural upheaval, the Christian community that seems to be emerging (I mean nothing by that term!) may be smaller than, say, fifty years ago but it is arguably becoming more theologically astute and biblically faithful. Perhaps a remnant?As for the growing category of "no religious preference," the evidence seems to suggest that more and more Americans are simply wandering through life oblivious to the larger questions, pleased to be ignorant and satisfied with the superficial.In contrast to the idea that religion persists due largely to ignorance, research conducted in 2011 by University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox found that since the 1970s, it is the least educated who dominate the rapidly growing category of those having "no religious preference." Whereas among the most educated, religious faith remains relatively stable at about 46 percent, reporting at least monthly church attendance. This is only down from 51 percent forty years ago, which, when taken alongside population growth, represents an increase in the number of churchgoers among the most educated.Philip Schwadel, associate professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, also challenges the scholarly contention that increases in education necessarily leads to declines in religious participation, belief, and affiliation. His research confirms that more education does not decrease the odds that an American will believe in God or the afterlife. In fact, his research revealed that more education "positively affects" religious participation and the role of religion (including devotional activities) in daily life.Barry A. Kosmin, who serves as director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture and as professor in the Public Policy and Law program at Trinity College, presented a paper at the 2010 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion he called "Religion and the Intelligentsia: Post-graduate Educated Americans 1990-2008." Contrary to the notion that intellectual elites and atheism go hand in hand, he found "the elite today look more like their parents than their professors." His findings include:• While 82 percent of all Americans said in 2008 that they believe in a personal God or a high power, so did 85 percent of elites.• Elites share the majority's doubts about evolution although they are still more likely to support it, with 48 percent saying humans evolved from earlier species of animals, compared to 38 percent of the nation overall.• Elites have high levels of household membership in a house of worship: 63 percent say they belong compared to 54 percent of overall.Perhaps the growing indifference to religion in America is not so much the product of enlightenment as it is the result of ignorance that is so easily facilitated by vain pursuits, intellectual indifference and mindless amusement. Rather than Christianity, which engages heart, mind, soul and strength—the whole person—perhaps a hedonistic secularism, which encourages people to either ignore or sleepwalk through life's most important questions is the true "opiate of the masses!"
© 2012 S. Michael Craven
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S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.
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Monday, December 5, 2011 | 10:45 AM
The Christmas season is once again upon us and with it overwhelming encouragement from Madison Avenue to spend what we have not earned to buy what we cannot afford. The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday (indicating the point at which retailers are in the black — or at least hope to be), signaled the start of the “holiday shopping season.” That phrase in and of itself reveals the commercialized emphasis that has unfortunately come to define Christmas for many Americans.
The thrust of this consumerist message is that the holiday is best enjoyed or most fully realized through the acquisition of “things.” Advertisements bombard us with images of bountiful Christmas scenes in which beautiful packages surround the tree, and “happiness” is realized upon the receipt of this or that consumer product. Credit card issuers alone (those most interested in seeing you spend what you don’t have) spend more than $150 million on holiday advertising and promotions. Evidence that these messages work is found in the fact that, according to financial advisor Dave Ramsey, “over 50 percent of Christmas shoppers will spend well over what they planned to and will go further into debt.”
As to the severity of this debt, Ramsey points out that “more than $70 billion, over half of what was charged last year, ended up as revolving debt and the interest on last year’s gifts are still being paid today.” On average, “two-thirds (65 percent) of shoppers overspent their budget by $100–$500 and 75 percent overspent by $50–$100.”
Of course this consumerist philosophy — rooted in the notion that making more money, which enables you to buy more things, will necessarily result in greater life satisfaction and happiness — is a pervasive message year-round in America. Recent studies show that most Americans believe they would be “perfectly happy” with just 20 percent more income. And according to Boston College sociologist Juliet Schor’s 1998 best seller The Overspent American, “one-quarter of Americans making $100,000 believe they don’t have enough cash.” (In 2010, the US median income was $49,445.)
However, renowned economist and USC professor, Richard Easterlin observed that “once a society’s basic needs — food, shelter, employment — are satisfied, the accumulation of greater and greater wealth does not generate greater collective or personal happiness over the long run” (USC Trojan Family Magazine). This has become known as the Easterlin Paradox.
In the early seventies “Easterlin sifted through numerous surveys asking Americans how happy they were. The explosion in wealth created by the postwar boom had not made a dent, he discovered. Although the average family was 60 percent richer in 1974, levels of contentment remained unchanged from 1945.” These findings “flew in the face of the assumption held by most economists and politicians that populations get happier as national wealth increases.” Also according to the article “today, no one disputes the truth of the Easterlin Paradox.”
Despite our present economic challenges, the United States is still far richer in 2011 than it was 1974 and yet our levels of life satisfaction and personal contentment haven’t improved one iota. In fact, every measurement of personal well being — psychological, emotional, and spiritual — demonstrates that despite our increased abundance we are less satisfied and more depressed than ever.
A joint study recently conducted by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School revealed that the US has the highest rate of depression among a survey group of fourteen countries. Conversely the poorest nations reported the lowest levels of depression. Researchers suggest that this may be due to differing expectations. Precisely! Americans — saturated with consumerism — have been conditioned to expect that happiness and satisfaction naturally flow from prosperity and the acquisition of things. That is the whole point of consumer advertising: to make you discontent with what you have by offering the expectation of an improved life through the purchase of the latest product — an expectation that very quickly evaporates after we have purchased said product.
Consciously we know this promise is ridiculous; however, subconsciously we frequently find ourselves seduced by the lords of consumerism into believing this silliest of propositions. As Easterlin has confirmed, as we acquire possessions, our aspirations rise in proportion to the gains, leaving us no happier than before. Indeed, the more we earn the more we want! This misguided (and idolatrous) expectation sets us up for perpetual disappointment because as the evidence demonstrates, prosperity always fails as a source of lasting contentment and life satisfaction.
The first remedy is to simply recognize the false and frankly illogical “gospel” offered by consumerism. This alone offers some degree of immunity from the insidious and seductive voice of consumerism. Secondly, from a purely financial perspective, Dave Ramsey offers some practical advice relative to Christmas:
- Make a list of everyone you are buying a gift for and put a dollar amount by every name. Total it at the bottom. This is your Christmas budget. The people in the mall have a plan to get your money — get a game plan for your shopping so you can keep some money. There is no excuse for financing Christmas.
- Pay cash. Put the total from your budget in an envelope and when the cash is gone, stop spending. This will help keep you on budget because if you overspend on Aunt Sue, Uncle Harry won’t get a gift.
- 69 percent of Americans bought a gift for themselves last year. Don’t buy yourself a gift! This is the season to give not to receive … from yourself.
If you find yourself swept up in the rush of consumerism, stop! Remember that Christmas is about God’s gracious and abundant gifts to humanity — the gifts of life, family and friends, good food, music, worship; the virtues of peace, charity and mercy; and the greatest of all: His Son, Jesus. Savor these things. Ponder the truth so beautifully expressed in the words of my favorite Christmas carol:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Christmas reminds us that we who were without hope, weary and discontent, slaves to sin and sorrow, now have a real and present hope. We can be saved from this dreadful condition and finally discover satisfaction and contentment not because we received the latest gadget but because “God so loved the word that He sent His only begotten Son”! We can be reconciled with God! So this Christmas let us not be swept away by the illusory claims of consumerism; instead, let us revel in God’s gracious gifts, to drink deeply the wonder of relationships and life and every moment of this season — these will leave you truly satisfied and debt free!
© 2011 S. Michael Craven
Respond to this article here.
Subscribe to Michael's weekly commentary here.
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.
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Monday, October 31, 2011 | 09:38 AM
Your immediate response may be, “What does Christianity have to do with economics?” In response, I would say: Everything, if you think of economics as the system and means of production and exchange whereby people meet their own and each other’s essential needs.
Lest anyone presume otherwise, to think “Christianly” about these subjects does not imply that the Christian perspective must align with Republican, Democratic or Libertarian political positions. Christian theology transcends all of these and to be fair, each may include — to one degree or another — aspects of Christian economic ideas and philosophy. However, as Christians our faith and worldview should inform our moral, political and economic views, not vice versa.
To be sure, there is a debate raging in this country about the nature of economics and, more specifically, the role of government in promoting and/or achieving economic prosperity.
Add to this an increasingly polarized and hostile political culture, pervasive corruption among government and private sectors, costly and increasingly pointless wars, not to mention the rapid erosion of historic moral norms. It isn’t surprising that Americans are deeply divided, confused, frustrated and angry.
On the topic of economics, Americans (including many Christians) range — either consciously or unwittingly — between out-and-out Marxism on the one hand, to free market capitalism on the other, and various iterations of democratic socialism in between. Some are convinced that increased government control and regulation of the market will halt the greed and corruption that has become all too commonplace on Wall Street and in private enterprise. Additionally, many believe that increased government control will yield greater economic equity between socioeconomic classes.
In contrast, many believe that increased government interference only accommodates different and greater forms of corruption while it restrains creativity, innovation and productivity. They believe furthermore that government economic schemes and interference with free markets generally limit the earning capacity of all and consign people to dependency and poverty by restricting human potential and opportunity. I confess that I fall into the latter category — not because I am a “capitalist," but because my Christian faith shapes my views of creation, mankind and work.
Frankly, I find most people’s convictions are driven by emotion more than any coherent economic or moral philosophy. Therefore, given the enormous impact on human persons that economics carries, it is important that Christians offer sound moral and philosophical guidance on the nature and means of human economic activity.
What qualifies Christianity to speak on economics? Simply put, to properly understand economics, you must begin with a proper understanding of man. This is where most alternative worldviews immediately diverge. Rev. Robert A. Sirico, writing in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, offers a helpful starting point:
The Genesis account of creation tells us that from the beginning, humanity was created to work. God puts Adam in the garden to “work and watch over it.” The Scripture provides an insight into our nature: We are all, man and woman, called into this life to find our vocation, the work that is uniquely ours and contributes to the flourishing of the wider community.
At the center of all economic activity is human productivity; God himself calls us to be productive (see
Genesis 1:28 ). That being said, we must devise a system that seeks to balance certain essential interests. That would include a system that fosters the best quality and most efficient means of production (i.e., excellence in all things; seeEcc. 9:10 ,1 Cor. 10:31 ).More than any other economic system, free markets encourage quality and efficiencies by means of competition. The best and most affordable wins the loyalty of the consumer. In competition, both the interests of producer and consumer remain in closer balance. The free market producer must provide what people want or need at a price people are able and willing to pay. Centralized economies diminish or eliminate this essential competitive condition.
Our economic system must include the promotion and enforcement of fair means of exchange and reward (see
Prov. 20:23 ). Here again, competition proves vital. While the unscrupulous do sometimes succeed in a free market, once discovered the market will quickly punish swindlers; they rarely endure for long. Essential, however, are the rule of law and the enforcement of laws that protect consumers from misrepresentations, fraud, and abuse, as well as unfair competitive advantages.Finally, and perhaps most importantly, our economic system must seek to render the production of goods and services subordinate to man rather than making man subordinate (or slave) to the production of goods and services.
Since man bears the image of God and has been given authority over creation (see
Genesis 1:26–30 ), he is not to be subjected to the creation but rather to function as steward over the resources created by God. In other words, man is not reducible to a cog in the machine but rather creator and master of the machine. Work that reduces man to a mere tool of production degrades the dignity of both work and man. Similarly, an economic strategy that reduces man to an object of charity, dependent upon the state, degrades the dignity of man.Wherever man suffers subordination to work (toil) or is compelled by force to work for others, we are reminded of the Fall. However, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus — the Messiah — inaugurates the in-breaking reign of God. As God’s people, we are to be a “sign and foretaste” of his kingdom to come — resisting the effects of the Fall whenever and wherever we can and commending, by argument and example, the righteous standards of the kingdom.
Free markets offer inherent support for the dignity of man by driving innovation and ingenuity, making labor less burdensome and therefore more efficient. This is why we created the yoke and placed it upon the ox — not on our children. Freedom in the marketplace further contributes to the dissolution of social, racial and economic boundaries that otherwise constrain human productivity.
Finally, freedom in the marketplace encourages the creative capacity and dreams of the willing — through the promise of reward — to innovate and improve upon the production and delivery of goods and services that benefit others. Thus they are willing to take on great risks, believing that any reward will be theirs and no claim can be made upon it by king or tyrant. In such a system, albeit far from perfect in this fallen world, human dignity abounds, flourishing spreads further and poverty diminished.
© 2011 by S. Michael Craven. Permission granted for non-commercial use.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011 | 14:43 PMIf the ecclesiocentric view of the church’s mission tends to focus on the building and maintenance of the institutional church (a place of like-minded believers), then a proper theocentric view will focus the organic church (a people who believe and obey) on the mission of God or missio Dei.For the church to be a relevant instrument and faithful witness of the gospel, especially in the wake of Christendom’s collapse, we must recover this God-centered understanding of the church’s mission. The “mission” of the church is not reducible to member recruitment into the institutional church; neither is it a collateral program of the church, and it is most certainly not an activity that only occurs on foreign fields. The church is a body of people who are called together and sent by God into the world to represent his rule and reign, as a sign and foretaste of the kingdom that will one day will be fully realized on earth. Therefore, the church exists for the mission of God—not for itself!My good friend and pastor of City Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, Dave Lescalleet describes the in-breaking reign of God well when he says:There is a great conversation in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy where Samwise is talking to Gandalf and he asks Gandalf a great question: “Will everything sad come untrue?” The Kingdom message is that Christ (because of his death and resurrection) is setting things right again—making everything sad come untrue.The church is to live in such a way that it offers evidence of the in-breaking reign of God and serves as the practical instrument by which God is making everything sad come untrue. There is an optimism that should naturally follow from the perspective that “our God reigns” (see Isaiah 52:7). Sadly, this optimism is, in my estimation, largely missing from the evangelical church in America. Many Christians seem to live and think as if Christ has been overcome by the world rather than vice versa (see John 16:33), or that the gates of hell do indeed prevail against the church. Perhaps by recovering the biblical mission of the church as participation in God’s unrelenting reign, we can once again be a people who live as more than those who are barely surviving!So, understanding the church is not the kingdom of God but rather its ambassador, how does the church represent the mission of God in the world? The biblical narrative seems to outline a threefold approach. One, the church demonstrates what life looks like under the reign of God within a distinct community; two, the church serves the world by making disciples, doing justice, and meeting human needs through compassion and mercy, thereby setting right what sin has set wrong. Finally, the church proclaims the message of the risen Christ as the only means by which one may enter the kingdom of God.Given that “service” and “proclamation” are fairly self-explanatory, I want to focus on what I believe is both the church’s greatest weakness and her greatest challenge: demonstrating the reign of God within a distinct community. Because as George Hunsberger, professor of missiology and director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, puts it, “Before the church is called to do or say anything, it is called and sent to be a unique community of those who live under the reign of God” (Missional Church, Darrell L. Guder, Ed. [Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI], 1998). In a radically individualistic culture, reinforced by a privatized notion of the gospel, this may be the contemporary American church’s greatest obstacle to the missio Dei.Jesus’ invitation is to enter the kingdom of God. Practically, this means we are saved out of our alienation from God and others and into the community of God’s people. Recall that the Great Commission given by Jesus was to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …” (Matt. 28:19 ESV). Jesus is stressing the conversion of individuals through relationships (i.e., make disciples), followed by their being joined to the body of Christ through baptism. There is a profoundly corporate sense to the gospel of the kingdom.For example, in Ephesians 2:12–16 (ESV) Paul stresses that the Gentiles who were once alienated from “the commonwealth of Israel” (God’s covenant people) have been brought near “by the blood of Christ” that “he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross” (emphasis mine). Again you see the corporate nature of God’s redemptive plan that carries forward from national Israel to form a new covenant people (the church) out of both the Jew and Gentile into the new Israel or children of God.At the conclusion of chapter 2 (vv. 20–22 ESV) Paul writes, “Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (emphasis mine). Again, the emphasis is on the corporate nature of God’s redemptive purposes.One commentator writes: “The last verse … reminds the readers of the enormous privilege that they are part of this whole construction. They are incorporated in the building, the one universal church, which God makes his dwelling by the Spirit. And they are incorporated in it precisely by union with Christ, in whom all things are being brought into the cosmic harmony and peace enabled by reconciliation inaugurated at the cross” (Missional Church).This community is not merely the social gathering of a people with common beliefs and values, but rather a people who display proof of God’s redemptive work in the world through obedience to Christ’s commands. This proof flows forth from converted individuals whose transformation is authenticated through their interaction with each other. This community, the church, is intended to bear testimony to the restoration of fellowship with God and each other—a community of self-sacrificing love and support that stands in stark contrast to the fallen world. Jesus himself established this as the authenticating fact of our faith when he said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV). Was this not the preeminent testimony of the first-century church in which “they had all things in common”?As Americans, we enter the church with nearly overpowering individualistic inclinations. We come with and cling to expectations and demands that are centered on ourselves. We want people to talk to us but we are unwilling to talk to strangers. We have a myriad of personal preferences that we impose on the church about worship styles, music, and the like. We grade the pastor on whether or not he has met our needs through his sermon. And we certainly aren’t interested in anyone getting in our business! We don’t humbly submit to one another. We argue and divide over inconsequential issues. We attack those outside our theological framework and we rarely listen to those with whom we disagree. Often our attitudes and actions toward each other are shameful and bring disgrace on the name of Christ.We simply do not fulfill this essential part of God’s mission because we fail to demonstrate the reign of God within this authenticating community. If we don’t get this right, our service will remain indistinguishable from any other and our proclamation of the risen Christ will appear shallow and without basis. If we want to be faithful witnesses to the King who has come and is coming again, we must repent of our self-centered individualism that thwarts the authenticating community of God’s people and humbly submit to one another.
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Monday, September 12, 2011 | 15:55 PMIn the first part of this series I addressed the changing cultural context in which the contemporary American church exists by contrasting historic Christendom (that system, which arose under Constantine) with today’s post-Christian culture. I argued that despite its obvious eclipse, the American church still largely operates under the old assumptions of Christendom. Practically, this means that we continue to function as if Christianity—in its institutional forms—still occupies a central place in society.These assumptions have maintained the Constantinian or church-centered understanding of mission. Under the institutionalized church-centric model, the church’s de facto mission was focused mostly on recruiting “members” through evangelism while “mission” was understood to be a program of the church. The goal or mission really settled on the institutional maintenance of the local church, whose success or failure was inevitably, and I dare say exclusively, measured by the number of members. However, as I pointed out earlier, “the church of Jesus Christ is not the purpose or goal of the gospel, but rather its instrument and witness.” This brings us to our second question: What exactly is the church’s mission?In order to answer this question, we must first accurately define the gospel or “good news.” I say accurately because I think many Christians, particularly in our highly individualized culture, have come to view the gospel as simply the personal plan of salvation. The modern emphasis tends toward “fixing the sin problem” in terms that are entirely personal. However, the Scriptures speak in a much more comprehensive way that goes beyond the private version of the gospel that we have come to know in the West.Matthew records the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and message with these words, “Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt. 4:17). In Matthew 24:14 Jesus himself describes the gospel in relation to “the kingdom” when he says “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world….” Matthew describes Jesus’ ministry as follows: “And Jesus went about all Galilee … preaching the gospel of the kingdom…” (4:23). Matthew reiterates this theme again in chapter 9 verse 35 when he writes, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages … preaching the gospel of the kingdom….” Jesus told his disciples to “preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt 10:7). Mark writes, “after John [the Baptist] was put in prison, Jesus came…preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (1:14). Philip “preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12). Paul and Barnabas encouraged new believers to “continue in the faith…saying ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God’” (14:22). Paul appeared in the synagogue in Ephesus “reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God” (19:8). Paul, writing about his own ministry said, “I have gone preaching the kingdom of God” (20:25). While under house arrest, Paul received many visitors to whom he “testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus…” (28:23, 31). (Emphasis mine; NKJV.)In fact, the New Testament record reveals that Jesus mentions the kingdom 108 times while only mentioning being born again once. This single occurrence took place during his conversation with Nicodemus when he was explaining the spiritual transformation that must occur in order to see the kingdom of God.As Norman Perrin points out is his book Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus, “The central aspect of the teaching of Jesus was that concerning the Kingdom of God. Of this there can be no doubt…. Jesus appeared as one who proclaimed the Kingdom; all else in his message and ministry serves a function in relation to that proclamation and derives its meaning from it.”Clearly, by his own words and the testimony of the apostles, Jesus was preaching the good news that through him God’s reign has come. The gospel or good news is the fact that in Christ the reign of God is at hand and is now breaking into the world. His kingdom, which has come, continues to come forth and will be fully consummated on the day of Christ’s return. This is the good news, which offers both a future and present hope to sinners and the whole of God’s creation!This may raise more questions than it answers, most notably, “What is the kingdom or reign of God?” While a definitive answer to this question is not given in Scripture, we are given some insight through the teachings of Jesus. First, Jesus makes clear that the kingdom has come; when speaking to the Pharisees he said “…the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28 NKJV). Again, the commission given to the apostles was to preach that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7 NKJV). This statement is taken to mean that kingdom of the Messiah, who is the Lord, is now to be set up according to the Scriptures.Throughout the parables, Jesus uses the preface, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” to describe the character and nature of God’s ruling reign, which offers a sign and foretaste of the world to come. The Old Testament’s prophetic forecast of the coming day of God envisions a world characterized by peace, justice, and celebration in which the full prosperity of the people of God living under the covenant of God’s demanding care and compassionate rule is realized. The picture given is one of a world full of peace grounded in justice.In Jesus’ very first sermon, recorded by Luke, he enters the synagogue in Nazareth where he had been raised and, taking the book of Isaiah, quotes the following passage:The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18–19 ESV).Upon conclusion he closes the book, sits down, and when every eye is “fixed on Him” he says, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21 NKJV). Jesus is describing the kingdom of God in which all that has resulted from sin and the fall is being restored. The call upon humanity is to repent of their sins and accept the Lordship of Christ that they might enter the kingdom and be saved.It is the reign of God—this full gospel—that the church is sent into the world to bring forth as God’s instrument, and to which it bears witness in its life and community. The reign of God applies to the whole of creation, including society and culture, in which the church demonstrates life under the reign of God within a distinct community, serves the world through compassion and mercy, and proclaims the risen Christ as the only means by which one may enter the kingdom of God.Next week we will wrestle with the question of the church’s mission—but under a theocentric or God-centered perspective, now that we have broadened our definition of the gospel.
