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Your Kingdom Come
A Kingdom Perspective on Embracing the Poor
By David Devenish
Bedford, UK
I have recently visited Beslan, in Southern Russia, which filled our television screens a few years ago.
I saw the burnt out school with pictures of the 334 children, teachers, parents, grandparents and ‘A lpha’ crack troops who were killed by terrorists in that terrible atrocity. I was silent, appalled, impacted by the caring and honouring way the memorial had been put together. In my heart there arose the cry ‘Father…Your kingdom come…on earth as it in heaven.’
It renewed in me a passion for the kingdom of God. Understanding our role in seeking, announcing, living and extending the kingdom, the dynamic rule of Jesus over this world, is the major Biblical foundation for what we call our ‘work amongst the poor’ or the ‘social action’ undertaken by our churches.
I had already seen one outworking of the kingdom expressed through the social action of our churches. I had preached at the first public service of our church plant in Vladikavkaz where I met with the team whose aim is to plant churches in Vladikavkaz and Beslan. Half were former drug addicts, some having been in prison, but now free through the power of Jesus in rehab programmes undertaken by our churches. Artur, a drug addict for fifteen years, had been in prison and his marriage had broken down. Now he is free. His former wife also became a believer and they have remarried each other, providing a stable home for their three children. He is now a radiant evangelist committed to Jesus, to his church and to extending the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 61 speaks of God’s favour and transforming power. It is not just about helping those in need; God intends them to become leaders and builders in the kingdom. Nor is it just about the materially poor and oppressed; all are oppressed by sin until transformed by the gospel. The materially poor are not different; they just present a starker picture of what God is doing in transforming lives. However, often the needy and oppressed are more aware of their need and turn to the Lord who delights to redeem them, set them free and catch them up in his purposes, ‘…oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour’ (Isa. 61:3).
In Newfrontiers we are totally committed to the preaching of the gospel being accompanied by social action. We believe this for a number of reasons:
• Part of Paul’s apostolic mandate was to ‘remember the poor’, the subject of a powerful prophetic message by Simon Pettit to our leadership conference in 1998 which has born much fruit. The context for Paul was the care of the poor within the Christian family, to be worked out within and between local churches, such as his appeal for support for the poorer believers in Judea. This was the Biblical basis for supporting Edward Buria’s care of the churches in Kenya through famine and the consequences of political disruption.
• It expresses unity between the churches: ‘For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings’
(Rom 15: 27).
• It is an outworking of the coming of the kingdom. God’s gracious rule was announced by Jesus and implemented by the early church who put into practice the principles behind the Old Testament year of Jubilee; ‘there were no needy persons amongst them’ (Acts 4: 34).
• It is a kingdom that begins as small as a mustard seed that grows into a mighty tree.
• It is not like any kingdom of this world, but a kingdom that is established in people’s hearts. Christ himself rules over this kingdom, which will outlast all others and reach its fulfilment when all things in heaven and on earth are ultimately brought together under the headship of Christ (Eph. 1:10). This is the goal of all history.
A Kingdom Vision
God’s intention is to see Christ’s kingdom rule established in the hearts of multitudes from every nation and tribe, people and language, and to see the benefits of his kingdom invade a world of darkness, sin, oppression and injustice. Many of the unreached people groups are numbered among the most marginalised in today’s world. God delights in catching us up in this exciting mission, seeing those who are held captive in sin, darkness and oppression redeemed and set free to be caught up in His glorious mission.
The church and the kingdom are not the same. The kingdom is wider than the church, but the church is part of the kingdom. It is where God’s rule is expressed in the hearts of His people. What then is the relationship of the church to the kingdom?
The church is the witness to the kingdom, pointing people to the King. Evangelising is key to building the kingdom, an absolute priority. The gospel is good news to the poor!
The church is the agent of the kingdom. When Jesus walked on the earth, he was the bringer of the kingdom. Now the church is the means by which God’s rule is extended throughout the world.
The church is the agent of God’s mission on earth. That mission is to preach the gospel of the kingdom; to bring all things under the dominion and headship of Christ. The goal will be achieved with Christ’s return, but our mission must be consistent with God’s purpose and Christ’s mission. Hence the church is always seeking to establish the kingdom in the world:
• By prayer: ‘Your kingdom come’
• By evangelism: ‘Be born again into the kingdom’
• By the good example of our lives: ‘Salt of the earth’
• By prophetic social action: ‘Good news to the poor’
The Prophetic Nature of the Kingdom
In embracing a deep concern for justice, and for the poor and the oppressed, the church is being prophetic in various ways.
First, it takes to heart the very themes that the Old Testament prophets identified with the coming reign of God:
• Justice – Amos 5: 24
• Absence of war (beating swords into ploughshares) – Isaiah 2:4
• Economic harmony (each one under his own vine and fig tree) – Micah 4:4
• The poor cared for – Isaiah 58:6–9
• Liberation for the oppressed – Isaiah 61:1
• Inter-generational harmony and safety in the city of God – Zechariah 8:4–5
• Nations coming together – Isaiah 19:23–24
Prophecies in the Old Testament proclaimed that the Messiah ‘will bring justice to the nations’ (Isa. 42:1) and ‘Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever’ (Isa. 9:7). The church’s missional call is to make Christ known so that all the nations acknowledge him, the God of justice who acts for the oppressed.
The church is to be a prophetic testimony to the kingdom that will come in all its fullness when Jesus returns. With Jesus’ death and resurrection the powers of the age to come have broken into this present age. When Jesus commissioned his followers to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ he declared that ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Matt. 28:18-19). Now we see evidences of the coming kingdom wherever the church is active; people being born again; drug addicts being set free; street children being cared for; justice administered where there is corruption, bribery and injustice; deliverance or healing.
Yet, God’s kingdom will come in all its fullness only with Christ’s return. Now we live between the already and the not yet – the kingdom is already in our midst but we do not yet experience it in its fullness. Our care for the poor and the oppressed is an anticipation of that future day, a prophetic demonstration.
When we extend the kingdom we experience the presence of the future! In the future kingdom there will be no sickness. Now, as we pray for the sick and they are healed, the future kingdom comes. In the future there will be no poverty, all will have enough to eat. Now, through our social action to care for the poor, we bring the future kingdom into the present.
Reaping a Harvest
Paul urged the Galatians, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers’ (Gal. 6:9-10).
We believe in an end-time glorious church so we must work hard at not separating church, mission and good works. As a core value every church is encouraged to embrace a kingdom-outworking of some kind in which real care for the poor and oppressed is expressed. Many examples can be found, focusing on the homeless, street children, the elderly, refugees, AIDS sufferers, drug rehabilitators, and ministries such as kids’ clubs and employment creation.
What I saw in Beslan made me sense the urgency of bringing in the kingdom of God. What I experienced in nearby Vladikavkaz was a tiny seed of God’s kingdom breaking in. That is how God's kingdom works; by sowing seeds that seem small but one day will become a tree and God's glory will fill the earth (Matt. 13: 32, Hab. 2:14). Each work amongst the poor is like a seed sown to the glory of God. Be encouraged, His kingdom will come! |
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