We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
The Radically Distinct Kingdom of God
Yesterday, we posted a video where Greg mentioned the radical distinction between the kingdom of God and the governments of the world. The following explains this distinction further.
Nothing is more important to the cause of the kingdom of God than actually living out a Christlike vision of the kingdom. Or to put it in another way, nothing is more important than keeping the kingdom of God distinct from the kingdom of the world. We do this both in our thinking and in our acting. To keep holy means set apart, consecrated, and distinct.
Not everything about the kingdom of the world is bad. Insofar as versions of the world use their power of the sword to preserve and promote law, order and justice, they are good. But the kingdom of the world, by definition can never be the kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter that we judge it good because it stands for the principles we deem righteous. No version of the kingdom of the world, however comparatively good it may be, can protect its self-interests while loving its enemies, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, or blessing those who persecute it.
Yet loving our enemies and blessing those who persecute us is precisely what kingdom-of-God citizens are called to do. It’s what it means to be Christian. By definition, therefore, you can no more have a Christian worldly government than you can have a Christian petunia or aardvark. A nation may have noble ideals and be committed to just principles, but it’s not for this reason Christian.
This distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world entails that a kingdom-of-God citizen must never align any particular version of the kingdom of the world with the kingdom of God. We may firmly believe one version to be better than another, but we must not conclude that this better version is therefore closer to the kingdom of God than the worse version.
If we think in this fashion, we are comparing apples with oranges, and Calvary with petunias and aardvarks.
Now, a vision of the kingdom of the world that effectively carries out law, order, and justice is indeed closer to God’s will for the kingdom of the world. Decent, moral people should encourage this as much as possible, whatever their religious faith might be.
But no version of the kingdom of the world is closer to the kingdom of God than others because it does its job relatively well. For God’s kingdom looks like Jesus, and no amount of sword-wielding, however just it may be, can ever get a person, government, nation, or world closer to that.
The kingdom of God is not an ideal version of the kingdom of the world. It’s not something that any version of the kingdom of the world can aspire toward or be measured against. The kingdom of God is a completely distinct, alternative way of doing life.
—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Nation, pages 53-55
Photo credit: Eyesplash – Summer was a blast, for 6 million view via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND
Category: General
Tags: Enemy Love, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of this World, Nationalism, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Related Reading
Black Lives Matter, the Police, and Spiritual Warfare
Christ calls us to stand for a different kind of kingdom and this requires that we think in different ways about the violence that is gripping our country. In this short clip from Greg’s sermon this last weekend, we are introduced to a different way. Listen and hear the challenge to understand the deeper reality…
Absolute Truth and Violence
A common argument today against Christianity is that believing that Jesus (or any other religious figure or religion) is the only way to God (See yesterday’s post) is “dangerous.” This claim actually has some justification, for it is undeniable that most of the butchery carried out throughout history has been done in the name of defending…
Was Jesus Unloving Towards the Pharisees?
Some claim that Jesus spoke to religious leaders in ways that did not reflect the love of the cross. In his climatic encounter with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, Jesus’ words were undeniably harsh. He calls the Pharisees “hypocrites,” “blind guides,” “blind fools,” “snakes” and “a brood of vipers” (Mt 23:13, 15, 16,17, 19, 23,…
Why Racial Reconciliation Matters
In Psalm 72, the author prays for a day when “all kings” would “bow down” to God’s anointed and when “all nations” would “serve him” (vs. 11). At this time, the Psalmist continues, God’s king will deliver “the needy who cry out” and save “the afflicted who have no one to help.” He will “take…
Uncrossed
Did any of you catch SNL this weekend? They did a parody of Tarantino’s DJango Unchained called DJesus Uncrossed. Many were deeply offended by the depiction of Jesus in this, but David R. Henson blogged about how this skit revealed what we’ve already been doing for quite a while as a culture. In his blog…
Will Violence against ISIS Root Out Evil?
Image by arbyreed via Flickr Fallen humans tend to identify their own group as righteous and any group that opposes them as evil. If they were not evil, we tend to believe, no conflict would exist. Hence, the only way to end the conflict is to rid the world of this evil. This is the age-old “myth…