We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

people-enjoying-rock-concert-with-heartshape-hand-gesture

The All-or-Nothing of Kingdom Living

Nothing is more central to the kingdom of God than agreeing with God about every person’s unsurpassable worth and reflecting this in how we act toward them. Nothing is more important that living in Christlike love for all people at all times. In fact, compared to love, nothing else really matters in the kingdom.

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says that all the most impressive religious and humanitarian activity in the world is completely worthless, except insofar as it expresses love. Let’s explore these.

A person may speak in tongues—even the glorious tongues of angels—but if his speaking isn’t motivated by love, it’s just religious noise.

A person may have the gift of prophecy and be able to proclaim the word of God in ways that dazzle audiences and build incredible mega churches. But if the use of these gifts isn’t motivated by love, they are, from a kingdom perspective, utterly worthless.

It doesn’t make a least bit of difference that a person has breathtaking insight into all mysteries or that they posses all knowledge. This would undoubtedly impress crowds and maybe even get them on the cover of your favorite Christian magazine, but if they aren’t motivated by a desire to ascribe unsurpassable worth to all people at all times, it’s meaningless.

Nor does it matter that a person has faith such that they can command mountains to be relocated and the mountains actually obey. This sort of miracle-working ability would certainly land them a nice spot on Christian television and would undoubtedly make them an excellent fund-raiser. But, according to Paul, it’s complete devoid of value unless it’s fueled by an agreement with God that every person alive is worth God himself dying for.

Finally, and perhaps most surprising, even if a person gives every single thing they own to the poor and endures great hardships in the course of their ministry, if there actions aren’t motivated by a love that looks like Jesus dying on the cross, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Let me go so far as to say this: If this is true about love—if the kingdom is nothing without it—then it seems to me we should regard the command to love to be the ultimate test of orthodoxy. To fail to love like Jesus is the worst form of heresy, regardless of how true one’s beliefs are. Demons believe true things, James tells us, but their true beliefs are worthless because they are not accompanied with works that reflect God’s love.

Love is the all-or-nothing of kingdom living. The “only thing that counts,” Paul says, is faith expressing itself through love.” We are to “do everything in love,” he says. Love is the primary expression of the kingdom life. Where God truly reigns in an individual or community, they will look like Jesus, sacrificially ascribing unsurpassable worth to all people, no ifs, ands, or buts.

—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Religion, pages 51-52, 60-61

Photo via VisualHunt.com

Category:
Tags: ,
Verse:

Related Reading

A Kingdom Not of This World

Bruxy Cavey spoke at Woodland Hills Church back in May as a part of the Tapestry series, and this is a little snippet of his sermon. It’s a wonderful description of the Anabaptist approach to politics. Take a look!

Responding to Critics of a Pacifist View of the Syrian Crisis-Part 2

United Nations Photo via Compfight Yesterday I posted a response to Tyler Tully’s criticism of some of my thoughts on the Syrian crisis. The second blog I’d like to review is  Two Friars and a Fool by Aric Clark. Like Tully, Aric approved of much of what I said, but also like Tully, he raised several…

Can you have an Anabaptist Mega-Church?

Several times over the last few years I’ve heard statements like this: “Boyd may embrace an Anabaptist theology, but his church (Woodland Hills) cannot be, by definition, an Anabaptist church because an Anabaptist church can’t be a mega-church.” I’ve heard similar things about our sister church, The Meeting House, in Toronto Canada.  The reasoning behind these…

Topics:

The One True Source

In the weeks to come, I’d like to share some thoughts on each of the nine convictions (expressed in A ReKnew Manifesto) that ReKnew seeks to promote. The ReKnew team is convinced that this “Manifesto” articulates aspects of the Kingdom that were largely neglected or misconstrued in traditional Christianity, but that will characterize the new Kingdom…

How We Are Defined

 Burstein! via Compfight Zack Hunt wrote a piece called Abortion, Gay Marriage, Immigration, Gun Control, and the Church over at A Deeper Story. He points out that we have a big problem on our hands when it comes to the ways we have come to be defined by these issues. Christians are primarily defined in…

The Purpose of the Church

Unlike most social groups, the relationships forged in the body of Christ are not ends in and of themselves. Rather, Christ calls us to unite with other believers for a unique purpose: to grow in, express and advance the kingdom revolution. We can gain clearer understanding of what the church is to be about by…

Topics: