We’re discussing Scot McKnight’s latest book Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church
We skip a bit ahead, so we can talk about —
First, kingdom mission admits the primacy of evangelism but sees the locus of the social dimension to be first and foremost in the church as a witness to the world.
(p. 153). Now, many will not like this conclusion because it’s so, you know, obvious. No one gets published or honored for stating the obvious. And very nearly every pewsitter has this figured out already. It’s the intellectuals who sniff at mere evangelism and want to push another agenda first.
And it’s not that evangelism is the only kingdom work. It’s not. But it’s foremost. After all, the only way the borders of the kingdom will be expanded is by bringing more people into the kingdom.
Earlier, Scot made the point that the Old Testament promise of the land — the Promised Land as inheritance — has been changed in Jesus. No longer does a physical temple define the location of the kingdom. Rather, now Jesus himself is our temple, and every church that honors him is a temple. And therefore, wherever a church is planted there is a temple and an inheritance.
And more converts and more churches means more temples and more land and more inheritance and more kingdom.
Sorry that I couldn’t make it more complicated. All those preachers and Bible class teachers who push evangelism have it right. Their methods may leave some room for improvement, but they are exactly right that we’ve been saved to bring salvation to others. Not just that, but especially that.
(Isa 52:7 ESV) 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
(Mat 28:19-20 ESV) 19 “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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Luk 24:45-47 ESV) 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
This brings us to —
Second, kingdom mission focuses on a multidimensional redemption among kingdom citizens.
(p. 155).
One of the tensions in the “story” of the Christian faith is that the characters of God’s Story have rebelled against God and decided they’d rather be gods and goddesses than be like God. With a variety of words — rebellion, infidelity, disloyalty, ingratitude, getting dirty, wandering, trespassing, transgressing, and failing — the Bible describes humans as sinners, and sinners need redemption. This redemption likewise can be described with a variety of words — if we are dirty, we need to be cleansed; if we rebel, we need to be subdued and brought into order; if we wander, we need to be found and returned to the path.
(p. 155). Redemption, therefore, is about more than atonement. It’s the cure for all the ails that sin brings.
Among these is captivity to evil spirits. Really. As we’ve covered here before, the scriptures plainly teach the presence of spiritual beings that are opposed to God. Our Enlightenment worldview begs us to reject such superstition, but our experience tells us that it’s true.
The New Testament evidence is so pervasive and clear that we are led to two options: either we embrace a cosmology in which there are diabolical spirits at work, or we don’t. Kingdom mission, I contend, embraces that cosmology. Therefore, kingdom mission seeks liberation and redemption from Satan and his minions. Kingdom mission is unafraid to name some forms of evil as deriving from Satan. It is also unafraid, then, to describe salvation as divine rescue from the clutches of Satan and to name that kind of salvation as ransom and liberation.
(pp. 155-156).
(Eph 6:12 ESV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Paul sure believed that the Roman dictatorship and pagan gods were only faces painted on cosmic powers working in opposition to God.
Therefore,
people are offered redemption from burden and guilt of sin, from the victimizing forces of Satan, and from the oppressive features of systemic evil to establish the kingdom community in the here and now. … Put differently, opposing the principalities and powers manifests itself first and foremost in a local church unaffected and uninfected by the evil systems of this world.
(p. 157) (emphasis in original). Hmm … that’s a tough one. It’s easy enough to envision Jesus and the cross standing against the principalities and powers, but my home church? Seriously? How would we do such a thing?
Third, kingdom mission, once again, is only partial redemption in the here and now.
(p. 157). And that doesn’t mean we piously await our redemption in the indefinite future. While it’s only partial now, it is at least partial now. Now. Therefore, while we don’t expect to see perfection in this life, and may well see defeats and struggles, on the whole, we should see progress.
God is on our side. We’ve been given of his Spirit. Jesus will be with us until the end of the world. We should — like Joshua and Caleb — when faced with giants choose faith.
It is suggested, “Therefore, while we don’t expect to see perfection in this life, and may well see defeats and struggles, on the whole, we should see progress.” The Way of Jesus is not always an easy way with obvious victories. We look forward to eternal LIFE with Jesus, and should realize that for now we’re struggling against many strong enemies and may not always see victory in every battle. But the conclusion is sure victory. So we continue to work FOR JESUS regardless of how little of victory we now see. It’s grand that there ARE good days and sometimes we win.