As we continue thinking about the kingdom of God and what it is and what it means to be a citizen of that kingdom, we turn again to writings of Dr. Scot McKnight to aid us.
Having established the centrality of love (for one another, for God, and for our neighbors), we next see that the kingdom works outward from the church to the greater community. The church establishes justice, peace and reconciliation among its own people first and then that kind of justice, peace and reconciliation spill over naturally into the community. Again, kingdom-mission churches aren’t just committed to justice in the public sector but seek to embody it especially among one another in the local church fellowship. What we learn there will spill over for the common good as the only way kingdom-mission people know how to live (McKnight).
The ideals of justice, peace, and reconciliation are ones that are easily agreed to in principle. The living them out part? Not so much. Christians should work to see these pursued in the wider culture. However, they must first seek to inculcate these values within the church first. Right now, we are in a season of history where the light is being turned onto the church and what is found in the dark runs contrary to these goals. How can we expect to bring them into our community when too often abuse and wrong is covered up in the church and our fellowship is not marked by unity, love and forgiveness but strife, division, and bitterness? Judgement begins with the house of God and we need a spirit of repentance within the church, so that the kingdom would be established in us and then overflow to the world. Too often, we want to try to bring these things into the greater community when they are not being experienced and lived out in our own lives and fellowship first.
If we are seeing love, justice, peace and reconciliation at work in our church, we cannot avoid - because of God’s grace and power at work - being people of “good works” in the public sector (McKnight). Good works are not bad when properly understood and not made to serve purposes for which they were not intended. The Bible has plenty to say about good works. Here are just a few:
- Paul - “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” - Ephesians 2:10
- Peter - “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” - 1 Peter 2:11-12
- Jesus - “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:16
Good works are not the foundation of our salvation; that is the work of Christ. But they most definitely are meant to flow from the foundation. They are what we do in our community. They are to be seen (note Peter and Jesus above), not for our glory but for our Father’s glory. They adorn the truth we proclaim because they demonstrate the resurrection power of Christ at work.
And so we must ask ourselves two questions, saints. First, do we see growing evidence of the kingdom's realities of love, justice, peace and reconciliation flourishing in our midst? If not, then repentance is what is required, knowing our King extends grace to us in our failures. Second, do we see our experience of the kingdom in our fellowship overflowing in good works/deeds to those in our neighborhoods and cities? This is often where there is a breakdown. Again, if we see failure or lack here, the right response is repentance and a plea for the Spirit to drive us out of our holy gatherings into the world. O, would the Spirit work to grow in us these kingdom ideals that would overflow in such an abundance of good works that even those who are not believers, would give glory to our great God!
