Between Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the Bible says He spent 40 days with His disciples. What do you think He taught them during those 40 days? Luke tells us in Acts 1:3, “…He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”
This Scripture seems to jump off the page to me. If Jesus knew that the Church was about to launch from the Upper Room in Jerusalem and spread throughout the world, and if He understood that for the next 2,000 years, the Church will be the vehicle which God displays His glory and brings His plan of redemption, then why would He not spend those 40 days talking about the Church?
I believe the answer is because Jesus understood the priority of God’s ultimate agenda. In Reggie McNeal’s wonderful book, Kingdom Come, he explains how God has always had two narratives…the Church and the Kingdom. The problem is that we fixate on the Church when our true focus should be the Kingdom of God. The Church is not eternal, it will one day end with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). But the Kingdom of God is eternal. It will never end! Therefore, the Kingdom is not made for the Church ,but the Church is made for Kingdom purposes. When the Church overshadows God’s Kingdom, it causes us to get out of balance in what we value and prioritize.
Didn’t Jesus teach us in Matthew 6:33 that we should, “…Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…”? When we get our focus straight, our priorities will then become that of God’s, which is His Kingdom. This is so important to us who love the Church because if we are not careful, our tendency is to build our own kingdom. As a pastor, I am constantly aware of this temptation. It takes so much energy to manage and lead a church it becomes all too easy to get consumed in our ministries, programs, vision and agenda.
Look at how much competition there are among churches. Could this be one of the reasons Churches are reluctant to work together? Are we territorial and therefore reclusive? This shouldn’t be among God’s people! The remedy to this problem is to re-align our focus on the Kingdom rather than our local assembly. When we do this, then we are able to set aside our ego and resist the temptation to become territorial. We become this way when we want to build our own work for our own pride. A Church cannot be terriortial when it is engaged in true, Biblical Kingdom work!
The Kingdom Defined
Did you know that the word, “Church:, which is Ekkelsia, meaning “to gather” and “called out”, is only mentioned 3 times in the Gospels? Yet the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” is mentioned 31 times (In Matthew alone) and the phrase “Kingdom of God” is mentioned 51 times throughout the Gospels? Clearly the emphasis is on the Kingdom of God. By the way, the terms Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are synonymous, having the same meaning.
So what exactly is the Kingdom of God? Simply put, it is the reign and rule of God. So when someone repents from their sin and looks to the Lord, that is the reign of God taking place in their life. When someone lets go of anger or bitterness or someone confesses faults to others, or we let go of pride and arrogance, that is the rule and reign of God taking effect. Another good way of describing the Kingdom of God is to say that it is the life, healing and restoration of God coming to the earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:10).
The Church’s purpose is to gather, equip, edify and send out. But for what purpose are we sent? The purpose is to bring the life, healing and restoration of God’s Kingdom to our community. If we are indeed Ambassadors, as Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:20, then I must ask myself, what am I representing to my city? Do I only represent my Church? How foolish if I only represent my Church’s name, culture, songs, our way of doing things? This temptation is very real and comes with high consequences. If I am indeed an Ambassador of Christ, then that means I must represent His Kingdom (not my church). His Kingdom should be my focus, my agenda and my priority.
The Kingdom Empowered
Jesus promised that His Spirit would empower us. He said that we would receive power to be His “witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This links to us being Ambassadors. How can we be empowered to be His witnesses if we stay within the four walls of our Church? How can we be empowered to bring life, healing and restoration if we gather with the same people week in and week out?
No! We are called and empowered to take the Kingdom of God to our city! What happened in Acts 2 when the Church was launched? They didn’t sit in the Upper Room and come back for an evening meeting. No! They went out and preached the Gospel. Their message spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Why? Because Jesus spent those precious 40 days teaching them about the Kingdom of God. We would do well to shape our thinking, our preaching and our way of doing Church to the same type of Kingdom mindset Christ taught in Acts 1:3.
So where do we miss it? As someone who leads a church, I know where I often miss it. Too much energy, money and time goes into our weekly gatherings rather than building the kingdom of God. Look at the books published on church growth. You can even hire “Church Consultants” to come in and analyze your church and community to show you how to target certain demographics so that you can grow in numbers. Is this what Christ meant when He promised to give us the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses? No doubt we are missing it!
Where do we go from Here?
I am seeing everywhere I look how God is leading His Church back to prayer and relying on the Holy Spirit. There are more prayer gatherings taking place today than any other time I have seen. I was with a pastor yesterday that was telling me about his prayer gatherings. I was curious about a church in my city that I looked up their website this morning and was so pleased to see how deeply they focus on prayer.
Yes, God is doing a great work in His Church, because God has always had great plans for His Church. Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, that the “Gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.” I have found this faithful through my pastoral ministry. However, we who love the Church need to be reminded that God has another narrative, and that is His Kingdom.
So much frustration, discouragement and competition would be eliminated if we followed Christ’s command in Matthew 6:33. If God’s people will seek first God’s Kingdom and resist the temptation to build our own kingdom, we will see His will be done on this earth as it is in Heaven.