What Does The Bible Say About Church and Culture pt. 5
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Embracing the Kingdom
As I’ve mentioned last week, the main job of the church is to Embrace, Display, and Proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. But the question is “How do we embrace this mission?”
Can anyone tell me what an ambassador does? An ambassador represents goes to another country, resides within that nation, and points the people of that country to the nation which they represent. They speak on behalf of the country they represent.
Do ambassadors actively go out into the streets of that country and in order to try and fix the country in which they are living? Do they actively go out and try to install social reform? Do they actively go out and try to turn that country into their home nation? No, Ambassadors represent a different nation and serve as liaisons between one nation to another. The ambassador represents their home nation in order to show their host country what life could be like if they were to embrace themselves after the home country. However, it is up to the Host country to adopt and establish guidelines, laws, and institutions to more closely model themselves to an ambassador's home country.
So as a Church, God uses us–as ambassadors– to make his appeal to the world through us. We as Christians represent God’s Kingdom, all the while living in the kingdoms of this world. As ambassadors, we are not called to actively change, modify, fix, or even improve the kingdoms of this world. God has called us to specifically serve as a means by which the world can come to know a better kingdom than the kingdoms of this world. In fact, God uses meek and vulnerable people like ourselves to spread this good news not only as a free gift but also as a gift that can be rejected by those who want nothing to do with this superior kingdom.
We will get into some more specifics here in a few minutes, but what is important to remember is that God has not abandoned or forsaken his creation. God has called us to represent a different kind of living and a different kind of Kingdom that we already get to be a part of if we choose to accept it.
As the church, we are to embrace the facts that:
We have already entered into a new era in world history (Matt 4:17, 2 Tim 4:1, Luke 17:20-21, Gal 4:4-5, Heb 4:3, 10-11, Luke 12:54-56)
We have already entered into a new world reality (1 John 2:17, 1 Cor 7:29-31 2 Cor 5:17, 1 John 2:8, James 1:18)
We have already entered into a new life (Rom 6:11, John 5:24, John 3:15-16, John 10:10, John 4:10, 1 Pet 1:23)
We have already entered into a new social reality and a set of relationships (2 Cor 5:16-18, Eph 2:1-17, Gal 3:28, Eph 2:11-15, 1 John 1:7, Eph 1:13-15)
We have already entered into a new way of living (John 15:3, 1 John 1:7, Col 3:9-11, Gal 3:27, Titus 3:5, 2 John 1:2, 2 Cor 4:16)
Does this sound too good to be true? Does this sound like something that can’t actually happen? Why?
However, God’s better world is exactly what we choose to accept and adopt when we enter into Christ and the church. It’s not something far off that we will only get to experience in heaven. In fact, God wants us to embrace and accept this gift NOW so that we can properly display and proclaim His Kingdom to the world. So we are called to embrace this good news that we are already a part of God’s Kingdom and that we have already experienced a piece of what the fullness of that kingdom will look like. Now we just have to display this kingdom to others so that they may be able to enjoy it as well.
Displaying God's Kingdom
Who/what does the Bible describe as the ones who represent God’s Kingdom? The Church, the Body of Christ, Christ's followers.
Who has God called to live in a way that is different from the world? The church
Who has God tasked with embracing, displaying, and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God? The church.
Who are we–the church– called to love?
Read the following passages and notice who is being talked about here and who is called to love who?
John 13:34-35 John 15:12-23 John 15:17-19
Rom 12:9-10 Rom 14:15 Gal 5:13-15
Eph 1:15 Eph 4:1-3 Eph 4:15-16
Col 1:4 Col 3:14-15 1 Thess 4:9-12
2 Thess 1:3 Phlm 1:4-5 Heb 6:10
1 Pet 1:22 1 Pet 2:17 1 Pet 4:8
1 John 3:23 1 John 4:7-12 1 John 4:17-21
Was I cherry-picking these passages? Am I taking these out of context?
These passages were chosen because they cover such a large swath of the NT that it is prevalent throughout the entire NT and not just a select few books or letters.
So, what patterns do we see with this? How does the NT describe who we are to love? Who are we called to prioritize? The Bible describes that we are called to love “one another,” “brothers and sisters” of the faith, and those who belong to the church/ body of Christ.
What is the difference between me saying “We are called to prioritize a group of people” vs “We are called to ignore a group of people”?
Am I asking you to ignore a group of people or am I asking us to prioritize a group of people?
When it comes to fellow believers, LOVE is the ultimate rule. When it came to non-believers, or people outside of the Body of Christ, independence and practicing acceptable standards of behavior or morals prevailed. The early church did not feel responsible for the condition or the overall direction of their wider society as a whole. Instead, they felt a deep responsibility towards one another and to fellow believers found throughout the world. When it comes to love in the New Testament, nearly every interaction means, with the exception of “love for one's enemy,” love for one’s brother or sister in the faith. Specifically, the love of Christians for one another, is what is described throughout the biblical text.
What level of love is the Bible describing? A Superficial, token, “love everyone” kind of love? Or does it describe a deeper, authentic, real love?
Can we practice the real, authentic, love that you practice with your spouse, children, loved ones, with total strangers? Why or why not?
Now just because we can’t love them with a deep love, does that mean we should completely ignore them?
The Kind of love that the NT wants us to practice is a deep, authentic love for those within the body of Christ. It is love for one another, the saints, God’s chosen that we are called to love. The NT seems clear that it emphasizes love for one another and NOT love for all people everywhere. So, I can sense some uneasiness, some tension. But keep holding on with me for just a second. Once again, I am not talking about shutting ourselves off from the world and only caring about ourselves. I am not asking anybody to ignore the non-Christians in our lives. In fact in our final two sessions, we will talk about why this isolation from the world is actually the opposite of what this new idea is talking about.
Next week we will talk about some counter-examples like:
“Love your neighbor” the Good Samaritan, and Love your enemy.
So bring your thoughts and Bible passages that say we should love EVERYONE EVERYWHERE and we will talk about them next week.