Hello all! This is Dave Scherrer. The last time we were together here at Backyard Conversations, the case was made that there was a need to address failure of the modern church to pay proper attention to the central theme of the person, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ. We spoke at length in our last blog about this failure to celebrate and advance the Kingdom of God by reflecting on the Kingdom Manifesto as presented by the New Zealand author Brian Hathaway.

Here at One Hundred-Fold Ministries, we recognize that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has come to Earth with the advent of Jesus’ birth here. Remember the Christmas songs? Where the herald Angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King”? It all started way back then. This Divine King came to establish His Kingdom. He came to rescue us, who are held hostage by this fallen world and the false king, the Devil, and defeat the consequence of sin.

So I want to build on this idea of the Kingdom Manifesto.

There are so many misconceptions and outright falsehoods about the Kingdom of God. Let me try – on a single sheet of paper, so to speak, to give the theological basics of what God
has been doing to magnify His glory through the establishment of the Kingdom with Jesus as King. See how this sits with you . . .

First let’s start with those misconceptions we were speaking about:

Here is a short list of what the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not:

It is not merely a place to go when I die besides hell.

It is not merely the church we see today.

It is not a ‘restored’ Israel.

It is not merely the so called “Plan of Salvation” that goes somewhat like this:

• God Is loving, personal and holy (and has a wonderful plan for your life)
• But I (all) have sinned and thus my relationship with him is broken and I cannot fix it with my good works. The wages (consequence) of this sinful state is death and judgement
• Jesus came to earth to die for me on the cross, to pay for my debt of sin (a ‘ransom’ of sorts) in order to buy me back to himself because he loves me
• If I accept him into my heart/life, I can be forgiven and have a personal relationship with Jesus, live an abundant life and will get to go to heaven

This ”Plan of Salvation,” while all true, leaves out much of the central and essential truths of the full expression of the Kingdom Gospel and lends itself to false impressions regarding the so called ‘outcomes’ of this plan. For instance:

• God does indeed love me, but his wonderful plan includes renouncing the world and experiencing suffering for the sake of His Kingdom. His wonderful plan does not promise comfort, pleasure, convenience, health, wealth, or raw happiness.
• Jesus did indeed come to earth to save, but it is not the only reason and is not even the primary reason he came. He came to establish His kingdom. My personal salvation is a happy collateral consequence of this reality.
• “Accepting Jesus into my heart” is a non-biblical (as distinguished from unbiblical) term. While our salvation is indeed described as a free (unearned) gift, our salvation is better understood as ‘yielding’ or ‘surrendering’ to Jesus’ authority – no longer following our will or the world’s will. The verbiage of me ‘accepting Jesus into my heart’ seems like I’m in control and somewhat doing Jesus a favor
• We indeed will have the consequence (debt) of our sins forgiven, and my abundant life does indeed begin now (we don’t need to wait for Heaven to experience abundant life), but this abundance isn’t how we think of it from a worldly perspective. It will be a redefined abundance of Jesus’ presence and a manifestation of the fruit of His Spirit, not worldly comforts. And those of us found in Christ will indeed go to Heaven, but that is a very confusing idea beset with all kinds of misconceptions and is not really the point.

Gordon D. Fee reminds us . . . “the primary goal of salvation is an eschatological (Dr Fee is referring to an eternal future with this term) people, who together live the life of the future in the present age as they await the final consummation.” (Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God)

This reduced gospel of personal salvation has Jesus as a really good friend or just the kindly father (true -Ish) who loves you and rescues you, but the story is incomplete! And the result is that those who embrace this ‘plan’ without full knowledge of what they are embracing, when they then experience hardships and so-called unanswered prayer – may say things like, “I tried Jesus – It didn’t work.”

The one-page definition of the Kingdom of God and its corresponding gospel follows:

From before time, according to the council of the Triune Godhead, it was deemed that creation and, more specifically, the creation of a being made in the image of God would increase the glory of the Godhead. This created being, formed from the dust of the earth, and breathed into with life by God Himself, was declared to be not just good, but very good. Humankind would be a free will, image-bearing being. The unbridled worship of Man and Woman and their descendants (“be fruitful and multiply”) would be offered to God freely of their own happy volition, before the throne of God for all eternity. They would co-rule according to the ordinances of God, over all the earth. And in all this the Glory of the Triune is magnified!

However, as Genesis 3 tells us, this hope was crushed with the disobedient actions of this man and woman in response to the serpent’s lies. The plan was seemingly undone. When these image bearers chose rebellion, choosing to instead place themselves in authority over their lives, the possibility of this Kingdom was seemingly lost.

But God from before time understood that a redeemed-free will-image bearing being would magnify the glory of the Godhead even more! Anticipated in the creation account and embedded in every Old Testament book is the story of this redemptive work on God’s part to establish this Kingdom of redeemed, free will image bearers, who magnify the glory of God.

When God’s covenants failed with Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and the nation of Israel, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ. His obedient life, resulting in His death on the Cross, became the instrument of redemption for these previously condemned souls.

The advent of God’s Son represents the inauguration of the Kingdom of God under His rule and reign. It was codified upon His ascension as anticipated in Daniel 7 where the Son of Man was coronated as King with authority over all things! Jesus now rules with absolute, unchallenged authority, waiting for the Father to declare the time of judgement is at hand (Revelation 5). Then, the Son will return to call His kingdom to himself and to judge those who refuse to yield to his authentic rule and reign.

This offered redemption gives each of us a choice. We can continue to embrace the fallen world with its failed values and reap the deadly consequences, or we can repent – meaning that we renounce our allegiance to the ‘world’ and all its follies – and instead, pledge allegiance to Christ the King and live according to the laws of the New Covenant of the Kingdom of God. Our repentance is not so much sadness for personal sin as it is a change of mind (allegiance) of my entire will, with a heart and mind and soul commitment.

For the next several times you connect with One Hundred-Fold Ministries at Backyard Conversations, we will be giving you some handles to this very big idea so that you can begin living it in the here and now!

Peace to you and don’t forget to check out our homepage for some more resources! This is Dave Scherrer and thanks for connecting here in our backyard for this conversation!