Jesus told us to pray for the “Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.” His primary message was about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is his universal rule over all people and the earth itself. He said the Kingdom is inside those who have entered the Kingdom through turning all we are and all we have over to his control and believing in him as the giver of eternal life through his sacrifice. There are many expressions Jesus used to describe this new life in him: converted, saved, born again, enter the Kingdom, turn around, disciple, follower, come after me, take up the way of death, be dipped n death, believe in me and others. This may mean a relationship with him is so dynamic that it is indescribable. Paul described us as the Body of Christ, him being the head, so our life in him can be viewed like a living organism. The primary quality of his body is LOVE which originates with his Spirit within his people who have been called from their little worlds of self interest to the grandeur of service in his Kingdom.
We are encouraged to gather as parts of his Body to spur one another on to love and good deeds. These gatherings are to be like boot camps, clinics, and general training facilities in which leaders equip Jesus’ people for their service in his Kingdom. Too much of our focus has been on the institutional success of the gatherings. Too often these gatherings have resembled business operations designed to serve themselves and sustain themselves more than groups of passionate servants of the Kingdom. Local congregational life was never intended to be an end in itself. When that happens I call it the Babel Syndrome (a spiritual malady I have struggled with most of my life) in which a “church growth” focus leads to “building a tower and making a name for ourselves.” The local congregation is a valued tool of God’s Kingdom but it must not become the conclusion. Jesus Kingdom on earth is the conclusion.
I spoke on the radio about this several years ago. I said, “The local church is not the Kingdom of God.” A retired pastor friend called me to talk. He asked if he heard me correctly. I said yes and his comment was profound. “If the local church is not the Kingdom, that changes everything.” Yes it does change everything. It means the Kingdom is not all about us. The assembly is about more than itself.
We are servants of the Kingdom of God and find local gatherings essential to Kingdom service. In voluntary submission to the King of the Kingdom and one another in the Body of Christ we give and receive love, training, encouragement, motivation, assistance, co-operative Kingdom ventures, accountability, discipline and correction. We love, we laugh, we learn, we teach, we dream, we serve, we eat, we represent his Kingdom and, ultimately, Jesus Kingdom comes in our circles of influence. The gathering must not become an end in itself. So called “church growth” as we practice it today is not the Kingdom message. It has become a hindrance for us in the eyes of the world which has come to view us, rightly at times, as self focused, self centered, and self serving. We were not turned from our personal pursuit of life to Jesus’ life in us to do church work. We are asked to enter his Kingdom and be a part of bringing about the conversion of people and the redemption of the place where he has carefully placed us.
For his Kingdom to come, we must focus our attention on it. There are 119 occurrences in the NT in which Jesus talks about “Kingdom.” There are 3 in which he says “church.” We are converted in order to serve his Kingdom. We must move from conversion and congregation to conversion –congregation-Kingdom. Please do not stop short of the Kingdom of Heaven coming on earth through you.