Luke Parrott

Communicating the Kingdom to a Kingdom Hungry Culture

The spirit of giving,

    of global mindedness,

         of social concern,

            of justice for the oppressed,

                                                            is the trend of our time. 

We are living in an age of altruism.  Hollywood stars are political activists.  They are advocates for the downtrodden.  Businesses are marketing themselves as philanthropists.  Slogans to "End Genocide", "Stop Human Trafficking", and "Make Poverty History" are mainstream. 

Our post-modern world has looked at the world around us and acknowledged that it is broken.  We are disgusted with the injustice.  We are too informed to turn away from global atrocities.  It is harder now to turn our back on acts of genocide (compare the reactions to Rwanda in 1994 to that of Darfur in 2003).  The images of poverty and starvation are all over the internet and television.  There is a longing inside of our generation to see these problems to their redemption.  And there is a wave of optimism (especially in the younger generations) that these pursuits can be accomplished in our lifetime.

As a follower of Jesus, I see a world that longs for the kingdom of God--and they don't even know it.  They don't know that Jesus came for this very purpose.  To seek redemption.  To renew all things.  To bring justice.  To bring hope to the poor.  To release those in bondage.  To put down the oppressor.

What shocks me more is how the Christian community has failed to step up and communicate the Kingdom to a Kingdom hungry culture.  It is not Christians that have sparked this altruistic wave.  But it is Christians who have now jumped on the wave of social justice, many having no idea how this intricately fits into their faith.  Many Christians are just as unaware of the kingdom of God as their unbelieving neighbor.

The answer is deeper than "Jesus loved the poor so I will too."  It is because of the kingdom of God that followers of Jesus should be concerned with all these issues.  If it were more widely understood among believers that Jesus' #1 topic was the kingdom of God and that this kingdom involves the rescue, redemption, and renewal of all humankind and all creation, then we would more clearly see how relevant this message is to our culture today.

What Jesus came to accomplish, what he came to inaugurate, is precisely what our world desires.  A world of peace where creation is free to flourish (see Romans 8).  Where the wolf rests with the lamb.  Where the young child can play near the hole of the cobra (see Isaiah 11).  Where our bodies are redeemed from death.  Where evil no longer oppresses.  Where relationships with our creator God are fully restored.  Where relationships with each other are in harmony. 

It's time for us to start communicating the Kingdom to a Kingdom hungry culture.  For hope in human initiative and humanistic will power alone will not over turn the injustice of our day.  Jesus Christ's victory, his method and his message, and his final return is the only way for us to see our altruistic acts come to completion.

If the public cries for justice, then let them hear the story of the kingdom of God coming to us in the very person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.   

The Kingdom of God is Good News

The Kingdom of God is good news. It is an announcement that God has come to make all things new. Sometimes we don't feel the weight of this good news as we live in a nation that doesn't identify well with oppression and poverty. Does it exist in North America? Yes. But not to the depth and reality that many nations in the Global South understand.

We see the gospel as good news in a spiritual sense. To free us from sin. To restore our relationship to God. But how many times have you seen it in the context of the poor? In the context of the physical, tangible ways we struggle. The body that needs healing, the slavery that needs liberating, the oppression that needs freeing, the barren land that needs producing.

Jesus spoke of his kingdom coming in this way. See Luke 4, Matthew 11. That's why he performed the miracles. They were not (contrary to popular belief) to prove his divinity. They were to be a signpost of what the coming age would be like. Can you see why the kingdom of God is good news to the poor?

How are you furthering the announcement of Jesus that the kingdom of God has arrived? How are you bringing to bear this good news on the broken world in which we live? God has called us to be a light, a voice to reflect the message of Jesus. And we eagerly await for his return to come in full!

Jesus #1 Topic

I've quizzed several large groups and asked them what they think Jesus' #1 topic was.  What did he speak about more than anything else recorded in the Gospels?  I get answers like love, forgiveness, hell, heaven, salvation, etc.  But rarely does the topic of the KINGDOM come to mind.

If the quantity of references has anything to do with emphasizing what is most important, then Jesus' over 120 references to the Kingdom has got to count for something!  So why have we neglected and become so ignorant of his topic of greatest concern.  If you're not following me, then check out the numerous references below:

Your Kingdom Come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness

The kingdom of heaven is like…a net, a treasure hidden in a field, yeast, a man who sowed good seed, a mustard seed, a king, a landowner

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these

Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you

The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you

How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God

You are not far from the kingdom of God

His kingdom will never end

The kingdom of God is within you

No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again

My kingdom is not of this world

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God

From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus…

Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves

Understanding the Kingdom of God

When I think of the word kingdom, I think of knights, castles, shining armor, and moats.  But I know Jesus wasn't talking about that.

So what is this kingdom he is talking about?

I think you can find it captured in a little prayer that all of us know pretty well...The Lord's Prayer.

Look at these 3 lines.

Your Kingdom Come

Your Will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

His kingdom is about God's will being done.  Where is His will fully carried out now?  In heaven.  Where is it not taking place?  On earth. 

We live in a broken world.  A place where things happen because of the world human kind has chosen to create.   A world where we freely choose our own will.  A world that is not the will of God.

The Kingdom is about bringing God's will to earth.  Jesus ushers in that kingdom.  How does that kingdom function within a broken world?  Read Matthew 5-7 and hear Jesus describe an upside down world where the poor are the blessed, where the humble inherit the earth, where the hungry and thirsty are satisfied, where purity is honored, where peace is embraced.

A place where hate is overcome, where lust is replaced with love, where divorce is not needed, where people are true to their word, where enemies are driven to their knees because of love, where the needy are restored, where we depart from worthless empty treasures, where we no longer worry, where we no longer condemn and judge.

The kingdom of God is about Jesus creating something beautiful inside a broken world.  The kingdom of God is about beauty growing amidst brokenness.

The kingdom of God is about restoring the earth and it's people to the way God first intended it to be.

It's about a collision of beauty with brokenness.

Seek first his kingdom.

What We Know Least We Should Know Most

"Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."  Acts 28:31

Perhaps the 2 most neglected teachings today are the very 2 topics that Paul spent his time teaching.  When was the last time you heard a good sermon about the kingdom of God?  When was the last time your church fully entered the story of the life of Jesus as told in the Gospels?

If we are going to truly follow Jesus, we must be intimately acquainted with his stories and also the #1 topic he spoke on.