A Fresh Perspective - May 4, 2007

I guess I had been in ministry several years before I realized that I had never preached on what was the central theme in the ministry of Jesus, namely, the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). The Jewish people who first heard Jesus teach would have been familiar with the idea of God as King, but Jesus spoke about God's kingdom in a fresh, new way.

Jesus presented the kingdom as having arrived in his own ministry and yet as something that is still to come. He compared the kingdom to seed growing and yeast spreading through a batch of dough. He talked about "entering" the kingdom in the future and "receiving" the kingdom right now. It's impossible to reduce this to a single definition, but what Jesus seems to have in mind is the dynamic, effective outworking of God's healing, renewing, transforming presence in human and earthly life. The kingdom was present in the words and deeds of Jesus, but not in a final or complete sense. And so it is "already," but "not yet;" it is here, but not finally.

Jesus was immersed in the prophetic vision of a new earth, a world of peace, justice, and abundance for all people. Jesus could sense the breaking in of this world in his own ministry. In light of this he called people to repent (change the direction of their lives) and trust the message. Jesus called disciples to learn from him how to be a part of God's cause (kingdom) in the world.

Some years ago Larry Walters, who was 33 at the time, went down to the local army surplus store one morning and purchased 42 used weather balloons which he filled with helium. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair and had several of his friends attach a number of these balloons to his chair. He took along a six pack of bear, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he wanted to land. He thought he would float up to about 100 feet, but hadn't counted on soaring to a height of 16,000 feet right smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern of the Los Angeles International Airport. He had just started shooting the balloons when he lost his grip on the BB gun and dropped it. He was airborne for more than two hours. When he was safely grounded he was cited by police and interviewed by reporters. When asked, "Why did you do it?" he responded, "Because you can't just sit there."

When one is gripped by the gospel of Jesus - the vision of a new world where all people are loved and valued, where all people care for one another and there is no inequity or injustice - then you can't just sit there. You have to join Christ's cause, not because you feel obligated, or feel guilty, or feel pressured, or fear judgment, but because your heart is captured by the gospel of Jesus, a vision of a new humanity and a new world.

Chuck Queen is Senior Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort (www.ibcfrankfort.com); he welcomes your comments at cqueen@fewpb.net. Look for "A Fresh Perspective" every Friday.