Researchers today often talk about “situating themselves”. When they say this, they refer to a process of self-examination where they explain, to themselves, and the people reading their work what worldview, preferences, and biases they may bring to their research. As Christians it’s good to pause from time to time and reflect on how we view the world to uncover our worldview, preferences, and biases and make sure that we’re living in a way that aligns with God’s purposes.
Scope and Scale
Have you ever met someone who has just moved to a big city from a small town. What observations did they make? Did they say things like, “I can’t get over how many people there are?” or “The city is so big it’s overwhelming.” Their reactions are part of a process of trying to map their understanding of who they are onto a new environment. They need to discover new relationships, new patterns of belonging, new ways to move through the world physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, and all because the scope and scale of what they know has changed. In their small town they probably knew who they were in relation to the community and they had meaningful relational connections; in their new environment they need to develop them again.
The same thing is true about us when we become Christians. Most new believers get integrated into a local church – their small town. What they, and many other Christians, fail to realize is that they are part of a big city – the Kingdom of God.
How is this significant to you as an ordinary follower of Jesus, you may ask?
There are three things that come to mind.
First, it’s obvious but worth noting, the Kingdom has a King. I think if we’re honest, we’d have to say this makes us uncomfortable. It makes us uncomfortable in as much as all of us still struggle with the results of Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree. We are constantly wrestling with how hard it is to believe that there is a King and it’s not us. At some level we find it offensive that God is the King and all he does is for his glory, but this is the operating system of the Kingdom. We question how that could be. Is God a narcissist? No, he is the creator and sustainer of the cosmos, and because of that reality he should receive, or is worthy of, all praise and honour, and glory. The cosmos are designed with this in mind. Consider the opening words of Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God…”
Our sense of belonging in the big city becomes clearer when we begin to function according to the operating system and embrace our place in relation to who God is. In our small town (local church) It’s easy to mistake the pastor and spiritually mature Christians as the big authority. I’m not saying that they are not an authority, nor am I saying that they are not doing God’s will, but if we’ve never lived in the city it’s hard to describe the effect the scope and scale have on our sense of identity. When we sense our finiteness in relation to the grandeur and beauty of who God is and the magnificence of his Kingdom, it becomes clear that we need his grace in every moment.
Second, as King God gives order and purpose to his Kingdom. From the largest church to the individual Christian our marching orders come from him. Jesus acknowledged this regularly. He said things like, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) Later, in John17:4, Jesus ties obeying God’s commands to glorifying God when he says, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
When I read that sentence, I feel compelled to ask Jesus, “What is my work?” I think the answer is that our work is found in Jesus’ commands for us to love God with all our heart and love our neighbour as ourselves. The problem is that unless we’re intentional these commands can remain abstract and largely unfulfilled. It seems to me that’s why Jesus gave us the great commission. In Matthew 28:19 it says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” When we orient ourselves to God’s order and purpose he is glorified. Specifically (and practically), making disciples is one of the chief ways that the Church demonstrates our love for God. Imagine a crowd of believers before God’s throne, too large to count, all worshipping their King. Imagine these believers are gathered, not on a plain, but around a globe. Truly this would be the glory of God covering the earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). This is not abstract at all, rather it is embodied glory.
Making disciples also fulfills the command to love our neighbour. I know it sounds like a trope an evangelist would make but isn’t it true? If God is our King and we function according to his operating system knowing it’s the best way to live, then inviting others to meet the King and function according to our created purpose would also be the best we can imagine for them. When we make a disciple, we make a person who commits to living a life of obedience to the will and ways of their creator. We make people who understand that the gospel isn’t just a concept that we give mental ascent to, but it is a person, Jesus, who we encounter. That encounter and the ongoing indwelling of the Holy Spirit make us citizens of the Kingdom that is above every other kingdom.
Third, the Church is not the Kingdom. Jesus gave birth to the Church for three critical reasons. One, to be a group of people who worship God with their lives. Two, to build each other up and love each other. Three, to be a witness to the world of God’s reconciling work accomplished in Jesus and make disciples. In John 17:21 Jesus makes it clear that the unity (love for Jesus and for each other) that is exhibited in the Church is a witness to the world of God’s love for the world. As a spiritual family and covenant people we are exhibit A that God’s Kingdom is real and comes in power.
Conclusion
As important as the Church is to the work of God in the world, it is only a foretaste of God’s intentions that will be fully manifested one day in God’s fully realized Kingdom here on earth. Hopefully when we look down the path of time at God’s Kingdom, we sense the awesome privilege we’ve been granted to be called children of God. Allowing the Kingdom, and not the local church, to shape our worldview might give new meaning and relevance to the three purposes of the Church as we consider how the Kingdom could be manifested in our homes, as a local congregation, as a city church, as believers in a country or even around the globe. If glorifying the King is the operating system of the Kingdom then reflecting on the scale and scope of the Kingdom might help us get a better appreciation and commitment to God’s mission of making disciples of all nations and lead us to a new level of collaboration in the body of Christ in our efforts to ensure that every tribe, tongue, and nation are represented before the throne of God.
John Hall is President of Novo Canada and a missionary in Richmond, BC. Novo Canada is a mission organization that raises up teams of ordinary Christians in Canada to reach Canada, and the nations. Prior to working with Novo Canada John led Mission Central for 9 years.
