Church, Kingdom, and the Great Commission
From The Forum Magazine, Fall 2013 - view the full issue here
The Church and the Kingdom in Scripture
The last issue of Forum was about the church, and this one is about God’s kingdom. From beginning to end, the Bible is about God’s people (the church) in his kingdom—their creation, fall, redemption through Jesus Christ, and everlasting life with God. God, the Great King, created, structured, and rules the universe as his kingdom. He staffed its territories with the heavenly bodies, birds, fish, and animals. He made humans to love and obey him, to populate the world and live in community, to rule and care for it, and to develop culture. The whole creation is God’s kingdom, and all creatures are his servants, but humans—God’s people, the church—are his imagebearers, covenant partners, and beloved children.
When we humans committed treason against the King by listening to the serpent, we forfeited life and peace with God in his kingdom. Because we were created in God’s image, we still need him and his kingdom. But since the fall, we have organized our societies and developed our cultures while serving other gods—often ourselves—and seeking their kingdoms. History is humanity’s search for the lost kingdom while avoiding its King. From Genesis 11 to Revelation 17, we prefer Babylon—the worldly city.
But even before creation, God planned to restore his people in his kingdom by bringing the whole creation to fulfillment through Jesus Christ (Col 1:15-20; Eph. 1:3-10). God’s covenant of redemption made to Abraham (Gen. 17) includes the nations, their kings, and the land. The Israelites in Canaan were only the beginning of its fulfillment. Isaiah, who saw the Lord on his throne as the Great King, envisions a new Jerusalem and a new heaven and earth for God’s people (6:1-5; 65:18ff.). Jesus Christ is the royal son of David, the Son of God the King, who rescues the kingdoms of the world from Satan (Matt. 4:8-11). He was crucified as King of the Jews, rose again, and ascended to his throne with the Father. He rules the world and builds the church until he comes again as Judge, presents the kingdom to his Father, and presides with him as King of kings and Lord of lords. God’s people will worship him and reign with him in the New Jerusalem in the New Heaven and Earth forever.
From beginning to end, the Bible is about the mighty acts of God to create, save, and restore his people, the church, to be his beloved children and citizens of his everlasting kingdom. God’s project is the meaning of history and everything in our lives. We marvel and praise him for it. But he gives us a part to play too.
Jesus' Commission, the Church, and the Kingdom
Just before he ascended to heaven, King Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20). All authority in heaven and earth belong to him. He came to redeem creation, and humans are his most beloved creatures. So he sends his disciples to evangelize, baptize, and teach people everywhere to obey everything that he commands. His commission is as comprehensive as his kingdom. He calls all of us, not just missionaries and church leaders. He sends us to all people—our children, friends, and neighbors as well as strangers and other nations. He wants obedience in all of life—education, vocation, recreation, finances, and citizenship—not just in personal faith, family, and church. King Jesus calls us to participate in God’s work of repatriating his people and promoting his kingdom. Christ sanctifies the work we do for him and his people, and he gives it everlasting significance (1 Cor. 3:10-15). He promised to be with us ’til kingdom come, and he sent the Holy Spirit to energize and guide us (Acts 2).
Ever since, the Lord has empowered Christians to obey the Great Commission. As a result, we have made disciples and engaged the world as Christians. Beginning in Jerusalem, Christ and the Spirit built the church throughout the Roman Empire and beyond (Acts). From a few disciples, we have become billions and are still growing—especially in historically non-Christian parts of the world. From a persecuted minority, Christians have become large and powerful groups in many countries. In these places we have been free to worship, evangelize, and disciple openly. We have also been able to participate in civil societies, economies, and public cultures with integrity, ingenuity, justice, and stewardship. Christians are major contributors to government, business, technology, education, and the arts. Praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven and working to obey everything that Christ has commanded, we have contributed to the general welfare and improvement of society and culture. Some have started Christian schools, businesses, social organizations, and political movements, and a few have even dreamt of a Christian civilization.
This creation-wide vision of God’s kingdom and Christ’s commission is a basic theme of the Kuyperian Calvinism that has shaped the Christian Reformed Church, our personal lifestyles, and the Christian education of our children. We cultivate personal piety and holiness, worship together, engage in evangelism, and help the needy. We also profess that Jesus Christ owns every square inch of creation, invoke the cultural mandate, and view all of our activities as Christian vocations. We educate our children to love God, obey his commands, and seek his kingdom in every area of life. God has blessed us and uses us to build his church and kingdom.
But triumphalism is out of place. The results of our best attempts to make disciples and change the world are partial, mixed, and temporary. We have not been enthusiastic or persistent in evangelism and discipling. We have not practiced what we preach about intellectual, social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental reform. Our enthusiastic rhetoric about “renewing creation,” “restoring justice,” “transforming culture,” and “bringing the kingdom” greatly exaggerates what we actually accomplish.
We must also recognize that millions of poor, powerless, marginalized, and persecuted Christians also obey Christ’s commission and seek his kingdom. Since Pentecost, most disciples have not had social status or cultural clout. In many places they are small minorities, restricted and threatened by opposition to the gospel. They are faithful in every aspect of their personal lives. But they cannot openly worship or evangelize, much less influence society at large. In addition, millions of gifted disciples have been side-lined because of their gender, ethnicity, or social class, sometimes by other Christians who have status and power. But the Lord blesses the faithful witness of the powerless, and the church often grows more vigorously under stress and oppression than when Christians enjoy comfort and status.
For two thousand years Jesus has blessed his disciples as they obey his commission, just as he promised. But twenty centuries of growth have also generated questions and concerns about Jesus’ church and kingdom that the disciples in Matthew 28 did not face.
In the World but not of the World
The first disciples were painfully aware that fallen humans worship other gods, seek other kingdoms, and try to rewrite God’s rules for life. They were faithful as a minority excluded from the Roman establishment. Many of us, on the other hand, are included. Our challenge is to remain faithful when we participate in cultures and societies that are based on pagan deities (Babylon, Rome), modern idolatries (pleasure, wealth, power), or secular ideologies (anti-religious religions). Can we be peer-approved scientists without adopting scientific materialism and evolutionism? Can we make headway in politics without selling out to liberal individualism or romantic socialism? Can business, technology, or farming according to biblical principles of justice and stewardship survive in the ruthlessly competitive marketplace? Can Christians be successful in popular culture if they don’t share mainstream values? Participating in the world while faithfully serving Christ requires spiritual wisdom, biblical discernment, and discipline.
Abraham Kuyper helpfully distinguished common grace and the antithesis. The antithesis is the opposition of Satan and fallen humans to Christ and his kingdom. Scripture even speaks of two kingdoms—the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of darkness, which Christ will defeat. We may not be disloyal or disobedient to Christ while participating in the world.
Common grace is God’s providential preservation of goodness in creation in spite of the fall. He graciously rules and preserves the fallen world in order to renew it. He upholds the normative order and the natural abilities of fallen imagebearers. As a result, there is still much (non-redemptive) good in nature, individual humans, society, and culture. By God’s providence, unbelievers love their neighbors, are conscientious workers, discover life-saving medicines, produce beautiful art, and promote justice. We can work with them.
Concern about the kingdom of darkness does not excuse Christians from participating in society and culture. God’s providence of the world includes Christian contributions. God wants us to pray for and promote the welfare of the societies in which we live, just as Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and Cornelius did. If a pagan emperor is God’s servant to preserve justice and order (Rom. 13), how much more fully can Christian rulers serve?
We are called to be in the world but not of it. The right balance for each of us is a matter of prayer, spiritual discernment, and wisdom—not a theological calculation. Each of us must seek to obey and implement God’s will for life as much as we can, wherever he places us. Most of us have positions with limited choices, opportunities, and responsibilities. Some of us have significant power and influence. None of us should yield to idolatry or concede anti-Christian principles. God desires faithfulness; success is up to him.
But the world is a complex and sometimes confusing mixture of good (common grace) and evil (the antithesis). It is practically impossible to be involved in society and culture without picking battles and making compromises. Those who insist on total purity or nothing usually end up with nothing—isolated from the world. Sometimes obedience does require us to refuse compliance or even to leave a position we hold. But that choice can be disastrous for us and the families for whom we are responsible to God. Often we can remain engaged but will suffer resistance. Sometimes God blesses our participation with success and even enables us to witness about Jesus Christ, the reason for our good work. All of us need prayer, spiritual discernment, and wisdom to know God’s will for our particular situations in the world.
Gospel and Culture, Word and Deed
Jesus’ commission is to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them complete obedience. People do not come to repentance, faith, and obedience without hearing the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Thus, engaging the world raises another question, the issue of gospel and culture, word and deed: Must all of our participation in society involve explicit witness to the gospel and the teachings of Scripture? Must Christian office and factory workers, nurses, bankers, and fire-fighters regularly preach the gospel and appeal to biblical commands on the job?
In general we base our participation in the world on God’s common grace, which upholds his norms for creation and the common good. God’s ways are the best for all human endeavors and aspirations. He often enables people to see the wisdom of his ways even when they do not acknowledge him (Rom. 1, 2). Thus Christians can implement God’s will effectively in society and culture without constantly invoking Christ and Scripture. It is possible to minister using deeds without words—to give a cup of water without mentioning Jesus. In many worldly situations this is the wisest strategy.
But we should always be prepared to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (1 Pet. 3:16). Philanthropy and cultural contributions without the gospel at most afford partial and temporary improvement of earthly life. But Jesus points out the folly of gaining the whole world and losing one’s soul (Mark 8:36). Knowledge, self-esteem, success, justice, beauty, community, happiness, health, sound environment—all of these conditions are rooted in creation and are important goals of kingdom seeking. They make crucial differences in people’s lives. But they are transient and do not lead to eternal life. Kingdom activities that are not overtly linked to salvation through Jesus Christ may only be instruments of God’s providence of the world, which is headed for judgment. At worst they are merely cultural Christianity or the social gospel.
Jesus’ Great Commission implies a mandate for social and cultural activity that is rooted in the image of God. Jesus commands us to seek first God’s kingdom. But those activities should not be separated from Christ’s mandate to make disciples of all nations. In principle, reforming culture and promoting justice cannot be isolated from sharing the gospel. Word and deed belong together.
Church as Organism and Institution
World-engaging Christianity is not an alternative to personal piety and holiness; it grows from them. We cannot make disciples of the nations and teach them to observe all God’s commands if we are not disciples ourselves. We cannot be obedient and effective employees, citizens, and consumers if we do not faithfully read Scripture, pray, fellowship with other believers, and gather with them around the Word and sacraments. We cannot be God’s people in the world unless we are God’s people gathered from the world for blessing and worship.
Kuyper distinguished between the church as organism and institution. The church as organism is God’s people in all modes of life— individuals in families, friendships, vocations, social organizations, and citizens, as well as members of the church as an institution or organization. The church as institution consists of the congregations and denominations where God’s people are gathered for worship, discipleship, fellowship, and outreach.
The church as organism is called to witness the gospel and obey God’s commands in every area of life and society. Sometimes it appropriately engages in public deeds without the explicit word of the gospel—it gives a cup of water without naming Jesus. But the calling of the church as institution is centered on the Word and sacraments—to proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and everything taught in Scripture, to nurture the faith and lives of God’s people, and to share the gospel with others. It is not called to engagement or expertise in business, social reform, politics, art, or environmental stewardship. When it proclaims God’s norms for society and culture from Scripture, and when it helps the needy, poor, and oppressed, it should also share the gospel of Jesus Christ in obedience to the Great Commission. The institutional church must give the cup of water in Jesus’ name.
May the Lord be with us all as we seek his kingdom and disciple the nations until he comes again.
(John Cooper, Professor of Philosophical Theology, emeritus)
