“Evangelicals are the most dangerous people on the planet. We don’t see them as either the hope of the world or irrelevant. They are a liability and we are committed to working around them” (anonymous). This statement comes from a leader who is working on the front lines to make a difference in the Middle East.
I have been writing and speaking over the last few months about the need for the church to be a voice for peace and justice in the midst of war. In my opinion, the church should be leading the way in this. After all, peace and justice are fundamental to the kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is counter to the kingdoms of the world
“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36)
That the Kingdom of God is fundamentally counter to the kingdoms of the world is what Jesus means when He told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He is not saying that His kingdom is spiritual and located in heaven away from the world (this understanding is the product of neo-Platonism’s incursion into Christian theology—more about that another time). Jesus is instead saying that the way His Kingdom operates is not the way the world’s kingdoms operate.
As I read Jesus and the Gospels, (these themes run throughout the Scriptures and climax in the book of Revelation) it appears to me that the Kingdom of God runs fundamentally counter to the kingdoms of the world. There are several ways we could distinguish between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world:
The Kingdom of God is the one in which Jesus is Lord
The kingdoms of the world have other lords (self; power; wealth; pleasure; comfort; empire)
The Kingdom of God is predicated on self-denial
The kingdoms of the world are predicated on self-satisfaction
The Kingdom of God is manifested in love for one’s enemies
The kingdoms of the world aim to destroy their enemies
In the Kingdom of God, power is demonstrated by the Cross
In the kingdoms of the world, power is demonstrated by crosses
The Kingdom of God brings justice and peace to the world
The kingdoms of the world bring justice and peace to those in power and they do so by inflicting violence upon others
In the Kingdom of God, the poor, the meek, and the gentle are blessed and this may be at the expense of the rich and those in power who are commanded to sell their possessions, give to the poor, and follow Jesus (Mark 10:17-27; Matt 19:16-26; Luke 18:18-27)
In the kingdoms of the world, those in power are often the ones who are blessed and this is typically at the expense of the poor and the marginalized
In Mark 10:42-45, Jesus explains to His disciples that although the kingdoms of the world use military might in order to gain power, it is not so with Him. That this is what Jesus meant when He was speaking to Pilate is evident when He sasy, “If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting” (John 18:36). Jesus, in other words, affirms, “We don’t use violence but love.” And for Jesus, it is His love for His enemies that will take Him to the cross.
It is my firm conviction that following Jesus is a call to radical, self-denying and even self-sacrificing, love for the other: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
NB: The Determinetruth podcast is currently delving into the book of Revelation. And the episode that releases on the same day as this post (Dec 11, 2023) discusses the account of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:1-13) which sets forth the fact that the means by which God brings redemption to the nations is through the faithful, loving, and sacrificial lives of His people—or perhaps we could say that it is through the self-denying love for our enemies.
Self-denying love is the essence of Christian Discipleship
This radical call to self-denying love for the sake of the other is not just the fundamental essence of discipleship, it is the means through which Christ builds His kingdom.
In a recent livestream, I was discussing the questions, “Who are the chosen people of God” and “What about the biblical promises of land in the OT?” I argued that we often approach these questions in a manner that misses a critical component. That is, instead of asking “Who are they,” we should be asking, “Why [for what purpose] did God choose His people and give them the land?” I went on to explain that the purpose for God choosing His people was so that they might make Him known to the nations (see Isa 42:6; 49:6).
As Jesus enters this scene, He demonstrates that the manner in which we make Him known is by our love for one another: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The meaning of this is significant and we cannot let it pass us by. The implication is that when we love one another the nations will look at us and realize, “They must be Jesus people because they love the way He did.”
This is precisely what Jesus says in Luke 6:35, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” Again the implication is clear: when we love our enemies, we look like God. This is what it means to be “sons of the Most High.” To be a “son of” (and the gender is important only as it relates to the cultural implications of that day) meant to have the characteristics of the one of whom you are a “son of.”
In other words, when we love our enemies we look like God because that is what He does!—as Jesus says, “for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
All of this is to say that the essence of Christianity and the kingdom of God is one in which the people of God look fundamentally different from the world because we follow a different King whose Kingdom follows a different set of rules.
Western Christians and the war in Gaza
Sadly, this isn’t true for much of the Western Church today: especially as it relates to Israel’s war on Gaza. Instead of loving our enemy, we are advocating for their eradication.
“But,” someone might say, “We are loving the Jewish people by advocating for the destruction of Gaza.” Or someone might say, “We love the people of Gaza but Israel has no choice but to eradicate Hamas.” Or, perhaps you have heard, “We love the people of Gaza but it is their fault because they elected Hamas.”
Let me be brief (as if that is possible) in my response to these assertions.
I would like to encourage you to reflect on these statements for a moment. Then, let me ask:
- Do these statements reflect the love of Christ toward all people? That is, can we really, truly reconcile them with the Gospel of the Kingdom?
Or,
- Do these statements seem like efforts to justify war, violence, and the destruction of tens of thousands of people—all of which are telltale signs of the kingdoms of the world?
And,
- What do you suppose the world thinks of Christians when we make such claims?
. . . Next week, I will endeavor to provide some more thoughts on this.
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