The Way the Kingdom Comes: Good news for worker, work and workplace

“God without us will not, as we without God cannot.”

- Augustine (4th Century) [i]

The really good news is that there is a new world coming. This new world brings renewal to people, meaning to everyday work, liberation for captives and a wonderful future in a completely renewed creation when the whole human story on earth wraps up. It is not just about getting a ticket to go to heaven. In fact, our wonderful future in Christ is not to be saved souls floating in the ether of eternity singing the same worship songs four million times, but to be fully resurrected persons in a completely renewed heaven and earth. And we will work there, play there and worship there—all one.

The kingdom of God has already started to come 

Meanwhile we can taste that “heavenly” life now because the kingdom of God has started to come. It is embodied in Jesus. Jesus in his words and deeds pointed to and brought in the kingdom (healing, including, renewing and giving purpose). The followers of Jesus through history have entered that kingdom and found purpose in every part of their everyday lives. This includes everything from making deals and meals, to selling insurance and providing assurance/counsel, crafting art and designing a building, coding software and manufacturing soft pillows, digging ditches and composing symphonies.

Some of our work in this life, as Paul promises to the Corinthians, will last into the next: “your labour in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). What makes work Christian and what makes work last is not the religious character of the work but the fact that it is done with faith, hope and love. But let’s look at what we are doing right now and the wonderful news that there is a new world coming, that new life is breaking into the old, that a new age is dawning, and that a new way (called the way of the Spirit) is inundating our real life right now.

How does the kingdom of God come?

The critical question to be faced by people wanting to live and work in and for the kingdom is this: can human beings bring in the kingdom by their work and ministry? Or, is it entirely God’s gift, in which we have no part? Or is there a symphony of wills and initiatives? The primary scripture texts in relation to the kingdom are “receiving” and “entering.” [ii] We enter the kingdom by repentance, humility, becoming child-like in dependence. So it seems the kingdom comes by God’s direct action. We receive and enter. But we also have a part to play in that shalom-bringing, flourishing of life and creation. It is God’s work and our work combined. This is shown us through the whole grand narrative of the Scripture from Adam to the New Heaven and Earth. And, as we will see, our part has multiple dimensions.

The Coming of the Kingdom in the Here and Now

1. The kingdom comes by witness.

As South American theologian Arius says, “We are not sent to preach the church but to announce the kingdom.” [iii] So the first disciples were commissioned to preach that the kingdom had come near. [iv] This news of the coming kingdom is like a seed to be received in good soil, which surely means responsive lives. [v] Philip found this good soil among the Samaritans. [vi] Later the apostle Paul tried to find that good soil as he argued persuasively about the kingdom in the Jewish synagogues [vii] though he later added speaking to Gentiles, including people gathered in the Mars Hill forum in Athens for discussions and debates. [viii]

Summarising his ministry Paul told the Ephesians that he had preached the kingdom of God widely. Even when Paul was under house arrest in Rome, he explained the kingdom to the Jews. [ix] And how does this message relate to Jesus? The keys to the kingdom are given to the person who confesses Jesus as Son of God. [x]

So all people of the Way—the earliest name given to Christians—are called to be witnesses. Where we have opportunity we can put in a good word for Jesus and the kingdom he is bringing. This witness is expressed both in word and deed, as was the case with Jesus and the early apostles who cared for whole persons, addressed the powers influencing people’s lives and demonstrated through signs the reality of the new world coming.

Indeed this stunning witness in word and deed has brought human flourishing through the ages. It is simply untrue that “the church has never done the world any good.” [xi] And because this message is the long standing purpose and action of God and the people of God in history, kingdom teachers are instructed to bring out new treasures as well as old. [xii] It is as old as Adam and as new as Jesus. It is what our neighbour needs. But there is more than witness.

2. The kingdom comes by the whereabouts of the people of faith.

The Quaker philosopher Elton Trueblood once said that “‘Church-goer’ is a vulgar ignorant word and should never be used. You are the church wherever you go.” [xiii] Every day, the people of God go into the world, schools, workplaces, governments and neighbourhoods. We are like seeds sown in soil, yeast folded into dough, light shining in darkness, salt seasoning meat, keys put into locks—all images of penetration in Scripture. There’s one more biblical metaphor: we are like spies exploring the possibility of penetration. So the church cannot be photographed with a still camera. One needs a video camera, or even an angiogram to capture the rhythm of gathering and dispersion of the church. The kingdom comes by witness and whereabouts, but there is a third way: work.

3. The kingdom comes in part through human work. [xiv]

As quoted above, Augustine in the fourth century wrote, “God without us will not, as we without God cannot.” [xv] More recently New Testament scholar N.T. Wright has written: “[Christians] are not just to be a sign and foretaste of [the] ultimate salvation: they are to be part of the means by which God makes this happen in both the present and the future.” [xvi] The emphasis in this sentence is on the word “part.” The reason why this is not a simple question has to do with the way Jesus taught about the rule and reign of God.

Do we autonomously bring in the kingdom through social programs, righteous business practices, environmental stewardship, and through caring for the poor? No. We cannot bring in the kingdom without working with God.

Can the kingdom come without these? Yes and no. Yes, God is able to bring in his new world without our human effort. No, it is usually a divine-human partnership.

We are “coworkers with God” as Paul cryptically says in 1 Corinthians 3:9. This is particularly evident in the final vision of the Bible where believers “will reign [with God] forever and ever” (Rev.22:5). Read it this way: “We will work with God forever and ever and ever.” In this matter both biblical testaments witness to this co-creation or sub-creation, this divine-human partnership. Kingdom work advances and improves human life. It seeks to bring God’s shalom into the world. It alleviates poverty. It welcomes God’s life-giving rule in the world and in people, which brings about new birth and new life.

So as we go about our lives we will have opportunities to bear witness to the kingdom. Where we are situated is significant. As kingdom-bearers and as walking temples of the Holy Spirit, we have an influence, often unknown to ourselves. And as we go about our daily work in this life and in this broken world,it is always mixed with deconstruction (even church work!) But we are doing the Lord’s work, contributing in some way to the in-breaking of life, helping human beings to flourish and helping to fill the world with the glory of God.

References:
[i] Quoted in Amy L. Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2011), 238. 
[ii] 1 Thess. 2:12; Matt.6:33; John 3:3,5; Matt.3:2; 4:17; 5:3; Jas. 2:5.
[iii] Arias, Announcing, 118.
[iv] Matt. 10:7.
[v] Matt. 13:23.
[vi] Acts 8:12.
[vii] Acts 19:8.
[viii] Acts 17:16-34.
[ix] Acts 20:25; 28:23-31.
[x] Matt. 16:19.
[xi] See the extraordinary volume tabulating what the people of God has done through history in good times and bad, E.H. Oliver, The Social Achievements of the Christian Church (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 1930)
[xii] Matt. 13:52.
[xiii] This was heard by the author in 1959 at McMaster University when Trueblood was a guest lecturer.
[xiv] For a full treatment of this subject see Ben Witherington III, Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011). See also R. Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work and Ministry in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), and Work Matters: Lessons from Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), chapters 17-20.
[xv] Quoted in Amy L. Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2011), 238.
[xvi] N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection,and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 200.