mgpcpastor's blog

A couple of weeks ago I heard a sermon on the kingdom of God that, to these tired old ears, didn’t seem to say much more than ‘Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God and we should all take our part in it by getting busy living our lives for God.’
Not very much talk about what the kingdom actually is or how one becomes part of it.
More of an emphasis on what we should be doing for God rather than pointing to what God has done for us in Christ.
Instead of calling people to become part of God’s kingdom through faith in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death for our sins, now we’re called upon to aspire to a more fruitful and productive life, or to receive God’s intention to prosper us, or to expand the boundaries of our tent. Doesn’t sound so much a salvation as a pretty obviously prudent lifestyle choice.
When Jesus said the kingdom was near, we correctly understand that he was talking about the location of the kingdom.
He is the kingdom. He is its king.
Those sorts of disappointments tend to stay with me, so it was refreshing to read these biblical thoughts on the kingdom of God as Kevin DeYoung reflects on the writings of George Elton Ladd.

When you look at the Gospels and examine the verbs associated with the kingdom, you discover something surprising. Much of our language about the kingdom is a bit off. We often speak of “building the kingdom,” “ushering in the kingdom,” “establishing the kingdom,” or “helping the kingdom grow.” But is this really the way the New Testament talks about the kingdom? George Eldon Ladd, the man who put kingdom back on the map for evangelicals, didn’t think so.

The Kingdom can draw near to men (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; etc.); it can come (Matt. 6:10; Luke 17:20; etc.), arrive (Matt. 12:28), appear (Luke 19:11), be active (Matt. 11:12). God can give the Kingdom to men (Matt. 21:43; Luke 12:32), but men do not give the Kingdom to one another.
Further, God can take the Kingdom away from men (Matt. 21:43), but men do not take it away from one another, although they can prevent others from entering it. Men can enter the Kingdom (Matt. 5:20; 7:21; Mark 9:47; 10:23; etc.), but they are never said to erect it or to build it. Men can receive the Kingdom (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17), inherit it (Matt. 25:34), and possess it (Matt. 5:4), but they are never said to establish it. Men can reject the Kingdom, i.e., refuse to receive it (Luke 10:11) or enter it (Matt. 23:13), but they cannot destroy it.
They can look for it (Luke 23:51), pray for its coming (Matt. 6:10), and seek it (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31), but they cannot bring it. Men may be in the Kingdom (Matt. 5:19; 8:11; Luke 13:29; etc.), but we are not told that the Kingdom grows. Men can do things for the sake of the Kingdom (Matt. 19:12; Luke 18:29), but they are not said to act upon the Kingdom itself. Men can preach the Kingdom (Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:9), but only God can give it to men (Luke 12:32). (The Presence of the Future, 193)

I’ve quoted this section several times, probably on this blog before. But when I’ve used it in the past I’ve been uncomfortable with the line “we are not told that the kingdom grows.” It seemed to me that the parable of the sleepy farmer (Mark 4:26-29) and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32) clearly teaches that the kingdom grows. But as I’ve studied the passages more carefully I think you can make a good case that Jesus is not teaching about the growth of the kingdom as much as he is demonstrating that the kingdom of small beginnings will, at the close of the age, be the kingdom of cosmic significance. The kingdom may look unimpressive now, with nothing but a twelve-man band of fumbling disciples, but one day all will see its glorious end.

To borrow a tired cliché, the kingdom is what it is. It does not expand. It does not increase. It does not grow. But the kingdom can break in more and more. Think of it like the sun. When the clouds part on a cloudy day we don’t say, “the sun has grown.” We say, “the sun has broken through.” Our view of the sun has changed or obstacles to the sun have been removed, but we have no changed the sun. The sun does not depend on us. We do not bring the sun or act upon it. The sun can appear. Its warmth can be felt or stifled. But the sun does not grow (science guys, don’t get all technical, you know what I mean). This seems a good analogy for the kingdom.
God certainly uses means and employs us in his work. But we are not makers or bringers of the kingdom. The kingdom can be received by more and more people but this does entail growth of the kingdom. We herald the kingdom and live according to its rules. But we do not build it or cause it to grow because it already is and already has come. As Ladd put it, “The Kingdom is the outworking of the divine will; it is the act of God himself. It is related to human beings and can work in and through them; but it never becomes subject to them…The ground of the demand that they receive the Kingdom rests in the fact that in Jesus the Kingdom has come into history” (A Theology of the New Testament, 102).

Now this may have been what the speaker in question above was striving to say in his talk a couple of weeks ago. If so, then I just didn’t get it at the time.
But this is how the good news of the kingdom relates to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.