Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Kingdom @ center



"I don't expect this pie in the sky when you die stuff. My favorite line in the Lord's Prayer is `Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' I want it all, and I want it now. Heaven on earth -- now -- let's have a bit of that."
-the lead singer of the worship band formerly known as The Hype , quote in context here


I enjoyed finding this poster hanging in a church library today: it makes a great point.

The Kingdom is the centripetal center of our centered set, it's the gospel of the Kingdom.
Kingdom @hand.
Such is our message and metarrative, if you will (don't get incredulous on me, now).
All other topics tether to it, and any other Scriptures serve it.

Ask ten Christians what the gospel is.

Why do eleven out of ten seem to answer with something about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins so we can go to heaven when we die?.... When Jesus' own (Matt 4:17)...and Paul's own.. definition was 'the Kingdom.'

And what's more, about the Kingdom coming to earth (not just us going to heaven)
while we are alive (not "when we die"):

"..the Gospel is not that Jesus died on the cross for your sins so you can go to heaven when you die, but that the Gospel that Jesus preached was the Gospel of the Kingdom. When you say this to people they look at you like you’re insane. ‘Of course the Gospel is that you can go to heaven when you die’, they say. But the Gospel isn’t a one-time event, it’s a daily participation with Christ in the Kingdom life.”
Interview with Dallas Willard in RELEVANT Magazine
(read it all here)


As a bonus, the poster actually says at the bottom they invite unlimited duplication of it for free..How cool and Lessig-like...and enKingdomed is that?
Here's the company.
(OOPs, clicked the link, and it is dead. Suppose the company went outta business giving stuff away?)

3 comments:

  1. Love the stuff about what the gospel is (and what it isn't).
    Preach it brother!!!


    (But wear a flak jacket ;-) )

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love it Dave ...

    but you know you can't say this in public without being shot at - or crucified.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, guys.

    I will try to keep my posts a little
    safer from now on...yeah, right (:

    ReplyDelete

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!