This Gospel of the Kingdom
Chapter 3. The Gospel of the Kingdom by Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine[4],[5]
Jesus’ promise in Matthew 24:14 serves as the outline for the first section of this book: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come” (editors’ translation).
In their book, The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus' 1st-Century Kingdom Values Are Transforming Thousands of Cultures and Awakening His Church, Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine explore dynamics of Kingdom Movements in the world today.
Early in their book, they lay a biblical foundation concerning the Kingdom of God, whose core values undergird these movements. We have included this excerpt as a foundation for our perspective on the Kingdom gospel message being proclaimed through Church Planting Movements in the 24:14 coalition. – Editors
The coming of the Kingdom of God was at the heart of Jesus’ message, and that “kingdom” theme has been at the root of the Gospel throughout most of church history. Yet the idea of the Kingdom is strangely absent from much of evangelical thinking today.
Let’s start with a definition of the word kingdom. In Greek, the word is basileia, and it does not refer to a king’s geographical territory but to the recognition of his royal authority. In other words, you have a kingdom any place where the king’s authority is recognized and obeyed. So a Roman legionary who left Roman territory on imperial business carried the kingdom with him, since he acknowledged Caesar’s authority over him and was obeying him.
When we talk about the Kingdom of God, then, we are referring to people who acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and who are striving to obey Him at all times in all places. Jesus came to proclaim that, in Himself, the rule of God was breaking into the world that is in rebellion against Him.
The Kingdom of God in the Old Testament
The Kingdom concept is implicit throughout the Scriptures and is central to what it means to be human. In Genesis 1:26–27, we are told that human beings were created in the image of God. In the ancient near east, a person who was called “the image of a god” was believed to be the official representative and regent of that god, and thus to have the right to rule under that god’s authority. So when God makes man in His image, He immediately gives him dominion over the earth. We are to rule here, but we are to do so as God’s stewards, under His authority. In Genesis 3, Adam chooses to misuse his authority in this world by acting out of his own interests rather than God’s. The effect of this is that all humanity became subject to sin and death, and human cultures fell under the influence of Satan. When Satan tempted Jesus, he “showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:5–7, emphasis added). Jesus did not dispute Satan’s authority over the kingdoms of the world, at least in this age. We know from Scripture that the earth is the Lord’s, but this passage suggests that human kingdoms have been delivered to Satan. Despite this, however, human beings retain the image of God and, by God’s grace, even the most depraved cultures retain some knowledge of God and His ways (Acts 14:17; Rom. 1:18–2:16). God promised that redemption from sin and death would come through the seed of the woman, who would crush the serpent’s head and be wounded in the process (Gen. 3:15). God’s call to Abram established his descendants as a holy nation through whom the whole world would be blessed, and the seed of the woman became more clearly identified as the seed of Abraham. From there, it was narrowed further to the seed of Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. The Messianic line was narrowed further with the coming of David. David was far from perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart, humble and with a tender conscience. God promised that his line would rule Israel forever, and more, that the Messiah would sit on David’s throne and would rule over all earthly kingdoms, bringing blessings to those who submit to Him and judgment on those who persist in rebellion against Him. His kingdom would extend over the whole world and bring righteousness and peace in its wake.
The Kingdom of God in the New Testament
The core message of John the Baptist was, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven[6] is at hand,” which was the very same message that Jesus preached when John was put into prison. John described what repentance and Kingdom living looked like: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:11). In other words, repentance and living in light of the Kingdom means identifying the needs of those around us and doing what we can to meet those needs, rather than insisting on our own rights, privileges, and possessions. Jesus’ teaching centered on the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is a description of life in the Kingdom, and a significant percentage of His parables teach about the Kingdom. He explained that His Kingdom is not of this world; in other words, it is not like earthly kingdoms that are under the dominion of Satan. Rather, the Kingdom is built on repenting of our sin and rebellion against God and restoring our relationships with God and with our neighbor, resuming our role as regents acting under God, with authority to establish and advance God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. When the Kingdom (basileia) is properly understood as acknowledging and obeying the authority of God, it is also revealed to be the center of the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go[7] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18–20). The Greek word for “disciple,” mathetes, refers to a student or an apprentice learning something under the direction of a master. In this case, we are told what disciples are to be learning: we are to teach them to observe everything that Jesus commanded—in other words, to acknowledge and obey Jesus, to whom all authority has been given. We should note that there is a difference between the Kingdom and the church. God’s purpose is to build His Kingdom; the church exists to promote and advance the Kingdom. The church is to prepare and equip Christians to bring Christ’s authority (i.e. the Kingdom) to bear in all areas of life. Like a Roman soldier outside of the Empire, Christians bring the Kingdom with them wherever they go as long as they acknowledge Jesus as Lord and act in obedience to Him. The Kingdom is thus much broader than the church. To put it differently, the church is not an end in itself, but the means to build the Kingdom.
The Lordship of Christ
The Kingdom is another way of talking about the Lordship of Christ. The most ancient confession of the Christian faith is “Jesus is Lord,” meaning that He is Lord of all. And “all” means all, not just personal salvation or personal morality, but our families, our work, our recreation, our relationships, our health, our resources, our politics, our communities, our neighbors—all. And that means that we are to obey Him in all areas of life.
The Lordship of Christ is the central reality in all of creation, and it is the central fact of the Christian life. It should shape how we see ourselves and how we understand the world and our place in it—in other words, it is to be the center of our worldview. At its core, having a biblical worldview means understanding what the Lordship of Christ means in every area of life. Growing as a Christian means progressively living out the Lordship of Christ more and more faithfully in more and more areas of life. This means that Christians are not to be concerned only with people’s souls; they are also to been concerned with their wellbeing in this world. Christians have always tended to the sick and built hospitals; they have always fed the hungry; they began the first charitable institutions in human history. Why? Because Christians have always believed that the body is important. Christians have always opened schools; in fact, most of the major universities in the world, historically were founded by Christians. Why? Because Christianity is concerned with the mind. Christians were the first to develop technologies that make the laborer’s work better, easier, and more productive. Why? Because work is a positive good, given to us before the Fall. The Fall brought with it drudgery and painful toil, but Christ came to redeem us from the effects of the Fall, and so we are to restore dignity to work. As Christians, we are to bring joy back to the work we do. Christians invented the idea of universal human rights. Why? Because the Bible tells us about human dignity founded on the image of God and on the Incarnation of Christ.
All of these are examples of living out the Lordship of Christ as citizens of the Kingdom of God.
