Dan Reid at the Addenda & Errata blog has had enough of Christians talking about “building God’s Kingdom”. He argues that this innocent-sounding phrase, used often by Christians who haven’t thought through what it fully means, incorrectly suggests that it’s our responsibility to bring about God’s Kingdom through our actions:
Where exactly do we get the idea that we should be building God’s kingdom? We may witness to it, testify to it, plant signs of it or work or build for (the word for introduces a big difference, as Tom Wright points out) it, etc. But it’s God’s kingdom, and consequently God is the one who is “building” it. As in “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” (It’s a spiritual tonic to say those lines of the prayer with the emphasis just so). The best explanation for this mistaken Christian speech that I can come up with is that we’ve heard it said so often that we unthinkingly repeat it. [...]If the kingdom is the dynamic reign of God, how can we as humans “build” it? Actually, it should come as a relief to realize that you and I aren’t in the business of building God’s kingdom. Almost, well, like good news!
Reid goes on to note that acts of Christian service should be understood as “signs and anticipations” of God’s Kingdom—important actions, but they do not themselves constitute the Kingdom, which is God’s alone to bring about.
My first reaction was that Reid was being nitpicky, but if you think about it, it’s a pretty important distinction: is it our job to bring about God’s Kingdom? Does that distinction change the way we go about doing acts of Christian service (and does it change the type of service we should focus on)?
(Besides, his post—like any blog post worth reading—uses the word “pelagianism.” Here’s Wikipedia’s definition for those of us who are a bit rusty on our church history.)
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October 24, 2007 at 22:34
I wonder if the Church was ever in as much confusion as it is today. I rather doubt it, but we are definitely seeing the fruits of apostasy and syncretism in a lot of the teaching going about. I agree with Reid. The King is the only one with the power to establish the kingdom.
These things are important, because a lot of the folks who claim to be Christian today are trusting in a Christ that comes out of gospel-denying liberal theology. The Jesus Seminar crowd and the New Age Movement trust in a Jesus who can’t save anybody.
According to the LORD it makes a difference in how and who we serve (Matthew 7).
October 25, 2007 at 06:43
While it is our job to see that the kingdom is established in ourselves as believers, in the end, it IS god’s kingdom that’s being built, and He’s the one that will build it.
October 25, 2007 at 17:53
I dunno. I think there are semantics being played here.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NIV) states,
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
We are helping build something. Although we’re not building the very foundation of God’s kingdom, we are fellow workers and we are building parts of the kingdom. Or is it the church we’re building? We’re building something I just think there is a confusion here about which words mean what and when.
October 25, 2007 at 22:52
It’s like I say about salvation, I have not saved a single person. It’s God’s Holy Spirit that convicts and leads to salvation, it’s not my place, nor do I have the power to do so.
I am but a messenger.
Hence God builds His kingdom, I mean good grief, He did create the Earth in 6 days why would he need us to lift a hammer?
October 26, 2007 at 05:42
While it is certainly true that in our humanness we are completely incapable of building God’s kingdom, couldn’t the same be said about being holy? Yet we are commanded, “Be holy, as I am holy.” Just as any other aspect of living to make disciples cannot be done in our own power, I’ve always considered building God’s kingdom to be something that He does. He, however, sets apart and prepares everyone who calls on His name to fulfill a roll. When, individually, we function properly as a member of the Body of Christ, then corporately we serve as His hands and feet in the process of building His kingdom.
October 26, 2007 at 10:24
In Matthew’s discourse on Peter’s confession of Christ (Mt 16.13-20)
Who builds the Church? Jesus
Who receives the keys of the kingdom?
Peter the caretaker – (no the builder)
Peter the servant of the King
Peter the instrument of God’s will
When we will realize that of ourselves we are powerless. To be sure, God builds the kingdom. God invites us to be included in the Kingdom
October 26, 2007 at 11:02
He is right.
If we are true believers, God is in charge.
Yes, he uses us to build HIS kingdom.
Let us not forget it is HIS kingdom.
He designed it and conceived it.
So for us to say WE are building the kingdom is part of our (incorrect) human pride. We can no more build his kingdom anymore then we could create a new earth.
He has been and will always be the CREATOR.
October 27, 2007 at 12:10
Acts 1:6-9
6So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
From the very moment after the fall God set forth a redemption plan. The Law brought a great amount of shalom and light, a Kingdom set apart in fact. Although as time went on Israel departed from the Law and the Prophets told the Israelites to go back to it AS WELL AS foretold of a Messiah who would restore it in its fullness (although the Jews missed the entire earth/gentile parts of the idea).
So when the disciples, looking for a huge overthrow and ushering in see Jesus die, they are at first saying “aw junk”... then when He is raised they are like “sweet! now it’s gonna happen!”
which if you begin in Acts 1:6 you see they are dissapointed the primary salvific event in Jewish history does not take place the way it was “supposed to”. In fact Jesus, “who are you to know when that is gonna happen?”
Then what does Jesus say? “BUT YOU will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on YOU…”
Sure, the Culmination of God’s overthrow and ushering in is gonna happen through Christ. But I heard Jesus gave us the power through the Holy Spirit to do something, which we thought Jesus would do, and then he “Whoosh” took off out of site.
October 28, 2007 at 07:34
What is the Kingdom of God? Is it not the reign of God in the hearts of people and the ruler of all creation in heaven and earth? Has it not been started while Jesus was on earth and we now live under/within it and are waiting for the full consummation when Christ returns? Then, we do not build it, we are subordinate to it. By being subordinate we obey and when we obey we proclaim the good news and many more become subjects of the Kingdom. We help in this way build the citizenship of the Kingdom, but that is not the reign or rule; that is not the same as “building” the Kingdom. Right?
November 10, 2007 at 11:09
I believe that building the kingdom of God on earth is co-creative process.
It seems to me to be essentially a 2 step process:
First we unite with the kingdom of God that is inside of us – see(Luke 17:21)as well as put on the mind of Christ – see (Phillipians 2:5)whereby we become with the Living Word of God.
Next, once united with this Living Word, God can build his kingdom on earth one by one through each of us.
Please note that this kindgom is primarily a matter of consciousness and not necessarily a phyical place. We need to raise our consciousness to the level that Christ is born in each of us as it was in Jesus.
At that point, Jesus or God can work through us and with us to create this kingdom – which incidentally is by no means a static please – but rather always transcending as we unite with Living Word and move with God’s River of Life.