The Now and the Not Yet
The kingdom is present with us - and is yet to come...
What does that mean?
Here's an idea... Have you ever heard someone talk about potential? You know, "That kid has the potential to be a great."
It's partly there - whatever "it" is. The great ability to hit the golf ball, the ease of reducing complex ideas, the mastery of the language, the proficiency on the instrument.
When I was in high school I was on the track team (okay, I threw shot put and was a founding member of "the Big Belly Brothers" but that's another story, okay?) and I remember there was this girl named Amy Rudolph. She was like in 6th or 7th grade or something when I was in high school but the girl could run. As I remember it, she would routinely beat the high school girls in distance running and by the time I graduated (I think she was on the track team by then...) she was beating EVERYBODY - boys, girls, men, women... In middle school, she had potential. It was apparent. And, yes, she went to the Olympics. Twice, I believe.
But from day one, she was a runner. When she just had "potential" until her last step across the finish line of her last Olympic race, she was a runner. But I bet at 3 it was hard to see. And maybe at 6 but by 10 it started to be visible and by 20 "runner" was her public identity (if you know what I mean - my public identity would be pastor...she's a believer, but I don't want to dive into her private life, okay?).
The kingdom of heaven is kind of like that. I think we're kind of in the "10 year old" range of that image above. We can see the direction God is going (to a degree) with the kingdom of heaven - the potential is growing...
It's the tension between "the now and the not yet". You know, a LONG time ago, Amy Grant sang that:
Man, you should hear my wife sing that song...
(And, of course, you gotta love a song with "la, la, la, la's" in it...heh)
Anyway, if it's true of all of us (and, clearly, I think it is -- see "Grace (as Bill Beatty Understands It): Sanctifying Grace" below) couldn't it also be true of the Kingdom of God? That maybe God is preparing the church, that God is leading the church in the direction that He's always wanted us to go but we've really misinterpreted it?
Here's what I mean. No one can deny that God has a special concern for the least, the lost, the "losers" (widows, orhpans, sinners, the broken, etc...call 'em what you will). All through the OT (especially the prophets), all through Jesus' ministry and the early church we see a special concern for the fringe of society.
That is the kingdom of God...
But, you know I just had a conversation with a pastor whose church has a burden for the broken and the hurting and the lost (the pastor ministers in one of the local bars, there's a lesbian couple who is active in the church and they have a variety of "fringe" ministries) and the church has been blackballed by just about every other church in town (especially the "evangelical" churches - you know, the ultra conservative type denominations...).
Sigh...
So, what does the kingdom REALLY look like?
What does that mean?
Here's an idea... Have you ever heard someone talk about potential? You know, "That kid has the potential to be a great
It's partly there - whatever "it" is. The great ability to hit the golf ball, the ease of reducing complex ideas, the mastery of the language, the proficiency on the instrument.
When I was in high school I was on the track team (okay, I threw shot put and was a founding member of "the Big Belly Brothers" but that's another story, okay?) and I remember there was this girl named Amy Rudolph. She was like in 6th or 7th grade or something when I was in high school but the girl could run. As I remember it, she would routinely beat the high school girls in distance running and by the time I graduated (I think she was on the track team by then...) she was beating EVERYBODY - boys, girls, men, women... In middle school, she had potential. It was apparent. And, yes, she went to the Olympics. Twice, I believe.
But from day one, she was a runner. When she just had "potential" until her last step across the finish line of her last Olympic race, she was a runner. But I bet at 3 it was hard to see. And maybe at 6 but by 10 it started to be visible and by 20 "runner" was her public identity (if you know what I mean - my public identity would be pastor...she's a believer, but I don't want to dive into her private life, okay?).
The kingdom of heaven is kind of like that. I think we're kind of in the "10 year old" range of that image above. We can see the direction God is going (to a degree) with the kingdom of heaven - the potential is growing...
It's the tension between "the now and the not yet". You know, a LONG time ago, Amy Grant sang that:
The Now and the Not Yet
Amy Grant
No longer what we were before,
But not all that we will be.
Tomorrow, when we lock the door,
On all our compromising,
When He appears,
He'll draw us near,
And we'll be changed by His glory,
Wrapped up in His glory....
We will be like Him,
For we shall see Him,
As He is.
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la....)
No longer what we saw before,
But not all that we will see.
Tomorrow, when we lock the door,
On all our disbelieving,
When He appears (holy, holy),
Our view will clear,
And we'll be changed by His glory,
Wrapped up in His glory....
But I'm caught in between
The now and the not yet;
Sometimes it seems like
Forever and ever,
That I've been reaching to be
All that I am,
But I'm only a few steps nearer,
Yet I'm nearer....
No longer what we were before,
But not all that we will be.
Tomorrow, when we lock the door,
On all our disbelieving,
And He appears (holy, holy),
He'll draw us near,
And we'll be changed by His glory,
Wrapped up in His glory....
When He appears (holy, holy),
He'll draw us near,
And we'll be changed by His glory,
Wrapped up in His glory....
Man, you should hear my wife sing that song...
(And, of course, you gotta love a song with "la, la, la, la's" in it...heh)
Anyway, if it's true of all of us (and, clearly, I think it is -- see "Grace (as Bill Beatty Understands It): Sanctifying Grace" below) couldn't it also be true of the Kingdom of God? That maybe God is preparing the church, that God is leading the church in the direction that He's always wanted us to go but we've really misinterpreted it?
Here's what I mean. No one can deny that God has a special concern for the least, the lost, the "losers" (widows, orhpans, sinners, the broken, etc...call 'em what you will). All through the OT (especially the prophets), all through Jesus' ministry and the early church we see a special concern for the fringe of society.
That is the kingdom of God...
But, you know I just had a conversation with a pastor whose church has a burden for the broken and the hurting and the lost (the pastor ministers in one of the local bars, there's a lesbian couple who is active in the church and they have a variety of "fringe" ministries) and the church has been blackballed by just about every other church in town (especially the "evangelical" churches - you know, the ultra conservative type denominations...).
Sigh...
So, what does the kingdom REALLY look like?
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