Kingdom of God

I'm doing staff devotions this morning in (oh man...) 8 minutes... Maybe I won't get this posted before I go...

One of the most frustrating things Jesus ever said appears in Matthew 13:51. He has been telling kingdom parables and then he asks the disciples, "Have you understood these things?" And they say yes. Now, what frustrates me about this is that I don't understand all these things.

The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who puts yeast into dough until it's all mixed in... Um...huh?

The kingdom is like a pearl so valuable that you'd sell everything else to buy it. Or a field with a treasure in it so you sell everything and snatch up the field before somebody else finds the treasure (okay, it doesn't really SAY that last part exactly that way...but remember, I said I don't really get these parables completely...so that's how it reads to me).

Brian McLaren in his book The Secret Message of Jesus (and I'm paraphrasing here) says that we've had a wrong - in fact, a too narrow - view of the Kingdom of God for...well, since Jesus talked about it. Too many people see the Kingdom as Heaven. That's it. My salvation. Getting there.

But Jesus said, too, that the Kingdom is within us and that it has already begun among us.

So, just getting to heaven is too narrow a vision of the kingdom.

I was reminded of Isaiah 49:6 where God says,

It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. (NIV)

"It is too small a thing..." Too narrow a vision to limit this Kingdom stuff to a single, small group of people. No, not even just God's chosen people, but a light for the Gentiles (probably better translated "a light for the nations") that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

Hmm... Light of the nations... Sounds like, "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid." (Mt 5:14 NRSV)

It is too small a thing... That phrase just sticks with me, cuts me, really. How often have I had too small a vision for minsitry - when it's all about me, about my area of influence or passion or responsibility? It's easy for me to see the Kingdom of God in the South Hills as "my" worship services. But that's too small a vision of the kingdom, too small a thing. Within our church it begins when we look across the staff table and see how we can do ministry together, not just in the same place, but hand in hand. Larger, it means looking at what the other churches in the South Hills are doing (even if we *gasp* don't agree with their theology) and see how we can advance the Kingdom of God that has begun and is already among us. Not just in superficial ways - but in real, substantial ways. And not just "mission trip" stuff. Real, every day ministry.

How can we incorporate youth in worship? How can we talk about stewardship all year long? How can contemporary and traditional worship and, say, the Singles Ministry work together? Or whatever. Bridges instead of walls, trust instead of animosity, life instead of...death.

Okay, I didn't get it in before staff started. It's after lunch already, but that's the gist of what I said this morning.