How would you fill in the blank at the end of this sentence: “Keep your eye on the _______.” Did you say ball, goal or prize? To me, the main idea of this phrase is to have an objective in mind and to strive to complete that objective.
Around 2000 years ago, Jesus gave the Great Commission to the church as an objective to strive for. Over the centuries some have struggled valiantly to complete this objective. However, as I look at the state of Christianity today, I wonder if we have not taken our eye off the ball.
Dr. Andy Woods wrote, “The Coming Kingdom: What Is the Kingdom and How Is Kingdom Now Theology Changing the Focus of the Church?” It is a great read and doctor woods makes an excellent point that Kingdom Now Theology has sidetracked the church from its original goal of the Great Commission.
So, what is Kingdom Now Theology? Here is how I define it: “Kingdom Now Theology is the teaching that we are currently living in some form of the promised millennial kingdom.” Here’s the problem. If we are currently living in some form of the millennial kingdom today, then we should be doing all we can to improve the conditions of God’s kingdom in which we are living.
One of the main problems of this teaching is that those who hold to Kingdom Now Theology get so wrapped up with social programs that they forget the main goal. In the early 1900s liberal churches got wrapped up into the social gospel to the neglect of the preaching the goodnews of Jesus Christ. Today many churches are wrapped up into social justice causes to the neglect of the Great Commission. I believe that such neglect is a direct result of Kingdom Now Theology.
Dawson Trotman (founder of The Navigators) was fond of saying that “the good is enemy of the best.” There is nothing wrong per se in feeding the hungry or standing up for the defenseless. Those are good things. But to put those programs above the Great Commission is problematic.
Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler, once said: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” I am afraid that many churches today have failed to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus called us to be fishers of men. He did not call us to clean up the fish bowl that we are currently living in. There is nothing wrong with having a clean fish bowl. But if we are so busy cleaning up the fish bowl that we forget to be fishers of men then we might want to rethink our priorities. Just sayin’.
Blessings,
Bob
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A Restful Heart
by J. F. Strombeck
The alternative to a heart "established with grace" is a restless and fearful heart. That is the experience of vast numbers of believers who do not understand the abounding grace of God. Surely a believer's striving in his own power, with the accompanying failures, and the fears of possibly being lost, do not establish the heart. That causes uncertainty, distress, and fainting. But when it is seen that God's work of grace cannot fail, because it is of Him, and that back of His purpose is all His infinite power and grace, the heart does find rest and becomes established.
