1 Peter 2:1-10
The Kingdom Comes
James Sledge May
18, 2014
What
is wrong with the world? Have you ever asked yourself that question? How could
you not. Think of the terrible things that have happened, just in the last
month or so. Hundreds of Korean students were killed when a ferry capsized
while the crew did little to save them, and it seems there was negligence and
malfeasance on the ferry company’s part.
Hundreds
of school girls have been kidnapped in Nigeria by terrorists opposed to Western
styled education. They’ve threatened to sell the girls as wives or slaves, and
the Nigerian government did almost nothing, refusing help from the US and
others, until a social media campaign created international outrage.
In
Syria, shortly before an exhibit of children’s artwork was to go on display,
bombs were dropped on the school. Teachers and children were killed, adding to
a death toll now surpassing 150,000 people. And there is no end in sight.
What
is wrong with the world?
In
our own country, the economy seems to be in permanent doldrums, and the
vulnerable suffer the most. Hunger and homelessness are increasing, yet our
political process seems paralyzed. And the very people who yell, “This is a
Christian nation,” argue for cuts in food stamps and Head Start, despite God’s
repeated command to care for the poor and vulnerable.
What
is wrong with the world?
Not
that this question is new. It is likely as old as humanity itself. The second
of the two creation stories in Genesis, the Garden of Eden story, is not really
an account of events or an attempt to record history. Rather it is theological
reflection, in story form, on a fundamental theological and anthropological question:
What is wrong with the world?
Israel’s
answer to this question is one that Jesus embraced, that shaped his life and
ministry, and shaped how his followers understood his death and resurrection. Unfortunately,
this answer has often been forgotten Church. Jesus became about personal
salvation and getting a ticket to heaven, disconnected from his central message
that was addressed to the question, What is wrong with the world?
Israel’s
answer did not really try to explain how it was the world got so out of kilter,
but it did address why. The problem is that the world simply refuses to accept
the sovereignty of its creator, the lordship or rule of God. Israel, and the first
Christians, did not understand heaven to be a place where people could go when
they died. Rather it was the place where God did reign supreme, where God’s
sovereignty was unchallenged. And Israel awaited and longed for the day they
were sure would come, the day when God would reign supreme on earth as well. This
was sometimes known as the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven.
When
Jesus begins his ministry, he declares that God’s kingdom had come near. And
this coming day is central to the prayer he teaches his followers. “Our Father
in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on
earth as in heaven.” In other words, reign supreme on earth as you currently do
in heaven. Fix what is wrong with the world.
One
of the things that was supposed to accompany the coming of God’s reign was
resurrection. This had nothing to do with going to heaven. Rather it was the
belief that the dead would be raised when God’s kingdom arrived, and the
faithful would then live anew in that day when God had fixed what was wrong
with the world.
And
so when Jesus was raised from the dead, his followers saw something much
greater than life after death. They saw proof that God’s kingdom was indeed on
its way, that God’s reign had broken into this world that needs fixing.
That
is why today’s scripture can speak of us
being a royal priesthood and a holy nation, living stones that are built into a
spiritual house. When we are joined to the risen Christ, when the Spirit is at
work in us, we become a part of this new thing God is doing. We are joined to
the foundation of God’s coming kingdom, and so we help the coming reign of God become
visible in the world.
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are
about so much more than saving individuals. They are about the coming of God’s
reign on earth. And those who are in Christ, in whom the Spirit dwells, begin
to participate now in that coming day. When we allow the Spirit to build us
into a spiritual house, God’s new day takes hold in our community. It becomes
visible in our life together.
__________________________________________________________________________
Typically
when people talk about building things at a church, the Holy Spirit or being “in
Christ” rarely comes to mind. When churches talk about building a building, they
typically think of building committees, architectural designs, financial campaigns,
bank loans, and so on. Churches may also speak of building their programs. They
may want to build up a youth program or a great music program. They may want to
build a young adult ministry or construct a new worship service. And it is
striking how unspiritual such talk often is.
As
a pastor I receive a lot of advertising about constructing both buildings and
programs. And this advertising rarely speaks of the Spirit or faith. Instead
the language is about connecting with religious consumers. Here’s how your
youth or young adult program can be more attractive and exciting so it draws
new people. Here’s how a new church building can help your ministry grow.
Here’s how to make your worship attractive to young people.
Not to dismiss such helps; they may
indeed be useful. But they are very different from the sort of building that we
hear about in today’s epistle reading. This is not about building something
that is attractive according to worldly, consumer standards. It is about
allowing God to transform us and build us into an alternative community,
distinct from the ways of the world. It is a community without the barriers and
boundaries of the world. People do not need to be good enough, sophisticated
enough, high achievers, part of the in crowd, have a great resume, or be hip or
talented or beautiful. They need only encounter God’s love in Jesus and let
that transform them and connect them to a different sort of community where
everyone finds welcome, where all find a place that they belong, and where God’s
love and welcome are shared.
____________________________________________________________________________
Rachel
Held Evans is a Christian writer popular with people in the emergent church
movement. She comes out of the evangelical world, but she’s also popular among
many Mainline folks who are interested in what the church may become as we move
into a post-Christendom, post-modern world. Because she is young, she is often
invited to speak about how the church is failing to connect with the millennial
generation. In a blog post last year, she wrote of her typical experience when she’s
invited to address fellow evangelicals. In her talk she tells them how “young
adults perceive evangelical Christianity to be too political, too exclusive,
old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people,” how they make young adults feel they have to choose
between science and faith, and how there’s little room to wrestle with doubts. But
listen to what she says happens next. “Invariably, after I’ve finished my
presentation and opened the floor to questions, a pastor raises his hand and
says, ‘So what you’re saying is we need hipper worship bands.’ And I proceed to
bang my head against the podium…”
She
goes on to talk about how millennials are good at spotting “BS,” and how they
are looking for substance and integrity, not style. She continues, “You can’t
hand us a latte and then go about business as usual and expect us to stick
around. We’re not leaving the church because we don’t find the cool factor
there; we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there.”[1]
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by
mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let
yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Let yourselves
be built… Not “Build something,” but let yourselves be built. Give yourselves
over to Jesus, and let God use you, use us together, to build something
wonderful. Then the kingdom, God’s rule, breaks into our world that needs
fixing just a little bit more. And Jesus is
found here.
Thanks
be to God!
[1]
Rachel Held Evans, “Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church,” http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/
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