One of the important issues about which there is increasing confusion and division in our churches is that of what we may call “our kingdom mission.” That covers, broadly speaking, our relationships and behavior in the world. Let’s again consider side-by-side (1) the historic, Biblical Reformed view and (2) the emerging, changing broadening view held by an increasing number in our churches.
(1) The Biblical, Reformed View
The Lord, when He preached His gospel or “good news” of salvation, often called it the “gospel of the kingdom” (Mt . 4:23; 9:35; 24:14). A “kingdom” is not merely a loose term for “government”; it is a special kind of government in which one individual, the “king” rules. God as the Creator and Owner of all has absolute control over all things, working “all things after the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11), and he ought to be everywhere acknowledged and obeyed as King. Man revolted against Him, bringing upon himself the judgments of suffering and death. Christ, the Son of God, came to save us by reconciling us to God. In saving us by faith in Him he also commits to us the gospel or “word of reconciliation” which we must bring as His “ambassadors” both in the church and to all the world. We must urge men to “be . . . reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18–6:2; compare also Psalm 2). Unless one is “born again” by the Spirit and Word of Christ he “cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5; cf. 1 Pet. 1:23; James 1:18). Really being saved by faith in Christ requires acknowledging and obeying Him as Lord and King (Mt. 7:21–23; Luke 6:46). Accordingly the missionary gospel of faith in Christ as Savior must include calling men to submit every area of interest and activity in their lives to His sovereign control and direction (1 Cor. 10:31). The effort to oppose this gospel necessitates our spiritual warfare using God’s Word as well as our labor with it. This gospel of “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) includes everything “profitable,” in fact, “the whole counsel of God” (vv. 20, 27), the equipment of the “complete” “man of God” (2 Tim. 3;17); “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3); God’s complete purpose for our personal and collective lives. The missionary outreach to the world and the social implications of the gospel calling to serve the Lord always and everywhere (1 Cor. 7:20–24) cannot be separated from it. It is the “gospel of the Kingdom” calling men to trust and obey Jesus Christ as King of Kings. It promises His triumphant return when all men shall be saved as His servants or condemned as His enemies (Psalm 2; Mt. 25).
(2) The Broadening View
God’s revelation comes to us not only through the Bible, but also through the experience of all mankind in its growing and improving understanding of man and his universe. The Bible as a genuinely “historical” revelation relates religious experiences and presents insights which are inevitably colored by the cultural limitations of a past time. That past culture and society had an authoritarian structure which no longer applies in our changed, more “democratic” society. Accordingly the old figures of speech of “king” and “kingdom” need to be reinterpreted in our time in terms, not of rule, but of service. After all, didn’t Christ state this very emphatically when he said that He came not to be served, but to serve (Mt. 20:25–28)? Christians today ought to be concerned not about dated doctrines and laws but about people and the social, economic and civil needs, “hurts” and rights of mankind. Christ as the great “Liberator” came to free men from all kinds of handicaps and restraints, and if we really follow Him we must have the same concern. People in today’s society are not interested in the hereafter but in the present urgent needs and problems of a suffering world. If we are to have any influence in this world as Christians we must try to do something about meeting those present “felt” needs of people in our society. Often in today’s world, social and political movements which are not associated with Christianity are showing more concern with human needs and rights than traditionally–minded Christians do. Believing in and seeing the Spirit of God at work in the great liberating social and political movements of our time, we ought to join forces with such progressive efforts wherever we find them and so make a real contribution in today’s world. We ought to be working to correct or replace oppressive and unjust structures of society with freer and therefore better, more human ones. This is the “kingdom” of freedom and justice which we ought to be promoting. We ought to be trying to s top poverty, hunger, war, prejudice. Though there may be many a disappointment and frustration in the long struggle to achieve such aims, we must go on in confidence that the Spirit does bring progress in realizing this ideal “kingdom.”