Is this disproportional?
I just did a quick check and in the Gospels alone, the Kingdom is mentioned over 100 times and heaven (not in conjunction with the Kingdom; eg Kingdom of Heaven) is mentioned under 90 with most verses referring to it as the location of God, and hell is mentioned less than 20.
How many sermons do we hear on the Kingdom? Unfortunately, I think pastors teach on this important reality far less than what is needed. If they did, I think the people of God would live much, much differently and have much different expectations for life now and life in the future.
_________
After thinking about this for a couple of hours I wonder some of the reasons for not enough teaching on the Kingdom are possibly these:
1. A reaction by many conservative pastors to the liberals use of the Kingdom in the late 19th early 20th century.
2. An unbalanced futurist view of the Kingdom by many who would be pre-millennial or dispensational pre-millennial.
3. Not understanding what the New Testament means by "Kingdom" due to not understanding the Older Testament's anticipation of the Kingdom. (the OT and NT are one story!)
4. A pessimistic view of the present and future.
5. A view of Jesus that mostly relegates his role as Redeemer to the realm of saving souls, so Jesus is only understood in the scope of the salvation of man.
6. The idea that the Kingdom is only spiritual and too vague to really "nail down" what it means. (probably related to #3 on my list)
7. Kingdom is misunderstood as Church. Meaning, the Church is the Kingdom so if one teaches on the Church, they are teaching on the Kingdom, instead of what Scripture teaches as the Kingdom being something quite different (AKA Kingdom as God's reign and the Church as a steward or representative of the Kingdom).
That is all I can think of for now.
How many sermons do we hear on the Kingdom? Unfortunately, I think pastors teach on this important reality far less than what is needed. If they did, I think the people of God would live much, much differently and have much different expectations for life now and life in the future.
_________
After thinking about this for a couple of hours I wonder some of the reasons for not enough teaching on the Kingdom are possibly these:
1. A reaction by many conservative pastors to the liberals use of the Kingdom in the late 19th early 20th century.
2. An unbalanced futurist view of the Kingdom by many who would be pre-millennial or dispensational pre-millennial.
3. Not understanding what the New Testament means by "Kingdom" due to not understanding the Older Testament's anticipation of the Kingdom. (the OT and NT are one story!)
4. A pessimistic view of the present and future.
5. A view of Jesus that mostly relegates his role as Redeemer to the realm of saving souls, so Jesus is only understood in the scope of the salvation of man.
6. The idea that the Kingdom is only spiritual and too vague to really "nail down" what it means. (probably related to #3 on my list)
7. Kingdom is misunderstood as Church. Meaning, the Church is the Kingdom so if one teaches on the Church, they are teaching on the Kingdom, instead of what Scripture teaches as the Kingdom being something quite different (AKA Kingdom as God's reign and the Church as a steward or representative of the Kingdom).
That is all I can think of for now.
posted by Bobby's blog at 1:36 PM
4 Comments:
You've got a great point, Bobby. I think we need to get away from "heaven" preaching altogether. The Christian's hope does not lie in some disembodied otherworldly existence of clouds and harps and all that. It lies in a new earth. We need more this-worldly but forward-looking (eschatological) preaching.
Let's challenge our people to read more Ridderbos! Just kidding. I really think that if people would just read even the prophets, they could get a better understanding. I mean it doesn't get much clearer than Isaiah's understanding of the Messianic reign and how it is on the earth and the people of God dwell in a new or recreated earth.
Also, if someone just pays attention to the Lord's prayer! Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on the earth (this real estate) as it is in heaven (God's throne room). So, if the Lord himself is praying for the earth to be like God's throne room, then I think we should take "This world is not my home" out of any Christian hymnal and any other song that devalues our existence on this planet as just a time where we suffer on this terrible place, but wait for this greater place called heaven where we'll play a golden harp for 5 million years. I mean, there isn't a single reference in the entire Bible that says we spend our eternities in heaven. We can say that the intermediate state is likely heaven since we will be in the Lord's presence, but again, the OT prophets and NT Apocalypse indicate a renewal of this earth and heaven comes to dwell here.
Just curious, have you read Carl Henry's [i]Uneasy Conscience?[/i] Me thinks Henry didn't come up with all that himself. :P
I haven't read that yet.
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