Yesterday, I had two great conversations about the Kingdom of God. One, with a church member who asked that I teach on the Kingdom more (I was pumped), and the other with another pastor in our church about how we can best minister in light of the coming kingdom of God.
So, here’s my short word of encouragement to you all. We must all live in the now and later, the already and the not yet. We know that Christ inaugurated his kingdom in his first advent, but we also know that the Kingdom will not be fully realized until the day when the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven. So, we minister today in light of the issues of today but with an eye to the future. We minister to the hurting and the grieving with a promise that God will wipe every tear from their eye and that death will someday be no more (Rev. 21:4). We share the gospel with the lost with the warning that judgment awaits and God, though he is patient and desires that none should perish, he will not delay his judgment forever (Rev. 20:15).
We should strive with all our heart to live the Kingdom life here and now by fighting for the cause of the alien, the orphan, and the widow, but even as we do, we long for the day when we will be the people of God, in the new place of God, under the complete and total rule and blessing of God. There is much more that can be said of kingdom centered ministry, but it is at least as much as has been written. To attempt to minister only with an eye to the future means that we will miss the opportunity to do good now, but ministering only with an eye to the present is to miss the promises that are coming in light of the fully realized Kingdom of God.
