Heaven Come to Earth & Earth Come to Heaven

[This article is cross-posted on my Our Long View blog.]

One night recently, at a church’s regular night of prayer and worship, I noticed the emphasis in what we said, what we sang, and what we prayed touching again and again on the phrase “your kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10, which says,

“Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.”

It resonated with me at the time because just a day earlier, I had been journaling through the tail-end of John 17—which is known as Jesus’ high priestly prayer for his followers—and I was struck by the way that Jesus prayed for “Heaven to come to earth.” He was praying for the kingdom to come, just not in those words.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:20-24)

While Jesus prayed, it was not only for his disciples at that time…but by extension for all believers down through history…which includes all true Christ-followers today.

This section of Jesus’ prayer is, first of all, that we might be one, in perfect relationship with each other. The church has an “invisible” spiritual unity in Christ, but often we lack that visible unity between denominations and congregations that we need to be a convincing witness to the world (v.21). Thankfully, while we have a long way to go, I think this is getting better all the time. I see new trans-denominational partnerships developing. Yet we have to stop seeing others as competitors in a market-driven approach to church growth. We were saved by the grace of God to be one body, woven together like strands in a great tapestry that, as a whole, testifies beautifully of the love and grace of God in Christ. In order to do this—to be one—we will need to trust in the glory Jesus has shared with us all instead of trying to produce our own. Unity takes humility and an intentional effort, most of the time, to develop brother/sister relationships with other congregations. Jesus' second prayer for us, in this section, is that we might be with Jesus in heaven to see the shared glory of God and experience that perfect Trinitarian love for ourselves.

Waiting for dawn in Jerusalem

We pray “your kingdom come, your will be done,” and Jesus, when he prayed for us, told us what the answer to our prayer looks like. He prayed for our unity with each other in the here and now (heaven come to earth) as the evidence of God’s triune presence, and he prayed for our unity (earth come to heaven) with God in the future. That we could be with him where he is in the glorious love of the Father was the longing of our Lord Jesus. God, in his shared glory, invites us to eat with him in unity at his table (Luke 13:29).

So when we pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God, perhaps we should start looking with the wide-eyed wonder and expectancy of a child for the ways in which it is already present in the midst of us (Luke 17:21) and seek to experience it together as “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).
 

As we seek to live out heaven’s kingdom convictions on earth, many will see it and desire to “immigrate” in order to worship with us in the Spirit and in truth. May we walk worthy of such citizenship.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:9-11)

The Empty Tomb

As we continue through the Lenten season in preparation for our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, perhaps we would make Jesus’ prayer our prayer as well.
 

 Will you join me?

 

Moving Day Part 1 “Packing Up”

Photo by Kadarius Seegars on Unsplash

As I get ready to move on to a new focus in my cultural engagement blogging, I thought I might pack up some things to share, and perhaps stir my readers up by way of reminder.

Over the summer, in a loose-knit series of blog posts, I explored the concept of unity and disunity in our society and how we as the church should be committed to tearing down the walls that we allow to divide us so that we can better represent as the body of Christ on earth. Some of this disunity is tied to the literal building and tearing down of walls and the movements of ethnic peoples from one land to another, and some of the disunity is because of our own pride and sense of entitlement.

Starting with Some Elbow Room? (7/15/14) I asked questions like, “Why do we always seem to push others out when we move in (whoever the “we” may be)? Why do we spend so much energy "clearing the land" to build our own kingdoms?” and encouraged Christian congregations to stop competing with each other as well as trying to be self-sufficient and start working together. I concluded that post with the challenge,

If we need to be moving someone, let it be moving ourselves closer to each other relationally, linking arms and hearts, keeping in step with the Spirit rather than the flesh (Gal. 5). Listen to one another, pray with one another, and be friends with one another. Then we may see God move in gentle power in our midst... and have to move out into the yard because the house isn't big enough for everyone.

I followed that with Dust in the Wind: The Ever-Changing Dance (7/22/14) in which I talked about the fascinating way that ethnic populations have always been moving and shifting, not as a way to excuse the gentrification of traditionally non-white urban communities, but as an encouragement for us to consider how our policies and actions affect others. Though this shift is unavoidable we should not force it on others.

“Sudden heavy-handed shifts in demographics can either bury the existing community under the weight of new arrivals (think our current crisis on the Southern Border) or scatter that community to the wind (think N & NE Portland)…  

The question facing us is how to respond. Will we embrace the shift and adapt to the new ministry opportunities that the wind has delivered to our doorstep (or to whose doorstep we are delivered)? Will we flee to new lands (California or Bust!) to begin again? Or like some die-hard Dust-Bowlers will we simply live in the basement of what remains and slowly watch our family die of dust pneumonia?

More recently I looked at how we view the “property lines” in our own lives in Psalm 16:5-8 "Pleasant Places" (8/5/14). This passage alludes to the tribal inheritances allocated in the Book of Joshua, but then applies the idea of inheritance not to a place but to a person—the Lord himself. But out of this story, we see our collective responsibility to help every “tribe” to gain its inheritance.

“Who has yet to receive a piece of the pie? Who has not been given a place at the table? For such as these those of us who have access to economic and educational resources should look for ways to leverage them not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of those who don’t have the same options available to them.”

So how do we do this? Trust God and do what he is doing. Our natural response is to take the easy way rather than the hard one. The mission of God is greater than the appearance of “the neighborhood”. Everything God does has a purpose and though it might not be what we want, it is for the good. So do we lament what we see and complain our days away or do lean in and listen more closely to the voice of the Spirit? Do we run from the sound of suffering or do we run towards the battle for the good of the oppressed?

Yesterday I wrote to my son that some of the imagery in Isaiah 62 seemed a little like the rebuilding that must happen after a terrorist attack.  

Go through, go through the gates,
Clear the way for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.” (Isaiah 62:10-11)

There was an attack, a disaster, a tragedy. I wonder if we are willing to move, coming alongside to help our new neighbors overwhelmed with the debris of a violently fallen world. Or would we rather use the remote control to change over to the Cartoon Network?

In the incarnation, Jesus chose the hard way of becoming human to rescue us in accordance with the redemptive plan of God. The least we can do is follow his lead going out from comfort, convenience, and status quo, to take up the missional calling he has given to us.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:12-16)

Just because we “have no lasting city” here doesn’t mean we can’t leave a lasting mark!

The Gates of... Shall not Prevail!

[This post is an assigned response to Dr. Paul Metzger’s article, Gated Communities and the Visible/Invisible Church. It may, or may not be, helpful to read his post first.]

Brickell Key from north.
Photo by Marc Averette

Dr. Metzger uses the metaphor of “gated communities” two ways. First he uses it for the divisions and “Keep out” signs we put up in our lives and especially in our churches. There was a church growth principle popular in the 1980s-90s call the Homogeneous Unit Principle. This taught that the fastest way to grow a church was with people of the same race, class, education, interests, etc. The problem with this principle is that it works because it makes use of our natural worldly responses and has led many to keep using it. It is comfortable. It is safe. It keeps those without the gate code out. Who knows what might happen if we let everybody in… it might lead to the zombie apocalypse! OK so that last part was hyperbole.

The real problem with this gated community approach is that it is not Jesus’ way. His approach in the incarnation—God coming to the world in the flesh—was what we would call “downwardly mobile”. He came to minister to, spend time with, and suffered a brutal death to save everyone who would come. How willing are our churches to follow his example?

The second way he uses gated community metaphor for the invisible church that doesn’t engage the world around it. This happens two ways. Some people think that they can be Christians without functioning in community as the church. And some churches think they can be Christian inside their safe little spiritual compound without being a part of the larger culture and community. This may seem safe considering the things that go on “out there” but it is also an act of disobedience to Jesus’ command to go, preach, and disciple the whole world.

Don't Back Up!

We are not called to back up, circle the wagons, and hold the fort just because we are no longer in charge of the cultural forces around us. Instead of going all Elijah (1 Kings 19:14,18) and thinking we are the last true Jesus-followers on earth. If we take time to look and listen we will see God at work in some pretty amazing ways. This is not a call to compromise for as Dr. Metzger repeatedly states, “When engaging our culture, we must always go through our convictions, never around them, and never stopping short at them.” It seems to me that by not engaging we are stopping short of being truly biblical, fully orthodox, and faithful followers of Jesus.

So what gates have we placed in the way of those who God is calling to himself? What prevents us from gathering in unity as the visible Church?  Metzger suggests that,

"Perhaps some churches exclude people of other ethnicities, economic brackets, those with “disabilities,” the elderly or young or singles, the vibrant or dying, or those with different worship styles,  personality types, hobbies, IQ’s, and political perspectives."

But Jesus came to make us one, where all our gifts serve the unity of the congregation and all the “giftedness’s” of the local expressions of the Church contribute to the one Church, the visible body of Christ on earth. And I hate to break it to the gate-keepers and the spiritual HOA people, but the Church can’t be contained within your walls. Come out and join it in the great mission of God. It is risky and sometimes messy, but it smells like heaven.

Not only do we need to come out and collaborate with the wider church to engage the world but we also need to open the gates to welcome others inside to share life with us. It is wonderful to hear that many churches today are working towards a more multi-ethnic ministry model that better represents the church as it will be when Christ returns.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10)

But there is a barrier that is still up in many areas and it is primarily socio-economic, as I wrote in my last post Poor Praise Indeed. Honestly, how welcome do the poor of our community feel to come not just to get help but to fully participate in our gatherings? I am disturbed afresh by Jesus' parable in Luke 16:19-31 of the rich man who let a poor sick man named Lazarus die un-served and un-welcomed at his gate. I don’t want to minimize the efforts we make to go to minister to the poor—both foreign and domestic—but do we let the poor minister to us… and worship with us in our churches? Or have we settled for something less in a gated community?

In next week’s post, entitled Moving Day, I will bring this section on unity to a conclusion before taking up the next topic—Diplomacy.

Center of Gravity

This blog is in response to an interesting post by Paul Louis Metzger entitled The Religious Right, Left and Wrong View of the Christian’s Political Life where he discusses the church as a political community…but not as we might think.

 

What is the center of gravity on our lives? Around what do we find our lives revolving...or does all of life simply revolve around us? I recently re-watched what I consider a very insightful movie filled with layers of metaphors, Rise of the Guardians (2012). In it the Russian accented Nicholas St. North (Santa) says to an ambiguous Jack Frost, “Let’s get down to tacks of brass... What is your center?” He used a Russian stacking doll to show Jack all the different layers of who he was, with his own center being wide-eyed wonder. Jack Frost had yet to find his own center which proves to be crucial in the plot of the movie. What is the very core descriptor or quality of your identity? It was a great question to ask. It is a question we all should think about answering.

We have considered previously the ramifications of finding our core/name in what God says about us, naming ourselves or being named / labeled by others. But perhaps what Metzger hints at in this article is that such a question should be asked of us corporately. He issues the call to look deeper into our understanding of the church,

“The visible church is often viewed inside and outside the Christian community as a voluntary association of religious individuals. In such contexts, the church is a means to an end of a more foundational social allegiance, such as the state, market, or nuclear family.”

 

These words cut deeply into our flawed theology of the church. Is he right in his grave assessment of the Christian community—that it is seen as being “a voluntary association of religious individuals” and at its core “a means to an end”? I think my friend is correct and mourns the shallowness of relationship that results from such a flawed theology of the church. The biblical view of the church is not as an effective (albeit temporary) means to an end. It is the very center of gravity in the great plan of God. It is not designed to be political in the advocacy of individual agendas of profit, ease, and happiness—yet it does advocate.

Nor is it designed as a tool to consolidate power and establish the platforms of liberal or conservative political parties—yet it is powerful. The Church is the “core” of humanity—humanity as it is designed by God to be. The Church is not a means, but an end—one that is still just beginning!

 

Dr. Metzger’s warnings about our low me-centered consumeristic view of the church need to be heard and heeded:

Christian nuclear families must guard against the impulse to shop around for the best religious family value package available in their midst. Our allegiance to the local church as individual Christians and religious nuclear families must be based on more than voluntary decisions based on passing whims and involuntary impulses and urges…we should see our fundamental social solidarity bound up with the kingdom of God in Christ who has bought us at the price of his own life; we belong to him. Without solidarity with one another, the church will not be able to be a compelling force of love for good, but will allow other publics to co-opt individual Christians for their competing narratives and visions of the future.

 

For Christians, “church” should not be something we choose to consume, or not, but the core of who we are. The church is our truest family and our truest identity. We have been born-again into it. It is not a matter of our choice as much as it is the calling of God. If we are Christ’s people the church is simply who we are collectively. If the church is who we really are at our core then we will be far more effective as an authentic political force for the good of the world than we ever could be on our own. A three-fold cord is not easily broken. We make a positive change in the world only as we remain in unity with each other as citizens of the Kingdom of God. The church is not a temporary arrangement in God's plan.

 

What’s the “center” of the Christian? It is the Church, the place where we dwell—together—with God. What is the center of the Church? It is the light of the love of Christ poured out for us, and through us, to the nations.

 

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there (Rev. 21:22-25)

 

 There will be no night (and no nightmares) there!

If A Tree Falls In The Forest...

As a topic prompt, this week we are supposed to respond to our professor's blog post, How Seriously Do We Take Jesus’ Words in John 17:23 On The Need For Christian Unity?

Before we get to this passage in John 17, unity and oneness have been a frequent theme in John’s Gospel (Seeà John 10:16, 38; 11:52; 14:10-11, 20, 23; and 15:4-5). Allow me to quote the last reference,

Grapevine in Israel.
Photo Greg Dueker

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

Now in chapter 17:22-23, we read,

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

I love this prayer. Obviously this unity Jesus speaks of was important to him since it was on his mind right before he went to his death on the cross. Should it be important to us? Of course! However I wonder in what way it should be important.

Should it be important because it is something we are supposed to produce? I have to confess that sounds kind of arrogant and self-important to me, especially since Jesus was actually praying to the Father, not to us.  

Christian unity should be important for another reason—because it is a sign of Christ’s presence in our lives. Unity is made possible by his re-gifting the glory, which the Father had given to him, to us. Unity is made perfect when we respond by giving all the glory back to him through loving and humbly serving others.

Now these verses in John 17 are from Jesus’ High-priestly prayer for his people. His petition to his Father on our behalf was both passionate and profound.

So was Jesus’ prayer not answered? This is a troublingly honest thought to be sure.

Since Jesus never spoke outside of what flowed from the heart of the Father, I will assume that the answer wasn’t “No.” Perhaps some might say that it was answered with an eschatological, “Not yet.” While this makes a little more sense for once sin is completely removed from the world and the Kingdom of God is fully manifested, complete unity is an easy thing for us to picture. However, this might be too convenient for us, excusing us from serious, determined efforts at unity if it can’t truly be achieved until the Millennial Kingdom. My dear friend wrote passionately,

“We can hide behind claims that Christians are invisibly united through faith in Jesus Christ even in the midst of visible disunity. I seriously doubt that Jesus had in mind invisible unity that was somehow divorced from visible unity. Invisible unity must be visible; otherwise, it is illusory.”

Photo by Joe Dudeck on Unsplash

While I think I have come to share "The Metzger’s" passion for unity, I think that his last statement reaches too far. “Illusory” is a word used for things that are not real, that are based on an illusion. Visibility has not been a metric by which reality is measured for a very long time…except in Missouri (the “Show Me” State). Despite believing in many things we cannot see (like air), we live in a culture that too often fails to recognize the reality of the spiritual realm. As Christians, we should not fall into the same error. Invisible is not the same as unreal. If a tree falls in the forest and no one sees it... It still fell.

I contend that we are already one spiritually if we are truly Christ’s…whether we recognize it or not. There is a spiritual unity that may or may not be seen—that flies in the face of such rationalistic statements as “Invisible unity must be visible; otherwise, it is illusory” because they are not relational enough. Is our unity in what we do or in whose we are and whom we depend on for our salvation? When abiding people meet, there is no hiding the unity of the Spirit.

Allow me to wax momentarily metaphorical. This is Portland, so consider a tree… is it one or is it many? It may sound like a stupid question, but the answer may depend on how we are looking at the tree. There are many individual leaves that, while similar, all have their own distinctives and character. Many branches and twigs are leading to those leaves, each with its seemingly random angle, thickness, and length. While each branch, twig, and leaf is separate and unique, when we step back from hugging it and widen our scope to “look larger,” we see that the many elements really form one tree, each part in its place fulfilling its purpose. So are the leaves many or one? Many, if you don’t believe me, look at my front lawn in the fall. Yet in a very real sense, as part of the tree, the many are one. I use this analogy with caution, as an illustration of how we may be looking too small when we look for unity.  

Am I simply making excuses and contending for an invisible unity? Well, that depends on how big we choose to look. Are we focused too closely on what is in our hands to see the unity that actually exists? Has our vision become pixilated like when you stand too close to the huge TVs in Costco? Sometimes you have to step back and look again. Are we individual buildings or a city? Again, I contend for the possibility that the visibility of unity depends upon the scope of our gaze.

Perfect unity exists now in the lives of those who have surrendered from pursuing their own glory and maintaining their own kingdom. It is found in the indwelling of Christ and the Father by the Spirit. It is not something we could ever produce on our own. What I love is meeting another who is united to Christ and sensing immediately the unity of the Spirit. Certainly, this spiritual unity manifests visibly. I think we just need eyes to recognize it.

I recently attended an ecumenical luncheon of sorts arranged by a custodian at our church. He grew up in the Lutheran Church and still is an active Lutheran while working at a Foursquare Church. Somehow, his life was touched by the love of Christ through those he served with, and he wanted to share his gratitude with us by inviting us to eat a great lunch and by allowing us the opportunity to sit in open fellowship with pastors and others from the two Lutheran churches he has attended. Wonderful people, all part of God’s unified plan to touch one man’s life, and also a part of the tapestry of Christian unity.

What are some of the visible signs of the presence of biblical unity that is synonymous with our remaining in Christ? We don’t shrivel up in the heat of circumstances. We are not prone to separate from his purposes. We humbly accept correction and pruning. Our lives produce good fruit in God’s eyes, and a wholesome witness takes place in the eyes of the watching world.  

Psalm 133 

¹ Behold, how good and pleasant it is
    when brothers dwell in unity!
² It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes!
³ It is like the dew of Hermon,
    which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
    life forevermore.