Kingdom Focus

 

Moore:

The focal point of Christ’s reign in the present era on the church makes sense of our own lives. God’s purpose is to conform us into the image of Christ. So, like him, we do not arrive fully formed. Jesus, in his humanity, “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). If God is working all things together for my good, then nothing in my life is a “waste of time.” Every aspect of my life, my relationships, my job, my family, my suffering, is part of an internship for the eschaton, preparing me in some way to rule with Christ. If the kingdom is what Jesus says it is, then what matters isn’t simply what we neatly classify as “spiritual” things. Our callings—whether preaching the gospel or loading docks or picking avocados or filing legal briefs or writing legislation or herding goats—aren’t accidental. God is teaching us, as he taught our Lord, to learn in little things how to be in charge of great things (Matt. 25:14–23).

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If we see the universe as the Bible sees it, we will not try to “reclaim” some lost golden age. We will see an invisible conflict of the kingdoms, a satanic horror show being invaded by the reign of Christ. This will drive us to see who our real enemies are, and they are not the cultural and sexual prisoners-of-war all around us. If we seek the kingdom, we will see the devil. And this makes us much less sophisticated, much less at home in modern America.

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We ought also to be the last people on earth to uncritically laud any political leader or movement as though this were what we’ve been waiting for. We need leaders and allies, but we do not need a Messiah. That job is filled, and he’s feeling fine. We are neither irrationally exuberant, nor fearfully isolated. We recognize that from Golgotha to Armageddon, there will be tumult—in our cultures, in our communities, and in our own psyches. We groan against this, and work to hold back the consequences of the curse. But we do not despair, as those who are the losers in history might. We are the future kings and queens of the universe.