Your Kingdom Come

Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done here on earth as it is in heaven   Matthew 6:10

The student leaders of Church In The Box chose The Kingdom of God as their theme of the year. In thinking about the theme as I prepared an initial talk on the subject, it struck me again that many people have little idea of what it actually is.

The late theologian George Eldon Ladd wrote with insight and clarity about the Kingdom of God. His writing on the subject was certainly a benchmark for my generation. I found that his writing continues to be of personal and pastoral benefit as I grapple with the tensions inherent within the biblical texts. In piecing together the dozens of scriptures which refer to the Kingdom and putting them into a coherent whole, he wrote:


“The Mystery of the Kingdom is this: that the Kingdom which will one day change the entire external order has entered into This Age in advance to bring the blessings of God’s Kingdom to men and women without yet transforming the old order. The old age is going on, yet people may already enjoy the powers of The Age To Come “


We can taste now in part what we shall experience in full. The Kingdom of God is now, whether we can perceive it or not, and it will yet be fully consummated in the future. The future has invaded the present and we can begin to experience it now.


In my life, I have had the privilege of meeting and even knowing people of Kingdom Influence. Their lives bore evidence of the inbreaking of God’s Kingdom in who they were and what they did. This would include business people, housewives, mothers, students, missionaries… people of all walks of life. What they shared in common was brokenness about the way things are, and a deep conviction that God did not want things to stay that way.


I think of my friend, Kevin Rogers, who felt God calling him to plant a church in the most desolate part of the post recessionary City of Windsor. This church has been a catalyst for vitality and  blessing in that neighborhood. Addictions are broken, lives are redeemed and a whole neighborhood changed.  I think of our Redeemer students who have directed much agape love in the direction of Hamilton’s downtown core. I think of those like James Tughan and Chris Cuthill whose Flagship Art Gallery serves as a beacon in the midst James Street. There are Redeemer grads who have planted businesses down in the urban core that are making a difference.


Can you think of examples?  Are there people, or communities that reveal fingerprints of His Kingdom? What experience might you have of His inbreaking rulership? What would you like to see? What might God be calling you to do?