Hanging Out in or Near the Kingdom

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

      With my fat, arthritic fingers, I just typed a “d” into Cobblestone ahead of the first “e”. It happens a lot, catching the edge of one key on the way to another. Usually, I simply backspace, correct, and move on. But this particular typo struck a chord: Cobbldestone… “Cobble-dee-Stone.” Somehow, it seemed to represent a subtle, self-effacing humor. It’s hard enough to take seriously a church with a name like ours, without the “d”; so much more when the name sounds like something out of last Sunday’s pre-school classroom. “Cobble-dee-Stone” – the more I say it the more I like it. This new and playful name reminds me of how we’ve been cobbled together from various bits of history. Only God could write such a truly implausible story. It also reminds me of how, among the twenty-one so far, our best years have been those in which we’ve taken ourselves not so seriously – when agendas were put behind people, and honoring people was essential in honoring God.

     Think on the Great Commandment (see Mark 12:28-34). If you were reading the Distilled Version of the Bible (no such thing, far as I know, I just made it up), the passage might read: “Love God, love others.” As a believer, you could bear witness to your love for God in several ways – singing, testifying, praising, declaring his mercies, and so on. But how do you prove your love for God? Jesus gave the means: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Isn’t it just like Jesus to chase the most important matters out of the realm of the theoretical?

     I have finally recovered (well, almost) from the shock of Mark’s Gospel, seeing Jesus set the bearers of God’s image, and their precious eternal souls, far above policies and politics, economies and cultures. In the twelfth chapter, the scribe there agreed with Jesus in his assessment of the greatest commandment. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (verse 34). As important as it is to agree with Jesus, I desperately want the lingering shock of Mark’s Gospel to remind me: “not far from” is not close enough. I want to work the kingdom of God from the inside out.

     As our Bible reading plan rolls into Luke’s Gospel, what do you see? You see Jesus faithfully setting imago Dei at the top of the created order. He healed on the Sabbath. He touched the leper. He let the roof be destroyed. He ordered a huge catch of fish into empty nets, simply to astonish Peter and James and John. For each of those choices, there was some policy somewhere, set in opposition. Don’t think Jesus was breaking the Law of the Lord – he came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (see Matthew 5:17). The policies, however, were another matter entirely.

     In his first coming, Jesus initiated the kingdom of God on earth. The clearest mission statement for that first coming is what Jesus himself pulled from Scripture and declared to the people:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:18-19). 

     Surely he wouldn’t want us to miss his emphasis on honoring the image of God in people. Policies can only be good if we’re tracking with Jesus on his mission.

     The Lord is cautioning me in this moment, steering me away from going too big. Oh, how I want to address the “big issues”! Maybe later, if he gives permission… and just the right words. For now, if I’m understanding his leading correctly, I’ll point you to Andrew Holzworth’s sermon from this past Sunday. Yep, our very own Andrew, speaking at little ol’ Cobble-dee-Stone. He preached from Luke 7:36-50, and if I’ve ever heard an anointed sermon, this was certainly one of them. If you missed it, get it. If you got it Sunday, get it again – http://www.cobblestonechurch.com/media/sermons.

     Honoring the image of God starts small and it starts close. Andrew spoke on removing shame, as Jesus removed shame from the “sinful woman” in the house of Simon the Pharisee. If you see yourself as a shame-magnet, see what Jesus did in Luke 7, and own it. If you see yourself as more of a shame-caster – same. Jesus wants neither of those roles for you. Honoring the image is so close, it’s inside.

     It may look like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, as the old saying goes. Romans 8 and Revelation 21, for starters, say otherwise. There absolutely must be avenues of restoration, operating in this very moment. The Creator of all things has declared restoration – it’s got to happen. In the end, it’ll be glorious. Between now and then, it’ll be glorious – only in smaller doses. Enter into the restoration plan; enter into exalting the image of God as he does.

     I’m convinced there are people in our church right now who will do large and laudable work for the kingdom of God. I’m equally convinced of – and equally glad for – all of us who will do the easily unnoticed work in homes and schools and hospitals and all manner of workplaces. And even for the large-and-laudable, when others are astonished by the power of Jesus on them, I can imagine how the conversations will go:

“What was your sending church?”

“Cobble-dee-Stone.”

“Never heard of it.”

“I’m not surprised.”

Grace and Peace (in the midst of the kingdom),

John