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If Jesus walked the earth today, what church would He attend? One that opens its doors to people of all religions? A politically active church trying to influence who's elected to public office? What kind of people would make up the church Jesus would attend? Would He attend your church?
We're witnessing a growing movement in the United States among conservative Christians to achieve political power as a way to stop the decay of biblical family values, immoral entertainment, abortion and the teaching of evolution in schools.
One of the diverse factors in this movement is "dominion theology." The agenda of dominion theology is for Christians to achieve dominion, or control, of the civil government, educational system, entertainment industry and wealthy corporations. Proponents believe that when Christians gain political and economic influence, the United States will return to being a Christian nation. Some adherents think that Christian ascendancy will effectively establish God's Kingdom on earth.
This idea of the Kingdom of God being established through human government isn't a new one. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church exercised enormous political power throughout Europe. During that time in European history a monarch's right to rule was considered to derive from papal authority. And the mailed fist of a nation's army could be used to enforce church teachings.
Writing around A.D. 1300, Pope Boniface VIII claimed that the church wielded two swords, one spiritual and the other physical. He wrote: "Both are in the power of the Church, the spiritual sword and the material. But the latter is to be used for the Church; the former by her; the former by the priest, the latter [the sword of military might] by kings and captains but at the will and by the permission of the priest" (quoted in Documents of the Christian Church, Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, editors, 2011, p. 121, emphasis added).
The Protestant Reformation diffused papal power, but the history of Christianity since the Middle Ages has seen various religious movements trying to prepare the way for Christ's return through human efforts to create God's Kingdom here on earth.
In other Christian communities, the polar opposite of dominion theology is popular. It is a New Age concept that essentially says, "Jesus accepts everyone as long as they have love in their hearts."
In this interpretation of Jesus' teachings, "love" is defined by subjective human emotions. Good and evil is based more on personal feelings than universal standards. There is little concept of God's dominion or divine law.
The New Age Jesus makes no demands on how God is to be worshipped; instead, human beings create personal interpretations of God based in human tradition. The definition of sin is ambiguous, because divine law is made obsolete through "love." Is this the kind of church Jesus would attend?
Let's take a deeper look at these two contradictory teachings about God's dominion and Kingdom in the light of what Jesus actually taught. Is either the kind of theology you would find in the church Jesus would attend? Or would He attend a church with a different focus?
First, let's explore the idea that Christians are to use human government to establish dominion and hasten Christ's return. When we survey the life of Jesus as presented in the Gospels, we find a different approach. Jesus never involved Himself in trying to control the Jewish or Roman governments. When dragged before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36).
Jesus told His disciples to be prepared to be persecuted by "governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles [the nations]" (Matthew 10:5-42). They were instructed to "preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15, New International Version), not enforce the gospel on all creation.
Should Christian churches struggle to gain political and economic dominion to promote the Kingdom of God on earth? The answer to this question is found in understanding what the Kingdom of God is and how you can submit to God's rule in your life.
To appreciate what God wants to do in your life, you must have both a vision of His future Kingdom and a life-encompassing mission to follow the Creator's direction in your daily life. These are the kind of disciples Jesus wants filling the seats in the meetings of the church He would attend. What about you?
In parable after parable Jesus told His disciples about a bridegroom, or a wealthy merchant, who would leave his servants and return to them delivering rewards or punishment. Jesus' lengthy prophecy on the Mount of Olives shortly before His death was delivered in response to the question, "What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3).
On the night before His death Jesus told His disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:1-3, NIV).
Jesus regularly taught that at this present time the Kingdom of God wasn't ruling over humanity. He encouraged His disciples with a vision of a time when He would establish God's sovereignty over all nations and peoples. He never instructed His followers to try to gain political control and use human governments to establish God's Kingdom.
Vision is critical-as the story of Florence Chadwick's attempt to swim the Catalina Channel illustrates.
For me, making the 21-mile boat ride to Catalina Island off the California coast left me with an unforgettable image-of the many sharks following our wake. I had no desire to get into the water. This makes Chadwick's attempt even more amazing.
On July 4, 1952, at age 34, Chadwick had already conquered the English Channel and was in great condition. The day she faced the Catalina Channel was extremely foggy. In addition, the water was icy cold, and soon Chadwick was suffering from numbness. Several times her crew, accompanying her by boat, had to drive off sharks with gunfire. She strained to see the coast, but the fog made it impossible.
After nearly 16 hours, struggling with the feeling that the distance was too great, she gave up and climbed into the boat. It was heartbreaking for her to discover that the shoreline was only a half-mile away.
Chadwick told reporters it was the fog that caused her to become disheartened. She could handle the fatigue, the cold and the threat of sharks, but not being able to see her destination was overwhelming. Two months later Chadwick set out again to swim the Catalina Channel. She confronted all the same conditions, including the fog, but she visualized her goal and completed the swim, beating the men's record by two hours.
Many times it isn't the troubles of life that defeat us. It's the fog. The ability to visualize beyond the uncertainty of life's fog is called mental vision. To experience God's dominion in your life now, you must have a spiritual vision of the future He's promised.
Jesus gave these instructions to His disciples: "Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you" (Luke 12:29-31).
Our vision of the Kingdom of God must spring from the teachings of Jesus Christ and the descriptions given by the Old Testament prophets. This vision will determine how much we submit to God's direction in our life now, and even which church we attend.
The second idea, permeating liberal Christianity, is based in a conviction that Jesus taught a non-judgmental acceptance of all religious beliefs.
This interpretation doesn't come from the teachings of Jesus, but from a mishmash of secularism, multiculturalism and Far Eastern religion mixed with a few biblical concepts. It creates a multicultural Jesus who accepts the equality of all religions and moral ideas-one who is more like a 1968 hippie seeking "the Age of Aquarius" than the historical Jesus who lived in Judea under the rule of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago.
Ultimately, the New Age Jesus isn't concerned with solving the horrible consequences of breaking God's law and defining God's dominion or Kingdom, but in allowing each person the moral freedom to decide for himself or herself between right and wrong, good and evil.
A story in Matthew's Gospel helps us understand the teachings of the real Jesus. A young man came to Him asking, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" (Matthew 19:16).
Jesus responded, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments" (verse 17). The real Jesus was very concerned with God's dominion and rule of law, a teaching foreign to the New Age conception of Jesus.
The young man pressed Him about which commandments, and Jesus answered, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (verses 18-19).
The man instantly recognized these as being from the Ten Commandments-the final command to "love your neighbor as yourself" being a summary from Leviticus 19:18. He told Jesus, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?'" (Matthew 19:20). He had grown up in a strict Jewish community that highly regarded God's commandments.
Yet Jesus then presented the young man with a challenge that showed he did not really understand the full commitment required by the commandments, stating, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
The young man turned and walked away from the Son of God because he was wealthy and could not envision a life of sacrifice for God and neighbor (Matthew 19:16-22). He couldn't accept that Jesus didn't seem concerned with what he thought would give him a sense of self-fulfillment, but was concerned foremost with God's dominion and the fulfillment of God's desires in the lives of His followers.
The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John give us snapshots of Jesus' life. We know He interacted with Jewish society by observing the Ten Commandments and many other laws found in the Hebrew Scriptures. He also made a claim that either makes Him a madman or the greatest human being to ever walk the earth. Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, declared that He was the prophesied Messiah who is the Son of God.
Jesus taught that His mission was to save humanity and, just as the Hebrew prophets foretold, to rule the earth. He told His disciples that He was going to return to heaven and later come back to set up the Kingdom of God on earth. And it will be God's Kingdom. Jesus isn't returning to simply receive an already-established earthly kingdom based on a humanly designed political system. He is returning to establish a radically new government where, on behalf of His Father, He is the ruling monarch, the King of Kings.
When Jesus returns, His mission isn't to promote the New Age concept that "everyone just get along by not judging one another." Jesus told His disciples that when He sets up God's Kingdom on earth, "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:41-42).
These are the very words of Jesus Christ. He is not returning to build a Kingdom with the message "I'm okay, you're okay," because the truth is, we're not okay. He's coming to teach all humanity a new way of life. As a matter of fact, you don't have to wait until then to learn to live it. You can have Christ teach you that way of life right now!
Jesus taught that His followers shouldn't just hide and wait for His return to establish God's Kingdom, but that they should seek and anticipate its reality. When you seek and anticipate God's Kingdom, you will experience major changes in how you live as a Christian.
What are some of those changes?
1. You will begin to seek God's desires and goals in your life. All too often we approach God as if we have dominion over Him. We view Him as our "errand boy" who is supposed to fulfill all of our desires and goals. If you really want your life to change, every morning ask God to fulfill His desires and goals in your life. When you seek the future He has for you, you in turn accept His direction to that future.
This may be the most difficult thing for human beings to do. All of us want to be masters of our own fate. We want to control our immediate environment and everyone else around us to feel secure and happy. The foundation of faith, though, is to give up control of your life to God as a loving Father. You can give up the need to control only if you trust in God's promised future and His involvement in your life now.
2. You begin to change your priorities. How do you spend your time? Time is the great gift God has given to each of us. When we allow God to set our priorities, the drive for money and things is replaced with a drive to produce Christlike spiritual character.
The need for status is replaced with the need to love others. The search for self-determination is replaced with seeking God's determination for your life. The desire for constant entertainment and immediate gratification is replaced with a peaceful understanding of what is really valuable in life-family, how we treat others and worshipping God in a way that is pleasing to Him.
3. You begin to have a change in how you spend your mental and emotional energy. We waste so much of our lives in resentment, selfishness, envy and other destructive thoughts and emotions. God wants to produce something different in your life-"love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). This can only happen when you acknowledge that you need God's rule in your life and accept your inability to satisfy your spiritual hunger by your own means.
4. You begin to want to obey God's commandments. You must accept the right of the Creator of life to have dominion over His creation. Just as there are physical laws like gravity that govern the universe, there are divine spiritual laws that govern your relationship with God and your relationships with others.
Isaiah, one of the most eloquent of the Old Testament prophets, was inspired to write many prophecies about the future Kingdom to be ruled by the Messiah or Christ. In one passage he describes the rule of the Messiah this way: "'He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).
Jesus Christ isn't coming to create anarchy by doing away with all law. His Kingdom will be founded on the law of God. Are you accepting God's dominion in your life by obeying His commandments?
What does God want from you? He wants you to give up selfish control and allow Him to have dominion over every thought and action.
This is God's challenge to you. Would Jesus attend the meetings of a church where the seats are filled with people whose lives have the same desires, the same envy, the same greed, the same selfish priorities as secular society?
Would He attend where praises are sung to God, but He has little real influence in their daily choices? Where Jesus is seen as Savior, but not as Master? Where God's dominion and laws are replaced with the acceptance that every person determines right and wrong for his or her own life?
Or would Jesus be looking for a church where people are striving to submit to God's dominion in their daily lives and seeking His Kingdom?
Of course, the real question isn't: Would Jesus attend my church? But, rather, am I attending Jesus' Church?
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