Is  Jim Peterson, author of Good to Great, being proved right in the realm of religion as well as business? Has the good which is culturally embedded in western evangelical thought become the enemy of the best?

While most of us evangelicals have come proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ we should take note that Jesus himself came proclaiming the Kingdom of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ has focused on getting men to heaven some day. This is good. The kingdom is focused on getting heaven to earth now through men. This is great. The gospel zeroes in on Jesus as the savior/facilitator of life beyond the grave. This is good. The kingdom of God focuses on Jesus, the very essence of God becoming our abundant Life on this side of the grave. This is stunning! Our partial-gospel honors Jesus as our Savior making (what we think of as salvation) as an end in of itself. This is what we have called the good news. The kingdom would say that salvation was the beginning and honors Jesus as Lord and King of a new domain that is present on earth now in the hearts of those who are making room for him in that capacity. This is truly great, even revolutionary news!

The western evangelical gospel presents salvation as a singular one-off event while the kingdom gospel presents salvation as the beginnings of an ongoing process where we progressively and experientially work out our salvation and come to know Christ, in that process, as our all in all, expanding the kingdom in our hearts and in the world as we live out our daily lives.  This is how he anticipated us becoming the, stategically located, highly visible community of the redeemed, the salt and transformational light of the world.

We could anticipate that everything Jesus said and prayed was done in order to reinforce his kingdom objectives. We hear it in the prayer he teaches his disciples; “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We also hear it clearly in his Gethsemane prayers. The following is that passage in its entirety from The Message. I have taken the liberty to reorganize it under five subheadings and convert  Jesus third-person references to himself to first-person.

OPENING  Father, it’s time. Display my bright splendor so that I in turn may show your bright splendor. You put me in charge of everything human so that I might give real and eternal life to all in my charge. I glorified you on earth by completing, down to the last detail, what you assigned me to do. 

JESUS MISSION  I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me. For the same message you gave me, I gave them. I pray for them; not the God-rejecting world but for those you gave me, for they are yours by right. I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission.  I have made your very being known to them— who you are and what you do

JESUS’ ACCOUNT OF HIS MISSION  In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me, and they have now done what you said. They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you and they took it, and were convinced that I came from you. They believed that you sent me. As long as I was with them, I guarded them in the pursuit of the life you gave through me. I even posted a night watch and not one of them got away, except for the rebel bent on destruction. I gave them your word. The godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.

And this is the real and eternal life: that they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind. The kingdom goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind— just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they’ll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, and then give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me. 

 OUR MISSION  Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am, so they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me. I’m praying that not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing so my people can experience my joy completed in them.  They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world.  And continue to make your very being known to them , so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them.  

And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, the very splendor I had in your presence before there was a world. Everything mine is yours, and yours mine, And my life is on display in them. for I’m no longer going to be visible in the world; they’ll continue in the world while I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me.

CLOSING  Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing so my people can experience my joy completed in them. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.  Having loved me long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you,but I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission.

Father, your prayers make it clear that our destiny is far greater than we have been led to believe because our identity, in you is far greater than any of us have dared to believe as kin to fallen Adam. Make us new wineskins who can contain a vision so rich in glory and splendor. To discover that our great commission is actually to experience and to display your life (your very being) to the world around us is grand and revolutionary news.

Father may we glorify you on earth by completing, down to the last detail, what you have assigned us to do.  By way of our love and joy and our unity, leave no shadow of a doubt that you sent Jesus and that he himself is our real and eternal life. Thank you that you have not taken us out of the world but instead left us to continue making your very being known through our lives as you live your life through us. Leave no doubt to this godless world that, with you in us and us in-Christ, we are right where you are, seated at the right hand of the Father. Teach us to watch over our hearts with all diligence that we might guard this gift of life that you have conferred upon us in Christ. May your kingdom vision, growing in our hearts, overcome our earthly divisions. Show the surpassing majesty and splendor of your name as we unify under the kingdom’s banner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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