I came across an unpublished booklet (84 pages, 17,800 words) written nine years ago entitled Called Out—a definition of the Last Days Church, and I wanted to share part of the section Built by Presence. I don’t know; maybe it needs to be revised, updated, and made available in the next few months 😊.
A Demand
There is an undemanding answer to how Christ will build His church: “…And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47 KJV). Too often, this easy answer takes precedence as the emphasis on the external misses the mark of the depth and nature of being the body of Christ. Granted, lively stones are needed to build the spiritual house (cf. 1 Peter 2:5); salvation births the new life necessary for the stones the Lord places in His building. Yet, the formation of His church cannot be limited to simply ‘outside’ stones being brought in and placed on the foundation—again, essential, but not an end to itself. Instead, the building of His church, the ultimate construction of the new Ekklesia, the demand (if you will) is not building from the outside in, but from the inside out.
The Kingdom of God is within
The religionist in Jesus’ day constantly looked for ‘outside’ signs, visible proof that Christ was King and the kingdom was coming. Finally, Jesus answered their queries plainly, “…The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21 KJV). “Jesus established the meaning of the kingdom of God as God’s redemptive reign. The word translated as ‘kingdom’ in the New Testament, basileia, refers primarily to the right of a king to reign. The idea of the kingdom as territory or location is secondary….”[1] Thus, those in Jesus’ day who focused on the external, i.e., the boundaries and lines of a physical kingdom, totally missed the initial nature of His kingdom; likewise, those today who limit His kingdom to the external, physically measuring its boundaries of property, programs, or numbers—or look to do so—have misunderstood the fundamental aspect of His right to reign.
The Lord’s right to reign is acknowledged in an individual’s acceptance of Christ as his personal savior. Hence, in the born-again experience, the kingdom of God is internally birthed in the believer, who, in turn, now sets Christ on the throne as the King of his life. That is the basic idea of God’s Kingdom—reestablished life based on redemption: Jesus Christ humbly “… made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8 ESV); in that death, Jesus brought genuine life to all those who believed in His name.
Church, Kingdom, and Building
The clarion call of conversion to ‘whosoever will’ meant that anyone could accept God’s reign inwardly, simply through childlike obedience. As the Lord stated, “…Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 KJV). As the Kingdom of God entered humanity through the Incarnation, it brought people and their sins into direct confrontation with Christ Jesus. In response to that confrontation, to open one’s heart to Jesus’ person and mission and accept Him as their personal savior meant that the Kingdom of God became dynamically active in one’s life. Or, in Parable of the Sower words with the seed’s active response after falling on good ground, it would bring forth fruit some thirty, some sixty, and some one-hundredfold (cf. Matthew 13). And in that fruitfulness—the Kingdom, that is, His reign bearing witness—the church ultimately finds its mission.
“This means that the church is nothing less than the missionary people of the Kingdom of God. The church does not establish the kingdom. Rather it is the custodian of the good news of the Kingdom. It bears witness to the fact that the King has already set up the Kingdom.”[2]
With that understanding, we can see the sincere error in statements like:
“The church is responsible to build the kingdom of God.”
“The church is to extend God’s kingdom in the world.”
“The church must promote the work of the kingdom of God.”
“The church is to help establish God’s kingdom in the world.”
“These images of build, extend, promote, and establish stand in sharp contrast to the biblical language used to define the relationship of the church to the Kingdom of God.”[3] Using Scripture as our guide regarding church and kingdom, build becomes receive; extend becomes enter; promote becomes seek; and establish becomes inherit.
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:17 ESV);
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9 ESV);
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33 ESV);
“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34 ESV).
“The church does not possess God’s reign, it is to be possessed by it. This makes the church an agent of the kingdom. Its nature, its very existence, stems from the presence of the kingdom.”[4] And there can be no kingdom presence without the presence of the King!
Thus the church that Christ is building does not have a vocation of natural works but of a spiritual presence. (“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20 ESV)). Its call is not the natural works to build, extend, promote, or establish; it is the spiritual acts of receiving, entering, seeking, and inheriting. It is to seek His presence, enter the straight gate, inherit His Life—to freely receive and then freely give. It is to let Him be the reigning King of each individual life and, in so doing, the Head of the collective body of Christ.
“When every part of the body is ‘working properly,’ the result is both bodily growth and spiritual upbuilding ‘in love’ (Eph. 4:16). It should be noted that Paul’s phrase ‘so that the body of Christ may be built up’ (4:12)[5] employs the same word (oikodomeo) found in Jesus’ affirmation: ‘I will build my church’ (Matthew 16:18).”[6] So the building of His church corresponds to the building up of each member, which is ultimately His demand—to build from the inside out, not of works but by His Presence.
[1] Craig Van Gelder, The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books, 2000).
[2] Arthur F. Glasser and Charles Edward van Engen, Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2003).
[3] Essence, page 87
[4] Essence, page 88
[5] “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12 ESV)
[6] Announcing, page 310
Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash