A Cross Examination Part 4: Kingdom vs. Salvation |
| Posted by Mark (mark) on Jul 08 2008 |
When we reduce the cross to a clarion of salvation, we lose the redemptive narrative of the kingdom in a cloud of good-intentioned selfishness. You might consider that an oxymoron—good-intentioned selfishness; but it seems to me that intentions often cover the depth of our heart, even from ourselves. If we don’t care to look deep enough, all seems well on the surface. And if we don’t look deep enough at the message of the cross, we are often tempted to reduce it to a message of salvation.
Now, when it comes to the gospel I’m a proponent of simplicity; but it still must be the complete message. We must understand that the message of salvation is not the message of the kingdom. That may surprise some of you, and others may think I’m splitting hairs. But I think it important to understand that salvation is only a small part of the good news found in God’s kingdom. The cross was a focal point of the restoration of relationship between God and man; it is an intersection along the redemptive story of the kingdom. Salvation is part of that story, but the cross is not the climax, which is what a salvation gospel unavoidably makes it.
Most of us would agree that the whole includes the part, but not vice versa. Thus a gospel of salvation naturally loses the good news of the kingdom. I would even say that when we highlight and separate salvation apart from the kingdom, we render it rather impotent. This really shouldn’t be a shocking statement to anyone who has spent time preaching a salvation message, or in the company of those who do. I remember being so annoyed at people making declarations of faith and salvation, only to fade quickly back into the wood-work of their old lives, that I began asking what salvation was. I wondered if salvation without transformation was dead, just as surely as faith without action is a corpse.
The problem with proclaiming a salvation message, is that by default you are not proclaiming the kingdom message (and by proclaiming I mean what you live, even more so than what you say). And when you remove it from that context, it begins to morph into something other than it should be. For example, salvation apart from the kingdom is eventually mired in selfishness (which we can clearly see in the seeker sensitive gospel, the prosperity gospel, etc.). This contrasts with a kingdom message that is continually transformative, allowing room to change ones heart and motives.
I will admit that salvation always starts in a selfish stance. When we first recognize our need for salvation and put our faith in Christ, the motive is at least in part for our own benefit—thus I say it starts selfish. It must be this way because previously we have been separated from God’s love, and His love is the only thing that can transform us on our deepest levels from selfishness to generosity (much of our mercy and generosity apart from the cross of Christ, masquerades as selfless, but hidden inside it is not). It is only through experiencing His love and walking with Him that we begin to move away from our selfish salvation (which is an issue of maturity) to generous relationship, and then we can truly begin to understand His heart on the cross.
However, when salvation is the climax of our message, it inevitably becomes the destination or goal, and thus descends into deeper selfishness and gets stuck there. It becomes narrow in scope, almost increasingly so; while the kingdom naturally becomes increasingly broad, touching all aspects of life and flavoring all thoughts, intents, motives and actions with greater and greater impact. Salvation is not to be an end in itself, but it must become that when it is the climax of our message. In the truly good news, salvation is but a launching point at the beginning of a long journey, not the climax of it.
Sadly, when salvation is the goal, it is necessarily reduced to a hope for the future. It becomes a holding on until Christ’s kingdom comes in the earth. Much of our current day fear-based eschatology gets mired here. Yet, in a sin-plagued world where aids and famine and murder abide globally, this is little help. If all we have to offer is flowery platitudes and institutional programs and hope for the future that is separated from active faith in the now, we have little to offer a dying world. The kingdom includes a hope for the future when all is restored, but also an active faith in the now as the spirit of God is active and working in you and around you. It includes an ongoing transformation of your life, right in the midst of a death-ridden world. God’s spirit, active in the kingdom, can redeem any and all of the worst travesties and failures in life. His spirit births kingdom and intimacy with God through suffering. His spirit heals our wounds. Salvation apart from kingdom, in and of itself is simply not capable of this—no matter how hard we try to make it.
Another question you might ask is this: if salvation is the climax, and I have attained it, is there anywhere to go but down? Most don’t want to descend from the peak, and I don’t blame them. So quite naturally, salvation apart from the kingdom does away with the journey, because we don’t really want to move on from the climax. And, with little or no journey (we may pretend to be walking it, but really we don’t want to leave the peak of salvation behind) there is no room for disciples, because discipleship implies process and maturation over time. Thus kingdom is a constant process of choosing to surrender yourself daily, where as surrender in salvation easily becomes a destination or a one time choice; which, once made, begins to erode over the daily grind of life. Without the ongoing personal relationship that searches us, breaks us and renews us continually, perseverance becomes rather absent; and without perseverance, maturity is no where to be found.
By the time we have studied these few examples, it is not hard to conclude that salvation apart from the kingdom, doesn’t really resemble anything of the kingdom at all. In fact, it doesn’t even resemble salvation anymore. I still believe the kingdom message is simple. We need only shift the message from a selfish-salvation, where the cross is a get-out-of-hell-free pass, to the truly good news that Jesus’ death and resurrection is only the beginning of a long journey of discovering intimacy with God, and learning to live in that intimacy each day. The kingdom message not only includes salvation and the restoration of the new heaven and earth to come, but also the healing journey in between. I imagine most of us would enthusiastically affirm that statement; but do we live it? The next time you proclaim the good news, listen carefully to what you’re saying and emphasizing. Somehow, I have a nagging feeling you may be surprised.
Last changed: Jul 08 2008 at 3:38 PM
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