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THE CROSS
VERSUS
by
W. G. MacDonald
PERSONAL
KINGDOMS
Jesus’
touchable
by
the Roman
probate property
was
easily disposed institutional
property
property
for the
apostles
legacy
when he died on the cross was such that it was un-
courts and tax courts. His
personal
the hecklers who
targeted
of the indicative of a viable
kingdom.
of in minutes at the foot of his cross. Of
there was
none; hence
there was no business
to inherit and
fight
over should
they
be tempted
to continue their internal
power struggle
that was still
going
on as
recently
as the Last
Supper. Furthermore,
the man on the center cross seemed to be correct in their
impudent
that he had
nothing
left even
remotely suggestive
power
structures
placard
over his head
stating
his
kingship
was an
irony
easily enough
because it seemed so ridiculous. Only
one of his men stood
by
him at the cross. He had
kept nothing
for himself to fall back on in hard times. He had invested his all in a spiritual
most
convincingly
assessments
grounds
or appropriate The
trilingual that could be tolerated
kingdom
and demonstrated for the
kingdom
of God.
Kentucky),
what it means to wait
William G. MacDonald
(Th.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville,
is professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts. He serves as First Vice-president of the Society for Pentecostal Theology.
26
1
Jesus’
wisdom and resources
to the
power
brokers
structure
during
his
ministry
were so trans-
of
lasting
value. What he left
himself
to and in three
parently
“of
God,”
like his
kingdom,
that
they
had remained invisible
of his
day,
and remain so to
many
in our
day
as well. He had nothing, yet had
everything
behind as a legacy when he ascended out of this world was a spiritual
based on the solid foundation of his life and
work, oriented,
as always,
toward his Father. For
thirty years
he had
prepared
be the builder, for three years he had laid the foundation,
the cornerstone of a
spiritual complex
which
“the
kingdom
of God.” Jesus’ death ended an
inaugurated
days
he had
completed
he called
appropriately
era,
and his resurrection in which God was all and in alL
the new
age
of a new
kingdom
for Jesus’
disciples
to
grasp
One of the most
perplexing concepts
was that of the nature of this
unique kingdom
whose
source, means, and end was God. Yet the great truths
to them
early
and
repeatedly
In
fact, they too,
under his
leadership
presented
the near arrival of that
kingdom.
But not everyone who preaches
about God’s
reign
had been in their adventure with Jesus. had
participated
in proclaiming
the
prophets
applies
to
today’s messengers
meaning.
This was true not
just
of the
apostles
of the OT era who
prophesied christologically;
,
more than we
perceive, of sermonic contents. live out
by personal
.
dependence
What does
impress comprehension
truth
consequently
understands its
around Jesus and of
it often as we
attempt
to
relay
the
message
of
career. We often
preach
we are biblical in our choice
we cannot in the same manner
the
dynamic principles
of the
both them and their delicate
about the
apostles’
slow
close
up
Jesus’
message
the Bible at various stages in a preaching
simply
because
Unfortunately,
implementation
kingdom
of God without
understanding
on God for their realization.
us
here, however,
of the character of the
kingdom
over which God would rule was this: After three
years
of
observing
and methods, they were still, contrary to what
they
had seen and
heard,
kingdom. They
were
mentally working
with the
idea of a kingdom.
Right up
to the time of Jesus’ departure
throne their
expectation
sembled far more the Solomonic
type
than it did the
peculiar kingdom
by
the one who
was “greater
voiced to Jesus before his ascension was for a
hoping
for a “regular” time-tested
to sit on his celestial
specified
recorded concern
concrete
kingdom
in the traditional them,
or so
they thought
of “the
kingdom”
re-
than Solomon.”
Their
last
mold,
and the sooner the better for
them
by repeating
(Acts 1:6-9).
There was
hardly
time for Jesus to
reprimand
at
length
the
kingdom
basics he had delineated and inculcated all
27
2
along,
as recorded,
for
instance,
is’…” Instead,
that would
spread
from Jerusalem
By
a few incisive
brought
the
apostles
in Luke 20:17: “The
kingdom
of God does not come
visibly,
nor will
people say,
‘Here it
is,’
or ‘There it
Jesus said
they
were to
expect
a
spiritual
kingdom worldwide.
norms,
Jesus
about a restored
kingdom
matter of their
mini-semester
with his resurrection (Acts 1:3).
Jesus’
teachings
words
polar
to their cherished
back from
fantasizing
of Israel to
thinking
his
thoughts
about another
kingdom,
“the
kingdom of God.” That divine
kingdom
had been the
subject
course
taught by
Jesus for the last
forty days beginning
and
leading up
to that
very day
of his ascension
had
divulged
his vision of a
unique
kind of
kingdom.
That
kingdom
was to be
just
as invisible as
faith, hope,
and love, and
just
as
otherworldly
as
righteousness, peace,
and
joy
in
headquartered
in
heaven,
the
Holy Spirit.
It would be
truly universal,
the
kingdom
of God.
and in all
respects
Over the
past
nineteen centuries religious
zealots and
king-makers Masterbuilder of the
kingdom spectacular kingdom
smallness
of
beginnings
weakness of that one-of-a-kind
and more there have
always
been who have
managed
to
upstage
the of God
by establishing
their own
the “for God”
of the
worldly
based and
“for
God” In its initial
stages
kingdom may appear
to be
very
much like the “of God”
kingdom.
The
and the weakness of the
early phases
of the former can
easily
be misconstrued to be the
equivalent
kingdom
that is
precariously
balanced forever on a cross of shame and salvation. As time reveals the character of each kind of
kingdom being established,
that one is a
personal kingdom
the
personal
kingdoms
the other is the
kingdom
“of God.” And what a difference!
build themselves
is
always pushed
outside the
city
walls.
By contrast,
methodological
girds
and remains the central kingdom
of God.
it becomes
plain supposedly
offered “to
God,”
while
Inevitably
in such a
way
that the cross
the cross under-
wisdom in the true
While it could be demonstrated that
personal
kingdoms always of God
throughout
the
history
of
the
present age
is one in which the advances in the of mass communications have made
possible
the
prolifera-
in an
astounding
manner. The
computer, camera, relatively inexpensive and the
telephone,
all make it
have
competed
with the
kingdom the
Church,
technology
tion of
personal empires
quick
delivery,
the television radio,
the
computerized typewriter, possible
business sense to
trumpet
around himself. The
advertising rising kingdom
for
virtually anyone
with a little fmancial momentum and
a call to the world that a kingdom is forming
is “for God” and therefore
– 28-
will sell the notion that the
newly
nothing
is too
good
for
3
the
kingdom managers. brity’s
vision of
greatness can afford to
bequeath
congratulate
Once the
kingdom
confirms the central cele-
as
judged by
his own
personal success,
he
it “to God.” God can
thereupon
himself . on his
good
fortune and his
patience!
The Pentecostals and charismatics of the last half of the twentieth
century
have been considered orphans, step-children, that
they
are
contributing of
personal kingdoms
in some
respects
as ecclesiastical
to the
contemporary
formation for their
perceived inferiority.
or outright rebels. It is not
surprising, therefore,
so enormously
to
compensate
The
recognition
of this
burgeoning outgrowth
of private kingly domains is one of the
primary
theses of this
paper.
In such a scramble of kingdom
to
get
lost under the confetti
swirling
around
to the throne.
Nothing
so hides the shame of the cross as
of oneself as a
superstar
building,
the cross is likely
aspirants
does the
positioning
a here-and-now, mortar-and-monuments glory designed
Jesus
recognized
most
insightful
in one’s own
kingdom- kingdom
that has an external
generation.
kingdom
He declared that he had
else comes in his
to last well
beyond
the builder’s
that the human trend toward
personal
building
ran counter to his own
strategy.
not come in his own
name,
but in his Father’s name. Then he added a
observation: “… but if someone
own
name, you
will
accept
him”
(John 5:43b). He thereby predicted
the
easy
success of those who would erect
that vie with the
kingdom
of his Father.
Jesus’ attitude toward the
kingdom
and
virtually guaranteed personal kingdoms
Because he was
always submerging interests,
he was free to
represent
of God is instructive here.
himself in his Father’s love and him
completely
without
compromis-
that
wordly
ing
his
glory.
He built in the most
unlikely ways by
means of invisible power,
the
power
of the
age
to
come,
and never
tapped
power
that could
easily
have made him a “king” of this world. He faced
that
possibility
in his
temptations
and
rejected
it. He did not con-
flate
worldly
and
spiritual power
in his
ministry.
He was so astute as to
reject
the former in favor of the latter and to do so
consistently. It is indeed
appalling
that so
many contemporary
to be building God’s
kingdom
are
working
on a different set of principles
than those used
by
Jesus.
Paul
recognized
because of the
accessibility groups
of
people.
He traced
leaders who
profess
of its
participants.
The
Apostle
of the
personal-kingdom
Subversion of the
kingdom
of God has
always
been a more sinister possibility
than the
outright slaughter
that it was inevitable that subversives would arise
of
worldly power
to
anyone
who leads
the
pattern
builder in his farewell
speech
in such a
way
that it seems
just
as if Paul had in mind the
contemporary religious
– 29-
scene in the United
4
States
made
you
overseers.
of the church of God which
the
in the 1980’s. Let us hear his
warning
in Acts 20:28-31: Guard
yourself
and all the flock of which the
Holy Spirit
has
Be
shepherds
he
bought
with his own blood. I know that after I leave
savage wolves will come in
among you
and will not
spare
the flock. Even from
your
own number men will arise and distort truth in order to draw
away disciples
after them. So be on
your
that for three
years
I never
stopped warning each of
you night
and
day
with tears.
of
principles
guard!
Remember
We can derive a number apostolic
admonition:
1.
Only
Jesus who
poured
and
applications
from this
out his blood to
purchase
his consti- Personal
tuency (“the
church of
God”)
has the
right
to a
kingdom.
kingdoms
for all others are
illegitimate
for the reason that the would be “king”
has not
paid
the ultimate
price
for the
people
whom he leads.
wolves” who encircle the flock of God consider themselves to be somehow better than the Lord’s
sheep
and therefore
2. The
“savage
entitled to
exploit
them. Whatever ultimate
goal
is to
dispossess
certified letters intimidated
demand for a contribution
neither become newly
widowed believer
show of ministry they put
on,
their
technique
thinks can be into
responding
to his
the
widows,
are
in our
day.
Picture this. The
of their resources those who trust them. The
ravenously hungry
wolf reveals his
identity today
when he sends
to those whom he or his
computer
by
this bill collector’s
of $50 or $100 as if it were a bill he owed.
The senior
single
women of the flock,
especially
the favorite diet for the American carnivore. The
species
of
religious wolves of Jesus’
day
who “took the houses of widows from them” have
extinct nor underfed
mourns all alone at home. In her loneliness she turns on the
TV,
and there sees a man of God
weeping. She, too, is
weeping,
so she can
empathize
that the
kingdom
of God is about to
go under and his own soul stands in
jeopardy
sources are sent to him immediately.
he
gets
a vision that there are
people
with diamond
rings
that could turn them in to him so that the
tragedy
of God’s man
biting
the dust
lacks funds. He declares
.
with him. He is
weeping
because he
unless substantial financial re- Then like a revelation from heaven
succumbs,
or she turns
away feeling
could be averted. She either guilty
and is
thereby he tries next.
The standard
ambush the defenseless
person
further conditioned to
accept
whatever tactic
ploy
of the
“savage
wolf’ of whom Paul warned is to
with threats. If the widow in this case withholds her estate from
funding
the
entrepreneur’s personal kingdom
of
God”),
then
God,
he
growls,
will back off from
(alias, “kingdom
-30-
5
meeting
her
legitimate
every
widow needs a new husband matter-1 Corinthians
needs. One such insatiable
wolf assumed that (contrary
to Paul’s
thinking
on that
million dollar
“kingdom” shut down prospects as well.
Such
manipulation establish
7:34-35, 39-40).
He warned that if those widows watching
that telecast did not kick in sufficiently
architectural
for a new husband
for
funding
two
mega- projects
God
surely
would and
possibly
financial
security
of the emotions of a
grieving
woman in order to
one’s own
kingdom
is to howl like a
hungry
wolf. If you have ears to hear and have been
listening lately, you
know that the
airways are shrill with wolfcalls. Some wolves set their
sights
on
seducing the sweet
young lambs,
but the
practiced professional
wolf has a nose He will concentrate his attentions
woolly
widows who have the most
power literally
in jewelry and
check-writing
days,
old Red
Ridinghood
wolf in the end. With her bare bones, all that is left is her collection of
for
something
more than
estrogen. on the unsheared
at their
fingertips
tale of her
younger
medallions, partner papers,
trinkets accorded
James was correct in
cautioning can be determined
biblical
picture
of the
kingdom faithfully
her
“freely” by
her consumer.
skills. Unlike the
fairy is consumed
by
the
amulets,
and buried treasures
us that true and false
religion
[! have
to widows who need
(1 Timothy
by
how
anyone
treats the
needy (James 2:27).
The
of God with
respect
serve the Lord and nevertheles
5:3-16).
But in personal
kingdoms
the
money
flows one
way only.
“Let the widow fund the
parachurch organization,
fund the widows” is the unilateral
principle.
and let God
independently And let the widow who is
poor
fend for herself. She has not embraced the
Gospel
of American
Affluence,
so too bad for her.
3. It is
noteworthy concentrate their
predations
propagate
itself in orthodox
wolves of which Paul warned
are
that the
rapacious
on true believers: “… wolves will come in
among you
and will not
spare
the flock.” Just as
heresy
seeks to
incubators so
personal kingdoms built most easily on people who have come to trust in the invisible God. Their
proclivity
to trust can be all too
easily betrayed
that mature Christians will be critical about
to the biblical
expectation
all
things including kingdom
matters
as such
they
are taken
time
operator, irresponsibly
Contrary
(Philippians
1:10;
1 Corinthians
and
in words like these:
2:15),
immature believers make a virtue out of
being non-critical,
in
by
the
personal kingdom
builders
again
and again.
Some of these, when
they
have come under the
spell
of some
big-
plead
their innocence
“Yes,
I send such and such amount to so-and-so, who receives it for God. If he does not use it for
worthy purposes,
– 31-
that is between him and God
6
generosity, on bureaucratic
and is no concern of mine, for God is duty bound to reward me for
my
even if the
recipient organization squanders
self-preservation
and
image polishing.”
all the
money
Alas … the
wolves know where the
prey
are all
right,
but do the
sheep
know the dangers they pose
to the
kingdom
of God?
4. Paul’s
warning
to be on
guard (Acts 20:28, 31)
would indicate that at
any
time
anyone
can outflank the cross and strike out to establish his own
kingdom
where there is no
personal
these words of his to the
Ephesian
cross. Sad indeed are elders: “Even from
your
own number
(Acts 20:30). Familiarity
the truth
may
blind us
with the cross or to
men will arise who distort the truth…”
with a man’s
ministry
when he was
preaching
to his later
choosing
of other values not
imprinted
from the
kingdom
of God to the
royalties
his
transferring
of
loyalties of a
personal kingdom.
package, reemphasize, supportive
he
inevitably reshapes of
doing
this is
by omitting ‘cross’)
factor. The
popular
that Paul warned
against
will
invariably
have to re-
“distorts the
truth;”
One
way
Gospel
of American
the consideration the Third
5. The builder of a
personal empire
and revalue biblical truth to make it
appear
of his own
agenda.
He
characteristically
the
Gospel
to his own
specifications.
the crucial
(in
the literal
sense,
from crux
dream-come-trues
Affluence
provides
a
good example
of a distortion of the truth such as
It soothes the soul with creature comforts of all kinds,
piling
so many
pillows
around the cross that no one
sleeping thereon would ever know the cross was there.
By implication,
is ever
made,
those millions of believers
World,
or behind the Iron
Curtain,
at the lowest end of the socio-economic scale in this
country
are all
borderline,
evonomic status. Their faith is
defective,
existence. Or so
goes
the
deemed
alike to be
spiritually
hand-to-mouth
innuendo.
6. Gehazi’s
pedient
for the
personal kingdom servant first
employed
gambit (2 Kings 5:15-27)
and those
if indeed living
in believers
commensurate with their or
they
would not be
living
a
Gospel
of Abundance
builder
remains a much used ex- 2,820 years after Elisha’s
himself and
lining
it as a device for
outfitting
his
pockets
with silver. This
very
current distortion of the truth affirms
things
can and should be valued
by wordly
indicators
that
spiritual
and sold like other commodities.
Text for
financing
“As
surely
as the Lord lives, I will
popular
in
many para-
run after him
[Naaman,
who was healed of
leprosy]
and
get something from him” These classic lines from Gehazi would serve well as a Golden
the
Gospel
of
Prosperity
church circles
today.
We could condense the
saying
in a free translation like this: “I
swear,
rll collect from him”
(2 Kings 5:20b).
This
sloganized
– 32-
7
(alias
think tanks for
fundraising)
Gehazi had
experienced of God he served to feel
perhaps his own
perquisites
prophet’s
improve
from the man in
upgrading
to the
that one can
condition.
version would be suitable to mount on a wall or desk in boiler rooms
of a modern
kingdom organization.
enough delegated authority
that he was
justified
of office
by acting
on his own in
opposition
ban on
receiving
funds from those God had healed.
Tempta- tions of this kind take
seriously
the foolish
possibility
on God’s standards as
they
affect the human
Nothing
could be wider of the mark. The cross can never be removed from the
Gospel
without
changing
the
good
news into other news.
The NT
corollary
to Gehazi’s
strategy
is found in the sin of Simon
(Acts 8:9-24).
If Gehazi tried to sell the divine
blessing,
tried to
buy
the
power
to bestow
it,
and thus
thereby
to make
of Samaria
Simon
himself an
indispensable intermediary
Simony
is a sin that
only
would-be
by
its
originator.
The Gehazi-Simon
syndrome
cation that
somebody
is
building
A
modem-day
between Christian
God and man. leaders are
tempted
wherever,
a
monetary
when
money
of truth Paul mentioned.
calling
ever so
.
to commit. It surfaces
today
in more subtle forms than that
employed
It is
likely
to occur
among
those
striving
for a
place in the
upper
echelons of the
pyramid
where
pyramid tithing
is in place.
is also evident
price
is
put
on
anything
in the
kingdom
of God. That is a sure indi-
a
personal kingdom
must
change
hands to
permit
the
blessing
of God to flow.
Here is a case in
point
of the
distortion
Gehazi
speaks
into the TV
cameras,
gingerly
for the Simons in the audience to strike a deal with
him, all legally
and tax
free,
of course, by
sending
in their
offerings
in exchange for his influence with God.
Sitting
on
top
of his
personal
with the millions who are
watching
prayer
life in these words: “I don’t have
many
millionaire friends, but the ones I do
have,
I pray for
every day!”
When decoded this
testimony amounts to
saying
that
anyone’s
claims on the intermediator’s
of his financial
portfolio.
are millions of
potential prayers
to be
prayed
if each
family gets one,
shares
insights
is
proportional
to the
strength
the man who makes
only $12,000 would, by extrapolation
has the
capacity
does of
winning
the Reader’s
kingdom,
he into his
private
prayers Since there
a
year
and sends in his
offering
be fortunate
he
the
poor
donor has
that would
require
from the
priority
for
millionaires,
if he received even one
prayer
a
year
from the man who
pretends
to minister to alL In
actuality,
about as much chance of
getting
the
celebrity’s personal prayers
as he
Digest Sweepstakes
No one
man,
of
course,
can
pray personally
at the
very
least that he should learn a million names, not to speak of the other data needed to make such a prayer
– 33-
each
year. for a million
people;
8
significant personally
The
physical
of one man’s
actually
and
sin of
retelling
events as
impossibility
being
able to minister to a million or more
people
leads some men to
adopt
Gehazi’s
supplementary
he wished them to be
thought
of
plain
old
lying (2 Kings 5:2, 25-26).
When I received a letter marked
“personal”
of months
ago
from a charismatic
expect
as I
opened
it that he would
acknowledge
tion face to face and/or at least my
subsequent
by
him. Instead of
that,
this
“personal” leaned hard on me for an additional $100
gift, although
I had withdrawn
to
him,
never answered
from his club a
year before, partly accountability
the
Evangelical
The obvious
send a
personal
it is
deceptive
the names-are
“personal.” is a name and address,
inexperienced people
are deceived
in two
places
a
couple minister to
millions,
I had a right to
our last conversa-
page-and-a-half
letter
letter
because of the lack of financial
not
being
able to join Accountability.
Moreover, identical letters-all but
is
personal
Uneducated
and
as evidenced
by
the
organization’s
Council for Financial
inference to be drawn from this is that one cannot
letter to 200,000
people.
It is
impossible.
to state that even a hundred
If all it takes to make a letter
personal
then
every
letter we receive of
any
kind ad- dressed to us
(rather
than
“Resident”)
time and time
again by
this kind of
implied intimacy
tactic. The fact of the matter is that this letter
like it was not a
personal
is that for
every
hundred such letters sent
three,
or six or what have
you, percent
sure to
respond. My point
is this: When Paul
spoke
of men
distorting
and the thousands letter. The relevant
statistic
the truth for
personal advantage the
Gospel preached,
letter but a
percentage
of those contacted are
it can refer to:
(1)
a basic
change
in
or
(2)
a breach of truth in terms of
deception versus
honesty
in the
give
and take of human relations.
7.
Making oneself,
instead of the
Lord,
the
object
of the
people’s
hopes, aspirations,
and
dependency
is indicative of the
falsity
of the
claims of one who
says
he is sent from God. God’s
kingdom
revolves
around Jesus and not one dominant city comprises,
“distorting
the
truth,”
because supremacy
of
course, just
another
personality.
This
anthropocentri-
dimension of false
apostles the truth is that Jesus must have
in all
things (Colossians 1:18).
Instead of their
working
for Jesus,
and his
using them, they
are
working
their own
angles and ‘using’
Jesus for whatever window
dressing their
personal
ambitions.
he can add to the fulfillment of
Paul’s word on them was this:
They
“distort the truth in order to
Since their
personal
power
is on a
draw
away disciples
after them.” scale calibrated
their
personal significance
by
the size of their
following, they
look to men for
rather than to God. And
conversely,
– 34-
they
9
nurture
these
usurpers the
gap
between
It like that. At the
very
least
you
in return must bankroll
men to look to them as their soul handler and
superhero. is
very easy
to
play
God from a
position
of Christ’s
position
take the stance of one who
bridges
God and men. In so
many
words
they say
this: “rll handle
your religious responsibilities.
me.
You,
and thousands
make me
great,
and in return
you
will bask in the
sunlight
of my
great-
ness as
your
man before God.”
changes the
kingdom
rll do God’s will for
you,
and
like
you,
will
in
himself,
it
modeled
When
you get
a leader who centers the
organization
the
dynamics
of the entire
operation
from those
operative
in
of God. This can
happen
in a local
church,
in a denomin- ation that has one man at the
top,
or in a
parachurch organization
The
operational
since the leader stands there with all the flesh-and-blood
after a
corporation.
answered
prayer.
implement
wants
done,
I will
automatically . is not
necessarily
tion with him is
preferable the whole
relationship
becomes a superstar
One of its
primary kinds-especially
dynamics
are
changed, reality
of an
prayer
tends to fadei out as a
after himself he
the
temptation
of all to merchan-
after themselves.
we
speak
before God thians
2:17).
Paul’s ment to Christ and to
ment of God’s
program.
one’s own
self-importance has to bear.
Sadly enough,
in such a situation
meaningful way
of
knowing
the mind of God and
getting
the
power
to
it
Why?
The answer lies in the fact that in such cases
people tend to
say
this to themselves: If I
merely
do whatever the
top
man
be
doing
the will of God.
This, indeed,
true at
all,
but as
long
as
people
think it
is,
it will have an effect on them If the leader’s influence is such that conversa-
to. prayer to
God,
then one must
question
as one of human
engineering.
When a man has drawn
away enough disciples
celebrity,
and this all too
easily
leads to the
falsity of role
playing.
This
actually puts
an immense burden on the leader.
effects is to increase his needs for
supports
money.
At this
juncture
dise the word of God for profit will present itself. In Second Corinthians 2:17 Paul wrote that many leaders
already
in his
day
were
“peddl[ing] the word of God for
profit.”
These
normally
would be the same
types
as those who where drawing away disciples
Paul,
unlike the merchants of the
Gospel,
exclaimed:
with
sincerity,
like men sent from God”
(2
Corin-
speech
“before God” reveals his
deep
commit-
the
kingdom
of God. He had no
agenda
of his own to
promote,
but rather directed all his
energies
to the
accomplish-
Since God was the
supreme
he could be free to minister without
having
to bear the awful
bgr4#n)of
that the one who centers all in himself
– 35-
“in Christ
one
in his life,
10
comes to
my
home without
“I have not coveted
any-
coveting my goods
to build
the more insistent “the
kingdom
of ” than
money.
Paul could affirm
with a clear
conscience,
one’s silver or
gold
or
clothing” (Acts 20:34). Hardly
a mail
delivery
someone’s
his
private kingdom. People
who have never ministered to me in
any way
covet what is mind to build what is theirs. It has become
practi- cally
axiomatic that the more millions a
big-namer
he is that his
present
needs
nothing
more
urgently right
now
takes in
per year, take is not
enough
and that
for the
kingdom
con-
struction that avoids the cross unless we retreat to the OT Before we return to raise
If we turn to the Bible
seeking precedents
in favor of the
$
sign,
we can find
none,
where we find a different kind
of ‘kingdom.’
the
question
as to whether Jesus’
ministry was
special, interim, non-repeatable-as many
assume it to be-let
make some
summary
generalizations
1. The cross overshadowed mark on
everything
tion of weakness
(1
Corinthians it was the benchmark
than man’s
strength” (1 for us the
highest possible finds
expression
us on Paul’s overall construction
he
did;
it was the water-
to the
posi-
10:10; 12:9)
He
truly
believed what
.
and
praxis
style
as he worked as a servant in the
kingdom
of God.
everything
he wrote. In his
taking
or
submitting
2:3; 9:22;
2 Corinthians
of his
“ministrystyle.”
he wrote to the Corinthians that “the weakness of God is
stronger
Corinthians
1:25).
His classic line that set
standard both for
theology
at the end of his letter to the Galatians:
“May
I never boast
except
in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”
(Galatians 6:14).
outside the framework of the cross. Never did he claim that he could relax the
principle
of the cross
long
of the world
by building something
basis of its own standards.
By operating
so low to the
ground
he set the
highest standards-well,
than those of Jesus, but, indeed, of the
very
same nature. It is a trick
2. Never did Paul
operate
enough
to secure the
approbation it could commend on the
of the
enemy-a
delusion,
for sure-to
not
any higher
say
that because twentieth-
Mediterranean
century
American culture is different from
first-century
culture that the basic
principles guiding
the construction of the
kingdom
so as to contradict at
nearly every point
their
He who
argues
from that
premise
has some vested
The cross leaves us weak and God
strong.
This is truly
the
way
the
kingdom
of God increases
of God have matured biblical
precedents. interest to
protect
always.
3. Paul demonstrated
today,
and
yesterday,
and
as few leaders have
since,
that the
kingdom of God comes not
by
silver and
gold
but
by Spirit
and
grace.
Thus he did not condition
people
to take a materialistic
– 36-
view of Christ’s
spiritual
11
of
monetary
pressive
structure
that he was content to
operate Tyrannus, synagogues,
ally precedent setting methodology
more
compatible his tremendous
being
“crucified
superstar “apostles”
cross from their
organization
accomplishment
of work
of the
poor
believers at Jeru-
for him-
people
could
gather.
by
a better
of
God In
truth, within the context of his
bread to the
hungry
conditions. for the mission of
kingdom by focusing
on
money
and
begging
for
money.
The
only
kind
plea
that we ever hear him
making
was for an
offering to be used to meet the
daily
necessities
salem. He never
begged
for funds to build an
organization
self that he
might royalize
his office as an
apostle by building
an im-
that
people
would
always
think of when
they thought of the first
Apostle
to the Nations. Instead of
doing anything
like
this, Paul so believed in the
reality
of the
ministry
Jesus had
given
him
out of
homes, jails,
the lecture hall of
and wherever
My
thesis here is that the
Apostle
Paul’s
ministry
was intention-
and has
never
been
superceded
with the
kingdom
spiritual accomplishments
to the world” cut the
legs
from under the self-sent
of
today
who affirm the world and excise the
and
operations.
My
final thrust can be
conveyed
best
by a series of theses analyzing the
ministry
of Jesus:
(1)
Jesus
always
acted in conformity to his basic principle
that his
kingdom
was not of this world.
(2)
The
foregoing principle
did not commit him to
passivity
but to the
greatest possible
in this world.
(3)
Jesus never
taught
his men to raise
money;
he did teach them to distribute
and to offer the Bread of Life to the world on otherworldly
(4)
The basic “task force” character he ordered
the Twelve and the mission of the
Seventy
must be taken as
program- matic in so far as it was not
superceded by any
alternative
of
my
central
thesis,
offered here for
can be stated as follows: THE GREATEST
PENTECOSTAL/CHARISMATIC
MENT IN THE LAST TWO DECADES
BE THE RISE AND FALL OF PERSONAL
WHEN THEY FALL, AS INEVITABLY THEY MUST
(“Every plant that
my heavenly
Father has not
planted
will be
pulled up by
the roots”
THE FAITH OF THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE
WILL FALL WITH THEM.
In summary, your prophetic THREAT TO
the
application evaluation THE
(Matthew THEIR
15:13), EYES ON JESUS
-37-
scheme.
MOVE- OF THIS CENTURY WILL
KINGDOMS, BECAUSE
12
