KINGDOM ETHICS D a v id p. G u shee
Holistic Ministry for the 21st Century (Part 3): How the Church Advances God’s Reign Just as Jesus was not for himself but for others—as Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us—so the church is for others. It exists to extend itself in love to hurting people, just as Jesus did. Jesus advances God’s reign through us. But we must avoid the mistake of thinking that the only way the church advances the kingdom is through “social action.” The church is, first, a worshipping community, gathering in response to God’s amazing love to us in Jesus Christ. As such, we embody the kingdom— because one thing that is tragically wrong with this world is that it has turned against its Creator and refused even to acknowledge his existence, let alone his greatness. So as we worship him, we embody the kingdom.The worshipful, joyful celebration of the presence of God is part of the kingdom itself. So every aspect of our liturgy and worship matters for the kingdom. But through worship we also prepare ourselves for ethics; that is, expressing love for others as a response to God’s love for us. As we fall in love with God we resonate with the sacredness of all God’s works. As we remember how majestic is God’s name in all the earth, we likewise feel the majesty of all God’s works, including “the least of these,” all of whom are just a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8). Ultimately, ethics follows and depends upon worship, upon
a certain vision of our neighbor which flows from the blessedness of our encounter with God. We also embody and advance the kingdom as we teach and preach the Bible. I believe in the power of the preached and taught Word. I think that when people return again and again to our churches it is because they are hungry for that Word. Listeners formed and transformed by Scriptures are better prepared to advance God’s reign. And so, among other sacred truths, we must speak of Genesis 1 and the imago Dei, Matthew 25 and Jesus in the face of the naked and poor, Hebrews 13 and sacred hospitality to strangers, Luke 10 and compassion to the bleeding neighbor, Psalm 9 and a God who governs the world with justice
(addressing immediate needs and longer-term problems, or symptoms and diseases) — both are “social action,” and both are “kingdom work.” Notice, as an addendum, that if we are only doing mercy and not also justice we are less likely to move into more serious social critique of current power structures. One thing that has divided white evangelicals from black and Hispanic evangelicals is white quietude about issues of justice other than the injustice of abortion. As we institutionalize a holistic justice vision and ministries of justice, we will find the walls tumbling down between the various racial-ethnic evangelical subgroups. I am convinced that God calls all disciples to some ministry of mercy and/ or justice. Sometimes whole congregations get called to specific work. Other I call on each Christian times individuals have specific callings. to find one arena of justice Part of spiritual gifts identification in our churches must be the identification of and mercy to get involved passions and gifts in arenas of mercy and in — one Matthew 25 justice as well as evangelism and worship. project to invest in, which I call on each Christian to find one arena of justice and mercy to get involved in means one absolutely —one Matthew 25 project to invest in, desperate cause, one group which means one absolutely desperate cause, one group of completely despised of completely despised and rejected and ignored people to love and rejected and ignored and serve. people to love and serve. I notice that this generation of Christian students is full of young people and is a refuge for the oppressed. As we who want a cause worth dying for—and teach and preach and study these things, living for. They identify with the big our hearts are changed and we come to kingdom projects, like Darfur, sex trafficklook at people differently — and at God ing, AIDS, Africa, prison reform, climate, differently. torture, war, poverty, and so on. They But then we live it. don’t want polemics or cheap politics. We live this love, compassion, hospital- They want to serve; they want to make a ity, justice, and mercy in our individual difference. May they lead the rest of us. n interactions wherever we go. This is incarnational kingdom living in daily life, David P. Gushee is a distinguished univerand it’s where “social action” begins. sity professor of Christian ethics at Mercer We live this love through involvement University in Atlanta, Ga., co-chair of the in specific ministries intended to care Biblical/Contextual Ethics Group of the for hurting people and to advance American Academy of Religion, and presijustice. Mercy work and justice work dent of Evangelicals for Human Rights. PRISM 2009
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