2. Are We Growing the Church for the Kingdom, or a Kingdom for the Church?

CONTENTS:

• Definition of Kingdom and Church (Luke 10:3, 8-9; Matt 16:18-19)

• Until the End of the Age (Matt 28:20) and Eternity (Rev 20-22)

• Getting a New Focus

• Call to Action

Has a pastor ever told you, “We are the only right church, and the only people you can fellowship with”?

I have been told this, and more than once! This was my introduction to wanting to be a member of a “real church” while overseas. The missional organization that oversaw my salvation, baptism, discipleship, and fellowship was not a denomination, but a parachurch. So, this church told me, “You have to stay away from them now.” Really?

A lot can go wrong when you narrowly focus on the small picture only to lose sight of the big picture narrative; the end goal being the kingdom, not the church.

Questions for thought:

• Is there a difference between these two terms: “church” and “kingdom”?

• Why does it matter what we focus on?

  
  

  To begin our discussion, let us look at the practical side of the matter in simple terms.

Definition of Kingdom and Church (Luke 10:3, 8-9; Matt 16:18-19).

The Kingdom: 

“Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves... Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you’”

(Luke 10:3, 8-9, English Standard Version).

The Church: (Later, Christ speaks of how the kingdom will be filled, going forward)...

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:18-19).

A comparison of these two passages shows: The Kingdom, says Pastor Gordon MacPhail, is “His redemptive rule over God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing. It is a visible life (Matt 5:16-18; Mark 8:38); it is a holy life (Eph 5:8-12; 1 John 1:6-7; James 5:16); and it is an evangelistic life (2 Cor 5:18-20; Rom 10:14-15).”[1]  The Church: the people of God as the “church” are to go on mission to bring new disciples into the kingdom. The Church possess the “keys of the kingdom of heaven,” speaking of binding and loosing with an earth/heaven emphasis. It must be remembered that Jesus taught his disciples (the church) to pray “God’s kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). In fact, the church is “Christ body” (Col 1:18), as his instruments in this work (John 14:12-14), to make and grow disciples (Eph 4:11-16), who are kingdom citizens.

In Luke 9, Jesus sends out the Twelve, not to proclaim the church, but “the kingdom of God.” In Luke 10, he appoints seventy-two others to proclaim... “the kingdom of God has come near” (Luke 10:9, ESV). Duguid, Hamilton, and Skyler state: “To say that the kingdom ‘has come near’ means that it has arrived... The kingdom does not come in its fullness in the preaching, healing, and exorcisms of the seventy-two, but it is present in their ministry.”[2] The church (disciples) are his people who gather (to be equipped to practice ministry to one another and grow). The kingdom is his realm where the people live and spread the ministry into the world to make more disciples. These new disciples are to be brought under God’s kingdom rule and authority, being taught by their local church to go out, make disciples, and form new churches of them (Matt 28:18-20).

Until the End of the Age (Matt 28:20) and Eternity (Rev 20-22): 

The church age will end (Phil 1:6ff; Matt 28:20ff), with the true church previously being taken up in the “rapture” at seal 6 (Matt 24:29-31; 1 Thess 4:13-18). This cuts short the time of the “endurance of the saints” in the Great Tribulation period at seal 5 (Matt 24:21-22, ESV). The Day of the Lord’s wrath begins at seal 7 (Rev 8-19). The Kingdom is coming in its fullness at Christ’s second advent. It will first be a millennial kingdom (Rev 20), followed by its placement in a renewed heaven and earth in the context of eternity (Rev 21-22).

Getting a New Focus:

The problem I am getting to here is that having primarily a “church” focus only (i.e., your local church or denomination) forces the direction, planning, and implementation of missional activity to be “private kingdom builders” instead of the unity of all believers working as the big “C” church on mission (John 17).

Disciples from every local congregation (that means EVERYONE) should be on mission for kingdom building by making disciples who then, through maturing missional small groups, move to planting a church or churches, who will then develop and send out maturing disciples to make more disciples... (You get the picture).

However, when you are not working in unity, you are working separately (an independent mindset). Divisions develop by bringing “my” preference to the level of “my” essential doctrines, with a “my church first”/“my denomination first” mentality (and keep in mind, there is often competition and separation even between churches within a denomination)! The apostle Paul, speaking on church divisions, says,

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10, ESV).

Call to Action:

Our division, often based on preferences, separates where God does not call for separation. There is a coming time when God will separate the sheep from the goats, but there is no mention in the Bible of Christ calling for a separation into gatherings by denominational preference at either the bema seat or White Throne judgments (Matt 25:31-33; 2 Cor 5:9-10; Rev 20:11-15).

So why would you want to condone and continue this practice now in the local and big “C” church? Your identity is in Christ’s body as the “church;” your time for it is before his second coming. However, your citizenship is in “the kingdom of God,” which is present in the midst of you (Luke 17:21), and will someday continue in a consummated physical presence in and for eternity (Rev 21).

Where to go to find the extra help you need:

Every believer – a disciple of Christ!

[1] Gordon MacPhail, “Sermon on Mark 4:21-34, Parables of the Kingdom,” Grace Community Church, December 1, 2024.

[2] Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, eds, ESV Expository Commentary (Volume 8): Matthew-Luke (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 1866. ProQuest Ebook Central.

[3] Aaron Armstrong, “Is the Church the Same Thing as the Kingdom of God?” Lifeway.com, last updated September 16, 2020, https://gospelproject.lifeway.com/church-kingdom-video.

[4] Kevin DeYoung, “The Kingdom and the Church: Closer than You Think,” The Gospel Coalition, last updated March 5, 2010, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/the-kingdom-and-the-church-closer-than-we-think.