Sep
28
2009
My Church or the Kingdom?
“My passion isn’t to build up my church. My passion is for God’s Kingdom.”
Ever heard someone say that? I have. It sounds large-hearted, but it’s wrong. It can even be destructive.
Suppose I said, “My passion isn’t to build up my marriage. My passion is for Marriage. I want the institution of Marriage to be revered again. I’ll work for that. I’ll pray for that. I’ll sacrifice for that. But don’t expect me to hunker down in the humble daily realities of building a great marriage with my wife Jani. I’m aiming at something grander.”
If I said that, would you think, “Wow, Ray is so committed”? Or would you wonder if I had lost my mind?
If you care about the Kingdom, be the kind of person who can be counted on in your own church. Join your church, pray for your church, tithe to your church, participate in your church every Sunday with wholehearted passion.
We build great churches the same way we build great marriages—real commitment that makes a positive difference every day.
4 Comments
I know that you’re not insinuating that marriage and a local church are a perfect metaphor, but what about the Church (with a big C)? What if the statement were changed to “My passion isn’t building up my local church. My passion is building up the Church.”
Taking a page from elementary school Social Studies, the unit of society is the family. So my responsibility is to start with the family, then as an individual and my family, help my local church grow and as UncleBeard said, finally grow the Kingdom of God.
Excellent articulation and point Ray.
To UncleBeard: I think you need to be careful not to pit the local church vs. the universal Church. You see, the way God has designed it (as far as I can see in scripture), is that the local church is the local expression of the universal Church. The world will best understand the universal Church by looking at the local churches. However, the local churches have a duty to embrace John 17 evangelistic Christ-exalting, God-glorifying unity as well that will display the Gospel through the local churches from the universal church.
It’s both/and, not either/or. One can’t be for the “C”hurch and not for the “church”. It’s practically the same thing that Ray Ortlund is discussing. Saying one is for advancing God’s kingdom is the same as saying one is for advancing the Church of Christ, the body. One can’t do that without being fully involved and plugged in faithfully to one’s local body. That is where everything starts and is expressed universally.
Thanks for the thoughts Ray. Keep it up GC!
[...] a post on The Gospel Coalition website titled, “My Church or the Kingdom?” Ray Ortlund makes this insightful [...]