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December 30, 2023 - January 2, 2024
The kingdom of God calls you to a higher way of living. It’s not just about loving friends and hating enemies. It’s about loving your enemies. This is what the King does, so this is the way of the kingdom. God is good to all—including evil people. God’s perfection is a compassionate perfection. That’s the kind of love you need to have in God’s kingdom—a compassionate perfection that transcends old divisions of us/them and neighbor/ enemy, that loves those who do not yet love you. We will never reach universal reconciliation in the kingdom of God until we move beyond conventional religious
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If there is a point in this book where readers might be tempted to slam the cover shut and say, “This is ridiculous. This is unrealistic. This is a pipe dream. Nothing like this could ever happen,” this would be that point. Perhaps they would be right in doing so. But what do they have to look forward to if they’re right? Simply more of the same in human history, on the level of individuals, families, and nations—more of the cycle of offense and revenge, undertaken with more and more powerful weapons, with more and more at stake in each confrontation.
Through research (including a lot of trial and error), people in the tradition of marathon running have learned various patterns of practice so that they can do what was previously impossible.
This language of secrecy resonates with the entire message of Jesus. His kingdom is not about a show. It’s not about high volume and hype, glitzy spectacle, or impressive appearances. No, the reverse: it is understated, secret, behind the scenes. Its rewards come not through public talk but through potent, private practice.
become the kinds of people whose “righteousness” transcends the mere avoidance of doing wrong, mere technical perfection and external conformity—then we must be liberated from enslavement to money.
Money, it turns out, is a cruel taskmaster; when you serve money, soon you will resent God for interfering with your humming, expanding economic kingdom. Similarly, if you serve God, you will soon resent wealth for its constant guerilla warfare, its subtle invasion of every sector of life, its relentless conquest of life’s nonmaterial values. You have to choose.
Its citizens resist the occupation of this invisible Caesar through three categories of spiritual practice. First, they practice a liberating generosity toward the poor to dethrone greed and topple the regime of money. Second, they practice a kind of prayer that is a defiant act of resistance against the prideful pursuit of power, pursuing forgiveness and reconciliation, not retaliation and revenge. Finally, they practice fasting to revolt against the dominating impulses of physical gratification—so that the sex drive and other physical appetites will not become our slave drivers. And all of
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But that would be an excursion from the main thrust of Jesus’ line of thought here, which addresses the anxiety we feel when money, sex, and power hold our attention and affection rather than God and God’s kingdom.
Be poor in spirit, mourn, be meek, hunger and thirst for true righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be a peacemaker, be willing to joyfully suffer persecution and insult for doing what is right. Be salt and light in the world—by doing good works.
“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” could thus be rendered “May all your dreams for your creation come true.”
For all these reasons, “the dream of God” strikes me as a beautiful way to translate the message of the kingdom of God for hearers today. It is, of course, the language evoked by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. His dream was God’s dream, and that accounted for its amazing power.
2. The revolution of God.
So perhaps we need a modifier in front of revolution to show how the goals and tactics of this regime are radically different: the peace revolution of God, the spiritual revolution of God, the love revolution of God, the reconciling revolution of God, the justice revolution of God. In these ways, we get much closer to the dynamic hidden in Jesus’ original language of the kingdom of God.
My friends Dallas Willard and Tom Sine have used a related metaphor, speaking of the conspiracy of God (or “divine conspiracy” or “mustard seed conspiracy”). Conspiracy certainly resonates with the title of this book, suggesting secrecy, hiddenness. It is also rich with connotations—since the word means a group of people who speak in whispers and work so closely that they breathe one another’s breath (con = with, spir = breath). God’s conspiracy seeks to overturn the world as it is so that a new world can emerge.
The mission of God. The Latin term missio Dei has long been used to describe God’s work in the world. Its etymology (miss = send) reminds us that God sends us into the world to be agents of change: we have a task to do for God. True,
(Actually, for some of us, it’s collaboration in mission that creates the greatest relational connections.)
Imagine that a doctor develops a cure. He brings the cure to you and says, “Once you take this medicine, you’ll begin to feel better, but I’m not just giving you the cure for your sake. As soon as you feel well enough, I want you to make more of the cure and begin bringing it to others. And tell them the same thing: they are being healed not just so they can be healthy but also so they can become healers for the sake of others.” Just as the disease spread “virally,” now the cure will spread. A healing mission— where you are healed so you can join in healing others—would be an apt metaphor for
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4. The party of God.
When they left, Tony got an idea. He asked the shop owner if Agnes came in every night, and when he replied in the affirmative, Tony invited him into a surprise party conspiracy. The shop owner’s wife even got involved. Together they arranged for a cake, candles, and typical party decorations for Agnes, who was, to Tony, a complete stranger. The next night when
5. The network of God.
God is inviting people into a life-giving network. First, God wants people to be connected, plugged in, in communication with God, so God can transfer to them what they need—not just information but also virus-debugging software, along with love, hope, empowerment, purpose, and wisdom.
Dr. King’s preferred phrases, the beloved community or the inescapable network of mutuality.2
The dance of God. In the early church, one of the most powerful images used for the Trinity was the image of a dance of mutual indwelling. The Father, Son, and Spirit live in an eternal, joyful, vibrant dance of love and honor, rhythm and harmony, grace and beauty, giving and receiving. The universe was created to be an expression and extension of the dance of God—so all creatures share in the dynamic joy of movement, love, vitality, harmony, and celebration. Electrons, protons, and neutrons— light, gravity, and motion—galaxies, suns, and planets—water, snow, ice, and vapor—winter, spring,
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This inclusive tribe isn’t an in-group that makes other tribes into out-groups; rather, it’s a “come on in” group that seeks to help all tribes maintain their unique identity and heritage while being invited into a tribe of tribes who live together in mutual respect, harmony, and love—because God is the universal tribal chief who created and loves all tribes.
We can’t help but think of the dangerous religious-political cocktails of crusade and jihad, colonialism and terrorism, inquisition and fatwa—manifested in oxymoronic terms like holy war and redemptive violence . These intoxicating cocktails seem to uncheck humanity’s darkest inhibitions so those who swallow them seek victory on their own terms, requiring from others submission, compliance, secrecy, or death. Their power-drunk arrogance is buttressed by absolute confidence—incapable of a second thought—that God is on their side.
That peace—that shalom —means far more than an end to conflict; it evokes a balanced and integrated “life to the full.”
Jesus speaks on many occasions about his radically different approach to power—an approach that deconstructs dominance patterns in religion, family, education, and government (Matthew 23:1–12; Luke 22:24–27; John 13:1–15) and sees greatness in service instead of in domination.
Elsewhere, Paul speaks of a similar arsenal of weapons not of the world. They are intended to fight “not against flesh and blood” but against “the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). These weapons include the belt of truth, the breastplate of justice, the boots of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit— which he identifies with the logic (or message or logos ) of God.
The crucifixion of Christ can in this light be seen as a radical repudiation of the use of violent force. As we’ve seen, the cross was the Roman tool of execution; it was reserved especially for leaders of rebellions. Anyone proclaiming a rival kingdom to the kingdom of Caesar would be a prime candidate for crucifixion.
(The two men commonly thought of as thieves who were crucified with Jesus were more likely leaders or agents of failed political rebellions.)
Jesus, they felt, took the empire’s instrument of torture and transformed it into God’s symbol of the repudiation of violence—encoding a creed that love, not violence, is the most powerful force in the universe.
