Overall, he was trying to get them to understand that what’s most important was to remember that there would come a time when physical pleasures, making money, family and friends, and all the other things that they held dear to their hearts would hold no longer hold any value. Why? Because this world is passing away and the Kingdom of God would be coming. With the Kingdom, priorities would have to be changed. They would not see the world, or possessions, or even family and friends the same.
Life would not solely consist of the number of livestock they owned or the possessions they had. It would consist of faithful service to God. For the Corinthian church, the Kingdom of God was understood as something that was still yet to come. It was just over the horizon, but it was on the way. And its’ coming would require that the church at Corinth have a new mindset. All that life offered was a blessing from God, but God’s blessings were to take a back seat to God’s overall plan. God’s plans were not to be eclipsed by God’s gifts to humankind.
The story of Jonah is probably familiar to most of us. God gave Jonah the command to preach repentance to a group of people. Jonah refused and instead went in the opposite direction of where God wanted him to go. After an ill-fated boat ride and a big fish swallowing and spitting him out, he ran in the direction God sent him. In the big picture, I understand the book of Jonah to be less about a big fish and more about how Jonah responded to the idea that God’s Kingdom may include people that he did not necessarily like.
What God commanded Jonah to do, which was to preach repentance to Nineveh, was more than a shock to Jonah. Beth Tanner says,
“To an Israelite like Jonah, this would be equivalent to announcing today, ‘Go to Osama Bin Laden’s compound.’ Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the nation that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and held the southern kingdom of Judah as a vassal (a slave nation) for almost one hundred years. Assyria was more than an enemy; it was a brutal occupying force that forever changed Israel’s fortunes. Jonah is called out by God to go and prophesy to the enemy…Jonah is told to go into the enemy city and announce God’s judgment.”1
Instead of going where God commanded, Jonah ran in the opposite direction. He may have run because he was afraid. Or he may have thought his enemies didn’t deserve God’s mercy. Either way, he ran away from God’s Kingdom action. He avoided the opportunity to bring about godly change in the world. God dealt with him through the big fish. After the fish spit him out, we are told that the prophet ran to do what God had commanded. He preached repentance and the coming Kingdom of God. For the occupants of Nineveh, the Kingdom was imminent. It could appear before the end of the week. The Kingdom of God would look like their enemies marching up a hill, preparing to kick in the city gates and destroy the city walls. Or the Kingdom of God could look like sackcloth, and dust, and penance. Nineveh chose the latter.
Again, I think the story is less about Nineveh and more about the prophet. For Jonah, the Kingdom didn’t look like he expected. After God’s pronouncement of coming judgment, the Kingdom looked like Jonah’s enemies. And those enemies were technically no longer his enemies. They had taken the first steps to become his kindred. After their repentance before God, they were going to be treated like Jonah. They would experience love, compassion, and forgiveness. This Kingdom experience would require Jonah to adopt a new mindset. He no longer had enemies, but friends. He had the opportunity to be reconciled to them. Years of hatred, strife, and turmoil could give way to God’s overall plan of loving one another. The love of God had a new face and it would be one that was familiar, yet unwanted.
The story of Christ calling the disciples is also a familiar story. It seems simple and straight forward. Jesus, after his baptism and temptations in the wilderness, began preaching that the Kingdom of God had come near. One day, as he walked along the seashore, he saw four men and told them to follow him. They all stopped what they were doing and followed him. Two of them even left their father to fend for himself in a boat. John chapter 1 tells us that one of the new followers went to his brother and proclaimed that he had found the person that Moses and the prophets spoke about as being Messiah. He would be the one who would eventually come to set their nation free.
For these new disciples, the Kingdom of God had been a historic promise that was still far off in the distance. But, after meeting Jesus, and witnessing His miracles and teaching, they realized that the Kingdom was present. “Come and see this man” became a regular refrain from people who encountered Jesus. The disciples, the woman at the well, the blind who were made to see, the lame that were made to walk, they all encouraged others to come and experience the Kingdom as found in Christ. They understood their part in the Kingdom to revolve around introducing others to Christ. The disciples in the gospels understood this to mean that they were to leave their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, livelihood, and comfort in order to follow him. For the disciples, the Kingdom looked like sacrifice and service.
In all these passages, God breaks into, or is about to break into, someone’s life. God is preparing to give the reveille call to wake someone up out of their spiritual slumber and put them to work. God gives the command to get ready and to get involved in what God is already doing. The question for the people in our texts is will they be ready to get involved? The same question rings true for us. When God says, “get up,” will we be ready to get involved? When God says that it is our turn to help in the Kingdom-building process, what will we do?
Let’s be truthful. When God breaks into our lives, it’s usually inconvenient. It happens when we least expect it. God’s call to service for the Kingdom never comes a convenient time. When God interrupts our lives, we sometimes see it as a disruption, a hassle, or an inconvenience. I’ve got other things that I need to do with my time. But, here’s an idea. What if we saw service for the Kingdom less as a hassle and more as providence, an opportunity, a blessing, or simply as God’s Kingdom building action?
As you read these words, you may be thinking, Terrell, I already go to church and I help people by volunteering my time in multiple ways. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but God’s Kingdom is much bigger than a building. God doesn’t call us to stay comfortable and protected where we are. His command to Jonah and the disciples was to get up and leave. Leave your comfort zones. Leave the place you are familiar with and trust me to move you to a new place that glorifies me. He called them to leave their homes and go where they would have to depend on God’s grace. Similarly, God calls us to drop our security blankets so we can go to unfamiliar places and serve.
The story of God’s Kingdom is not about our comfort. God’s calling is not about us. The going is not about us. It’s about what God is doing in our world, our cities, and communities, in the lives of people, and how we can all participate in it. The focus is not on us but where, to whom, and for what purpose God is sending each of us. That place doesn’t have to be overseas, or to another state. It can be to needy people in our own spiritually-contested neighborhoods.
To be involved in the coming Kingdom will likely require a new mindset for all of us, as it was by the Ninevites. Jonah missed out on the redeeming power of the Kingdom because he resented God’s love for others. The Corinthian church had to learn to put the Kingdom before possessions and personal relationships. The disciples had to be fully committed to the Kingdom. It would be all or nothing. The Kingdom requires action. Jonah, get up and go. Corinthian church, get your perspective right. Fishermen, stop, drop, and follow me.
The Kingdom of God may seem far off, but it is actually very near. God is already at work forming a people, a community, for God’s glory. The Kingdom and Kingdom work may include people and things of which we are unfamiliar. Kingdom work may require us to sacrifice and stretch our faith in order to enter in. But within it, we are surely going to experience the presence of God and the beauty of community. We don’t have to wait to be swept away to a far-off place sometime in the future to experience this. We can experience it in the here and now.