Irene
Brown
The Kingdom
within:
The inner life of
the person in ministry
Dr Irene Brown is
the Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Christian Heritage College,
Brisbane, which offers a
Bachelor of Social Science degree that includes majors in Counselling and
Biblical Studies, as well as post graduate awards in Counselling and Human
Studies. Irene researched
Epistemic Development in Adolescence for her Ph.D. degree from the
More than any other single
thing, Jesus spoke about the kingdom. In parable after parable, teaching after
teaching, he showed us what the kingdom is like - a treasure hidden in a field,
a father who welcomes an undeserving son, a vineyard owner who gives more than
is fair to the labourers, a feast to which are welcomed those from the highways
and byways, a place that is open to the poor in spirit, the broken and the
sinner.
It seems that much of this
teaching is about a kingdom which can be visible - a quality of relationships
where the poor are ministered to, where people show love to each other, where
each person can be accepted and receive God’s love.
However as we take the idea
of the kingdom a little further we see that this kingdom is the place where the
king reigns - not a physical place but a spiritual one - one which indeed
engenders visible results, but one which is initially and primarily an inner
place - the kingdom within.
Certainly, Jesus’ teaching
shows us the possibility of a kingdom without - a kingdom where people are
ministered to. Much of his teaching has clear outward results - healing the
sick, giving to the poor, setting free the oppressed, welcoming in the
marginalized. But this visible kingdom
is the result of an inner relationship, an inner responsiveness to God. Some of his teaching clearly speaks to an
inner reality rather than an outer one.
“Take the log out of your own eye before you try and take the speck from
your brother’s eye.” What does this mean
but an attending to our own heart secrets, our own weaknesses, before we try
and correct each other.
Inner
life and outer mask
Proverbs 4:23 tells us to
“guard the heart for from it flow the springs of life.” What does it mean to guard the heart, to be
aware of this inner world? John Sanford
in The Kingdom Within uses the teaching against the Pharisees to show
the difference between the inner world and the outer mask which we show to
others. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for
their hypocrisy.
The word hypocrite means
actor, and refers to the idea that actors of those days wore a mask which
depicted their character. So the hypocrite was the mask wearer. The Pharisees
wanted the world to see them as generous, holy, righteous people - that was
their outer public behaviour. But Jesus
exposed the inner poverty, the inner sins of the spirit, of much more concern
to him than the sins of the flesh. “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish and
leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance” (Matthew 23:25). And in Luke 16:15: “You are the very ones who
pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts.”
So the way to God has more to do with the inner life
than the outer mask. Richard Rohr speaks of the way each person tries to find
their way to God. They try to discover and fulfil the requirements necessary to
please God. Many of us, especially those of us who grew up being good find that
for a time we feel we do fulfil the necessary conditions.
However at some time most of us, and perhaps more quickly the more broken of us, experience God differently. We have some experience in which we find ourselves ‘in God’ where we know that we do not have to do anything to be accepted or approved of. We simply have to rest in him. The broken and the mystics find that place more quickly.
The others of us may wrestle back and forth with fulfilling the requirements.
Often the church has taught us
that we have to be good to get God’s approval.
The cross demonstrates to us that it’s all grace. I enter into a relationship with a God who
utterly loves me and as I learn to abide in his love, and look to him for
direction I fulfil the law of love without even thinking about it. And so is fulfilled ‘all the law and the
prophets’.
Living
in a love relationship
Living by requirements is
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Living in
relationship with the living God is eating of the tree of life.
Eating of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, choosing to evaluate good and bad from a place of
autonomy, has given us a mindset of constant evaluation. And so we continuously evaluate everything
that happens around us - and within us.
“I don’t like her hair colour, that shirt doesn’t suit him, he shouldn’t
talk like that, she should be more extraverted.”
God’s idea was that we
should eat of the tree of life, walk in relationship with him, and with each
other and experience life in all its abundance.
When we walk in a love relationship with someone we are far less likely
to be criticising and trying to change; instead we enjoy, and we notice.
Certainly we notice their hair colour, their way of talking and their
introversion but instead of judging we accept and appreciate the difference
from ourselves. Living in a love-relationship enables us to accept difference
and imperfection and walk alongside the other person, standing with them in
their ‘working out their salvation’.
In the garden
of Eden story there is no mention of Adam and Eve being good. They were called to the dominion mandate - to
look after the earth - to bring it to fruition; they were called into
relationship with God and with each other. There is no mention of rules and
laws and constant evaluation. The story
simply states that they were naked and not ashamed.
When Adam and Eve, and we in
them, chose to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we
chose a righteousness based on comparison and living up to standards; a
righteousness that had more to do with behaviour and beliefs than a heart
attitude and relationship. We became
caught in a mindset of comparison and evaluation which did not free us from
wrongdoing but only showed us when we did wrong. As a response to this choice
God gave us the Law - a way of evaluating our behaviour which at least kept us
in line with the way the world was designed.
However this was not his
original plan, nor was it his final response.
The Law was simply a way of bracketing our behaviour until God could
reveal a better way. The Law was like a
fence that kept us from wandering off into licence and perversion. A schoolmaster, a babysitter,
to bring us to Christ. And then,
in Paul’s wonderful words of freedom in his letter to the Galatians, God
revealed a better way.
When the fullness of time
came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, under the law, in order that he
might redeem those under the law, that they might receive adoption as
sons. And because we are sons, God sent
forth the spirit of his Son, into our hearts, crying Abba, dear Father. Therefore I am no longer a slave, but a son,
and if a son, then an heir to the living God.
God’s plan was, and is, that
we should walk in life, in relationship with him, fulfilling all the law and
the prophets by our love relationship with him, as his children, and our love
relationship with each other - brothers and sisters.
Grace,
not works
We live in a new covenant
where righteousness is based on grace not works. The disciples who lived with
Jesus understood that he was the Messiah, but they did not seem to see the
perspective of the new covenant. That
was Paul’s revelation. When Peter
preached on the day of Pentecost he simply stated that Jesus, the Messiah, who
you crucified, was raised up again by God.
Apparently it was not
uncommon for men to claim themselves to be the Messiah, but of course they
eventually died and no more was heard of them.
When the Christians however started proclaiming the Christ there was
swift persecution. Why this drastic
reaction? The fact that there were
differences between the Greek Christians and the Jewish Christians gives some
clue. Stephen, the first martyr, was
made a deacon when there were complaints that the Greek widows were being
overlooked. When there was persecution
in
The point then which drew
such wrath from Saul the Pharisee, had to do with the
law. Saul, that ‘epitome of legal
rectitude’, understood something the disciples did not. He knew the law. He knew that any true Messiah must uphold the
law. But the Christians were preaching a
crucified Messiah. And Paul knew the
scripture - he quotes it in one of his letters - that said “Cursed is anyone
who hangs on a tree.” A crucified
Messiah could not be upholding the law, because he is cursed by that law. A crucified Messiah was a contradiction in
terms. It could not be.
Paul saw that what the
Christians claimed struck at the law as the covenant of righteousness with
God. He turned against the Christians as
one with all legal righteousness and outrage.
It is no wonder then that when he met God on the
When the three days were
over Paul understood something the other disciples did not. He understood that the old covenant was
obsolete (Hebrews 6:13). He understood
that the only way to righteousness was faith and grace. It is not surprising that he vehemently
opposed the other disciples when they tried to still keep some of the law,
wondering if circumcision should still be practiced. Paul knew they had missed the point
completely - it’s all or nothing when it comes to the law. You who began in the spirit, he raged at the
Galatians, will you now finish in the flesh?
Home
free
At the Cross God changed the
rules. He finished with the old basis
for righteousness, the old purity code which gets us into his presence by our
behaviour. He declared us free to walk
into relationship with him, saved by grace alone, with a righteousness rooted
in Jesus sacrifice. I can now dance into
the presence of a holy and righteous God, and know that his grace is
sufficient, and that I am home free.
As I look at the cross I see
the awesome love of God and I am inspired to give my life to him, not because I
must, not to earn his approval, but in freedom, a response of love to his. And I am drawn into a love relationship with
him, whereby I live daily looking into his eyes and choosing to walk in his
ways.
Many of us have grown up in
a modernist world that upholds the absolutes of law and morality and
hierarchy. A postmodern
perspective is far more likely to value relationship and spirituality and an
authority based in authenticity. As I
walk the journey with another I do not bring in rules and requirements. Instead I will, as Dan Allender
says, look for the footprints of God in their story. John 1 says God lights every person who comes
into the world. His footprints will be
there in everyone’s story. As I listen
and walk with them I will find some evidence of his Being, some way to walk the
journey, respecting their individual relationship with God, whoever at that
point they conceive God to be - finding freedom and responsibility.
This kingdom within, then,
is about being real - real with God and real with each other. Abiding in Christ
- finding our true selves, naked and unashamed because of God’s grace. And then living out that relationship in honesty and humility in
our relationships with each other.
Living in conspicuous imperfection (Sims’ phrase), and openly known for
who we are. This is freedom - and life
abundant.
References
Nouwen, H. J. M.
(1989). In the name of Jesus:
Reflections on Christian leadership.
Rohr, R. (1999). Everything
belongs: The gift of contemplative prayer.
Sanford, J. A. (1970). The kingdom within.
Sims, B. J. (1997). Servanthood:
Leadership for the third millennium.
© Renewal Journal #18: Servant
Leadership (2001:2) www.renewaljournal.com
Reproduction is permitted so long as
the copyright acknowledgement remains intact with the text.
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