I came to faith as a child in the early 1950s. What different times they were! Post-WWII North America was thriving, yet people feared the rise of communism. Christians were aware of their eternal hope, and they sensed that heaven was imminent. Dispensational theology was thriving, so believers were encouraged to help get everyone ready for heaven since there was little time. The evangelistic emphasis seemed to be all about eternal heaven.
However, Jesus taught both about the “here and now” of God’s kingdom as well as the “not yet” part. Sounds mysterious to me.
Some people like mysteries and others do not. Some just ignore the fact that everything simply cannot be explained or is difficult to explain. Others try to figure things out.
Let’s try to figure it out! First the easy part. Every believer has the expectation and hope of eternal life when they die. Scriptures like Revelation 21, John 14 and Matthew 6 describe a wonderful physical place where Jesus is. By humble repentance and faith in Christ, we can accept His grace and anticipate heaven. That is the “not yet” part that we look forward to.
The second part, maybe the mysterious part, is the “here and now.” What is that?
From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus talked about the Kingdom of heaven being “at hand.” Elsewhere, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of heaven being in their midst; it was within them (Luke 17). Theologian Christopher Marshall says it this way, “… the dawning of the Kingdom meant the creation of a messianic community that was to live in a manner consistent with the demands of the new age in the midst of the old, challenging the unjust status quo by its very existence as a dissident community of equals. This is the chief concern in Jesus’ ethical teaching.” 1
So, the “not yet” concept of the Kingdom of heaven is a dynamic and multifaceted theological perspective that shapes Christian understanding and posits that believers are currently living in an intermediate state, called “not yet” where aspects of God’s Kingdom is accessible, yet its full expression remains in the future, i.e. “not yet”.
It is impossible here to fully develop these things, but at a minimum, I want to elucidate the aspect of the Christians’ ethical behavior and social justice initiatives which Jesus anticipated. We are motivated toward tangible initiatives of justice, peace, and reconciliation because it represents the Kingdom of heaven “here and now.” It is one way that non-believers can see for themselves what the “not yet” Kingdom looks like.
Since we are living in the Kingdom of God now, we are inspired to live out the Kingdom values such as love, justice, and mercy. Think Micah 6:8: “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” By engaging in social issues such as poverty, inequality, hatred and injustices, Christians serve as agents of hope and transformation.
George Ladd calls it “fulfillment without consummation” meaning that many Kingdom blessings can be experienced today; many are reserved for the consummation and the coming of Jesus.
So what does this have to do with Business as Mission (BAM)?
Dallas Willard helpfully summarized: ‘Discipleship is learning how to live in heaven before you die.” Simply stated for business types – creating Jobs, lifting people out of poverty, and sharing the Good News is living out the Kingdom of God in the “here and now”.
Using another metaphor – we are dual citizens; we have passports for our earthly country and as citizens of heaven, a passport to heaven. Or as someone else stated: “we are God’s billboards for what life in heaven might look like.” There will be no sadness, no poverty, no injustice, no corruption, no joblessness, no exploitation, no sin.
So, as part of the BAM movement, we try to bring the Kingdom of heaven to our clients around the world – Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia, Colombia, Brazil, Romania, India, Nepal, and many other countries. We live like Jesus in the Kingdom of the “here and now” so others will be able to do so also in the “here and now.” In the process, we come to experience and understand the Kingdom of faith – the “not yet”.
1 Christopher D. Marshall, Beyond Retribution: The New Testament Vision of Justice, Crime and Punishment (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 70-71.
Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures
Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com