How Do We Anticipate The Kingdom?

How do We Anticipate the Kingdom?

Romans 15:1-13

We live a life of expectation. In the Evangelical churches, we are busily occupied in the task of examining the prophecy of Scripture to determine if this is the season that the Lord will return. We don’t all agree on the particular order of events, but we are united in the expectation of the Lord’s return. The songs of heaven dominate our songbooks. We think about mansions over the hilltop, what things will be like when we all get to heaven. We sing the pearly white city and Peace in the Valley. We groan in what Paul calls the “standing evil age.” This expectation is at the center of our lives.

In more formal “mainline” churches which weekly confess the creed or confession, we confess the resurrection of the dead and the life to come. Even though it is more subdued, the confession of the Lord’s return is still there. In the Latin creed, we see the word “advent” mentioned, from which we get “adventure.” This text is chosen this year for the second Sunday in a season called “Advent,” a season in which we reflect and prepare for the adventure of the coming Kingdom.

So when we look at the text from Romans this morning, we ask, “Where is the Second Coming in this passage?” It seems to deal with how the members of the church should get along in the here and now. It seems like eminently practical theology. When we are told that the Scriptures are for our “learning that through patience and comfort might have hope,” the texts Paul quotes are not the ones about the second coming. Rather, they are to encourage us along the way.

So how is this an Advent text? The answer is that Lent is a season of preparation for the Lord’s return to earth. The Second Coming is only a great hope for those who are prepared for His return. Part of the preparation is found in searching the prophecies of Scripture which talk about his return. The Christian life according to both St. Paul and St, John emphasize that we should orient our lives to look up to where Christ is seated at the right hand of God as well as to fix our hope upon His return. By doing so, we realize the great transformation we will undergo. We shall be pure, even as He is pure. But John tells us that we anticipate this by sanctification. This orientation of our faith drives us to be what we will become. So in a sense we not only set our thoughts upon the return of the Lord but also on the Christian life in this world. Francis Schaeffer titles one of his books: “How shall We then Live?” Since we are Christians on this great adventure, we appropriate and model the coming Kingdom in all we do.

Paul had already talked about the final restoration of creation in the 8th chapter of Romans. So what we read here has to be interpreted in that life. He has already talked about how one enters the Christian community of believers which is justification of faith. So the first and last steps have been discussed already in eloquent detail. This text as well as much of the latter parts of Romans deals with how one lives between these two seminal events. The lectionary text reading for this week actually starts with verse 4, but I think it better to start with the first verse. Paul is describing how Christians should relate to each other. In the light that in heaven there will be one body of believers, united in love, and perfect according to God’s ultimate design for humanity in the restored creation. The swords will be beaten into plowshares, the spears into pruning hooks. People will not learn war any more, and everyone will know Him, from the least to the greatest. So the model of our conduct is to be what we will be. The Kingdom is not just future. In a sense, the future is to be lived by the church in anticipation.

Boasting and bragging is always a cause of strife. How many of us are provoked to jealousy when we see a bumper sticker like: “My child is an honor student at such and such an academy. Our children might not excel in that area and we might be too poor to send them to private school. We think about how upset this nation was when it was discovered that the elite were gaming the system by having someone take their entrance exams in place of their children so they could get into the elite schools. Such behavior is not to be the characteristic of the Christian churches. What does Paul say here?