We are commanded to pray, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.” Jesus had one sermon-one proclamation. He announced this Good News over and over: “The Kingdom of God his here . Turn and believe the Good News.” It was never about us going away from the earth, but heaven corning here. All of this is about “earth crammed with heaven.”
Jesus, the kingdom bringer -a kingdom-entrepreneur envisioned and implemented the kingdom. He did not work as a religious professional. He called twelve normal working class individuals to be his apostles. The Gospel accounts center around the marketplace. Of the 132 public appearances of Jesus in the Gospels, 122 were in the marketplace. Of the 52 parables that Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context. Of the 40 divine interventions recorded in Acts, 39 took place in the marketplace or the public square.
So when Jesus says in John 5:17, “My father is always at his work this very day, and I too am working,” he is primarily talking about work in the public marketplace-the every day world.. Seeing this the first time caused an explosion in my head and heart, and ripped the blinders off my religious eyes. As I began to see the “secular” dimensions of God’s presence and work for the first time, I was stunned! Could it be that God not only loves the world, but that most of what he is doing is done in the every day world.
Jesus’ Good News of the Kingdom of God on earth declared a comprehensive restructuring of social life comparable to what is experienced by a people when a monarch is succeeded by another. The kingdom of God touched every sphere and every scale of the culture. “It reshaped marriage and mealtimes, resistance of the Roman occupiers and prayers in the temple, the social standing of prostitutes and the piety of Pharisees, the meaning of cleanliness and the interpretation of illness, integrity in business and honesty in prayer.” (See Andy Crouch, Culture Making)
Satan is not reported as doing a whole lot in the Old Testament scriptures but when Jesus begins bringing the public rule of God to this planet Satan gets riled up—violently opposing the kingdom invasion of the everyday world. The Jesus of the Gospels refused to capitulate to Satan’s attack on his public announcement and manifestations of God’s kingdom rule. Time and again Jesus defeats Satan’s accusations and deceptions . Jesus won the victory. This means that all spaces, private and public, are the Lord’s spaces. He has given us the Spirit of God who is far stronger than Satan to live through us in the everyday world. What’s there to be afraid of?
This all challenged me to not only connect and commune with the Lord but to publicly live as a witness to the Kingdom in politics and business as well as my marriage. The walls that protected my compartmentalized life collapsed and the winds of heaven blew me into the public square to be his kingdom entrepreneur there- risking-failing-repenting-confessing-living in the breath of prayer all the time -following Jesus all the time-pointing away from me all the time to the friend of sinners-who is the Lord, not just of the United Sates government. He is Lord of heaven and earth. Praise be to God!
For Further Reading, Jim Reynolds, Beyond The Pulpit (A Pastor-Attorney Makes The Case For Market Place Ministry)