It’s Sunday morning. A man rises and reads the following text:
This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).
The speaker then exhorts his hearers to do missions in order that they might hasten the return of the Lord. They are told that through missionary activity they can actually accelerate or speed up Christ’s return. Since every sincere Christian wants to see Christ return as quickly as possible, it makes logical sense that they should be involved in missions. In fact, they are told that one of them could possibly be the actual person who preaches the gospel to the last people group and thus initiate the Second Coming.
While this may be a popular interpretation of Jesus’ words and seems to be a persuasive reason for missionary service, several questions need to be raised …
Will we actually cause Christ to return? The implication is that in some logical, mechanistic manner we trigger or force God to bring human history to a close. Rather than merely living in the expectation of his coming and being acted upon by his return, we stand above this event in a controlling, initiating manner. On the contrary, Jesus is not issuing a command or prescribing a strategy. He is stating a fact – “the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached.” God will return when he decides to do so and will conclude human history for reasons that are far beyond our comprehension or control. Thus, it seems unwise for any of us to obligate God to a timetable conditioned by our actions.
Doesn’t such an interpretation encourage escapism? The message is – the world is evil, you want to get out of it as soon as you can, and therefore, do yourself a favor by doing missions. And yet, in the preceding verses, Jesus encourages his disciples to do just the opposite. Even though things will become harder and harder before the end, Jesus tells them to remain firm and faithful in the present, evil age. It seems that an appeal to do missions in order to bring about the end may have more to do with our desire to escape suffering than the redemption of the world.
What constitutes ‘the whole world’? It seems the speaker makes clear what Jesus has left unclear. Does ‘the whole world’ mean all geo-political entities (nations), ethno-linguistic groups, dialects, cultures, provinces, cities, or villages? Must these be 25%, 45%, or 65% evangelized or Christianized? Do each of these portions of the world have to have one or two churches, a group of churches, or a ‘church planting movement’ before Jesus returns? Do these churches have to be self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating? In my lifetime, I have seen various definitions of ‘the whole world’ come and go. What is now in vogue will surely be replaced with a fresh explanation. Jesus does not give specifics at this point, and thus, it seems unwise for any of us to speak in quantifiable absolutes about what will precipitate his return.
What does it mean that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached? The speaker implies that proclaiming the kingdom is a verbal sermon about personal salvation. Could it be that the gospel of the kingdom encompasses much more than people merely hearing a message or even giving intellectual or emotional assent to it? It seems that the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed was a call to lordship and discipleship (Matt. 5-7) – the transformation of life, family, clan, and village. We may be proclaiming less than the gospel of the kingdom, if all we are doing is preaching evangelistic sermons in hopes of representative converts from people groups.
I confidently expect the gospel of the kingdom to be proclaimed in the whole world, and I fervently desire to see the whole church involved in this mission. At the same time, I believe that our motivation should flow from interpretation that is true to the historical context, as well as the intent and aims of Jesus’ life and ministry. Rather than appealing to a desire to escape this world, or a desire to make our actions significant, or to fulfill some nebulous aim, shouldn’t we base our motives for mission on Jesus’ summon to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves? May you and I be found loving well when the end does come!
A good response to a common sentiment in evangelical circles. Thanks again.
The night cometh…
Excellent word, Mike. I enjoy reading your posts.
Blessings,
Omar~
Besides, the gospel has already been proclaimed to every creature under heaven (Col 1.23).
I’m just wanting to understand your comment, Brett G. Surely Col 1.23 is talking about a different kind of proclaimed-ness. Otherwise, why would there still need to be preaching of kingdom in the future?
Sal, my comment on Col 1.23 was meant in jest. I was showing how a narrow reading of scripture can lead to bad theology and praxis, just as Mike had shown in his original post. Sorry for the confusion. I hope that clears it up.