At the beginning of November, I started a new Bible challenge. My goal is to read through the entire New Testament this month.
This means that I will be reading 5-10 chapters a day in order to complete this goal. One reason that this is challenging is that it is a fast pace to take through sections I am normally used to taking in small chunks, studying verse by verse. But for the same reason, this is also really rewarding. When you read large sections of scripture, you pick up on themes and patterns and repeated ideas more than you do when you read and study smaller sections. It causes you to think about a passage in chapter 5 in light of a passage in chapter 12, and vice versa.
That’s what happened for me when I read Matthew. From start to finish, I saw clearly the thread of God’s kingdom and of Jesus ushering in the kingdom in this book. And in the middle of it all I saw something interesting that I think has some pretty significant ramifications for ministry. That’s what I’d like to share with you.
The thread of kingdom comes through all the way from at least chapter 4. “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17). This was how Jesus announced his ministry. In the other gospels, John the Baptist said basically the same thing.
In chapters 10-22, there are a lot of illustrations of what the kingdom is like. A pearl of great price. A mustard seed. A wedding banquet. There are also many, many teachings on what it looks like to be a disciple, what it costs to be part of the kingdom. You must have faith, be humble, forgive, sacrifice, deny yourself, and follow Jesus.
But what really stuck out to me in reading Matthew was in chapters 24-28. Chapter 24 begins with the disciples asking Jesus what signs will occur to show us that the final fulfillment of the kingdom is getting close. Jesus begins to list out signs that the end will be near. One could spend the time going through chapters 24 and 25 and making a list of signs that the end is drawing near (I did this in my study). One could go through and try to formulate a timeline based on what Jesus says here (many have done this). But what caught my eye was that right after giving all these signs, Jesus says: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36).
What then is the point of giving all the signs? Here is what I think: Jesus gave us the list of signs that the end is drawing near so that we would see these and feel a sense of urgency that the day is coming when he will come to earth a second time and his kingdom will be fully established. We have a task to complete before the day arrives: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
But I think it is all too easy for us to get so caught up in the signs that we lose sight of the mission. We lose focus. Instead, we write lists and timelines. We argue about timing. We forget that Jesus also said “No one knows the day or the hour…so be ready.”
The key takeaway from the parables about the kingdom of heaven is this: Be ready, because Jesus will return like a thief in the night.
So how does this relate to our mission? Fast forward through the death and resurrection of Jesus to his final words to his disciples. Matthew 28:18-20 says: “Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” Our task is to tell others to be ready for the coming of Christ. Our task is not to sort out all the miniscule details of the second coming of Jesus. Our task is to be ready and to tell others how they can be ready too.
I think this has two practical implications for our ministry. One, it reminds us of the focus. The focus is not on all the details we tend to get caught up in. The focus is on completing the task, on doing our part to make sure that every tribe and tongue and people and language has a chance to stand before the throne of God. We MUST tell others about him. Knowing that the day is drawing near and that at the same time no one knows exactly the hour that Jesus will return should put a sense of urgency in our steps as we take the gospel to the nations. May a day not pass by without my doing something (praying, sharing, etc.) to tell those who have never heard of Jesus how they can be ready for his return.
Second, I think that this ought to remove barriers to working and partnering with Christians who hold to a different eschatological timeline than we do. Or, for that matter, a million other miniscule details that we tend to fight over in and between our churches. Maybe I’m wrong on this, and someone who has studied this more than me is welcome to correct me if I am wrong, but I feel that the exact details of the end of the age are not what is the most important here, and really should not have much of a bearing on our ministry. I believe that what matters is that Jesus is coming back, we must be ready, and we have been charged with urging others to be ready as well.
May we not lose our focus. Are you ready? Are those around you ready?