When Jesus discovered his first friends and followers along the shore, I doubt the five of them (Jesus, Peter, Andrew, John, and James) knew what they were beginning. What joys and sorrows were ahead of them. What miracles and horrors. What great number of disciples and deserters. What life and death waited for them. We know from history and hindsight the great movement they began, and how it has ruptured world orders every century since. On the shores of Galilee though, they were very likely in the dark as to what was to come. They were like seeds, yet to bust forth from soil. (Matthew 4:12-22)
Today, there are a lot of movements (or causes) to join. For the Christ follower, none is greater than the Kingdom-building work to which we are called by Jesus. Like the first four fishers of people, we are invited (in fact, all are invited) to follow our Lord and Savior in faith and do the same good-news works as they did.
Now, this does not mean we are all called to go and do the same thing. We are called to do good works of faith both collectively and individually. In the overarching sense, we all do the same work of building the Kingdom of God. On the person-by-person level, each of us has a unique calling from God, through the Holy Spirit, by faith in Jesus Christ. With these individual callings we are urged to join other meaningful movements and participate in other noble causes in our world, outside of just our standard “church congregational life” (which we should also try to maintain as good citizens of the Kingdom of God).
That being said, the “other” movements we are called to be a part of—be they political, societal, cultural, environmental, technological, etc.—must always somehow be rooted in the bigger Kingdom-building work that is at the core of the movement Jesus began. If our work does not find a place in that bigger mission, it is work being done extraneous of the Kingdom of God at the least, and antichrist in nature at its worst.
So how do we ensure that the movements we affiliate ourselves with are part of Kingdom-building work? The next part of Matthew’s gospel teaches us just how, with Jesus’ monumental Sermon on them Mountain. (Which I plan to reflect upon during this Lenten season ahead.) Before that though, the brief introduction to the initial works of Jesus gives us a basis for examining our behavior.
In Matthew 4:23-25, Jesus’ early ministry is described as one that revolves around proclaiming the Kingdom of God, teaching what that means, and welcoming and healing everyone regardless of their origin. These tenants remain throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry as told in the gospels and act as a guideline for us when examine causes we may want to stand for. Anything we do and any movement we join must have values of inclusion, hospitality, truth-seeking, and healing (in all meanings of the word). Our causes should be expansionist in the sense that they welcome and uplift all of humankind and creation (not in the sense of conquering or domineering, as many movements often do with varying shades of subtlety).
There are a great many movements that meet these basic criteria for the Christ follower, and there are equally (if not more) a great many that do not. May we have discernment and guidance from the Holy Spirit in our hearts and at our back, to know which movements we should partake in; and to not be fooled into joining those counter to Christ. May the causes we champion build the Kingdom of God here and now, and forever.
Relevant Reformation 