On the Assembly

January 30, 2022

We’ve established that the kingdom of God is the reign of God. The kingdom of God is where/when what God wants to happen actually does happen. Because God’s purposes are cosmic (new heavens and new earth), God has a will for creation as well as individual humans. Thus to say the kingdom of God is a reign, is to imply is is also a realm, a place. But where is this place?

It’s not a nation or a landmass, an ethnic group or a geographic boundary, but it is embodied and can be recognized in a particular time and particular place. Or at least it should be. We should be able to look and say, “Ah, the kingdom of God is there!” That is not to limit the kingdom of God; it is to recognize that the kingdom must be embodied and lived out. What a wonderful concept! But where? Where is the kingdom of God?

If we think of the kingdom of God as something that begins with Jesus and grows from there, we get the impression that the kingdom is invading creation. Jesus is out healing people, casting out demons, and teaching about the kingdom, calling people to embrace the values of God’s kingdom. As people are healed, you see that God’s kingdom is a place of healing (picture the tree of life in Rev. 22.2, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations). As people live out the values of the kingdom, justice and righteousness, compassion and kindness, peace and humility, you see God’s kingdom as the place where righteousness can be at home (2Pet. 3.13). 

But again, it’s an invasion. Invasions don’t move directly from beginning to end—there’s ebb and flow. The invasion goes well for a while, and then slows to a crawl, picks up steam again, sputters, and so on. Nevertheless, because this is the invasion of the kingdom of God, the kingdom which will not be shaken, the invasion is never stopped. Rather, it is constantly flowing from Jesus outward. Great, but where do we see this happening?

There is one place we must see it happening. The point of invasion is precise and specific—the assembly. If the kingdom of God is clear in any one place, it must be clear when the people of God gather. Consider 1Cor. 11.17-34—the Corinthian church was doing more harm than good in gathering together, because when they took the Lord’s Supper together, they were not embodying the reconciling work of God. Or James 2.1-13, where James condemns practices of favoring the rich over the poor. For a positive example, look at the early church in Acts 2-3, where they live together and hold everything in common.

Paul does not take this issue lightly. For Paul in Gal. 2.11-14, when Peter is refusing to embody reconciliation in the assembly, he is denying the Gospel. The assembly is supposed to be the training ground, the place we learn how to embody the Gospel in the rest of our lives. If we aren’t practicing it in the assembly, why would we ever practice it elsewhere?

—John Coffey