I believe that God plans for His kingdom to advance in the world. One petition Christ taught His disciples to pray was “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt. 6:10) Since this is a request Jesus taught His disciples to pray, we can expect God’s kingdom to increasingly come on earth. This means Christians grow in their knowledge of God’s word and its application to all of life. Also, many non-Christians will be saved.

In recent articles we have briefly commented on the expected growth of Christianity and also how we as Christians can easily attempt to promote the Gospel in wrong ways. In this article I want to examine a couple of often overlooked ways to advance Christianity. I believe these were points the disciples repeatedly failed to grasp. It is not surprising that they can be hard for us to handle.

Repeatedly, Jesus emphasized the importance of servanthood. He left heaven and came down to earth to save sinners (Phil 2). On earth the incarnate Son of God learned obedience (Heb 5:8). He went about doing much good in the face of much mockery and great enmity. Shortly before His betrayal, He bent down and washed His disciples’ feet. In doing so, He reminded them that the servant is not greater than his master. The crowning point of His servanthood was his willingness to be crucified. There He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (II Cor. 5:22)

His death was a tremendous application of the principle of servanthood and kingdom advancement. Without Christ’s atoning death not one of us could enter the Kingdom. We would have no hope in working to take dominion of our mouth, take captive our thoughts, or to exercise godly rule of creation.

In the midst of these servanthood lessons, the disciples were often arguing about who among them would be the greatest (Lk. 22:24). Which of them would sit on Jesus’ right hand and on His left? (Lk. 20:21) Instead of seeking to advance the Lord’s Kingdom they were often seeking to advance themselves.

Perhaps their behavior illustrates the reason servanthood is so difficult. To serve others we often put ourselves in vulnerable positions. We host others in our home and risk dinnerware being broken. We house foster children and risk the loss of time spent on ourselves. We spend time to cook food for new neighbors and may never get a “thank you”. We may serve in any number of background positions in our local church and never receive any honors for so doing. In many churches, people do not line up to help clean up after a church social function.

Servanthood is not popular because many would rather be served than serve. We forget the servanthood of Christ. We forget this is often God’s way for kingdom advancement. We can honor God as we exercise service in a right attitude. By this, I mean that we view ourselves as serving the Lord in our actions.  We also show our love for the Lord, the great suffering Servant, who has served His people in so many ways. We are not greater than He is.

Increasingly we are living in an era when talk about Christianity is receding.  Opportunities can open up for evangelism as we serve others. There will be those who ask, “Why are you helping me?” What an opportunity to speak of Christ’s great love for us.

A second unexpected exercise of Gospel advancement is loving our enemies as Jesus commanded (Mt. 5:44) Jesus lived this out to the utmost. Paul points out in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Who would know this fact better than Paul? Paul was a great enemy of the Gospel. As he admitted, “I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” (Acts 26:9)  God saved him as he was on the road to Damascus to find and persecute more Christians. We, too, were enemies of God. God sent His Son to live and die as a substitute for us. The triune God knows perfectly the practice of loving one’s enemies.

How can we do this?  How often do we pray for our enemies? It is much easier to talk to others about them or to mull over how we can get revenge. Christ prayed on the cross for those who had put Him there (Lk. 23:34). I believe the Father answered this prayer with a resounding “Yes” on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) As we pray for our enemies we can include a request for wisdom in how to minister to them. Such activity may include a kind act or initiating conversation. It can include an expectation to look to God to bring a change in their lives rather than our trying to bring such change ourselves. In ministering in these and other ways, we reflect Christ who loved His enemies.

This activity involves the fruit of the Spirit. It takes great grace to live out the love. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. It shows God’s dominion in our life. God so often works in these silent, behind the scenes ways to exercise His dominion in the lives of others. His ways are not always our ways.

Servanthood and the love our enemies are unorthodox means of dominion. In practicing these, we do not get glory. The results of our actions can bring great glory to God and advance His Kingdom. Isn’t that what we want anyway?

©2008 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia