When Jesus launched his ministry, we read in Luke 4 that he quoted from Isaiah 61, “The spirit of the LORD is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor….” (NIV). In Matthew, the launch of his ministry was marked by a short quote from Isaiah 9. If you read both those passages in their full context, they describe the Kingdom God promised to establish on earth, and the nature and practices of that Kingdom. Justice, righteousness, and peace (shalom) would be the marks of the Kingdom – here on earth. In both gospels Jesus proceeded to demonstrate and teach about what this justice and righteousness looks like. Jesus taught us to pray for “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus, time and again described the Kingdom as something that would start small and grow throughout the earth until such a time the Kingdom would be fully restored.
My life was changed in 2005 when I read a very simple book, The little Book of Biblical Justice by Dr Chris Marshall, where he introduced me to the truth that justice and righteousness are an inseparable word pair, and that they are about being, doing, declaring and bringing about what is right. The lights went on for me because suddenly, righteousness was not just about my personal piety and standing with God, but about my full participation in extending his reign through restoring and healing the hurts of the world around me – right now – and drawing others into relationship with him so they could do that too.
Gushee and Stassen in their book, Kingdom Ethics, provide a focus and framework for our engagement with the world, what they call the seven marks of the reign of God as described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: deliverance for the oppressed, peace, justice, healing, inclusion in community, joy and God’s presence. Christ focused mission is about righteous engagement in our world, participating with Christ to live out and extend these ‘marks’ within our communities.
When we integrate these concepts into who we are and why we do what we do, we are off to the best start possible, because God’s promises are for those who seek his kingdom and his righteousness.
