THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Way’s emphasis on the Kingdom of God has implications for the whole storyline of the Bible. Here’s a quick rundown of that storyline:

CREATION

As Creator of all, God is King over all. God made humans in His image to have a loving relationship with Him and a caretaking relationship with the world and each other. God appointed humans as His royal representatives to be agents of His reign over creation on His behalf. In the Beginning, Heaven and Earth were united in fellowship and love.

REBELLION

The rebellion against God’s Kingdom rule that began in Heaven comes to Earth through Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve. As God’s delegated rulers of creation, when Adam and Eve fell for Satan’s lie and disobeyed God’s will, they gave the authority and dominion of the Earth to Satan. In fact, not only did they, but the whole world became captives of Satan’s kingdom. All creation now groans under the curse of Adam and Eve’s sin. As a consequence of their revolt, Adam and Eve were banished from God's presence, leading to their deaths and the separation of Heaven and Earth.

RESCUE

1. ISRAEL

On the day of the Earthly Revolt in the Garden of Eden, God graciously promised He would defeat Satan through one of Eve's descendants. The nation of Israel was birthed to bring forth this Descendant and Rescuer (aka the Jewish Messiah) who would reestablish God's Kingdom on Earth. The covenants (Kingdom contracts with Abraham, Moses and David), the law, the tabernacle (temple), the priesthood, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the feasts, the kings and the prophets all point to and prepare for the coming of this Rescuer King. Though God had blessed Israel to bless the world, they didn’t keep covenant with God and couldn’t be rescuers of the world.

2. JESUS

Birth - Jesus’ birth is the story of the rightful King’s invasion into enemy-occupied territory and the initiation of the restoration of God’s Kingdom on Earth. Amazingly, God sent His OWN Son to rescue us! In Jesus, Heaven comes down to Earth. Jesus is also God’s YES to all of His Old Testament promises. Therefore, Jesus comes as Eve’s Descendant, Abraham’s Blessing, the New Moses and King David’s Son.

Ministry - Having been filled with the Holy Spirit and affirmed by His Father, Jesus was tested by Satan in the wilderness. By resisting Satan’s temptation, Jesus is our New Adam who obeys and the True Israel who keeps covenant. Jesus’ teachings, healings, miracles and deliverances are power encounters attacking Satan’s kingdom. Through His perfect obedience to God’s law and His Father’s will, Jesus was qualified to be our substitute and the sacrifice for our sin. Jesus took personal responsibility for both our obedience to God’s law by living the life we should have and our disobedience of God’s law by dying the death we would have. Simply put, Jesus took our place as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Death, Resurrection & Ascension - What seemed to be the greatest Kingdom defeat—the King’s death on the cross—is revealed as the greatest Kingdom victory because the King came back to life. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinners are forgiven, rebels are reconciled with God and captives are set free from Satan’s kingdom. Having accomplished the Victory, Jesus ascends back to Heaven with all authority in Heaven and on Earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. The Lamb who was slain is also the Lion of Judah.

3. CHURCH

The Gift of the Spirit - The Spirit was given to the church to empower God’s people to carry on Jesus’ ministry of setting captives free from Satan’s kingdom. Through the Spirit, the church bears witness to the forgiveness and life of God’s Kingdom to the whole world. Through the Spirit, Heaven continues to come down to Earth through the presence and ministry of God's people. Through the Spirit, every Christian becomes a Kingdom Ambassador (a little “Jesus"), carrying His Kingdom authority into every sphere of life. We are blessed to be a blessing.

The Christian Life - When we repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we are given the righteousness of Jesus. We are rescued from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Light. We are reborn as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Christian life is learning to live like Jesus by assimilating the values, priorities and mission of this new Kingdom in a world that is still captive to the kingdom of Satan. This is why the Christian life is one of both abundant life and intense spiritual warfare.

RE-CREATION

God’s Kingdom has been reestablished on Earth by the ministry of Jesus and now by the ministry of the Spirit through the church. The kingdom of Satan, however, continues to have influence on the Earth. This influence will be completely broken when Jesus returns in glory and restores the Kingdom of God to Earth in all its fullness and perfection. All rebellion against God will be judged and punished and all loyal trust in Jesus will be acknowledged and rewarded. Then Heaven and Earth will be re-created and re-united in fellowship and love forever.

This is a synopsis of TheVineyard Statement of Faith and is covered in Follow The Way’s FAITH. For a brief summary of the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ see 2Kingdoms.org.

This is from The Vineyard Statement of Faith …

THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost in power, baptizing believers into the Body of Christ and releasing the gifts of the Spirit to them. The Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the Church, gifting us for ministry, and driving back the kingdom of Satan by the evangelization of the world through proclaiming the word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus.

We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide. We believe in the filling or empowering of the Holy Spirit, often a conscious experience, for ministry today. We believe in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all of the biblical gifts of the Spirit. We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit, for healing, and for recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the Church.

The Vineyard teaches that all believers receive the Holy Spirit at conversion. Either at conversion or subsequent to conversion, believers will experience and are encouraged to ask for the empowering or filling of the Holy Spirit for ministry. This empowering and filling is not meant to be a one time experience, but an ongoing relationship of dependency on the Spirit’s presence and power. The Vineyard encourages all believers to continually seek the Spirit’s filling and take risks of faith expecting the Spirit’s empowering. Some call this empowering the baptism of the Holy Spirit, while others call it the filling of the Holy Spirit. Whatever it’s called, we are to continually seek it. That’s because there’s always more to us that He can fill and more of Him that He can fill us with. As Jesus encourages—How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13) and Paul commands—Keep on being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Who can’t grow in their relationship with the Holy Spirit?

The Vineyard believes that all the spiritual gifts are available and valuable for today. The gift of tongues is NOT consider THE gift that marks the Spirit-filled Christian. Instead, the Spirit-filled Christian is to be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, especially love, and any gift that the Spirit determines to give.

It’s helpful to see how the New Testament uses prepositions in reference to the Holy Spirit. The preposition IN is used to describe the indwelling presence of the Spirit IN the believer (see Ezekiel 36:26-27, John 7:36-39, 14:15-17, 20:19-21, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22). The preposition ON is used to describe the initial and ongoing empowering of the Spirit ON the believer (see Acts 1:8, 2:17-18, 4:8, 4:31, 11:15-16). We are called to mature in our relationship to the Holy Spirit—both the IN and ON. For example, the fruit of the Spirit, then, continually grow withIN us and the power of the Spirit, including His gifts, repeatedly works upON us.

The Way believes that God’s healing power is still available today and that healing prayer is an important part of the ministry of the church. This is from WHAT IS THE KINGDOM? A Vineyard Perspective on the Kingdom of God …

The Kingdom Not Yet

While the kingdom of God was breaking into the world through Jesus, all human suffering, pain, and difficulty did not disappear. In fact, it still remains with us to this day. For Jesus, while the kingdom of God was happening in the present, it was also yet to come in all its fullness in the future.

Through Jesus, God had inaugurated the kingdom on earth, but he would consummate it one day in the future. In practical terms, this means that when we pray for the sick (a hallmark of the Vineyard from the beginning), some will be healed and others will not. Yet, with faith, we pray confidently for healing and entrust the results to God.

The Dynamic Tension We Live In

In the Vineyard, we embrace this dynamic tension. While we believe that God’s kingdom can invade any moment of our lives, not everyone will experience God’s love the way we want for them. We rejoice when one person experiences a miracle of healing, while we grieve as another person succumbs to the effects of cancer or poverty.

Some Christians respond to this tension between the now and the not yet of the kingdom by saying that God does not do miracles today. They contend that the gifts given by the Spirit of God were just for Jesus’ time and are not available to us now.

Some Christians respond to this tension by largely ignoring the reality that suffering continues in the world. These groups triumphantly declare that the kingdom should always be experienced demonstrably in the here and now—or something is wrong. If we don’t experience a moment of physical healing or personal transformation, it is probably our fault. For them, unanswered prayer reveals a lack of faith in us—and we had better work up more if want to see God do what he has promised to do.

How We Carry This Tension In The Vineyard

In the Vineyard, we choose to respectfully step away from both of these extremes. We believe that a necessary tension will always exist between the now and the not yet of the kingdom. We pray for the sick, and we have seen many healed. We do the work of compassion, and we have seen the poor restored to hope. But we do not always see the results we want to see this side of heaven. Yet we believe that every faith-filled act of prayer puts a deposit of love in to the person who is suffering. And we have testimonies from every corner of the earth that, at times, the kingdom of God does break through with power to heal those who are sick.

As we live in this interim time, the kingdom of God to come is our future hope. It is a day when the Scriptures tell us that “all things will be made new” (Rev. 21:5) and every tear will be wiped away from the face of the brokenhearted (Rev. 21:4). It is the day Isaiah prophesied would come (Is. 35:1-10), and John describes in his vision in Revelation 21:1-5. There will be no more innocent girls enslaved in the sex trafficking industry. There will be no more cancer. There will be an end to poverty. God will one day right this world.

Toward that day, we trust, we hope, and we pray in the way Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

In summary, you could think of it in this way. Just as you have two feet and two legs to stand on, so we stand on both The Already and The Not Yet of God’s Kingdom. This keeps us balanced. However, as we stand on both legs, let’s lean toward The Already of God’s Kingdom. Let’s boldly pray and believe and hope for God’s Kingdom to come to earth now. Let’s lean, but not fall over. As we lean into The Already, let’s remain aware—sometimes painfully aware—of The Not Yet. We’re not in heaven yet, but we still pray that heaven will increasingly come to earth in our lives and through our ministry.

The bottomline, of course, is obedience. Jesus calls us to join Him in His Kingdom ministry of compassion to others. So let’s ultimately lean into obedience and GO pray for others in Jesus’ name.

As Robby Dawkins says:

The fullness of the Kingdom is yet to come, but there’s a level of the Kingdom we aren’t experiencing now because we’re not GOING (DO WHAT JESUS DID: A Real-Life Field Guide to Healing the Sick, Routing Demons and Changing Lives Forever, p. 206)

This is from The Vineyard Statement of Faith …

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT

We believe that God's kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible and triumphant appearing of Christ; His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final Judgment and the eternal blessing of the righteous and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked. Finally, God will be all in all and His kingdom, His rule and reign, will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshipped.

The Vineyard’s emphasis on the already, but not yet of the Kingdom of God has implications for our view of the End Times. Without getting into all the intricate details of the eschatology (the study of the End Times), this means the Vineyard leans toward Classic Premillennialism and A-millennialism because these views embrace the already, but not yet of the Kingdom. The Vineyard, therefore, leans away from Postmillennialism and Dispensational Premillennialism because these views reject the already, but not yet of the Kingdom.

Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV)

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

This vision of God’s Kingdom diversity in heaven is our prayer and passion. But we don’t want to wait until Glory to experience it. We long to create it already and increasingly here on earth. Our hope is that The Way MicroChurches will prophetically reflect the diversity of God’s people in all their beautiful array. Our prayer is that we will be Kingdom outposts of God’s coming world in this world. May the world see in the spiritual families of our MicroChurches, brothers and sisters of all ethnicities, social classes, education levels and economic statuses living together in loving unity as the Body of Christ.

John 17:20-23 (NIV)

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

This is from the booklet entitled One in Christ: Men and Women Together in Ministry in the Vineyard …

We believe that God calls and gifts leaders within the church as He chooses and that this is not limited by gender, age, ethnicity, economic status, or any other human distinction (1 Cor. 12:11; Gal. 3:28). The role of the church community is to discern God’s gifting and calling for leadership and also to discern the maturity and character required for leadership (1 Tim. 3:1-13). In the Jesus-following community, leadership centers around serving the body of Christ in humility and self-sacrificial love (Matt. 20:25-28).

In the Vineyard, every area of leadership is open to both men and women who have the desire for humble service to the community of believers and whose God-given gifting and calling for leadership has been recognized and affirmed by the church community.

Women are serving in growing numbers as leaders in Vineyard churches. In some cases, women serve as the sole senior pastor of a church. In others, husbands and wives are teaming together to share the role of senior pastor. Women also serve as staff pastors, ministry leaders, volunteers, elders, small group leaders, and church board members. Women serve trans-locally as area and regional leaders who care for groups of pastors within our movement and as members of the executive team that makes up our National Board. There are no areas of ministry or levels of leadership closed to women in the Vineyard.

In this booklet, we explore the Vineyard's commitment to gift-based leadership, how we've arrived at this commitment, and what it means for Vineyard men and women as we serve together in the church.

For The Way in particular, this means that women can serve as MicroChurch leaders and network elders and pastors.

Here’s a link to the whole booklet - One in Christ: Men and Women Together in Ministry in the Vineyard.

Here’s a link to Karl House’s Biblical Reflections on Women in Leadership.

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God and are normative in His creation order (Gen 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of God’s creation order.

We recognize that in very rare cases of intersex persons, one’s biological sex may differ from the normative binary division in the creation order. These persons retain the full image of God and are welcome into the Kingdom as disciples of the King (Matt 19:12).

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Gen 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10).

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11).

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31). Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of The Vineyard nor The Way. We will compassionately stand with those who struggle in these areas and are here to help all come under God’s Kingdom will and healing.

We believe that in order to preserve the ministry and integrity of The Way MicroChurches as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to our participants and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by The Way in any capacity, or who serve as leaders and volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality (Matt 5:16; Phil 2:14-16; 1 Thess 5:22).

This is from the Vineyard USA Executive Team …

Four central points anchoring Vineyard's response to the issue of homosexuality.

First, we must be committed to both mission and holiness. The message of the kingdom is a message of welcome. Anyone can come to the feast—Jesus himself was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. And at the same time, the message of the kingdom is repent, believe, and follow Jesus in every area of life. At times, it can feel as if these two principles are mutually exclusive. But we are convinced they are not. It is possible to offer the radical welcome of Jesus while calling people to high standards of discipleship.

Second, the Bible promotes, celebrates and affirms marriage as a covenantal union between a man and a woman. Marriage is not the highest purpose of humanity. The apostle Paul himself was single, as was Jesus. At the same time, it must be honored as a sign and gift from God.

Third, we believe that all humans are to be treated with kindness and compassion, as the image-bearers of God on earth. We are all sinful, and it is profoundly unbiblical to pick out one sin that is stigmatized above others. In the history of the church, homosexual persons experienced such sinful stigmatization. We repent and renounce this sort of sinful treatment.

Fourth, we believe that outside of the boundaries of marriage, the Bible calls for abstinence. We know that in our culture, premarital sex, along with many other forms of non-marital sex, has become normative. We want to lovingly help people of any sexual orientation to live up to this standard. We recognize that it can be a difficult journey, and there must be grace along the way. The powerful, beautiful gift of human sexuality must be stewarded with seriousness and compassion within our movement.

Here we can quote Paul’s direct, yet hopeful words from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

We also recommend for your consideration the Biblical and pastoral wisdom of the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality. Though written from a Reformed theological tradition, this Catechism offers a common and comprehensive Christian vision of sexuality and marriage.

A good book on this topic is Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry.

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life (Ps 139).

For those who have had or have participated in an abortion, we believe that God’s grace is offered not only to fully forgive, but to deeply heal. We are here to help any and all find God’s amazing grace.

All leaders of The Way have affirmed their commitment to The Vineyard Statement of Faith and these Theological Distinctives. These statements, however, do not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of humankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of The Way’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our lead network pastor and board of directors are our final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application. Please pray for them and be willing to submit to their leadership (Heb 13:17).