Simply Jesus - Chapter 15 "Jesus, the Ruler of the World"

We've come to the final chapter of this beautiful book about Jesus: Simply Jesus, Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters. Drawing from the material presented in the previous chapters, N.T. Wright concludes his book in chapter 15 by answering questions such as, "What on earth does it mean today to say that Jesus is king, that he is Lord of the world?...What is he doing in the midst of the dangerous clash of the new secularisms and the new fundamentalisms?..."

The author suggests that there are four typical responses among Christians to what all of this means:
1)  It's about a private spiritual experience having nothing to do with the real and public world.
2)  Jesus will be Lord one day but He's not really Lord yet.
3)  Jesus is now in charge of the world and we need to see how God is working in the world (through social movements) and join in on such movements. (This response tends towards "pantheism", seeing God and the world collapsing into one another.)
4)  Jesus is now in charge but what is needed is a fresh word from God and to be fortified against all human powers and idolatries. (This response tends towards "dualism", seeing God and the world divided by a great gulf.)
In both the third and fourth responses, Jesus' present lordship is recognized but there is disagreement about how His lordship is to be worked out in the world today.

Wright emphasizes that "when we think about God's kingdom in the present and the future, we must always be clear that the ultimate triumph is God's work and God's alone..."  Only God builds God's kingdom. However, we are called to work and build for His kingdom and what we do counts for the future eternal structure even though we can't see how right now.

The following are some highlights from the chapter:

• As he originally intended, God does His work through people, the church, but the church is not supposed to be a society of perfect people doing great work. "It's a society of forgiven sinners repaying their unpayable debt of love by working for Jesus's kingdom in every way that they can..."
• One way that Jesus exercises His lordship today is through His strange and often secret sovereignty over the nations and rulers of the earth. He does this in the following ways: 1) God's plan to operate through humans applies here as much as elsewhere, and if a ruler is not God-fearing, it does not mean that they are not performing a task God wants performed;  2) even when a ruler may be wicked, God can bend their thinking and imaginings to serve His purpose;  3) God will call the nations to account; this will happen eventually when the Messiah returns to complete what He has started, but in the present world, one of the church's primary roles is to hold the world to account.
• The church's task to hold the world to account is not primarily through political means, as Christians in modern western democracies have tended to think. The church "must weigh it (whatever the government does), sift it, hold it to account, affirm what can be affirmed, point out things that are lacking or not quite in focus, critique what needs critiquing, and denounce what needs denouncing...in the early centuries of church history, the Christian bishops gained a reputation of being the champions of the poor. They spoke up for their rights; they spoke out against those who would abuse and ill-treat them..."
• The church has allowed the government to do what is primarily our assignment, and that is to care for the disenfranchised and the poor. 

In summing up the chapter and book, Wright says that through His life and death and resurrection and ascension, Jesus is King of the world now; heaven and earth have joined in Christ Jesus and in those in whom He dwells. The full manifestation of this will come when He returns to earth again one day. Meanwhile, He has called His people to walk out this joining of heaven and earth by walking as He did: first in holding the powers and authorities of the universe accountable as subject to Jesus, and second by doing the "millions of things that the church should be getting into that the rulers of the world either don't bother about or don't have the resources to support..." And we do these things in the context of prayer and worship, claiming the victory He has won.

I'll end with some of Wright's final words: "The poor in spirit will be making the kingdom of heaven happen. The meek will be taking over the earth, so gently that the powerful won't notice until it's too late. The peacemakers will be putting the arms manufacturers out of business. Those who are hungry and thirsty for God's justice will be analyzing government policy and legal rulings and speaking up on behalf of those at the bottom of the pile. The merciful will be surprising everybody by showing that there is a different way to do human relations other than being judgmental and eager to put everyone else down. 'You are the light of the world,' said Jesus. 'You are the salt of the earth.' He was announcing a program yet to be completed. he was inviting his hearers, then and now, to join him in making it happen. This is, quite simply, what it looks like when Jesus is enthroned."