The Transience and Permanence of Christian Work

The Coming of the Kingdom

German theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg has this to say on the coming of God's Kingdom upon the earth.

Nevertheless . . . I shall not make the mistake of previous periods and think of the establishment of the Kingdom of God as something which could be brought about by human effort.  We must remain constantly aware that any "Christian" order we can create here and now is bound to be provisional.  This impermanence is a feature of all "good works", private as well as public.

That is what Christian humility is, a constant awareness of the distance between our own works and the glory of God.  An awareness of this distance, however, does not, when rightly understood, weaken our readiness to act.  On the contrary, the very realization of the distance between the promised future of the divine Kingdom of peace and the present state of the world can stimulate us to change the present.

The hope of God's promised Kingdom of peace can inspire our imagination and will to eradicate the most obvious faults of our world.  [Wolfhart Pannenberg, Faith and Reality (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1977), p. 109.]

An oft-repeated maxim is that "the (merely) good is always enemy of the best".
   When it comes to the Kingdom of God, however, and the unfolding of Christian eschatology, that familiar maxim needs a quick trip to the rubbish bin.  In the economy of God's Kingdom, such a notion simply fails to compute.

Why?

Because of the following breathtaking pronouncement:

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.   Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’  [Matthew 25: 31-40]