Discussion Questions

Dean Taylor argues that “there was nothing [Jesus] talked about more than the Kingdom”—more than “faith and heaven and hell all combined”; if that is true, what does it reveal about what God is most intent on doing in the world right now, and how does that re-order what many Christians treat as “the main message” of Christianity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus talked most about God’s Kingdom, what does that say God is mainly doing in the world right now? How should that change what many Christians think the “main message” of Christianity is?

In the 9 BC inscription about Caesar Augustus, imperial titles like “savior,” “god manifest,” and “beginning of the good news (evangeline)” are used; how does that background sharpen what early Christians meant when they confessed “Jesus is Lord,” and what modern “Caesar-like” loyalties might compete with that confession today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Since Caesar was called “savior,” “god,” and “good news,” how does that help us understand what Christians meant by saying “Jesus is Lord”? What “Caesar-like” loyalties today could compete with Jesus?

In Isaiah 1, God rejects sacrifices, Sabbaths, assemblies, and “many prayers” because “your hands are full of blood,” and then commands practical justice (relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow); what does this teach about God’s priorities and disgust, and how should it challenge churches that emphasize correct worship practices while minimizing tangible obedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why does God reject worship in Isaiah 1 when people are doing injustice? How should this challenge churches that focus on doing services “right” but don’t practice real obedience and justice?

Dean connects Isaiah 2’s vision (“beat their swords into plowshares…neither shall they learn war anymore”) to “what it’s like to be a Kingdom person in the New Covenant”; what assumptions about the “normal Christian life” have to change if that prophecy is treated as present Kingdom reality rather than only future hope? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Isaiah 2’s peace vision is meant to be lived now in the Kingdom, what would need to change about what we think is a “normal Christian life”? What habits or attitudes would have to shift?

Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in Luke 4 and says, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears”; what would it mean—practically and socially—for a congregation to treat Jesus’ Jubilee announcement (liberty, deliverance, good news to the poor) as fulfilled now, not merely inspirational language? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus’ Jubilee message in Luke 4 is fulfilled now, what should a church do in real life for the poor and oppressed? How would it change the church’s relationships in the community?

Dean says John 3 has been “tainted” by an “accept the Lord type of salvation,” and he emphasizes Jesus’ words: being born again is required to “see” and “enter” the Kingdom; how does that interpretation confront common evangelical ideas of assurance, conversion, and the relationship between grace and obedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If John 3 is mainly about being “born again” to enter God’s Kingdom, how does that challenge common ideas about conversion and being sure you’re saved? How does it change how we think about grace and obedience?

In Ezekiel 36, God says, “I do not this for your sakes… but for mine holy name’s sake,” and then promises to “cause you to walk in my statutes”; how does this God-centered motive for salvation confront a self-centered or therapeutic gospel, and what might need to die in us if salvation is mainly about God’s reputation? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If God saves mainly for his own name and reputation (Ezekiel 36), how does that challenge a “me-centered” gospel? What parts of our pride or self-focus would need to die?

Dean describes the church as an “embassy” of another Kingdom while “the old world is still existing”; where do you personally feel the strongest pressure to stop living like an embassy and start living like a citizen of the surrounding culture, and what would “seek first the Kingdom” require in that specific area? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you feel the strongest pressure to blend in with the culture instead of living like God’s “embassy”? What would it look like to “seek first the Kingdom” in that area?

Justin Martyr defends Christianity by describing a visible moral and communal transformation—former fornicators embracing chastity, former lovers of wealth sharing possessions, former enemies praying for enemies—and then he quotes Jesus’ commands on lust and divorce; if a skeptic interviewed you about Christianity, what concrete practices would you instinctively point to, and what does that reveal about your actual “definition” of Christianity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If a skeptic asked you what Christianity changes in real life, what specific practices would you point to first? What does your answer show about what you really think Christianity is?

Dean quotes early writers (Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athenagoras, Clement) to show Christians refusing war, refusing retaliation, offering the other cheek, even refusing to “keep count of injuries,” and Clement says a soldier must be rejected by the church; what makes these early Christian expectations feel extreme or “impractical” today, and what would have to change in our theology of discipleship for nonresistance to be treated as normal obedience rather than a specialized doctrine? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why do early Christian teachings about refusing violence and retaliation feel unrealistic today? What would need to change in how we think about discipleship for nonresistance to seem like normal obedience?