Dallas Willard: Living Out the Kingdom

I wrote this article for the Trinity Digest, and it was published on October 29th, 2010.

Dallas Willard: Living out the Kingdom

University of Southern California Philosophy Professor Dallas Willard encouraged the Trinity International University community to seek the Kingdom of God through his chapel message and Scripture and Ministry Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 27.

Willard focused his chapel message on Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

In both his chapel message and scriptural lecture, Willard defined the Kingdom of God as “where what God wants done is done,” and “the range of God’s effective will.”

The two main places Willard said believers will see the kingdom is in Jesus, the primary manifestation of the Kingdom of God, His people, and in nature.

“It’s not a job to seek the Kingdom of God, but the greatest opportunity in human life,” Willard said.  

Willard reminded students that though believers are assured that if they seek the Kingdom of God they will find it, it is not as easy as one may think. Using the example of Nicodemus, Willard reminded the Trinity community that being able to see the kingdom is a gift of God, an experience that turns those seeking the kingdom from professors into students. 

Willard said Christians seek the Kingdom of God by learning to act in the name of Jesus and the power of God, acting on His behalf and with His resources.

“If it sounds dreary, that’s how badly we’ve missed the point. There is joy in seeking the kingdom,” Willard said.

Along with seeking the Kingdom of God through our actions, Willard encouraged students to seek the kingdom at the workplace by looking at work as a service to God and to others. Willard told students that work is essentially a process of creating value, and encouraged them to look at the implicit value in their jobs.  

To both students at chapel and those attending the lecture, Willard stressed the importance of realizing that Jesus Christ alone gives believers the capacity to change and seek the Kingdom of God instead of their own kingdom, or “queendom.” Willard said that kingdoms work by names, meaning that praying in the name of Jesus means praying on Christ’s behalf, from and within His resources.

“We don’t have to bear the burden of making change happen,” Willard reminded students. 

At the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding Scripture and Ministry Lecture, Willard focused on Romans 12:1-2 and the importance of renewing the mind. Willard said that the renewed mind conforms to the realities of the Kingdom of God, while the old mind conforms to the world.

“Spiritual transformation is the process of moving from conforming to the world to conforming to the Kingdom of God,” Willard said. 

Before going into philosophy, Willard was a Southern Baptist preacher. Willard said he realized his counsel towards converts was not helping them to change, but that philosophical ideas he had thought were merely “discarded thought”, could help people change if they were rightly used. Along with being a Philosophy professor, Willard is also a well-known speaker, and author of Renovation of the Heart, The Divine Conspiracy, and many more titles.