At one point in my IT career, they took me off managing new projects and assigned me to improve the performance of a second level support team, the ones between the Help Desk and the actual developers.

I started by implementing a tracking system so we could measure our effectiveness. Then I had the team document solutions to common problems. I began doing a monthly analysis of what was costing us the most in support, then had the team suggest ways to fix the cause of the problems rather than just address symptoms. Finally we gave the Help Desk access to our documentation so they could solve common problems themselves.

When the team was functioning well, they put me back on new projects. I cleaned it up and handed it over. That all sounds kind of obvious and unremarkable, right? But notice that I had to “reign” until all the chaos was cleaned up. It was a process.

Reign and Hand Over

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. – 1 Co 15:24-25, quoting Psalm 110:1

This is perhaps the clearest commentary on why Psalm 110:1 is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament. Jesus is to reign until his enemies are destroyed, then hand the kingdom over to the Father.

Jesus as Mayor

Imagine Jesus becomes the mayor of your town, and he hired you to work for him.

Does that mean everything is perfect the next day? Only if Jesus takes the nuclear approach and immediately eradicates all his enemies. But he’s chosen the merciful way, giving people a chance to come in line with his vision for the community. So his rivals continue to operate, but they no longer have any authority.

Does that mean everything stays the same? No, he slowly influences people and policies until society is completely transformed under his leadership.

Does he just want things to go well for himself and his staff? No, the whole job is for the entire town to flourish.

Does that mean he primarily wants his workers to spend as much time just being in his presences as possible, one to one and in staff meetings? No, he wants us to go out in the same Spirit and help clean things up.

Jesus as King

Jesus became “Mayor” of this world two thousand years ago.

Bizarrely, we’ve concluded that means (matching the above points):

• Everything should be perfect, but…
• Nothing ever changes, so…
• We’ll just worry about ourselves, and….
• Avoid the messy world out there

But the drumbeat of Psalm 110:1 throughout the New Testament cuts through this perspective. The end doesn’t come by waiting, it comes when the job is finished and the kingdom is handed back to God.