Looking back over the history of the expansion of the Kingdom of God 2000 years ago from that little obscure village in Israel, now we can see many challenges that the kingdom of God faced. Moving into the 21st century I would like to outline some of the things that we are now faced with and will be facing.
In Romans 12 we are told that we should “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” One of the main battles in the days ahead will be with the mind, being able to think through issues, ideologies, etc. with a Biblical mindset or Biblical worldview.
A Biblical worldview is defined as a firm belief that absolute moral truths exist: the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ, God is all powerful and all knowing and is still running the universe, Satan is real and that salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned. We, the church, have an obligation to live in the light of the revealed Word of God. The Word of God needs to be brought in to everything we do in life. This will affect our choices in life style as well as our way of thinking. It will be seen in our views on worship, family, business, morality, recreation, personal autonomy, personal possessions, etc. It will bring a complete re-working over of who we are and how we live and what we do.
A pastor remarked that the mission of the church is to prepare for Christ’s return in five ways. He went on to define these five ways: prayer, Bible study, fellowship, worship and evangelism. These five things are essential, but we can never overlook our responsibility to redeem our culture. God has not called us to let this world go to hell in a handbasket. Generally speaking we define our faith strictly in terms of personal salvation, instead we need to keep in mind that we are not only saved from SIN, but saved to the task of cultivating God’s creation.
We are not only saved from sin, but we are saved to tear down the structures of sin that have created these seven global challenges: orphans or children of the world, abused women, HIV/AIDs that have decimated whole populations, poverty, lack of water, environment and protecting the unborn.
We read in the first chapter of Genesis that in six days God created everything and in the creation of man turned over to us the task of cultivating what He created. This is called the “CULTURAL MANDATE” and is as binding on us as the “GREAT COMMISSION.”
Our faith must encompass every part of life, every sphere of work, every aspect of the world. It must be the lens on how we see reality. If God is sovereign over everything, as we confess He is, then everything finds its identity and meaning in relationship to Him not only in our spiritual life, but in our work, profession, politics, science, education, entertainment and the arts.
Since God made the world He has also put in place God-given norms that govern all that He has created – both morally and physically and just as we would not go against the physical laws (like gravity) so also with His moral laws. Like Chuck Colson said: “Moral laws tell us how to govern our behavior. Laws of logic tell us how to think clearly. Norms of justice tell us how to run a government. Aesthetic norms guide the creation of beauty and the arts. If we don’t know the norms God has ordained for every area of life, then we’re living blindly and are bound to make wrong choices – hurting ourselves and others. We’re like a person who walks into a room blindfolded and bumps his shins against the furniture.”
We need to be aware of truth and fallacy. Like A.W. Tozer said: “Truth and error travel the same highway.” In this world of moral ambiguity we need to be able to discern what is true and what is false. This will be a real battle in the days ahead.