Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (KJV)
One thing that you will find with “kingdom thinkers” is that they are forward looking and are excited about the advancement of the cause of Christ in this world and to see His influence spread throughout cultures in every people group in the world.
They want to see how they can tear down the power of structures that the enemy has built over time. They will want to train leaders to infiltrate and influence every aspect of our culture: science, arts, media, education, economics and politics by training godly men and women.
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 is with our mind; that of being able to think through issues, ideologies, etc. with a Biblical mindset for the Biblical worldview.
A Biblical worldview is defined as a firm belief that absolute moral truths exist such as: the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ, God being all powerful and all knowing and is running the universe, that 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 everything we do in life.
This will affect our choices in lifestyle as well as our way of thinking. It will be seen in our views on family, 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: 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 hand-basket. 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.
One brother said in a message that we are faced with seven global challenges: orphans or children of the world, abused women, HIV/AIDs that have decimated whole populations, poverty, lack of water, the environment and protecting the unborn. He is right on. 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.
We read in the first chapter of Genesis that in six days God created everything and with the creation of man He turned over the task of cultivating what He created. This is called the “CULTURAL MANDATE” and it is as binding to us as the Lord’s “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, arts and especially the family.
Since God made the world He also put in place God-given norms that govern all that He has created that are both moral and physical. Just as we would not go against the physical laws (like gravity) so also we should not go against 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.”
In looking at 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/fallacy. This will be a real battle in the days ahead.