Is the mission of the Church dealing with culture, or saving souls? We\u2019ll tackle this question head-on.<\/p>\n
Here at the Colson Center, you\u2019ll hear us repeat a saying that Chuck absolutely loved. In fact, I can think of no statement that better encapsulates what it means to develop and live within a Christian Worldview. It\u2019s from Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper: \u201cThere is not a single square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry out \u2018mine!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Timothy George of Beeson Divinity School believes Kuyper\u2019s words really do offer a summary of the biblical narrative of creation, fall, and redemption \u2014 and our responsibility as Christians in this world.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a misunderstanding of Kuyper that affects how people hear what we often say on BreakPoint and about worldview in general. In fact, I\u2019ve had people ask me: \u201cIsn\u2019t all this talk of \u2018cultural engagement\u2019 really just code for \u2018culture wars\u2019? Isn\u2019t it just another way of saying we want to impose our beliefs and values on other people?\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, after Warren Cole Smith and I released our new book, \u201cRestoring All Things\u201d this summer, we received a few comments accusing us of fifty-cent theological terms like \u201cdominionism\u201d and \u201creconstructionism.\u201d One person even remarked before he\u2019d even read the book that Warren and I were setting Christians up as \u201cuseful idiots for a one-world government.\u201d<\/p>\n
These kinds of reactions aren\u2019t all that rare when you start talking about worldview and cultural engagement. When Christians make universal truth claims, especially in this post-Obergefell climate [the Supreme Court decision that legalized homosexual marriage], many inside and outside the church react by telling us to mind our own business. Our job, they say, is to save souls, not restore the world. Or, they might say that the proper scope of God\u2019s concern is only the church, and not the culture.<\/p>\n
Look, our culture, its institutions, and many of our leaders may be in rebellion against Christ\u2019s rule right now, but He gets the final word \u2014 not presidents, not dictators, not Hollywood, not the news media, and certainly not the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
In Colossians, Paul calls Christ the One in Whom \u201call things hold together,\u201d and in 1 Corinthians says that through Christ, God is \u201creconciling all things to Himself.\u201d As Christians, we\u2019re part of that story, and it\u2019s a much bigger story than just the latest political movements or recent cultural trends.<\/p>\n
In other words, our work of restoration lies in the here and now because Christ has already overcome the world. Or as theologians like to say, the Kingdom of God is already here \u2014 just not yet.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, in the last public speech that Chuck gave, he urged his audience to remember that we never impose Christianity, we lovingly propose it as God\u2019s plan of restoration for all things. When Christ, Who is sovereign over all, cries out \u201cMine!\u201d He\u2019s not staking an idle claim. He has joined Himself with creation and human nature to enact restoration. And He\u2019s coming back one day to finish the job.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s the exciting part: in the meantime, you and I \u2014 His Body \u2014 get to participate in that work of restoration. Drawing lines around our churches and homes, and saying to our secular neighbors, \u201cYou stay on your side, we\u2019ll stay on ours,\u201d isn\u2019t just bad theology. It diminishes Christ\u2019s victory and ownership of all of creation.<\/p>\n
There is not one square inch of human existence outside of Jesus\u2019 jurisdiction because He has taken on human existence Himself to, as we read in Revelation, \u201cmake all things new.\u201d When our King returns, the \u201cnot yet\u201d will become the \u201calready,\u201d or as Sam Gamgee put it in one of my favorite lines from \u201cLord of the Rings,\u201d \u201ceverything sad [will] become untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n
So when we talk about Jesus crying out \u201cmine!\u201d even over our present culture, it\u2019s because the story found in the Bible is not just our story \u2014 it\u2019s everybody\u2019s story \u2014 it\u2019s the story of life itself; the story of reality.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Copyright (c) 2015 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. “BreakPoint” is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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