Christians can and must make a difference in the culture. But we never impose, we only propose. Here\u2019s a point or two of clarification.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk about Christians restoring the culture,\u201d I\u2019m sometimes asked, \u201cdo you mean that we should take over the laws and run society? Because, you know, that\u2019s been tried before, and it didn\u2019t go so well.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can understand the confusion. One source of the confusion is that there are some Christians who do propose something like this. Some of them are following the theological ideas of R. J. Rushdoony, who is considered to be a founder of what is known as Christian reconstructionism. Others just use language like \u201ctaking back America\u201d or \u201cconquering the seven mountains of culture.\u201d They seem to imply a sort of Christian takeover of the key segments of culture.<\/p>\n
Another source for the confusion is eschatology, or competing visions about the end times. And yet another source would be mainstream media outlets, particularly those on the far left, who are constantly worrying about Christians conspiring to impose a theocracy \u2014 typically through a candidate they do not like. (I only wish they had more trouble finding sound bites to support their conspiracy theories).<\/p>\n
Like I said, I understand where this confusion comes from. But I\u2019d like to offer what I think Chuck Colson meant when he called for Christians to make a difference in the culture.<\/p>\n
The Gospel, as described in the Holy Scriptures, can be said to have four chapters: creation, fall, redemption and restoration. It\u2019s easy to get the impression from how Christians talk about the Gospel that it only has two chapters: fall and redemption, or sinner and salvation.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s important to include the first and fourth chapters for a number of reasons. Most important because they\u2019re there in the Scripture. The Bible begins by describing in great detail what God intended for His creation \u2014 for the world He created and for the image bearers He created to take care of it. In fact, it\u2019s the brilliance (or to use biblical language, \u201cthe very goodness\u201d) of God\u2019s creation that makes the fall such a tragedy.<\/p>\n
God loved His world, and especially His image bearers, so much that He set in place His plan to redeem through His Son what was fallen. That redemption was accomplished when He defeated sin and death and rose from the grave.<\/p>\n
But even that isn\u2019t the end of the story. In fact, in his sermon in Jerusalem after receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter preaches not only that Christ had risen from the dead but that He had ascended to take His seat at God\u2019s right hand, who had put everything under His feet. In other words, Christ\u2019s resurrection led to Christ\u2019s enthronement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHa!\u201d you say. \u201cSee \u2014 that sounds like you think Christ is King of everything and that we ought to force everyone to think like you do.\u201d Well, yes, Christ is King of everything. But no, Christ\u2019s Kingdom advances now not by force, but by love.<\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s rule will fully be recognized when He, as the apostle John quoted Jesus as saying, \u201cmakes all things new.\u201d Jesus will make a new creation, culminating in a new heaven and new earth. That\u2019s how the story ends \u2014 and it\u2019s brilliant. In fact, don\u2019t take my word for it, do a study comparing Genesis 1-11 with Revelation 7-21 and read for yourself how the Kingdom is ultimately the restoration of God\u2019s creation. It\u2019s incredible!<\/p>\n
Now what\u2019s this have to do with us? Well, we live in this story, and our moment is between redemption and restoration. And Paul describes that in 2 Corinthians 5, that those of us who have been reconciled ought to become those who reconcile. We participate in God\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
And we do it like our Savior did, through love, through sacrifice, through making wrongs right, through pointing people to the One who makes them right with their Creator, who is their Creator.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Copyright (c) 2016 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. \u201cBreakPoint\u201d is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christians can and must make a difference in the culture. But we never impose, we only propose. Here\u2019s a point or two of clarification. \u201cWhen you talk about Christians restoring the culture,\u201d I\u2019m sometimes asked, \u201cdo you mean that we should take over the laws and run society? Because, you know, that\u2019s been tried before, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2382,2590,2591,2588,2587,2589,779,798],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}