Scripture reveals a coherent vision of God’s story, which helps us to discern the path of a faithful response in our specific context. As with all stories, knowing how the biblical story begins and ends is critical to understanding the pivotal action in the middle. The story of God’s interaction with humanity starts in a Garden (Eden) and ends in a City (the new Jerusalem). The cross on the hill of Golgotha is the fulcrum in between.
In our story’s beginning, God delegates authority for the upkeep of the earthly kingdom to us, the creatures he has made to be most like Him. Under His sovereignty, humans are charged with the stewardship of every living thing: “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). This command, also called the Cultural Mandate, is an original blessing of God purposed for our good and the well-being of the garden-planet entrusted to our care. Here in Eden humans have communion with God, unity with one another, and peace in our environment. This is God’s design.
Our rebellion in the Garden and rejection of God’s will changes all this and results in a disintegrating rupture between heaven and earth, between the Creator and His image-bearing creatures, among humans, and between people and their environment. A rogue culture of pride and violence ensues and the heart of God grieves over the sinful darkness of the human heart.
The end of the story is pictured in the Scriptures as a joyful marriage feast of the One who dwells-once again, as He did in the Garden-with his image-bearing creatures. The wedding guests are gathered from all peoples of the world. And through their worshipful allegiance to Christ, the Lamb of God slain for the sin of the world, they are invited to reign forever as God’s children in a fully restored world. In the re-creation of heaven and earth under the Lordship of Christ, the breach of Eden is repaired and the malignancy of our sin is erased. Like a bride and groom, Christ and culture become one. This is our destiny.
Our future destiny has already begun to come forward into what the New Testament calls the “new creation” (Galatians 6:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ’s incarnation bridges the divide between heaven and earth. Like the travelers on the road to Emmaus when they encountered the risen Christ (Luke 24:32), our hearts burn within us and soften towards God when we encounter the truth of the Gospel. Once hard as stone and darkened by deceit, the heart yielded to Jesus is now “being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10). By faith, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we become part of God’s “new creation” and can begin to live according to the Creator’s design.
The announcement of this incredible news and the invitation to participate in this new life is called the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18): “Jesus came to them and said: ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations….’”
From the perspective of a biblical reading of history, the Great Commission is the answer to the problems surrounding our failure to follow through on the Cultural Mandate. Rather than treating the former as the spiritual means of saving souls and the latter as the material route of social engagement, a truly biblical vision integrates the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate into the total picture of God’s ultimate redemptive purposes for the whole of creation.
The implications of this vision for us here in Knoxville are enormous. Because the whole of creation is destined for renewal through God’s lavish restoration, the whole of creation merits our detailed attention today. God’s kingdom is not restricted to “spiritual” activity. The heavens are His throne and the earth is His footstool, and every aspect of His creation-secular as well as sacred-deserves the full force of our best work.
The more our developers, entrepreneurs, public servants and business leaders embrace wise stewardship and healthy community over self-interest, the more Knoxville can reflect the values of a God for whom matter matters and the redemption of all creation is the goal.
As fruit of the fulfillment of the Great Commission, the population of the heavenly city will include persons from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Because this is our future, our community life today must actively pursue reconciliation across our divisive distinctions. Rather than surrender to Knoxville’s sectionalism, God’s people are to be mobilized for the well-being of every person in every neighborhood in every corner of our city. Following Jesus’ example, the incarnation of God’s love in us will ceaselessly seek out those being excluded from the goodness of life intended by God at creation: the sick, the orphaned, the widowed, and the stranger in our community.
The beautiful thing to celebrate-and this is really what the Salt and Light guidebook is all about-is that there are many people in our city through whom God’s life is being expressed in just these ways. Rather than carrying forward old prejudices, new relationships are being forged across political, racial, economic, and social lines. In place of the old culture wars and turf battles, new alliances are being established through numerous kingdom-shaped cooperatives.
As God’s people in Knoxville live out the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission, they bring blessing to the city. Instead of arrogance and skeptical cynicism, God’s people are fostering faith in God. In place of fear and anxiety, God’s people are cultivating hope in God’s goodness. Where there is hatred and darkness, God’s people are confronting evil and embodying the love of God. Faith, hope and love thus become the coordinates of the compass by which we navigate our role in God’s story as culture-shapers and disciple-makers.
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.