Kingdom Work In the Here and Now

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20).

Now then, we are ambassador's for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

The other week I blogged about the futility of politics. Even the best human political system will fail to set human nature aright. Only Jesus Christ can set humanity aright. But I want to make it clear that this is not an apathetic stance to take. I do not believe in standing idly by while evil prevails. I simply reject politics as the answer to the problem. Politics is not the answer to the problem of fallen humanity's sin and depravity.

At best, even a seemingly good political movement can be nothing more than a temporary and cosmetic treatment for the real ongoing condition sin in human hearts as we draw ever closer to the necessary day of God's judgment. The Great Commission that Jesus Christ gave us, His followers, is the most important work with which we must be busy. That is the Kingdom work that we are assigned to do here and now in this world. 

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen'" (Matthew 28:18-20).

Evangelism and discipleship: that's where it's at. Kingdom work is not about political campaigns. It's not about protest demonstrations on the steps of some capitol building or courthouse. Nor is it even about voting or legislating. Our King, Jesus Christ has commanded us to evangelize and disciple people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

It is necessary for God, in due time, to pour out His righteous judgment on all the wicked who refuse to turn away from sin and be reconciled with Him. But in the meantime we must be about our Father's business. We must be doing the work of evangelizing the people of the earth; and like student-teachers, teaching them to be Christ's disciples. 

We are to be going around and telling people that they are sinners and that they need Jesus to save them from their sin. We must be teaching people, by word and example, to turn away from sin and turn toward Jesus Christ to practice holiness and righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is the work of the Church; not the government of any worldly empire, nation, state, or city. This is the work of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is our Father's business, about which we must be. This is the responsibility of every believer in His salvation by grace through faith in Him who died for our sin and rose victoriously over death.   

A Natural Mystic

"Many more will have to die

Many more will have to cry - Don't ask me why

I say things are not the way they used to be - Don't tell no lie

One and all have got to face reality now

Though I try to find the answer

To all the questions that they ask" Bob Marley; Natural Mystic

Disclaimer

I have thought twice about whether or not I should write a post based on a Bob Marley song, since this is a blog about Christian theology. I'm not a Rastafarian, as Bob Marley was. Rastafari is a false-gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). 

Not that I would exalt myself over anyone. I know that I am a sinner and that I am only saved by God's grace.

But Haile Selassie was not a reincarnation of Jesus the Messiah, or God the Father, as Rastafarians believe he was. In fact he personally denied being the reincarnation of Jesus the Messiah, or God the Father. 

Jesus Himself warned that false-prophets and false-messiahs would come, and that we must not believe in them (Matthew 24:4-5, 23-25).

However, even the apostle Paul sometimes quoted pagan poets and philosophers to make a point (see Acts 17:28, 1st Corinthians 15:33). And many of Bob Marley's lyrics are based on the Scriptures. So I enjoy his music while being careful to discern biblical truth from unbiblical falsehood.

I like reggae music and I have a lot of Bob Marley's material in my collection. And I also enjoy listening to Christafari and other artists who play reggae music with a strong emphasis on biblical, non-Rastafarian theology.

Body

Recently, Natural Mystic came up on my mp3 player as I had it on shuffle. In the song, Bob Marley describes the brokenness and injustice of this world in contrast to "the way [things] used to be". We do live in a world of suffering, and death, and violence. We live in a world that is broken by the curse of sin.

According to the evolutionary worldview, however, things are precisely the way they have always been. According to the evolutionary doctrine of uniformity, the world has always been undergoing the same processes at the same rates as it is at present. 

According to evolutionary philosophy, there never was a perfect world in the beginning; from which humanity has fallen away, and to which Christ has come to restore us. For as long as life has existed, there has always been suffering, disease, and brokenness - for as long as the universe has existed - from the very beginning. 

If the sedimentary rock layers of the geological column were laid down slowly over billions of years of evolutionary history, than the fossil record is indeed a record of suffering, disease, and death from the very beginning; with no such cause as the curse of sin. There are fossil evidence of animals having cancer and other terrible ailments; as well as ferocious predatory carnivorousness.

"Though I try to find the answer to all the questions that they ask"

The theistic evolutionist is at a remarkable disadvantage when it comes to answering the question of why there is suffering, disease, and death in the first place. If theistic evolution were true, than God created the world broken and cursed from the very beginning, because He likes it that way - BROKEN!

In his book, Contact, Carl Sagans attributed his rejection of God to this: that in his view, if God exists He created a broken world. Richard Dawkins has also attributed his atheistic beliefs to his "understanding of evolution".

But Sagans was wrong. And Dawkins is wrong. God's word is Truth (John 17:17). And Bob Marley was at least right about this one thing: 

"Things are not the way they used to be - Don't tell no lie

One and all have got to face reality now"

In truth, God created a perfect world in the beginning. He did not create a sin-cursed, rebellious, violent, sorrow-pierced, broken world. 

The world became the way it is because of the decision made by Adam and Eve, using their free-will to disobey God. The gospel is predicated on this.

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned...For if by one man's offence many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:12, 15).  

This does not mean that every time something bad happens to an individual, that that particular person is being punished for a specific sin. But what it does mean is that the reason suffering, disease, and death even exist in the first place is because of sin. 

And as unpleasant as we may find it, we are all inheritors by birth, of a fallen human nature. As the Scriptures attest:

"Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5).

As for the geological column, which is mentioned above: These sedimentary layers were laid down swiftly during the Flood, burying the creatures that have since become fossilized. They are a record of God's judgment on sin. 

All the great fountains of the deep were broken up (Genesis 7:11), and the rain fell for forty days. And the water covered the earth for a year. Most of the world's current mountains are made of sedimentary rock layers which were laid down by the Flood; and have been pushed up and bent by tectonic activity, which was first caused by the breaking up of all the great fountains of the deep.

Check out the linked sites below to read material written by trained scientists who affirm biblical creation.
www.answersingenesis.org
www.icr.org