Article by TM Moore: All Things New (Chuck Colson site)

Article by TM Moore: All Things New (Chuck Colson site)

Seeing the Kingdom (7)

And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all
things new."
--Revelation 21:5

The first Christians were described by their unbelieving neighbors as
turning the world upside-down (Acts 17:1-9). They did not adhere to the
accepted moral standards, low and loose as they had become. They scoffed
at the idea that the political powers of the day should have the last
word on all things true and proper. They exposed the lies in every pop
philosophy; liberated people from unjust practices; and established
marriages, families, and communities where self-denying love was the
order of the day.

Moreover, they brought pagan cultures to ruin and put in place ideas
about the nobility of work, the dignity of all human beings, and the joy
of moral purity that shamed the elites and powerful of their day. And
they took under their care discarded and dejected members of an uncaring
society, giving them new hope in a new Kingdom, a Kingdom of light and
power.

Everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ has spread, change has been the
order of the day. He Who insisted that He is making all things new has
kept His Word. In culture after culture, innovations that have ennobled
human beings, lent meaning and purpose to life, enhanced beauty and
goodness, improved productivity and civility, and created stable social
orders of law have come into being with the coming of the Kingdom of
God. We have only to trace the progress of the Gospel over the past
2,000 years to see the dramatic ways the Kingdom of God has impacted
people and cultures in every place.

Many of the benefits we take for granted today first appeared in history
through the work of Kingdom citizens doing Kingdom work within their own
peculiar spheres of influence. Christians created the first hospitals
and gave impetus to advances in health care. They dignified work for all
vocations, making of even the humblest endeavor an arena of service to
God.

Citizens of the Kingdom of God created universities, pioneered advances
in the arts and literature, codified civil law, improved the use of
machinery for productivity, advanced the cause of universal education,
developed the principles of democratic society, and laid the groundwork
for the scientific revolution. Christians have led the way in all manner
of charitable societies, and, still today, are the most generous
population in giving to meet the needs and relieve the suffering of
people all over the world.

Every Christian brings the Kingdom of God into every one of his or her
daily endeavors. Whether it is in our homes, our neighborhoods, at work,
in our communities, among our friends, or participating in cultural or
political life, Christians bring a perspective and a power to these
arenas which, when properly engaged, exert transforming effects.

Admittedly, in our day, there is not much evidence of the progress of
the Kingdom through the social and cultural endeavors of everyday
believers. Christians today are cowed by the culture into accepting a
form of Christianity that leaves well enough alone out in the world
while it is content to seek expression within the safe confines of
church and Christian friends. The churches don't offer much help in
overcoming this, for church leaders seem to understand but poorly the
expansive reach and power of the Kingdom of God, and few of them train
their members to live in a way that makes the invisible Kingdom visible.

We should pray and work and encourage one another to seek the Kingdom of
God truly, daily, and with a view to showing others the reality we have
come to know. The teaching of Scripture, the course of history, and the
power of the indwelling Spirit are on our side. All we have to do is
begin living by faith, from glory to glory, so that others may see the
reality of the Kingdom in our lives.