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Podcast
Bringing In The Kingdom Of God Through Cultural Transformation
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt. I did a podcast on Christian cultural transformation movement, but today
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I'd like to focus on what the Bible says about bringing in the kingdom of God through cultural
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transformation. Theologically, today's Christian transformationalism is post-millennialism,
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the idea that Jesus will return after we establish his kingdom on earth. For example, it understands
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that the phrase in the Lord's Prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as
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it is in heaven, Matthew 6.10, is a directive for us to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
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Albert Wohler, professor of religion at Redeemer University College in Ancestor, Ontario, says
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this, quote, mankind, as God's representative on earth, carry on where God left off, leading
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to a new heaven and a new earth, close quote. But the phrase, your kingdom come, in Matthew
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6.10, in the Lord's Prayer, is something we ask God to do, not something he is asking
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us to do. God's kingdom is all about what God is doing, not what we're doing. For example,
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Jesus told Peter, I'll build my church in Matthew 16.18. Building his church is something
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he's doing, not something we're to do, or to attempt to do, to carry out where God left
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off. Our assignment is to make disciples of all nations, not to be kingdom builders.
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Consider the consequences of transformationalism in Christian missions. Now, please understand
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there are many excellent Christian missionary organizations that are using service to people
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as a platform for presenting the gospel. They can be very effective and have been used of
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God to build a church all over the world. But through the centuries, when the goal is
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the gospel, they go, therefore, to make disciples, be my witnesses, and trust these things to
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faithful men who can teach others also, then serve the people's physical needs, can be
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a tremendous help in opening the door for the gospel. But when mission takes on social
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issues themselves as the goal, they give up their unique impact. The whole world is full
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of groups trying to transform culture, Muslims, Hindus, liberals, conservatives, progressives,
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nationalist, globalists, nationalists, environmentalists, all of them want to transform the culture
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to fix the earth. Only the New Testament Ecclesia, the church, proclaimed the gospel of redemption
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from sin through the blood of Christ. When the church takes on the world's issues, it
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begins to look like the world. As McLean points out, quote, the identification of the
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kingdom with the church has led historically to ecclesiastical policies and programs which
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have been far removed from the original simplicity of the New Testament Ecclesia. Thus, the church
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loses its pilgrim character, and the sharp edge of its divinely commissioned witness
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is blunted. It becomes an ecclesia which is not only in the world, but of the world, close
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quote. What's generally happened most of the time as the church has increasingly focused
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itself on transforming the culture is not that the culture is transformed into biblical
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righteousness. Rather, it's the church that's usually transformed into the world's unrighteousness.
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Andy Crouch recently observed, quote, the rise of interest in cultural transformation
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has been accompanied by a rise in cultural transformation of a different sort, the transformation
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of the church into the world's culture, close quote. Let me ask you something. Did Jesus
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ever make anyone less poor? I can find no one who, because of their encounter with Jesus,
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became less poor. When Jesus healed the people, they were less sick with the idea that they
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stayed less sick. But when Jesus dealt with people concerning their material possessions,
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they did not get less poor. There are a few instances such as the one we call the rich
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young ruler where Jesus advised him to sell all your possessions and give to the poor.
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But that only would make the rich young ruler more poor and would only have given temporary
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relief to the poor. Relief efforts, though valuable, do nothing to change the culture
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of the poor. Jesus was himself materially poor. He said, the foxes have holes in the
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birds of the air of nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. He said,
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blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. When John the Baptist asked Jesus
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if he was indeed the Messiah, one of the evidences Jesus gave was that the poor have the gospel
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preached to them. He did not say, as John Stone Street, president of the Colson Center for
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Christian Worldview claims, abject poverty has been cut in half or even that the poor are less
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poor. When Jesus gave the account of the poor man and Lazarus, Lazarus remained poor until
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after his death. When Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus' feet with expensive
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perfume, Judas complained that this could help the poor. But Jesus said, you always have the
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poor with you. You do not always have me. Transformationalism, it seems, would have
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to agree with Judas rather than Jesus. Let me ask you another question. Did the
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apostles ever attempt to change the culture? I suggest that, as with Jesus, the New Testament
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gives us no example of the apostles involved in or suggesting any church be involved in
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changing the world's cultures. As Paul was awaiting execution in Rome, he told his disciple Timothy,
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the things which you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trustees to
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faithful men will be able to teach others also. Timothy's ministry was to be about discipling
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faithful men, not cultural change. Then Paul compared ministry to suffering the hardship
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of a soldier and added, no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of
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everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. This came from
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2 Timothy 2, 2-4. The ministry pattern that Paul left for Timothy to model was speaking
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out boldly for the resurrection of Christ in synagogues where there was one, a place
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of prayer besides the river in Philippi, at a place designated for public speaking in
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Athens, publicly and from house to house in Ephesus, and from his own rented quarters
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in Rome. He had not entangled himself in the social culture or political affairs of everyday
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life. For example, in Thessalonica, we read Paul went to them for three Sabbaths, reasoning
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for them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that Christ had to suffer
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and raise again from the dead, saying, this Jesus who I proclaim to you is the Christ.
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In Athens, Paul spoke of the true God, saying, he's fixed a day in which you will judge the
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world in righteousness through a man who is appointed, having finished proof to all men
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by raising him from the dead. In Rome, Paul was, quote, trying to persuade them concerning
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Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning to evening. That's from Acts
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28-23. The apostle Peter's message was to be born again to a living hope through the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostle John's message was, if we walk
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in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
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blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. At no time did the apostles Peter,
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Paul, or John say anything about a cultural mandate, redeeming the culture, restoring
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creation, fixing the planet, or initiating programs, quote, to impact the culture in
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ways consistent with Christian doctrine and piety, those quotes. Both the Greek and the
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Roman cultures were filled with slavery, idolatry, fornication, lying philosophers,
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corrupt politicians, but the apostles only reasoned from the scriptures about Jesus being
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the Christ. They taught the truth and combated false teaching in the churches, but never
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suggested they should ever attempt to influence the Greek or Roman culture. The apostles were
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indeed concerned and involved in helping other believers who were poor. Paul was sensitive
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to needy Christian widows in Ephesus, but he made no attempt to make the general Ephesian
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culture more sensitive to widows. He organized a gift to the church in Jerusalem because
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of a famine, but he made no attempt to impact, improve, or eradicate poverty in the city
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of Jerusalem. The apostles were sensitive to the poor people they encountered as they
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presented the gospel. For example, when Peter and John encountered a lame man begging for
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money at the beautiful gate of the temple, Peter said, I do not possess silver or gold,
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but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. Walk. When the
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leaders in Jerusalem sent Paul and Barnabas out to evangelize among the Gentiles, Paul
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reported, they only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.
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The Lord's half-brother James wrote, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our
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God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Notice James is
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talking about visiting orphans and widows, not changing the culture to help them. Of
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course, to visit includes the idea of personal financial care, but many orphans and widows
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would rather have a visit than a gift. And James addressed this to my brethren eight
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times. James never suggested any of his Christian brethren get involved in a cultural mandate
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of social justice, transformation, restoring creation, fixing the planet, initiating programs
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to impact the culture in ways consistent with Christian doctrine and piety.
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Knowing the culture can be valuable for communicating the gospel, but the Christian transformationalists
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have changed the focus of the gospel from the plan of salvation to redeeming the earth,
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and many of them believe this earth, not heaven, is our eternal home. But Hebrews 11,
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13 tells us the Old Testament saints were strangers and exiles on the earth. Peter also
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referred to the church as aliens and strangers on this earth. Paul told the Philippians,
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our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord
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Jesus Christ. And here's another thing. What about the
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historical examples where the church did control the culture? For example, what about Constantine's
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Rome, a Roman Catholic culture controlling the Middle Ages, Eastern Orthodox attempt
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to control the churches of Greece and Russia and Romania and Bulgaria and Ukraine? Didn't
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black slavery come to England while the Anglican church attempted to control the culture? How
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about the Crusades, the Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the Salem witch hunts? Weren't
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they Christian attempts to control the culture? It's the Holy Spirit who will convict the
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world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, not the culture. The sin nature cannot be
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controlled by cultural change. Moral change comes about by the indwelling Holy Spirit,
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and unbelievers in the world culture don't have that. Actually, evangelism, discipleship,
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the spread of the gospel, and believers loving one another seems to increase when believers
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are persecuted, not when they're attempting to control the culture. Paul said, for to
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you it's been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer
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for his sake. We should also ask, can Christians agree on
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what it means to transform the culture? It's easy for John Stonestreet to call it good
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news that the pro-life movement is having amazing cultural success. But what about the
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churches that accept women pastors, LGBTQ believers, mariology, divorce and remarriage,
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cohabitation, removing the Bible from the foundation of Christianity? What exactly does
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it mean to impact the culture in a way consistent with the Christian doctrine of piety? What
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Christian doctrine? Which Christian definition of piety?
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As a conclusion, I'd like to say the first part of the 21st century has seen an emphasis
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in some Christian missions, which has changed the gospel message from a plan of salvation
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to a plan of redeeming all of the creation to its Garden of Eden condition. This idea
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comes from cultural study, not Bible study. There's no command example or suggestion
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anywhere in the Bible that believers should make changing the world's culture an objective.
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Transformationalism has changed the gospel, blunted the impact of mission, and has taken
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Christians away from entrusting the Word of God to faithful people who will be able to
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teach others also, and to being involved in the affairs of this world, which will pass
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away. Thank you for listening. A longer paper on this subject with footnotes for the quotes
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and Scripture is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
