I have spent far too much of my life in arguments. Now that I am considerably older and slightly wiser, I have concluded that spending my time in arguments is not the best way to live. Instead, I’ve decided to look for points of agreement. Remarkably, I’ve found at least one point of general agreement. It is this: This world is in a mess. And if I turn the page and look into the future, I have a sense that we can anticipate more of the same and possibly worse. Today’s news is not terribly encouraging.
But beware, for while people generally agree with this point, you will quickly discover widely divergent reactions to the shared recognition of this messy world.
Secular, Humanistic Optimists.
These people would say, “but when wasn’t it a mess? If you look at human history, it is one long, sad story of conflict, pain, warfare, bloodshed, hatred, and self-destructive behavior. Human beings are survivors and we have managed to come through it all. This world is a whole lot better than it used to be. We have done it! So don’t give up. We will fix it.”
Nervous, Despairing Pessimists.
These people say “the world is in a mess and I can’t handle it. The more I look at it and listen to it, the more depressed I become. I just wish it would all go away. I don’t know what to do.”
Self-absorbed, narcissistic egotists.
These people say “this world is a mess and there’s not a thing I can do about it so I’m not even going to try. I’m going to look after number one; as far as I am concerned, the world can do what it likes. I don’t care as long as I can carve out a nice, personal, comfortable, secure little piece of the world—for me.”
It is ironic and noteworthy; however, that these three common, divergent reactions to an agreed reality are all guilty of the same omission: They leave God out of the equation. That is a fatal error. Let me explain.
God is totally committed to the ultimate well-being of His creation and will not sit idly by watching it deteriorate, disintegrate, and eventually self-destruct. In fact, He has announced, “Behold I am making all things new…write this down for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev. 21:5). God not only made an announcement, He insisted that it was totally accurate and reliable and should be recorded for posterity. And that means it is for you and me and everyone else!
This announcement must come to the attention of modern people so that they may explore further and, if they do, they will discover that the promised “all things new” includes “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1.)
Yes, the world is a mess, but God is still God. The world is not totally out-of-control heading for a self-induced cataclysmic disaster, nor is it guaranteed to go on from strength-to-strength solely due to human ingenuity. The fact is – according to the Scriptures – that God is actively involved in the world’s affairs, He is completely cognizant of all that is going on, He has definite plans that are already in operation, and He is quietly at work, relentlessly heading towards the divinely-ordained consummation of all things.
The new heavens and new earth will be characterized by righteousness. That means everything will be made right. Everything will be as it ought to be. At last! And this ideal new creation will be populated by a whole new species of people who will themselves be called “new creations.” Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!” God at this very moment is actively drawing people to Himself and making them “new creations.” Their old life has been forgiven, because they identified with Christ the crucified Savior, and their new life has begun because they have been freshly empowered through their identification with the Risen Lord who indwells them by His Spirit. This identification is so intimate that God regards them as being “in Christ” and accordingly “new creations.” This Christian vision of this messy world’s future has little or nothing in common with the worldviews of many of our contemporaries!
So What is God Doing in the Interim?
It’s obvious that the messy world is still messy and the new creation has not yet appeared. So presumably this grand vision is yet to be completed and much remains to be done. We need to be fully aware of what God is actually doing. The Apostle Paul explained to the Corinthians that God is “reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). He’s doing it one person at a time. He is taking both the individuals who have been wounded by this world and those who have done much of the wounding in this world and forgiving them, restoring, transforming them, and making them into “new creations.” He’s taking redeemed sinners and slowly but surely changing them into new creation inhabitants. One person at a time.
What Do These New Creations Look Like?
They have a new lifestyle.
Second Corinthians 5:15 says, “(Christ) died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” New creation people realize that in light of what Christ has done in making complete forgiveness and new life available, they obviously cannot return to the old lifestyle that made forgiveness and newness necessary. They recognize that Christ did not die for them to set them up for an ongoing life of irresponsible living. Rather in gratitude for what He has done, they want to walk away from the old life that was characterized by self indulgent living and live a new life “no longer.... for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” They choose to live a life that increasingly resembles the life of their Master—a life of selfless, loving, compassionate servanthood. They are primarily interested in God being God, Christ being Lord, and themselves being loving, trusting, obedient followers and servants of Christ. They are committed to involvement in the eternal purpose of God which is all about “making all things new.” You can recognize these people. Life is not all about THEM, rather it revolves around Christ.
They develop a new attitude.
For many, this world is a mess because their relationships are a mess. People just don’t get along! And that is putting it mildly. Bad behavior, inappropriate reactions, un-forgiveness, feuding and fighting, envy and jealousy, vindictiveness, backbiting—the list of dysfunctional behavior is as long as it is tragic. And we all know how easy it is to get sucked into these patterns of behaving, because that’s how we see and react to each other. Paul calls it “a worldly point of view.” He wrote, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (2 Cor. 5:16).
The bottom line is: new creation people are planted in the middle of fractured relationships and cultural disarray, but they are no longer free to look at people from a worldly point of view. The love of Christ has taught them something. If Christ loved them in the condition He found them, and loves everyone else equally, then how can the forgiven sinner adopt an attitude to other sinners inferior to the attitude of the Lord Himself? He can’t. She can’t. New creation people develop a new attitude—and it shows! They begin to see people through Christ’s eyes.
They share a new calling.
Paul wrote further about another new creation characteristic. This time about calling. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20). An ambassador is a person committed to the service of the nation to which she belongs. She has been called to leave the nation she loves to live in another nation as a representative of her own homeland. There she is treated with respected as she honorably represents her nation, speaks on its behalf, and represents its interests in a foreign environment. This is no easy task and calls for devotion, skill, commitment, integrity, and consistency. And Paul advisedly uses this metaphorical term to describe the activities and calling of a new creation person living in a messed up world as a representative of and spokesperson for the new heavens and the new earth—for the Kingdom of God!
So let’s face it this world is in a mess, but that’s not the whole story - for God is still God! God is at work and His purposes will prevail. And we are called to be part of what He is doing, one person at a time.
