We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

man-holding-grapes

How God Changes the World

All who place their trust in Jesus look forward to a day when he will return and fully establish the kingdom of God. When this happens, Scripture promises that everything will change. There will be no more sickness, death, hunger, natural disasters, violence, fear, heartaches, sin, or evil. There will be no more racism, nationalism, social oppression, or war. There will be no more abuse, greed, or the pursuit of power. The principalities and powers that divide us will be defeated. This glorious hope empowers us to be optimistic about the future, even when the state of the world gives us many reasons to be pessimistic.

At the same time, followers of Jesus aren’t to simply wait for God’s kingdom to come and change everything. To the contrary, our job is to manifest the kingdom of God in the present moment. We are called to pray and live in such a way that God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven”—right now (Matt 6:10). As Gandhi said, we are to be the change we want to see in the world. This is how God changes the world.

While it’s indeed true that we—and all of creation‚ won’t be completely transformed until Christ returns, it’s also true that we have already been transformed. We are already changed and made new. We already have eternal life and are made participants in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). We are already new creations in Christ Jesus and have a new nature given to us by God’s grace (2 Cor 5:17). We are already filled with God’s Spirit and have overcome the Evil One. We are already seated with Christ in heavenly realms and blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 2:6).

This is why the New Testament refers to disciples as “firstfruits” of the coming kingdom (2 Thess 2:13; James 1:18; Rev 14:4). The “firstfruits” in ancient Israel referred to the fruit that ripened and was picked before other fruit. It was offered to God as an expression of gratitude and trust that God would provide for the rest of the harvest. We who place our trust in Jesus are called God’s “firstfruits” because, as people uniquely consecrated to God, we are empowered to put on display the coming harvest ahead of time. As much as possible, we are to manifest God’s transformation now what will be true for the whole creation in the future.

Some day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. We who are God’s firstfruits are not supposed to wait for this to happen. We are empowered and called to bend our knee to Christ now.

Some day God’s perfect love and peace will characterize all of creation. We who are God’s firstfruits are not supposed to wait for this to happen. We are empowered and called to manifest God’s perfect love and peace now.

Some day there will be no more jealousy, envy, hatred, or violence in the world. We who are God’s firstfruits are not supposed to wait for this to happen. We are empowered and called to purge our lives of these sorts of diabolical things now.

Some day all evil will be vanquished and God will be “all in all.” God’s glorious presence will be displayed throughout the earth, and his perfect love will define every square inch of creation. We who are God’s firstfruits are not supposed to wait for this to happen. We are empowered and called to live in God’s glorious presence in the present and allow God’s love to define every aspect of our being right now.

While Jesus followers look forward to a time when all creation will be redeemed, this isn’t something we are to wait for. What will be true of the whole creation in the future is already in principle true for us right now. And our job is to live in a way that reflects this. We are God’s consecrated firstfruits of the coming harvest now.

—Adapted from Present Perfect, pages 149-151

Photo via Visual Hunt

Related Reading

Love Conquers All

Paul prayed in this way for the church at Ephesus: I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, [God] may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in…

The Incarnation as an Example of Cross-Cultural Love

Beautiful Faces of Palestine via Compfight Christena Cleveland wrote an excellent piece about the radical cross-cultural nature of the incarnation.  I’ve never thought of it quite this way before, but the incarnation is the most profound instance of entering into another culture in a selfless way. Moving outside of our “cultural comfort zone” to more…

Jesus and Democracy

Question: I’ve heard that the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues was because he didn’t have the benefit of living in a democracy. Since we do, don’t we have a duty both to God and our country to be involved in politics? Answer: If the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues…

12 Reasons for Keeping the Kingdom of God Separate from Politics, Part 2

Image by the justified sinner via Flickr Satan is the “god of this age” (2 Cor 4:4) and “ruler of the world (Jn 12:30; 14:31) who “controls the entire world” (1 Jn 5;19) and possesses all the power of “all the kingdoms of the world” (Lk 4:6). While governments are ordained by God to preserve…

Sermon Clip: Tough To Love

Learning how to love the people in our life that we find challenging to deal with is often very difficult. This week in Heart Smart Greg Boyd looks at some biblical examples and instructions on how to love our enemies in the same way we love our friends. Full Sermon Here: http://whchurch.org/sermons-media/sermon/tough-to-love

Everybody’s Got a Prequel

My wife and I, along with some friends, recently attended the Broadway Play Wicked. Without giving too much away, I’ll tell you the play attempts to answer the question: What could have possibly made the “Wicked Witch of the West” so [apparently] evil (as presented in the original Wizard of Oz)? After all, normal young…