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Kingdom Building
1 Playsin 30 minutes
What is Kingdom Building? Is the Dominion Mandate from Genesis separate from, or actually a part of the Great Commission?
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Transcript
Kingdom Building with the Gospel
00:00:13
Speaker
Dustin, here we are again, um answering pilot. Glad to be here. Glad to be back. And just continuing the conversation.
Understanding the Dominion Mandate
00:00:21
Speaker
We're all about creating culture.
00:00:24
Speaker
We're all about influencing culture with the gospel. We're about kingdomizing culture, just kingdom building in general. Yes. And so um we've focused on like the dominion mandate not too long ago. But let's just let's just talk about kingdom building in general today for just a
Relevance of the Dominion Mandate Today
00:00:42
Speaker
few minutes. some Came across a tweet.
00:00:46
Speaker
it's It's interesting because we were thinking about these things anyway, but came across a tweet. Are they still called tweets? I guess so. ah Yeah, or ex-post. Ex-post, yeah. ah Anyway, talking about, you know, there's a lot of Christians who— They don't really think a whole lot about the dominion mandate. And by the way, the dominion mandate, we're we're referencing Genesis 1.28 initially, given again after the flood, where take take dominion over the earth. the earth, subdue it.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Be fruitful, multiply the whole bit. Mm-hmm. And then you've got, you know, be salt and light, Matthew chapter 5, I believe it is. So I usually refer to that as the cultural mandate, but they're essentially the same thing. so But you've got a lot of Christians who, you know, they don't think a whole lot about that dominion mandate.
00:01:34
Speaker
And then others who actually you know would say, well, you know that doesn't necessarily apply to us.
Misunderstandings of the Great Commission
00:01:40
Speaker
That's just sort of a creation dynamic, you know, right back in the early days, I guess, something like that.
00:01:47
Speaker
But it certainly does apply to us, as we've been saying. But whether folks have actually thought that through or not, there's a lot of Christians who live as if it's not something for us. And I guess the perfect example is there are a lot of Christians who would say, well, you know, the only thing we're about here is evangelism, you know, the Great Commission. We want to see souls saved, but as far as creating culture-making, all the stuff you guys talk about, that's not really what we're all about
Teaching Jesus' Commands and Biblical Living
00:02:23
Speaker
as Christians. Yeah, I would actually argue
00:02:26
Speaker
that it is still part of the Great Commission, though, um because i don't think we can reduce the Great Commission down to merely preaching the gospel. Right. Because it says to go into all the world, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. yeah And so to me, especially if we look at all that Jesus taught, and John says there's so much more that could fill ah an entire library,
00:02:53
Speaker
that wasn't written down. But if we look at that, then I think that that expands the scope of all that Jesus taught. And so I think doing the kingdom building kind of things that we're going to talk about is in fact still part of the Great Commission. So I think maybe part of it is a misunderstanding.
00:03:11
Speaker
of what the Great Commission would be in the first place. Yeah, I think that's a good insight. um You're right. Yeah,
Biblical Worldview and Cultural Influence
00:03:17
Speaker
that whole teaching to obey, not only the commands of Christ, but you've got the whole New Testament, and certainly reading the Old Testament through the lens of the New, and how we might apply ah even the principles, even in in Leviticus. I mean, lot of folk think Leviticus is just this boring book about a bunch of you know, ceremonial laws are laws here and there.
00:03:39
Speaker
But when you begin to see those things fulfilled in Christ and how they might apply to us under the new covenant, I mean, certainly we don't, we're not offering so you know animal sacrifices anymore. I'm not suggesting anything like that or all the the the vestments and all that, but but those those things are pointing to something beyond themselves. They're types and shadows. Right, yeah. Right?
00:04:01
Speaker
And so, anyway, I don't want get too far bogged down there. We could do that another time. But no, I think you've hit on a good point. The Great Commission, we always talk about teaching to obey all the commands of the Lord Jesus. Teaching how to obey, I think, is involved in that because yes Paul talks about sound doctrine.
00:04:20
Speaker
He talks about applying that sound doctrine to your
Making Disciples Beyond Evangelism
00:04:23
Speaker
heart. So sound doctrine, dealing with who you are at the heart level, living out the gospel, living out these things that the Lord Jesus commands us.
00:04:33
Speaker
And I think all of that entails because, I mean, there's so much in the Bible. It entails, generally speaking, and we talk about this ah a lot, a biblical worldview. And so if you've got a biblical worldview on everything under the sun, well then, yeah, it it stands to reason that, well, sure, we're supposed to influence culture. And that's all tied in with the Great Commission. Yeah, you said earlier salt and light, and you said that's in Matthew 5. Well, who said that?
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. Jesus said that. So that's part of all that Jesus commanded us to do was to be salt and light. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, and and again, not to get too far down a certain road, but ah I think...
00:05:11
Speaker
That all of these things, that's part of discipleship. Yes. And I think that is where a lot of times people may fall short in their understanding of what the Great Commission is, is that we just preach the gospel and we want to see them saved. But then that's where it ends. Right. um But we want to make disciples.
Clarifying the Great Commission's Imperative
00:05:28
Speaker
Yes. And yeah disciples are what? Well, they're learners.
00:05:30
Speaker
They're lifelong learners who are constantly learning how to build and advance the kingdom of Christ on the earth. Yeah. um And he's told us how to do it. That's right. And so, yeah, I think i think even just understanding that it's so much more than just getting someone saved, yeah to use that terminology.
00:05:49
Speaker
we We, in fact, are supposed to be building disciples yes um who then build the kingdom. That's right. Yeah, and you know to your point, when when you're talking about maybe a misunderstanding of the commission, even at the beginning, because you know our translations, therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, I think there are a lot of Christians who interpret that, okay, well, this is a ah verse about missions only. Right.
00:06:16
Speaker
in evangelism and missions because it's go. That's the imperative command. Well, actually, that's not the imperative command. You just said it. The imperative command is make disciples. Make disciples. That's right.
00:06:28
Speaker
As you are going. That's exactly right. As you are going. Yeah, it's actually a participle. And we you know it's it sort of gets an imperative sounding dynamic in English. But as you go, make disciples. That's a command. So to your point,
00:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's all part of disciple
Heavenly Citizenship vs. Earthly Legacy
00:06:44
Speaker
making. So anyway, that's that's kind of where we're coming from. There's some confusion there. And um I think also when you think about these things, you know, you can understand other verses that may be misunderstood as well.
00:06:59
Speaker
You know, the Bible does say, well, this world's not our home. Right. And it's not. But... what what a What do we mean, or what does the Bible mean when it says that? Well, I mean, our citizenship is in heaven, meaning that we, you know as Christians, we've been saved.
00:07:17
Speaker
And Paul says things like, the old man that I was when I got saved died, and I was raised up to walk in newness of life. So I'm already raised up in one sense. I'm already seated in the heavenlies in another. So you and I positionally speaking, by virtue of knowing Christ, we're seated in heaven. But that doesn't mean that we're literally in heaven. We're literally right here. We're actually still in the United States
Building for God's Glory
00:07:43
Speaker
right here. Right. Yeah. In our undisclosed location in Greer, South yeah Carolina. But anyway, yeah.
00:07:51
Speaker
But we're still seated in the heavenlies and we're we're still kingdom. i mean, we're still, our citizenship is in heaven. Right. But it just means that we're new creatures. We're are we're brand new.
00:08:03
Speaker
And now we're going to take our heavenly citizenship. and bring it to bear in this realm, bring it to bear on this earth, in this life. There are things in this world, things in in this present state that are going to burn
Human Flourishing and World Improvement
00:08:17
Speaker
up. There's no doubt about that. But there's a lot that's going to remain, save people for one thing. But even the things that we do for the glory of God,
00:08:26
Speaker
And I think the other implication, okay, but ultimately, if you build something, you know we're talking about building something permanent. Right. And you build something permanent, well, it's not going last into eternity, so why bother? Again, we don't know how long we're going to be here.
00:08:42
Speaker
The Lord Jesus could come back at any moment. Right. But we could be here another 10,000 years. We don't know. Right. We've already been here since the Testament. 2,000 years since Jesus died. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:53
Speaker
And um I think... It's almost an overly pragmatist way to look at it to say, well it's not going last, so so why does it matter? Why bother?
00:09:05
Speaker
the the reason why is because it's the chief end of man, right? To glorify God. Right. So doing these things and bringing his kingdom to bear, putting his kingdom and his glory on display brings glory to him, which is the ultimate end of man. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so that's why it matters. It's not because, well, it's not, you know, this earth's going to burn up anyway. That's overly pragmatic. Yeah. Really. Yeah. Um,
00:09:33
Speaker
we're called to glorify God in all we do. Yes. Period. yeah Not whether it's going to be something that exists past our death or exists past the end of the world. You know, it's no, just do this to glorify God. That's right.
00:09:49
Speaker
and and And think about, because you know Christians who came before us, they a lot of the Christians understood what you just said, and they were looking toward the future.
00:10:00
Speaker
right Certainly eternity, but they were looking toward the future in the here and the now. A future that is better for their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren, and on and on. And I think you you see these things when you you see language in the Bible about, you know, to your children and your children's children.
00:10:19
Speaker
We can talk about some other theological issues with reference to those those kinds of statements, but the one thing we should all be able to agree upon is that future generations
Children in the Dominion Mandate
00:10:29
Speaker
matter. And I want my children to have a better world than I grew up in. Right now, where we live,
00:10:38
Speaker
The conveniences we have is better, right but spiritually speaking and morally speaking and culturally speaking, it's not better. If we want our children to have modern conveniences and better things, we we want them to have that better moral culture, that better moral climate, that you know that kingdom climate. So all of these things are so important.
00:10:59
Speaker
And then again, you know, god I don't think that God has called every single Christian couple to have children, but i don't think I don't think that we have the right attitude about children. I think some people think, you know, whether or not ah we have children, it's just sort of a matter of preference and how many we have and when we have them and if we have them. I mean...
00:11:22
Speaker
we might just want to travel the world and, and, you know, we've got enough money cause I inherited it from my parents. And so, you know, we're going to travel the world and enjoy all the, all the cool things that we hear about. Well, I don't think that's the right attitude. and I think we have to pray about everything.
00:11:38
Speaker
And again, Not every Christian couple is called to have children, but generally speaking, Christians are called to have children. Sure. I mean, some for medical reasons can't. Right. But we know that God's sovereign over that. Yeah. And he has a reason for those type of situations as well.
00:11:55
Speaker
But yeah, our modern cultural mindset, I think, has affected the church, um affected Christians in a lot of ways, because children are viewed as an inconvenience huh and it's going to take all your time and you're not going to be able to travel and and do all these things. Maybe you're not going to be able to work quite as hard and get that promotion and and make that money or you know it's just you're not going to have time for anything for yourself. But then okay so if you really think about what I just said that sounds really selfish. Yeah. and even if you're talking about a hypothetical child that you haven't had, to have a statement like that is very selfish. Yeah. And again, we don't say there's a certain number of kids that Christians should have or anything like that. um And there's all kinds of reasons that could come into play on on how many a couple may be able to have or or whatnot.
00:12:49
Speaker
But yeah, we again, as in the context of what we're talking about here, As Christians, we want to leave a legacy. We want to leave a heritage for future generations. Yes. And part of that is by creating those future generations ourselves.
Christian and Islamic Cultural Influences
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:07
Speaker
And so, yeah, I think it is it definitely is part of the dominion mandate. Yeah. Because it says, be fruitful and multiply. mean, that's literally the first thing he told them to do. That's exactly right. So, yeah, I think it is part of building the kingdom for, because we want, really, we want Christians having more kids than non-Christians. Yes. And why is that?
00:13:28
Speaker
and Well, it's because, ostensibly, we want our Christian parents to be having children who then are going, and they are then going to be teaching the things of Christ to their children. yeah And then those children are going to believe, and then that's how the kingdom grows exponentially, even just within your own household. Yeah, that's right.
00:13:50
Speaker
We're told to train our children and disciple our children and train our children in the way they should go yes and all of those things. And, um, and And I think you hit on something else.
00:14:01
Speaker
Islam, we mentioned in a different context, it takes the long view. Part of it is they're they're willing to be patient, but they're they're thinking generationally, not just the passage of time. And they literally, part of their...
00:14:17
Speaker
I don't know, the the way they want to expand Islam, conquer the world, they wouldn't call it missions or whatever, but is to have more children than everybody else. And they do. They have lots and lots of children, and they they far surpass the replacement rate in the...
00:14:34
Speaker
countries and in which they find themselves, and that's why you see them spreading and why you see the mass migration. For them, it's an opportunity right now. It's a cultural opportunity in Western civilization, and they recognize it. And Christians, a lot of Christians understand about having more children than non-Christians.
00:14:54
Speaker
Certainly, the Great Commission involves telling even people you don't know about Christ, but at the same time, Like you said, if we're training our children and and we're having more and more children, than um especially more children than unbelievers, then again, you're spreading the gospel that way. And so that's the view Islam takes. But here we are in America.
00:15:16
Speaker
All of a sudden, and in a lot of European countries, the birth rate is is below replacement rate. And so if you've got, to go back to the issue of immigration, which we've talked about, you've got this mass migration of people who are having children.
00:15:33
Speaker
and And again, it's not about skin color. It's not about that. But it's about, and we'll just use Islam for an example, they have a completely different worldview than Western civilization. Right.
00:15:44
Speaker
Completely different worldview than we do. And um if they replace our population, And again, it's not about America per se, but but I'll just say this. Then America will no longer be America. It'll be something else. It might have the name America, but it'll be like, you know, the Islamic State of America or whatever. And and we said, well, is it bad to want to not want?
00:16:08
Speaker
No, we don't want that. We want people to be saved. Right. Know Jesus because he's the only king. He's the only true and living God, right? He's the way, the truth, and life. No comes to the Father but by him.
Puritans' Vision and Eschatology
00:16:19
Speaker
And life is better when you know Jesus. Not only the ultimate things of salvation, but life is better and human flourishing. And I'm rambling, but anyway, those those who have gone before us have understood those things. And so they've had children.
00:16:33
Speaker
They've preached the gospel. They've built culture, civilizations. They've been involved in kingdom building. Listen, the Puritans, when they came to America, they Now, eschatologically, i they i think they were mistaken in in terms of what they thought it was going to be. A lot of them anyway. They thought, okay, our settlement is the city on a hill, and we're going to usher in you know the the millennium, as it were. They you know they miscalculated there, but but the church itself is the city on a hill. Right.
00:17:07
Speaker
And the church itself ah doesn't hide its light under a bushel, but that's not just... again, related to the Great Commission only. It's it's it's building that… we've got to have a bigger view of the kingdom, if that makes sense. and And you said that earlier, I'm just sort of echoing that. So I come back to just the mindset that we have in general. I remember years ago, John Piper preached a very well-known sermon.
00:17:36
Speaker
It became known as the Seashell Sermon. You remember that? Yes. And um I think he had read an article in Reader's Digest, and it was about this older, retired Christian couple. I don't know if any of our Gen Z listeners know what Reader's Digest is, but...
00:17:52
Speaker
They probably don't. Oh, my goodness. It was the thing. That was bathroom reading before people had cell phones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. Everybody had Reader's Digest. But anyway, I don't even know. Would it come out monthly or quarterly? I can't remember. don't remember. Yeah. Somehow we had them. I don't know how. They just appeared. you know they were Yeah, everyone just had it. i think it's part of it being an American citizen yeah at that time. We just got Reader's Digest. just Reader's Digest. Yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
So anyway, he's reading this article about this retired Christian couple. And they're the way he says it in in the sermon, but they retired to Punta Gorda, Florida. And their sole goal was to collect seashells for rest their life. Now, again, we don't know.
00:18:31
Speaker
That might just have been, you know, they they were on vacation or one vacation. I don't know. Listen, I'll say this. You tell me. ah when When we go to the beach, and we do, we go to the beach from time to time, and I'll collect seashells.
00:18:46
Speaker
But i but the the sum total of my life is not collecting seashells at the beach, right? We have work to do. We have things to build. We have a gospel to preach and all we could go.
00:18:58
Speaker
But I think you know his whole point was just the mindset You're really, you're Christians, and your goal in life is to just work, work, work, accumulate enough money so you can go to the beach, live there, and collect seashells all day, and that's all
Active Kingdom Work Post-Retirement
00:19:13
Speaker
you do. And you're not thinking about anybody but yourself.
00:19:16
Speaker
I think that's an illustration of... of what we're trying to get at. Yeah, you kind of talked about it a little bit in one of your recent sermons. You referenced the song, Everybody's Working for the Weekend. Ah, yeah. But it's the same thing. Everybody's working for their retirement so they can go to the beach and and collect seashells and just yeah have nothing to do anymore. Right, right. um But we actually don't believe that Christians retire. That's right. You may retire from your occupation, um but as we've said, you always have worked before you as a citizen of the kingdom. Yeah.
00:19:48
Speaker
And um as you get older, you may slow down a little bit. And that work may change. That work may change. But we're supposed to always be active in the kingdom. Yeah, that's exactly right. So, anyway.
00:20:01
Speaker
There's this this mindset that we're just kind of pushing back on of ah of the the Punta Gorda dynamic, we'll call it that. So we want to build households. We want to build, as we've said, communities. We want to build institutions.
00:20:17
Speaker
We want to influence the the world that God has
Ambassadors for Christ in All Aspects
00:20:21
Speaker
put us in. So I think the vision that that God has given us, you know, when we think about our citizenship and is in in being in heaven, we talked about that a little bit earlier,
00:20:31
Speaker
um It doesn't mean ah that, um you know, again, everything's just spiritual now. We don't want to be almost a weird kind of modern Gnostic or something.
00:20:46
Speaker
You know, Gnosticism, everything spiritual is good. I'm reducing it to Greek dualism. and Everything, you know, physical is bad. So why worry about it? And we've used this term, the sinking ship, or why worry about this world? It's burning up. It's going to pass away. We're just passing through. Peter says that. We're sojourners. We're pilgrims.
00:21:05
Speaker
We're resident aliens, as someone said. i think if Stanley Hirewell. Somebody wrote a book. so First band I ever played in, that was the name of our band. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Just a total side note. Resident aliens? Resident aliens, Oh, nice. Yeah. You had some good names for the the bands that you you had. resident a I didn't know that. You had one called All Things Together? All Things Together. Man.
00:21:27
Speaker
Yep. I was in another one called One Boy's Lunch. Oh. It was referencing the feeding of the 5,000 or whatever. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I like that. So, yeah. It was a different time.
00:21:38
Speaker
It was a different time. Is that B-O-Y-Z or B-O? Just B-O-Y-S. Yeah, yeah. Apostrophe. Yeah. Yeah, I got you. We're boys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We we weren't that hip.
00:21:51
Speaker
I'm not even sure. i don't even know what I'm saying when I say that kind of stuff. So anyway, there there is a verse that that's so simple. we We talk about being ambassadors for Christ.
00:22:03
Speaker
Okay, well, people, again, they relegate that. that Well, that's just evangelism. No. being an ambassador for Christ in the way you do your work. Didn't Paul talk about that? In the way that you live as ah as a citizen of wherever you are.
00:22:17
Speaker
So, yeah, we're representing Jesus. You put it, we do all that we do for the glory of God. So these things, just they just seem kind of, um I don't know, they just seem kind of obvious to us.
00:22:29
Speaker
But yet there's that opposing mindset. But I think it's it's in large measure because not a lot of... um Not a lot of us have talked lately about building the kingdom or thinking about generational dynamics like our children building on top of what we've built or, um yeah you know, things like that. i don't want to get bogged down. And I'm i'm repeating myself, I feel like.
00:22:58
Speaker
But you think about the exile, unless you you like you're going to say something else. Well, no, I was just going to say, you know, we've talked about at church before, one of the songs that we sing on occasion, and you've always mentioned that you remember singing it when you were growing up, um This Is My
Christians' World Impact for God's Glory
00:23:16
Speaker
Father's World. Yes. And I think, you know, maybe some of the sinking ship mindset is forgetting that fact that this world still belongs to the Lord. yes And it's real easy for us to get focused on how bad things are. yeah Focus on how sin runs rampant and how evil you know seems to be advancing and everything.
00:23:39
Speaker
But this is still the earth that God created in seven days and said that it is good. yeah And I think we should still be involved in making it good. Yeah. And reminding the world that this is our Father's world. Yeah. So, yeah, I think we when we do these things, again, it's it's putting him on display that he's the creator.
00:24:03
Speaker
And, yes, yeah that we have to strike that balance because between, yes, this is a fallen world because of sin, but it's still a good world that God has created. Yeah. And we want to continue to do things to continue to make it good. Yeah.
00:24:18
Speaker
Yeah, and if God has put us here in this good world that he's created, and then we we come to know him, it seems like, you know, rather than just think, well, we're just waiting for the bus to pick us up to go to heaven, what it seems like a lot of folk are doing. Right.
00:24:34
Speaker
No, we want to make a difference while we are here, you know. Excuse me. We want to make a difference while we are here. for God's glory, but also for the good of others, because we care about people.
00:24:52
Speaker
And so one of the big terms that you hear today, especially, is human flourishing. And a lot of people mean different things by that, and even has some political kind political connotations here and there. but If you're just going to use it, you know, just basic English, human flourishing, Christians are all about human flourishing.
00:25:11
Speaker
Go back historically, And we've already come to this a couple of times, but let's just give a couple of specific examples. Essentially, Christians are the ones who invented the scientific method because they know, like you just said, God created this world.
00:25:28
Speaker
And um if God created it and his glory is on display in this world, the heavens declare the glory of God, Psalm 19, then we want to investigate this world.
00:25:38
Speaker
And we want to know what God has given us. And then we've got a dominion mandate. Well, let's dig those resources out of the ground. yeah know, we talked about that. So Christians were in the forefront of that. Christians were in the forefront of building hospitals because they cared about people who were sick, care about people who who were in need in in that way.
00:26:01
Speaker
And so all of the the good institutions of, you know, things that we take for granted, they're all rooted in a worldview. And it's not to say that there aren't non-Christians who don't think hospitals are good. You know, there non-Christians who think hospitals are great. I think, number one,
00:26:20
Speaker
It's because of they've been influenced by that Christian worldview without realizing by virtue of breathing the air of Western civilization. But, again, even in the past, I'm not going to say that unbelievers didn't come up with, for pragmatic reasons, things that that were helpful. But you wouldn't see, and you you don't see in other cultures, third world cultures, for example, you don't see...
00:26:44
Speaker
all of the massive good institutions that that developed as a result of that Christian worldview. Europe but but became great long before other cultures. I'll just put it that way. Great in a human flow. Yeah, I mean, we we kind of we kind of pile on Islam a little bit here, but if you were sick or in need of ah of a major
Worldview Comparisons and Societal Impact
00:27:10
Speaker
surgery, would you rather be at a hospital in an Islamic country or one that was founded by Christians? yeah And it's because all of these, and we've talked about it already, but all of these advancements
00:27:25
Speaker
that we've seen, that is, whether knowingly or not, it's pushed by a biblical worldview. yeah And so, again, it the push for excellence in things yes is something that that gives glory to God. Yes, that's right.
00:27:42
Speaker
Man, I had something in my head while you were saying it, and got dialed in on what you were saying and forgot. i was going to say, but no, you no, you're right. um What was it that you did?
00:27:52
Speaker
we You said we potted on Islam. Would you rather hospital, you know, whatever? I still don't know. It's gone. That's okay. Yeah, it's okay. But you get the idea. You get the point.
00:28:04
Speaker
You know, we talked about slavery, you know, every, every culture in the world, but Christians, in the forefront of putting an end to that, all because of the the biblical worldview. Or you think of um somebody getting sick.
00:28:17
Speaker
If you live in an animistic culture, you know the the worldview of animism, you're not going to Animus believe that, okay, you're just subject to the fates. You're subject to the demons, of the gods, whatever they call them, and something bad happens to you. Well, i mean, that's your fate, and they don't try to rectify that. I mean, your baby's sick and dying.
00:28:41
Speaker
That's just, that's how it is. They're not going to take the baby to the doctor in an animistic culture. And you you think about, there there to me, there are um there's that animistic kind of principle there in the the caste system in India, for example.
Economic Legacy in a Biblical Framework
00:28:56
Speaker
you're You're born in a particular caste. You don't go from one cast to the next. You're stuck there. You're stuck there. But we see things very differently. Our baby's sick, we're going to the doctor. I might be born, economically speaking, lower class. and Well, guess what? I'm going to strive to get to the middle class.
00:29:13
Speaker
And it's not because of greed. It's because it's better to be middle class than a lower class, at least economically speaking. And again, I i don't i don't mean...
00:29:24
Speaker
you know When you use the term class disparagingly, I'm simply talking about economic strata. Yeah. And like you said earlier, it it it also would make a better life for your children. Yes. um For you to be able to yes advance in those economic levels yeah or whatever. So it's not just something for yourself. No. It's to create something better that will last beyond you. That's right.
00:29:46
Speaker
And, um you know, you keep the the biblical tension there that, okay, we people today talk about building generational wealth. And on the one hand, that doesn't sound Christian. It sounds greedy. Again, you've got to keep these things in tension because...
00:30:05
Speaker
it's better to be you know have a higher income than a lower income, for materially speaking, but you look at that and deal with that money, that wealth that God gives you, in a biblical way. and So you you guard against greed. you guard against yeah We about work recently and in church.
00:30:27
Speaker
We don't want to be lazy. We want to do our work. We don't want to be slothful. We want to do our work. right But neither do we want to be workaholics. Correct. And the work is not just for the weekend, as you were saying a moment ago, but neither is it just for the money. And so a biblical worldview is robust. It's it's well-rounded. it It encompasses everything. so we Part of the reason, and don't if it's in Ephesians or Colossians, somewhere in the New Testament, but part of the reason we work hard to make money is so that we can help others. It literally says that. right So all of these things are very, very important.
00:31:02
Speaker
But back to another scripture that I wanted to reference a minute ago, if that's okay. ah Think of the exile. I mentioned that earlier when when Israel was in Babylon, carried away captive and all this.
00:31:14
Speaker
Well, God didn't tell him, just, you know, wait until your day of deliverance comes. He said, build houses. Mm-hmm. He said, ah get married, let your children get married.
00:31:27
Speaker
And he also said, work for the peace of the city in which I've placed you. In which I've placed you in exile. Yeah. um So again, there you go. This is not your home. I'm telling you this. Good point. I've placed you here in exile, but still go make the best of it. Yeah. And make it better. And make it better. Yeah. Because if the city...
00:31:50
Speaker
is is at peace, then you're going to be at peace. right And I think that ties in with what Paul tells us when he says, pray for kings and for those in authority. There's a couple of reasons. One, he wants all men to be saved, whether you're a king or whether you're a pauper.
00:32:02
Speaker
But he also says, pray for kings and authority that it might go well with you. So if we're to pray in that regard, well, we're also to work for that goal.
00:32:13
Speaker
And that's why we say Christians ought to You go the Old Testament. i'll I'll finish that sentence in a moment. go to the Old Testament. God's people were in the city gate. Well, the city gate was where business was transacted.
00:32:27
Speaker
It's where decisions, important decisions for the city were made, and Christians were supposed to be there. Of course, they weren't called Christians, per se, in the Old Testament, but God's people, believers.
00:32:38
Speaker
And so I think one of the things important to to note is No matter who you are and the gifts and the talents and the circumstances and the opportunities, and you you might live in a rural part of the the country and, you know, you see your neighbors here and there.
00:33:01
Speaker
But you're building a family, you're influencing your neighbors for good. Okay. But at the same time, there are some who are equipped to be not only business leaders, but maybe political leaders.
Christian Influence in Politics and Leadership
00:33:15
Speaker
And all I'm saying by that is, I think. Christians need to permeate every strata of society. We actually need, rather than just the lesser of two evils that we seem to have to vote for every election cycle, yeah we actually need some good Christian leadership at the top. And by that, I mean morally good, but also understanding of biblical political theory and and what would be a biblical way to bless the people that you're there to serve. Yeah, um I think, ah kind of going back to this the the exile picture here, I think a lot of Christians may also believe that if we're not suffering, then we're not honoring the Lord. Yeah.
00:34:07
Speaker
we are told that we will suffer for the name of Christ yep at times. I don't think that means constantly. Right. um And i don't think it means that we have to actively look for ways to suffer for the Lord. Right. I think that's mentioned of persecution and and things like that.
00:34:27
Speaker
but I also believe that the Lord intends good things for his people.
Suffering for Christ vs. Enjoying Blessings
00:34:31
Speaker
yeah And so that's what we've been talking about is that, you know, even building wealth and, and, and accomplishing good things for society and, and building things and all of this, that's part of good things that the Lord intends for his people. yeah You know, we're talking about Jeremiah 29 One verse that a lot of Christians know and maybe has been used a little out of context over time. This is 2911. And it a lot of people have misused that for a health and wealth type of teaching. and that's not what we believe here. Right. But he says, I know the plans that I have for you. Again, remember, while you're in exile. Yes.
00:35:09
Speaker
Plans to give you a hope and a future. not into Plans to to bless you, not to harm you. Right. I'm messing up. that Prosper you. Yeah. Prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again, this is being spoken to his people who are in exile at the moment. And so it is a hopeful verse yeah that to look forward to, but it's at the tail end of all of these commands to build the cities and and marry and and do all these things because so doing all things,
00:35:42
Speaker
building all of these good things is part of our hope. Yeah. we Why do we do this? Because we know, yes, we know we're in exile. Yeah. You know, we know that us right now, where we're at, spiritually speaking, we're in exile. We're not in our home yet, right? Yeah, yeah.
00:35:59
Speaker
But we know that, but we also know that God's commanded us that while we're in exile, we're to build things.
Hope and Action During Spiritual Exile
00:36:06
Speaker
Yeah. We're to make things beautiful because it points to our hope.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah. That's part of our hope. You know, we talk about biblical hope a lot, and it's not a hoping for or wishing for something in the future that's uncertain. and We don't know if it's going to happen or not. No hope, biblical hope, Christian hope is a certainty. Yeah.
00:36:24
Speaker
And Just like when we talk about love or faith or all of these things that that the Bible mentions, it's never just a feeling or an emotion or a concept.
00:36:38
Speaker
It's an action. There's always action. and you know Love requires action. Faith requires action. yeah Hope requires action. And so doing these things while we're in exile yeah is part of our hope.
00:36:52
Speaker
It's putting the feet to our hope. It is. And so I think, yeah, yeah we we just need to talk more and more about the implications of the gospel. Because we're not forgetting the gospel. It is about preaching Christ crucified, that men, women, boys, and girls might be saved, and then those who are saved training their children yes and building something.
00:37:17
Speaker
I long, because you've seen it in the past, but I long for... Christian leaders in all these areas, business, politics, science, art, you know, we'll talk more about that in the future. um You know, we're we're getting a lot of garbage right now out of Hollywood. Well, how about there's there's been some couple of good Christian films lately. We need more of that. Right.
00:37:43
Speaker
And it's not just that here and there, but it's the notion. Let me give you a weird example. Because i've I've talked to all kinds of Christians about career and about this, that, and the other.
00:37:56
Speaker
and going out on their own versus family business or whatever.
Legacy Reflecting Christ's Kingdom
00:38:01
Speaker
Donald Trump, he yeah inherited some money from his dad and he he took that and he made things better economically.
00:38:11
Speaker
And I'm just really summarizing. And now Trump has several children and most, if not all, I don't, anyway, they're involved somehow, some way in the family business.
00:38:24
Speaker
My point is, something is being built generationally there. They're not even Christians, right but it's a Western thing to do, and it that's rooted in a Christian worldview.
00:38:39
Speaker
And we've got Christians, though, who think, well, if I don't you know go out and get my own job and move away, well, then I'm not really a real man or something like that.
00:38:49
Speaker
Again, if God's called you to to move away and get a job or do whatever, that's fine. But I would love to be able to see, I'd love to live to see, and we could see it in a lot of places, but I want to see more. We'll put it that way.
00:39:07
Speaker
Christians with that mindset, I want to build something, and then my children take that over and take it to the next level, and then their children take it over and take it to the next level. And that could be business. It could be other things. doesn't have to be business. It could be there's so many cultural goods. you know like I was talking with a guy yesterday, and he's he's a personal trainer, got a ah health science know got a health science degree, but he studied that. okay Anyhow, he he had this idea, this vision to build a community of people who are getting together and they're exercising things.
00:39:48
Speaker
But they're they're building not only just exercising, they're building community and they're spreading the gospel. And he's got this thing. i don't know if I should say the name. I'll get his permission and i'll I'll mention it next time or I would just mention it now. I'm sure I would have his permission. But anyway, I'll just go ahead and say it. it's ah I think it's called Ruck Greenville. Is that right?
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah. Ruck GVL. Ruck GVL, something like that. and Stands for Greenville. Yeah, yeah, And, you he started with like four people or something. And again, this is the Lord. He's not taking credit for it. But now they've, I think they've got like over a hundred people. But the point I'm making is this is a good cultural good. It's not necessarily...
00:40:33
Speaker
where he's making money on this, it's free. Wow. Okay. Anyway. yeah But he's building something. And he I'm sure if you ask him, he doesn't want that to be him only or this generation only or for a short time.
00:40:48
Speaker
He would like to see this thing last long into the future. And so... That's part of what we're talking about, building good cultural goods. And I i think entrepreneurism, for example, again, that is rooted in a biblical worldview, a Christian worldview. It's not rooted in any other worldview. And again, that's not to say that every Christian has to be an entrepreneur, but I'm just saying...
00:41:09
Speaker
We need to talk about these things more in church. I guess that's what I'm saying. Yeah, for sure. And again, it's all about, you know, i said it earlier, building that legacy. And it's not just a legacy of myself, but it's it's a legacy of of Christ.
00:41:24
Speaker
And, you know, if you think about different businesses that you may patronize for whatever reason, be it an auto mechanic or a Any number of, especially a service type industry or something like that.
00:41:38
Speaker
um But really any any type of business that you might interact with, if given the choice to to do business with a family owned business versus a giant corporation, the giant corporation may have more resources, but...
00:41:57
Speaker
you always feel like you're going to get better service.
Preaching the Kingdom Gospel
00:42:01
Speaker
Yep. You're going to get better communication, better customer service from the family owned business because they're more invested in it. Yeah. it's not just It's not just ah ah a line on a on a sheet for them. the mom The mom and pop store versus Walmart, for example. Right. um Walmart's going let a lot of things slide because as long as the as long as they're still in the black at the end of the day, yeah You know, they they don't really care. But the family owned shop that sells goods, um they're going to make sure it's clean. yep They're going to make sure their shelves are stocked.
00:42:39
Speaker
They're going to be personable. They're going to speak to you. um It's, you know, it's the place I would much rather shop. Yeah. For the experience and everything. And part of that is because there's a there's a greater investment there for them. Yeah. Because it's their family name is on the line and those things. But again, for a Christian, it's even more than that, because it's not just my name that's on the line. It's the name of Christ that's on the line.
00:43:02
Speaker
And that drives how I'm going to treat my customers, for example, because want to do it in a way as a business owner or a proprietor to put God's glory on
Christ's Kingdom's Superiority
00:43:16
Speaker
the way. Yeah, yeah,
00:43:19
Speaker
While you were saying that, it it just brought me back to this whole idea of kingdom kingdom building, because throughout the New Testament, you'll actually see the term, the gospel of the kingdom. And youll youll if you start looking, you'll see it where Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom and um the advance of the kingdom.
00:43:39
Speaker
Well, what does that mean? Well, it means that God has a kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world, but it is... to be brought to bear on this world. And so, my kingdom's not of this world, but the point being that this kingdom of God is better than the kingdom of the world or the kingdoms of the world.
00:44:00
Speaker
In an ultimate sense, all earthly kingdoms going to be smashed to pieces, Daniel, but that's a whole other subject. but His kingdom is better because we have a better king, we have better values, better everything.
00:44:14
Speaker
And so it only stands to reason that as Christians who are citizens of this kingdom, who are living, as you said, in exile, so to speak, why would we not bring that kingdom to bear?
Building Christ's Kingdom on Earth
00:44:27
Speaker
to to just make life better. That's what we're called to be. That's what we're called to do. and And that, in fact, is connected to the gospel because you don't have real kingdom mindset or real kingdom principles apart from a knowledge of God and his gospel and in salvation in him and truth of him and all that. You can't just take the...
00:44:50
Speaker
the legacy that we've left western civilization get rid of god get rid of truth and expect as we've said before this civilization to stand a lot of people don't realize it's rooted in a world view you take away the the foundation of the underpinning then it crumbles to the ground but You emphasize the worldview as you're building, and it's part of the superstructure. It sustains it. Jesus is our Savior King, or you know we've used the term Lord and Savior. Lord and King in this context could be interchangeable.
00:45:22
Speaker
And again, as we've said time and time again, salvation is paramount. We want to see souls saved. That's what we want more than anything. Yeah. But we also have to remember that Jesus did not come merely to save souls.
00:45:35
Speaker
He came to inherit a kingdom. And so the salvation of souls is how we enter that kingdom. But we don't just come into the gates of the kingdom. Yeah. we want We want to build that kingdom. That's it. And that's what we're called to do. That's it.
00:45:51
Speaker
Well, I appreciate it, unless you've got something else. I'm done. Yeah, we're about out of time. So keep thinking on these things, and we'll we'll keep the conversation going next time on Answering Pilot.
00:46:04
Speaker
The Answering Pilot podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina. You can learn more at www.randallhousebeer.com slash church. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at at Randall House Church.
00:46:19
Speaker
Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.