Concerning the World.

Christ shared fully in that creative work (John 1:1-3). All things were created by him and in him all things hid together (Col. 1:16-17). Our heavenly Father is creatively active in the world (John 5:17; 9:3-4) and will be triumphant over Satan in the world (Rev. 11:15; 12:10; 20:1-3). God loves the world and the peoples of the world (John 3:16). In Christ he reconciles the world to himself and has committed to us the ministry of recon¬ciliation (2 Cot. 5:18-19). Our “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20, NASB). We should seek the things that are above (Col. :1-3); but while we are in the world, we should cooperate with our heavenly Father in the work he is doing. The term “world” is used to represent evil, however, when the reference is to individu¬als or social structures that are alienated from God.

In this sense we should not love the things of the world (1 John 2:15), should beware of friendship with the world (I John 4:4), and should keep ourselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27). Christ wants us to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:15-16). Our Creator-Rede4emer, the sovereign God of the universe, is concerned about and has a purpose for every aspect of the life of the world he has made. We are responsible for caring for the world’s limited resources (Gen. 1:27-30; 2:15). Through our daily work, as well as through our home and our church, we should seek to extend his righteous rule (Matt. 6:33), knowing that his kingdom comes as his will is done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).

Christian Life.

Christians should ex¬press the Christian spirit in every relationship of life: in the church, the home, and the world in general. We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth (Mart. 5:13-16). We are to walk in the light as he is in the light (1 John 1:7). The resurrected Christ lives in us and expresses himself through us (Eph. 4:22-24). Like our Lord, we should go about doing good (Acts 10:38). We should measure our lives by nothing less than the perfection that is in the Father (Mart. 5:48). Any gifts we may have are from the Lord, and we are responsible to him for what we do with them (Luke 19:12-26; 1 Cot. 12:8-11).

We should so mature in the Lord that the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), much of which is clearly social, will flow increasingly and natural¬ly from our lives. We should not remain “babes in Christ” (1 Cot. 3:1-2); but should mature so we can teach others (Heb. 5:11-14). Righteousness, conformity to God’s moral law, is a concept with profound social dimensions which is greatly empha¬sized in the Bible and which characterizes the Christian life (Amos 5:24; Mart. 5:6; 2 Tim. 2:22).

Concerning the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is basically a spiritual kingdom (John 18:36; Rom. 14:17); but since God is the sovereign God of the universe, the impact of his kingdom extends to every area of life of the individual and the world. The kingdom or reign of God comes as his will is done (Mart. 6:10), as his righteous rule is extended (Matt. 6:33). Entrance into the kingdom is ethically conditioned (Matt. 5:20; 7:21), including unselfish service to those in need (Matt. 25:31-46). The kingdom, a present reality as well as a future hope, should be sought first by the Christian (Mart. 6:33). Iris the treasure hid in a field, the pearl of great price for which we should be willing to give up all that we have (Matt. 13:44-46). The kingdom should not only be the supreme good for the individual Christian but also for the Christian home, the church, the de¬nomination. Greatness in the kingdom is based on service (Mart. 20:26-28).