A Plain Answer: Discipling the Nations and Establishing Christian Institutions - Rev. Bret McAtee

Redeemer Broadcasting : A Plain Answer

Have you thought about Christian Civilization? Maybe you have, but its only in the future, that is, once the Lord returns. We hope and pray that the Lord returns as soon as He completes His work in this world. But what about this time that we live in now? We need to focus on winning whole nations to Christ, and not the atomistic individual only. Behind this discussion is this... What does Christ have to say about our involvement in this world as we participate in our jobs? Is it legitimate to want to establish Christian institutions? Why would we even ask that? Well, there are some sincere folks who believe in a sort of radicalized notion of "two kingdoms," (R2K). To them, Jesus is over the church and that alone constitutes the Kingdom of God, but everything else is in a lesser "common" realm. Under this "R2K" view, the only sacred realm is the sort of restricted "Kingdom of God" that roughly corresponds to the visible church. That is redemptive, supernatural. While the other kingdom is the realm of our common duties and vocations, which are neither holy nor unholy. These vocations stand only under God's general providence. This R2K view seems to undermine the expectation of the success of Christian civilization prior to the second coming, minimizing the discipleship of the nations that Christ intends. In this R2K view, grace does not restore nature. But if we allow Christianity and the church to stand unrelated to the rest of culture, we seem to believe that the work of the Son of God in redemption is unrelated to the Father's work of creation. Contrast this R2K view with the biblical notion that Jesus is Lord over everything, and therefore has a claim over every area. R2K can be contrasted with the biblical idea that the entire world stands under the kingship of the glorified Man at God's right hand, including the work of the Christian plumber, and in a certain sense, even including the work of the non-Christian plumber. That is, the glorified Man at God's right hand is King over the entire universe (Mt. 28:18) with no domains excepted. See the difference? The Scriptures seem to teach a more thorough going transformation of spirit, with changed lives, including functioning within various societal relationships, and from there influencing culture as a whole. So that the Christian faith provides an integrative-comprehensive understanding for all of living in the world. Colossians 1:15-18 says "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." We also cover three types of families in history: the trustee, the domestic, and the atomistic families. The focus here is on the Trustee family. Today we begin to touch upon this important subject and talk with the pastor of Christ the King Reformed Church in Charlotte, Michigan, and who also runs the online blog Iron Ink: https://ironink.org/, and runs Iron Rhetoric: http://ironrhetoric.org/ Participants: Pastor Bret McAtee, Dan Elmendorf