God's Master Plan to Restore Planet Earth

By John Barber

In my hometown of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida is one of the most beautiful sanctuaries in all America. It belongs to the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. The senior minister of the church is the prominent Presbyterian - Dr. D. James Kennedy. If ever you're travelling either north or south on North US I in Ft. Lauderdale, the church is virtually impossible to miss. So is its ministry — it's worldwide. From Evangelism Explosion, to Coral Ridge Ministries, to its international television and radio outreach, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is a model of a church that is committed to helping restore all of life to the glory of God.

The world-reaching commitment of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is clearly expressed in its vision statement: 'To glorify God by communicating the truth of Holy Scripture to our community while encouraging believers to become fully dependent on Jesus Christ and obedient to the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate.'

The vision statement of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church represents perhaps the best statement I've ever read of what a practical, biblical worldview is all about. It captures the essence of God's strategy to reclaim planet earth. It is the plumbline of Christian activism. In fact, all I will do here is simply reiterate the vision statement as a way of elaborating upon God's plan. God's master plan for restoring the earth is to use His Church in obedience to the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission.

What is the Cultural Mandate? It is God's charge to the Church found in Genesis I:28 to 'fill the earth and subdue it'. What is the Great Commission? It is Christ's charge to the Church found in Matthew 28:18-20 to reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism and discipleship. When we are active both in the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission we are being both 'sale and light in the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-1I6). We are both living and declaring that the world and all that it contains is subject to the eternal purpose and plan of God'.

In his book Led by the Carpenter, Dr. D. James Kennedy remarks, "God has given us His vision for His Church in the form of two great mandates: the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission - the first commandment He gave our first parents in Eden and the last commandment Christ left to us before He departed this world. In these mandates, God has given us our assignment, our goal, our task. Because of the global and all-encompassing nature of these mandates, we cannot escape the fact that His purpose for the Church is global and all encompassing...Even more challenging than the scope of God's vision for the Church is the profound depth of this vision! We are not simply to advertise a message. We are not simply to announce that Jesus has come. We are to fill the earth, to subdue it, and to have dominion over it! God has called us not merely to win souls but to claim Planet Earth in His name!"'

The Ingrown Church

Sadly, although most Christians have heard about both the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission, a large percentage of their knowledge is merely intellectual. Several years ago, I was a candidate for minister at a Presbyterian Church in California, I assumed that Californians were 'progressive and would look forward to the challenge of taking on their community - and yes - the world for Christ, I was wrong.

The more I engaged church members about their vision for ministry,

it became painfully obvious they weren't the least bit interested in anything but themselves. Then came the killer. During an interview with members of the congregation, one of the older women - a woman quite respected by the congregation - walked over to me, leaned over a bit, and said, We are your world? I was absolutely stunned. What was even more shocking was that not a single person in the room attempted to correct her. Obviously, I didn't get the job - thankfully.

My experience in California served as a wake-up call. It showed me how correct the late Dr. Jack Miller of World Harvest Missions was when he observed that the Church is 'ingrown' in our day. So just to make sure were all singing off the same song sheet, let me ask a couple of questions.

First, do you understand the purpose of both the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission?

Second, are you actively engaged in fulfilling both of these essential mandates? If not, let's begin by looking at the technical definition of the Great Commission.

The Textbook Definition

One of the greatest personal evangelists of the modern era, is Dr. Bill Bright. Here's how he defines the Great Commission in his book, Witnessing Without Fear. 'What I do know is that God has made it crystal clear in His Word that every Christian is to "Go and make disciples in all nations...and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you" (Matthew 28:19,20 TLB)"

Elsewhere Bill Bright observes, Jesus Christ's last command to the Christian community was, "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere" (Mark I6:15, TLB). This command, which the church calls the Great Commission, was not intended merely for the eleven remaining disciples, or just for the gift of evangelism. This command is the duty of every man and woman who confesses Christ as Lord. We can not pick and choose which commands of our Lord we will follow.

Now that's the technical definition of the Great Commission. However, the congregation back in California understood the technical definition. What they were missing was something a bit less tangible. It's this 'something else' that's the real crux of the issue for getting believers on fire and engaged in evangelism. Pastors have tried teaching, encouraging, and in some cases 'guilt-tripping their people into obeying the Great Commission with very little success in most cases.

I firmly believe that believers need to learn the Bible's instruction about the Great Commission. And for those that need to be swatted on the rump, perhaps a little guilt wouldn't be such a bad thing. But what the Church of today needs is not more teaching and cajoling about the Great Commission. What it needs is a heart for the lost!

How can we get one? Let me share some of my own personal struggles in this area by way of example. My hope is that by seeing yourself in this story, God will help you gain practical understanding into the Great Commission.

An Evangelism Washout

I'll never forget the first time I tried to share my faith. I was a complete failure. To make matters worse, it happened while I was a student at Westminster Theological Seminary. Aren't seminarians supposed to know how to share the gospel? I didn't. I signed up for a class in evangelism my first year. Later I was surprised to discover the class met in a home in downtown Philadelphia. We were actually going to do evangelism! The problem was that I didn't want to do evangelism - I merely wanted to sit in a class and get some head-knowledge. Was I ever in for a surprise!

I suspect it was rather evident to the class instructor - the late Dr. Jack Miller - that I was only attending the class in mind and body, but not in spirit. One day he literally grabbed me by the arm and dragged me over to a young Hispanic boy. Jack looked at the boy and asked, "What's your name?' He replied, 'Enrique. Jack said, 'Enrique, this is John. John, this is Enrique. John, Go! I knew what he meant. Dr. Miller wanted me to share the gospel with this fellow. I remember looking at Enrique with somewhat of a blank stare on my face. Then I thought that I'd better say something before Dr. Miller got the impression that I really didn't know how to share my faith.

So I started to talk. I said something about sin, a little something about Jesus, and muttered something else about faith. None of it made any sense. To make matters worse, I was absolutely scared out of my wits. And Enrique knew it. Finally Dr. Miller jumped in and bailed me out. He told Enrique about his spiritual need and all that Christ had done to reconcile him to his heavenly Father. Although Enrique didn't receive Christ that day, at least he heard a clear presentation of the gospel from Dr. Miller.

As I drove home, I couldn't get Enrique out of my mind. Where did I fail? Then it hit me. Although I hadn't yet learned how to articulate the gospel in a clear fashion, the real problem was deep in my heart - I didn't care about Enrique. I had absolutely no heart for the lost. After I got back to my rented room, I walked upstairs and lay on my bed. I began to cry. I prayed, 'God, here I am at one of the world's greatest seminaries. But deep down, I'm nothing but plastic. Please God, either make me real, or get me out!' Either God was going to fill me with a love for the lost, or I was committed to leaving seminary and never entering the ministry. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but at that moment, something warm came over me. I felt different.

Growing an Evangelist in the Pressure Cooker of Life

That summer I went home to Ft. Lauderdale. Although I needed a summer job, I was committed to finding a way to develop my new evangelism muscles. I didn't know when I would have the time to evangelize, because I needed to work a summer job in order to return to seminary. God really came through. Dr. Ross Bair hired me that summer to go door to door sharing the gospel in his community of Coral Springs, Florida as a representative of the Coral Springs Presbyterian Church. Wow! Not only did I find a job, I was actually hired to do evangelism! But I had no idea what I was in for.

Each day I woke to find myself gripped by the same fear that overcame me in the streets of Philadelphia. The difference was God had changed my heart. There was power to overcome the spirit of fear and timidity that stalked me daily. It was burning hot that summer as I trekked all over Coral Springs. I shared the gospel with people in front of stores, on sidewalks, and in restaurants.

I must have walked over I00 miles going door to door and telling anyone who would listen about Jesus. But as the weeks passed, it became all too obvious that no one had received Christ. Then late August came with my need to think about returning to seminary. But I was deeply troubled that no one had responded to the gospel. I asked God to move in someone's heart before I had to return to school.

I'll never forget my very last day in Coral Springs. It was literally the last hour of the last day of my summer job. I was walking down the middle of the road with homes on both sides - with my shirt sleeves rolled way up and sweat absolutely rolling down my face onto my already soaked shirt. I prayed, 'God, please - just one - let me see just one person accept you. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man standing on his front lawn. He yelled, 'Hey, what are you doing?' I yelled back that I was with the Coral Springs Presbyterian Church and was out sharing good news with anyone who would listen.

To my amazement, he actually seemed interested.

Without hesitation I stopped and introduced myself. He said, My name is Lindsay. Slowly I turned the conversation to the gospel. Then all of a sudden Lindsay said, You know — I'm a pilot. And sometimes when I'm 30,000 feet in the air, I can't help but think about eternal things. You could have knocked me over with a feather. But if that wasn't enough, Lindsay invited me into his home. As we talked about Jesus it was very clear God had prepared Lindsay for the gospel. In fact, I didn't even have to ask him if he wanted to receive Christ. Lindsay told me. We bowed our heads and prayed.

It was through these experiences and countless similar experiences, I've learned a valuable lesson. Christ never expected men to fully understand the Great Commission before obeying it. Much less did He ask us to treat it as a mere theological concept to be parsed and scrutinized - much like I planned to do as a seminarian. The Great Commission is to be obeyed. It is when we obey Christ's last directive to His Church that God begins to develop in us a love for the lost and the persevering hope for their salvation.

No didactic method can replace real-life experience for teaching us the meaning and all-importance of the Great Commission. Nor can the classroom substitute for revealing our ingrained resistance to sharing Christ. Until we obey our Lord's simple command to Gio', we will not fully see our fears and prejudices that have kept us from becoming dynamic witnesses for Christ. Nor will we experience the power of God made available to us, which alone can overcome our fleshly insecurities and is able to transform us into men and women with hearts for the lost.

The First Command: The Cultural Mandate

The first command God gave to man - but second in our study - is the Cultural Mandate. This mandate is found in Genesis 1:28: And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

God's order to the original couple represented a comprehensive directive to bring the primitive earth into submission to the will of man, as man himself served as God's representative, His' viceroy? Man is quite distinct from the rest of creation because he is the only creature that is created in the image of God. Man's unique relationship to God places him in the singular position to govern the earth on heaven's behalf. From the time of earliest man, humans have cultivated the soil, used the earth's produce to feed and clothe themselves, and have domesticated and harnessed animals into service. However,

we must be careful not to take God's command to 'fill the earth and subdue it' in the passive sense only. In other words, we are to do more than merely spread out and occupy the earth until the Lord returns.

As Meredith Kline has put it, this is a mandate for 'maximal global mastery? * It is therefore from this command that the Church recognizes its active role to claim every area of culture to the glory of God - including politics, the fine arts, science, law, medical ethics, and more.

While this latter emphasis is part of the Cultural Mandate, it is not especially clear from Genesis I:28. Some time ago, my wife Bonnie and I were discussing a political issue. At some point in the conversation I made reference to the Cultural Mandate. Bonnie said, 'Where is that in the Bible again?' I told her it was in Genesis 1. She thought for a minute and remarked, 'You know - I've often wondered about that text. How in the world did we get our responsibility to claim politics and other areas of culture for the glory of God from God's command to rule over the animals?' Good question.

The Cultural Mandate and Developing Nations

In time, man's progressive stewardship of the earth would lead him From his humble agrarian beginnings to using his ingenuity to develop all the earth's resources for the advancement of worldwide civilizations. The Scripture says, Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it' (Genesis 2:15). The word 'cultivate' (cf. Genesis 2:15), comes from the Latin root, cultere, meaning cultivator or planter. This root also gives us the word 'culture,' which is a general term we use to describe the ways of life associated with a people-group or civilization. This means that man's work of cultivating the earth is an all-inclusive concept that extends to every sphere of life where man's mind and hands are employed to control and utilize the processes of nature for the good of all. In his book, Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today, John R.W. Stott describes the scope of the Cultural Mandate: 'Developing tools and technology, farming the land, digging for minerals, extracting fuels, damming rivers for hydro-electric power, harnessing atomic energy - all are fulfillments of God's primeval command.

Nevertheless, because men have instinctively obeyed God's command to subdue the earth, it does not follow that every work performed by man in the cultivation process is a work God approves. The creation account records that man's job of cultivating the earth was to be an extension of the Maker's will for His creation, that it reflects His goodness.

The Scripture says, 'God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good' (Genesis I:31). The creation was 'very good' not because it bore a goodness apart from God, but because it was made by a very good God. The inseparable connection between the goodness of God and His good creation means that the Cultural Mandate cannot be seen apart from the ethical concerns of the Creator. Man may only cultivate the earth within the bounds of how God defines very good. Granted, God's curse upon the earth (in response to man's rebellion in the Garden), means that the earth has lost its unspoiled quality and is no longer very good'. However, God's unchanging goodness, as revealed in Scripture, still acts as the ultimate, ethical standard for man's labour in the culture and throughout the earth.

Nevertheless, the earth today abounds with the thorns and thistles of unethical men who are attempting to cultivate God's earth to the glory of Satan. This brings up an important question: Does the mandate to rule over the earth include an additional prescription to oppose the evils of culture? In other words, is it enough to advance God's holy standards in culture, or are believers also called upon to combat unrighteousness when it threatens to destroy culture? The answer is that believers are indeed called to this more negative side of the mandate as well. Because the cultivation of the earth is to reflect the moral principles of the Creator, a redeemed people must challenge Satan's illegitimate grab for control of society and to bring the earth, and all it contains, into conformity with the express goodness of God. Thus, the cultivation process is more than the mere by-product of people seeking subsistence, but also must include their active resistance when society's norms run counter to God's claims.

In his book, The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion, Stephen Carter argues that even though faith is inherently at conflict with the prevailing culture, to deny believers access to the debate over what is best for society is to deny them the expression of their faith. Carter acknowledges the danger of mixing religious and political entities too closely, but adds that the larger threat comes when the Church's voice is no longer welcome in discussions affecting public life. Carter's position is that one cannot separate the secular from the religious, for believer's participation in civic affairs is itself a religious act. For him, society must uphold and defend the ability of citizens to practice their faith, even when that practice breaches the limits of political correctness.

I agree with most of Carter's points, especially that a consistent faith is one that is prone to resist the accepted norms of secular society. However, where I believe Carter is in error is in his assumption that the starting point for this resistance is faith itself. Faith is not the basis for the Church's stand in the culture. God is. This is the point communicated by my third building block of a biblical worldview: God is a jealous God. Because God is the source of all life, He insists on being included and worshipped in every area of life?

We must not underestimate the importance of the above distinction. For if the elimination of the Church's voice from the cultural debate was nothing more than the suppression of people's faith, would not this suppression be justifiable, at least in those cases where faith had no public component?

For example, the Quakers have purposefully built a religious sub-culture, which allows them to argue that their faith would not be invalidated should someone attempt to silence their position on gays in the military', for instance. But God did not place an option clause on the Cultural Mandate, which says, 'Pietists need not obey. To'rule the earth is a command. It is a mandate intended to further God's good purposes for the earth - those that reflect His righteous character. When God and His grand design for planet earth are seen as the justification for the Cultural Mandate, it is not the expression of our faith that is denied when the world attempts to marginalize the Church's voice in the public square. Rather, it is God Himself who is being denied His rightful role in all things.

Until Christ returns for His Bride, the Cultural Mandate remains the Church's prime directive to dress the earth in a beauty and splendor that befits the Creator. But where there is perversity, it remains our role as redeemed men and women to challenge it and to expose it for what it is — a vain attempt to dethrone the Creator.

How the Great Commission Serves the Cultural Mandate

Although many Christians have heard about the Cultural Mandate, perhaps less is known about it than the Great Commission: This is unfortunate. For had not our first parents fallen into transgression, the Cultural Mandate would have remained God's only directive to man regarding his role in the world. Put another way — Genesis I:28 reveals the Cultural Mandate to be the real Great Commission for redeemed man! As a result, the Great Commission is not simply a means to populate heaven. Rather, Christ gave us the Great Commission as a way to gather an army of redeemed men and women for the work of the Cultural Mandate.

Dr. D. James Kennedy told a story before a Baptist assembly about a woman who asked him what he planned to do with all the people he was leading to Christ. The question caused him to pause and think. Over time, an answer began to formulate in his mind. The mission would be to lead as many people as he could to Christ and then enlist them into the work of transforming the culture for the glory of Christ. This is an important concept.

How the Cultural Mandate Serves the Great Commission

Now we have seen how the Great Commission serves the Cultural Mandate. Yet, there is also a way in which the reverse is true: the Cultural Mandate serves the Great Commission. In 1997, I wrote Do You Have a Biblical Worldview? The small booklet takes all the major themes associated with biblical worldview and boils them down to the size of a gospel tract. One Southern Baptist pastor was particularly interested in the booklet. However, he let me know right off the bat he was leery about the Cultural Mandate. He said, I don't want anything to do with that theology that says we're going to restore the world to a point, and then turn it over to Jesus when He returns? The pastor was referring to what is popularly known as Dominion, or Kingdom theology. Some people call it Christian Reconstructionism, or Theonomy. It holds that the Church's job is to turn over a near-perfect world to the Lord at His return, who shall then make all things absolutely perfect.

At any rate, not only did I manage to convince the Southern Baptist pastor that I wasn't a theonomist, I even excited him about the booklet to the point he ordered several hundred! What did I say that calmed his fears?

I shared that the Cultural Mandate is God's instrument to create a flourishing context for the reception of the gospel in the world, not a means to usher in the millennial reign of Christ. To prove my point, I took him to Acts 17, where we find Paul addressing the Athenians at Mars Hill. The 'Areopagus' was a court where questions of a religious nature were discussed and decisions were reached. However, by the time Paul arrived in Athens, the court had degenerated into a place where all the Athenians did was debate, argue, and discuss the latest religious fad. Decisions were a thing of the past. Verse 2I says the Athenians used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new. The Athenians were not prepared for what they were to hear from Paul. His message was more than just another 'twist' on life. His was the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Part way into Paul's sermon he says, and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, "for we also are His offspring" (Acts 17:26-27). Paul is saying to the Athenians that the Creator is responsible for placing all order and design in the world. Although scholars are split over the exact meaning of Paul's use of 'appointed times' and 'boundaries of their habitation', clearly Paul is here describing a highly organized world that owes its design features to the Creator.

However, important as this is, it is the purpose Paul assigns to this order that is our interest. Paul says the reason God placed order in the world is so we 'should seek God'. In other words, God has established order to better facilitate man's coming to God. The fact is that anarchy does not provide an environment conducive to honest religious inquiry. There's just too much flying around. However, where there is order and our surroundings are not fighting for our attention, our hearts and minds are free to focus on the more important issues bearing eternal weight.

In both Genesis 1:28 and 9:1-7, God intends the Cultural Mandate to serve as His directive to redeemed man to maintain the order God placed in His world, better enabling all men to seek the truth. It is in this sense of upholding and conserving the creation in its balance and design, that the Cultural Mandate serves the Great Commission. For where there is lack of order, men are preoccupied with non-order. But where there is peace, men are free to discern the meaning behind their liberty. They are free to both hear and respond to the call of God upon their lives.

Let me illustrate. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida displacing literally thousands of people. Within hours of the devastation, well-meaning friends of mine wanted to run down to Homestead to pass out gospel tracts. But I implored them to wait until at least a modicum of order returned to the area. My fear was that people would be so upset they would not be able to give the evangelists any attention. My recommendation to my friends was first to practice the Cultural Mandate. I said, 'Help clear the rubble and just be "salt" in Homestead until order is re-established. Then after things have calmed down a bit - begin to practice the Great Commission.'

A Circular Argument

Now the question becomes, 'How does God define order?' By His standards found in the Bible. When culture is operating by God's standards, it helps to fulfill God's eternal plan of salvation. Thus, we are faced with a circular argument. God's plan includes using you to share the gospel so that people will receive Christ. This is the Great Commission. But it doesn't end there. God will then use you to shape culture - indeed every area of life - according to His standards. This is the Cultural Mandate. As God's standards are applied to the world, order is preserved creating conditions that contribute to more people receiving Christ. And on it goes.

Between the Great Commission serving the Cultural Mandate, and the Cultural Mandate serving the Great Commission, I contend that the latter relationship is the more important one. Unless the Cultural Mandate is principally seen as a servant of the Great Commission, we will run the risk of allowing the Church's earthly agenda to overshadow its heavenly agenda. The Cultural Mandate is not an end in itself. It is a means toward an end - the building of God's spiritual kingdom on earth.