Make All Things New

Between Two Worlds

“This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right.” (p 247) And that is how Marshall begins the final chapter. The focus, our focus, he contends should not be so much on the here and now but the hereafter. Marshall explains that this book is not intended to be a “how to” of the Christian life rather “to suggest the spirit in which” we are called to live as Christians. According to Marshall, the truth is that this world is our home, that our service here in this world is service to God, what we accomplish here we accomplish forever and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. These are the truths he encourages us to live by.

The New Creation

I enjoyed this chapter and found it helpful in thinking through some aspects of the new earth. Marshall really focuses on discussing two points in this chapter: 1) our bodily resurrection, like Jesus’, will be physical and 2) the meaning of 2 Peter 3:7. While he does cover some other subjects (albeit briefly), I think these are the most interesting in the chapter.

Marshall shows how Jesus’ resurrection was physical by reminding us that Jesus broke bread with the disciples, he cooked and ate fish with them, and Jesus also showed Thomas the physical scars of his crucifiction. While Marshall acknowledges there were some things that were different about the resurrected Jesus (like appearing among the disciples even though the doors were locked in John 20:19), his point is the similarities (physically) pre and post-resurrection are profound.

“But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3:7) Marshall emphasizes that Peter is not saying that all of creation will be destroyed but rather that creation will be refined. As Marshall states, “[Peter] is writing about the fire of judgment that destroys the sinful and the wrong, not the fire of destruction that destroys creation itself.” (p 237) I think this is an important distinction. While not everyone I discuss this with agrees, it does appear to me that how you interpret this 2 Peter passage will in large part determine how you engage the culture here and now.

Patience and Long-suffering

In this brief chapter, Marshall discusses not only the perfect long-suffering our Lord but the endurance need for the saints.  The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the “already-not yet” aspect of the kingdom of God.  Marshall quotes several passages which speak of the kingdom being here now (Lk. 17:20-21, Mt. 12:26-28, Mk. 1:15, Mk 12:2 and Mk 9:1) but the kingdom has not yet arrived in its fullness because the King is not here… yet.  For us who live in between “already” and “not yet”, “our hope, our joy, our expectation is from heaven; our resurrection, our renewal, our rejoicing will surely come from there.”  We are to patiently endure this long in between.  Marshall explains:

Being patient in the face of sin doesn’t mean we believe that sinful ways of life are good or that it doesn’t matter what anyone does.  It simply means that not all things can be fixed right now.  We cannot right all wrongs; we cannot stop all evil; we cannot compel all to follow God’s ways.  We have to endure these things, often with long-suffering.  We are not to in a sprint; we are in a marathon, we have miles to go, and we will not quickly cross the finish line.  We must run on in a world of intermingled healing and pain, good and evil. (p 227)

Enlightened Evangelism

Marshall states his view on the Christian life and evangelism quite succinctly on pages 209-210:

When men and women turn to Jesus Christ in real, concrete repentance from sin and, by grace through faith, are restored in God’s favor, they are called to begin to live out the healing and restoration of Christ’s redemption, taking up their Christian responsibility for the direction of human life and culture. Evangelism is, in a way, the recruiting process for this life whereby people are called out for service to God’s kingdom. Evangelism calls people to repentance and to love God. We are called to a new life of service to our neighbors. This is the Christian life.

There is much that could be unpacked and dissected in that statement. While I would not want to copy it verbatim as a statement of what I believe the gospel and Christian life to be completely about, I do think Marshall is right in speaking of “living out the healing and restoration of Christ’s redemption..” I agree with the idea that there is more to the gospel than an individual’s salvation and that there is more to evangelism than sharing about sin and repentance (there’s also restoration – that’s good news!). Evangelism that just focuses sin and repentance often makes us appear (while truthful) very uncaring. However, good works apart from sharing the gospel make us like any other social improvement organization. Recently, I received a letter requestion my support for a friend’s running a race to raise money for cancer. In the letter my friend mentioned that Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed that is the only thing that ever has.” Well, I respectfully disagree. Jesus Christ is the changer of the world, not people. While people are used in His plan to restore, make no mistake, apart from Christ our efforts are filthy rags. And likewise, I fear that our mercy efforts, apart from the proclamation of Christ, are just Mead-esque efforts to change the world in our own strength.

In an effort to move towards the center on this, Marshall explains the problem with pulling the other way:

If we try to make all our art, work, detective stories, or legislation simply a means to win others, we cause all sorts of problems. Our art will degenerate to propaganda. People will avoid talking to us at work, except to conduct essential business. Those around us will think that we don’t take our writing seriously, or our job seriously, on its own account. Most important, they will assume that we don’t take them seriously. This is why many non-Christians avoid evangelicals like the plague: they don’t want to get grabbed, buttonholed, “shared” with, or otherwise commandeered. (p 210)

Marshall shares an excellent quote on the subject by C.S. Lewis. While I won’t share the quote in it’s entirety here, I will say that Lewis suggested that “What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects — with their Christianity latent.” (p 211) Latent Christianity planted within the culture is a form of evangelism worth meditating on for sure! Marshall shares how Lewis did just that with the classic Chronicles of Narnia series.

Marshall finish this stirring chapter with thoughts on Christian involvement in media and considering whether Paul would have used TV and radio. Thought provoking reading for me.

Worship and Idolatry

Chapter thirteen is the first portion of Part V (the final section of the book) entitled, “Our Hope For the World”.

Marshall begins by sharing that all of creation declares God’s glory (Ps. 19:1) and that when we worship, we are joining in with the creation in glorifying God. He states that worship really isn’t us creating something but rather we join in the creation’s praise to God. While much of the rest of this chapter is quite typical of a discussion on worship, Marshall distinction of all of creation worshiping God was interesting.

Idolarty, according to Marshall is putting creation in the place of God instead of seeing it as a good gift from God. “Whenever we hold something apart from God to be the core or key to our problems, we make an idol.” (p 191) Again, this is typical explanation of idolatry but Marshall adds a distinction, a nuance, that I like on page 194:

“Everything in the creation is given for our good and is meant to be used rightly to bring blessings. But none of them cane be the final cause of hope, or the foundation of peace, or the source of love. none of them can be trusted in or relied upon for our ultimate salvation. All of them find their proper place only when we humbly rely upon God’s faithfulness, justice, and mercy.”

While this may not be earth-shattering, the distinction, in my opinion, is important. And the distinction, if you missed it, is that the creation is a good thing but elevated above God, it becomes a bad thing. Idolatry isn’t necessarily about desiring bad things but more often about desiring good thing too much. I was grateful for Marshall’s reminder that creation, in its proper place in our hearts, is good. Creation isn’t the problem, sin is.

Creativity and Technology

Shortly into this chapter, Marshall seems to state his position clearly: “Technology, properly used, is a gift from God.” (p 171) And he later cautions, “But if we think we can address the fundamental problems of humankind without addressing human guilt, human responsibility, human morality, and the reality of human freedom, then we are living in a dream world:we are insane.” (p 175). Yet again we are faced with the two extreme options and Marshall believes both are wrong. Neither is technology the key to better life nor is technology the problem with life. The problem, Marshall states, is human pride. (p 175) I believe that more correctly, the problem is sin. The technology itself is not the problem, sin is. Marshall shows that the Bible never condems technology itself (even though Cain made the first city and the tower of Babel was great sin against God). The problem is our ego not our innovation. The emphasis for Christians when it comes to technology should be a theme of responsibility. This, of course, is a challenging task.

Imagination and the Arts

Much should be said about this subject yet surprisingly, this was a very short chapter. Marshall’s use of scripture for this subject was interesting (not in a bad way). He began with the “Master Artist” in Genesis, spoke of the “an ancient fashion designer” of Proverb 31 and then Bezalel (temple craftsman) in Exodus 35. The point in sum: artistic skill is a gift from God to be used in the service of others.

The remainder of the chapter discusses a Christian view of fashion and food. I truly appreciated how Marshall was measured in what he wrote. He continually stresses that it is not the fine clothes or good foods that are a problem but rather the spirit with which we partake in these things. On the other side, he does seem to balance this with reminding us of stewardship of both time and money.

Marshall closes the book with this encouraging quote: “As we create…we mirror, in small portion, the genius of our Creator.” (p 166) I believe that knowing this, we should should be compelled to do all things for and to His glory.

Our Political Responsibility

This chapter seems to communicate the same call for engagement that has become familiar with this book. Much like all aspects of culture, Christians tend to one of two extremes: submersion or avoidance. Marshall calls Christians to be involved in the governance of people in a balanced way. I think he is communicating the same “be in the world but not of the world” attitude with politics.

After a brief discussion on the history of politics within the Bible, Marshall gives us three difficulties democracies must contend with (p 146):
1) “If governments are responsible to their entire population, we as Christians have to respect and give room to others in the society to exercise their responsibility, whether they are Christian or not.”
2) “At the same time, governements cannot always simply do what most of the people want.”
3) “Governments cannot simply ignore what people want.”

The above tensions are what often cause Christians to be uncomfortable with what appears like compromise. While recognizing that it can be messy, Marshall says it is better than the alternatives. He states, “As Christians we are called to enter into this frustrating and freeing, exhausting and exhiarating struggle to make possible what is right.” (p 148)

The Natural World

Chapter nine marks the beginning of part IV (of V) in the book. This part is entitled, “Our Taks in the World” and looks to be quite practical and helpful. Let’s begin by taking a look at Marshall’s take on the natural world.

God values nature and as God’s image bearers, we too value it too. The tendency in our society is to go to one extreme or the other. To either over-value nature to the point of wanting to keep it pristine, or to underv-value nature because its destined for final destruction. The Christian view of nature keep us from both extremes. God’s command to us is to be stewards of the natural world. Marshall states that there are two aspects to God’s command: “to properly cultivate the earth and to preserve it, it to use it and maintain it.” (p 128)

Marshall documents the common failure of Christian in this area and the false idea of “domination” that results. Stewardship is not domination. As stewards of the earth, our responsibility is far-reaching in scope and steward properly, we must treat things “in the way that God calls us to treat them.” (p 132)

The Pleasures of Play

I have to admit, I was really looking forward to this chapter. It’s not often (enough, in my opinion) that we hear or read about the Christian perspective on leisure. So perhaps it was my high level of anticipation that led to me being a bit disappointed with this chapter. Perhaps, but I think it was the lack of what I would consider solid scriptural support for the concept of play that caused my disappointment. Understand, I enjoyed what I read in this chapter, I just kept asking myself, “Is this what the Bible has to say about play?” Philosophically speaking the discussion was great, I just found it a bit lacking in biblical support. So if anyone has any suggestions for further study on play and leisure within the Christian worldview, I’d be interested in knowing about it.

All that said, let me share a few things that I did find noteworthy about the chapter. Marshall does wrestle with the sometimes difficult distinction between work and play. What is one person’s work, is another person’s play. Recognizing this, Marshall states, “It’s not the activity itself that makes the difference between work and play, or even rest. It’s the spirit in which we engage in them.” (p 107) While reading this I couldn’t help but think of some of the things I like to do to just relax. I really enjoy shooting hoop in my driveway. For some reason, shooting clears my head and while it is a somewhat physical activity, it doesn’t really tirer me out. But then I wonder if this holds true for my friend Joe (he is a professional basketball player). Would it really be play for him to just go outside and shoot hoops? According to Marshall’s examples it would not be play. But I find that this may not be true based on the quote above. If Joe can enjoy the act of shooting a basketball with a playful spirit, would he then be engaged in play? For Marshall also states that, “Play is what we do for no reason at all. Play is not done for any reason outside of itself. It is done for its own sake.” So play is something that is done purely for the sake of doing that something. If that is the standard (and I think that it is a good starting point) then I believe most of my leisure activities are not play. I probably spend much play time not enjoying the activity for the activity’s sake but for the outcome.

Perhaps the most entriguing portion of the chapter was when Marshall states this: “Why are they [playful activities] godly? Because they’re useless, and play really is intended to be useless.” That was a bit shocking to me and definitely held my attention. He goes on to explain what he means useless by defining useful. “A useful thing or act or practice has its goal outside of itself.” (p 111) If we work to make money, we are not working for the sake of working. One who lifts weights to stay fit, is not lifting for the sake of lifting. These activities have a goal outside of themselves. Therefore, a “useless” activity would be one in which the goal is within itself. The actual doing of the act is the goal. I think this is a very interesting point philosophically, I just wasn’t convinced by the biblical support (little) provided for this particular concept.

Marshall quotes a couple of texts from Deuteronomy (26:12 and 14:24-26) to show that God calls his people to celebrate and party. My question is, was their partying to merely be for the sake of partying? That is, the partying wasn’t a “useless” (and therefore) playful activity. Was the partying playful or was the partying for goal outside of itself; namely, worshiping God. This just isn’t made clear to me based on this chapter.

So I move out of the chapter on play not fully convinced and a little confused but enjoying this book all the same.