Our Role In the Rescue

When Christians talk about "saving souls" they miss the full hope of the Gospel. The beautiful hope is that God will one day restore all of creation. Our role as followers of Jesus is to build for the kingdom.

NT Wright puts it this way: "God longed, in other words, to reestablish his wise sovereignty over the whole creation, which would mean a great act of healing and rescue. He did not want to rescue humans from creation any more than he wanted to rescue Israel from the Gentiles. He wanted to rescue Israel in order that Israel might be a light to the Gentiles, and he wanted thereby to rescue humans in order that humans might be his rescuing stewards over creation." Surprised By Hope

As followers of Jesus this has important implications. It means that what we do, now/today, echoes. It beckons us to see salvation on a larger scale: a radical healing of all creation. It means that when we care for our created world, spend time looking after the sick, or advocating for the oppressed we do so not to gain leverage in attracting/getting people to believe what we do about God, but rather that God somehow uses our work of mercy, love, and justice as building blocks for his kingdom; a kingdom that is both, in some manner, already present (visible through the work of his Church), and yet to come (in fullness with the Lordship and victory of Christ).