Every worldview has an ideal society as its goal. What is the Christian worldview of the ideal society?
First, the ideal society must begin with God. Because we were created to have a relationship with God, there is deep yearning for Him in all people, regardless of how hard they may try to cover it up or deny it. Without this relationship, we will always have a deep hole in our hearts, a deep yearning, lacking fulfillment and peace in our lives. Nothing else can fill this void. Therefore, making this the top priority in our lives and society is essential.
The degree to which we get our relationship with God right will determine the degree to which we can get anything else right. Without question, this has proven to be a great struggle for mankind. Not only are there many religions, but within each religion there are divisions and conflicts. Christians also have many diverse opinions about who can approach and relate to God and how to worship Him. This struggle reflects how far we are from the ideal and how important this is.
The second aspect of an ideal society is our relationship with fellow human beings. The first thing God declared as “not good” was for man to be alone. God said this when man had God. Many think, and some teach, that all we need for fulfillment is found in our relationship with God, but God said this was not true. Certainly our relationship to God is the most important thing, but He made us to need one another too. Man was created a social being. We all need people in our lives. As much as we may try to escape this, we need one another.
Thirdly, an ideal society has a right relationship to the creation. The first job God gave man was to “cultivate” the garden in which God had placed him. This word “cultivate” could have been translated “tend, oversee, manage, care for, etc.” From the beginning, man was created to have responsibility—a job to do and a domain to watch over and protect. This too is fundamental to a healthy, balanced, fulfilling life.
These are the three basic elements of what we are called to be and do as human beings. It is a “cord of three strands” that, when together in proper balance, cannot be easily broken. These tie together the three aspects of who we are as spirit, soul, and body. Therefore, what will it look like when the ideal society has these in right order? It will be The City of God.
The City of God is the ultimate society. It was this vision that compelled Abraham to leave the greatest human culture of the time and his place in that culture as an obvious member of its aristocracy. He was willing to go to places he did not know to be a part of what God was going to build. This is the same vision that has compelled every true sojourner since.
Seeing this city is the core purpose of building our worldview. A Christian worldview is to see this world as Christ does. This begins with seeing it the way it is called to be. Then we can accurately evaluate the way things now are, how far we need to go to be what we are created to be, and the next step of the journey to get there.
It is crucial that we build our worldview this way, seeing God’s purpose first, because our purpose is to point the world that has gone astray from its purpose back to the right road that will lead to us fulfilling our purpose. This right road is the highway described in Isaiah 40 that we are to build to prepare the way for the Lord, which is to prepare the way for His kingdom.
Christ’s view of this world is one in which everyone is being and doing all they were created to be and to do, in perfect harmony with God, themselves, one another, and the rest of creation. This is the ultimate society that the church is called to demonstrate and a prophecy of the coming kingdom in which this will be true of all. How close are we to being this? How do we get there? These are questions every Christian should be asking until we have answers, and until we become a demonstration of those answers.
