(May - June 2025)
Doctrinal Focus - New Creation
From the Biblical story’s beginning with the revelation that “God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1), to its final depiction of the world transformed into “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:1), Scripture presents the story of the world as God’s creation project.1
Sadly, many Christians hear the word “creation” and think only of “origins.” But the Bible presents the world and its entire history as a story in which God forms, facilitates, and fulfills his Kingdom purposes for the world and the people he created.1
God created humanity to be his priests and kings (Gen 1:26-31). But God’s gracious provision assumed man’s failure, knowing full well that it would be the second Adam, not mankind, who would be God’s proper and complete image-bearer (Col 1:15). The rest of God’s creation project would involve the transformation of humanity –beginning with Israel and expanding to the Church – into the image of Christ.1
This understanding of God’s purpose means that Christianity is an invitation to be fully human. Jesus is the most human amongst us, and being formed into his image means becoming more fully human. The gnostic tendencies (i.e., the separation of the spiritual from the physical) of many Christians today reveal a misunderstanding of the truth that God made the world “very good” (Gen 1:31) and as his intended dwelling place.1 The plan is not for creation to be eventually thrown on a burn pile. God plans to make creation anew (“...may your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”). The gospels go out of their way to point out that after the resurrection, something new and fresh has happened. Christ is able to eat fish, and Thomas touches the wounds in his hands, yet he passes through locked doors and disappears from sight. These are signposts for what is to come for us in Christ and for the rescue of creation. If a sick person is a shadow of their former self, then we are all shadows of our future selves in the new heavens and the new earth!2
Disciplined Practice - Celebration
How then do we put these truths about God’s inaugurated Kingdom into practice? By working at our vocations as royal priests, wisely exercising dominion over creation as his image bearers (royal calling) and gathering up the worship of creation to give back to God (priestly calling). We get to be co-creators in God’s resurrection, new-creation project. Participating in this endeavor requires the indwelling of the Spirit. This aspect of the spiritual life has traditionally been associated with the charismatic life of Jesus’s ministry. We see Christ healing the sick, knowing the hearts of others, and more. The word charismatic comes from the Greek charismata, meaning “gifts of grace.” God’s mission for creation and our lives must be about more than just getting saved and then telling others how to be saved (though obviously it is nothing less than that).
So, how can we practice at new-creation? Well, it’s basically the opposite of fasting. Whereas fasting subtracts to narrow our focus on the things of God, the discipline of celebration embodies what has been done for us via addition. For example, you can learn to grill a perfect filet, rehab an old piece of furniture, plant some cucumbers, paint a canvas, write a poem, compose music, train to run a 5k with a friend, or anything else that’s wholesome and fruitful and outgoing and self-giving! You can think of this as a practical way of fleshing out Paul's plea to think about everything worthy of praise (Phil. 4:8). See how this right belief (orthodoxy) fits with this right practice (orthopraxy)? If we believe that God is coming to bring heaven to earth, and that He is interested in rescuing His creation, not destroying it and starting over, then what we do here, in our lives, with the time we have, matters (1 Cor. 15:58). “Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk…and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world - all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God.”1
We may only be able to take up a new thing for six weeks following Easter, but that’s still great. “Hopefully, it will give you a sniff of new possibilities, new hopes, new ventures you never dreamed of. It might bring something of Easter into your innermost life. It may help you wake up in a whole new way.”2
Directed Affections - Joy
Easter tide is a time of celebration. And joy is the name of the game. “Easter is about the wild delight of God’s creative power…we ought to shout Alleluias instead of murmuring them; we should light every candle in the building…we should have a real bonfire…Easter week…ought to be an eight day festival, with champagne served at morning prayer or even before, with lots of Alleluias and extra hymns and spectacular anthems. Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don’t throw our hats in the air?...This is our greatest day. We should put the flags out.”2
However, we are at risk of forcing disingenuous feelings. “Many people try to come into joy far too soon. Often we try to pump up people with joy when in reality nothing has happened in their lives. God has not broken into the routine experiences of their daily existence. Celebration comes when the common ventures of life are redeemed.”3 Spiritually speaking, only obedience to God will produce genuine joy. And it's that sense of joy, full of thanksgiving, that leads to our strength (Neh. 8:10). The strength to withstand the cares of this world with a sense of steadfast hope. Because of our hope in new creation, we get to mindfully acknowledge our worries, take a step back, and disagree with their catastrophized futures.
Potential Spiritual Pitfalls
The greatest risk here is that Easter would become merely esoteric and ethereal, something we abstractly understand but with which we do not physically and emotionally engage. If creation as a whole and we as a part of it have not and are not being rescued, then there is nothing to celebrate. But if it has, then there is everything to be joyful about. Likewise, if everything is destined to be destroyed, then sacrifice and effort towards God’s purposes are at risk of becoming merely expressions of our devotion, or at worst a roundabout way of proving to God that we deserve his grace. Since these sacrifices in Christ will find their way into the new creation, then the sacrifices we make now to be patient with our children when we are tired or to show mercy to the person we want to hate, do have everlasting, physical, real, and embodied consequences.
Small Group Discussion
How does this teaching differ or agree with what you have understood about the future of creation and your life here and now as a Christian?
2. How does this understanding affect your life after you are saved (justified by faith)?
3. What might you take up as a new-creation project during Eastertide (from Easter until Pentecost)?
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-beginning-and-end-of-all-things-a-biblical-theology-of-creation-and-new-creation/
N.T. Wright in Surprised by Hope
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster