When I first moved permanently to Australia long ago (having an Australian wife was my excuse), I could not get Australian citizenship unless I gave up my American citizenship. I chose to stay as I was. Later on, however that requirement was dropped, and I can now hold two passports simultaneously if I want. But being a bit lazy, hating forms and spending money, I have not yet become an Aussie citizen!
The Christian knows about such dual citizenship issues. We became citizens of heaven after being adopted into God’s family through Christ. But we still live in this world, which in so many ways is enemy territory, a place at war against God. But we also understand that God made this world, and even though the Fall has tarnished everything under the sun, it is still part of his original good creation.
So we can appreciate so much of what is found in this world, be it a good day’s work, appreciation of beauty, close relationships, eating a nice meal, engaging in sports, cultivating strong friendships, and a million other things. But the world system as such is at enmity with God, so we are not to be friends with the world in that sense.
In some ways we are to affirm the world, and in other ways we are to deny the world. It can be a bit tricky at times, but that is part of how it is to be a Christ-follower in a fallen world. See much more detail on this matter here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/08/16/world-affirming-or-world-denying/
Again, while we do not want to get overly attached to this world and everything in it, we can still enjoy it, appreciate it, and use it for God and his glory. What we do, we can do with thanksgiving, giving glory to God. This can include so many things, whether taking pride in a bookcase you just constructed, enjoying a beautiful sunset, or having a terrific weekend together with close friends.
All the things that we can rightly and properly enjoy in this life are but foretastes of that which is to come. There will be after all a new heaven and a new earth. So it seems that much of the good stuff we enjoy in this life will be with us in the next.
But at the same time we must be on guard: there is of course so much that is evil, ungodly, sinful and diabolical in this world. We need to have the same attitude to this as did Christ and the early believers. They were well aware of how much this world is at odds with the world to come.
They knew that the Kingdom of God was at variance with the kingdoms of this world. As such, they were deeply grieved and bothered by sin and evil and idolatry. We especially see this being played out in the book of Acts. What we read about Paul as he went to Athens to share the gospel is a clear case in point.
This is what we find in Acts 17:16: “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” This great city was clearly at odds with God and his values, as idolatry was rife and false beliefs prevailed.
A few scholarly remarks are worth sharing here before continuing. I. Howard Marshall says this in his 1980 commentary:
Although Athens had once been the intellectual centre of the ancient world, it was now in a period of decline. It was a free city and had a famous university, but it tended to live on its reputation. When Paul arrived, he was not so much impressed by the culture as irritated by the evidences of idolatry. ‘He found himself confronted by a veritable forest of idols, with vast numbers of images of Hermes all over the city and especially at the entrance to the agora (RSV market place) through which he probably walked.
John Stott says this about the passage:
Paul was no uncultured philistine. In our terms he was a graduate of the universities of Tarsus and Jerusalem, and God had endowed him with a massive intellect. So he might have been spellbound by the sheer splendour of the city’s architecture, history and wisdom. Yet it was none of these things which struck him. First and foremost what he saw was neither the beauty nor the brilliance of the city, but its idolatry. The adjective Luke uses (kateidolos) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and has not been found in any other Greek literature. Although most English versions render it ‘full of idols’, the idea conveyed seems to be that the city was ‘under’ them. We might say that it was ‘smothered with idols’ or ‘swamped’ by them.
The Message of Acts (The Bible Speaks Today Series)by Stott, John (Author)
And these remarks from R. Kent Hughes are also worth running with:
No doubt Paul appreciated much of the city’s beauty, being a man of culture. Nevertheless, “his spirit was provoked.” The Greek literally means this was a paroxysm. He was angry about a lie. As a Jewish monotheist, he would have been disturbed, and as a Christian apostle he was even more enraged! Every idol demonstrated the Athenians’ hunger for God, but it also testified to their spiritual emptiness. Ignorant of the true God, the Athenians were lost! Paul felt desperate concern for the spiritual need before his eyes. As had happened with Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:9), an urge to speak came like a burning fire, and the apostle could not hold it in. As believers, our hearts should ache and our eyes blur at what we see around us—ignorant souls denying the one God and giving allegiance to false deities. If we experience no inner paroxysms, we either have not truly been redeemed by Jesus Christ or we have become apathetic to the things of God. Paul could not be indifferent or detached. So he jumped right in, raging heart and all….
Now I have been to Greece – and to Italy, and other amazing European locations that are thousands of years old. They are certainly incredible places to visit. There is so much rich history, culture, architecture and artwork to admire there and to be amazed at. Simply walking through the Pantheon or Colosseum in Rome or visiting the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens is a mind-boggling experience.
We believers today can enjoy being tourists at such places, and soaking in the amazing heritage of such cities, marvelling at some of the great achievements of mankind over the centuries. Yet we also need to be like the Apostle Paul.
Whether we are just visiting or actually living in great contemporary cities such as Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Los Angeles, Chicago, orToronto, we ought to emulate Paul in being stirred in the spirit and grieving over the idolatry, the sinfulness, and the anti-god ethos and worldview that pervades them all.
What breaks the heart of God, in other words, should break our hearts. We should also care deeply about how our great and powerful cities are in so many ways simply dens of iniquity. Yes, we will usually find a mixture there: acts of kindness, merciful actions, great people, wonderful places to visit, great beauty and art, much to be thrilled and blessed with, and so on.
But as we know, all the great works of architecture and the like will one day be no more. One is reminded of what is recorded in Matthew 24:1-2:
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Now bear in mind that the temple was a good thing – it was God’s house! But even that would not continue forever. All that is in this world will one day come to an end. If you love great art, that might be a real cause of concern. The thought of losing the Acropolis or the Pantheon is somewhat overwhelming. I feel it too.
So to live in this age will always be a mixed bag. We will always be dual citizens. We can appreciate and celebrate all that is true and good and beautiful in this world. But we also know that there is so much that is evil and horrible and ugly and demonic.
We have to live with both passports in hand: enjoying the goodness of God’s creation while mourning all that sin and selfishness has done to mar everything. Living with such tension is not always easy, but we must try to get the balance right.
And BTW, when I was in Athens so long ago as a missionary, I certainly did appreciate all the history and culture and beauty to be found there. But I also preached the gospel on Mars Hill where Paul had done the same two millennia earlier – so it can be done!
