Many, who correctly exalt the preeminence of Christ in their theology, may yet oppose His preeminence with their priorities. Our priorities reveal our portion, and location does not change that portion. For the psalmist declared the preeminence of Christ in both heaven and earth:
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. (Ps. 73:25)
Whenever there are two things that are good, the believer who has his priorities aligned with the kingdom never rejects the lesser but always prefers the better. And when one of these is finite and the other infinite, there must be no competition in his choice.
Since Christ is preeminent in creation, cosmic preeminence must be infinitely higher in our affections than cosmic redemption. The new view on heaven is popular because it legitimizes the priorities of a consumer culture by always emphasizing the latter while merely including the former. While both are equally true, they are not truly equal. The priority of the beatific vision is evidenced by the superiority of its object. Therefore, we should always emphasize the former without failing to mention the latter.
Once creation and redemption are paired together in our priorities, the preeminence of Christ slowly becomes less important, and how to gain and/or enjoy creation is always the primary emphasis, both in this life and the next. Like Christ, we must differentiate between His kingdom and all those things that are merely added unto us in this life and on the future new earth.
With the Kingdom clearly in view, we must prioritize that mandate (Great Commission) through which Christ has chosen to extend His kingdom and work of redemption in the world. The Creation Mandate given before the Fall, like all the commands, is not redemptive in nature, and the church is the only society of the redeemed. Our new identity in Christ, without eliminating, infinitely supersedes our creation identity, simply because Christ infinitely supersedes all creation in worth.
The problem with exchanging the Great Commission with the Cultural Mandate is that the present mission of Christ to build His church becomes secondary to His work of providence in culture; the power of the gospel becomes secondary to the power of our example and moral influence on society and culture, and the preeminence of Christ is no longer based on His person and work but on the success of our work among people. We always proclaim what we are, wrote Martyn Lloyd-Jones, by our priorities.
