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Imago Dei: The Heights of
Humanity, the Depths of Depravity: Life-Work - Part Two
Rev. Charles R. Biggs
Text: Genesis
1:26-28
Scripture Reading: Psalm 8; Ecclesiastes 5:11-22
Introduction
What is man that God is mindful of him?
The question is not merely What is man, but What is man- - that is, what or
who is man, and what is his significance? The question longs for immediate
answers - we ask this question repeatedly in one form or another!
We search all our lives for significance
because we truly long to leave behind a heritage. We long to be remembered
after our flesh has again turned back to dust. We want a legacy to leave
behind after our deaths. How much should a man (using the term generically
as in Genesis 1 to refer to humanity by the way), focus on himself for
answers
Is man worthless, merely a worm, or is
he valuable, sufficient unto himself (i.e. Man the Measure)? How do we
understand man between these two polar extremes? When we consider this
question, in this way, we are getting close to what Blaise Pascal wrote in
His Pensees:
What a chimera then is man! What a
novelty! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a
prodigy! Judge of all things, feeble earthworm, depository of truth, a sink
of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.
As we learned last week, all men are
made in God's image, and therefore there is only one way to find our
significance and dignity- - to know God our Creator and what he has
revealed about himself and us. Here in Gen. 1:26-28, we have the apex, the
pinnacle, the culmination, and the ultimate moment of God's creation: God
creates man his Prince. The Prince will rule as Vice-Gerent over God's
creation by ruling or having dominion over the creation. Man is personally
in communion with his Great and Sovereign Creator - -there is no relational
distance between them, only the ontological distinction between THE Creator
and his creature. Today, we want to consider our Life-Work under the
continuing study of the heights of our humanity and the depths of our
depravity!
Our Calling is our Life-Work because the
Lord created all men in his image to have dominion over the creation. At
its basic, most distilled form, this is an understanding as a creature of
the gracious Creator that all that we are, all that we do, and all that
have is to be devoted to our Sovereign God and Father. Yet this is part of
the terrible consequences of man's fall: He does not live for his calling,
he devotes all that he is, all that he does, and that he has to the glory
of man. In other words, fallen man does what is right in his own eyes!
What is calling? And how can Christians
have a right understanding of having dominion over the creation? There are
many areas that we could concentrate, but let us look at this from four
perspectives or four Ps. Calling is important as well as liberating for
Christians as they rightly serve the LORD God their maker. Part of what we
want to appreciate is the significance and dignity of man because he has
been created in God's image and called to display God's glory in the
creation. Our call in life is part of man's having dominion over the
creation, or ruling as the Prince of God, the Vice-Regent of God! Life
should be understood as Life-Work, for you are working for the LORD God
Creator who teaches us Providence, Purpose, Priorities, and Potential. Because of this, life is more
than Shakespeare describes in his play Macbeth:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing!
In Genesis 1:26-28, God gives man his
call to rule as Prince or Vice-Gerent in his dominion over the creation:
26 Then God said,
"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth."
27 So God created man in
His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He
created them.
28 Then God blessed
them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth
and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Our concern today is to appreciate the
varying perspectives on this call from God to have dominion over the
creation.
- Calling:
- What it is not…Two distortions
- Roman Catholic distortion (from Greek
dualism): sacred/secular. Eusebius argues that Christ gave "two
ways of life" to his church: one is the perfect life (spiritual
life usually in a monastery) and the other is the permitted life
(making shoes, government, farming, etc). All of life is lived for
God in all that we are, all that we do, and all that we have- - for
God's glory!
- Protestant distortion (another form of
dualism): Full-time Christian service. This is the myth that handing
out tracts out at a computer company are more important than working
on the computers on which you were hired to work.
- It is not merely a job, a career, a
profession:
Today, we have
many people who enter a college, enter a professional field, or seek
education in order to make a living! This is not the Biblical teaching on
calling or vocation. A vocation is not merely a job, it is a calling of God
(to serve him and neighbor). We have many technical schools, graduate schools
to teach people how to make money. This is wrong because it has not asked
the questions: "How has God gifted me?" "How can I take all
that I am, all that I do, and all that I have to serve God?" Rather,
the question asked by both believers and non-believers is: "How can I
make the most money with my education so that I can die with the most toys
and be the most comfortable person in the world, etc?" This is blatant
idolatry and must be avoided by Christians.
- What it is…
- Ultimately it is a life lived wholeheartedly
in obedience and service to the Creator. It is to commit all that
you are, all that you do, and all you have to serve the LORD your
God, your Creator with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and
to love your neighbor as yourself! In other words, it is a call to
be as much as a call to do.
- In the words of Herman Bavinck: "The
service of God, the love for God, fellowship with God is not a
superadded gift but originally and integrally human. God claims all
of man- - mind, heart, soul, body, and all his or her energies- -
for his service and love. The moral law is one for all humans in all
times, and the moral ideal is the same for all people."
- It is to "follow God" and to
"serve God". As the Apostle Paul would wrote: Whatever you
do, whether in word or deed, do it all unto the Lord. We shall
examine the four Ps of calling in light of our being made in God's
image and therefore we have significance and dignity. We shall
examine these four Ps of calling in light of the call or commission
at creation to all creatures - the call and the commission of all of
God's creatures! The four Ps are: Providence, Purpose, Priorities, and Potential.
- Providence- To know that all that you are, all that
you do, and all that you have is preserved and governed by the LORD
God your Maker.
- Providence and potential are similar - -but I want
to treat separately. All of the four Ps actually are intimately
related to one another!
- Man's first call as a creature was to
have dominion over the earth. That is to rule over the earth on
behalf of God. This call to serve God and neighbor was given to God
as gift to his creature man. None of the other creatures had this
kind of high calling. It brought ultimate fulfillment in man and he
found the ultimate fellowship in the LORD his God! Adam's first
assignment in his calling was to gain knowledge of God's creation
and till the garden of Eden.
- Let us appreciate that search for the
knowledge or man's significance and dignity must first begin with
understanding our calling from God. God calls us as Jesus called
his disciples by his Spirit: "Follow me," Christ says to
us. He raises our dead hearts and we are called by God to serve him
in everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have!
After we are called as Christians, we ought to seek God to know how
he has uniquely gifted us providentially, so that we might use our
gifts in service to God and neighbor.
- In other words, as Christians, and what
we must teach new disciples of Christ, is that our providential
calling 'precedes' all of our service in God's Kingdom. For
instance, God calls plumbers as well as politicians to serve God
and neighbor. He calls homemakers and medical doctors to serve God
and neighbor. Providentially, he places us in certain
circumstances, certain times, certain families with certain
abilities and gifts (even though these gifts may be perverted,
misused, or cause idolatry), so that this makes each person unique.
Calvin called this a station or a sentry post to which the LORD
assigns us the task of being faithful at our stations and posts.
When the
Apostle Paul visited the Greek Areopagus, he gave them a short lesson on
the true significance for which they were searching in their lives and
through their philosophy. He also taught them the foundational truth of
providence in all of their lives:
22
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 "for
as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I
even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore,
the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24
"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of
heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25
"Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything,
since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 "And He has
made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of
their dwellings, 27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope
that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each
one of us; 28 "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also
some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
- Understanding providence helps us as
people not to compare ourselves in our brain-power, in our
pocket-book, or in our gifts. It reminds us that we have been called
by a gracious God who has made us unique! This is an important
message for the Church and for young people. More about this when
we look at potential.
- Think about providence and our service to
God and neighbor in our calling in this way: In Luke 21, Jesus did
not say to the poor widow with her measly two mites that you must
go and get more money, then come back and serve me! He accepted it
and it was a great gift to Jesus because he knew how valuable it
was to her in her particular and providential circumstance.
Luke 21:4
"for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God,
but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
- Contrastly, he accepted Mary's expensive
nard or ointment that she poured on his feet, because
providentially she had been provided that ointment. Nowhere does
the Bible compare the widow and Mary because both of them are the
subjects of God's providence in particular circumstances, times,
and families! Both are given as illustrations of how we all must
serve God and neighbor with what we have been given.
- In the parable of the talents in Luke 17,
Jesus teaches us that it is not how much one has (think about the
talents in terms of brain-power or intellect), it is what one does
with what he has been given! In reality, we may not be called to be
doctors or lawyers or such, we may be called to be cowboys, play
guitars, and drive them old trucks (as the country song goes ;- }).
- Calling by God's providence means to
teach the Church and our children the importance of offering up all
that we are, all that we do, and all that we have as Christians to
the service of our God!
- Illustration: Think about Matthew 2 and
the famous Christmas song The Little Drummer Boy. The Magi's
brought the most expensive gifts from the East because they were
kings. They brought the goods of God's creation back to the Creator
of the Universe who had taken on the human flesh of an infant.
There was the infant in the manger receiving back the
potentialities of his creation (as the LORD of LORDs will receive
in the renewal of all things recorded in Revelation 21). They
brought the best of what they could afford according to God's
providence.
- On the other hand, in the song, there is
a simple and poor Little Drummer Boy. He has no expensive gift, but
he gives all that he is, all that he does, and all that he has to
Jesus the Christ. He gives Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum. Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum is
all that God has providentially given to him, but he gives it back
to our Great God and Savior in humility! What a wonderful song of
the testimony of God's grace...Remember the line: "And he
smiled at me...pa-rum-pa-pa-pum...me and my drum." It seems to
me that the Church and our children must learn how to offer up
"me and my drum" (or "we and our drum") to
Christ. It necessarily may not be the "gifts of the magi"
but if it is done in service to Christ to the best of our
abilities, it is putting God's providence first in our calling.
Whenever we consider the pursuit of the knowledge or man's
significance, it must be in submission to our calling from God! It
must be in submission to God and in service to our neighbor, for
that is the sum of the commandments. This is also our ultimate
purpose, and this leads us to the second P: Purpose.
- Purpose- To know that all that you are,
all that you do, and all that you have is given for the purpose of
glorifying the LORD God your Maker and enjoying him forever!
Purposive
origin + purposive destiny = meaningful life; meaningless origin +
meaningless destiny = meaningless life.
- Many Christian do not know what the
purpose of their calling ultimately is. They make comments such as:
"I am working hard in my job, getting paid well, getting good
reviews, but something is not right- - I am empty!" Many
Christians, although they make good money, and have great success
and a good reputation, fail to find their callings and remain
discouraged. Life has its problems, but some are so confused about
where they ought to be and what they ought to be doing, that their
job takes up a great deal of time for them in concerns. They are
even challenged to focus on the Lord's Day to hear God's Word
because they're always preoccupied with their job. Some Christians
spend all of their waking hours thinking and worried about work.
But we must understand work and purpose in light of our calling.
- Purpose is knowing the end for which one
is called. That is, it is the end, purpose, or telos of why someone
works, and how he or she is serving God and neighbor.
- Illustration: I once had a friend who
quit his Liberal Arts education, because he heard that he could get
Microsoft certification quicker, and as well it paid better wages!
One time, I asked him what was his purpose in doing this? He said
in order to make more money and be influential (amazing how some
are extremely honest)! I said then you have not asked God to help
you to examine the gifts you have been given so that you may serve
him with all that you are, in all that you do, with all that you
have. He replied in the negative. I told him that his problem was
that in not considering the end or purpose in her work, he had
failed to keep Christ first and it would not bring as much
fulfillment in his service to Christ.
- You see, calling and purpose help us to
understand that the CALLER (God) calls his people to serve in a
particular place that may not be as glamorous or influential as our
idolatrous hearts would like. The callings range from wiping off messy
tables at a diner to wiping messy baby mouths, cleaning up
months-old fish sticks left behind the couch to rot, going to the
"rat race" of the grocery store, and trying to pass on
wisdom to children. It is not always a "pretty existence"
as they say!
- The problem of many Christians is that
their lives orbit around their job rather than around service to
God and neighbor. I would challenge anyone who entered whatever
field of knowledge, that as Christians, they must ask themselves
why they are there, and what it is they are pursuing (hopefully it
will be more than a paycheck)! Calling is not concerned with salary
but with purpose. The good news is that our callings usually
provide us with just the amount of salary that we need - -and all
this from a gracious God!
- We want to prayerfully examine the gifts
God has given to us, examining the circumstances and times in which
we live, and examining the natural love for something that God has
"built-in" to us! It may be that we are called to get
Microsoft Certification and build and support the computer
industry, but the call will encompass the cash when we consider the
tasks.
- God has given us all unique gifts, we
should be concerned about teaching the Church and our children to
be looking for these, so that we can direct them to serve God and
neighbor. By young people knowing the purpose for knowledge and
education, I think this would impart to them an understanding about
themselves and their lives that would hopefully keep them from the
blatant idolatry of choosing a profession because they can
"make money". This is such an empty pursuit!
- I would encourage you to continue to
prayerfully discern your natural loves and passions and gifts that
you and your children have for doing certain things. If you
understand God's providence in calling, as well as the purpose for
which we work, then this will help work against our tendency to
idolatry. All we have is a gift of God; all we do is an acceptance
of those gifts; all that we are has been given to us by God. In
humility, we submit this back to our Creator in our service to him!
But in order for us to understand these things rightly, the Church
and our children must have the right priorities! Thus, the third
'P': Priorities.
- Priorities- To give all that you are, all
that you do, and all that you have to the LORD God your Maker.
- Our Lord Jesus taught us a lot about
priorities. He called his disciples to himself and jealously (in
the good sense) guarded their hearts and minds from the corrupting
influence of love of self (narcissism). He told the rich young
ruler that it was not evil that he had money (the LORD had given to
him), it was that the money had him (to use perhaps a well-worn
phrase).
- The money, that is the gift of God, had
taken first priority in his life. God should have been there, but
the money (the gift of God) was his idol! He went away sad when he
had to part with his idol! Jesus told others that if you are not
ready to put God first as your priority even to the point of
leaving your own family, you have mixed up the good gift of family,
with the right priority of putting God first. He said: "Seek
ye first the Kingdom and all its righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you!" Let's consider the 'all these
things' of which Jesus spoke.
- Jesus says "All these things"
must be placed second to God and his righteousness. What were
"these things"? Well, notice they were good things: food,
clothing, and essentials of life. However, if "these things"
are first, then we do not have our priorities straight. We have
"mixed-up priorities". We are not seeking after evil in
needing food, clothing, and the essentials of life, any more than
to love our families, or to have money (as the above scriptures
illustrate), but it is when "these things" take the
pilot's chair and we truly do shove God in the "co-pilot"
seat! What does all this teach us about the idolatry of knowledge?
Well, in Christ's Church and to our children, we must stress the
importance of right priorities. Let me give you an example of wrong
priorities.
- Illustration: Margaret and I know a
family where the mother lives her life 'vicariously' through her
daughters. They claim to be a Christian family but we do not see
fruit in their lives or in their conversations to us. The mother
has always lived a rather insecure life. So, what does she do to
overcome this insecurity? She makes idols out of her children, then
causes their priorities to be skewed, as they become idolatrous as
well! The mother was never a popular because she did not have a
"good image" so she wants to make her daughters popular,
pretty, smart, and secure in life. The ironic thing is that
although the daughters are now perhaps "popular" in the
eyes of the world, they are not serving Christ as their first
priority. They have been taken up with Vanity Fair- -they are all
very concerned about their bodies (because their mother told them
never to be overweight even though some people have a natural
tendency toward obesity, and that makes a person feel like a
failure for eating a Twinkie). The girls are not evidently secure
on the surface, but they are more insecure than their mother is, we
would argue. We see how the mother has instilled in them this
displacement and insecurity about life, placing vanity and security
in worldly things first. Margaret and I do not know if these
daughters know Christ, it is not evident.
- Now, this family call themselves
"Bible-believing Christians". The mother has probably
been doing her best to raise the girls (in her estimation), and
although we see her living her life vicariously through these
daughters, she would be amazed if one told her this truth!
- Many parents vicariously try to live
their intellectual lives (or lack thereof) through their children.
If they were slow in learning, they will try to push their children
to extremes to be quick. If they were quick in learning, there will
never be any excuse for failure! In fact, there will usually be a
built-in "understood" that whatever profession or calling
Father or Mother had, this will be their calling as well. Think of
the famous story of the father who longs for his son to be an
attorney, although he loves art. The Father says "all that I
have is yours" if you will follow on in my footsteps (take the
family business, be a Pi Kappa Alpha like your old man, pursue law
or the medical profession, etc)- - if you become an artist you will
get nothing! In a recent humorous movie, a young man named 'Billy
Elliot' decides against all the odds and conformities of his time,
that he will be a ballet dancer, because this is what he loves and
believes God has gifted him to do.
- In all of the above examples, no one has
placed God first in their priorities. You see, the mother who
vicariously lived through her daughters, or the Attorney Father who
threatens his son with perpetuity in his profession, both have the
wrong priorities in teaching their children about seeking
"these things". Both have neglected to tell their
children the importance of placing service to God and Christ first!
Both have neglected to put God and Christ first themselves in their
understanding in their calling as parents! These sins of idolatry
"rub off" to the children, even to the third and the
fourth generation.
- Unfortunately, in our culture education
is regarded so highly that everyone is giving out degrees these
days because in a therapeutic culture, education is one way of
making sinners feel like their lives have meaning. Education and
knowledge belong to God and are good things, but they can be abused
when our priorities as Christians and parents are not right!
Ultimately, the pride of parents for, and of their children will
not have their sons and daughter working as plumbers in our
culture, nor merely fixing hardware on PCs, nor painting houses,
nor becoming artists.
- In many ways in our culture, the parents
have taken the place of God (at least from the perspective of our
callings). They have become the new pantheon of the gods that we
must seek as children to propitiate and serve - - wholeheartedly
fulfilling their wishes and desires so that we can "make them
proud!" Think about these comments that reveal a nasty and
unprioritized heart: "No son (or daughter) of mine is going to
be a carpenter!" "No daughter of mine is going to marry a
plumber- - is there not a dentist you like better?" Our
culture's priorities are so messed up today that people are
constantly trying to prioritize their time, but they cannot see
their lives unraveling before them!
- Oftentimes in our culture, the job, the
degree, the profession, and let's face it (the bottom line) the
pocket book is how we measure success, and how we measure who and
what we are! The job, the degree, the profession, and the pocket
book are to be used for God's glory, but we have confused our
priorities and made these the end, rather than the means to the end
of serving God and neighbor. We must call for repentance in the
Church and we must preach this to our children. This brings me to
the final 'P', or point on potential.
- Potential- To know that all that you are,
all that you do, and all that you have has been given to you as
steward of the gifts of the LORD God your Maker.
- As God's creation holds the potential for
all knowledge, so we all as creatures of God (made in his image)
have been given a potential to serve him and our neighbor in all we
do. The Apostle Paul said that comparing oneself with another was
unprofitable. In fact, he taught that if you want to truly serve
God and neighbor ("bearing each other's burdens), you were to
get your perspective straight and get your focus off yourself! He
taught that as servants of God with varying potentials and gifts,
we are called to have a "prospective perspective" that
is, a perspective that is not inward looking to ourselves, but
outward looking to the example of Christ (cf. Phil. 2:1-11). Our
potential for the service of God is because by grace we have been
granted certain potentials!
- We have been raised in certain
environments, we have been providentially provided for with a
certain amount, we have been gifted in a certain way, we can do
some things better than others, and some things we cannot do
better! All of our lives hold particular potentials for serving the
LORD Christ! Our potentials are unique, just as the pear tree can
only bear pears, the lioness can only give birth to lion cubs, so
we as God's highest creatures made in his image, can produce what
is unique to humanity. But more particularly, as humans we are made
differently. For us to sit around and compare our weaknesses with
other's strengths, or our own strengths with other's weaknesses are
a form of idolatry itself. In that idolatry ultimately means taking
your eyes off Christ and his grace and placing them on yourself and
'what you can, or cannot do'. When we do this, we discover that we
have robbed God's providence of his control; we have reduced our
purposes to our own; we have set ourselves and our strengths or
weaknesses as our ultimate priorities. We must seek all things in light
of God and his revelation of grace in Christ!
- This misunderstanding of potential under
the heading of providence is the reason for the myth of
equalitarianism, egalitarianism, or democratization. We are all
equal in being or ontology, but it is just not true that we are
equal in our station or posts in life. Democratization has fed the
idea that every man should have equal of what everyone else has…If everyone is equal in every way, then no one is unique in
any way at all!
- This leads to what (of all people)
Nietsche called Ressentiment (not resentment, not strong enough- -
Ressentiment). It is described thus:
"Ressentiment
has its origin in the tendency to make comparisons between the attributes
of another and one's own attributes- - wealth, possessions, appearance,
intelligence, personality, friends children…Ressentiment 'whispers
continually: 'I can forgive everything, but not that you are- - that you
are what you are- - that I am not what you are- - indeed that I am not
you'. The other's very existence is a reproach."
- As Christians, we need to believe that
whether we have been given a potential for service in one area of
God's Kingdom, or a weakness in service in one area of God's
Kingdom, we have been called by God, gifted for particular tasks of
service, and we need to be prayerfuly focusing upon these. We want
to understand God's providence in our day-to-day lives, including
our learning and education. There will always be people who are
smarter than us, but they are unique people God has made, not a
standard by which we judge ourselves. We want to remember God's
purpose in all that we do. Our work has been given to us to serve
God and neighbor so that whatever we do in word and deed, we do it
all to the glory of the LORD...giving thanks to him.
- Truly, people of God, how can we be
thankful when we are worried about what God has given to someone
else? How can we be thankful for our uniqueness and gifts when we
are constantly comparing what we have (or have not) with what
other's have? (this is a form of breaking the tenth commandment).
How can we constantly be concerned about other's sinful hearts and
not our own sinful hearts? How can we be concerned about the way
that Satan and unbelievers (as well as some well-meaning
Christians) abuse education, knowledge, etc. when we can begin to
change things ourselves because God has uniquely and graciously
made us aware of these problems?
- Illustrations of Potential:
h.
Not a lot of
people know this, but Martin Luther was not an 'A' student...in fact, he
was slow. Furthermore, he discounted his father's wishes to be a lawyer in
order to serve God in an Augustinian Cloister. God made him unique and
uniquely gifted him to serve God and neighbor through the potentials that
he had been given. He was an earthy man, who was from Coal-miner stock, who
probably would not have been featured on 'Lifestyles of the Rich and
Famous' nor a guest on Ted Koppel's 'Nightline' (perhaps the O'Reilly
Factor, but who knows?)! However, God gifted him and in God's providence,
he knew his purpose of reforming the church, of using his gifts and talents
for the Church, he knew his priorities of putting Christ first and God
through this little man's potential, literally "rocked the
world"!
i.
There was
another student prior to Luther in the 13th century, who was laughed at by
the other children in school because of his "dumbness" (or
slowness). In fact, he was called the "Dumb Ox" by classmates.
But this "Dumb Ox" wrote arguably the most influential and
lengthy systematic theology in the history of the church and went on to
educate many church leaders who would push for the reform of the Catholic
church years before Martin Luther was born. Yes, St. Thomas Aquinas was not
perhaps 'as gifted' as the other students, but he had potentials that God
had given to him and he used them for the service of God and of his
neighbor. Incidentally, until Karl Barth in the 20th century, no one had
taken upon himself the mammoth task of writing over 13 tomes of theology!
His mammoth work is called, of course, his 'Summa Theologicae' (or summary
of Theology). Potentiality, right priorities, purpose, and God's providence
made a "Dumb Ox" into one of the most influential leaders in the
history of the Church.
j.
On the other
hand, there were two other gifted men who abused and worshipped their minds
prior to their conversion. These two both taught false teaching and
philosophy and led many astray in their doctrines. Both of these men
persecuted the Church to the point of killing those who loved Christ! Both
of these men had made idols of their brains, their minds were full of
poison and lies, and they used their quick-wittedness in service to
themselves rather than to God! However, in God's grace and with all their potentialities
as great thinkers, God took them in their deplorable and depraved
conditions and made them into two of the most important men who have ever
walked the face of the earth (besides Jesus of course!).
- Upon conversion, both of these men used
their minds, their past education, the circumstances and
experiences that they had, and the additional good gifts God had
given to them in order to serve God and the Church! One man's name
was 'Paul', known as the 'Apostle Paul', and the other is Aurelius
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (Better known as 'St. Augustine')! After
conversion, these men both had wonderful and powerful minds to
think, but both said that they were willing to part with all that
for the sake of Christ's Church and the evangelism of the lost. God
did not require such a dichotomy however. God did not require that
they leave their minds behind, that he had providentially given to
them (even though they had formerly abused them). He required them
to allow his Word to renew them in order for service to him and the
Church! They were not required to leave their good minds and
education behind any more than we are required to leave the hands
and the tongues that were given to us by God, that at one time we
used for evil.
- Both of these men taught the church that
knowledge for the sake of knowledge is futile! We have knowledge
that is revealed knowledge in order to serve God! It humbles us to
know and to think, and additionally, it teaches our hearts to fear
God and love our neighbor. Both of these men were passionate in
their love for Christ, Christ's people, and reached out to the
lost! They both preached "Christ and him crucified" and
gave the practical applications of this truth to the cultures that
they confronted. There is no dichotomy between heart and mind. We
cannot love or have passion for Christ, for his sheep, or for the
lost, without the true knowledge of the True God! On the other hand
we cannot know, have knowledge of Christ, for his sheep, or for the
lost without the true love of the Loving God! We must balance these
two and see them as potentials for service!
- Man's Fall:
- Adam followed the call of his own desires:
Ecclesiastes
7: 29 Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright…But
they have sought out many schemes."
- Man sought his own dominion over the
creation, which became domination over his Creator and other human
beings:
a.
Rather than
providence, man seeks his own way! He prefers to do it "his way"
as it were, to assert his own rulership over our lives and world. Man fails
to see the hand of God's providence in every aspect of their lives and so
they live idolatrously serving self and dominating neighbor.
b.
Rather than
a purposeful existence, man lives for himself and for this moment. The only
purpose he has is found in putting himself first and looking out for # 1!
Some men find that because there is no end to what they do, who they are
and they fail to find significance, so life is indeed meaningless. If a
meaningless origin, a meaningless destiny, then necessarily man will lead a
meaningless life! According to Ecclesiastes, the way of Jean Paul Sartre
and Ernest Hemingway, is actually the obvious conclusion for living in a
world without windows among people without souls (shadow-people), for life
under the sun is no "picnic" and purpose evades them!
c.
Rather than
right priorities, man has placed himself first. Man's cares, wants and
desires must come first! A man's priorities are found in what he spends
most of his time doing!
d.
Rather than
potential, man seeks equality! Fallen man will do anything in his power to
destroy she who is smarter, prettier, wealthier, etc. Resentiment will
destroy man in the end as he seeks constantly to belittle and destroy his
neighbor!
- Christ's Call:
- Christ calls all men to "follow
him":
But for all of
us who have been like the above, Christ graciously calls us to "follow
him". Man is a work in progress and so many of us still have many of
these attributes above. As we submit to Scripture and as God continues to
work in us what is good and pleasing to him. So, we begin to be conformed
more and more into the image of God, which is Christ!
- Christ comes in the likeness of man to obediently
serve God and answer his call!
- All that he was, all that he did, and all
that he had was done on our behalf because of our sinful failures:
- Christ commissions us to call other to be
reconciled to God in all that we are, all that we do, and all that we
have!
Final Quotation:
Elizabethan sailor and adventurer Sir
Francis Drake said:
O Lord God, when thou
givest to thy servants to endeavor any great matter, grant us also to know
that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same to the end,
until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory; through him
who for the finishing of thy work laid down his life, our Redeemer, Jesus
Christ.
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