NOT LOVING YET LOVING THE WORLD Part 2-ENGAGE THE WORLD!

Last week I mentioned about a wonderful little book entitled Worldliness edited by C.J. Mahaney. There is a chapter written by Jeff Purswell on How to love the World that really excited me. Even as we are called to "stop loving the world, and the things of this world" in 1 John 2:15; there is also a sense in which we are to love the world. The apostle John reminds us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world" and in John 17:8 that it was Christ's intention that the church would be in the world. So the question is how are we to live in this world that God loved and not love it, yet at the same time how can we love this world that God so loved? Jeff Purswell proposes three God given task that give substance to our loving the world in which we live. We looked last week at the first task which is that we are called by God to Enjoy the World. Here is what Purswell writes:

Task 2: Engage the World
This second God-given task relates to our call to involvement with the world. After Scripture records the creation of man and woman in the image of God in Genesis 1, God immediately issues to them his first command:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)

As those uniquely created in the image of God, mankind has received the astonishing privilege of filling and governing the natural world on God's behalf. In Eden, we see some of the dimensions of God's original command spelled out: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). Humanity's responsibility is twofold. First, we're to "work" the earth, tilling its soil, developing its potential, marshaling its resources for mankind's good. Second, we're to "keep" it, responsibly stewarding the earth, protecting it from evil and abuse. Although all that God made was "very good" (Genesis 1:31), it wasn't complete; God delegated the development of his good creation to his image bearers. This development includes not simply the earth itself, but also the vast array of cultural possibilities that God built into the natural order, including family, science, commerce, technology, government, and the arts.

Theologians refer to this original command as the "creation mandate" or "cultural mandate," and this noble calling remains in force today. Although sin's entrance into the world has rendered this task far more difficult, it did not revoke the mandate (see Genesis 9:1). Caring for and developing the world isn't simply a necessary chore, a sub-spiritual add-on to our otherwise meaningful lives—far from it. "Subduing the earth" is intrinsic to our very humanity as God's image bearers and an essential way that we serve and glorify God.

Recognizing this should demolish any distinction in our thinking between sacred and secular spheres of our lives. We're all plagued by the tendency to compartmentalize some aspects of our lives as spiritual, good, and holy and others as unspiritual, unimportant, and amoral. Perhaps you're familiar with this impulse: "God really cares about my devotions, my church involvement, my tithe, and my sharing the gospel. Those are important. But my work? Just a necessary evil. Home responsibilities? They've got to get done. My free time? That's my time (as long as I don't sin)." Such thinking demeans Christ's lordship and impoverishes our spiritual life, rendering our faith irrelevant to 98 percent of our daily existence. No wonder so many lack passion in their Christian lives.

A biblical worldview sees every moment of life lived under the sovereign grace of God and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture's story is emphatic: God's rule extends to all of creation and therefore to all of our lives. As Abraham Kuyper famously put it, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!"'

Therefore, every second of life is significant. All the diverse activities implied by the cultural mandate are good and worth-while and pleasing to God. A biblical worldview gives us new eyes to see all of life: every sphere is charged with potential, every activity providing an opportunity to serve God, encounter God, obey God, enjoy God, testify to God, and bring glory to God. Because God is sovereign over all things, and Christ is redeeming all things, all things matter to God. Let's briefly consider how this perspective should impact our involvement with the world.

Work
The rat race. The daily grind. I'm off to the salt mines. Thank God it's Friday. Cliches like these capture our culture's bleak view of work. We endure labor as a necessary evil that yields the reward of leisure. Perhaps we worship work as an avenue of self-exaltation or an escape from the tedium of an otherwise empty life. Some Christians are more "spiritual" about it: for them, the workplace provides opportunities to witness and money to pay tithes. But beyond that we're pretty much just biding our time. After all, secular work is a second-class calling that enables ordinary Christians to support those doing the really important work of full-time Christian ministry.

The biblical worldview delivers us from the dreary existence that such thinking produces. Far from being a necessary evil, work—which preceded the fall (Genesis 2:15)—is part of God's good creation, a noble calling that reflects the dignity of bearing the image of the Creator. As a result, our jobs aren't something to be endured until we can really serve God (at church, on a missions trip, or until we can get a job at a Christian organization)—they are serving God! They're a channel by which we help to fulfill the cultural mandate, contributing our gifts and labors to those of others to develop and protect God's creation.

The significance of our work is multifaceted. For example, work is a primary way we imitate God. God is a worker. In fact, Scripture patterns our work as well as our rest on the rhythm of God's own work and rest in creation (Exodus 20:8-11). When we cultivate and demonstrate skill through a complex computer program, an innovative architectural design, or a business plan that comes in under budget, we're reflecting the skill of God who does all things well.

In addition, work is a primary way we serve others. Do you labor with this awareness? A builder's house provides shelter. A farmer's produce provides sustenance. An assembly worker's car provides transportation. A journalist's article provides awareness of important developments in a community. A sanitation worker provides a clean environment. Manufacturing, accounting, engineering, transportation, entertainment—all the facets of a society's network of relationships work together, under the common grace of God, to supply society's needs. Diligent labor is a tangible way we obey our Lord's command: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).

Related to this is the fact that work is a primary way we're used by God. You might nod in agreement: "Yes, I should glorify God in my work." But do you realize God is using you in your work? Indeed, he is present in your work. Martin Luther observed that a person's vocation is a "mask of God"—God cares for his creation and provides for his creatures' needs through the hands and labors and efforts of people.' So the farmer doesn't just sow and reap; God provides food through him. The lawyer doesn't just try a case; God executes justice through him. The trucker doesn't just drive a route—God distributes products through him. However oblivious people may be to this reality, God's kindness pulses through their daily activities, investing them with nobility and working through them to shower innumerable blessings upon undeserving sinners like you and me.

So don't just "go to work" and "do your job"—see your job as a way to imitate God, serve God, and love others. This doesn't mean work will never be difficult or frustrating or tedious; the curse ensures that it will be at times. But God's creational purposes and Christ's redeeming work infuse our work with meaning, and promise God-glorifying fruit as a result.

Home
The biblical idea of vocation or calling doesn't end with our jobs. A Christian has many callings in various dimensions of life, and none is more important than the home. In a family, fatherhood isn't a mere biological function or a task; it's a calling from God. The same is true for motherhood. Likewise, being a son or daughter is a calling from God. Why is this important? Because even the most ordinary, mundane details of our home life are sacred callings from God, to be pursued with faith and dependence upon God's enabling power. From family meals to household chores, from home improvements to game nights—no dimension of home life is exempt from Christ's loving lordship.

As a husband who daily observes the unflagging labor and selfless sacrifice of his wife, amid the unremitting responsibilities and countless chores of parenting, remember this message. Despite our culture's pervasive hostility to the idea, motherhood is a calling from God, and no calling is higher. Although Scripture calls husbands to provide loving leadership to their homes, it's the incessant labors of mothers that, day by day, year after year, instill biblical values and inculcate a Christian culture in the home. Who can measure the long-term effects of nurturing help-less infants, supervising wandering toddlers, disciplining self-willed children, and counseling self-absorbed adolescents? Of family outings planned, traditions built, memories made, books read, songs sung, Scripture taught? That's why motherhood belongs under the heading, "Engage the World"; no one shapes generations or fashions cultures more than mothers.

All of Life
The above paragraphs are merely suggestive examples of how the storyline of Scripture calls us to engage the world in every area of life. Other areas could be considered. Think about the years spent in education. Far from being a holding pattern until we get into the "real world," education is a means to glorify God. Of course, it can—and, in perhaps most cases, it will—prepare me for vocation, but more fundamentally it's a way to love God with all my mind. It alerts me to observe the works of God in creation and history. It equips me to enter into the conversation going on in culture, bringing to that conversation biblical discernment and wisdom. It prepares me to serve others by developing my mind and my gifts and my interests, using all these in the responsibilities God assigns to me and the opportunities he affords me.

What about leisure? For many in our culture, leisure and entertainment are mere distractions, often idolatrous ones. But for the Christian, leisure is a sign—a foretaste of the fullness of joy and richness and rest that awaits us in the new heavens and new earth. We're not robots designed for maxi-mum operating efficiency in strictly utilitarian endeavors. God made us to know him and glorify him forever. Leisure reminds us of this and offers us a taste of this eternal calling in the here and now of this world.

What about the third of our lives spent in sleep? This, too, is a gift from God designed to inform and temper our active involvement in the world. Sleep is not mere inactivity, a brief respite from the important work we have to do in life. Sleep reminds us that God is God and we are not; only he "will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). As we lay down our weary heads, we're forced to relinquish the illusion of control over our lives and to entrust ourselves to the Lord, who keeps us in all our ways. Ultimately, sleep and rest point us to the rest that finds its fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the great rest-giver (Matthew 11:28-30) whose sacrifice on the cross frees us from the futile efforts to atone for our sin, to overcome our depravity, and to commend ourselves to God.

The story of the Bible insists that God's reign extends to every part of creation—indeed, to every facet of our lives. Do you live with such an awareness? This is the point of the apostle Paul's startling metaphor for the Christian life: "a living sacrifice" (Roman 12:1). Every breath offered to God. Every moment lived for God. Sobering? Yes. But also breathtaking. Think about it. All of life affords one long opportunity to experience God, to serve God, to be used by God, as we receive from him our gifts, callings, and opportunities and the power to utilize them for his glory.

To be continued …