behindthewillowtrees » God at Work

Marks of a Great Church: Posers and Fakers – Get real!

John Smith — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 09:30:00 +0000

Revelation 3:1-6

Great Church

Love God | Love Each Other | Make Disciples

That those who have not "soiled" their clothes will walk with Jesus "dressed in white" (3:4) is significant. In the temples of Asia and elsewhere, worshipers dared not approach deities with soiled clothes- the normal apparel for approaching the gods in temples was white or linen. Jesus promises here that his followers who have not polluted themselves with their culture will participate in the new Jerusalem,- it will be a temple city, the dwelling of God (21:3, 16).

That a minority in Sardis remained unsoiled will challenge the presuppositions of some faithful Christians. Jesus does not call the righteous believers in the church of Sardis to start an alternative church elsewhere in town. There are genuine Christians in many "sleeping" (and drowsy) churches today! God calls some Christians to call their church back to faithfulness. There does come a point when a church is no longer a church (2:5) and separation may be necessary.

The promise is that overcomers in Sardis will not be blotted out "from the book of life" (3:5). Jesus will confess the faithful remnant before his Father and echoes what he told his disciples (Matt. 10:32; Luke 12:8).

Matt 10.32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.

BUT!

Sardis, a "dead" church (3:1). Jesus’ word to Sardis summons a sleeping church to wake up.

Sardis was full of sophisticated paganism. That no mention of persecution against Christians is mentioned is significant; it was a tolerate place. Lacking the world’s opposition, they may have grown comfortable in their relationship with the world.

1. Posers and Fakers

a) Rely on a name

Sardian Christians are perhaps identifying with the widely known ancient tradition of their city. Sardis maintained an ancient "reputation" (lit., "name") as a great city from the time of its most famous ruler, Croesus, but at the time Revelation is written, Sardis had little more than its ancient name. Several decades before Revelation, Sardis had been devastated by an earthquake, and its architecture after the rebuilding suggests continuing fear of another one.

Jesus addresses the church and not the history of the church. Not it’s reputations! The spiritual state of the believers in this city is hindering them from appropriating Jesus’ own resurrection power!

b) Fail to keep watch
Conquerors had never overtaken Sardis by conventional war, but had twice conquered it unexpectedly because Sardians had failed to watch adequately

Jesus’ warning that he will come on them as a "thief" (3:3), presumably unexpectedly as in the night, recalls Jesus’ words about the end times (Matt 24.32-44; cf. Luke 12:39) often repeated by early Christians (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10,- Rev. 16:15).

For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 1 Thess. 5:2

We need to be ready!

2. The warning to a dead church.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer “the failure of German Christians to resist the Nazi rise to power stemmed from their lack of moral clarity"; the only people who can stand firm in such situations are those whose standard is not reason or conscience but God and his Word. Whether we are seeking to win converts or fighting for justice for the poor or unborn, it is always easy to grow weary in well-doing and follow the crowd—especially when the church around us has become part of it.

The Sardian Christians were different from the other churches we have looked at so far. Satan did not have to pressure them with persecution or temptation, their church was already dead.

They had become comfortable with the world, had no price to pay for their faith in Jesus Christ, and would therefore be taken by surprise (3:3). Such a warning should generate introspection for modern Western Christians.

As a church, the believers in Sardis undoubtedly dreamed that they were awake. Jesus may not be satisfied with the status quo in our lives or our churches. Staying awake is difficult when the world around us remains asleep (cf. 16:15).

It is too easy for us to depend on past achievements instead of looking to God’s call on us in the future (cf. Phil. 3:12-14).

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s you and me and us and now!

3. About those who do not persevere

The implicit warning of 3:5 (that those who do not overcome will be blotted from the book of life) challenges some popular Christian ideas.

[Arminians] teach that apostasy can reverse the results of conversion,

[Calvinists] teach that those who fail to persevere were never converted to begin with.

They both agree on the end result! But we are wrong to assume that anyone who once professed salvation automatically gets to heaven, an idea refuted both here and regularly throughout the NT (Mark 4:16-19; John 8:30-32; 15:6, Rom 11:20-22; Gal 4.19; 5 4; 2 Peter 2:20-22, Rev. 2:26).

The promise that those who persevere will not be blotted out of the book of life is a serious warning to many nominal Christians in our culture who depend purely on a past profession of faith to ensure their salvation.

When Mickey Cohen, a famous Los Angeles gangster of the late 1940s, made a public profession of faith in Christ, his new Christian friends were delighted. But as time passed, they began to wonder why he did not leave his gangster lifestyle. When they confronted him concerning this question however, he protested,

"You never told me I had to give up my career, never told me that I had to give up my friends. There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So what’s the matter ‘ being a Christian gangster? If I have to give up all that—if that’s Christianity—count me out."

Cohen gradually drifted away from Christian circles and ultimately died lonely and forgotten.

As Chuck Colson notes:

Cohen was echoing the millions of professing Christians who, though unwilling to admit it, through their very lives pose the same question. Not about being Christian gangsters, but about being Christianised versions of whatever they already are—and are determined to remain.

God @ Work: Working …… Wholeheartedly

John Smith — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Ephesians 5:21; 6:5-9

Working …. Wholeheartedly:
An act of worship and witness

Work is our side of the universal covenant between God and his creation (Gen 2).
Work is the place where worship and witness meet – as priests and ministers of God’s new kingdom (Rms 15:16; 1 Peter 2:5-9; 1 Cor 12:5-7)
Work is the context where we give an account for our lives(1 Peter 4:5)

Working …. Wholeheartedly:
The responsibilities of a worker

Jesus became a slave in order to bring about our salvation (Mark 10:45), and thus also became an example of submission for slaves (1 Peter 2:18-25). Paul often referred to himself as Christ’s slave (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 9:19). Every Christian has been delivered from slavery to sin, and has become a slave of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:16-20; 14:4; 1 Corinthians 7:22). And so the instructions which Paul gives to “slaves” applies to all Christians, as Christ’s slaves.

To be Christ centred (Eph 6:5)
To be single-heartedly focussed on serving Christ

Energetic (Proverbs 20:13, 26.14 -15)
Integrity (Proverbs 20:10, 23)
Effective (Proverbs 20.4, 12.27, 19.24)
Motivated (Proverbs 20.27)
Rested (Gen 2.2-3, Heb 4.6-11)

To be responsible to God for the quality of the task done (Eph 6:6; Col 3.22)

Working …. Wholeheartedly:
The responsibilities of an employer

To reciprocate the attitudes (Eph 6:9)

Responsible (Proverbs 20.11)
Insightfulness (Proverbs 20.5)
Careful speech (Proverbs 20:19)
Blamelessness (Proverbs 20:7)

To build relationships based on respect
To recognise that Christ is the master of all (Col 4.1).

The responsibilities of everyone:

To treat each other with equality, justice and ‘brotherhood’ (Eph 6:9; Phm 16; Gal 3:26-38; Col 3:11)

A Note on Slavery

The slavery of Paul’s day was fraught with abuse. William Barclay writes of the evils of slavery in the Roman empire during the time Paul wrote this epistle to the Ephesians. This helps us to understand the term ‘slave’ when used in the NT.

“It has been computed that in the Roman Empire there were 60,000,000 slaves. In Paul’s day a kind of terrible idleness had fallen on the citizens of Rome. Rome was the mistress of the world, and therefore it was beneath the dignity of a Roman citizen to work. Practically all work was done by slaves. Even doctors and teachers, even the closest friends of the Emperors, their secretaries who dealt with letters and appeals and finance, were slaves.

Often there were bonds of the deepest loyalty and affection between master and slave … But basically the life of the slave was grim and terrible. In law he was not a person but a thing. Aristotle lays it down that there can never be friendship between master and slave, for they have nothing in common; ‘for a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.’

Varro, writing on agriculture, divides agricultural instruments into three classes—the articulate, the inarticulate, and the mute. The articulate comprises the slaves; the inarticulate the cattle; and the mute the vehicles. The slave is no better than a beast who happens to be able to talk. Cato gives advice to a man taking over a farm. He must go over it and throw out everything that is past its work; and old slaves too must be thrown out on the scrap heap to starve. When a slave is ill it is sheer extravagance to issue him with normal rations.

The law was quite clear. Gaius, the Roman lawyer, in the Institutes lays it down: ‘We may note that it is universally accepted that the master possesses the power of life and death over the slave.’ If the slave ran away, at best he was branded on the forehead with the letter F for fugitivus, which means runaway, at worst he was killed.

The terror of the slave was that he was absolutely at the caprice of his master. Augustus crucified a slave because he killed a pet quail. Vedius Pollio flung a slave still living to the savage lampreys in his fish pond because he dropped and broke a crystal goblet. Juvenal tells of a Roman matron who ordered a slave to be killed for no other reason than that she lost her temper with him. When her husband protested, she said: ‘You call a slave a man, do you? He has done no wrong, you say? Be it so; it is my will and my command; let my will be the voucher for the deed.’

The slaves who were maids to their mistresses often had their hair torn out and their cheeks torn with their mistresses’ nails. Juvenal tells of the master ‘who delights in the sound of a cruel flogging thinking it sweeter than any siren’s song,’ or ‘who revels in clanking chains,’ or, ‘who summons a torturer and brands the slave because a couple of towels are lost.’ A Roman writer lays it down: ‘Whatever a master does to a slave, undeservedly, in anger, willingly, unwillingly, in forgetfulness, after careful thought, knowingly, unknowingly, is judgment, justice and law.’”

Cell Outline

1. Construct a sentence beginning, “My job makes earth more like heaven because …”

2. … and another beginning, “In my job I seek first the kingdom of God by ….”

3. Why do you go to work?

4. By what, specifically, should we be able to spot a Christian at work?

5. How far is ‘Christian service’ equated with ‘church activity’ and what are the elements of truth and the dangers in this equation?

6. How far do you feel that your work skills and experiences remain unappreciated / unused in your prayer life / family life / church life and so on? Which work learnings could you apply almost immediately?

Going Deeper

Is drivenness a Christian characteristic? Compare ‘drivenness’ and ‘calling’ – which is ‘push’ and which is ‘pull’ and does this matter?

What practical effect, if any, does belief in the ‘sufficiency of Scripture to equip us for every good work’ have upon the way you think about and do your work?

Witness

What specifically could you do to help you to keep your mission in mind and to enjoy and practise the presence of Christ at work?

“Being boring is a bad witness.” True or false?

How does your workspace (desk, pod, office) reflect your character, mission and motivation?

God @ Work: The place of spiritual encounter

John Smith — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:30:00 +0000

One of the trickiest Passages

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. 1 Peter 4.6

This verse is greatly discussed as is the often linked verses, 1 Peter 3.19-21:

He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the response of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Some see that this means that Christ went and preached literally to people who were already dead giving them a second chance of salvation. That would be out of line with the broader Biblical principle that nowhere does God give us a second chance. Other understand Christ preaching to the OT saints who were being released from Hades now Christ had won the victory for them on the Cross.

Let’s consider 1 Peter 3:19-21 first. Peter focuses on two great judgments:

1) the judgment of Noah’s day and
2) the judgment of fallen angels.

Peter presents the ark of Noah’s day as the type of Christ’s suffering on the cross. In verse 21 he gives the reality behind the type as salvation by Christ’s baptism at Calvary.

The best interpretation of these verses is that Christ descended after his crucifixion to proclaim to fallen angels that their fall was unnecessary (2 Peter 2:4-5). This interpretation equate the fallen angels with the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1-2.

The Holy Spirit transported Jesus to the prison, the residence (Tartarus), of fallen angels and enabled him to preach to fallen angels. Tartarus is not hell but an underworld for demons (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

We better understand the word “proclamation” as, made an official announcement. This is different from the usual word to preach. It means to make an official announcement by a public crier. The issue is not the gospel here but a victorious proclamation to fallen angels that they did not have to fall. Verse 20 clearly indicates to whom he made the announcement.

Jesus here asserts his triumph over sin. Jesus came to undo the original fall and the fall of angels (Genesis 7, 2 Peter 2:4). Angels were tested and failed. Jesus was tested and succeeded.

“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

John Calvin put it this way: “So that the meaning is, that though according to the estimation of the world the dead suffer destruction in their flesh, and are deemed condemned as to the outward man, yet they cease not to live with God, and that in their spirit, because Christ quickens them by his Spirit”

All this enables us to understand 1 Peter 4.6 much better. In 4.6 Peter does not speak about “spirits” but the “dead”. These are physically dead people. A literal translation would be:

For this is why he was-preached-as-good-news to those who are dead

Rather than Christ doing the preaching to the dead (during his 3 days in the grave), Christ is the subject of the good news of those who are now dead. 1 Cor 15.12, 2 Cor 1.19, and 1 Tim 3.16 also speak of Christ being preached as the focus of the message.

So Peter is speaking words of encouragement to these first Christians. For them the question of death was a real problem. Paul also had to reassure the Thessalonians that those who had died had not lost out on the promised return of Christ. Maybe they were being mocked by unbelievers that their claim of eternal life had come to nothing once Christians began to die, and especially martyred. No, says Peter, whether Christians have died or are still alive, once Christ is preached to them and people have believed, then a decisive and immutable change has happened. Even if they have died they still live in the spirit.

We cannot earn the right to be in heaven with God. There is no purgatory in which we get a second chance, or can work our way out of purgatory. We cannot earn salvation. We can only receive it as a free gift when we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. Once this life is over, our choice is made … for eternity!

Cell Outline
Read: 1 Peter 4: 1-11

How did Christ suffer? What might it entail to suffer in the same way as Christ (v1)?

How does God use difficult times in our present or future Christian lives (v2)

Can you think of an example in your own life where suffering has changed your life?

How might the lack of suffering for Christ affect the spiritual dynamics of church life?

In what ways would you say our world is like the world of the pagans (literally ‘nations’ or ethnos) which Peter describes (4)?

As the laos of God (his special chosen people), what reason do we have not to join the ethnos in their behaviour (5)?

In what way is the end of all things near? How should this affect our lives (7)?

What might it mean to be of a sound judgment? How does a sober spirit help one in his prayer life?

In your work situation (home life, college, or volunteering) describe some situations where you can use the three spiritual ways of serving mentioned in vv9,11.

What special advice does Peter give with each one of them (9,11)?

What is the general principle that we need to keep in mind as we use our spiritual gift (10)?

Going Deeper

What commitment is God speaking you to focus on?
To God (7)?
To God’s people (8)?
To God’s service (9-11)?
What area do you have most difficulty with?

Witness

How can you show love to those you work with ( 8)?

God @ Work: The Disciple’s Ministry

John Smith — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Proverbs 20:4-27

Qualification:
A work life which pleases God’s design

A vocation (calling) is what we all have:

All believers are priests (Heb 7.27; 1 Peter 2.5, 9)
For many Christians, priests are clergy who are qualified to represent people before God. They are spoken of taking holy orders and being ‘set apart’. They are called “Father” and a key role is to hear confession and offer absolution.

Nonconformist ‘ministers’ are often seen not that differently. Pastors and ministers are thought and expected to have greater access to God than ordinary Christians. For example, the pastor’s prayer has more direct influence with God; only the minister’s visit genuinely represents pastoral care. Such is the special nature of the pastor that the Dutch have a saying, “A minister walked by”: It refers to a moment of awkward silence.

This is seen no more clearly at the Lord’s Supper. In the OT priests offered up sacrifice. In the 20th Century, ‘new priests’ stand behind the communion table, breaks bread and hold up the cup. It’s a rare church which permits an ‘unordained’ man, or even more unlikely a woman, to do that. It is not surprising that James Dunn calls, “today’s minister is but the old priesthood writ large”.

Of course, Jesus not only offers sacrifice but is the sacrifice. Therefore the NT writers are irrevocable, all believers are now priests (1 Pet 2.5). All Christians are priests.
All believers are clergy (Act 1.26; Col 1.12)
The clergy are the often seen as the leadership caste who stand over and against the laity. They seem a third sex, spiritual specialists! Clergy were, until the 4th century, the municipal administrators, secular people in a secular role, there to provide a service for the laos or laity, the people.
By around the 4th century, the term had been adopted by church leaders as a sacred group. Laity were temporal people. Two kinds of Christiana now existed: Clergy who were contemplative, prayerful and free from earthly things, and the laity who were compromised, worldly and generally married!

In the NT, the term clergy (kleroa) is used. It is not an unbiblical term! It meant a share or portion. Acts 1.17 speaks of Judas as ‘sharing (kleros) in the ministry’. In Acts 1.26 we read that the ‘lot’ (kleros) fell on Matthias. But the word is especially used to mean the inheritance of the saints (Col 1.12).

Far from meaning a distinct group, it meant the opposite. It expressed the full inclusion of all Christians in the benefits of the gospel. Were we to use the word clergy as a collective noun, it has to mean “the inheritors”, all Christians!
All believers are ministers (Mk, 10.45; 1 Cor 12.5-7; Acts 6.1)
Most people thinking of the term minister, think of someone who is in the ministry, a ‘minister of religion”. We speak of going into the ministry as an honour and leaving the ministry as a shame. Terms like ‘Reverend’ reflect a super-spirituality. Michael Green in Called to Serve says, “[terms like] Reverend, Venerable, Very Reverend, Most Reverend are a hindrance to ministry. They build a wall with others. They can make a hearer just a little proud, a little pleased, a little further removed.”
In the New Testament, the term ministry does exist. It translates the word diakonia, and can be also translated as servant or deacon.

There is a spirit of diakonia (ministry) in Mark 10.45 and the manner of diakonia is seen in 1 Cor 12.5-7. There are many activities associated with diakonia:

1. Apostolic ministry (diakonia) : Acts 1.17 which Judas shared with the other apostles.
2. Food distribution: Acts 6.1.
3. Waiting at table: Acts 6.2
4. Ministry of the word: Acts 6.1
5. Mission (diakonia) of Barnabus and Paul: Acts 12.25.
6. Help or assistance (diakonia) which Paul sent to Macedonia: Acfcs 19.22. Also 2 Tim 1.18, Col 4.7.
7. Evangelism: Acts 20.24, the task (diakonia) which Paul had been given, for example testifying and evangelism. Also 2 Cor 6.3.
8. Overall Ministry: Acts 21.19, Paul is reporting what God had done through his ministry (diakonia). Also in 2 Tim 4.11.
9. Administration: Roms 12.7, 2 Cor 3.5
10. Service: Rms 13.4, 1 Cor 12.5, Col 1.7
11. Devotion: Rev 2.19
12. In 1 Cor 12.7 charismata is translated ministry.

Ministry is what all Christians do. Eph 4.12 talks of the responsibilities of some people to prepare saints (Christians) for works of ministry or service (diakonia). All are ministers.
All believers are laity, a charismatic community in which God dwells (Duet 7.6; 1 Peter 2.9)
Laity, lay people, is a negative word. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “people who are not in orders, as opposed to clergy.” Kathleen Bliss in We the People, say “Clergy are; laity are not. Clergy do; laity do not. Nobody wants to be an is not.” John Stott in One People is critical of its use, suggesting that the term implies “amateur, unqualified.”
Again laity is a biblical idea. But in the NT it means God’s special people (1 Peter 2.9). Out from all people (ethnos) God calls a special people (laos). Stott says “to interpret the church in terms of hierarchical structure is to destroy the NT doctrine of the church”.

A calling to Christ (1 Cor 1.9)
A calling to community (1 Cor 1.2)
A calling to change (1 Thess 4.7-8)
A calling to concrete ministry (1 Cor 6.19)

Quantity: A work pace which reflects God’s momentum

Energetic (Proverbs 20:13, 26.14 -15)
Responsible (Proverbs 20.11)
Controlled (Proverbs 12.24)
Effective (Proverbs 12.27, 19.24)
Motivated (Proverbs 20.27)
Rested (Gen 2.2-3, Heb 4.6-11)

•Quality: A work ethic which honours God’s character

Insightfulness (v5)
Blamelessness (v7)
Integrity (vv10, 23)
Careful speech (v19)
Godly (v27)

Cell Outline
Read: Proverbs 20: 4-27

Which of these verses challenges you in a working situation? How can you apply them in real life? What support can your cell give you on this application.

A person’s words are the lamp of the Lord
and sheds light on one’s inmost being (20.27)
a. In a work situation, what are some of the ways that godless people can destroy another person with their words? (Proverbs 11:9a.)

b. When have you experienced reckless words piercing you (or someone else) like a sword? (Proverbs 12:18a)

c. How will knowledge (and what knowledge) allow you to be a rare jewel (Proverbs 20.15, 11:9b) Does John 8:31-32 and Romans 16:17-19 help in your understanding?

Proverbs 15:1 tells u
s of the contrast between “harsh words” and gentle words” . What are the characteristics a person must posses to speak a “gentle answer” in the midst of a heated situation at work? How well do you do at speaking with such gentleness when facing difficult situations?

At times in our lives we face different challenges – such as physical, emotional, and spiritual difficulty. When in your life would it have been especially helpful to have someone bless you with healing words? Who in your life today might be especially helped if you were to speak some loving words to them?

Going Deeper

Why would God want to put a book full of witty, common-sense maxims about practical everyday concerns in the Bible? Would some of the statements in Job or in the Psalms qualify as “proverbs”? What about statements from the New Testament such as the “golden rule (see Matthew 7:12)

Why might a number of the proverbs be repeated verbatim or nearly so (see Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10; 19:13 and 27:15; 21:9 and 25:24; 6:10,11 and 24:33,34; 14:12 and 16:25) Are they to be considered especially noteworthy?

Witness

Proverbs 16:24 says “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” How can you apply what you have learned in this study to your work situation this week?

How could you use Proverbs like these to talk to non-Christians about God’s wisdom? And how could that lead onto talking about Jesus who is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 2.7)?

God at Work (1) – The Maker's Design

John Smith — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:33:00 +0000

Genesis 2:4-22

Take a look at an earlier posting on this subject here.

We are designed for covenant: A covenant of grace and work!
It’s not by chance that the two sections of the Bible are call Testaments. Testament is Latin to translate disposition in the Greek, which in turn renders covenant from the Hebrew. In each case it is an unequal relationship. It is God who provides:

A place of delight – Eden (v8; Ps48.1-2; Rev 2.7)
A place of provision – The food (v9; John 6:35)
A place of abundance – The waters (v10-14; e.g. Zech 1.18-2.13, Is 14.13)

Using the figurative language of the rivers, we are encouraged to consider the vast volume of water involved. The river splits into four. Two of these rivers are amongst the greatest known in the ANE (Ancient Near East). Von Rad notes that to our complete surprise we are, in these verses, thrust into real geography, before returning to pre-history. If that is the aim, then where is this Eden? Two answers depend upon whether these verses are designed to be taken literally or figuratively. If the former, then Eden is placed somewhere close to either the head or mouth of the Tigris. The later suggests that, allegorically, the aim is to express the finest location for Eden.

Both are possible understandings and even Calvin, who realised the challenge presented by these verses and took a literalistic approach, is unusually tolerant toward an alternative understanding. For Karl Barth, paradise existed ‘somewhere’, even if that ‘somewhere’ cannot be identified. He says that Eden is as genuine a place as the seven days of creation are a genuine period of time.

So is it a literal location? The customary location for the land of Cush, watered by the second river, the Gihon, is Ethiopia. And that river is known to us as the Nile. Commentators then equate the Pishon with the Indus; this is then the four major rivers of the ANE which bring life to the whole of the known world. If that is the case then, in this sense alone, the passage is figurative. As Barth says, “All rivers have their origin in a single river”!

Can we find Eden and will it have cherubim and the flaming sword at its gates? It’s unlikely but not impossible. The cherubim only appear in a visionary passage in Ezekiel and there isn’t any other Biblical text which suggests that a post-fall traveller could arrive at the gates of Eden but be then barred entry.

I say not impossible because the plain sense of the text does suggest that there was a real place separated from the rest of creation from which fallen humans were actually expelled. Eden is described in terms of a specific place, one God has chosen and prepared for humans to live in and enjoy.

The trump card has to be the four rivers. We do not have to take for granted that the Gihon is the Nile. Indeed, Midian is linked with the region of Cush in Hab 3.7. We certainly do not know where the Pishon flowed. What we do know is that the other two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, rise close to each other, flow in parallel, before rejoining in a common delta in current day Iraq. It’s quite possible then that Eden was indeed to be found somewhere between these two great rivers. But it’s most likely that its exact location was permanently lost in the Flood.

We are designed for responsibility: Responsibility at work!
Our part of the deal is to learn to:

Work God’s creation (v15; 1.28; Rev 11.18)
Guard God’s creation (v15)
Grow in God’s creation (v16-17; 1 Cor 1.30)

What is the significance of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (v17)? The prohibition upon the humans to eat of it is part of the covenant. God provides all this blessing but requires the agreement not to eat from the tree. It wasn’t an apple tree! That’s a word-play from the Latin malus/malum (evil/apple). This a unique concept in the ANE.

Why should then God deny humans the knowledge of good and evil, of helpful or harmful? Indeed Amos exhorts his listeners to seek good and hate evil (Am 5.14ff). Because ‘to know’ is used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (Gen 4.1), it is suggested by a wide range of commentators that the fruit had something to do with a ban on sexual relationships. But this is mostly wishful thinking – ‘to know’ is used regularly without a sexual meaning! [But we are not to forget that the awakening of shame (3.7) and the woman's punishment (3.16), are both linked to human sexuality].

Two contenders are much more likely. Either the fruit contains total knowledge and therefore power, which God is reserving for himself. Or it represents total autonomy and thereby the authority to decide what is right or wrong. Either or both is acceptable. Most likely is that ‘to know between good and bad’ is the prerogative of a king (2 Sam 14.17; 1 Kings 3:9). Or similarly it is the role of the a parent to decide for a child (Is 7:15, Deut 1:39).

Humans are subjects of the King and through grace adopted members of his family. In either case it is the King or Father, who has the right to determine good and evil. He is autonomous. In order to be happy, humans must show their dependency upon the king and renounce their hubris. To be part of God’s family, they cannot be a prodigal but a loyal child. Calvin argues rightly that the tree is forbidden so that man might not seek to be wiser than God, nor trust in his own understanding, nor cast off God, nor make himself arbiter and judge of good and evil.

We are destined for hard work: Some things never change!

Hard work
Painful childbirth
Difficult relationship
Law and failure

What remains:

Births!
Naming
Marriage
Work and results
Grace and forgiveness

Cell Outline

What is God’s ultimate purpose in life for humans? How do we know this?

When was God’s name first used in the Bible? How is it translated in the English Bible? Why was it started to be used here.

There are two steps which describe how God created Adam into a living being? What is their significance?

In what ways is Adam made in the image of God? How might that be significant in your day to day life?

From this passage, in what ways are the roles of men and women different and the same?

Why was it so hard for Adam to choose to eat of the forbidden tree?

Going Deeper

Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eve?

What is it which makes people radically different than the animals? There are six possible from this passage. How does that help us understand our response to the issues of natural selection, and our DNA similarity to the rest of life?

In what practical way do humans have authority over the rest of creation? How can we exercise our responsibility for its stewardship?

What can we learn from this on how God wants us to live our lives?

Do Christians have anything to say about economic policies which use unemployment to reduce inf
lation?

Witness

Think about the ways in which as a Christian you have things in common with people deeply committed to the environment? How could you use this to draw alongside them? Try and prepare a way to explain the gospel to someone from the starting point of stewardship of creation?

If the gospel is holistic, what words should we say and what actions should we take towards those who have no work?

God at work

John Smith — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:39:00 +0000

I listened to a sermon on God at Work today. It got me thinking about God and work. If I want to behave Christianly at work, I need to know what God thinks about the work I do.

Is work to be suffered and endured? Is work is a curse from God?

Is work the outcome of the Genesis mandate to subdue the earth (Gen 1:26-28)?

Or is work outpouring of human activity on the journey towards God’s final kingdom?

In Scripture, God’s work is seen in creation, providence and redemption. God’s gracious invitation to us is to receive the benefits of his work. He invites us to a partnership in which we undertake responsible stewardship for this world working for his kingly rule to be more fully established in this beautiful but broken world.

The work of levites, priests, prophets, apostles, elders, agriculturalists, shepherds, masons, merchants, educators, physicians is rooted in a call to live in covenant faithfulness with the God who has redeemed them and to live as light, salt and leaven in the world.

Whilst some work is religious, such as Numbers 8:11: “Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering… so that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord”, mostly work is “ordinary” as in Job 1:10, where we read Satan’s accusation regarding Job: “You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.” Scripture does this without suggesting that the one is better than the other.

The New Testament reinforces the balance. Paul is a man called by God to preach Christ among the Gentiles (Gal 1:15) yet he tells masters and slaves in the house churches of early Christianity: “Whatever you do work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not men” (Col 3:11). He tells the Thessalonian Christians, “to work with your own hands … so that your daily life may win respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody” (I Thes 4:12).

Work is only one rhythm of life and is to complemented by rest/worship/contemplation. Moreover, our work, is to participate in the work of God. In other words we are called to do God’s good in our work. Thus the promises in Deuteronomy 28:12: “I will bless all the work of your hands” is linked to the challenge “if you fully obey the Lord your God” (28:1). That in turn is linked to the practices of justice referred to in Deuteronomy 15:12-18 in the freeing of slaves. Indeed, Paul’s emphasis on the Christian relationship of both slave and master later blew apart the institution of slavery.

Eusebius, formulated a very unhelpful dualism about work. There are two ways of life, he said:

The one is above common human living. It admits not marriage, prosperity nor wealth. It is wholly separate from the customary life of man. It devotes itself to the service of God alone in heavenly love.

The other life, more humble and more human to many, have children, undertake office, command soldiers, fighting in the good cause, attend to farming, trade and other secondary interests.

This dualism often remain in our 21st century view of work. Our focus is on church life and pastoral ministry and rarely affirms the significance of ordinary work. But there are alternatives.

Luther taught that God continues his creative activity in the world through human hands. Ordinary work is a divine vocation or calling. In our daily work no matter how important or mundane we serve God by serving the neighbour.

Calvin affirmed that when we work we express God’s image within us. No matter how ordinary or basic your task is in the world, if you “obey your calling in it” then it will “shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight”.

The Christian task in daily work is not simply to express God’s image, serve our neighbour, and maintain the good order of society, but also involves reforming the fallen structures of society. The work is not simply about looking for opportunities to share personal faith or ethics, but to labour towards all of life experiencing God’s shalom. And the primary agents in bringing about this social transformation are not the clergy, but Christian laymen and women.

Therefore Christians as kingdom citizens are called to find their place in the world and live holy and righteous lives as salt and light. And while this includes their calling to be neighbours and citizens and to be involved in various forms of church work, it primarily involves their role in regular employment.

Contemporary pietistic evangelicalism can fail to give “the work of the kingdom back to the laity”. This means that the call to serve God in the workplace is not simply to earn a living to support one’s family, not simply to be witnesses for Christ, but also to shape the world for good through the integrity of daily labour.

If as Christians we are to participate in the creation mandate of labour, marriage, and government, we need to remember that these structures are part of a fallen world. Not only is there the reality of personal evil but there is structural evil as well. Therefore our involvement in the structures and institutions of our society should be a critical, not naive, one.

In The Presence of the Kingdom, Ellul reminds us that Christians have an important role to play in the preservation of the world and its reconstruction but this cannot be done on the world’s terms but only in the terms of the Kingdom. Ellul goes on to say that Christians take the place where two powerful currents meet: the will of God and the will of the World. And it is there that Christians will have to be both discerning and faithful in seeking to do God’s good in our world.

The workplace is where so many spend most of their waking time. It can be a place where something of the values of God’s kingdom can shine through.