WEBVTT

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 All right, team, shall we give it a go?

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 Well, we're continuing on our series on creation,

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! and we will be taking up the topic of a theology of culture,

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 some reflections toward a theology of culture.

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 It has often been observed that the Bible begins in a garden

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 and ends in a city.

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 And that arc from Eden's garden to the heavenly city

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 involves a storyline of creation, fall, and redemption.

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 But it also involves the progression of culture.

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 And while the redemption theme is the one that receives most prominent attention,

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 in theological reflection at least,

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 the cultural motif is also deserving of attention.

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 Heman Bavinck, the Dutch theologian, goes so far as to say

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 culture, in its broadest sense,

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 is the purpose for which God created man after his image.

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 What is the cultural mandate that comes to us in creation?

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 And what is the cultural calling that it summons us to?

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 That's the subject of our investigation this morning.

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 Our cultural mandate, its origin, its nature, its complication,

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 and perhaps, if time favors us, a glance at its destiny.

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 As Bavinck observes, our cultural mandate comes in the context of our being fashioned in God's image.

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 So Genesis 2.27, we've heard this before.

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 So God created mankind in his own image and said to them,

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 Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion.

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 We might say that our being fashioned in the image of God

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 enables the fulfillment of our unique calling.

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 It is our qualification for our commission.

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 Now, the image of God is not entirely a translucent concept.

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 There's a longstanding and continuing debate over what precisely it is to be in the image of God.

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 And Nick has illuminated that from every conceivable angle,

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 so I won't spend more time on it, or much more time on it.

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 The historical and cultural background from Moses' day

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 helpfully illuminates the meaning of image.

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 You see, across the ancient Near East,

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 kings, emperors, and potentates would erect images of themselves

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 throughout their lands to represent their dominion.

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 And these images were representations of the potentate's authority.

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 In making us God's images,

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 He is saying, in effect,

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 I give you authority to represent me in my world.

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 And we do so by exercising dominion in the world,

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 which reflects God's values, purposes, nature, and character.

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 In other words, kingdom values.

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 Another contextual clue to the meaning of image of God

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 arises when we appropriately ask,

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 how is God set forth in this narrative?

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 If mankind is patterned on God,

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 how is God portrayed?

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 What image of God is conveyed

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 in the context of the creation narrative?

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 Well, what we see in the opening chapter of Genesis

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 is God as creator exercising breathtaking creativity.

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 He speaks into existence,

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 sun, moon, stars, land, and sea,

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 a veritable tropical profusion of life forms,

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 both plant and animal,

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 oaks, art of arcs, whales and snails,

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 the peacock, the platypus.

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 It's a stunning and delightful effervescence of creativity.

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 That is the image we are given of God.

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 But you'll remember also that God is portrayed as ordering.

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 Genesis 1 gives us a sequence of his ordering acts.

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 He divides.

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 First, he divides order from chaos.

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 The earth was initially formless and void.

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 Then he divides light from darkness,

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 heaven from earth, land from sea.

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 It seems he is ordering a suitable environment

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 for the things created so they can flourish.

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 Heaven for stars, sun and moon,

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 land for plants and animals,

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 sky for the denizens of the air,

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 the sea creatures for those that swarm in the water,

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 the sea for creatures that swarm in the water.

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 So here we have an image of God as orderer,

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 as cultivator of the environment,

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 separating, setting bounds, and sustaining it.

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 So we see God as creative cultivator.

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 And we humans, fashioned in his image,

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 are to image him precisely in that.

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 We are to be creative cultivators.

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 And notice the concrete, explicit task that God gives to Adam.

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 It reflects this very imaging of God.

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 He gives Adam the task of naming the animals.

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 Every beast in the field and every bird of heaven,

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 God brought before Adam to see what he would name them.

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 Make up any name, Adam.

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 Something suitable and fitting to this particular animal.

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 What will you call it?

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 So Adam images God in exercising his creativity here.

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 And I love that phrase in verse 19.

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 There's almost kind of a wonder and surprise in it, is there not?

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 And whatever the man called the living creature,

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 that was its name.

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 God lets Adam's creativity stand.

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 God had really given Adam dominion.

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 The sovereign creator, the really creative one,

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 did not critique, improve, or reverse Adam's creative adventure.

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 Does God come back to Adam?

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 Oh, Adam, hold on, hold on, steady on.

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 Do you really think that's a good name, Adam?

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 Does that really penetrate the essence of this animal?

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 Wouldn't this be better, Adam?

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 Well, come to think of it, I guess so, God.

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 Why don't you name the next one until I get the hang of it?

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 You're better at this, God.

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 No.

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 Whatever the man called it,

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 that was its name.

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 The creator seeds creative dominion to mankind.

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 Here.

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 Here.

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 You do it.

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 It's hard to avert sharing a little bit of Moses's wonder here.

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 It's remarkable.

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 God also gives Adam the concrete task of cultivating and tending the garden.

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 God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

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 From the foregoing description of Eden,

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 you get the impression that God had fashioned a very special place.

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 Now, do you tend to hand off your most special things to someone else,

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 for someone else, especially a junior partner to handle?

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 As I occasionally heard our girls, our three girls, when they were growing up,

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 Hey, can I borrow that belt you got from Italy?

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 Oh, no, not that one.

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 That's special.

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 Can you imagine Adam's reaction to God's commission?

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 A God?

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 Are you sure this is a good idea?

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 I mean, this garden is a very special place.

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 Are you sure that you shouldn't be the one to take care of it in case anything goes wrong?

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 I mean, after all, it was a pretty intricate place with a plant department, an animal department, water department, gem department.

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 No, Adam, you take care of it.

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 You keep it thriving.

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 You make it continue to flourish.

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 You be my cultivator.

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 You do it as my image.

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 Well, what did that involve?

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 Well, what did God, in an exemplary way, do with it?

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 It says, God planted a garden in Eden and made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

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 Adam, I have given you something beautiful, pleasant to the sight, and useful, good for food.

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 You cultivate those things.

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 Preserve and bring out the beauty and usefulness of what I have given you in this garden.

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 And notice, even in Eden, it seems like there was entropy.

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 At least it required Adam's intervention to sustain its beauty and functionality.

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 He needed to invest to do it.

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 Here's a question.

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 Were there weeds in Eden?

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 Were there weeds in Eden?

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 I think there were.

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 For isn't a weed no more than a plant in the wrong place?

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 And surely, eventually, there must have been.

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 Don't you think sycamore seeds and shoots sprang up in the wrong place?

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 Too dense right under the sycamore tree?

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 Or do you think that the beavers didn't damn the pishon?

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 These concrete tasks God gave to Adam help us to exegete his commission to Adam and Eve.

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 And through them to us.

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 Their posterity.

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 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and exercise dominion.

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 So rightly, we recognize that this be fruitful and multiply involves procreation.

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 Certainly that.

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 But, from what we've understood from this context, be fruitful and multiply involves not simply procreation, but creation and cultivation.

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 That's how we image God.

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 As Adam with the animals, we bring our creativity to bear on his world that God has given us.

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 We fashion things.

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 Not perhaps entirely ex nihilo, out of nothing at all, but, to use Tolkien's term, as sub-creators.

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 We sub-create things that are beautiful and useful.

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 We are to spin things, like Adam's animal names, out of our creative imagination.

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 Stories and snow angels, sonnets and skyscrapers, deploying the raw material that God has given us.

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 Eyes that see and savor proportions.

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 Vocal chords that render sounds as songs.

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 Fingers that move a paintbrush or work a crane.

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 This creational commission has been rightly called a cultural commission, for it calls us to make something of the world.

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 Homo faber, man and woman, as maker of cultural artifacts.

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 Or perhaps better, homo ludens, from the Latin ludus, which has the delightful semantic range of both school, where we seriously work, and play.

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 For is not to create both to work and play?

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 I'm trying to catch something of the note of exuberant joy of God's, oh, good, good, good, very good.

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 Work and play mingled together.

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 It's wonderful.

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 And how else could it be but to combine them, as there's always both a seriousness and a mirth when we are doing what we were created to do.

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 Now, our culture tends to valorize this creative aspect of image bearing.

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 We tend to laud and lionize creative types, don't we?

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 Artists, not administrators, tend to capture our imaginations.

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 We prize innovation over conservation, though conservation is coming into its own lately, and rightly so.

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 For, remember, we also and equally image God in cultivation as we do creativity.

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 Keeping a garden beautiful and functional requires a lot of nurture and cultivation.

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 And so it is with the world that God has given us.

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 Think of families, forests, highways, water supplies, snow removal, research libraries, traffic signals.

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 I mean, things threaten to slip into the primordial chaos over which God's Spirit first brooded.

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 I mean, just look at your desk or your lawn or even your sock drawer.

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 I mean, you'd think we could get dominion over our sock drawer, but it's challenging.

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 The chaos just seems to breed.

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 We image God as we keep chaos at bay from slowly and surely encroaching on our ordered environment.

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 Neither were Adam and Eve simply to kind of hold up an Eden, holding back the onslaught.

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 Is it the Alamo or something?

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 They were to advance, to push the ordered beauty of Eden out into the world.

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 Their multiplying fruitfulness, their creative cultivation was to fill the earth.

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 What expansive horizons for our calling to image God.

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 There's a lot out there for Adam and Eve and their offspring to creatively encounter.

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 Unless deaf to this music, there should be something here of the feeling like a kid in a candy store.

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 Don't you feel it?

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 As a start, they just got to jump on naming the beasts of the field, zoology, and the birds of the air, ornithrology.

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 But what about the fish?

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 The monsters of the deep, marine biology.

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 Surely they need creative suitable names too.

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 Adam's posterity will need first creatively to invent, I guess, like the snorkel and the underwater iPad to get that done.

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 And what about the stars?

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 God names them all.

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 We've named a few, but only a few.

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 How gloriously expansive is this calling?

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 Cultivate.

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 That is, bring out the potential, the latent beauty and blessing.

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 Expose and expound it for our wonder and worship.

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 Draw out and multiply the fruitfulness of the earth.

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 And indeed, exercise our own creative and cultivating fruitfulness in the process.

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 Map words on realities.

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 Accurately and artfully.

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 That's one of my favorite parts.

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 This is what it means to subdue.

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 Now, the term may sound violently extractive, but actually, it is to take some portion of God's creation and to master it in the sense of order it,

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 that it is to image God's creation and to master it in the universe.

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 That it is to image God.

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 The physicist discovering and delighting in the laws of motion, which govern the universe, and then putting them into creative usefulness in the game of billiards or landing on Mars.

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 Notice how to image God is to exhibit a nature expressed in an activity.

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 It's being at work.

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 It's not just an endowment, but an exercise of that endowment in dominion.

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 And we may represent him as his image because we resemble him.

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 Just as the large images of the ancient Near East depicted Aserbanipal or Amenhotep,

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 we image him as we display his communicable attributes.

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 We love mercy and do justly.

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 We show grace and truth, etc.

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 Now, in this calling to be image bearers,

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 although we all have this generic calling in common,

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 we will each fulfill it in a unique way.

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 Clearly, God delights in variety,

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 and he has fashioned us, each of us, uniquely as snowflakes when it comes to image bearing.

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 Sure, we all have a sense of justice.

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 And an impulse to compassion.

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 We all are creative cultivators.

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 But we have those bits in different relations and proportions.

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 Some tend to the creative side.

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 There's Jeff over there.

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 Others to the cultivation pole.

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 Probably point to a few there.

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 I'm looking at Susan.

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 Who knows?

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 Some could kind of be happy ladling out soup in shelters, in homeless shelters, all evening.

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 Just happy to do that.

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 Compassion oriented.

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 Others, you know, we're ladling out soup for a while,

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 but pretty soon we kind of drop the ladle and we're stepping back and we're scratching our head.

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 And we're thinking, why is this line so interminably long?

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 What are the structures in society that make this an issue?

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 And how could we get it?

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 What if we were to Jimmy?

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 There we go.

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 There's someone who's maybe justice oriented.

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 Some compassion, some justice oriented.

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 And this helps us to account for our individually adapted callings as image bearers.

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 And ideally, this calling will reflect our passions, our gifts, our sensibilities, our judgments, our skills, our delights.

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 What particularly do you notice acutely?

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 Love, relish, discern.

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 Those will be clues that will kind of elbow you in the direction of your calling.

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 Once at the Louvre, standing in front of the Mona Lisa with a friend,

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 to my wonder, my friend remarked, observing the painting,

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 look at how that frame is grooved.

00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:41.839
 I hadn't even noticed the Mona Lisa was in a frame.

00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.839
 And I just thought, wow.

00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:51.279
 I was staring at the face, trying to make sense of the mercurial smile that's there on the Mona Lisa.

00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:53.059
 What expression is this?

00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:57.600
 One of the guards seemed to relish my awe and excitement at viewing the art,

00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:03.299
 evidenced by his slightly raised mustache, just betokening a bit of a smile.

00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:03.379
 Wow.

00:21:04.579 --> 00:21:08.119
 The other guard, there are always two in each room there in the Louvre,

00:21:08.379 --> 00:21:12.740
 the other guard seemed to care more that I not lean in too close to the canvas.

00:21:13.779 --> 00:21:19.379
 With subtlety and grace, he cleared his throat just to catch my attention.

00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:25.380
 And with a graceful, only just perceptible motion of his hand,

00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:34.340
 restored me to the proper distance and reestablished the carefully cultivated environment for the Mona Lisa.

00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:39.740
 How delightfully variegated is our image-bearing agency?

00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:44.000
 Just, people are a wonder to see how the image got.

00:21:44.340 --> 00:21:45.460
 It's just a wonder.

00:21:45.460 --> 00:21:50.460
 Well, thus far in our exploration of our calling as image-bearers,

00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:57.360
 we've been entirely positive about our expressions of creativity and cultivation.

00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:08.160
 But, our divinely given culture-making capacity is subject to a contaminating influence.

00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:09.579
 Sin.

00:22:09.579 --> 00:22:21.859
 In Genesis 3-7, we see the first pair of image-bearers creatively stitching together fig leaves to fashion garments.

00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:30.519
 But notice how they are deploying their talents evasively,

00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:40.699
 to conceal, just as they will deploy the trees of the garden to hide themselves from God.

00:22:41.059 --> 00:22:44.939
 The contamination of sin to our creativity.

00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:51.720
 The reflection, that is the image of God, gets refracted.

00:22:52.480 --> 00:23:00.039
 From those very first fig leaves, cultural creativity gets entwined with sin.

00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:10.799
 And notice how language itself is also stained, deployed for evasion, to conceal truth,

00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:15.099
 to distract from it, rather than to voice truth.

00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:21.000
 Oh, Lord, it was the woman who you gave me.

00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:32.900
 So, let's briefly consider the contamination of capacity for creative cultivation.

00:23:34.099 --> 00:23:36.359
 If we just look at one episode that's illuminating,

00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:41.000
 the Tower of Babel stands as emblematic of the powers and perversion,

00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.519
 both the powers and the perversion of our culture-making.

00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:49.420
 I'm not going to take time to read it because it's a pretty familiar story.

00:23:49.420 --> 00:23:55.560
 If you have your Bibles and you're eager to look on, it's in Genesis 11, right at the beginning, 1 through 9.

00:23:56.120 --> 00:23:59.779
 But, I won't say notice, if you don't have the text, but remember.

00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:06.340
 Remember the animating motives for this great cultural endeavor.

00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.560
 Not to glorify God by representing Him.

00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:18.740
 Indeed, they rebelliously repudiate His directive to fill the earth.

00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:26.160
 They rather are motivated by their pride, let us make a name for ourselves,

00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:32.320
 and fear, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

00:24:33.600 --> 00:24:38.960
 On the surface, the story reads like a human Promethean reaching

00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:45.420
 met by the peak of a challenged divine rival on first surface.

00:24:45.420 --> 00:24:51.640
 Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language,

00:24:51.980 --> 00:24:55.580
 and this is only the beginning of what they will do.

00:24:56.380 --> 00:25:00.660
 And nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.

00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:04.940
 Let us then go down and confuse their language.

00:25:04.940 --> 00:25:08.860
 Is this just divine pique at being challenged?

00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:09.940
 No.

00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:15.279
 More insight suggests we better understand the episode as exhibiting

00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:20.519
 simultaneous absurdity and gravity.

00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.100
 It's Derek Kidner's phrase, marvelous phrase.

00:25:23.340 --> 00:25:25.920
 Simultaneous absurdity and gravity.

00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:31.140
 As to absurdity, while they aspire to have their tower reach to the heavens,

00:25:31.660 --> 00:25:34.240
 God has to come down in order to see it.

00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:35.080
 Is there something down there?

00:25:35.140 --> 00:25:35.420
 I don't know.

00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:36.320
 I see a new speck.

00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:42.220
 It's akin to the absurdity of trying to hide from God behind a tree.

00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:44.220
 We've already done this before.

00:25:44.620 --> 00:25:44.980
 Absurd.

00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:45.460
 Absurd.

00:25:45.460 --> 00:25:50.819
 And as to gravity, the phrases, this is only the beginning,

00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:56.579
 and nothing impossible, strike an ominous note.

00:25:57.740 --> 00:26:01.039
 God interferes with the execution of this cultural enterprise,

00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:05.380
 not so much nor even only from its hubristic spirit,

00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:10.539
 but chiefly from fidelity to his promise

00:26:10.539 --> 00:26:15.799
 that the sinful development of humanity would not again issue

00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:20.759
 in a repeated catastrophe on the scale of the flood.

00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:23.700
 If this was to be averted,

00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:27.740
 the progress of sin had to be checked.

00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:32.839
 If the whole of humanity had remained concentrated,

00:26:33.500 --> 00:26:37.539
 the power of sin would have likewise remained united

00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:44.200
 and doubtless soon again reached stupendous proportions.

00:26:46.379 --> 00:26:52.500
 It is a powerful testimony to the puissance of our cultural powers as image bearers

00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:57.139
 and the capacity of sin to co-opt those powers

00:26:57.139 --> 00:27:01.539
 that God had to break up the unity of the race

00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:07.500
 to retard the potential for evil, sorrow, and loss.

00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:10.579
 As many a teacher has discovered,

00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:15.159
 these three boys better not sit next to each other in the class

00:27:15.159 --> 00:27:17.099
 or something really bad is going to happen.

00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:20.200
 You just divide it, you know, divide and conquer that way.

00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:28.920
 Artfully, the builders' words are subtly laden with indications

00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:31.840
 of their cultural powers gone awry.

00:27:32.100 --> 00:27:34.420
 So there's this wonderful Hebrew scholar, Robert Alter,

00:27:34.600 --> 00:27:38.660
 and he observes that the words for, in Hebrew,

00:27:38.840 --> 00:27:42.960
 for make bricks and for stone and build for ourselves

00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:47.579
 all contain the sequential consonants of n-bo-ol,

00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.620
 which spell mixed up or babble

00:27:51.620 --> 00:27:58.100
 and evoke the words in Hebrew folly, flood, folly, flood.

00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:00.819
 It's marvelous, marvelous piece.

00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:04.259
 Clearly, there's a good way to be like God.

00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:06.039
 Reflect him, reflect him.

00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:10.399
 And there is a bad way to be like God,

00:28:10.579 --> 00:28:14.039
 to seek to replace him as center.

00:28:15.259 --> 00:28:17.159
 And it is no literary accident

00:28:17.159 --> 00:28:21.139
 that the passage has a chiastic or palistrophic form

00:28:21.139 --> 00:28:23.920
 where it all kind of parallel meets in the middle,

00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:25.139
 which is double-struck.

00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.680
 And right in the middle structure,

00:28:27.879 --> 00:28:29.440
 there is the word God,

00:28:29.940 --> 00:28:32.139
 who is to be the hinge of all things

00:28:32.139 --> 00:28:33.420
 that we try to displace.

00:28:34.019 --> 00:28:35.139
 It's a wonderful passage.

00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:41.780
 So, sin is a contaminant to our cultural projects.

00:28:42.520 --> 00:28:46.240
 It twists them away from their God-glorifying purpose.

00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.240
 Thus, every cultural artifact

00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:56.380
 will be ever only an alloyed good.

00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:58.620
 Like its human fashioner,

00:28:59.100 --> 00:29:03.360
 it will be an amalgam reflecting both

00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.939
 the image of God and the stain of sin.

00:29:07.939 --> 00:29:11.659
 Now, this awareness should make

00:29:11.659 --> 00:29:14.079
 the biblically thoughtful Christian

00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.199
 a penetrating and nuanced critic of culture.

00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:22.660
 She will recognize some goodness

00:29:22.660 --> 00:29:25.500
 in every cultural artifact,

00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:30.460
 for it will somewhere reflect the image of God,

00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:31.240
 inevitably.

00:29:32.460 --> 00:29:36.420
 Her assessment can therefore never be wholly negative.

00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:39.980
 For all sin's corrupting power,

00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:43.380
 it is not, sin is not omnipotent.

00:29:44.180 --> 00:29:45.480
 It's not omnipotent.

00:29:45.980 --> 00:29:48.200
 And can only deface,

00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:50.460
 never efface,

00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:52.880
 the image-bearing good.

00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:54.340
 Never completely.

00:29:54.339 --> 00:29:58.319
 Neither can her cultural evaluation

00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.379
 ever be an unqualified affirmation,

00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:05.019
 for sin's virus is always present

00:30:05.019 --> 00:30:06.480
 in human artifice.

00:30:07.679 --> 00:30:09.159
 There clings iniquity,

00:30:09.379 --> 00:30:12.740
 even to the holiest of our offerings.

00:30:12.740 --> 00:30:16.160
 So we should be really, really good cultural critics.

00:30:16.579 --> 00:30:17.880
 Always something to affirm.

00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:21.140
 Always something to challenge and interrogate.

00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.339
 Well, we began our reflections

00:30:24.339 --> 00:30:26.200
 with the observation

00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:28.680
 that the biblical story begins in a garden

00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:30.019
 and ends in a city.

00:30:30.380 --> 00:30:32.339
 So let's conclude our investigation

00:30:32.339 --> 00:30:35.279
 with a glance to the end.

00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:37.579
 Revelation 21 and 22

00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:40.359
 depicts the new heavens and the new earth

00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:41.779
 as Eden-like,

00:30:42.199 --> 00:30:44.379
 this wonderful triple hyphenation,

00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:47.339
 a garden city temple,

00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:51.579
 actually extending over the whole earth

00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:52.979
 with the glory of the Lord

00:30:52.979 --> 00:30:55.019
 covering the whole earth

00:30:55.019 --> 00:30:57.279
 even as the waters cover the sea.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:58.419
 Wow.

00:30:59.099 --> 00:31:00.919
 Seems so final and consummate.

00:31:02.139 --> 00:31:04.599
 So, does that mean

00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:08.319
 the mandate to be fruitful and multiply

00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:09.439
 and fill the earth

00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.860
 will have been fulfilled?

00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:12.759
 Completed?

00:31:14.180 --> 00:31:16.440
 Does our image-bearing commission

00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:17.900
 stop there

00:31:17.900 --> 00:31:19.720
 with the advent of the new heavens

00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:20.360
 and the new earth?

00:31:21.019 --> 00:31:23.240
 Will our cultural efforts

00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:24.000
 and offerings

00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:25.840
 have no place

00:31:25.840 --> 00:31:29.460
 in the everlasting, glorious future?

00:31:31.340 --> 00:31:32.100
 Well,

00:31:32.539 --> 00:31:35.420
 there are tantalizing suggestions

00:31:35.420 --> 00:31:38.240
 that it will not be so.

00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:42.320
 Consider Christ's parable of the talents

00:31:42.320 --> 00:31:43.580
 in Matthew 25.

00:31:44.840 --> 00:31:46.779
 The stewards are to take the resources

00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:47.980
 given them by the master

00:31:47.980 --> 00:31:49.480
 and multiply them.

00:31:50.039 --> 00:31:50.960
 Make them fruitful.

00:31:52.340 --> 00:31:53.519
 Two of the three stewards

00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:55.060
 invest the resources well

00:31:55.060 --> 00:31:58.480
 and do faithfully multiply them.

00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:01.920
 But with what

00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.259
 is their faithful stewardship

00:32:04.259 --> 00:32:05.440
 rewarded

00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.460
 when the master returns?

00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:09.539
 An eternal cruise?

00:32:09.940 --> 00:32:10.700
 A recliner?

00:32:11.640 --> 00:32:12.059
 No.

00:32:13.339 --> 00:32:14.099
 More

00:32:14.099 --> 00:32:15.880
 to be fruitful

00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:17.259
 and multiply with.

00:32:18.259 --> 00:32:19.960
 An augmented

00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:21.640
 sphere of stewardship

00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:23.880
 in the resurrection life.

00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:25.880
 You have been faithful

00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:26.460
 in little.

00:32:27.560 --> 00:32:28.780
 I will put you

00:32:28.780 --> 00:32:30.420
 over much.

00:32:31.740 --> 00:32:33.080
 And the somewhat parallel parable

00:32:33.080 --> 00:32:34.560
 in Luke 19

00:32:34.560 --> 00:32:35.400
 expresses it

00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:37.640
 rule over ten cities

00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:39.100
 to the faithful.

00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:41.340
 Rule over ten cities.

00:32:42.120 --> 00:32:43.120
 It would seem

00:32:43.120 --> 00:32:44.780
 we continue

00:32:44.780 --> 00:32:46.540
 to fulfill

00:32:46.540 --> 00:32:48.620
 our creation commission

00:32:48.619 --> 00:32:50.399
 to exercise dominion.

00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.139
 And I love that phrase

00:32:53.139 --> 00:32:55.399
 enter into the joy

00:32:55.399 --> 00:32:56.399
 of your master.

00:32:57.399 --> 00:32:58.179
 What

00:32:58.179 --> 00:32:59.459
 is the joy

00:32:59.459 --> 00:33:00.179
 of the master?

00:33:01.399 --> 00:33:02.459
 It's doubtless

00:33:02.459 --> 00:33:03.359
 deep

00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:04.459
 and diverse.

00:33:05.299 --> 00:33:06.599
 But in this context

00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:07.879
 it would seem

00:33:07.879 --> 00:33:08.459
 to be

00:33:08.459 --> 00:33:10.079
 his joy

00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:11.479
 in what he

00:33:11.479 --> 00:33:12.399
 expressed

00:33:12.399 --> 00:33:13.079
 as

00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:14.539
 well done.

00:33:15.659 --> 00:33:16.359
 That is

00:33:16.359 --> 00:33:17.779
 the fruitful

00:33:17.779 --> 00:33:18.660
 multiplying

00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:19.740
 of his resources.

00:33:20.259 --> 00:33:21.799
 That's the master's joy.

00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:23.799
 It brings

00:33:23.799 --> 00:33:25.180
 divine delight.

00:33:26.059 --> 00:33:26.720
 And we

00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.639
 enter into

00:33:27.639 --> 00:33:28.599
 that joy

00:33:28.599 --> 00:33:30.059
 as we

00:33:30.059 --> 00:33:31.240
 continue

00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:32.680
 fruitfully

00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:34.039
 to multiply

00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:34.980
 the much

00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:36.139
 we are given

00:33:36.139 --> 00:33:37.599
 to work with

00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:38.559
 in the eschatological

00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:39.700
 kingdom

00:33:39.700 --> 00:33:40.680
 as we

00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:41.359
 creatively

00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:42.220
 cultivate

00:33:42.220 --> 00:33:43.359
 our ten

00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:44.579
 or five

00:33:44.579 --> 00:33:45.799
 or however

00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:46.619
 many cities

00:33:46.619 --> 00:33:47.239
 over which

00:33:47.239 --> 00:33:48.279
 we are to

00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:48.779
 exercise

00:33:48.779 --> 00:33:49.559
 dominion.

00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:51.179
 So

00:33:51.179 --> 00:33:52.019
 it would

00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:52.739
 appear

00:33:52.739 --> 00:33:54.339
 the cultural

00:33:54.339 --> 00:33:54.839
 commission

00:33:54.839 --> 00:33:55.459
 given in the

00:33:55.459 --> 00:33:55.739
 garden

00:33:55.739 --> 00:33:56.959
 still

00:33:56.959 --> 00:33:58.159
 defines

00:33:58.159 --> 00:33:58.919
 our calling

00:33:58.919 --> 00:34:00.039
 even in

00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:00.579
 the glorious

00:34:00.579 --> 00:34:01.319
 future.

00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:03.119
 It would

00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:03.959
 seem

00:34:03.959 --> 00:34:05.459
 the opening

00:34:05.459 --> 00:34:06.599
 up

00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:08.159
 of everlasting

00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:09.019
 horizons

00:34:09.019 --> 00:34:10.199
 will not be

00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:11.659
 the cessation

00:34:11.659 --> 00:34:13.000
 of our cultural

00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:13.719
 task

00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:15.819
 rather it's

00:34:15.819 --> 00:34:16.679
 continuation

00:34:16.679 --> 00:34:17.879
 and indeed

00:34:17.879 --> 00:34:19.599
 amplification.

00:34:21.399 --> 00:34:22.159
 And does

00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:22.819
 this not make

00:34:22.819 --> 00:34:23.359
 sense?

00:34:24.359 --> 00:34:25.420
 For the task

00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:25.859
 is

00:34:25.859 --> 00:34:26.819
 and ever

00:34:26.819 --> 00:34:27.500
 shall be

00:34:27.500 --> 00:34:29.599
 manifestly

00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:30.219
 incomplete

00:34:30.219 --> 00:34:32.480
 for the potential

00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:33.159
 of what God

00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:33.940
 has fashioned

00:34:33.940 --> 00:34:35.379
 seems

00:34:35.379 --> 00:34:36.000
 endless.

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:36.260
 us.

00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:39.420
 1,120

00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:41.099
 musical works

00:34:41.099 --> 00:34:41.699
 is a lot

00:34:41.699 --> 00:34:42.300
 of realized

00:34:42.300 --> 00:34:42.679
 creative

00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:43.199
 potential

00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:45.380
 but did

00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:46.300
 not Bach

00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:47.559
 have yet

00:34:47.559 --> 00:34:48.320
 more music

00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:48.960
 to make?

00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:51.139
 Could not

00:34:51.139 --> 00:34:51.659
 notes be

00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:52.119
 arranged

00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:53.840
 in still

00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:54.320
 more

00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:55.019
 extraordinary

00:34:55.019 --> 00:34:55.920
 ways?

00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:57.119
 And did

00:34:57.119 --> 00:34:58.440
 not Rembrandt

00:34:58.440 --> 00:34:59.380
 have more

00:34:59.380 --> 00:35:00.119
 art in

00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:00.400
 him?

00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:01.360
 Milton

00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:02.199
 more poetry?

00:35:02.619 --> 00:35:03.019
 Pelé

00:35:03.019 --> 00:35:03.780
 more goals?

00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:06.200
 I'm sure

00:35:06.200 --> 00:35:06.840
 you're convinced

00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:07.260
 that that's

00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:07.480
 true.

00:35:08.680 --> 00:35:08.880
 So

00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:09.940
 perhaps

00:35:09.940 --> 00:35:11.140
 it should

00:35:11.140 --> 00:35:11.840
 come as

00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:12.500
 less of a

00:35:12.500 --> 00:35:12.980
 surprise

00:35:12.980 --> 00:35:13.880
 that in

00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:14.360
 John's

00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:14.840
 description

00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:15.220
 of the

00:35:15.220 --> 00:35:16.000
 eschatological

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:16.800
 New Jerusalem

00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:18.320
 works

00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:19.820
 of culture

00:35:19.820 --> 00:35:21.760
 are streaming

00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:22.780
 into its

00:35:22.780 --> 00:35:23.720
 ever-open

00:35:23.720 --> 00:35:24.420
 gates.

00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:26.019
 You remember

00:35:26.019 --> 00:35:26.760
 the phrase?

00:35:27.560 --> 00:35:28.060
 The kings

00:35:28.060 --> 00:35:28.720
 of the earth

00:35:28.720 --> 00:35:29.640
 will bring

00:35:29.640 --> 00:35:30.480
 their glory

00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:31.460
 into it.

00:35:32.100 --> 00:35:32.860
 The glory

00:35:32.860 --> 00:35:33.700
 and honor

00:35:33.699 --> 00:35:34.139
 of the

00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:34.639
 nations.

00:35:34.819 --> 00:35:35.079
 Revelation

00:35:35.079 --> 00:35:35.639
 21.

00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:38.859
 What are

00:35:38.859 --> 00:35:39.159
 these

00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:40.219
 national

00:35:40.219 --> 00:35:41.500
 glories

00:35:41.500 --> 00:35:42.379
 or treasures

00:35:42.379 --> 00:35:43.000
 the kings

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:43.259
 of the

00:35:43.259 --> 00:35:43.460
 earth

00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:44.399
 will bring

00:35:44.399 --> 00:35:44.759
 to the

00:35:44.759 --> 00:35:45.480
 holy city,

00:35:45.579 --> 00:35:45.919
 the end

00:35:45.919 --> 00:35:46.619
 time temple?

00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:48.119
 The seer's

00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:48.839
 description is

00:35:48.839 --> 00:35:49.319
 drawn from

00:35:49.319 --> 00:35:49.879
 Isaiah's

00:35:49.879 --> 00:35:50.799
 vision of

00:35:50.799 --> 00:35:51.239
 God's

00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:51.739
 promised

00:35:51.739 --> 00:35:52.239
 future

00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:52.659
 found in

00:35:52.659 --> 00:35:53.500
 Isaiah 60.

00:35:54.659 --> 00:35:55.319
 It's a

00:35:55.319 --> 00:35:55.579
 wonderful

00:35:55.579 --> 00:35:55.919
 vision.

00:35:56.399 --> 00:35:56.659
 We can

00:35:56.659 --> 00:35:57.319
 linger only a

00:35:57.319 --> 00:35:57.739
 moment to

00:35:57.739 --> 00:35:58.119
 make a few

00:35:58.119 --> 00:35:58.679
 observations

00:35:58.679 --> 00:35:59.299
 particularly

00:35:59.299 --> 00:35:59.819
 germane to

00:35:59.819 --> 00:36:00.279
 our theme.

00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:01.039
 The opening

00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:01.859
 language of

00:36:01.859 --> 00:36:02.519
 Isaiah 60

00:36:02.519 --> 00:36:03.980
 parallels the

00:36:03.980 --> 00:36:04.500
 genesis

00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:05.280
 creation.

00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:06.739
 Out of

00:36:06.739 --> 00:36:07.159
 thick

00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:07.699
 darkness

00:36:07.699 --> 00:36:08.400
 light

00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:08.940
 arises.

00:36:09.340 --> 00:36:09.880
 This evokes

00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:10.880
 new creation.

00:36:12.460 --> 00:36:12.800
 In verse

00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:13.599
 3, the

00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:14.079
 nations are

00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:14.759
 represented by

00:36:14.759 --> 00:36:15.460
 kings as

00:36:15.460 --> 00:36:16.059
 bringing their

00:36:16.059 --> 00:36:16.480
 wealth.

00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:17.300
 The wealth

00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:17.900
 of nations

00:36:17.900 --> 00:36:18.480
 has a

00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:19.219
 familiar ring

00:36:19.219 --> 00:36:19.599
 if you read

00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:20.119
 economics.

00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:21.840
 That is,

00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:23.039
 their choicest

00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:23.920
 treasures.

00:36:24.759 --> 00:36:25.460
 Camels of

00:36:25.460 --> 00:36:26.000
 Midian,

00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:26.780
 golden

00:36:26.780 --> 00:36:27.460
 frankincense

00:36:27.460 --> 00:36:28.179
 from Sheba,

00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:29.360
 flocks from

00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:29.980
 Kadar.

00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:33.440
 If this,

00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:36.539
 this would

00:36:36.539 --> 00:36:37.940
 be a

00:36:37.940 --> 00:36:38.400
 period

00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:39.420
 parallel to

00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:40.220
 our, say,

00:36:40.599 --> 00:36:41.639
 chocolates and

00:36:41.639 --> 00:36:42.579
 watches from

00:36:42.579 --> 00:36:43.139
 Switzerland,

00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:44.980
 BMWs and

00:36:44.980 --> 00:36:46.519
 Mercedes from

00:36:46.519 --> 00:36:46.960
 Germany,

00:36:47.500 --> 00:36:48.300
 pasta and

00:36:48.300 --> 00:36:49.760
 gelato from

00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:50.940
 Italy, etc.,

00:36:50.940 --> 00:36:51.220
 etc.

00:36:51.380 --> 00:36:51.920
 Use your

00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:52.519
 imagination.

00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:53.539
 I don't know.

00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:55.300
 all these

00:36:55.300 --> 00:36:55.779
 cultural

00:36:55.779 --> 00:36:56.360
 treasures

00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:56.980
 shall,

00:36:57.300 --> 00:36:57.279
 quote,

00:36:57.679 --> 00:36:58.460
 beautify

00:36:58.460 --> 00:36:59.320
 my

00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:00.000
 beautiful

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:00.920
 house.

00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:02.019
 That is,

00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:03.559
 adorn the

00:37:03.559 --> 00:37:04.219
 new Jerusalem.

00:37:05.980 --> 00:37:06.199
 And

00:37:06.199 --> 00:37:07.079
 notice,

00:37:07.779 --> 00:37:08.480
 laden with

00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:09.360
 these ethnic

00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:10.659
 offerings are,

00:37:11.059 --> 00:37:11.559
 if we had

00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:12.059
 the text,

00:37:12.920 --> 00:37:13.699
 the ships

00:37:13.699 --> 00:37:15.400
 of Tarshish.

00:37:16.179 --> 00:37:16.579
 Ah,

00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:18.239
 bringing these

00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:18.920
 treasures to

00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:19.440
 the city of

00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:19.880
 the Lord are

00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:20.539
 the ships of

00:37:20.539 --> 00:37:20.900
 Tarshish.

00:37:20.900 --> 00:37:21.739
 Now, this is

00:37:21.739 --> 00:37:22.400
 an intriguing

00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:23.199
 reference,

00:37:23.539 --> 00:37:24.380
 as the

00:37:24.380 --> 00:37:25.019
 ships of

00:37:25.019 --> 00:37:25.739
 Tarshish,

00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:27.059
 were renowned

00:37:27.059 --> 00:37:27.779
 as large

00:37:27.779 --> 00:37:28.340
 vessels,

00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:29.360
 capable of

00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:29.860
 transporting

00:37:29.860 --> 00:37:31.099
 massive loads

00:37:31.099 --> 00:37:32.099
 great distances.

00:37:33.300 --> 00:37:33.579
 They were

00:37:33.579 --> 00:37:34.420
 the pride

00:37:34.420 --> 00:37:35.320
 and glory

00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:36.259
 of their

00:37:36.259 --> 00:37:36.659
 pagan

00:37:36.659 --> 00:37:37.579
 possessors.

00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:38.460
 Isaiah

00:37:38.460 --> 00:37:39.099
 describes them

00:37:39.099 --> 00:37:39.440
 in chapter

00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:40.239
 2 as

00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:41.300
 beautiful

00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:42.019
 craft,

00:37:42.300 --> 00:37:43.860
 but proud

00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:45.659
 and lofty

00:37:45.659 --> 00:37:46.619
 and lifted

00:37:46.619 --> 00:37:47.079
 up.

00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:48.440
 Thus,

00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:49.259
 the Lord of

00:37:49.259 --> 00:37:49.960
 hosts is,

00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:50.259
 quote,

00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:52.320
 against all

00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:52.880
 the ships

00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:53.640
 of Tarshish.

00:37:54.680 --> 00:37:55.480
 Psalm 48

00:37:55.480 --> 00:37:56.140
 repeats this

00:37:56.140 --> 00:37:56.660
 condemnation.

00:37:56.980 --> 00:37:57.340
 The Lord

00:37:57.340 --> 00:37:58.160
 will shatter

00:37:58.160 --> 00:37:58.660
 the ships

00:37:58.660 --> 00:37:59.400
 of Tarshish.

00:38:00.500 --> 00:38:01.019
 Again in

00:38:01.019 --> 00:38:01.880
 Isaiah 23,

00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:02.720
 judgment

00:38:02.720 --> 00:38:03.600
 awaits you,

00:38:03.720 --> 00:38:04.740
 so wail,

00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:05.960
 O ships

00:38:05.960 --> 00:38:06.980
 of Tarshish.

00:38:07.700 --> 00:38:07.980
 So,

00:38:08.180 --> 00:38:09.260
 how do we

00:38:09.260 --> 00:38:10.200
 reconcile this

00:38:10.200 --> 00:38:10.840
 seemingly

00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:11.640
 conflicting

00:38:11.640 --> 00:38:12.960
 assessment of

00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:13.620
 the ships

00:38:13.620 --> 00:38:14.340
 of Tarshish?

00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:15.900
 If they

00:38:15.900 --> 00:38:16.500
 are to be

00:38:16.500 --> 00:38:17.260
 destroyed

00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:18.140
 for their

00:38:18.140 --> 00:38:18.780
 pridefulness,

00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:20.860
 how is it

00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:21.559
 that they

00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:22.220
 show up

00:38:22.220 --> 00:38:22.480
 in the

00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:23.200
 New Jerusalem

00:38:23.200 --> 00:38:24.400
 as instruments

00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:25.539
 of service?

00:38:27.400 --> 00:38:27.980
 Could it

00:38:27.980 --> 00:38:28.340
 be

00:38:28.340 --> 00:38:29.900
 that the

00:38:29.900 --> 00:38:30.380
 judgment

00:38:30.380 --> 00:38:31.740
 that they

00:38:31.740 --> 00:38:32.440
 must pass

00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:32.860
 through

00:38:32.860 --> 00:38:34.320
 is not

00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:35.380
 an

00:38:35.380 --> 00:38:36.740
 annihilating

00:38:36.740 --> 00:38:37.340
 judgment,

00:38:38.220 --> 00:38:38.820
 but a

00:38:38.820 --> 00:38:39.740
 purifying

00:38:39.740 --> 00:38:40.220
 one?

00:38:41.420 --> 00:38:41.900
 As Richard

00:38:41.900 --> 00:38:42.720
 Maul asks,

00:38:43.200 --> 00:38:43.660
 could the

00:38:43.660 --> 00:38:44.300
 breaking

00:38:44.300 --> 00:38:44.820
 of the

00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:45.019
 ships

00:38:45.019 --> 00:38:45.780
 of Tarshish

00:38:45.780 --> 00:38:47.139
 be more

00:38:47.139 --> 00:38:47.579
 like the

00:38:47.579 --> 00:38:47.940
 breaking

00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:48.340
 of a

00:38:48.340 --> 00:38:48.860
 horse

00:38:48.860 --> 00:38:50.260
 rather than

00:38:50.260 --> 00:38:50.800
 the breaking

00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:51.180
 of a

00:38:51.180 --> 00:38:51.639
 vase?

00:38:55.340 --> 00:38:56.340
 It is

00:38:56.340 --> 00:38:57.280
 not that

00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:57.960
 the ships

00:38:57.960 --> 00:38:59.099
 as such

00:38:59.099 --> 00:38:59.519
 will be

00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:00.000
 destroyed,

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:01.460
 simply

00:39:01.460 --> 00:39:01.960
 their

00:39:01.960 --> 00:39:02.539
 former

00:39:02.539 --> 00:39:03.320
 function.

00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:04.940
 In the

00:39:04.940 --> 00:39:05.579
 New Jerusalem,

00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:06.460
 they're no

00:39:06.460 --> 00:39:06.780
 more the

00:39:06.780 --> 00:39:07.220
 means of

00:39:07.220 --> 00:39:07.800
 pride and

00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:08.260
 rebellion,

00:39:09.220 --> 00:39:09.619
 as they

00:39:09.619 --> 00:39:09.960
 served

00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:10.619
 Jonah,

00:39:10.940 --> 00:39:11.480
 for example,

00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:12.079
 and fleeing

00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:12.679
 the Lord.

00:39:13.719 --> 00:39:13.900
 No,

00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:14.159
 no.

00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:15.519
 Vessels

00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:16.500
 of mutiny

00:39:16.500 --> 00:39:17.659
 become

00:39:17.659 --> 00:39:18.340
 vessels

00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:19.980
 of ministry.

00:39:21.539 --> 00:39:22.219
 Clearly,

00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:23.019
 many cultural

00:39:23.019 --> 00:39:23.940
 artifacts function

00:39:23.940 --> 00:39:24.719
 idolatrously

00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:25.539
 and give

00:39:25.539 --> 00:39:26.360
 expression to

00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:27.000
 our rebellion.

00:39:27.800 --> 00:39:28.280
 Like the

00:39:28.280 --> 00:39:28.639
 Tower of

00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:28.940
 Babel,

00:39:29.159 --> 00:39:29.380
 they are

00:39:29.380 --> 00:39:30.480
 proud and

00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:31.039
 lofty,

00:39:31.099 --> 00:39:31.980
 things in

00:39:31.980 --> 00:39:32.619
 their present

00:39:32.619 --> 00:39:33.260
 context,

00:39:33.500 --> 00:39:34.400
 but they

00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:35.159
 may be,

00:39:35.579 --> 00:39:36.079
 nonetheless,

00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:38.340
 good and

00:39:38.340 --> 00:39:39.420
 beautiful things

00:39:39.420 --> 00:39:40.460
 worthy of

00:39:40.460 --> 00:39:41.179
 preservation.

00:39:41.480 --> 00:39:43.960
 the vaulting

00:39:43.960 --> 00:39:44.639
 arch.

00:39:45.340 --> 00:39:45.740
 Surely,

00:39:45.900 --> 00:39:46.000
 it will

00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:46.719
 be preserved.

00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:47.440
 It's an

00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:47.840
 architectural

00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:48.559
 masterpiece,

00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:50.659
 but it

00:39:50.659 --> 00:39:51.240
 must first

00:39:51.240 --> 00:39:51.860
 be stripped

00:39:51.860 --> 00:39:52.199
 of its

00:39:52.199 --> 00:39:52.880
 vaunting

00:39:52.880 --> 00:39:53.679
 pride,

00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:55.059
 or its

00:39:55.059 --> 00:39:55.579
 use in

00:39:55.579 --> 00:39:56.099
 pagan

00:39:56.099 --> 00:39:56.800
 temple or

00:39:56.800 --> 00:39:57.340
 brothel or

00:39:57.340 --> 00:39:58.079
 sweatshop.

00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:00.059
 These

00:40:00.059 --> 00:40:00.539
 cultural

00:40:00.539 --> 00:40:01.599
 goods

00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:03.260
 must be

00:40:03.260 --> 00:40:03.780
 brought

00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:04.639
 low,

00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:06.159
 but this

00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:06.619
 need not

00:40:06.619 --> 00:40:07.159
 mean their

00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:08.199
 utter destruction.

00:40:08.199 --> 00:40:08.279
 salvation.

00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:10.279
 Their horizon

00:40:10.279 --> 00:40:11.039
 may be

00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:12.179
 transformation.

00:40:13.839 --> 00:40:14.219
 In our

00:40:14.219 --> 00:40:15.139
 present fallen

00:40:15.139 --> 00:40:15.779
 context,

00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:16.739
 our cultural

00:40:16.739 --> 00:40:17.939
 artifacts are

00:40:17.939 --> 00:40:18.879
 intertwined with

00:40:18.879 --> 00:40:19.259
 sin.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:20.379
 They are

00:40:20.379 --> 00:40:22.460
 sin-alloyed

00:40:22.460 --> 00:40:23.059
 glory,

00:40:23.939 --> 00:40:24.679
 contaminated

00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:25.379
 goodness.

00:40:26.619 --> 00:40:27.639
 But it would

00:40:27.639 --> 00:40:28.139
 appear from

00:40:28.139 --> 00:40:28.839
 Isaiah's vision

00:40:28.839 --> 00:40:30.019
 that God

00:40:30.019 --> 00:40:31.399
 has a purpose

00:40:31.399 --> 00:40:32.539
 to reclaim

00:40:32.539 --> 00:40:33.039
 them.

00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:35.179
 He will

00:40:35.179 --> 00:40:35.960
 reclaim

00:40:35.960 --> 00:40:37.699
 what humans

00:40:37.699 --> 00:40:38.380
 have used

00:40:38.380 --> 00:40:39.179
 to rebel.

00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:41.320
 What we

00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:42.019
 have found

00:40:42.019 --> 00:40:42.579
 in this

00:40:42.579 --> 00:40:43.199
 earth and

00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:43.920
 fashion and

00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:44.539
 fabricated

00:40:44.539 --> 00:40:45.619
 idolatrously

00:40:45.619 --> 00:40:46.639
 and rebelliously,

00:40:47.179 --> 00:40:48.179
 God will

00:40:48.179 --> 00:40:49.320
 not give

00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:50.920
 up for,

00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:52.019
 as Psalm

00:40:52.019 --> 00:40:52.800
 24 states,

00:40:53.139 --> 00:40:53.619
 the earth

00:40:53.619 --> 00:40:54.119
 is the

00:40:54.119 --> 00:40:54.739
 Lord's

00:40:54.739 --> 00:40:55.539
 and the

00:40:55.539 --> 00:40:56.000
 fullness

00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:56.880
 thereof.

00:40:56.880 --> 00:41:00.079
 What we

00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:00.539
 were to

00:41:00.539 --> 00:41:01.039
 fill the

00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:02.019
 earth with,

00:41:03.059 --> 00:41:03.780
 creational

00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:04.220
 commission,

00:41:04.700 --> 00:41:06.039
 that very

00:41:06.039 --> 00:41:07.360
 fullness is

00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:07.820
 his,

00:41:08.300 --> 00:41:09.220
 it's God's.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:10.460
 He will

00:41:10.460 --> 00:41:11.280
 transform it

00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:12.500
 and so

00:41:12.500 --> 00:41:13.300
 reclaim it

00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:14.440
 like the

00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:15.280
 ships of

00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:15.740
 Tarshish.

00:41:17.420 --> 00:41:18.400
 Is this

00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:18.940
 the universal

00:41:18.940 --> 00:41:19.360
 pattern?

00:41:20.240 --> 00:41:20.880
 Will it be

00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:21.800
 so with all

00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:22.320
 of our

00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:22.900
 sin-stained

00:41:22.900 --> 00:41:23.340
 productions

00:41:23.340 --> 00:41:24.340
 that they

00:41:24.340 --> 00:41:24.640
 will be

00:41:24.640 --> 00:41:25.220
 reclaimed?

00:41:25.219 --> 00:41:26.659
 Well, it

00:41:26.659 --> 00:41:27.099
 seems there

00:41:27.099 --> 00:41:27.399
 is another

00:41:27.399 --> 00:41:28.379
 pattern which

00:41:28.379 --> 00:41:28.799
 might be

00:41:28.799 --> 00:41:29.279
 inferred from

00:41:29.279 --> 00:41:29.699
 another of

00:41:29.699 --> 00:41:30.239
 Isaiah's

00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:30.839
 descriptions,

00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:31.679
 drawn from

00:41:31.679 --> 00:41:32.359
 one of his

00:41:32.359 --> 00:41:32.879
 more famous

00:41:32.879 --> 00:41:34.039
 visions of

00:41:34.039 --> 00:41:34.819
 God's glorious

00:41:34.819 --> 00:41:35.379
 future

00:41:35.379 --> 00:41:35.959
 consummated

00:41:35.959 --> 00:41:36.319
 kingdom.

00:41:37.079 --> 00:41:37.779
 Isaiah 2,

00:41:37.899 --> 00:41:38.439
 you recall,

00:41:38.959 --> 00:41:39.739
 it says,

00:41:40.099 --> 00:41:40.359
 the Lord

00:41:40.359 --> 00:41:41.219
 will beat

00:41:41.219 --> 00:41:42.399
 swords into

00:41:42.399 --> 00:41:43.219
 plowshares

00:41:43.219 --> 00:41:45.059
 and spears

00:41:45.059 --> 00:41:46.299
 into pruning

00:41:46.299 --> 00:41:46.919
 forks,

00:41:47.219 --> 00:41:47.439
 pruning

00:41:47.439 --> 00:41:47.819
 hooks.

00:41:48.859 --> 00:41:49.719
 It seems

00:41:49.719 --> 00:41:51.359
 some cultural

00:41:51.359 --> 00:41:53.159
 artifacts will

00:41:53.159 --> 00:41:53.939
 have their

00:41:53.939 --> 00:41:54.399
 very

00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:55.559
 identities

00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:56.539
 changed,

00:41:57.160 --> 00:41:58.320
 not simply

00:41:58.320 --> 00:41:58.940
 their

00:41:58.940 --> 00:42:00.139
 instrumentalities.

00:42:00.920 --> 00:42:01.160
 So their

00:42:01.160 --> 00:42:01.880
 identities

00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:02.960
 will need

00:42:02.960 --> 00:42:03.500
 to change.

00:42:04.180 --> 00:42:04.420
 Ships

00:42:04.420 --> 00:42:04.920
 may remain

00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:05.400
 ships,

00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:06.599
 only put

00:42:06.599 --> 00:42:07.139
 to God's

00:42:07.139 --> 00:42:07.599
 glorifying

00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:08.039
 use.

00:42:08.720 --> 00:42:09.119
 They are

00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:10.240
 recommissioned,

00:42:10.280 --> 00:42:10.599
 we might

00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:10.960
 say.

00:42:11.320 --> 00:42:12.079
 But swords

00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:13.000
 and spears

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:14.780
 must become

00:42:14.780 --> 00:42:15.800
 something else

00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:16.700
 to serve

00:42:16.700 --> 00:42:17.400
 God's glory.

00:42:18.119 --> 00:42:18.940
 But even

00:42:18.940 --> 00:42:19.500
 here,

00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:21.059
 they do

00:42:21.059 --> 00:42:21.900
 not become

00:42:21.900 --> 00:42:22.940
 refuse,

00:42:22.940 --> 00:42:24.639
 but are

00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:25.780
 repurposed.

00:42:27.220 --> 00:42:27.659
 God

00:42:27.659 --> 00:42:28.440
 seems

00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:30.240
 not even

00:42:30.240 --> 00:42:31.039
 to give

00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:31.960
 up the

00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:33.139
 raw material

00:42:33.139 --> 00:42:34.340
 of his

00:42:34.340 --> 00:42:35.240
 created hand.

00:42:36.059 --> 00:42:36.539
 God

00:42:36.539 --> 00:42:37.599
 recycles.

00:42:38.260 --> 00:42:38.559
 God

00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:39.159
 recycles.

00:42:40.380 --> 00:42:40.780
 It would

00:42:40.780 --> 00:42:41.300
 seem

00:42:41.300 --> 00:42:42.420
 our creator

00:42:42.420 --> 00:42:43.679
 is also

00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:44.260
 redeemer

00:42:44.260 --> 00:42:44.840
 in a

00:42:44.840 --> 00:42:45.679
 very

00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:46.440
 expansive

00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:47.099
 sense.

00:42:47.099 --> 00:42:48.679
 and that

00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:48.900
 he is

00:42:48.900 --> 00:42:49.339
 committed

00:42:49.339 --> 00:42:49.819
 to a

00:42:49.819 --> 00:42:50.279
 grand

00:42:50.279 --> 00:42:50.880
 restoration

00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:51.699
 project.

00:42:52.579 --> 00:42:52.960
 Redemption

00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:53.420
 does not

00:42:53.420 --> 00:42:54.099
 simply involve

00:42:54.099 --> 00:42:54.559
 the souls

00:42:54.559 --> 00:42:54.860
 of his

00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:55.219
 people,

00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:55.940
 but their

00:42:55.940 --> 00:42:56.900
 resurrection,

00:42:57.739 --> 00:42:58.339
 a bodily

00:42:58.339 --> 00:42:58.900
 existence.

00:42:59.059 --> 00:42:59.960
 1 Corinthians 15

00:42:59.960 --> 00:43:00.619
 is clear on

00:43:00.619 --> 00:43:00.920
 this.

00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:02.159
 But redemption

00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:03.259
 must also

00:43:03.259 --> 00:43:04.099
 involve this

00:43:04.099 --> 00:43:05.079
 material,

00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:05.940
 earth.

00:43:06.339 --> 00:43:06.960
 After all,

00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:07.880
 where would

00:43:07.880 --> 00:43:08.579
 these bodily

00:43:08.579 --> 00:43:09.159
 resurrected

00:43:09.159 --> 00:43:10.299
 beings thrive

00:43:10.299 --> 00:43:11.159
 except upon

00:43:11.159 --> 00:43:11.839
 a physical

00:43:11.839 --> 00:43:12.319
 earth?

00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:13.539
 the meek

00:43:13.539 --> 00:43:14.700
 shall inherit

00:43:14.700 --> 00:43:15.559
 the earth,

00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:17.140
 Jesus tells

00:43:17.140 --> 00:43:17.580
 us in the

00:43:17.580 --> 00:43:17.980
 Sermon on

00:43:17.980 --> 00:43:18.320
 the Mount.

00:43:19.260 --> 00:43:19.820
 Romans 8

00:43:19.820 --> 00:43:20.620
 gives us a

00:43:20.620 --> 00:43:21.300
 moving description

00:43:21.300 --> 00:43:21.880
 of all

00:43:21.880 --> 00:43:23.160
 creation groaning

00:43:23.160 --> 00:43:24.000
 for the day

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:24.519
 of redemption

00:43:24.519 --> 00:43:24.980
 when it will

00:43:24.980 --> 00:43:25.860
 come to be

00:43:25.860 --> 00:43:26.840
 set free

00:43:26.840 --> 00:43:27.220
 from its

00:43:27.220 --> 00:43:27.860
 bondage to

00:43:27.860 --> 00:43:28.300
 corruption,

00:43:28.820 --> 00:43:29.559
 to attain a

00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:30.180
 share in the

00:43:30.180 --> 00:43:30.640
 freedom and

00:43:30.640 --> 00:43:32.000
 glory of the

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:32.360
 redeemed

00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:32.920
 humanity.

00:43:34.059 --> 00:43:34.780
 So once we

00:43:34.780 --> 00:43:35.539
 rid ourselves

00:43:35.539 --> 00:43:35.960
 of any

00:43:35.960 --> 00:43:36.920
 residual

00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:37.920
 contaminant of

00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:39.120
 Gnosticism,

00:43:39.500 --> 00:43:40.140
 which has often

00:43:40.140 --> 00:43:40.640
 and recently

00:43:40.640 --> 00:43:41.440
 affected the

00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:42.460
 church, that

00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:43.200
 is the

00:43:43.200 --> 00:43:44.000
 exaltation of

00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:45.800
 spirit over

00:43:45.800 --> 00:43:47.200
 a denigrated

00:43:47.200 --> 00:43:49.599
 physical, why

00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:50.980
 it scarcely

00:43:50.980 --> 00:43:51.720
 seems right that

00:43:51.720 --> 00:43:52.059
 it could be

00:43:52.059 --> 00:43:53.079
 otherwise, once

00:43:53.079 --> 00:43:53.579
 we understand

00:43:53.579 --> 00:43:53.980
 that.

00:43:55.340 --> 00:43:56.260
 How odd

00:43:56.260 --> 00:43:57.940
 for our

00:43:57.940 --> 00:43:58.740
 sovereign God

00:43:58.740 --> 00:43:59.559
 to utterly

00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:00.740
 abandon the

00:44:00.740 --> 00:44:01.760
 earth, the

00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:02.300
 work of his

00:44:02.300 --> 00:44:03.880
 hands, handing

00:44:03.880 --> 00:44:04.720
 it all over to

00:44:04.720 --> 00:44:05.099
 his enemy

00:44:05.099 --> 00:44:06.420
 Satan, splitting

00:44:06.420 --> 00:44:07.019
 the spoils.

00:44:07.340 --> 00:44:07.800
 He'll all

00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:08.200
 take the

00:44:08.200 --> 00:44:10.440
 souls, you

00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:10.880
 have the

00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:11.300
 rest.

00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:12.099
 No!

00:44:13.519 --> 00:44:14.320
 No, there's a

00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:16.099
 wider truth, a

00:44:16.099 --> 00:44:17.200
 wonderfully wider

00:44:17.200 --> 00:44:18.099
 truth to what we

00:44:18.099 --> 00:44:18.820
 sing at Christmas.

00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:20.740
 He comes to

00:44:20.740 --> 00:44:21.300
 make his

00:44:21.300 --> 00:44:23.700
 blessings flow

00:44:23.700 --> 00:44:24.920
 far as the

00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:25.380
 curse is

00:44:25.380 --> 00:44:25.740
 found.

00:44:27.099 --> 00:44:28.500
 So, summing

00:44:28.500 --> 00:44:29.619
 up, we might

00:44:29.619 --> 00:44:30.380
 formulate our

00:44:30.380 --> 00:44:31.360
 findings thus.

00:44:33.420 --> 00:44:34.480
 As with

00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:36.579
 creation, so

00:44:36.579 --> 00:44:37.840
 with culture.

00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:40.140
 God does not

00:44:40.140 --> 00:44:40.700
 abandon the

00:44:40.700 --> 00:44:41.920
 work of his

00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:43.460
 hands, creation,

00:44:44.460 --> 00:44:45.500
 neither does

00:44:45.500 --> 00:44:46.240
 he abandon the

00:44:46.240 --> 00:44:47.960
 works of our

00:44:47.960 --> 00:44:48.559
 hands, his

00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:49.440
 image bearers'

00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:51.700
 hands, culture.

00:44:53.300 --> 00:44:55.640
 New creation, the

00:44:55.640 --> 00:44:56.559
 new heavens and

00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:57.780
 earth will be a

00:44:57.780 --> 00:44:58.740
 place of culture.

00:44:58.739 --> 00:45:00.079
 nature, it

00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:00.839
 will bear the

00:45:00.839 --> 00:45:02.699
 ornaments of the

00:45:02.699 --> 00:45:04.000
 labors of his

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:04.919
 image bearers.

00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:06.479
 Our cultural

00:45:06.479 --> 00:45:07.419
 mandate, our

00:45:07.419 --> 00:45:08.119
 image bearing

00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:09.519
 mission shall

00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:10.899
 carry over into

00:45:10.899 --> 00:45:12.659
 eternity to our

00:45:12.659 --> 00:45:15.579
 great relish and

00:45:15.579 --> 00:45:16.699
 his too, the joy of

00:45:16.699 --> 00:45:17.139
 the master.

00:45:17.139 --> 00:45:17.179
 nature.

00:45:19.019 --> 00:45:19.679
 So, what is our

00:45:19.679 --> 00:45:20.219
 response?

00:45:21.619 --> 00:45:22.980
 Our creator king on

00:45:22.980 --> 00:45:23.679
 his return will

00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:24.779
 transform and

00:45:24.779 --> 00:45:26.019
 purify culture from

00:45:26.019 --> 00:45:26.779
 the alloyed

00:45:26.779 --> 00:45:28.119
 amalgam that it

00:45:28.119 --> 00:45:28.699
 now is.

00:45:29.139 --> 00:45:29.799
 Do we simply

00:45:29.799 --> 00:45:30.679
 await his

00:45:30.679 --> 00:45:31.420
 coming and pray

00:45:31.420 --> 00:45:32.379
 Maranatha, even

00:45:32.379 --> 00:45:33.079
 so come Lord

00:45:33.079 --> 00:45:33.400
 Jesus?

00:45:34.460 --> 00:45:35.000
 No.

00:45:35.859 --> 00:45:36.799
 We do not

00:45:36.799 --> 00:45:37.819
 simply wait,

00:45:39.059 --> 00:45:40.460
 but neither do

00:45:40.460 --> 00:45:41.339
 we ourselves

00:45:41.339 --> 00:45:42.400
 accomplish this

00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:42.839
 transformation.

00:45:44.059 --> 00:45:44.440
 We cannot

00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:45.219
 simply move from

00:45:45.219 --> 00:45:45.859
 Christ

00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:47.780
 will transform

00:45:47.780 --> 00:45:48.539
 culture to

00:45:48.539 --> 00:45:49.280
 Christians

00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:50.280
 transform culture.

00:45:51.200 --> 00:45:52.620
 We cannot

00:45:52.620 --> 00:45:53.160
 build the

00:45:53.160 --> 00:45:53.760
 heavenly city.

00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:54.980
 Hebrews tells

00:45:54.980 --> 00:45:55.519
 us its

00:45:55.519 --> 00:45:55.960
 builder and

00:45:55.960 --> 00:45:56.760
 maker is God.

00:45:57.220 --> 00:45:58.000
 It comes down

00:45:58.000 --> 00:45:58.539
 from heaven.

00:45:59.820 --> 00:46:01.559
 But, if we

00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:02.260
 neither merely

00:46:02.260 --> 00:46:03.360
 await this

00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:04.059
 transformation,

00:46:05.120 --> 00:46:05.940
 nor can

00:46:05.940 --> 00:46:06.840
 accomplish it,

00:46:07.240 --> 00:46:08.059
 we can

00:46:08.059 --> 00:46:09.740
 anticipate it.

00:46:10.440 --> 00:46:11.360
 Live now as

00:46:11.360 --> 00:46:12.079
 citizens of that

00:46:12.079 --> 00:46:12.680
 city to come,

00:46:13.019 --> 00:46:13.640
 reflecting its

00:46:13.640 --> 00:46:14.340
 values and

00:46:14.340 --> 00:46:15.380
 purposes and

00:46:15.380 --> 00:46:16.119
 creative,

00:46:16.300 --> 00:46:17.340
 cultivating joy,

00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:18.400
 having the

00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:19.640
 assurance that

00:46:19.640 --> 00:46:20.619
 as we so

00:46:20.619 --> 00:46:21.160
 live and

00:46:21.160 --> 00:46:21.960
 labor, it

00:46:21.960 --> 00:46:22.840
 will not be

00:46:22.840 --> 00:46:23.420
 in vain.

00:46:24.920 --> 00:46:25.880
 Not be for

00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:26.320
 nothing.

00:46:26.980 --> 00:46:27.539
 The fruit of

00:46:27.539 --> 00:46:28.740
 such labors will

00:46:28.740 --> 00:46:29.160
 have their

00:46:29.160 --> 00:46:30.320
 place in the

00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:31.099
 glorious future.

00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:31.820
 Therefore,

00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:32.380
 writes the

00:46:32.380 --> 00:46:33.360
 apostle, be

00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:34.220
 steadfast,

00:46:34.420 --> 00:46:35.039
 immovable,

00:46:35.640 --> 00:46:36.700
 always abounding

00:46:36.700 --> 00:46:37.260
 in the work of

00:46:37.260 --> 00:46:37.640
 the Lord,

00:46:38.240 --> 00:46:39.220
 knowing that in

00:46:39.220 --> 00:46:40.599
 the Lord your

00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:42.160
 labor is not

00:46:42.160 --> 00:46:42.619
 in vain.

00:46:42.619 --> 00:46:44.400
 without this

00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:44.839
 hope, a

00:46:44.839 --> 00:46:45.559
 pall is cast

00:46:45.559 --> 00:46:45.980
 over our

00:46:45.980 --> 00:46:46.319
 labors.

00:46:46.819 --> 00:46:47.719
 As Bertrand

00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:48.119
 Russell,

00:46:48.299 --> 00:46:48.679
 the atheist,

00:46:48.920 --> 00:46:49.239
 writes,

00:46:49.880 --> 00:46:50.579
 all the

00:46:50.579 --> 00:46:51.099
 labors of

00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:51.539
 the ages,

00:46:51.719 --> 00:46:52.119
 all the

00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:52.519
 devotion,

00:46:52.900 --> 00:46:53.339
 all the

00:46:53.339 --> 00:46:54.039
 inspiration,

00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:54.819
 all the

00:46:54.819 --> 00:46:55.219
 noonday

00:46:55.219 --> 00:46:56.019
 brightness of

00:46:56.019 --> 00:46:56.940
 human genius

00:46:56.940 --> 00:46:58.079
 are destined

00:46:58.079 --> 00:46:59.900
 to extinction.

00:47:00.759 --> 00:47:01.139
 And the

00:47:01.139 --> 00:47:01.900
 whole temple

00:47:01.900 --> 00:47:02.559
 of man's

00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:03.779
 achievement must

00:47:03.779 --> 00:47:05.039
 inevitably be

00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:05.859
 buried beneath

00:47:05.859 --> 00:47:07.739
 the debris of

00:47:07.739 --> 00:47:08.559
 a universe

00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:09.719
 in ruins.

00:47:09.719 --> 00:47:11.000
 Now,

00:47:11.039 --> 00:47:11.319
 there's a

00:47:11.319 --> 00:47:11.659
 sanguine

00:47:11.659 --> 00:47:12.000
 vision.

00:47:13.119 --> 00:47:13.559
 No,

00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:15.379
 your labor

00:47:15.379 --> 00:47:16.500
 is not

00:47:16.500 --> 00:47:17.099
 in vain

00:47:17.099 --> 00:47:17.639
 in the

00:47:17.639 --> 00:47:17.899
 Lord.

00:47:18.599 --> 00:47:19.000
 We may

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:19.419
 not be

00:47:19.419 --> 00:47:19.779
 able to

00:47:19.779 --> 00:47:20.159
 build the

00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:20.399
 heavenly

00:47:20.399 --> 00:47:20.799
 city,

00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:21.480
 but we

00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:22.339
 may build

00:47:22.339 --> 00:47:23.619
 for it,

00:47:24.299 --> 00:47:24.919
 and we

00:47:24.919 --> 00:47:26.000
 shall build

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:26.819
 in it,

00:47:26.980 --> 00:47:27.919
 with the

00:47:27.919 --> 00:47:28.439
 purified,

00:47:28.599 --> 00:47:28.959
 creative,

00:47:29.099 --> 00:47:29.579
 cultivating

00:47:29.579 --> 00:47:30.159
 image of

00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:30.480
 God,

00:47:30.939 --> 00:47:31.500
 of which we

00:47:31.500 --> 00:47:32.019
 are now

00:47:32.019 --> 00:47:33.459
 the stewards.

00:47:35.459 --> 00:47:36.059
 And if

00:47:36.059 --> 00:47:36.579
 our efforts

00:47:36.579 --> 00:47:37.679
 seem so

00:47:37.679 --> 00:47:38.239
 frail and

00:47:38.239 --> 00:47:38.639
 fragile,

00:47:38.899 --> 00:47:39.480
 distorted and

00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:40.000
 disappointing,

00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:40.760
 pathetic and

00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:41.179
 paltry,

00:47:41.539 --> 00:47:42.179
 let us seek

00:47:42.179 --> 00:47:42.980
 that purifying

00:47:42.980 --> 00:47:44.119
 spirit who

00:47:44.119 --> 00:47:45.039
 is himself a

00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:46.119
 part of that

00:47:46.119 --> 00:47:46.800
 future kingdom

00:47:46.800 --> 00:47:47.980
 and can

00:47:47.980 --> 00:47:48.860
 empower us to

00:47:48.860 --> 00:47:49.740
 anticipate it

00:47:49.740 --> 00:47:50.840
 in our lives

00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:51.380
 and labors.

00:47:52.019 --> 00:47:52.260
 Oh,

00:47:52.300 --> 00:47:52.559
 Lord,

00:47:52.940 --> 00:47:53.800
 lend permanence

00:47:53.800 --> 00:47:54.659
 to the work

00:47:54.659 --> 00:47:55.280
 of our hands.

00:47:56.019 --> 00:47:56.719
 Let me stop

00:47:56.719 --> 00:47:57.659
 there and

00:47:57.659 --> 00:47:58.260
 open it up

00:47:58.260 --> 00:47:58.599
 for any

00:47:58.599 --> 00:47:59.519
 questions or

00:47:59.519 --> 00:47:59.960
 comments.

00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:04.920
 By the

00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:05.039
 way,

00:48:05.079 --> 00:48:05.380
 I have an

00:48:05.380 --> 00:48:06.179
 appendix that

00:48:06.179 --> 00:48:06.780
 I will email

00:48:06.780 --> 00:48:07.219
 to people,

00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:07.699
 or we'll figure

00:48:07.699 --> 00:48:07.980
 out a way

00:48:07.980 --> 00:48:08.139
 to get,

00:48:08.139 --> 00:48:08.639
 where I

00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:09.179
 take a

00:48:09.179 --> 00:48:09.480
 couple of

00:48:09.480 --> 00:48:09.819
 the most

00:48:09.819 --> 00:48:10.400
 challenging

00:48:10.400 --> 00:48:11.819
 passages of

00:48:11.819 --> 00:48:12.299
 scripture that

00:48:12.299 --> 00:48:12.699
 seem to

00:48:12.699 --> 00:48:13.079
 suggest,

00:48:13.199 --> 00:48:13.339
 no,

00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:13.639
 the whole

00:48:13.639 --> 00:48:13.859
 thing is

00:48:13.859 --> 00:48:14.079
 going to

00:48:14.079 --> 00:48:14.400
 burn,

00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:15.359
 and give

00:48:15.359 --> 00:48:16.079
 a careful

00:48:16.079 --> 00:48:16.980
 exegesis of

00:48:16.980 --> 00:48:17.339
 those,

00:48:17.619 --> 00:48:18.179
 but that's an

00:48:18.179 --> 00:48:18.879
 appendix to

00:48:18.879 --> 00:48:19.119
 this.

00:48:20.119 --> 00:48:20.799
 Much to your

00:48:20.799 --> 00:48:21.199
 relief,

00:48:21.299 --> 00:48:21.859
 I'm not going

00:48:21.859 --> 00:48:22.199
 into that

00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:22.500
 now.

00:48:23.279 --> 00:48:23.599
 Yes?

00:48:23.599 --> 00:48:23.659
 Yes?

00:48:23.659 --> 00:48:23.940
 Yes?

00:48:23.940 --> 00:48:23.980
 Yes?

00:48:23.980 --> 00:48:24.559
 Well,

00:48:24.559 --> 00:48:52.400
 I'm not,

00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:57.760
 I don't know how metaphoric you intend me to understand that.

00:48:58.920 --> 00:49:03.099
 Presumably somewhat metaphoric because there's not going to be another flood to do that.

00:49:04.160 --> 00:49:11.500
 But if indeed the ark stands as type for the means of rescue when God's judgment comes,

00:49:12.420 --> 00:49:19.240
 yes, in one sense, God has built that apparatus in terms of the sacrifice of his son,

00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:24.599
 who is the ark, there is only shelter from judgment in him, Christ the ark,

00:49:24.959 --> 00:49:28.479
 and we are to be, the scripture says, his witnesses.

00:49:29.899 --> 00:49:34.559
 So what we do is like Noah's preaching,

00:49:35.299 --> 00:49:40.539
 we direct people to the only salvation that is in Christ, the ark,

00:49:40.739 --> 00:49:44.079
 that alone will float above the waters of judgment.

00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:46.239
 So in that sense, that would be the case,

00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:52.759
 and that very much displays much of our calling to be his witness bearers and ambassadors.

00:49:53.519 --> 00:49:58.839
 He makes his appeal through us, it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 20, 21-ish.

00:50:02.599 --> 00:50:03.819
 Yeah, yeah, Jeff.

00:50:04.639 --> 00:50:06.279
 Could you, first of all, thank you.

00:50:07.079 --> 00:50:08.000
 Oh, you're welcome.

00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:10.539
 Thank you for the fire hose.

00:50:10.539 --> 00:50:11.699
 That was amazing.

00:50:13.579 --> 00:50:20.579
 Could you give us a, John, one-minute riff on the culture of wars

00:50:20.579 --> 00:50:29.480
 and what you just presented and how we might have a posture for it?

00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:29.820
 Excellent.

00:50:30.019 --> 00:50:30.679
 Yes, yes, yes.

00:50:31.019 --> 00:50:32.599
 So one of the things about the culture of wars,

00:50:32.820 --> 00:50:34.400
 it seems like for the Christians,

00:50:34.739 --> 00:50:38.960
 much of our reaction to looking out of our compound and saying,

00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:41.320
 oh my goodness, looks like the world's going to hell in a handbasket.

00:50:41.679 --> 00:50:42.820
 You know, cats are dating dogs,

00:50:42.900 --> 00:50:44.360
 all kinds of crazy things are happening out there.

00:50:45.559 --> 00:50:50.280
 So we respond in fear.

00:50:50.500 --> 00:50:51.740
 Oh no, I've got three daughters.

00:50:51.860 --> 00:50:52.720
 They're growing up in this world.

00:50:53.179 --> 00:50:54.659
 And we respond in anger.

00:50:55.059 --> 00:50:58.260
 Hey, this is not what we once had in terms of our influence over society.

00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:00.240
 We didn't lose it.

00:51:00.460 --> 00:51:01.960
 Someone probably took it from us,

00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:03.900
 and it's probably those nasty people out there.

00:51:03.900 --> 00:51:10.599
 So the whole thing sets us up to cast our neighbors as not only our opponents,

00:51:10.760 --> 00:51:11.280
 but enemies.

00:51:12.240 --> 00:51:13.619
 Hence the word culture war.

00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:15.960
 And to ratchet up the stakes so highly,

00:51:16.280 --> 00:51:20.740
 because if we sadly think we have so much of our lot in this world,

00:51:21.039 --> 00:51:22.320
 the stakes will be so high,

00:51:22.740 --> 00:51:27.240
 we will engage in some sort of gladiatorial contest where winner takes all.

00:51:27.239 --> 00:51:31.039
 When we have frustrated by our failure to persuade,

00:51:32.059 --> 00:51:36.419
 we just go and we use political means to try to wrench things around in our direction.

00:51:37.019 --> 00:51:41.859
 In contrast, I think that the way that we can make our testimony more vivid

00:51:41.859 --> 00:51:45.379
 is everybody's trying to figure out what is a meaningful life.

00:51:45.699 --> 00:51:46.719
 What's the life worth living?

00:51:47.259 --> 00:51:49.379
 And if we can create in the Christian community

00:51:49.379 --> 00:51:53.519
 something that has a fragrance of Christ and allure of life,

00:51:53.839 --> 00:51:55.979
 something that is vibrant and creative and wonderful,

00:51:55.980 --> 00:51:57.740
 I think people are looking to think,

00:51:58.059 --> 00:52:01.059
 oh, that looks like a life worth living.

00:52:01.579 --> 00:52:03.119
 So I think that the creative arts,

00:52:03.460 --> 00:52:05.519
 in a way to comprehensively display,

00:52:06.480 --> 00:52:12.079
 this is a life that's oriented toward kingdom values,

00:52:12.199 --> 00:52:16.139
 and this is the one that is most affirming of humanity as rightly discerned,

00:52:16.280 --> 00:52:19.719
 that's a critical part of our witness bearing.

00:52:19.719 --> 00:52:29.819
 And I think that beauty is often the easiest portal for an unbeliever to encounter.

00:52:32.639 --> 00:52:39.879
 And even the art, I mean, one of the marvelous things that art does is it's so captivating

00:52:39.879 --> 00:52:44.959
 that it arrests us in our manic lives,

00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:49.019
 and we pause and we ask and we look and we try to attend,

00:52:49.820 --> 00:52:52.760
 and maybe we feel a little bit of transcendence,

00:52:53.480 --> 00:52:55.420
 and that opens up a new set of questions.

00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:57.380
 Because in every piece of beauty,

00:52:57.699 --> 00:53:04.099
 that's just a little shard off the block that is God, the origin.

00:53:04.099 --> 00:53:07.819
 You know, that's the little drop of water where Christ is the ocean.

00:53:08.259 --> 00:53:13.639
 So if we can get people to attend to beauty and to feel a stirring of beauty,

00:53:14.380 --> 00:53:20.219
 to catch something of the melody of a song they haven't yet heard,

00:53:20.420 --> 00:53:22.000
 to use Lewis's line,

00:53:22.219 --> 00:53:26.099
 or to catch the fragrance of a flower they haven't yet found,

00:53:26.739 --> 00:53:33.519
 I think art is absolutely phenomenally enhancing and critical.

00:53:33.519 --> 00:53:34.920
 in our witness bearing.

00:53:35.759 --> 00:53:41.860
 And it again, it looks at our neighbors not as enemies,

00:53:42.360 --> 00:53:45.940
 but those who are lost, who are seeking to win in love.

00:53:46.940 --> 00:53:48.019
 It's not love.

00:53:48.239 --> 00:53:50.259
 Everything is love each other.

00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:51.119
 That's so much.

00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:52.079
 Pretty fundamental.

00:53:52.259 --> 00:53:53.199
 Yeah, I think so too.

00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:54.179
 I think so too.

00:53:54.219 --> 00:54:01.079
 You know how about music, art, music, classical, you know music.

00:54:01.259 --> 00:54:01.559
 Yeah.

00:54:01.659 --> 00:54:02.840
 Everything from that.

00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:03.300
 Yes.

00:54:03.300 --> 00:54:06.360
 You know, so laugh loudly for the laugh and laugh.

00:54:06.559 --> 00:54:08.220
 It's very hard.

00:54:08.900 --> 00:54:09.640
 I am.

00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:11.140
 In general, everyone.

00:54:11.460 --> 00:54:12.000
 That's right.

00:54:12.400 --> 00:54:12.800
 That's right.

00:54:14.500 --> 00:54:15.660
 All right, team.

00:54:15.840 --> 00:54:17.660
 I think, unless there's one more question,

00:54:17.780 --> 00:54:19.600
 we probably should vacate.

00:54:20.600 --> 00:54:21.380
 We want to,

00:54:21.880 --> 00:54:25.800
 if a couple of you could help with the reordering of the room,

00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:26.980
 that would be great.

00:54:26.980 --> 00:54:27.619
 thank you

00:54:27.619 --> 00:54:31.380
 if anybody is interested in the

00:54:31.380 --> 00:54:33.539
 appendix on those

00:54:33.539 --> 00:54:34.780
 texts of scripture

00:54:34.780 --> 00:54:37.480
 that often are invoked to challenge this

00:54:37.480 --> 00:54:39.539
 vision just fire me a text

00:54:39.539 --> 00:54:41.260
 and I'll send it to you with the

00:54:41.260 --> 00:54:42.639
 text of this if you want

00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:45.199
 thank you team

00:54:45.199 --> 00:54:47.360
 oh you're welcome

00:54:56.980 --> 00:55:01.199
 yeah

00:55:01.199 --> 00:55:08.920
 thank you

00:55:08.920 --> 00:55:09.139
 oh