WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 This is the word of the Lord. Let's read it together. 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:07.500 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:10.700 in the day that the Lord God made the earth in the heavens. 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:14.679 When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:18.679 had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:23.080 and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land, 00:00:23.080 --> 00:00:25.519 and was watering the whole face of the ground. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:28.719 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.719 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:34.000 and the man became a living creature. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.719 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.399 and there he put the man whom he had formed. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:43.600 And out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.200 that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.799 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, 00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:52.299 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:55.000 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.700 and there it divided and became four rivers, 00:00:57.700 --> 00:00:59.960 and the name of the first is the Peshon. 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:03.120 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:04.460 where there is gold. 00:01:04.460 --> 00:01:06.159 And the gold of that land is good. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:08.600 The Delium and Onyx stone are there. 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:11.000 And the name of the second river is the Gihan. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:13.840 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Kush. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.000 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.840 which flows east of Assyria, 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.079 and the fourth river is the Euphrates. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.719 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.480 to work it and to keep it. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:26.620 And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:29.520 You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:31.719 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:32.760 you shall not eat. 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:35.719 For in the day you eat it, you shall surely die. 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:36.800 And then the Lord God said, 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:39.160 It is not good that man should be alone. 00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:41.439 I will make him a helper fit for him. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:42.600 Now out of the ground, 00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:44.700 the Lord God have formed every beast of the field 00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:46.200 and every bird of the heavens 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:47.580 and brought them to the man 00:01:47.580 --> 00:01:49.000 to see what he would call them 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.380 and whatever the man called every living creature. 00:01:51.380 --> 00:01:52.580 That was its name. 00:01:52.580 --> 00:01:54.920 And the man gave names to all livestock 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:56.640 and to all the birds of the heavens 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:58.359 and to every beast of the field. 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:00.079 But for Adam, there was no, 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.460 not found a helper fit for him. 00:02:02.460 --> 00:02:03.920 This is God's holy work. 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:08.920 We're in a series working through Genesis chapter one and two. 00:02:08.920 --> 00:02:11.199 And today we come back again for the second time 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:13.039 to Genesis chapter two. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:17.039 And there's so much in the verses we read. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:18.500 I know I say this all the time. 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:19.840 There's so much here. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.939 There's so much we can't talk about today that's here. 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:24.340 One of the things we won't get to look at today 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.879 is the covenant that God made without him in Eve 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:29.120 and the tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:30.480 the tree of life. 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:32.219 So we're gonna look at that in our first week 00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:34.920 on Genesis three in February. 00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:37.460 So come back February first Sunday 00:02:37.460 --> 00:02:41.000 and we'll cover the covenant in the two trees. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.759 But Genesis chapter two is a second way 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.159 of looking at the creation story from Genesis one. 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:49.599 And it's sort of a close up view, 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:50.900 a narrowing the lens, 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:53.099 whereas Genesis one is a broad view 00:02:53.099 --> 00:02:55.180 of all that God did in the creation week. 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:58.979 Genesis two hones in and looks at more specific details 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:00.719 in the creation week and gives us 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:02.079 sort of a different angle. 00:03:02.079 --> 00:03:04.719 And one of the ways that scholars and theologians 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.959 and the church have talked about Genesis two for centuries 00:03:07.959 --> 00:03:12.319 is that it really does explain the image of God 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.359 that we read about at the end of Genesis chapter one. 00:03:15.359 --> 00:03:17.299 And so last week we talked about the fact 00:03:17.299 --> 00:03:19.099 that part of what it means to be made in the image of God 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:22.099 is we were made for God to be in relationship with God, 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:25.099 a deep relationship and that we're made for Sabbath, 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:28.599 which really means ultimately to enter into God's rest. 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.579 And this week we look at the next aspect 00:03:30.579 --> 00:03:33.419 of what it means to be made in the image of God 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:38.219 through this word that we get in Genesis 126, dominion, 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:40.919 that then is explained I think a little bit more 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:43.319 in the details of Genesis chapter two. 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.959 And so there are really three words that you need 00:03:45.959 --> 00:03:48.759 to understand and to live into this call 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:51.500 that we all have as God's image bearers 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:54.659 to take dominion as God puts it in Genesis one. 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:58.400 And the three words are this, the word culture, 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.939 work and power. 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:03.879 Three things we all have in our call to culture, 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:05.400 work and power. 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.039 And that's what this concept of dominion means. 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:10.420 So let's think about that together. 00:04:10.420 --> 00:04:12.379 First, culture. 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:14.520 If you have a Bible, you can flip back with me 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:18.319 just a couple of verses to chapter one, verse 26, 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.519 where it says that God made us in his image. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.000 So we all have dignity made in God's image 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.860 every single human no matter what they believe in. 00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:29.360 And then the very next line is, 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:32.939 and let humans have dominion over the fish, 00:04:32.939 --> 00:04:34.600 over the birds, over the heavens, 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.639 over the sky, the sea and the land. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.639 And so the closest clause to the word image 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:44.039 is let them have dominion. 00:04:44.039 --> 00:04:45.939 And so we know that dominion is very important 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:48.360 for what it means to talk about the image. 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:51.839 And this word dominion is a royal term. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:55.160 So it's a term of kingship and queenship. 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:58.620 It's a term that says that we participate 00:04:58.620 --> 00:05:01.680 in God's royal rule over all of creation 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.100 as sons and daughters of the king, human beings. 00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:05.659 That we have a royal stewardship 00:05:05.659 --> 00:05:07.279 over everything that God has made 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:09.659 as the pinnacle creature of creation. 00:05:09.659 --> 00:05:11.920 And there's a second verb just after that 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:13.139 that helps explain it as well. 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:17.279 And it's down in verse 28, and it's the verb God says, 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.000 and God blessed them and he said to be fruitful 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:22.360 and multiply and then he tells them to subdue. 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.979 And subdue, to subdue the land, subdue the earth 00:05:25.979 --> 00:05:27.839 is another way of talking about dominion. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.659 And really it's a verb of service and stewardship. 00:05:30.659 --> 00:05:34.519 So it means to take all the stuff that God has made 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:37.620 and given us and use it for the purposes 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:40.779 that God has given us to use it for in this world. 00:05:40.779 --> 00:05:43.699 So in other words, it's to take nature, 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:47.239 the natural world and form nature into a garden. 00:05:47.239 --> 00:05:49.679 That's taking dominion and subduing. 00:05:49.679 --> 00:05:53.599 And that's one of the basic ways we image God into the world. 00:05:53.599 --> 00:05:56.239 We're royal, we have a royal stewardship 00:05:56.239 --> 00:05:58.679 over all of creation and over all the things 00:05:58.679 --> 00:05:59.959 that God's made. 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:03.879 Now, this has been called for a long time now 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:07.919 the cultural mandate, the cultural mandate, 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:12.400 mandate, the command of God to make culture. 00:06:12.400 --> 00:06:16.120 Genesis 1, 26 to 28 explained in Genesis chapter two. 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:18.319 And it's the command that we've just looked at 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:21.439 to rule, to subdue, to take dominion over sky, 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:23.360 sea and land, over the birds and the fish 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.439 and all the creatures. 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:27.879 And it's not domination, never domination, dominion, 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:29.040 a different concept. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.960 And another way to say it is we're called to be, 00:06:31.960 --> 00:06:35.759 as human beings, to be culture makers in this world. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:36.879 That's the cultural mandate. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:37.800 What does that mean? 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:39.639 When we think about the word culture, 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.600 probably some of us will think about being a cultured person. 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:46.680 So you'll think about people who go to symphonies 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:47.720 at Usher Hall. 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:50.240 You'll think about people who read a lot of books. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.560 You'll think about posh culture, to be cultured. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:55.480 And that's, we use it that way, 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:56.879 but that's not really what the word means. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.800 Culture just comes from the concept of cultivation. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.680 And we're from the very beginning as human beings 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:08.079 called to take the stuff that God made and cultivate the world, 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:10.199 to make more stuff out of it. 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:13.720 And so we cultivate our households, we cultivate gardens. 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.439 Some of you enjoy cultivating spreadsheets. 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:19.519 It's a culture I don't understand, but I know it's good 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:20.720 and we need it. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.960 These are all different ways we cultivate. 00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:25.040 We're culture makers. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.319 That's what it means to take dominion and subdue. 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:28.680 And so every single one of us today, 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:31.680 if you are a human being, no matter what you believe in, 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.800 you are called to be a culture maker, 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.800 to take the stuff that God has given you, 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.639 the stuff that God has made from nothing 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:41.240 and use it and wield it into new stuff, 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:42.319 in all sorts of different ways. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.120 And that can mean taking dishes from the dishwasher 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:46.400 and putting them into the cabinet. 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:47.560 That's cultivation. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:49.960 That can mean inventing the iPhone, right? 00:07:49.960 --> 00:07:51.639 Only one or two people can talk about it. 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:54.160 That type of cultivation, but it's all cultivation. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:55.800 It's culture making. 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:57.000 And we're all called to do it. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.720 So dominion, as the image of God, 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:01.319 you're called to be a culture maker. 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.839 Now, when you come to chapter two, 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.159 if you look at chapter two really carefully, 00:08:06.159 --> 00:08:10.040 it's a closer look into that and another way of seeing it. 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.040 And so from verse four, where we started reading, 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.600 we have the lines, these are the generations 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:18.480 of the heavens and the earth. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.680 This is the beginning sentence 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:23.959 of the overall structure of the book of Genesis. 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:25.560 So Genesis is actually structured 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:29.360 with an introduction, creation, up to chapter two, verse three. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:33.840 And then the rest of Genesis is formed by 10 genealogies. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.120 And every one of those genealogies starts as, 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.240 these are the generations of. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.399 And so here it says, first genealogy, 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.840 these are the generations of the heavens and the earth. 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:46.080 So we're about to get the story, the first character, 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.200 the heavens and the earth, material. 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:50.519 The first character that the book focuses on 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:53.159 is the material land, the sky, the sea. 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:55.480 And if you were to keep reading the book of Genesis, 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:58.039 you would find in chapter five, verse one, 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:00.319 these are the generations of Adam. 00:09:00.319 --> 00:09:03.439 Chapter six, verse nine, these are the generations of Noah. 00:09:03.439 --> 00:09:05.839 Chapter 10, these are the generations of the sons of Noah 00:09:05.839 --> 00:09:08.159 and so on and so forth, 10 different times. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.120 That's how the whole book is structured. 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:12.679 That means we're being told in chapter two, 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:16.000 the very first character, the very first story 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.799 is a genealogy of the land itself, the heavens and the earth. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:23.559 And then right after that in verse five to seven, 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.279 and when you realize that it's not surprising, 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:28.839 we're told when there was no bush of the field, 00:09:28.839 --> 00:09:33.279 no plant yet, no rain coming down, no human yet, 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:36.399 to take care of the heavens and the earth, 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:40.519 to irrigate the land, God raised up a human being. 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:41.839 And so immediately we're saying, 00:09:41.839 --> 00:09:43.120 oh, the story of the heavens and the earth, 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.199 the land is a story of the human relationship 00:09:46.199 --> 00:09:48.079 to the material world. 00:09:48.079 --> 00:09:49.959 And how was Adam formed? 00:09:49.959 --> 00:09:51.839 The first human was formed, we're told, 00:09:51.839 --> 00:09:55.639 out of the matter, the dust, the stuff of the ground. 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:57.159 And if you were here a couple of weeks ago, 00:09:57.159 --> 00:09:59.319 we said that the word Adam, 00:09:59.319 --> 00:10:03.039 which is exactly that word in Hebrew, A-D-A-M, Adam, 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.159 is here followed by a word 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:07.360 that sounds just like Adam in Hebrew. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.080 So when it says God raised Adam from the dust of the ground, 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:15.720 the Hebrew word is Adamah, A-D-A-M-A-H. 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:18.080 And so the story of the heavens and the earth, 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.600 you hear that connection? 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.519 That human beings were, Adam was raised from the Adamah, 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:25.759 that we are a people made from the ground, 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.039 for the ground, for the land, 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.639 to rule and take dominion, to subdue the earth, 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:34.240 that tight interconnection between us 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.039 and our material surroundings all around us. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.360 We're embodied creatures, 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:40.120 we've been saying that throughout the series. 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:43.639 And then right after that, in verse 10 to 14, 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.720 it's interesting why in the midst of this creation story, 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:49.519 would all of a sudden God give us this text that says, 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.319 and by the way, there's bedelium and onyx stone 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:53.440 and gold in that land. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.440 And also there's these four rivers, 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.040 the Tigris and the Euphrates. 00:10:57.040 --> 00:10:59.360 And that's next to what you know, 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:02.000 early readers as a Syria. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:06.000 And we're being told all of this geographical data. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:07.760 And why in the world are we being talked about 00:11:07.760 --> 00:11:10.560 in the creation story about rivers and onyx stone? 00:11:10.560 --> 00:11:13.280 And it's because we were made for the land 00:11:13.280 --> 00:11:14.400 and the land was made for us. 00:11:14.400 --> 00:11:17.320 And that means when there are rivers and they intersect, 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:20.720 you can put a boat on a river that intersects 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.519 and you can send stuff away. 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:24.960 And you can create commerce and markets. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.120 And you can take onyx stone and bedelium and gold. 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.080 And you can beat it into materials 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:33.040 that will create other stuff. 00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:35.000 And ultimately you can build a city. 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:39.120 You see, chapter two is explicating the reality 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:41.720 of how much we are meant from the beginning 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:42.920 to be culture makers. 00:11:42.920 --> 00:11:46.440 And that the story of Christianity does not begin 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:47.759 in Genesis three. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.360 It begins in Genesis one and two 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.159 where God made this world to be with us 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:53.639 and us to be with this world, 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:56.480 to be workers full of delight and fruition. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.080 This is where our story begins. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.319 And this is the thing that we are being healed 00:12:01.319 --> 00:12:03.319 toward in Christianity. 00:12:03.319 --> 00:12:04.639 It all starts right here. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.759 And so if you just scan your eyes across this chapter, 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:10.639 it's so earthy. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:11.639 It's place centric. 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:15.480 There are bushes in the field, lands and plants and rain, 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.519 and irrigation and man working the ground 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:23.519 and the mist, the dust, the breath, the nostrils, 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:27.279 the garden, the east, organic growth, trees, food, rivers, 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:31.000 gold, bedelium, onyx stone, fertility, place names, 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:35.159 Tigris, Euphrates, Assyria, Kush, it's geography. 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.600 And that means that we're being told here 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.600 that we are made to use the stuff God made 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:41.800 and be culture makers. 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:46.279 Tolkien, the writer of the Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien, 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:50.759 he wrote a famous letter, letter number 153 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:54.240 in his series of letters, the book that comprises his letters. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.359 Then he wrote this letter to a man called Peter Hastings, 00:12:57.359 --> 00:13:01.039 who was a Roman Catholic bookshop owner in Oxford. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:03.479 And Peter loved the Lord of the Rings 00:13:03.479 --> 00:13:04.959 in the early days when they just came out. 00:13:04.959 --> 00:13:07.959 But he wrote to Tolkien upset and he said that 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.879 one of the mistakes in the Lord of the Rings 00:13:12.280 --> 00:13:16.320 was that he, Tolkien gave too much power, he thought, 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.480 to Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and Treebeard, one of the ints. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.519 And he said, when I read the book, 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:24.759 these characters have too much power. 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.160 They can create things, they can wield the world 00:13:27.160 --> 00:13:29.000 in a way that feels God-like. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:29.960 And he was upset about that. 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:31.600 He said, it actually seems that in your world, 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.560 you're taking power away from God 00:13:33.560 --> 00:13:35.120 and giving it to creatures. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.759 And Tolkien responded to him in a very fan, 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:42.279 this letter's very famous for a word that Tolkien coined. 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:46.039 And it's the word sub-creator or sub-creation. 00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:46.919 And this is what Tolkien said. 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.080 He said, first off, Peter, it's fiction. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:52.439 Okay? 00:13:52.439 --> 00:13:55.639 So don't take it too seriously. 00:13:55.639 --> 00:14:00.639 Second off, Tolkien said, I'm a sub-creator and so are you. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.360 And in my story, these characters are sub-creators. 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.559 And sub-creators means that they are not able 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:09.959 to make something out of nothing, 00:14:09.959 --> 00:14:12.519 but they are in their own world able to take the things 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.839 God made and wield them into something else great. 00:14:15.839 --> 00:14:17.919 And he said, and that's how I see myself 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.399 in creating this legendarium, the Lord of the Rings. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:21.559 I'm a sub-creator. 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:23.319 And he said, so I made languages, 00:14:23.319 --> 00:14:25.039 but I did not invent language. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:28.079 I named plant, I created new plants and animals 00:14:28.079 --> 00:14:29.399 that don't exist in our world, 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.239 but I did not create the concept of plant and animal. 00:14:32.239 --> 00:14:34.199 We are sub-creators. 00:14:34.199 --> 00:14:36.199 We are little world makers. 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:38.360 We build things and create things 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:40.560 and Tolkien coined that word for us. 00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:41.560 That's who you are. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:44.240 Now, secondly, the second word you need, 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:45.800 and we have to hurry today 00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:47.400 on our busy schedule this morning, 00:14:48.680 --> 00:14:50.879 that means that if we're culture makers, 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.320 made to make culture, made to take dominion and subdue 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.400 and to wield things into new things, 00:14:56.400 --> 00:15:00.200 that the second word is, we just call that work. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:01.280 That's just work. 00:15:01.280 --> 00:15:02.400 So we were made for work. 00:15:02.400 --> 00:15:05.360 So we cultivate households, we cultivate marketplaces, 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.399 we cultivate spreadsheets, 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.399 we cultivate classrooms full of kids, right? 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:11.800 And all of that is work. 00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:12.720 And that's the word we use. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.600 And so down in verse 15, you see God say that, 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.360 the Lord God took Adam, the man, 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.159 and he put him in the Garden of Eden, 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:23.480 and he gave him a job, work it and keep it. 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:24.840 And so from the very beginning, 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:26.039 when the first things were told, 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:28.519 and is that we were made for work, 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.240 culture making expresses itself through our vocations, 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:32.279 our work. 00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:35.439 And I know that come back in February, 00:15:35.439 --> 00:15:37.279 we will talk about the priestly element 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.039 of the verbs to work it and to keep it. 00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:42.079 But today, just focused on work. 00:15:43.839 --> 00:15:46.399 God commands this of Adam and Eve 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:47.439 from the very beginning. 00:15:47.439 --> 00:15:50.919 Now, that just simply means first, work is good. 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:52.879 Work was made good. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:54.360 And we live in a very broken world, 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:57.919 Genesis three is coming, but work was created good. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:00.120 What kind of work is good? 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:04.320 God made Adam here out of the dust of the earth. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.879 He got, God dug into the world, into the soil, 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:09.279 and made Adam. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:10.720 And that means that from the very beginning, 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.039 God got his hands dirty and in a good way, 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:16.399 in the way that the soil is so good. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.840 And that means that the first thing we see 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:21.480 is that manual work is very good. 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:26.919 In our city, which is very high and lofty, 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:31.919 we are the most educated city in the United Kingdom, 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:34.159 per capita. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:35.839 And that means for most of us, 00:16:35.839 --> 00:16:38.039 many of us in this room are knowledge workers. 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:41.639 And sometimes in a culture like ours, 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.839 knowledge work can look down upon manual work 00:16:43.839 --> 00:16:45.159 and manual labor. 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:46.919 And actually, the very first thing we see 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:49.199 in the beginning of human history is that God says, 00:16:49.199 --> 00:16:52.639 you were made so good, manual labor is so good. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:55.519 There's no such thing as hierarchy in this. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.639 There's never any space for us to look down 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:01.960 on any type of worker as long as that work is not sinful. 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:04.960 All, this is a bit of a truism, 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.440 but all non-simple work is good. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.599 And there's nothing that looks more like Genesis too, 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:13.119 perhaps, in a sinful and broken world 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.680 than the janitorial service that comes to our streets 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.720 every single morning and picks up the rubbish 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:19.799 that was left overnight. 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:21.400 Beautifying, cleansing the space, 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:25.000 bringing order back from chaos from the night before. 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.599 There's nothing that looks more like Genesis too, 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.880 in a broken and fallen world than a job like that. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.920 And so here we see that work is good, 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:35.799 manual work is good, knowledge work is good. 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:37.680 Boy, spreadsheets are good, 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.000 but we also need crops more than spreadsheets, amen. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.359 We gotta eat. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:44.519 We all started this way. 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:45.720 We all started this way. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:48.519 And how does this go right? 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:50.400 How can you take this reality 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.200 into whatever sphere of work you've been called to 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:55.360 and do well by culture making, 00:17:55.360 --> 00:17:58.200 by the way God's created you as God's image bearer? 00:17:58.200 --> 00:17:59.200 Let me give you a few things. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.840 One, first, be aware of how quickly this goes wrong. 00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:05.600 We're in a sinful world, 00:18:05.600 --> 00:18:07.440 but there are twin ditches here. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:10.680 And the twin ditches are the one we looked at last week. 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:14.279 The problem we all have, many of us have, of overwork. 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:15.240 And so last week we said, 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:16.880 you need to enter into God's rest 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:18.960 and stop your working on the Sabbath day. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.000 Lay your deadly doings down. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:22.600 But a more specific way to get at that 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.919 is the real ditch for many of us in the modern world 00:18:25.919 --> 00:18:29.240 is that we overwork because we've taken the power 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.879 of culture making and used it for selfish ambition. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.159 And God in Genesis one says, 00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:37.879 let us make man in our image. 00:18:37.879 --> 00:18:40.599 But when you come to Genesis 11, 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:43.079 these culture makers who had the power 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.159 to take bedelium and other stones 00:18:45.159 --> 00:18:47.000 and build a great tower to the heavens, 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:49.000 what did they say at the Tower of Babel? 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.519 They said, let us make a name for ourselves. 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:54.200 God said, let us make man in our image 00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:56.440 to wield their work in a way that honors God. 00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:57.639 At the Tower of Babel, we said, 00:18:57.639 --> 00:19:00.559 let us make a name for ourselves with our work. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.240 And so the biggest and first problem we face 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:06.039 with culture making is that we in our hearts 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:08.160 immediately turn it around and say, 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.200 thank you for giving us the ability, 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:13.480 but now I'm here to build my own little kingdom. 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.680 My money, my bank account. 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:18.759 I've been called to steward the resources you've given me, 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:21.240 but now they're mine. 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:23.519 So we build a sky to the heavens, a tower. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.640 We build our own kingdoms. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:27.319 We pursue work through the means of selfish ambition. 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:30.519 The other ditch that we can fall into 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:32.599 with being a culture maker 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:34.440 is one we didn't talk about last time, 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:37.880 and that's the opposite problem, which is under work. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:43.960 And under work in the Bible is called slothfulness, laziness. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:47.799 And this is not a modern productivity conversation. 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:48.640 This is biblical. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.640 This is all over the proverbs 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.600 that many of us struggle with overwork, 00:19:52.600 --> 00:19:54.560 many of us struggle with underwork, 00:19:54.560 --> 00:19:56.880 and all of us are gonna go in one direction 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.480 or the other in our lives. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.040 And so some of us today's, 00:20:00.040 --> 00:20:01.759 we all need to hear one or the other. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:02.920 Some of us need to hear, 00:20:03.800 --> 00:20:08.280 six days you show labor and one day you will rest. 00:20:08.280 --> 00:20:09.680 The command of liberation, 00:20:10.520 --> 00:20:12.120 because we overwork, we need to be told. 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:13.480 It's a command to rest. 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:15.759 Others of us need to be told, 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:18.960 one day you rest, but six days you labor. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:22.360 Six days you work, because you were made for that. 00:20:22.360 --> 00:20:24.840 And if you're overworking or you're underworking 00:20:24.840 --> 00:20:26.840 in either direction as a culture maker, 00:20:26.840 --> 00:20:28.360 you will be unfulfilled. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:32.319 Underwork or overwork, you'll be empty in either direction. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:33.519 Either you're living for yourself 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:34.920 and building your own little kingdom, 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.559 or you're not fulfilling the calling you've been given 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:40.400 to actually be a worker that makes things in this world, 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.400 either direction. 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:44.680 Now let me give you three ways this can go very right. 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:46.000 And they're very short. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.039 One is this, in verse 15 we're told 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:50.359 that God put Adam in the garden 00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:53.159 and he told him, work and keep the garden, 00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:54.359 the place I've put you. 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:57.799 That means that God created us as culture makers 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:00.720 and he created us as workers and he put us where we are. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.000 And that means one way to protect yourself 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:05.799 from these twin ditches is to always remember 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:07.920 that ultimately God is your boss. 00:21:08.839 --> 00:21:11.680 Your local boss is not your ultimate boss. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.359 And maybe that's good news for you today 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:15.720 if you don't like your boss. 00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:19.400 Ultimately God is the one you work for. 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:22.759 And when we can remember in our hearts every day 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:25.000 as we go out to work, whether that's household work, 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.000 gardening work, or the financial district of the city, 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:30.440 God is our ultimate boss. 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:32.000 We work for him, we were made to work for him. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.120 The second way we can get this right 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:39.839 is to realize that this verb, he says work it and keep it. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:43.400 The verb keep there is a verb of organization, 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:46.160 beautification and protection. 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:49.280 And that means one of the things we're being called to 00:21:49.280 --> 00:21:52.759 is in our work, is your work meaningful and fulfilling? 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:54.240 One of the things you can ask is, 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.640 am I working in order to keep it? 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:01.880 Meaning to push back chaos and death in this world 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:06.440 in some way to make something more beautiful than it was 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.640 and to pursue what's good, not evil in this world. 00:22:09.640 --> 00:22:11.920 Is your work in any way participating in that? 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.560 Then you're fulfilling the thing you were made for. 00:22:14.560 --> 00:22:17.160 And so maybe that's happening in a way 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.560 you've not even realized yet in the way you work. 00:22:19.560 --> 00:22:21.880 And you've got to just wake up to it 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:23.440 and embrace it a little more. 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:27.160 So are you an engineer in the room today? 00:22:27.160 --> 00:22:30.519 Maybe you're an engineer that's working on Northbridge. 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:35.519 And let me say, you could go faster maybe? 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.360 No, she can't. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:42.359 But you discovered a problem in that bridge 00:22:43.679 --> 00:22:45.279 and you were making sure it doesn't fall. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:47.279 And that is being a culture maker. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.479 That is fulfilling such a good purpose 00:22:49.479 --> 00:22:51.519 that you are gonna protect us. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.159 That's pushing back the chaos of death. 00:22:53.159 --> 00:22:56.119 And maybe you're here today as a medical professional 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:57.159 in some way, shape or form. 00:22:57.159 --> 00:22:59.519 And you take the human body and the chaos 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.479 and the death that's being wielded through brokenness 00:23:02.479 --> 00:23:05.639 and you push it back through other things in this earth 00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:09.680 that we've taken, like all sorts of things from the earth 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:11.840 and wielded into medicine. 00:23:11.840 --> 00:23:13.480 And you push back death and chaos. 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:14.759 You're doing it. 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.560 You're fulfilling what you are made to be as God's image. 00:23:17.560 --> 00:23:20.280 You're in the law court and you're establishing justice. 00:23:20.280 --> 00:23:23.160 You're a janitor and we've already said it. 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:25.759 You're beautifying the city. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:27.840 You're doing exactly what God made you to do. 00:23:27.840 --> 00:23:28.759 Are you a student? 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:31.280 Let me ask you if you're a student today. 00:23:31.280 --> 00:23:34.880 Do you go to university or school or college or whatever? 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:39.400 And are you there to learn a vocation in order 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:41.200 to glorify the Lord with your work 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.480 and push back death, disease, chaos 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:45.240 with goodness, order and beauty in this world? 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:47.280 Or are you there to build your own kingdom? 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:52.800 Are you at home, full-time parent right now at home, 00:23:52.800 --> 00:23:55.200 cleaning up dirty nappies every day? 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:56.800 And that's your main gig. 00:23:56.800 --> 00:24:01.800 And you're at school in a room full of kids all the time. 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:06.240 Boy, you are cultivating the image of God itself, 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.960 human beings. 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:11.519 And talk about pushing back the chaos, bringing order. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.039 Every time you throw away that dirty nappy, 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.279 you do something that is so good. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:22.839 You work and keep, you bring back beauty and order 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:24.879 and chaos and cleanliness to a little one 00:24:24.879 --> 00:24:26.720 that really needs it, 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.279 to bear the image of God in their own way in time. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.039 God put us, God put Adam there. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:34.559 God has put us where we are. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.799 And so there's a calling we all have. 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:39.519 And we'll have to talk about gifting 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.240 and searching for vocation another day. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.799 But let me just say it like this and move to the final thing. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.559 We're all called to change the world 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:53.440 through culture making in our own way. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.440 Not the whole world, not at all, 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:59.519 but the little bitty worlds that God has each put us in. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:03.680 And so there are people that you can reach. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:05.360 There are people you can help. 00:25:05.360 --> 00:25:08.759 There are spheres, vocational spheres 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:13.759 that you can get to and impact that I can never get to. 00:25:14.120 --> 00:25:16.559 People that I will never be able to have a relationship with 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.080 that only you and your small world, 00:25:19.080 --> 00:25:22.480 just like me and my small world, have an ability to change. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.920 Are you going in the name of the Lord 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:26.680 to glorify God as your ultimate boss, 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:29.360 to be a culture maker towards the good 00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:30.920 in wherever God has put you? 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:34.360 Lastly, that means as we close 00:25:34.360 --> 00:25:36.400 that we have all been given this third thing. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:39.759 And that's that if you've been called to make culture 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.759 in this world, if you've been therefore called to work 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:46.160 in whatever way God has given you, you have power. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:49.360 And power is something we all possess. 00:25:49.360 --> 00:25:51.519 In the academy today, it's very popular 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:54.480 to say that power is bad, period. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.440 And of course, that's obviously not true, 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:00.639 that all of us wield power in all sorts of ways. 00:26:00.639 --> 00:26:02.480 And the question is, are we doing a good job 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:04.440 with our power or poor job? 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:09.359 At the end of this passage, Adam is given the opportunity 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.519 by God to name the animals. 00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.079 Of course, God could have named the animals. 00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:20.400 But he actually said, Adam, I want you to do it. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.960 And Adam was given this opportunity to name. 00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:26.560 And in Hebrew, when you name something, 00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:28.920 you really define its essence. 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.519 You set it apart for what it's going to be and do. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:34.120 There's this sense here of domestication. 00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:38.240 And God gifted Adam this enormous power. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:40.519 I can't imagine what it must have been like. 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:44.800 We all have been gifted power in different ways. 00:26:44.800 --> 00:26:48.880 And in that, we've got power 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:51.560 that we have to assess, are we wielding it 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:54.600 in the name of the Lord for the good of the city? 00:26:55.600 --> 00:26:58.000 In the name of our household for the good of our household. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.320 In the name of the Lord for the good of our household, 00:26:59.320 --> 00:27:00.680 I should say. 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:02.560 How are you using your power? 00:27:03.560 --> 00:27:05.040 There's power in your money, 00:27:06.280 --> 00:27:09.640 but we can quickly misuse it by becoming greedy. 00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:12.360 And you can take through greed the power of money 00:27:12.360 --> 00:27:14.760 and turn it into a great oppressive evil. 00:27:14.760 --> 00:27:17.360 There is power in sex and sexuality. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:20.319 In the balance of covenant marriage, 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:23.399 but you can quickly take the gift of sex and sexuality, 00:27:23.399 --> 00:27:27.519 a power and abuse it so quickly that it will destroy you. 00:27:28.439 --> 00:27:30.759 There is great power in work itself, 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:33.159 but we can wield our work and selfish ambition 00:27:33.159 --> 00:27:36.319 and use it in a way where we become power hungry. 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:38.639 And it becomes an idol in our lives. 00:27:38.639 --> 00:27:40.319 And we wield it to utter destruction 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:41.639 in the lives of so many people. 00:27:41.639 --> 00:27:43.439 It happens in every sphere. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:45.240 It happens in every sphere. 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:47.440 How do you wield your power that God's given you 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:50.279 over a few or over many in this life? 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.240 Today you've got to come and you've got to look 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:57.440 at the one we're told in the New Testament 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:02.440 is the image bearer himself, Jesus Christ. 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:03.839 And if we look at his life 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:05.920 for just a couple of minutes as we close, 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:10.440 Jesus Christ is the ultimate culture maker, 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:14.519 the human being, the image of God itself. 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:17.200 And when you look at his life, you think about it, 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:19.259 how did he wield his power? 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.599 Called by God to work, he was. 00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:25.759 And he came into this world, 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:29.160 and first he came into an existing culture. 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:31.519 We all have subcultures, Edinburgh culture 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:33.960 and Glasgow culture and all sorts of things. 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:37.519 Jesus came into Jewish culture in the first century. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.799 He would have been known as Yeshua Bar Joseph, 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:44.400 Jesus the son of Joseph when he came to the synagogue. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.759 And he learned the Old Testament, he memorized it. 00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:48.640 He learned to do his chores. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:51.640 He became a carpenter, he worked. 00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:54.040 We don't know a lot about his carpentry skills, 00:28:54.040 --> 00:28:57.840 but what we do know is that Jesus never overworked 00:28:57.840 --> 00:28:59.120 or underworked. 00:28:59.120 --> 00:29:01.120 We know he was a carpenter who worked in exactly 00:29:01.120 --> 00:29:03.640 the right way he should have throughout his life. 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:04.560 He was a culture maker. 00:29:04.560 --> 00:29:06.040 You know, think about the things that Jesus 00:29:06.040 --> 00:29:08.240 has given the world culturally. 00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:11.920 He gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:13.519 He gave us the parable of the prodigal son. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.079 He gave us this whole genre. 00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:19.119 He gave us eating with tax collectors and sinners 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:20.839 in a world that did not allow that. 00:29:20.839 --> 00:29:23.599 He disrupted and remade the culture. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.359 Jesus Christ ultimately offered the world by his death 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:29.799 and resurrection the culture of the very kingdom of God 00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:31.720 that has come and is coming. 00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:33.559 He remade the world. 00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:35.639 He gave us the culture of Sabbath in a new way, 00:29:35.639 --> 00:29:39.200 in a way that Sainsbury's on Sunday opens later 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:41.639 and closes earlier and they don't know why. 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:44.240 And it's because of Jesus Christ. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:47.000 They used to stay closed all day, 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:48.280 but they still do it different. 00:29:48.280 --> 00:29:50.520 And it's because Jesus changed the world. 00:29:50.520 --> 00:29:54.440 He made a new culture and that means if you look to him, 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:56.480 I think there's one word that really encapsulate 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.640 true work, culture making. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:02.400 And that's Jesus's example of servanthood. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:05.680 He said, I came not to be served but to serve. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.360 And if there's one way you can use your culture 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:12.199 making power in this life is become a servant. 00:30:12.199 --> 00:30:13.399 Look to Christ. 00:30:15.159 --> 00:30:19.919 And who among us today can say, 00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:23.919 I've taken the power God has given me, 00:30:23.919 --> 00:30:26.000 the vocational calling God has given me, 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.399 the people God has put in my sphere, 00:30:28.399 --> 00:30:31.479 my calling to work and to wield my resources 00:30:31.479 --> 00:30:34.439 and has done that as a servant to the glory of God fully. 00:30:35.439 --> 00:30:36.919 Now you think about the way you've worked, 00:30:36.919 --> 00:30:38.319 the way you've stewarded your household, 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.159 the way you've stewarded the marketplace, 00:30:40.159 --> 00:30:42.119 the way you treat your own money. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:47.960 Who among us can say, boy, my work reflects Genesis too 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:49.720 and the example of Jesus Christ? 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:55.799 And when you think about the greatest bit of culture, 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.639 Jesus ever offered this world. 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:02.159 The greatest thing that Jesus ever did for us 00:31:02.159 --> 00:31:03.879 is that the image of God himself, 00:31:03.879 --> 00:31:07.240 the one with true power, the utter culture maker himself, 00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:11.440 he came into this world ultimately not just to make culture 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.359 but to be unmade by culture. 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.920 The culture of crucifixion, 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:23.079 God gave us this power to create, we built crosses. 00:31:24.120 --> 00:31:25.480 God gave us this power to wield, 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:27.920 we created cultures of death and destruction 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:32.799 and Jesus came to be subdued by the cross, 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.559 to be subdued by every act of selfish ambition 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.519 that we did in this world in order to remake us, 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:43.480 to renew us, to set us back to rights with him 00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:46.480 and say now go and work in the way you were made, 00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:49.960 to be remade, he was unmade so that we could be remade 00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:52.039 in the way we are culture makers into this world. 00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:54.599 And so today as you leave, how do you go forth 00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:56.559 and work in the light of Jesus Christ? 00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:58.679 You've got to be changed, you've got to be renewed, 00:31:58.679 --> 00:32:02.119 you've got to admit I have not wielded my resources, 00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:03.559 I've abused my power in ways, 00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:06.079 I've not done what I should do 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:09.919 but Jesus Christ was unmade so I could be changed. 00:32:09.919 --> 00:32:12.879 And from there, Jesus restores us 00:32:12.879 --> 00:32:15.559 to stewardship of servanthood. 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:17.399 Become a servant all around you 00:32:17.399 --> 00:32:19.119 in whatever power you have 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:20.919 and you will walk in the way of Christ. 00:32:22.159 --> 00:32:25.439 The lines of the Jude doxology to close, 00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:29.439 to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord 00:32:29.439 --> 00:32:34.319 be glory, majesty, dominion and authority. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:37.439 Before all time now and forever, amen. 00:32:37.439 --> 00:32:38.279 Let's pray. 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:41.839 Father, we give thanks for the gift of culture making 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:46.359 and we ask Lord that you would today remake us 00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:50.079 to wield that gift in the ways that actually serve 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:51.799 the world as we were made. 00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:53.359 That we would be here to build a great city, 00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:56.359 that we would be here ultimately to shine 00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:59.639 through our work, your glory and point to you. 00:32:59.639 --> 00:33:02.639 We thank you Lord Jesus for the cross and the resurrection 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:06.320 that you came to serve us all the way to the point of death 00:33:06.320 --> 00:33:09.920 so that we might understand what it means to be pardoned 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:12.240 and renewed unto true servanthood. 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.320 And so we ask for that gift today, that vision 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:36.319 and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.