God Loves Through Culture

This morning, we come back to our section on the common love of God for the whole world. Last week we saw that God loves the whole world by giving us human government. Government is intended to constrain evil and promote human flourishing, and we should support legitimate institutions with honor and taxes. Today, we move to the second way that God loves the whole world. God loves the world by giving us culture. To see that, let’s read Eccl. 3:9-15. From this text, see four points: In culture, God gives us a Business, a Beauty, a Benevolence, and a Boundary.

First, from verses 9 and 10, see that in culture, God gives us a business. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the scientists that challenged God. One day, the world’s leading scientists made a discovery. They figured out how to create life. In their hubris, they called out to God, “Hey God, we’ve figured it out, and we challenge you to a contest.” Amused by this challenge, God answered, “What do you propose?” The scientists proposed that they have a competition to see who could create life the quickest. God smirked and said, “OK, on your mark… get set… go!” At that word, the scientists frantically set about gathering dirt to begin the process, but God quickly stopped them and said, “No no… get your own dirt.” This joke is cute, but it also gets to a fundamental truth about God’s creation. God has made a world from which things can be made, and he put into the very fabric of human existence this desire to grow, learn, and create. Solomon says, in verses 9 and 10, that God has given man business that he is to be busy with. The Hebrew word used for “business” in verse 10 means an occupation or a job. We see this in the creation story itself. Gen. 1:27-28 says that God gave man and woman dominion over every creature, and their task was to subdue the earth. In Gen. 2:5, we find that God places man in an immaculate garden full of trees and animals made for his enjoyment. Yet, even in this garden, God gives man a task - he is to work and keep the garden. Contrary to popular belief, the ideal human state is not a utopic society free of work. It is not universal basic income where the robots do all the work for us. It is not a heaven where we only sing and float on clouds. No, we were made to work, and we find meaning and fulfillment in it. Yes, God made a world full of plants and animals and rivers and mountains and fields, but it is man’s responsibility to subdue this raw creation into a place fit for the glory of God. Man is made in the image of God, and so like God, he is made to create. We take the stuff of God’s creation, and we fashion it to works of beauty and goodness that glorify God and benefit our fellow man. God made grain, but man makes bread. God made trees, but man makes tables and houses. God made sound, but man makes music. God made iron, but man makes tools. Culture is the image bearer unfolding the possibilities God placed within creation.

Now, certainly it is true that, after the fall of Adam, work became toilsome. Thorns and thistles grew up to complicate work. And, now there is a neediness to our work. Before the fall, the garden provided for every need Adam could have. After the fall, Adam had to bring it up by the sweat of his brow. But, that does not mean that work is now evil or simply punishment. The work is still good, even though it has been marred by the fall.

Second, in culture, God gives us a beauty. In verse 11, Solomon says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time… and put eternity into man’s heart.” If you’ll remember from our lesson on the goodness of God, I explained that the OT concept of beauty means “fitted to an order.” God has made a beautiful world that is fit for a purpose. One of the ways that we know this is by working in this world to make good things that benefit others. It fascinates me how every generation builds and improves on the last. I’ve told the story of the St. Marks Basilica in Venice, Italy, which took over 400 years to construct and crosses four different architectural styles. At one point, the church burned, and that generation built from its ruins something greater than what came before. This is what I think Solomon means when he says that God has made everything beautiful in its time. God raises up men and women with gifts for their time. He raises up great mathematicians and scientists who make new discoveries.  He raises up architects and builders to develop new and effective means of construction. He raises up engineers and artisans to invent tools. He raises up farmers who find new ways to grow food for the masses. He raises up artists and musicians to build on the genres that came before. It is all fit for its time, and it is given by a good God who intends us to make culture that is good and true and beautiful.

But, it’s important to recognize that, whatever we build and discover can never give us ultimate satisfaction. Only God can do that. So, Solomon says, “God has put eternity in man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end.” In other words, God has created us in such a way that we desire to create and bring up meaning out of the bare ground. Culture is good in this sense. It can speak truth to us. The high ceilings and ornate beauty of a cathedral can convey the loftiness and majesty of God, but that architecture cannot speak for God. The scientist can explore the mysteries of the universe and marvel at the complexity of creation, but those formulas will never save him. This hits at the mystery of what theologians call “Divine Hiddenness”. God has given us enough evidence in creation so that we know his nature and goodness, but there is enough hiddenness in creation that we need something else. Specifically, we need God to speak to us.

Third, in culture, God gives us a benevolence. In verses 12-13, Solomon wonders, if God has not revealed himself completely in the work that man has been given to do, what is man to do with his work? He answers that by saying, “they should be joyful and do good as long as they live… and eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God’s gift to man.” Here again we see that work is intended for our good. Solomon says that it is a gift from God to man. So, what should we do with this gift? We should enjoy it! There are three ways that we should enjoy the culture that we make in our work. One, we should “be joyful.” We should find joy in our work. Now, sometimes you have a job that is just not enjoyable. Perhaps your job is mondain or repetitive, and it is hard to find joy in it. That’s fine. It may be your job, but it is not your work. Your work is that which God has uniquely gifted you to do. Perhaps it is a talent you have (singing, painting, carpentry, leadership, caregiving, and on and on). It could be an interest you have (something that you daydream of, a problem you want to solve, a design you keep coming back to). Work is the task that you enjoy because it engages your mind and body to do what God made you to do. So, even if your job is mondain, you can still keep a vegetable garden or sing in the choir or write music or paint or a hundred other things. Many times, your job is your work, and praise God when that is the case. But, whatever your employment may be, there is work for you to do that brings joy.

Two, we should “do good as long as we live.” Work is the task that involves your mind and body in the pursuit of something good, whether it be the glory of God or the benefit of mankind. Again, that may be a hard line to draw directly from your mondain job and the benefit of others, but you have talents and interests that will do that, and you should nurture those things.

Three, we should “take pleasure” in the things that we make. Yes, Christian, you have permission to enjoy the good things of culture. You have permission to enjoy good things that people have made. You can even take pleasure in things like bread and wine and music and movies. You can be proud of your tomato crop and delight in it when you put that first slice of the summer between two pieces of white bread that have been covered in mayonnaise. You can savor a delicious BBQ sandwich from that Boston Butt you slaved over for four hours. The work we do is given to us by a benevolent God who wants us to enjoy his creation. God gives good thingsthat make human life rich and enjoyable. As we read from Psalm 104:14-15, he “gives wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen his heart.” God didn’t just make bread, but also flavor; not just sound, but also harmony; not just speech, but poetry.

This brings me to my final point: In culture, God gives us a boundary, from verses 14 and 15. Having said all of this about the joy and pleasure of work, there is a boundary to it. In verse 14, Solomon draws a distinction between God’s work and ours. Whatever God does endures forever and we can’t add or take away from it. This goes back to my joke at the beginning. No matter how great our culture might become, we will never be like God. We can only create from what he has created. We can only enjoy what he has given. And, God will judge what we do with the things that he has given us. This is what he means when he says, “God seeks what has been driven away [or what has been pursued].” God has made you with talents and interests, so what are you doing with them? Are you using them to enrich yourself and gain power, or are you bringing glory to God and blessing mankind with them? This is the cultural conundrum. Because of our fallen nature, we use our talents and interests for sinful things. In Genesis 4-11, we find men who build cities to escape God. They learn to use metal to make weapons. They discover bricks and build a tower to make a name for themselves. None of those technologies are evil. Cities can be places of unity and protection and commerce. Metal can make plows and scythes as easily as it can make swords. Bricks can build cathedrals. The technology is not the problem. The heart of the men using the technology is the problem. God will judge what we do with our hands, because he has given us work and culture for our good out of the abundance of his love.

In the time we have left, I want to address a common misconception that Christians have about work. There is a tendency within Christianity to devalue any work that is not directly connected to evangelism. Often times, when I tell someone that they can bring glory to God in their work, they will respond by saying, “Yes, I know I can be a witness at my work.” That’s not what I mean. Your work matters not only because you have the opportunity to be a witness at work, although that is good. Your work matters because any time you do something worthwhile, whether it is in building good products that make life easier for people or providing care for someone or administering an organization or building a house where a family can grow - whatever it is, it is good and glorifying. I want to leave you with four ways that our work glorifies God. One, our honest work is evidence of our repentance. Eph. 4:28 says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Two, our work is a service to Christ. Col. 3:17, 23 says, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus… whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord…” Now, when Paul says, “whatever you do… do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”, he doesn’t mean that every time you drive a nail you yell out the name of Jesus. He means that you are to work as though Jesus is your master. Paul says this very thing to slaves in Eph. 6. They are to serve their masters, not out of fear, but in service to Christ. So, you are not driving nails for the foreman. You are driving them for Jesus. Three, our work is a public witness. 1 Thes. 4:11-12 says, “Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” We should work and earn an honest wage because it is a poor witness to be dependent on another person. Now, there are certainly times in life and rough patches where we may need help. We may have a chronic condition that makes us dependent on others. But, as a general rule, Christians should not be dependent on the welfare of others. We should not mooch. We should earn our wages honestly, because our work witnesses to our character in the Lord. Finally, we should work to help the weak. In Acts 20:34-35, Paul tells of how he worked as a tentmaker to support his ministry and help others. Even as an apostle, Paul did not claim his privilege to be supported by the church, but rather, he set an example of work for the sake of others.

Brothers and sisters, our work matters because it is given to us by a loving God as a good to this world. We should work diligently and honestly because it glorifies God and benefits our fellow man. And, we should enjoy the works of our hands and the blessings of culture, because in them we experience the good gifts of a loving God.