As mentioned in the previous post, I gave a devotional message this past January. The below is a transcript. I apologize for any formatting oddities.
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I mentioned in my previous talk that being amongst castle and abbey ruins gave me a great sense of peace and heightened awareness of the tension in our lives between meaning and futility. I’d like to explore those concepts more now for the devotional. This will not be one text but a survey throughout the Scriptures, and we’ll start at the beginning, looking at this topic through the lens of the four-chapter gospel.
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I mentioned in my previous talk that being amongst castle and abbey ruins gave me a great sense of peace and heightened awareness of the tension in our lives between meaning and futility. I’d like to explore those concepts more now for the devotional. This will not be one text but a survey throughout the Scriptures, and we’ll start at the beginning, looking at this topic through the lens of the four-chapter gospel.
CREATION
Genesis 1:26-28: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This is what we call the ‘cultural mandate.’ God’s command to fill the earth, subdue, and have dominion imply the need for organization, delineation of responsibility, and collaboration- in other words, culture. This is the general mandate, true for all. It’s not bounded by age or role. And it shows that our creation had purpose- meaning. We weren’t here just to be here- we have an important role to play as stewards of the earth, responsible for its growth and thriving.
For Adam and Eve specifically, we see what that means in Genesis 2:
Genesis 2:15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
There’s no tension at this point because there’s no sin. We have purpose and aren’t constrained by curse. But things didn’t go well for long.FALL
Genesis 3:17-19: And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
In the fall, the cultural mandate doesn’t change- we are still to be fruitful and multiply and subdue and have dominion- but there are two new realities introduced due to the curse:
- The ground (creation) is cursed. It will fight back! There will be pain and failure and futility.
- Man is cursed and will die. We will return to dust. And sinfulness now pervades our being.
Humanity has wrestled with this tension throughout our history, and Solomon offers a helpful exploration of this topic in Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3, 12-14: The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? . . . I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:16-20: For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, Solomon here is grappling with the tension between desiring to do something meaningful and the reality of death, dissatisfaction, and uncertainty. Our work can be vexing and seem pointless. Even if our work is successful in our lifetime, what follows? He recognizes that we have the eternal in us, saying
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3, 12-14: The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? . . . I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:16-20: For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, Solomon here is grappling with the tension between desiring to do something meaningful and the reality of death, dissatisfaction, and uncertainty. Our work can be vexing and seem pointless. Even if our work is successful in our lifetime, what follows? He recognizes that we have the eternal in us, saying
Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Solomon is struggling with this tension. That we know there is more but see decay all around. He ‘gripes’ about this for a while, until concluding
Ecclesiastes 12:13: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
We don’t know if Solomon delights in, or is resigned to, this statement. It’s a statement of faith either way- obey the Lord, even when it appears pointless or painful.
How does Jesus change things?
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Colossians 3:1-3: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1 Peter 22b-25a: . . . love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
We see here the tension still existing, but in a different sort of way. We- still in perishable bodies on a cursed earth- have died and been raised with Christ. We see this concept of perishable ‘putting on’ imperishable more in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-49, 50, 53:
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body . . . 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. . . 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
What does this mean? How should we then live in this ‘already but not yet’ mindset? Jesus shows the way.
This makes sense of Jesus’s work before He died and rose again. We see in Matthew 6:33 and 20-21, respectively, that Jesus says to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. But this is not a call to ignore the world.
We know that Jesus did all things well (Mark 7:37), and we’re commanded to do the same. We read in 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And in Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Look at how Jesus Himself lived that out in the Gospels: he healed the sick, fed the hungry, restored the infirm, brought the dead to life. Jesus shows through His work and His commands that He is tying the temporal to the eternal. He is showing that His ultimate purpose is not only redemption- but also restoration. And it is there that the tension is resolved.
The call to participate in the work of restoration is what gives our perishable work eternal significance. When Jesus healed and fed,
“Jesus was showing that he has the ability to deliver on his promise of new heavens and a new earth. As his disciples, we are to go out into the world and work to bring about flourishing in everything we do, giving those around us the hope of the way things could be. As Christians, we are called to live lives so transformed by this four-chapter gospel that others will see in it the possibility of their own transformation and the world’s.” – Hugh Whelchel (ATN)
And Jesus says in John 14:12, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
This claim- shocking at first glance- is talking about is his restorative work, not redemptive. Since His departure and sending of the Spirit, He has worked through His church- millions of His people- do to works greater in quantity than what He did as one person. And we see the end state in Revelation:
Revelations 21:1-6: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
What we do matters. And is a vanity. It fades, it is temporary, it may fail or seem futile. But it is significant. We live in the ‘already-not yet’ tension of the last days.
An eternal perspective gives value to our earthly work- what we do matters, so we give ourselves to the things that matter. We work, we bring out the potential, we heal, we build things of beauty. These efforts and achievements are not to be objects that we worship, but offerings of our worship. Bringing them to God as stewards. Pointing everyone to the final restoration; preparing the way. Not knowing what God will do with them but working as faithful servants and remembering 1 Corinthians 15: 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
So as I stroll through the ruins, I’m reminded of these things. Glory, work, beauty, futility, eternity. I see echoes of the past ringing down through the present. The same God was with these people. The same God guided them through good and bad, through building and failing, through health and pandemic, through peace and war. Their work of those who have come before did not last in a physical sense, but yet has eternal ramifications. We can therefore entrust our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Post-talk thought: Ruins are echoes/reminders of the past. Our perishable works are echoes/reminders of the future.
We don’t know if Solomon delights in, or is resigned to, this statement. It’s a statement of faith either way- obey the Lord, even when it appears pointless or painful.
How does Jesus change things?
REDEMPTION
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Colossians 3:1-3: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1 Peter 22b-25a: . . . love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
We see here the tension still existing, but in a different sort of way. We- still in perishable bodies on a cursed earth- have died and been raised with Christ. We see this concept of perishable ‘putting on’ imperishable more in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-49, 50, 53:
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body . . . 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. . . 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
What does this mean? How should we then live in this ‘already but not yet’ mindset? Jesus shows the way.
RESTORATION
This makes sense of Jesus’s work before He died and rose again. We see in Matthew 6:33 and 20-21, respectively, that Jesus says to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. But this is not a call to ignore the world.
We know that Jesus did all things well (Mark 7:37), and we’re commanded to do the same. We read in 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And in Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Look at how Jesus Himself lived that out in the Gospels: he healed the sick, fed the hungry, restored the infirm, brought the dead to life. Jesus shows through His work and His commands that He is tying the temporal to the eternal. He is showing that His ultimate purpose is not only redemption- but also restoration. And it is there that the tension is resolved.
The call to participate in the work of restoration is what gives our perishable work eternal significance. When Jesus healed and fed,
“Jesus was showing that he has the ability to deliver on his promise of new heavens and a new earth. As his disciples, we are to go out into the world and work to bring about flourishing in everything we do, giving those around us the hope of the way things could be. As Christians, we are called to live lives so transformed by this four-chapter gospel that others will see in it the possibility of their own transformation and the world’s.” – Hugh Whelchel (ATN)
And Jesus says in John 14:12, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
This claim- shocking at first glance- is talking about is his restorative work, not redemptive. Since His departure and sending of the Spirit, He has worked through His church- millions of His people- do to works greater in quantity than what He did as one person. And we see the end state in Revelation:
Revelations 21:1-6: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
Conclusion
What we do matters. And is a vanity. It fades, it is temporary, it may fail or seem futile. But it is significant. We live in the ‘already-not yet’ tension of the last days.
An eternal perspective gives value to our earthly work- what we do matters, so we give ourselves to the things that matter. We work, we bring out the potential, we heal, we build things of beauty. These efforts and achievements are not to be objects that we worship, but offerings of our worship. Bringing them to God as stewards. Pointing everyone to the final restoration; preparing the way. Not knowing what God will do with them but working as faithful servants and remembering 1 Corinthians 15: 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
So as I stroll through the ruins, I’m reminded of these things. Glory, work, beauty, futility, eternity. I see echoes of the past ringing down through the present. The same God was with these people. The same God guided them through good and bad, through building and failing, through health and pandemic, through peace and war. Their work of those who have come before did not last in a physical sense, but yet has eternal ramifications. We can therefore entrust our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Post-talk thought: Ruins are echoes/reminders of the past. Our perishable works are echoes/reminders of the future.
References
- R.C. Sproul (general editor), The Reformation Study Bible (RSB),
English Standard Version. Ligonier
Ministries, 2005, ISBN 978-1-59638-136-0
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Hugh Whelchel, All Things New
(ATN). Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, 2016, ISBN 9780096425797
-
John Frame, Systematic Theology
(ST). P&R Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1-59638-217-6.
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