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Voddie Baucham - The Three Trees Genesis 1_28 2_17 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Genesis 1 beginning verse 28. Now, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2,
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Speaker 1: there's a beautiful relationship between the two chapters. And it
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Speaker 1: can sometimes be confusing because in Genesis 1, we have
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Speaker 1: this view of creation from 35,000 feet, right? It's the
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Speaker 1: big picture of what God did in those six days
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Speaker 1: of creation. And then in chapter 2, After man has
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Speaker 1: already been created, male and female, we have a picture
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Speaker 1: of God creating Adam in the garden from the dust
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Speaker 1: and creating Eve from his side. So it's obvious that
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Speaker 1: what has happened in chapter 2 is that we have
0:43
Speaker 1: backed up, slowed down, and honed in on what God
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Speaker 1: is doing in the creation of man. But we also
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Speaker 1: see more than that, which I'll show you. At the
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Speaker 1: end of chapter 1, we have what's often referred to
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Speaker 1: as the cultural mandate or the dominion mandate. And then
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Speaker 1: there is a bridge paragraph, those first few verses of
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Speaker 1: chapter 2, and after that we have Adam in the
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Speaker 1: garden actually carrying out the mandate that we saw at
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Speaker 1: the end of chapter 1. And the juxtaposition of these
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Speaker 1: things is very important because if we are to understand
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Speaker 1: what that mandate means and what it looks like. Because
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Speaker 1: so many of us, you know, as Christians, we go, yes,
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Speaker 1: the Lord, you know, told us to be fruitful and
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Speaker 1: multiply and subdue and exercise dominion and it's great. And
1:37
Speaker 1: how do you do that? Because, you know, the subdue and,
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Speaker 1: you know, dominion stuff. And we don't know how to
1:51
Speaker 1: answer the question. Why do you do what you do?
1:53
Speaker 1: Why do you go to work every day? Well, you know,
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Speaker 1: I go to work because, you know, I feed my family. Okay, great.
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Speaker 1: Is that all? Is that the only reason that you
2:04
Speaker 1: do it? Why do we build structures the way we
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Speaker 1: build them? Why do we do anything the way that
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Speaker 1: we do it? Those questions are answered foundationally right here
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Speaker 1: in these two overlapping texts. So let's start. Chapter 1
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Speaker 1: beginning verse 28. And God blessed them and God said
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Speaker 1: to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
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Speaker 1: and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of
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Speaker 1: the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
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Speaker 1: over every living thing that moves on the earth. And
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Speaker 1: God said behold I have given you every plant yielding
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Speaker 1: seed that is on the face of the earth and
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Speaker 1: every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have
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Speaker 1: them for food. And to every beast of the earth
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Speaker 1: and to every bird of the heavens and to everything
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Speaker 1: that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath
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Speaker 1: of life, I have given every green plant for food.
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Speaker 1: And it was so. And God saw that everything that
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Speaker 1: he had made, and behold, it was very good. And
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Speaker 1: there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
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Speaker 1: Now here's the bridge paragraph. Chapter two, verse one. Thus
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Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth were finished and all the
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Speaker 1: host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished
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Speaker 1: his work that he had done and he rested on
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Speaker 1: the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
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Speaker 1: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy
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Speaker 1: because on it, God rested from all his work that
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Speaker 1: he had done in creation. These are the generations of
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Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth when they were created. in
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Speaker 1: the day that the Lord God made the earth and
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Speaker 1: the heavens. That was the transition paragraph. Now, verse 5.
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Speaker 1: When no bush of the field was yet in the land,
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Speaker 1: and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up,
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Speaker 1: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain
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Speaker 1: on the land, and there was no man to work
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Speaker 1: the ground, and a mist was going up from the
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Speaker 1: land and was watering the whole face of the ground.
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Speaker 1: Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust
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Speaker 1: of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
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Speaker 1: of life. And a man became a living creature. And
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Speaker 1: the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east.
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Speaker 1: And there he put the man whom he had formed.
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Speaker 1: And out of the ground the Lord God made to
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Speaker 1: spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
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Speaker 1: that is good for food. The tree of life was
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Speaker 1: in the midst of the garden and the tree of
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Speaker 1: the knowledge of good and evil. And a river flowed
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Speaker 1: out of Eden to water the garden. And there it
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Speaker 1: divided and became four rivers. The name of the first
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Speaker 1: is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around
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Speaker 1: the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. And
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Speaker 1: the gold of that land is good. Delium and onyx
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Speaker 1: stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon.
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Speaker 1: It is the one that flowed around the whole land
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Speaker 1: of Cush. And the name of the third river is
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Speaker 1: the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth
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Speaker 1: river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man
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Speaker 1: and put him in the garden of Eden to work
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Speaker 1: it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the
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Speaker 1: man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of
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Speaker 1: the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of
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Speaker 1: good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the
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Speaker 1: day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now,
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Speaker 1: there is much here to address, but let's take these
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Speaker 1: in turn, shall we? First, the idea of the cultural mandate.
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Speaker 1: The cultural mandate is to the Old Testament what the
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Speaker 1: Great Commission is to the New. When we think about
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Speaker 1: this mission that God has given us as His church,
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Speaker 1: we think about the Great Commission in the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: Go ye therefore and make disciples of pantata ethne, every
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Speaker 1: ethnic group, every people group, right? That is our commission. Well,
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament version of this is found in this
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Speaker 1: first paragraph that we looked at in Genesis chapter one.
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Speaker 1: Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, exercise dominion
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Speaker 1: over everything. Now, unfortunately, there are many, who believe that
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Speaker 1: this mandate in the New Testament has somehow supplanted, usurped,
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Speaker 1: or replaced the mandate in the Old Testament. That now,
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Speaker 1: as Christians, we are always and only about people hearing
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Speaker 1: the gospel and coming to faith, and we have nothing
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Speaker 1: to do anymore with this cultural mandate. This is why
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Speaker 1: we look sort of askew at people who would say, no,
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Speaker 1: we're not just establishing a Bible college. We're actually establishing
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Speaker 1: a classical Christian liberal arts university. Because after all, if
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Speaker 1: the only thing that matters is people learning, How to
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Speaker 1: repent of their sin and come to faith in Christ.
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Speaker 1: Why are we worried about these other things? And quite frankly, folks,
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Speaker 1: this is why as Christians, we have given up this
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Speaker 1: other ground. This is why as Christians, we haven't been
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Speaker 1: interested in the rest of the world. This is why
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Speaker 1: as Christians, we have so limited ourselves and so limited
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Speaker 1: our focus and so limited our influence and the fruit
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Speaker 1: that we have borne because we have forgotten about this
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Speaker 1: other mandate that I'm going to argue has gone absolutely nowhere.
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Speaker 1: It is still our mandate today. But how do we
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Speaker 1: carry out this mandate? The connection of these three movements
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Speaker 1: answers that question. First, I want us to see work
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Speaker 1: and why we work. And again, we could spend a
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Speaker 1: month worth of Sundays just talking about work and how
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Speaker 1: we do it and why we do it. But we
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Speaker 1: won't do that because we only have the time that
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Speaker 1: we have remaining here. But work, why do we work?
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Speaker 1: And some of you may have caught it already in
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Speaker 1: that transitional paragraph. Chapter two, verse one, thus the heavens
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Speaker 1: and the earth were finished. and all the host of them.
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Speaker 1: And on the seventh day, God finished his what? What?
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Speaker 1: He finished his work. On the seventh day, God finished
8:48
Speaker 1: his work that he had done. And he rested on
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Speaker 1: the seventh day from all his what? Work that he
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Speaker 1: had done. And in case you didn't get it the
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Speaker 1: first two times, so God blessed the seventh day and
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Speaker 1: made it holy because on it, God rested from all
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Speaker 1: his work that he had done in creation now go
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Speaker 1: down with me and look at chapter 2 and verse
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Speaker 1: 15 the lord god took the man and put him
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Speaker 1: in the garden of eden to work it and keep
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Speaker 1: it folks work is not a product of the fall
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Speaker 1: work is a product of creation in fact creation Creation
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Speaker 1: is first a product of God's work, and then our
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Speaker 1: work is a product of God's creation. God is now
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Speaker 1: in the business of the work of redemption and the
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Speaker 1: work of recreation. This is why Jesus says, I must
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Speaker 1: work the work of him who sent me while it
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Speaker 1: is day, for the night is coming when no man
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Speaker 1: can work. It is not work that is a product
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Speaker 1: of the fall. It is the arduous nature of our
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Speaker 1: work that is a product of the fall. It is
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Speaker 1: the difficulty and the opposition that we face in our work.
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Speaker 1: And quite frankly, it's our attitude toward our work that's
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Speaker 1: the product of the fall. That is why today modern
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Speaker 1: man's attitude is I want to work while I have
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Speaker 1: to and then I want to not work anymore. And
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Speaker 1: this unbiblical concept of retirement Folks, man was not made
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Speaker 1: to retire. We were made to work until we die. Amen, somebody. Today,
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Speaker 1: not only do we want to retire, but now we
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Speaker 1: want early retirement. Huh? That's the picture of success. I
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Speaker 1: retired early. There's a great book that addresses this written
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Speaker 1: by John Piper called Don't Waste Your Life. And he
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Speaker 1: opens it with a juxtaposition of, you know, the lives
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Speaker 1: of two different people. And one who, you know, they
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Speaker 1: work and save up all this money and then they,
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Speaker 1: you know, get the RV and go and drive and whatever. And,
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Speaker 1: you know, another who actually invests their life. I'm not
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Speaker 1: arguing that you need to do the same job for
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Speaker 1: the rest of your life. It is a beautiful thing
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Speaker 1: if you can work and save, and then after you've
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Speaker 1: worked and saved, you can leave that and go do
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Speaker 1: something that you're passionate about, perhaps even give your life
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Speaker 1: to the Lord's work in the second half of your life. Amen?
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Speaker 1: So I'm not arguing against saving and preparing and moving
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Speaker 1: on to something else. What I'm arguing against is this
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Speaker 1: idea that I'm going to work so that I will
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Speaker 1: not have to work anymore. Especially this idea of early retirement.
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Speaker 1: What are you going to do? You're in your 40s,
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Speaker 1: you just stopped being an idiot and now you're going
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Speaker 1: to leave with all your knowledge? That is absolutely ridiculous.
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Speaker 1: You just learned how to do something and you're quitting?
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Speaker 1: Come on, people. That is not the picture that you
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Speaker 1: get from the scriptures. You get to the height of
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Speaker 1: your powers and then lay it down? Absolutely not. You
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Speaker 1: get to the height of your powers and then you
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Speaker 1: kick it into overdrive. And then when your skills begin
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Speaker 1: to wane, you find somebody else. That you can teach
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Speaker 1: your expertise to so that when you finally can't do
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Speaker 1: it anymore, you've replaced yourself and now you can go
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Speaker 1: do something that doesn't require as much physical energy. Huh?
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Speaker 1: That's the picture. We work. Not just to feed ourselves,
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Speaker 1: but we work because we're made in the image of
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Speaker 1: God and God is the first worker. We work because
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Speaker 1: God created us to work. Here's a newsflash. We're going
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Speaker 1: to work in the new heavens and the new earth. Huh?
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Speaker 1: By the way, that's good news, y'all. Because if we're honest,
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Speaker 1: especially men, if we're honest, most men don't want to
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Speaker 1: go to heaven. Amen. Amen. Most men don't want to
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Speaker 1: go to heaven. Now we'd rather go to heaven than
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Speaker 1: go to hell, but we don't want to go to heaven. Why?
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Speaker 1: Because there's this picture that's been painted of laying on
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Speaker 1: a cloud and playing a harp for all eternity. There
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Speaker 1: is nothing in the heart of a man that rejoices
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Speaker 1: in that. We lie. We lie. Somebody stands up, oh,
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Speaker 1: can I wait to be in heaven? Can I wait
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Speaker 1: to be with the Lord? Well, we will, you know,
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Speaker 1: we'll be playing, you know, and men are going, amen.
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Speaker 1: And on the inside, not really. That's not how we
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Speaker 1: were created. We're made in the image of God who works.
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Speaker 1: And that's why we work. We need to teach this
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Speaker 1: to our children because our children don't understand the value
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Speaker 1: of work. One of the things we do at ACU
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Speaker 1: is we have a student labor program. So all of
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Speaker 1: our students are part of the student labor program where
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Speaker 1: they are actually learning how to work, earning part of
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Speaker 1: their school fees through working in the student labor program.
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Speaker 1: Two years we've been at this, and in both years,
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Speaker 1: you know, you have a banquet at the end of
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Speaker 1: the year and the students talk about how they've been impacted.
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Speaker 1: it was amazing to us how every student, every student,
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Speaker 1: whatever else they mentioned, they mentioned the student labor program.
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Speaker 1: I learned how to work. I learned how to enjoy work.
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Speaker 1: I learned how to love work. I learned how to
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Speaker 1: take pride in my work. How many of us have
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Speaker 1: hired someone to do a job and then had to
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Speaker 1: take a day off work because you have to supervise
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Speaker 1: them to make sure that they don't cheat you by
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Speaker 1: taking a shortcut every step of the way? Because we
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Speaker 1: do not understand the value of work. We do not
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Speaker 1: understand the reason for work. We do not understand the
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Speaker 1: very purpose for which we work. And that we work
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Speaker 1: because we're made in the image of God who works
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Speaker 1: in creation, in redemption, and in recreation. God works. So
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Speaker 1: we work. Amen? So we work. Well, but how do
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Speaker 1: we work? And this is where the last movement comes in.
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Speaker 1: And again, we're skipping over a lot of this, but
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Speaker 1: we have to in order to get all this together. Now,
15:46
Speaker 1: move forward with me, if you will. We saw that
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Speaker 1: God took the man and put him in the garden.
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Speaker 1: But look with me in verse, well, before we get there,
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Speaker 1: go with me to verse number five. Because I have
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Speaker 1: to make a comment about this first. When no bush
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Speaker 1: of the field was yet in the land, no small
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Speaker 1: plant of the field had yet sprung up. For the
16:13
Speaker 1: Lord God had not caused it to rain on the
16:15
Speaker 1: land and there was no man to work the ground.
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Speaker 1: And a mist was going up from the land and
16:24
Speaker 1: was watering the whole face of the ground. Then the
16:26
Speaker 1: Lord God formed the man of the dust from the
16:29
Speaker 1: ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
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Speaker 1: And the man became a living creature. I have to
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Speaker 1: comment on this because we live in a world and
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Speaker 1: we live in a time where the radical environmental movement,
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Speaker 1: the green wing nuts, the tree huggers, as we call
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Speaker 1: them where I come from, have created this false dichotomy.
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Speaker 1: And we speak about human beings as though there is
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Speaker 1: nature and then there is humans. And humans are an
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Speaker 1: infringement upon nature. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Speaker 1: We are a part of nature. It is not nature
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Speaker 1: or us. We are a part of nature. Not only
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Speaker 1: are we a part of nature, we are the crowning
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Speaker 1: glory of God's creation and all of nature was made
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Speaker 1: for us. Do not fall for this. Young people, I
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Speaker 1: know you're hearing it everywhere you go. Do not fall
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Speaker 1: for this. Nature belongs to us, not the other way around.
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Speaker 1: This is why our stewardship of it is so important. Listen,
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Speaker 1: nature is more productive because of us, not less. What
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Speaker 1: else contributes to nature like we do? Huh? Huh? You
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Speaker 1: let this plot just go. And is it going to
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Speaker 1: become more beautiful and more productive or less? It's going
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Speaker 1: to be less. So don't buy this false dichotomy. Don't
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Speaker 1: buy it. We are the crowning glory. Listen, we are
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Speaker 1: part of nature. Why do you think that we can
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Speaker 1: go and take plants and and from them derive medications
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Speaker 1: to treat us because we're made from the same stuff.
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Speaker 1: That's why. That's why there's a symbiosis, as scientists call it,
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Speaker 1: between us and the rest of nature. Why can we
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Speaker 1: eat the plants? Because we're made of the same stuff.
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Speaker 1: Why can we eat the animals? Because we're made of
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Speaker 1: the same stuff. Therefore, we can process it. It's not
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Speaker 1: nature versus us. Amen? Alright. That was extra. Now let's
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Speaker 1: get to this. Verse 8. The Lord God planted a
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Speaker 1: garden in Eden in the east, and there he put
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Speaker 1: the man whom he had formed. And out of the
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Speaker 1: ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree
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Speaker 1: that is pleasant to the sight, good for food. The
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Speaker 1: tree of life was in the midst of the garden,
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Speaker 1: and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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Speaker 1: These three trees are essential. These three categories of trees
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Speaker 1: are essential. Because we know that we work and why
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Speaker 1: we work we work because the god who works made
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Speaker 1: us in his image amen we know where we work
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Speaker 1: we work here in god's creation that he made for
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Speaker 1: his glory right but how do we work and why
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Speaker 1: do we work This is the question that we have
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Speaker 1: to answer, the how and the why. And these three
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Speaker 1: categories of trees answer this question. Now, there's some obvious answers,
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Speaker 1: and we'll get to those and flesh them out. You know,
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Speaker 1: for example, you know, it wouldn't take Adam long to
19:58
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, there are things here that give
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Speaker 1: me food. Okay. Okay. I'm here to work the garden
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Speaker 1: and take care of it. I have to take care
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Speaker 1: of these things that give me food so that they
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Speaker 1: can continue to give me food, right? Excellent. All right, great.
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Speaker 1: That's why that's there. This tree of life, tree of
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Speaker 1: the knowledge of good and evil, that's there. God's going
20:20
Speaker 1: to explain that to him and all that. But here's
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Speaker 1: the thing, and this is the moment for me, that's
20:26
Speaker 1: the aha moment. And this is what separates cultures, by
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Speaker 1: the way. That tree over there, I don't see any
20:37
Speaker 1: fruit on that tree. Well, Adam, that's because I didn't
20:41
Speaker 1: make that tree for fruit. Huh. Then what good is it?
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Speaker 1: It's beautiful. The first category of tree teaches us that
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Speaker 1: we work at least in part To reproduce and enhance
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Speaker 1: the beauty that God has put in creation. There are
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Speaker 1: some things that God made just because they're beautiful. This
21:25
Speaker 1: separates cultures, people. There are many cultures in the world.
21:32
Speaker 1: that don't do things because of aesthetics. They don't do
21:35
Speaker 1: things because of beauty. But we're made in the image
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Speaker 1: of God. This is the difference. We use this illustration
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Speaker 1: of the bridge, right? I have to get from this
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Speaker 1: side of the river to the other side of the river.
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Speaker 1: And in many cultures, it's just, okay, fine. We have
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Speaker 1: to get from here to there. What do we have?
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Speaker 1: We got some rope. We got some vine. Just take
21:53
Speaker 1: that across, grab that, crawl across. Fine, we got to
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Speaker 1: the other side. And then there are cultures... that build
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Speaker 1: bridges that are so beautiful that you'll go 100 kilometers
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Speaker 1: out of your way just to drive across it. Huh?
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Speaker 1: What is that difference? And here's the amazing thing that
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Speaker 1: just my eyes were open to even before we came
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Speaker 1: to live here. I couldn't wrap my head around it.
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Speaker 1: That there is among... Black Africans throughout this continent, an
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Speaker 1: absolute unwavering belief in the superiority of white people. It
22:41
Speaker 1: may not be stated, but it's believed. And so you
22:46
Speaker 1: come into a building like this and you go, ah,
22:49
Speaker 1: white people. You see something that works, ah, white people.
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Speaker 1: That is not the answer. When you see things that
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Speaker 1: reflect the beauty of creation, what you are seeing is
23:06
Speaker 1: not the superiority of an ethnic group, but what you
23:10
Speaker 1: are seeing is the result of the deep impact of
23:15
Speaker 1: the gospel and a biblical worldview where we understand that
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Speaker 1: there are some things that God created just because they're beautiful.
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Speaker 1: And we go out of our way In order to
23:31
Speaker 1: reflect that beauty and express that beauty. Not just in
23:36
Speaker 1: what we put on ourselves. Most cultures will do that, right?
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Speaker 1: Things that we'll put up things on ourselves that are
23:42
Speaker 1: colorful or whatever. But even in the homes that we
23:45
Speaker 1: live in, in the churches that we build. What does
23:48
Speaker 1: that look like? Let me give you an example. If
23:52
Speaker 1: you have ever been in nature and if you've ever
23:57
Speaker 1: been if you were riding, for example, down the Amazon River,
24:03
Speaker 1: one of the things that you would see that God
24:05
Speaker 1: does in nature is that when there are trees on
24:09
Speaker 1: two sides of something, eventually those trees grow and they're
24:17
Speaker 1: designed to sort of reach toward each other. And as
24:21
Speaker 1: you ride through, there'll be a natural canopy where the
24:26
Speaker 1: branches of the tree will reach toward the branches on
24:31
Speaker 1: the other side and it will automatically cause you to
24:35
Speaker 1: look up in awe. That's not there because it's what
24:42
Speaker 1: white people do. That's not there because it's what Westerners do.
24:49
Speaker 1: That's there because architectural design at its highest is reflecting
24:57
Speaker 1: the glory and grandeur of what God does in nature.
25:04
Speaker 1: That's why. Even the juxtaposition of stones that look like
25:10
Speaker 1: their natural form that you find, that have their own beauty.
25:15
Speaker 1: You look at a mountain. A mountain will crush you
25:18
Speaker 1: and kill you. And yet, we stand and stare in
25:24
Speaker 1: awe of just the natural beauty of stones stuck on
25:27
Speaker 1: top of one another. But then there is a completely
25:31
Speaker 1: different kind of beauty when man, exercising dominion, subdues those
25:36
Speaker 1: stones and makes them smooth. Like down there. The natural
25:44
Speaker 1: beauty of South African rosewood. And you cut a rosewood
25:49
Speaker 1: tree down and you sand it and plane it and
25:53
Speaker 1: polish it. And you organize it in such a way
25:57
Speaker 1: that you now create a useful piece of furniture that
26:02
Speaker 1: is not just functional, but it also screams of the
26:06
Speaker 1: beauty that God has put in creation. This, this right
26:12
Speaker 1: here is a picture of what it means to take dominion.
26:16
Speaker 1: It's a picture of what it means to subdue. It's
26:19
Speaker 1: a picture of what it means to reflect the beauty
26:24
Speaker 1: that God has put in creation. And the first set
26:26
Speaker 1: of trees teach us that. And there's the second set
26:34
Speaker 1: of trees. We have beauty, but we also have goodness.
26:39
Speaker 1: This set of trees, they're good for food. And notice
26:42
Speaker 1: it didn't just say that they were edible. They produce food.
26:45
Speaker 1: It's good for food. There's two kinds of goodness here
26:49
Speaker 1: when it comes to food. One is the goodness of
26:52
Speaker 1: the food that nourishes us. So food has a nutritional value.
26:56
Speaker 1: That's the goodness of food. Amen? It's fuel for us.
27:00
Speaker 1: I mean, that's how we survive. You gotta have it
27:02
Speaker 1: in order to survive. You can't go very long without it, right?
27:05
Speaker 1: So it's good for food. But the goodness of food
27:10
Speaker 1: is not just in its nutritional value. God has put
27:15
Speaker 1: Thousands of taste buds in your mouth. And there is
27:20
Speaker 1: also the goodness of food because it brings pleasure when
27:25
Speaker 1: you eat it. Right? And when you have these contrasting
27:31
Speaker 1: flavors that come together, the sweet and the sour and
27:34
Speaker 1: the hot and the salty and the... It's just good.
27:43
Speaker 1: And it's amazing how there are certain things that sort
27:45
Speaker 1: of occur together in nature. And when you cook these
27:48
Speaker 1: things together in the right way, they just explode with flavor.
27:54
Speaker 1: Because goodness is not just in the nutritional value. But folks,
27:59
Speaker 1: you know you eat with your eyes first? And then
28:02
Speaker 1: you eat with your nose and with your hands and
28:05
Speaker 1: with your ears. How can you just hear a wonderful
28:10
Speaker 1: piece of steak sizzling on the fire? What time do
28:20
Speaker 1: we eat? See, this is also goodness. Goodness. So when
28:27
Speaker 1: we talk about goodness, we're talking about things that are
28:29
Speaker 1: good for us and things that are good to us,
28:31
Speaker 1: things that are pleasurable, and we do things for that
28:35
Speaker 1: pleasure as well. And this is another thing that we
28:39
Speaker 1: sort of lose when you, you know, the cultural mandate, yeah,
28:46
Speaker 1: that was for them, but, you know, we have the
28:48
Speaker 1: Great Commission. One of the things that you notice about
28:51
Speaker 1: people who think like this is that they also think
28:54
Speaker 1: like this. If it's pleasurable, we probably shouldn't be doing it.
29:02
Speaker 1: You can't say amen. You ought to be out. You
29:03
Speaker 1: ought to say ouch, right? Some of you grew up
29:06
Speaker 1: in that environment, right? Some of you grew up in
29:08
Speaker 1: that environment where it's like, ah, man, if you're liking it,
29:14
Speaker 1: that's probably, uh-uh. Because, see, godliness is about foregoing pleasure.
29:21
Speaker 1: Says who? Says who? My Savior made the best wine last. Hello? Goodness. Goodness. Goodness. Goodness.
29:43
Speaker 1: Which is why, again, there's the one culture that, you know, hey,
29:46
Speaker 1: we got to get from here to the other side
29:48
Speaker 1: of the bridge. Let's just throw a rope over there
29:50
Speaker 1: or let's just do whatever. There's no sense of the
29:54
Speaker 1: goodness of that. By the way, here's what goodness also
29:56
Speaker 1: does for us. Because it's good for us and good
30:00
Speaker 1: to us, we cultivate it in such a way that
30:03
Speaker 1: we can continue to enjoy it. That's the difference between
30:07
Speaker 1: a culture that cultivates plants and cultivates animals for long-term
30:12
Speaker 1: enjoyment and those who think nothing of it that'll hunt
30:15
Speaker 1: something into extinction or eat all of it and then
30:18
Speaker 1: starve the next year. These are biblical concepts. Let's make
30:27
Speaker 1: a bridge. Fine. Let's make the bridge. Let's just functional
30:31
Speaker 1: get across there. Terrible materials. It's not beautiful. And we're
30:36
Speaker 1: probably going to have to replace it in a few
30:38
Speaker 1: months or at most a few years because we did
30:43
Speaker 1: not pay attention to goodness. This is not white. This
30:50
Speaker 1: is not Western. This is not cultural. This is biblical. Amen?
30:59
Speaker 1: There's another set of trees. Tree of the knowledge of
31:02
Speaker 1: good and evil. The tree of life. What do these
31:07
Speaker 1: trees teach us? These trees teach us truth. Truth, beauty, goodness.
31:14
Speaker 1: This is where our ethics come from. There are things
31:19
Speaker 1: that are right and there are things that are wrong
31:21
Speaker 1: and there is a God who determines what things are
31:25
Speaker 1: right and what things are wrong. So now let's go
31:31
Speaker 1: back to our bridge. Bridge. And we're going to apply truth, beauty,
31:37
Speaker 1: and goodness. There's something on the other side that we
31:41
Speaker 1: need to get to. Fine, let's build a bridge. Excellent,
31:45
Speaker 1: let's do that. Let's use good, sturdy material that's going
31:52
Speaker 1: to last. Let's do it in such a way that
31:55
Speaker 1: it will be aesthetically pleasing, beautiful to the eye. And
31:59
Speaker 1: let's do it in such a way that it will
32:00
Speaker 1: be safe for people to cross because people are made
32:03
Speaker 1: in the image of God and life needs to be protected.
32:10
Speaker 1: That's why we need universities that don't just teach pastors
32:14
Speaker 1: but also teach architects. Engineers. Lawyers. Doctors. Because no matter
32:25
Speaker 1: what you do, truth, beauty, and goodness must guide all
32:30
Speaker 1: your work. I don't care what that work is. It
32:35
Speaker 1: has to be rooted and grounded in truth, beauty, and goodness.
32:38
Speaker 1: It has to be. It must be. One of the
32:44
Speaker 1: things we've been talking about is part of our student
32:48
Speaker 1: labor program is outreach, right? And so doing works in
32:54
Speaker 1: the neighborhood and some things like this. And, you know,
32:56
Speaker 1: one of the things that we're talking about is doing
32:58
Speaker 1: a sidewalk where we are. Like fixing up the street
33:01
Speaker 1: and doing a sidewalk where we are. And doing a
33:03
Speaker 1: little pamphlet about sidewalks. Because it's just amazing to me,
33:08
Speaker 1: you know, coming from the United States, it's amazing living
33:12
Speaker 1: in Lusaka where the overwhelming majority of people walk everywhere
33:15
Speaker 1: they go and nobody builds sidewalks. Whereas in the United States,
33:22
Speaker 1: the overwhelming majority of people drive and everybody builds sidewalks.
33:26
Speaker 1: But why do people build sidewalks? Because of the value
33:30
Speaker 1: and dignity of human life. A culture that doesn't build
33:36
Speaker 1: sidewalks is a culture that is not expressing the value
33:42
Speaker 1: and dignity of every human life and the responsibility that
33:48
Speaker 1: we have to protect it. And so, you know, it
33:54
Speaker 1: would be the whole flyer. Why is it? Why is
33:57
Speaker 1: ACU putting in a sidewalk? Here's why. Because here's what
34:02
Speaker 1: sidewalks say. Truth. Beauty. Goodness. But there is a connection
34:15
Speaker 1: between these two. Between our Great Commission and this cultural mandate.
34:22
Speaker 1: And it's connected by three trees. The trees of the
34:28
Speaker 1: garden we've seen. But then there is the tree of
34:31
Speaker 1: the cross. Because right after the tree of the garden,
34:34
Speaker 1: there's a fall. And our federal head, Adam, who represented
34:38
Speaker 1: all of us, fell and became an enemy of God
34:42
Speaker 1: and put himself and all of his posterity under the
34:44
Speaker 1: wrath of God because of his sins. And from then on,
34:48
Speaker 1: there is this promise of a redeemer who will come.
34:51
Speaker 1: And what will this redeemer do? This redeemer will wrap
34:55
Speaker 1: himself in flesh, live a perfect life in order to
34:59
Speaker 1: gain righteousness for those who are under his federal headship
35:03
Speaker 1: and then die a sinner's death that he does not
35:06
Speaker 1: owe in order to pay the penalty that Adam and
35:09
Speaker 1: all of his posterity owe. So Christ becomes our new
35:13
Speaker 1: federal head because of another tree. But it doesn't end
35:17
Speaker 1: there because the Bible moves forward and it ends with
35:21
Speaker 1: another scene. Go with me to the end of the
35:23
Speaker 1: Bible and look at Revelation chapter 22. Last chapter of
35:29
Speaker 1: the last book in the Bible and we'll find something
35:31
Speaker 1: amazing there. Revelation chapter 22. Then the angel showed me
35:47
Speaker 1: the river of the water of life, bright as crystal,
35:51
Speaker 1: flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through
35:54
Speaker 1: the middle of the street of the city. Also on
35:59
Speaker 1: either side of the river, the tree of life with
36:03
Speaker 1: its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month.
36:08
Speaker 1: The leaves of the tree were for the healing of
36:12
Speaker 1: the nations. By the way, What happens when you put
36:17
Speaker 1: a huge tree on either side of a river and
36:22
Speaker 1: give it time to grow? They will reach out for
36:27
Speaker 1: each other. And we end where we began. Trees, which
36:40
Speaker 1: teach us truth, beauty, and goodness. And almost immediately there
36:45
Speaker 1: is a fall because of a misuse of a tree.
36:50
Speaker 1: And then there is a promise which eventuates in the
36:54
Speaker 1: God-man dying on another tree. And then there is the
36:58
Speaker 1: completion of not only our redemption, but the redemption of
37:01
Speaker 1: creation and the final tree. You see, the gospel is
37:11
Speaker 1: not just about us escaping the penalty of our sins.
37:16
Speaker 1: It is about us being made new from the inside out.
37:21
Speaker 1: Because the fall didn't just alienate Adam from God. If
37:26
Speaker 1: you read the curse in chapter 3, now all of
37:29
Speaker 1: a sudden the ground is cursed. There's thorns and there's
37:32
Speaker 1: thistles and there is the sweat of his brow. The
37:36
Speaker 1: fall also alienated man from creation. So now creation according
37:40
Speaker 1: to Romans chapter 8 is even groaning for its redemption.
37:45
Speaker 1: So now the God-man, Christ, our new federal head comes
37:49
Speaker 1: and he dies on a tree and we come to
37:51
Speaker 1: repentance and faith in him. And not only does he
37:54
Speaker 1: renew our relationship with God, but he also renews and
37:57
Speaker 1: restores our relationship with creation itself. So that Christians now
38:03
Speaker 1: are not only changed inwardly, but we're changed outwardly and
38:08
Speaker 1: our very environment begins to reflect the newness of the
38:13
Speaker 1: man within. Beyond that, the Bible says that God is
38:19
Speaker 1: also about the business of creating through the souls of
38:24
Speaker 1: men a dwelling place for God. So this building motif
38:31
Speaker 1: is carried throughout until we get to the new Jerusalem,
38:35
Speaker 1: which is another building that is yet to come. So
38:38
Speaker 1: as we build things like this, we are also expressing
38:42
Speaker 1: outwardly an inward yearning that God has put into us
38:47
Speaker 1: for the building that is yet to come, that we
38:49
Speaker 1: will inhabit and be a part of. Do you see?
38:54
Speaker 1: Do you see? Do you see how all of this
38:58
Speaker 1: is connected? Do you see why you can't separate the
39:03
Speaker 1: saving of your soul from the way that your saved
39:08
Speaker 1: soul interacts not only with God but with your fellow
39:11
Speaker 1: man and with everything else around you? Do you see
39:17
Speaker 1: why we can't just take a job and go to
39:20
Speaker 1: work just to get a paycheck? Do you see that?
39:23
Speaker 1: Do you see that? Do you see why we ought
39:27
Speaker 1: to have purpose every day? morning when we wake up
39:32
Speaker 1: why we ought to be grateful for strength in our
39:36
Speaker 1: limbs why we ought to be grateful for the opportunity
39:40
Speaker 1: to work why we ought to be grateful for the
39:43
Speaker 1: opportunity to express truth beauty and goodness everywhere we go Oh,
39:51
Speaker 1: dear Christian, the next time somebody, you know, Antioch, next
39:56
Speaker 1: time somebody says to you, oh, your building is beautiful.
40:00
Speaker 1: Here's what I want you to say. I want you
40:01
Speaker 1: to say, yep, it is. It is. It's beautiful because,
40:06
Speaker 1: you know, there's a God who created the world. And
40:12
Speaker 1: we work because he works. And when we work, we
40:16
Speaker 1: pursue truth, beauty, and goodness. Goodness. And as fallen men,
40:22
Speaker 1: we wouldn't really get that, not to its fullest. But
40:27
Speaker 1: because of Christ, who redeemed us, we're not only saved
40:32
Speaker 1: to have a right relationship with God, but we express
40:35
Speaker 1: that relationship with God through our continued pursuit of truth, beauty,
40:40
Speaker 1: and goodness. To the glory of our Lord and Savior,
40:46
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, that's a lot
40:55
Speaker 1: better than, yeah, thank you, it is nice. Again, this
41:03
Speaker 1: is not east versus west. This is not black versus white.
41:09
Speaker 1: You look at the world today and you look at
41:12
Speaker 1: the places where truth, beauty, and goodness thrive. You look
41:19
Speaker 1: at where humanity thrives and what you will find is
41:24
Speaker 1: is places where the gospel has had free, broad, deep,
41:32
Speaker 1: and lasting influence and impact. And where people have thought
41:38
Speaker 1: deeply about issues like this and actually applied it to
41:46
Speaker 1: the way that they did. Goodness. Let's pray. God, we
42:11
Speaker 1: thank you for everything that you have done in creation
42:18
Speaker 1: and redemption and everything that you are doing in recreation.
42:23
Speaker 1: We thank you for the trees of the garden. that
42:27
Speaker 1: teach us truth, beauty, and goodness. We thank you for
42:29
Speaker 1: the tree of the cross that redeems us from the fall.
42:33
Speaker 1: And we thank you for the tree that is yet
42:36
Speaker 1: to come that we will enjoy for all eternity. Grant
42:45
Speaker 1: by your grace that we might embrace these truths and
42:50
Speaker 1: be embraced by them. Grant that all of our lives
43:01
Speaker 1: would be defined by this pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness.
43:11
Speaker 1: And grant, Father, that as a result of it, people
43:15
Speaker 1: will see your church and recognize not only our inward
43:22
Speaker 1: spiritual change, but this outward manifestation of it that says
43:28
Speaker 1: we're different. And we pray that you would grant this,
43:42
Speaker 1: not for our glory, but for your own. And we
43:47
Speaker 1: pray this in Christ's name. Amen.