Christian Involvement in Creation's Charm

Creation reveals an alluring Creator. God is so alluring that his creation tempts us to worship it as god. The worlds powerful charm gives us such a glimpse of God that humans sinful hearts become idolatrous at every turn. The great sun and moon have tempted people to worship them (Deut 4:19). The variety and savor of tastes and pleasures allure people to worship their belly like a god (Phil 3:19). The beautiful and pleasing coherence of logic has turned others to worship reason and science as god. Other religions simply claim that everything is god. The world carries idolatrous potential in all spheres.

Arms Length?

The Christian disposition quickly becomes to hold earth at arms length, using texts such as Col 3:1, Jam 4:4, and 1 Pet 2:11 (each of which are referring to sinfulness). Don’t get too close to the fire or it will burn you. I just don’t think this is the mature Christian disposition. Sure, the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10), but that doesn’t mean we should bury it in the ground (Matt 25:14-30).

All of earth has the potential for good or for evil. Christian maturity is the spirit-empowered ability to discern how to use earth for good and not for evil. I have no problem saying that a new Christian who has only used earth for self-indulgence, or a Christian struggling in a particular area should utilize boundaries and rehab. But the point isn’t to stay there. That’s where the fundamentalist culture seems weakest to me.

The world doesn’t allure us to idolatry because it’s inherently evil, but because our hearts are sinful and prone to idolatry. Instead of enjoying the world as a taste of the great charm, our hearts are tempted to turn the representations of God into god (Rom 1:25).

Hands On!

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Rom 6:13-14).

The point I’m shooting for here entails a core element of our humanity. Filling and subduing the earth (Gen 1:28) insists on being hands on. We engage in sports, politics, economics, education, and so on because Christ is Lord of all. Where earth has fallen, God has empowered his people through the death and resurrection of Jesus and through the Spirit to begin rebuilding—similar to Noah after the flood, the Israelites after the wilderness, Nehemiah after the exile, and now us after Christ’s death. This rebuilding insists upon our hope, our involvement, our participation, our glorifying God in all we do, and not hiding from getting involved in the name of holiness. I intend to differ here on strands of theology that basically celebrate when things on earth are rotten because Jesus must be coming back the next day.

Nuance

The kind of earth engaging I have in mind is not some pie in the sky phase of life for ambitious 30 year old’s. Death, disease, and all kinds of suffering are enough to keep what I have in mind in check. Filling and subduing the earth by nature is a multigenerational project. We labor, get involved, and enjoy this earth for the sake of our kids and their kids, all while our clock ticks down. Note Ben Sasse pressing in rather than sulking in his bed or partying away his last days.

Thanksgiving and Praise

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise (Ps 100:4)

So how can Christians stay involved in a healthy way in a world full of idolatrous temptations at every turn? The key is to give thanks and praise to the Creator of the world (Ps 100:4) as you experience Him in the world. Thanksgiving acknowledges the undeserved grace of all things and the praise acknowledges the source and culmination of all things. If you remove gratitude and praise, it’s inevitable that our depravity will pollute engagement in the world.

Summary

The world is alluring, charming, and attractive because it represents God. Every taste, every grandeur of nature, every argument of reason, every scientific process and formula allures us because it reveals God. The allurement is everywhere because God is alluring. With transformed hearts and the Holy Spirit, Christian maturity engages the world and its brokenness, taking it Godward through thanksgiving and praise.