Vocation Instilled in Creation

depending on survey, only 60% of people say they experience fulfillment or enjoyment of their work. Not vocation, vacation!

Read Genesis 1:26-28

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

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.”

Purpose and intention come from a designer, and a creator.

Illustration - using tools for what they are intended for.

A chisel isn’t a screwdriver or a pry-bar

Using tools how they are designed to beused

Don’t choke up on a hammer

Use the whole saw

What I believe we will see together from this opening text tonight is that purpose and value in vocation - in our life’s work - is intrinsically tied to the fact that we are created with purpose, in God’s image.

There is unique purpose in merely being a human created in God’s image, and there is purpose to be actively fulfilled in being an image-bearer. No other creature possesses that mark, and no other creature is endowed with the charge. Moose and bears and woodchucks and brook trout and house finches have purpose; they glorify, they show beauty and power, but they do not hold dominion, as they do not bear the image. We can find great joy in being placed here by God, and that truly and especially so if we are privileged to know personally the One who did the placing.

The search for value and purpose in vocation - in all of life - is only satisfied and realized in seeing and fulfilling God’s purposes in creating us in His image.

1. The Blueprint of Blessed Vocation

the Image of God

What does a blueprint show? It shows the architect’s design, his intention, his purpose.

Plainly put - if we desire fulfillment in our life’s work, we must have eyes open to the designer - to live consciously of the fact that we are created in the very image of God.

A Mark we Bear

Personhood

We see the persons of the Godhead even at work in this text - “let us make man in our image...”

Before the creation of man, we understand that unity, relationship, and love existed.

In the creation of the world, life, and human beings, we see an enjoyment and a satisfaction within the Godhead in the work accomplished.

time and time again, “it was good.”

At the end, after the creation of man, “it was very good.” vs. 31.

We bear the image of God in our personhood - in the fact that we exist in relationship, in covenant, in reason, in rational agency - that agency will come up in our subsequent point.

Responsibility

Responsibility can be thought of also in terms of influence or consequence. Actions have consequence.

Of course, in ultimate terms, the Acts and Works of God are of supreme consequence. He is the uncaused-cause, the originator, the beginning. And in creating us in his image, he creates beings - agents - whose acts and choices have consequence.

Positive and negative. In the negative, we see that consequence unfolding very shortly in the story of Adam and Eve. In God’s wisdom, he ordained that Adam’s actions as an agent would have real consequence for all of humanity. SO by one man’s sin, all became sinners and fall short of the glory of God.

Consequence in our actions still exists, positive and negative, so that we see what we do matters not just in the scope of our personal bubble - but in the scope of life that God has ordained for us.

Spirituality

As Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:24, God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

Separate from the animal life, separate from the greenery and foliage, we are created body, soul, and spirit. We have not only physical bodies, and the breath of life within, but are spiritual entities.

We can uniquely relate to, commune with, and live our lives after God. Though, in our fallen state, we miss out on that inherently - which is part of the main problem here.

This purpose that comes from being made in God’s image is true across the board - it is not just redeemed humanity who are created purposefully in God’s image - but it is only in redemption that we have eyes opened, will’s empowered, heart’s softened to see, savor, and seek that purpose wholly.

An Example we Have

Genesis 1:31–2:3 ESV

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Notice two things, that before the fall of mankind, work - vocation - existed, and it was called good.

the work he gave man to do, which we will see next, was called good.

God himself worked, and rested, and called the whole process good.

Even long after the curse, when God spoke to Noah and his family after the flood, the call to work and be fruitful was reinstated.

So I hope that you see, in the very fundamental basis of reality - in the Godhead even - there is a blessed nature, a good and joyful fulness.

Do you see work as a “chore?” Do you see it as only thorns and thistles? Do you find your vocation and life’s work less-than-fulfilling?

I would urge you, before changing jobs, work to live consciously as an image-bearer of God.

2. The Building of Blessed Vocation - vs. 28

“The Creation Mandate”

In general, we can say that the mandate includes all productive human activity - all non-sinful endeavors to work in, employ, strategize - whether farming, raising families, providing healthcare, or soldering pipes together.

Three things - filling, subduing, dominion.

Filling

Literally, to fill

childbearing, not less than that - but not merely pumping babies out.

What is spread around in filling of creation? It is God’s image.

God’s joy is for his image and glory to be spread throughout all the world.

In the negative today, not only is childbearing generally discouraged, but humans are seen by many as a blight on the world.

Yet, as the pinnacle of creation, God designed mankind to take his image so that it may be continuously seen in the fulness of the world.

In the New Covenant, this is complementary and renewed in the Great Commission. The earth is full of image-bearers, and the call of the church is to make disciples of all nations, so that all around eyes may be opened to God’s image yet again.

Subduing

Literally - to trample over.

The first mention, food - cultivation.

The world as resource. Involves responsibility, but also creativity.

In other words, this subduing is not to exploit but to steward.

This is part of the glory of God in creation - we cannot provide new materials, but we can make beautiful and useful things with what he has provided.

The most intricate technological devices are creations by image bearers, reflecting God’s own creativity.

The most beautiful music is taking the vibrations that make sound, which God has designed - whose voice first was in the world - and reorganizing them into melody and harmony.

The most striking art, whether in sculpture or brush or photograph, is simply reproducing in creative interpretation the beautiful elements of God’s creation, whether in media or pigment or photon.

Dominion

Vice-regents.

We cultivate, organize, govern, and develop on God’s behalf.

Whether in government, public service, vocation, art, or domestic actions, these are areas of dominion that can obey and express God’s created intentions and designs.

We are the only beings in creation who have this charge.

We are the only ones who bear the image, so we are the only ones who are to have the dominion.

Dominion means humility and responsibility before God. We have dignity as God’s created image-bearers and dominion-keepers, but we also have humility before Him, as we are only under his authority and charge.

With this comes the responsibility and consequence of actions having real meaning and result.

But it also means that in redemption, with hearts softened, eyes opened, and minds enlightened to be able to see God’s glory and purpose, we as Christians - as the church - should be joyfully involved in dominion.

we should create and beauty

we should develop and invent

we should be interested in governance and the order of society

we should be servants for the good of our neighbor and dwelling places.

How can I do this, you might ask?

Luther - “All work is golden and noble”

"The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but . . . all works are measured before God by faith alone"

Raising a family, corn, and barns all fill, subdue, and exhibit dominion. Discipling children, developing a trade, and dispersing it for an income are little tiles in a mosaic of image-bearing. Nurturing the next generation, improving a process, and faithfully trusting while baking daily bread all can say boldly “I’m created by a Creator for His specific purpose.”

As a Christian, the work of sanctification within you allows you to see and savor more and more the glory of God in whatever you find your hand to do. Christians, we are blessed to have eyes opened clearly to the redemptive and good purposes of the little areas of dominion which God has given to us.

Do away with the sharp distinction of sacred and secular - if God has given you work to do, and it can be done in good conscience and for his glory, then rejoice and flourish in that!

new man, new purpose, instinctively set on the glory of God.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Matthew 5:16 ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

And if you fail to see this glory, this purpose, this design, know that any sense of emptiness in work is a result of the fall of mankind by Adam’s sin. God has sent a second Adam, his Son, to redeem the world from that sin and curse. In this redemption, your eyes can be opened to the beauty within God’s creation and design of work and vocation.