Biblical Stewardship

 “In the beginning, God created …” Out of darkness and chaos, He brings order and light.  He creates a world saturated with beauty and teeming with life.  It is in creation that we receive our core identity - made “in the image of God”. In some senses, this is a ‘noun’ – there is a connectedness and something fundamentally similar between us.  We share in His dignity and honor.  In others, it is a ‘verb’ – we have capacity to grow to be more like Him.  We represent Him and reflect His communicable attributes.  Furthermore, we image God not just in our actions but also in developing a deep relationship with Him - God is “personal” - He speaks to us and invites us to speak to Him.  He tells us of himself and invites us to know Him truly, even though we cannot know Him fully.  There exists between us a back and forth relationship of knowing and being known, of being affected and moved by one another.  In creation, we also receive purpose.  We are stewards – vice regents - ruling “coram Deo” - before the presence of God.  Many theologians expand on this “creation mandate”, noting the unfolding (rather than static) nature of creation as humanity is tasked with putting the finishing touches on creation and bringing to fruition the possibilities implicit in the work of God’s hands. It is a call to create spaces where humanity can thrive, so that God may be glorified throughout all creation.  Creation speaks of “shalom” – a profound and comprehensive well-being and universal flourishing.  “Shalom” is living under God’s blessing and wise rule, with harmonious and responsible relationships with God and others.  “Shalom” speaks of peace and delight, of safety and justice.  It is the personal and relational wholeness God intended for His creation.  Part of imaging God is this fundamental yearning for “shalom.” 

 In the Fall, we believe a lie and “shalom” is shattered - the wholeness and peace of God’s creation is vandalized and darkness and death rush in. it is disorder, violence and chaos intruding upon order and “shalom”.  With the Fall, the way in which we are “human” is deeply affected - our allegiances, purposes and worship are realigned.   Relational complexity enters the picture, and communion and fellowship with a “personal” God is lost.  We run from God and one another, hide, cover up, and point fingers – and the boundaries between right and wrong become blurry.  We become blind to who God is and lose the idea of living in a ‘before God’ world.  We construct our own version of reality and live out of those delusions.  Yet, as human beings we are still creative and purposeful, but no longer in accordance with God’s purposes or direction.  We no longer create to worship God or to care for His creation.  We create to protect and promote ourselves, reducing things to less than they are or elevating things above what they really are.  In all of this, we still retain the fundamental yearning for “shalom,” and seek it in many ways - often ways that cause harm. 

 Yet God’s response to evil and violence is “hesed” (steadfast love) and redemption, renewal and recreation.  He relentlessly pursues humanity, creating a people of His own.  From patriarchs to kingship, the biblical narrative speaks of a God who comes close to man and establishes covenantal relationship so that all nations will be drawn to Him by such a full and rich human life.  From tabernacle to temple, He dwells with man, creating a way of covering and communion, so that sinful people may fellowship with a holy God.  From Levitical law to prophetic voice, He creates systems and spaces where humanity can thrive, and He speaks with persuasive words to guide and teach – to woo a people who believe that there is life to be found elsewhere. In all of this, the people of God struggle to keep covenant and drift slowly toward exile.  The prophetic voice emerges as both a covenant prosecutor and a call to hope - a voice of “remembrance” and “imagining” - exclaiming that the world can be a different place due to the faithful presence of God.  It casts visions of the world as it was intended to be and grieves over the state of creation. The entire Old Testament narrative is a shadow that points to the full redemption that will be in Christ.   

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...In him was life, and the life was the light of men … And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory… full of grace and truth .. to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God... from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace (John 1:1-17, my ordering). The story of Christ is the story of redemption accomplished, and the kingdom inaugurated.  The life, death and resurrection of Christ is the climactic episode of the narrative of scripture -- the “hesed” of God is embodied in Christ.  Holcomb speaks of this as another, greater, intrusion - grace and light intrude into darkness, disorder and violence.  In Christ we see, in tangible form, who God is -- “The Image”.  As we watch His life, we understand what it means to be truly ‘human’.  In His death, a new covenant is established, and creation is bought back, liberated. Christ is our propitiation (He satisfies the wrath of God toward sin and allows restored fellowship), our expiation (He bears, “covers over”, the penalty of our guilt and shame and takes it upon Himself) and our shalom (He brings completeness and restores us to completeness - Romans 5:1; Eph 2:14-15). This is “shalom” brought through substitutionary violence against Christ, in which grace and disgrace collide.  Great suffering and divine forgiveness converge on the cross, and “mercy and justice kiss” (Psalm 85).  Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament shadows -- the true temple, from whom life flows, the great high priest and the spotless lamb. 

 Yet, the cross is not the end of the story, for there is resurrection - it is the beginning of new creation. resurrection is God’s promise that He can redeem and heal suffering, and the implications of the cross and this promise play out in the remainder of the NT narrative.  Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, rules and reigns (Colossians 1/Hebrews), gathering us to him in an unexpected, upside-down kingdom - where humble service, self-giving love and sacrificial suffering are the new ‘kingship.’  Where power is reframed as meekness and dependence.  Where fellowship is inclusive, encompassing the marginalized.  It is a kingdom ruled by love of God and neighbor and traversed by walking in the steps of the savior (living a cruciform life).   Our view of the person expands still further to consider the category of ‘saint’, which is all summarized in the NT phrase ‘in Christ.’  The redeemed person is a new creation - re-created in Christ (Eph 1-2); Christ, in His divinity, joins us to the holy God and communion is restored.  In His humanity (His likeness to us) Christ joins us to Himself.  By faith all that is His is ours,  We have been brought into the marvelous light, moved from death to life.  We can live in a new reality and grow in holiness -- aiming for a vivid reflection of God that pierces the darkness.  We are ‘living stones’ forming a new temple, with Christ as the cornerstone (1 Peter 2) - where heaven and earth meet, and people encounter God's generosity and healing presence, where life now flows from us to a suffering world.   

 God calls His people to be active in restoring what is broken in this world.   We are “people of shalom” - working to restore the wholeness of creation - the wellbeing and universal flourishing intended by God - so that God may be glorified throughout all creation.  the kingdom is real and present, a source of hope, not a ‘solution’ per se.In all of this, we must be careful not to narrow ‘participation’ to solely personal actions that yield some measure of change.  God invites His people to biblical lamentation - to speak truth and “name” evil - and to speak with Him about it, beseeching Him to keep His promises.  God calls His people to ‘participate’ in His grief and anger at the intrusion of evil into “shalom”, and the havoc wreaked by sin.   He invites us to ‘participate’ by bringing our own personal struggles and suffering to Him, lamenting our pain and growing in the certainty that He cares for His people in an uncertain world.  This participatory lamenting expresses honesty and trust in the character of God, and it hopes.   We can groan in protest - in pain - and groan in hope and move from there to compassionate and purposeful action. Billings describes this compassionate action as a lament that witnesses to the fact that things in this fallen world are not the way they are supposed to be.  When we lament and act with compassion even when we are overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem, we bear witness to another kingdom, one of justice and mercy.  Langberg speaks of our role in restoration as “resurrection work.”   She states, “We enter into atrocity in the name of Christ”, that others may be brought out.  Though our work is “resurrection work”, we are not the power behind that work. We enter in to do “ordinary things”, but the work is done by the Lord. We are infused with His life, that through us He might bring life to dead places.  Our hope is grounded in the reality that if God can turn the murder of his Son – the ultimate travesty of justice - into the redemption of the world, He can bring beauty to the brokenness and dark places of our lives.Through this ‘participation’ in the restorative mission of God, another category is added to our view of the person.  We are ‘responders’ - available for God to work through us.  As we watch for where He is working and join Him in weakness and dependence, He is glorified, and His holiness is on display throughout the earth. 

Sources Cited:

Bartholomew, Craig and Michael Goheen.  The Drama of Scripture:  Finding our Place in the Biblical Story.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Academic, 2014.  

Beale, G. K. The Temple and the Church’s Mission:  A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God.  Downers Grove, IL:  IVP Academic, 2004.

Beale, G.K. and Mitchell Kim.  God Dwells Among Us:  Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth.  Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2014.

Billings, J. Todd.  Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ.  Brazen Press, 2015.

Dow, Philip E.  Virtuous Minds:  Intellectual Character Development.  Downers Grove, IL:  IVP Academic, 2013.  

Graham, Donovan.  Teaching Redemptively. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications, a division of ACSI, 2009.

Holcomb, Justin S. & Linsey A.  Rid of My Disgrace.  Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2011. 

Langberg, Diane.  Suffering and the Heart of God. Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2015.

 The biblical metanarrative is a story in five parts, and to see the majesty and beauty of the story, one must begin in the beginning. In creation, the triune God orders all of the unformed cosmos, transforms it into a masterpiece, and lays claim to it all. Created in the image of God, humanity is meant to reflect God's glory and tasked with bringing to fruition the possibilities implicit in the work of God's hands. We see the shadows of this call,  a sense that there is a way of imaging God (Col 3:10) and relating to His creation rooted in compassion, holiness, humility, meekness, thankfulness, harmony and peace (Col 3:12-22). We are to conduct ourselves as “instruments for righteousness” (Rom 6:13b) that authentically pursue good for all (James 2:15-16).

The next act showcases a tragedy of catastrophic significance as all creation is entangled in the throes of distortion due to the Fall of man. While evil does not have the power to nullify God’s steadfast faithfulness to the works of His hands, nor to destroy or suppress the “structural” goodness of creation, humanity is now “directionally” pointed away from obedience to God and images God in shame, evil, and distortion.  The effects of sin touch all of creation, as the real tragedy of the Fall is far greater in scope than our transgression of the law. We, tasked with bringing to fruition the possibilities implicit in the work of God's hands, have lost the glory we were created to reflect and taste. Our “selves” (Rom 6:6) are “directed away from obedience,” deficient and marred by sin in multivalent ways: guilty, adopted by and “connected to” the evil one, caught by the passions of sin and enslaved under its dominion (Rom 6:12-13a). We are spiritually dead, walking in idolatry, immorality, and self-centered evil that ignores our call to stewardship (Col 3: 18-4:1, James 2:14-17) and instead destroys the work of God’s hands (Col 3:5-9a). 

With this groundwork laid, we can touch the surface of the next act in the metanarrative, redemption. The believer is effectually called, regenerated and set apart as holy. Not simply separation from sin, holiness is deliverance from our present state by the activity of God; our life is divinely repossessed from the dominion of darkness, joined to Christ, brought to life, and set apart for His purposes (Rom 6:5-11). Redemption is the outworking of God’s desire for us to live wholly in devotion to Him, ourselves as His possession as He transforms us (Col 3:12-17). We belong to Him, we are to be as He is, the firstfruits of the renewal of all things (James 1:18, 2:14). Yet redemption goes beyond the individual and encompasses all of creation. This is God’s love and devotion directed toward His creation, His refusal to abandon the work of His hands, a renewal in which humanity plays a pivotal role. Expressed in Phillips' translation of Rom 8:19, it is as if all of creation stands on tiptoe waiting for the sons of God to come into their own. It is essential for our argument to hold fast to our working definition of regeneration: The renewing work of God, in which, by the Spirit, He effects a transformation in us that brings us into participation with the final renewal of all things already inaugurated in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with the anticipation of its consummation in the final return of Christ at the end of the age.

Moving into the fourth act of our metanarrative, sanctification and renewal, we confess there is both complexity and mystery. We cannot explain this work of God in which the Spirit, in union with Christ, transforms us into the likeness of Christ. However, this is the heart of sanctification. More than not sinning, it is our lives caught up in Christ, renewed and repurposed in service to the world.

Firstly, we acknowledge that our sanctification is grounded in the person of Christ, in His sanctification. His life reflects a consummate sanctification, a progression through a tested and obedient life in all stages, sanctifying all life stages from birth to death. Key to our sanctification and transformation is that Christ's life, death, and resurrection are being pressed into our lives. 

Secondly, one “in Christ” (a “baptized person” Rom 6:1-11) is defined by a new category of existence. The believer has, in union with Christ, been definitively freed from the power, reign, and dominion of sin (Rom 6:7, 14a), raised up to newness of life (Rom 6:4, 11), and set free to serve the Lord (Rom 6:13, Col3:12-17). Our basic identity has changed, and to continue as if we were under sin’s dominion would be incongruous. Crucified and resurrected with Christ, reigned over by Christ and set free to give ourselves body and soul to live for His glory, a radical shift has occurred, a divine repossessing and setting apart has “directionally” reoriented once-fallen man to walk in the steps of the Savior. Progressive restoration, life in the “already/not yet” has been set in motion.

In light of this radical breach with sin, freedom to walk in the steps of Christ, and new identity, Paul begins to recraft the way the believer should think. To think of ourselves as “dead men brought to life” is a reversal of our thought pattern. Yet, it is out of the fullness we “already” have in Christ that we grow in sanctification (Col 3:1-4). Grasping and living in the radical indicatives of Romans 6:1-10 sets the foundation for living into the rigorous imperatives of Rom 6:11-14. In Col 3:1-17, Paul expands on the same pattern of indicatives and imperatives that undergird growth in sanctification. Definitively united to Christ in His incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly rule (Col 3:1-4), the Christian progressively mortifies the old nature's lifestyle and vivifies the graces of the new nature (Col 3:5-10, 12-17). 

Lastly, we acknowledge that our progress in sanctification, indeed the whole Christian life, will be characterized by tension and struggle. The reality of a new age has broken in, yet there are elements of the old age with which we live as members of a new humanity. In Christ, the believer no longer belongs to this old age, but the lingering influence of sin exists internally and surrounds us externally in every dimension. Failure to consider this inbreaking of the new without the destruction of the old ignores a vital point of New Testament teaching on sanctification - we live, in essence, on “two feet.” We see this throughout our texts; the vivification of life must accompany the mortification of sin. Dr. Ferguson emphasizes this point, “The Christian life is a restoration to true humanity, and where there is a restoration to the true from the false, it cannot be accomplished by only the negative or only the positive.”

It is these last points that undergird the remainder of the argument, the process of sanctification yields the “not fully realized” restoration of true humanity, repurposed to walk in the steps of the Savior. In the “already,” Christ takes our loss of glory to restore us to glory and works glory in us to rework us into His own image (Col 3:1-4). Yet, scripture is clear, sanctified lives are to be characterized by faith that is permeated with works (James 2:4-26). Faith is the active response of the believer that instrumentally joins one to Christ and unites the believer to all that is in Christ.  However, what are these “works”? Works are not cooperation with grace that makes one justifiable or righteous, nor are they grandiose accomplishments. They are not simply an internal life of mortification and vivification. The root of the idea of “works” is the story of our life pressed into a "Christ-shaped" template through the providential governing actions of God. In this external mortification and vivification, all parts of Christ's death and resurrection play out throughout our lives. This element of sanctification, the “whole man” embracing the "whole Christ,” fits one for fruitful Christian service. It is in this pattern of imitating Christ, walking in His steps, and descent into servanthood that we engage in fruitful ministry to others.

At this point, my argument comes full circle, and we see the foundational beauty of a Christ-shaped life of service. Reviewing the first points, we remember that humanity is meant to reflect God's glory and tasked with bringing to fruition the possibilities implicit in the work of God's hands. In the Fall, the effects of sin touch all of creation, and it moves "directionally" away from God's norms, including social structures and cultural pursuits. Yet, the work of Christ is also cosmic in nature, following the "already/not yet" structure. What was formed in creation and deformed by sin must be reformed in Christ, and new humanity is called to promote renewal in every part of creation. More specifically, drawing on Abraham Kuyper's notion of "sphere sovereignty," Christian service (or "works") is intended to move all parts of creation toward God's norms in every sphere where they hold influence. Bound to God’s creational blueprint, the believer moves toward the "not yet fully experienced" restoration of true humanity. We participate meaningfully in God's renewal of all creation, the “whole man” embracing the “whole Christ,” and walk in the steps of the Savior.

In Col 3, we see this Christ-shaped pattern of renewal. The indicative/ imperative structure of Col 3 begins with a shift of understanding of our identity, a call to the mortification of the heart (v 5), a mortification of our "walk" (v 7), and a call to vivification as ones who belong to God, truly human. (v 9-17). In verses 3:18 - 4:1, Paul "presses" one societal structure, the household, into a "Christ-shaped" template. 

In James, this indicative/imperative pattern of imitating Christ, walking in His steps, and descent into servanthood is "pressed" into all of life, a template for renewal of all spheres. As children "pressed" into trials, we grow in stewarding our lavish gifts from the Father. We learn to slow down, to listen and consider, and to reflect the Father. Slowly, our faith becomes actions from which life flows, not mere words (v 14-26), and we are blessed in the 'doing.' We grow in wisdom, which is itself a gift. We ask for it, walk in it, and grow adept at sorting out desire, judgment (which turns to discernment), actions, and relationships. As wisdom weaves through our lives, we begin to interact with both the gifts and the giver well. Our lives take on a new cadence of patience, fellowship, steadfastness, faith, love of neighbor, peacemaking, justice, rescue, mercy, prayer, confession, and repentance. We begin to reflect Christ truly, and we find joy. 

If indeed all of creation stands on tiptoe, waiting for the sons of God to come into their own (Rom 8:19), Act Five brings this to fruition. Who we truly are will be seen when Christ appears, and we will be raised in the likeness of His body (Col 3:1-4), transformed in Christ, bearing His image in glory, our true humanity restored. God will graciously assess our works, and what has been valuable will be disclosed and rewarded, and "no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the lamb will be in [the city], and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And the night will be no more" (Rev 22:3-5).

Sources Cited:

Sinclair Ferguson. “Introduction to the Doctrine of Salvation” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 1.

Sinclair Ferguson. “The Implications of Union with Christ” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 2.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Key Features of Application of Redemption in Adoption.” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 6.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Introduction to Regeneration.” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 4.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Justification, Faith, and Good Works” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 5.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Introduction to Sanctification.” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification Grounded in Christ.” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification through Participation in Christ, Part 1” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification through Participation in Christ, Part 2” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification through Participation in Christ, Part 3” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification through Imitation of Christ” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Sinclair Ferguson. “Sanctification and its Existential Tension” Lecture, Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, ST 611 Week 7.

Wolters, Albert. Creation Regained: Biblical Basis for a Reformational Worldview. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005.