In Living Communion With God - Part 1

Genesis 2:15-17: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

(I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to my Old Testament professor, Rev. Mark Vander Hart, for his Genesis Bible Study Guide, from which much of the thought of this meditation were taken.)

The study of the book of Genesis is fascinating not only because it is the first book of the Bible, but also it addresses many of the issues that confront us today. From the origin of the universe to the history of Israel, from the creation of man to the choice of Abraham’s descendants, Genesis is filled with dramatic accounts that shed light to many of our questions today. Genesis records many of the first things in history, both redemptive and natural.

Interestingly, the book of Genesis accounts the beginning of God’s dealing with His created world, specifically with man, and most especially with God’s covenant people, the Israelites, with whom God established the most gracious relationship. It was and is a living relationship, living in the sense that this relationship exists between the living God, who created the world, and His living creature with whom He breathed the breath of life. This living communion between God and man, often called the covenantal union and communion, would be the focus of our study today.

Our text this morning tells us that the LORD of creation establishes a living relationship with man in the Garden of Eden. This relationship involves at least two things: first, it entails a divine call; second, it includes a sovereign command. I will only deal with the first point here. In our next installment, we will talk about the second point.

A. A Divine Call (v. 15)

Verse 15 tells us that God initiates this relationship with a divine purpose or calling. Going back to Gen. 1:26-27, we read the account of God’s thought and His subsequent act in creating man. It took place after God had set the whole universe into place. By the time God created man, the world had been 'fully furnished', so to speak, for man to dwell and live. Gen 1:28 adds that God blessed man and gave him a mandate to rule and subdue the earth. Gen. 2:8 picks this theme up when it says, “And the LORD….”

Here in Gen. 2:15, we read a recapitulation of these two accounts. Thus, God’s blessing and mandate to man in Gen. 1:28 to rule and to fill the earth is further explained by the phrase ‘to work and to take care of it.’ Man's divine calling in this relationship is to be God’s servant-king working where God puts him.

Though the whole earth is in mind, the Garden of Eden, where God put the man, is the specific place for man to start fulfilling his calling. Prior to this mandate of working and taking care of the land, the preceding passages tell us that God Himself has been working in the land of Eden.

The context portrays God not only as the Creator of the universe but also as a Gardener who plants and prepares a beautiful garden for man, where man can fulfill his divine calling and enjoy his relationship with his Creator and LORD. The blessedness of the Garden in Eden is pictured not only by the absence of sin or corruption, but also by the abundance of vegetation (trees and other plants), water supply (the four rivers), and precious stones (pearls, golds and onyx).

So aside from giving man the proper authority to rule and the perfect ability to get his job done, God has also provided man the best possible ambience to exercise his God-given vocation. God did all these to bless man so that in return man will ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’

Now it is clear for us that God’s divine calling for man is to work and to take care of the Garden of God. Man, being God’s image-bearer and governor, was given a special authority and ability by God to fulfill this holy task of working the land. Again, I would like you to take note that all these had taken place before man fell into sin.

This is an important point to remember because some think that work was a result of the fall of man to sin. But that's not true! Work is not a curse on account of sin but a divine calling from God before sin entered the world. To work faithfully and obediently before the presence of God as a grateful response to all His blessings is the greatest thing to aspire now as it was before. Work is a blessing! Sin makes it difficult and a burden but God’s plan for work is for our good.

Another important point in verse 15 that I would like to show you is that God’s call for man is not all work and no pleasure or rest at all. In v. 8, we are told that God put man in the garden. After digressing a little bit, the author returns to this idea of God putting man in the garden in verse 15. The verb ‘put’ in verse 15 is a different verb in Hebrew than the one in verse 8. Though they carry the same meaning of 'putting,' the verb ‘put’ in verse 15 has also the idea of rest, comfort and safety. The root word is the same word where the name Noah comes from.

In Genesis 5:29, we are told that the name Noah means ‘comfort and relief’ from all labors and toils. So in putting man in the garden God’s intention all along is for him not only to work but to work in safety and to have rest and relief from work. In this sense the idea of Sabbath is in mind. Another thing, the word ‘Eden’ means delight or enjoyment.

Thus, verse 15 conveys the idea that when God put man in the garden to work, God's main purpose is for man to serve God with the greatest pleasure and utmost delight in God and in what he does for God.

Furthermore, the two verbs ('to work' and 'to keep') in verse 15 describing man’s responsibility imply far more than work. The first word translated as ‘to work’ or ‘to cultivate’ means nurturing the ground in such a way that it brings forth the desired food and other natural products. It has the idea of developing ‘the earth’s resources for the greater glory of God.’ The thought carries us to the entire range of cultural enterprises that make up life within the kingdom of God.

The same verb is actually used in describing man’s worship of God or service to God. Psa. 2:11 and Psa. 100:2 use the same verb to describe service to the LORD. “Serve the LORD with gladness!” We are aware that these psalms refer to the worship activities of God’s people. Thus in Scripture to work is actually to worship God for the same word can be used for both work and worship, both for culture and cultic activities. We call our gathering today a 'worship service.' Rightly so because our worship and our service to God are two sides of the same coin. They are inseparable.

We Christians believe with all our hearts that all of life is lived "coram Deo," that is, before the face of God. Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper said that ‘not one square inch in the whole universe of human life falls outside the kingship of Jesus Christ.’

Our Lord Jesus Christ sees the whole universe and claims it as His. Therefore, just as Adam was created to worship God in the midst of all his work, we also are called to worship and to take delight in the LORD on His day, Sunday. We are to perform our priestly duty on the LORD’s day and from there we must be lead to work as faithful stewards and vice-gerents for the LORD through out the week.

To recap, work and worship in God’s garden-sanctuary constitute man's calling. Servant-king and priest describe our relationship with the Creator-Lord of the universe. Faithfulness to God and to His divine calling summarizes man’s response to this living relationship with God who created and blessed man with goodness and grace.

Brothers and sisters, all these are true to us now through Jesus Christ, just as they are true in Adam, the first man. In Christ, we work and worship in God's world. In Christ, we are God's servant-kings and priest, ministering to one another in the body of Christ as well as to our neighbors. In Christ, God calls us to be faithful to Him and to our calling as His priests in His holy temple, the church.

I can’t overemphasize the need for us to keep on gathering together on the LORD’s Day in order to express our grateful worship to Him. It is the source of our delight and strength for the week to come.

Parents, it is our privilege to bring our families to the church to worship God. Together with other believers, we experience a spiritual union and communion with God through Jesus Christ by the Spirit when we gather as His covenant people here on earth.

Children, sometimes going to church may not be that exciting to you. But if your delight is in Christ you will never get tired of coming back to serve the Lord again and again, for this is our spiritual act of worship.

Christian Homeschooling: A Way to Educate Our Children the Christian Way

So why do we homeschool our children? Why do we use Biblical and Christ-centered curricula and materials in teaching our children? What is our goal?

First, we must see our children as God’s children. They are ultimately God’s. They are heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3). Our children are ultimately not our own. We are God’s representative to our children. We treat our children the way God would treat them. We are to nurture, admonish, guide, discipline, and love them as God would do it.

What’s the essence of our parenting then? We are parenting our children in God’s stead.

Second, what should our goal be in homeschooling? Of course, in everything we do, our goal should always be to glorify God by obeying His commands. The Word of God requires us parents to instruct our children in the Christian faith and the doctrine of salvation. That’s what Deuteronomy 6:4-9 tell us. That's what 2 Timothy 3:14-15 shows us. This does not mean that you are talking to your children always, 24/7, all things about the Lord and you don’t talk to them about the ordinary things in life.

When the wise men of Scripture talk about setting a good example to our children and training them in righteousness, they mean that in the context of all of life – at home, at work, along the road, at the workshop, or in the market place.

Some of us, parents, especially those who are newly converted to the Christian faith, in our zeal and passion, we have the tendency to always correct and rebuke our children and talk to them only about God to the point of embittering them by always saying all the negative things. And our children actually end up saying, “I don’t like that God for MY God. That’s a horrible religion!” It’s all negative! It’s all outward behavior and performance that we are after in our children.

However, we will never win over our children to God when our religion is primarily negative. Yes, we must be correcting and rebuking our children – we must warn them about worldliness and waywardness – but that’s not the bulk of Christianity. That’s a part of it. The bigger part is the gospel, the grace of God in Christ, the glory and the purpose, as well as the meaning and fulfillment of life in God through Jesus Christ.

Christianity is essentially positive in nature. Our God who revealed Himself through His Son Jesus Christ is not a grumpy God, always correcting and rebuking, but a very attractive, joy-filled, tender-hearted, loving, and patient God. "He does not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever" (Psalm 103:9). As his children, He does rebuke us but in a very gentle way.

Here is where the education of our children comes in. We need good Christian education primarily not to get our children away from the world or ungodly children or spare them from embarrassment and bullying and materialism but PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST! Christian education does not primarily mean teaching them good values and wisdom. That’s only a small part of it.

The bigger part of Christian education is to teach every subject or every knowledge to our children and how this knowledge relates to the Lordship of Christ and how it glorifies God! Christ is the sum and the bottom of education. He is the center of education! The positive teaching is the call of the gospel – the invitation to the fullness of Christ and the fact that Christ is both the object and subject of Christian education.

As object of Christian education, Jesus is the foundation and the goal of teaching our children. Why do we teach our children Language and Logic and Science and History and Geology and Astronomy and Anatomy and Math? So they may know God through our Lord Jesus Christ, His person and His work, His saving power and majestic rule, and in knowing Him they would learn to bow down before His Lordship and glorify Him in their knowledge.

We don’t want our children to have perfect scores in Language and Logic but they don’t understand the Bible and they do not know God. We don’t want them to have excellent grades in Science and Social Studies but they don’t bow down in adoration before the God who created our bodies and the whole universe and saved us through His Son Jesus Christ.

As Rev. Greg Lubbers writes, “This [i.e., the glory of God] is the exclusive goal of Christian education. This is what gives [Christian education] inestimable value. Where this is understood, there will be an invisible caption written above every classroom of Christian instruction and every page of Christian curriculum quoting Ecclesiastes 12:13, ‘Let us hear the conclusion of every matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man’” (The Outlook, Sept/Oct 2010, p.10).

As the subject of our children’s education, Jesus is the one who imparts His divine instruction. He acts in revealing His lordship to the hearts of our children, bringing them to bow down in humble fear. Christ accomplishes this work through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it is the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit within the heart of our children that reveals the sovereignty of Christ and brings the appropriate response of faith, repentance and obedience.

So as the subject of Christian education our Lord Jesus acts – He does something for us that we cannot truly understand every subject without Him and without the power of His Spirit guiding our path and illuminating our mind.

Note also Ephesians 6:4 and the emphasis of nurturing our children “in the Lord.” We don’t raise our children according to OUR ideas of nurture and admonition but the nurture and admonition of the LORD and His ideas. Spiritually, morally, socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically, we are to raise our children on behalf of God according to His Word.

The whole book of Proverbs illustrates this. Parental, especially paternal (because the father is the primary teacher), and covenantal approach (God calls us “My son…”, “My daughter…”) is the Biblical pattern of educating our children. A Christian home must be a temple in which God is not forced down children’s throat but God is acknowledged and cherished and worshiped (Psalm 34:11-14).

That means we teach our children continually (day by day), as opportunities arise (formal or informal), but we do so primarily positively, truthfully, and honestly teach them all areas of life. And in all those areas, Christ is sovereign. He is Lord of all our lives. It’s a daunting and unending task – always teaching our children. But we have the promise of God that He will equip us as we faithfully teach them.

So Christian education, especially Christian homeschool education, is valuable because it is exclusive, in that it seeks to do something nothing else does – not the public education, not the mediocre Christian education, not the godless or humanistic or man-centered education – in bringing the student face to face with a sovereign Christ as He displays His sovereignty through His person and work, calling for a response of humble fear.

While only eternity will fully reveal the results of such labor, may we, by the grace of God, labor on with immovable hope that God will crown and reward faithful Christian Homeschool education with His blessings!

(This message was first shared at our December 2011 Lighthouse Homeschool Network General Assembly. The essence of the message was based on a lecture on parenting by Dr. Joel Beeke and an article by Rev. Greg Lubbers, “The Exclusive Goal of Christian Education” from the Christian magazine The Outlook, Sept/Oct 2010).