Creation, Contentment, and Work: Chapter 2

February 8, 2012 By Mark D. Roberts 10 Comments

In yesterday’s post, I began thinking about contentment in light of the creation narratives in the Bible. Genesis 1 reveals that human beings were created by God in God’s own image. Thus, we are intrinsically to be involved in the creation, exercising the abilities God has given us in his world. This is made explicit when, after creating human beings, God tells them to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion. True contentment will come when we fulfill this divine vocation.

I realize that what I’ve just said will upset some Christians who say things like: “I am completely fulfilled through my relationship with Christ” or “Jesus is all I need.” I’m suggesting that you won’t be completely fulfilled simply by being in relationship with Christ, however wonderful and essential this may be. Moreover, I’m saying that Jesus is not all you need, if by this you mean that you would be perfectly happy just to sit and pray and worship for the rest of eternity. On the contrary, Genesis reveals that we were created in God’s image to work in God’s world as co-creators (in a lesser fashion), fruit-bearers, and those who exercise authority over creation.

My son, when he was young, doing his "work" in the garden (literally, gleaning beans from a field).

This picture of human life is confirmed in the second chapter of Genesis. Hence, the title of this blog post: “Creation, Contentment, and Work: Chapter 2.” In this chapter, God created the man and put him in the garden (Gen 2:7-9). God did this so that the man might “till” and “keep” the garden (2:15). This is a different perspective on the basic command of Genesis 1 to be fruitful and have dominion. The man was created to work in God’s good creation.

If you were to stop right there and ask: How can the man honor God? You’d answer something like: By doing what God created him to do, namely, work. At this point, there is no hint that the man might also stop working for a while in order to pray or praise God. That comes later. But nothing so far in the creation story suggests that man’s key function in life is worship as we usually define it. Nor would you be inclined to believe that contentment comes purely through the man’s relationship with God. Work is central to human worship and human happiness.

What comes next in Genesis 2 is a shocker. God says: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner” (2:18). Wait just a minute! God says it’s not good for the man to be alone. But doesn’t the man have God? And, given that the man hasn’t sinned, he is able to have intimate, unfettered relationship with the living God? Isn’t that enough? No, apparently not, as far as God is concerned. The man was not created simply or even primarily for one-on-one relationship with God. Rather, then man needed a unique partner to join him so that he might fulfill his calling to work in the world. Thus, a few verses later, God created a woman to be the man’s partner.

Genesis 2 does not speak specifically of contentment. But it strongly suggests that we will only be content as human beings when we fulfill our purpose (to work) and do so in relationship with other human beings. So, in light of this passage, it would not be theologically corrected to sing “All I need is Jesus” or “You’re all I need.” In fact, I need to be the person God created me to be. I need to do what God has created (and redeemed) me to do. I can only do this in and through God, to be sure. And simply doing things apart from God, even very good things, will not bring full contentment. But contentment comes when I am in relationship with God, doing all things through Christ who empowers me (Phil 4:13).

“Hold on here,” you may be thinking. “You’re a Presbyterian pastor. You should affirm, among other things, the classic answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which reads: ‘What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.’ Yet you’re saying that human beings have another chief end, maybe a more essential chief end, that is, to work. How can you say this?” I’ll try to explain myself more thoroughly in my next post.

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Creation, Contentment, and Work

February 7, 2012 By Mark D. Roberts 6 Comments

In yesterday’s post, I suggested that, for many of us, the paradigm of contentment would be the archetypal person-sitting-on-a-beach-drink-in-hand, someone with nothing to do but enjoy the pleasures of the moment. No worries. No responsibilities. No deadlines.

I’ve sometimes heard a Christian version of this paradigm, one in which we find real contentment in life by contemplating God’s glory and basking in his love. Those who think in this way speak of being completely fulfilled through their relationship with God. Ultimately, contentment comes through knowing God and nothing else.

But is this a truly biblical vision of human contentment? I am not convinced, no matter how godly it sounds. Rather, I think we will be contented when our life is centered in God, filled with God’s presence, and lived actively in the world for God’s purposes.

Consider, for example, the creation of humankind in Genesis 1-2. There we see God the creator, making all things good, including man and male and female. We’re told that we have been created in the image of God. In context, this suggests that we have been made by God to be and to do like God. We are to be creators, not in the divine sense, but rather in a limited sense, by using what God has made and the power he has given us to create goodness in the world.

This is made explicit in the verse that follows the creation of man as male and female:

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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen 1:28).

Human beings are not simply to sit on a beach and enjoy the beauty of creation. Nor are they simply to sit in a cathedral and enjoy the beauty of God. Rather, they are to be actively involved in creation and cathedral, being fruitful, multiplying, and exercising dominion. This suggests that we will be truly content as creatures when we are doing that for which we have been created. Moreover, by implication, if we are not being fruitful in our lives, if we are not exercising dominion over creation, then we will be rightly discontent.

It seems to me there is a profound irony here. In our day, people often work themselves to the bone because they are discontent concerning possessions. They want more so they work harder and longer, seeking false contentment that is shallow and temporary. Some Christian teachers, noting the follow of such workaholism, attempt to call people out of this rat race by minimizing the value of work and claiming that true contentment is to be found in relating to God through worship services, personal devotions, and prayer. Yet, by neglecting the created connection between contentment and work, these well-meaning Christians end up leading people away from part of what is essential for human contentment. To be sure, part of our souls will be fulfilled only as we engage with God in prayer and worship. But, Genesis 1 suggests that God has made us to work in his world as his agents. Therefore, we will only be fully content when we learn to worship God, not only in praise and prayer, but also in our daily work.

I’ll expand on what I’m saying here tomorrow.

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Considering Contentment

February 6, 2012 By Mark D. Roberts Leave a Comment

Adam Hamilton has me considering contentment. Last Friday, I wrote about a chapter in his book Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity (Abingdon, 2009/12). In “Cultivating Contentment” (ch. 3), Hamilton calls us to develop a sense of contentment in our lives, being satisfied with what we have rather than always striving for more stuff. He notes, however, that it is appropriate to be discontent about certain things, such as personal failing or social injustice. Thus, Hamilton has me wondering about contentment. What is it? When is it okay? When might it be not okay?

Part of our problem when it comes to contentment is our sense of what it means to be content. If I were to ask you to picture a content person, what would you envision? I expect some of us might imagine the archetypal person-sitting-on-a-beach-drink-in-hand, someone with nothing to do but enjoy the pleasures of the moment. No worries. No responsibilities. No deadlines. Just sitting, relaxing, drinking . . . ultimate contentment.

Or is it?

In his chapter on contentment, Hamilton refers to a passage of Scripture that is most often quoted when Christians advocate contentment. It comes from the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi:

Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

On the basis of this passage, Hamilton writes,

The apostle Paul named the source of his soul’s satisfaction in his Letter to the Philippians when he wrote, “I can do all thing through [Christ] who strengthens me” (4:13, emphasis added). In other words, he found Christ to be his Source, the One who satisfied his every need and enabled him to be content whether in poverty or in wealth. This was Paul’s “secret” to contentment (verse 12). . . . All of his deepest needs were satisfied in his relationship with God through Christ (p. 82).

In a sense, this is quite true. But, notice, Paul does not say that knowing Christ and relating to Christ is the secret of his contentment. Rather, what he says is that he can do all things through the one who gives him strength, namely, Christ. The Greek of verse 13 could be translated literally, “I am strong in every way in the one who empowers me.”

This kind of contentment does not sound like the vegging-on-the-beach variety. Paul does not suggest that he would be perfectly happy just to sit on some Mediterranean beach and enjoy his relationship with Christ. The contentment he envisions is different from our stereotype.

This is confirmed by other passages in Philippians. Consider, for example, Philippians 3:10-14:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,  if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

This does not fit our popular sense of contentment, does it? Paul is not content with his knowledge of Christ. He wants a deeper relationship with him. Moreover, Paul is not sitting on some spiritual beach soaking in the love of Christ. Rather, he is straining forward and pressing on for the goal of knowing Christ more deeply. In this passage, Paul uses the imagery of a footrace, in which the winner receives the prize of having his name announced to the crowd.

Thus, on the basis of Paul’s example, Hamilton is right to urge us to be content with our possessions, rather than always grasping for more. And he is also right to distinguish between contentment that we should cultivate and discontent that we should embrace. In fact, I think there is a certain kind of discontent that is wired into us from creation. I’ll say more about this in a future post.

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