2. In this session we will learn the following:
1. What changed because of the âFallâ?
2. Redeeming Work
3. The Three Dimensions of Evil
4. Acquiring the Christian Worldview
5. Understanding the âMissio Deiâ
6. Defining âMinistryâ
3. According to Genesis 3, the following consequences
are noted:
1. There is a curse. But it is not that âworkâ is cursed,
but that it is the ground that is cursed.
2.
ï¶ Sometimes work ends in futility
ï¶ Sometimes relationships end in futility
2. The Fall caused four major breaks between us and
ï¶ God
ï¶ Ourselves
ï¶ Each Other
ï¶ Our World
4. The Breaks Have Caused Much Confusion and
Pain in the World (Gen 11:1-9)
1. The loss of purpose to steward Godâs
creation resulting in . . .
ïEnvironmental crises
ïSocial, economic and justice
inequalities
5. 2. The loss of seeing people as made in Godâs
image resulting in . . .
Using our power to control others, rather than serve
them
Creating our self identities based on materialist
perceptions
Hanging on to transactional social relationships (what we
get out of the exchange to satisfy human needs)
rather than transformational relationships (that
mutually add values to both parties)
Being indifferent and disconnected to God
6. 3. The Belief that the purpose of STEM professions
is fame, innovation for its own sake, profits and
power. These unrestrained goals have
occasionally resulted in. . .
4.
Exploitation
Unbridled free-market capitalism
Greed, short-term focus, ethical crises
Consumption and consumer societies
The rise of science as moral arbiter
World-wide economic inequities, violence,
jealously and hate
7. Where have you seen within your workplace (or
are aware of), the STEM professions being used
in perverse or evil ways?
Where have you seen relentless ambition, the
money chase, cooking of the books, internal
employee tensions, etc. expressed in people
and institutions that once upon a time fully
intended to serve the common good?
8. There is need to recapture a sense of the divine
purpose of Eden, to ârebuild the gardenâ, our
relationships (remember that Adam and Eve
blamed each other, and lost their naked
innocence) by reconnecting redemptively to:
Ourselves
Each Other
Our World
God
9. Has the Cross Made a Difference?
Yes!!! It has rectified and reconciled the relationships
between . . .
Jew and Greek (ethnic and racial groups)
Slave and Free (social and economic
standings)
Male and Female (gender differences)
Gal 3:27-29
10. Has the Cross Made a Difference?
YES!!! The world is being redeemed from the curse
imposed at the Fall (Gal 3:13)
ïœ From the cursed ground
ïœ From the futility of work
ïœ From the troubled relationship between man
and woman.
11. Has the Cross made a Difference?
ï YES!!! When we walk through the cross, we catch a
glimpse at the character of the Kingdom as seen in
Isaiah 65:17-25
ï Infants live rather than die
ï People live much longer
ï They own their own houses, and own their own land to
plant food, and have sufficient resources to sustain
and enjoy themselves
12. ïœ They will not build only for others, but also
for themselves
ïœ They will not work in vain or have children
that are sold into captivity
ïœ The Strong and the Weak will live peacefully
together
ïœ People will not work at cross purposes with
the New Creation
13. In other words, the âshalomâ of Eden will be
restored, but at a higher, communitarian level,
made more elegant and noble because of
human effort.
In this, the STEM professions potentially can
take the lead in their creative purposes to bring
reconciliation, trust justice and fairness,
efficiency and health into all aspects of life.
14. 1. Each person starts as a member of the âKingdom of this
worldâ
2. As we confront the cross, we are graciously redeemed,
and our motives are purified
3. we pass through the cross, we see Godâs Kingdom in a
new light, how things in Eden once were, what they were
intended to be, and what they will become.
4. We return into the world, knowing that the curse is
disarmed and that we work and live as new creators
ourselves, functioning as âsaltâ and âlightâ to the world.
15. The Fall introduced the active presence of Evil
in the world.
Evil is expressed in Scripture in three
dimensions:
It is caricaturized as: The World
The Flesh
The Devil
16. ïœ The âWorldâ refers to the human-based
systems of the world that are corrupted by
sin, selfish intent and institutional and
corporate abuse. We call this âSystemic Evilâ.
17. ïœ The âFleshâ refers to personal choices made
that express the human bent to sinning. This
we call âPersonal Evilâ.
ïœ The Devil refers to the active role of the
demonic, or of Satan himself. This we call
âCosmological Evilâ.
18. Ironically, the Christian Church is all too naĂŻve and
operates piecemeal in that various factions seem
to identify Evil at only one of these dimension:
1. For instance, âevangelicalsâ tend to focus on
âPersonal Evilâ, with personal conversion being
central, and Christian discipleship exercises
featured as follow-up activities. Redemptive
services such as Rescue Missions and
Rehabilitation Houses and tight personal
accountability are seen as resources to help
individual overcome their evil tendencies.
19. 2. On the other hand, members of conciliar (churches
formed out of historical church âCouncilsâ, i.e.
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic) churches, and
mainline denominations tend to focus primarily on
âSystemic Evilâ, believing that institutions, over time,
become corrupted and self-serving and that it is the
Christian prerogative to confront, challenge and call
them back to Christian values and accountability.
This is done through direct and indirect influence,
political pressure, advocacy and confrontation, the
ballot box, and more radical symbolic gestures
critiques like those exhibited by the Old Testament
prophets, i.e. Jer 19, Jer 32, Is 20, Ez 4, Hos 1
20. 3. The third evil is what we call the âCosmological
Evilâ. This is the active frontal attack of Satan in a
very personal and powerful fashion. It is expressed
in demonic possession or demonic oppression.
Scripture describes Satan as a âroaring lion seeking
who he may devourâ.
It is evident that Pentecostalism has a clearer
sense of this âevilâ than do other Christian
traditions.
The antidote to the power of demonic evil is
exorcisms, prayer and fasting, âJoshuaâ marches,
and perhaps even radical suffering or martyrdom.
21. The Bible expresses all three of these
dimensions in Ephesians 2:1-2:
âAs for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins [Personal Evil], in
which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world [Systemic Evil] and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air [Cosmological
Evil], the spirit who is now at work in those
who are disobedient.â (NIV)
22. Therefore the presence of âEvilâ within the work environment
is the result of . . .
1. Personal decisions that corrupt the quality and nature of
work, i.e. sloth (laziness), jealous competition, theft, etc.
2. Institutional corruption in a dog-eat-dog environment,
bottom line profits over people, unjust wages, etc.
Examples: The divorce between profit and âvalue
addedâ; the divorce between âvalue addedâ and fair
distribution; the divorce between means and ends
3. The active presence of Satan expressed in evil people or
âpeople of the lieâ (Beelzebub). For a good description
of this, see Scott Peckâs book entitled, âPeople of the
Lieâ.
23. Mahandas Gandhi states so well the systemic evil
from the âFallâ in his short description of the roots
of violence:
âWealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Knowledge without Character
Commerce without Morality
Science without Humanity
Worship without Sacrifice
Politics without Principleâ.
Christians ought to be the ones who are the antidote,
the peace-makers, in the corrupted systems of this
world.
24. We live in the âin-betweenâ stage of history, in a
fallen world still under a long process of
accountability before God. The Kingdom of God
which is here, but ânot yetâ. Any understanding
of âworkâ that neglects the reality of the curse, is
naĂŻve and romanticized. Yet we are called to
help redeem âWorkâ as the anticipation of future
redemption.
Scripture Verse: âIn putting everything under him,
God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at
present we do not see everything subject to him.â
Hebrew 2:8b (NIV)
25. 1. Conflict in the office or laboratory
2. Oppressive working conditions
3. Employer-employee tensions
4. Plagiarism, stolen scientific properties or ideas
5. Research projects that serve only the rich few
6. Weapons of mass destruction
7. Bribery for contracts or financial deals
8. Safety compromises
9. Corporate greed
10. Shoddy materials
26. Think of five cases of âfallennessâ as you have
observed it in either your work environment or
in adjacent relationships (friends, or other
enterprises).
Or as you read the newspaper, or internet, or
watch the television, what do you see as
evidence of fallenness, especially among âwhite
collarâ workers?
27. Good and Evil are tangled together now in very
complex ways. For example:
1. Profit doesnât always measure true value
2. The distribution of value and wealth isnât
always fair
3. Maintaining fair economic balance is hard to
retain
4. It is a tough challenge to make what we value equal
to what God values in the STEM professions
28. The Two Mandates Given to Humankind by God
1. The Creation Mandate: Gen 1:27-30:
Called to steward the earth.
2. The Redemption Mandate: The Great
Commission of Matt 28:19-20. Called to
witness the saving grace of Christ and to
work in His Kingdom.
29. Work after the Fall and after the Cross suggests
the following:
ï± We are a group of redeemed people
ï± We who were once ânothingâ, are something, a âroyal
priesthoodâ a âlight to the worldâ. We are
transformed and transformative agents of change.
ï±The Creation Mandate is still in place and is reaffirmed as
our mission
ï±Remember that the Creation Mandate was given again to
Noah, the building engineer, after the Fall
30. ï± We work in a spirit of praise and worship
ï± We are stewards of all of Godâs creation
ï± We are given the Great Commission
(Redemption Mandate)
ï± We have been given all the resources we need
to fulfill both mandates: the Creation
Mandate and the Redemption Mandate
31. We Need a New Worldview that Drives our Behavior, in
contrast to the World Culture that Drives Our Behavior
This Worldview needs to be central out of which
values, behavior and culture radiate.
This Christian Worldview comes from the Holy Spirit
who gives us the power to put on the âMind of Christâ
In contrast, a Worldview fashioned by the culture is
subjectively created by our individual immediate
environment and our limited experiences.
32. The Christian worldview should be âtaking on the
mind of Christâ, not some politically popular
âchurchishâ worldview.
We acquire the âmind of Christâ through the
following:
1. Listening to what Jesus tells us in words and
stories, and living them out, and having them
direct our actions, i.e. the Sermon on the
Mount, the Olivet Discourse, the Parables, the
Post-resurrection instructions to his disciples
33. ïœ Looking at how Jesus and the Father did their
work and emulating them in our actions and
behavior; for example, seeing how Jesus and
God gave their power away to empower
others, in a spirit of humility, loving and
forgiving, always desiring reconciliation,
providing for their needs and resources with
gifts and talents, trusting of others, allowing
them to fail, etc.
34. As Christians, we not only follow Christ but we put on
the âmind of Christâ This means for us to:
1. Love the Father
2. Love and think of others first and
build them up
3. Faithfully be stewards of the Fatherâs
calling for our lives
4. Be compassionate
5. Seek justice
35. 6. Be kind
7. Be merciful
8. Be pure in heart: honest, responsible, of
highest integrity, vulnerable and
accountable to others
9. Be a peacemaker
10. Be joyful in the Lord, knowing that He loves us,
knows us by name and cares for us, as we do with
those with whom we work
36. It is important to understand that our work really
isnât our own. The concept of the missio dei
(Latin for âMission of Godâ) suggests that God is
doing the mission and invites us to work
alongside of him.
In other words . . .
ïOur work should never be seen as our own but rather,
His. It is His creation and we are invited to delve into it,
for His glory and for the human good.
ïWe are never working alone. He is our partner.
37. ïOur work should characterize Godâs values, not just
the companyâs or the cultureâs or our own value,
but those of God Himself.
ïWe are, ultimately âservant-leadersâ, serving God,
but also leading in the sense that we recognize that
God has placed us in this professional context to be
âlightâ, to be âsaltâ, to be âchange agentsâ both
within the work setting and to the larger community
it touches.
38. Therefore, every Christian is called to be a minister, a
member of the âpriesthood of all believersâ (Martin
Luther).
Ministry can be defined in three ways:
âIt is the active engagement of Christians as co-regents
with God in the life of the community, for the
purpose of identifying, introducing, exhibiting and
celebrating the Kingdom of God in all manner of
spirit-enhancing forms. These forms include those
of specific evangelistic intent (the Redemptive
mandate), both individual and corporate. For
example:
39. 1. Those of âRemedial Intentâ: that is, repairing
that which is broken: i.e. providing care for the
needy, restoring the damaged, reconciling the
shattered, recycling the discarded, in short,
fulfilling the mission of Jesus as expressed in
Luke 4:18-19 and of Christians in Matt 25:35-
39.
2.
This expresses primarily the Redemptive
Mandate, though the STEM professions
themselves may also need âfixing upâ or healing
as suggested here.
40. 2. Those of Creative Intent: that is, the
creation of healthy communities and
institutions that seek to improve the quality
of life for all, or add value to it by
embellishing (beautifying) it.
This would be primarily fulfilling the
âCreation Mandateâ.
41. 3. Those of Confrontational Intent: that is
discerning the evil forces at work and
confronting and countering them with
spiritual engagement, confrontation,
advocacy, intercessory prayer and fasting,
spiritual warfare (manifest in âsigns and
wondersâ) and incarnational suffering.
This too would primarily clear the way
for the full expression of the âCreation
Mandateâ
42. Do you see your profession as âministryâ in the sense of
âserviceâ?
Who are you serving?
How is your service improving the quality of life for
those it touches?
How would you change it, if you had a magic wand so
that it would better fulfill the Divine or human
purposes for which it was created?
Do you sense that God is your collaborator in your
work and that it is âHisâ mission as well as yours?
43. Feel free in insert below your questions and
feedback on what you have learned in this PowerPoint:
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