In a recent Wednesday night Bible study at my church, the study centered on the Creation. The interesting part about this was that we did not spend too much time going over the work of God in creating the physical universe. Instead, we talked about three creative ordinances that God established during His creative work. These three ordinances being labor, rest, and marriage.
Pastor posited that just as God designed natural laws that govern the physical world, He also designed at least these three ordinances that govern our human existence. These ordinances apply to all generations and all peoples just as physical and natural laws apply to the entire universe.
Of course, most of us have heard sermons on the importance of marriage and that marriage was instituted by God from the beginning. We surely can look at our society and see the negative consequences that have come from our general failure to follow the creative ordinance of marriage and what it should look like and accomplish. I will not take much time here to go into all of this since I am assuming we all are very familiar with what the Bible says about marriage.
I had not put forth much thought, though, on the implications of God's decrees for labor and rest. The ideas of labor and rest are not new to me. I am sure I could have answered, if questioned, that God ordained a place for labor and a place for rest within his creation, and that these were ordained for a purpose. What I had never taken time to ponder was the depth to which these two ordinances of God shape my life and society as a whole-- whether for ill or for good.
Just contemplate the recent economic crisis that has come upon our country. What are the causes of this crisis? Most experts, and common-sense folk, agree that major causes were greed on the part of lending institutions, greed on the part of governmental officials charged with overseeing certain sectors of the market, and greed on the part of individuals who spent more than they had and took out loans they could not really repay. What does the principle of labor as established by God in creation have to do with any of this? Once you stop to think for a moment it becomes quite clear that attempting to gain material possessions (houses, cars, dividends, stock options, payouts, inflated quarterly numbers, etc.) through quick and easy means is to circumvent the principle of labor that God Himself has established. Is it necessarily wrong to be materially wealthy? No. It is necessarily wrong to gain material wealth through deception and fraud? Absolutely yes!
The principle of rest has also been lost on our society as a whole, and, sadly, on much of the modern Christian community. Why did our society, in the not-too-distant past, have laws regulating activity on Sunday? Was it simply because a large portion of our society had been brought up with the notion that Sundays are "the Lord's Day"? That notion was certainly a part of it. Yet, I think there was more to it than that. I think that the original regulations on business activity and the like were formulated because at one time our society generally understood the principle of rest. God ordained one day in seven to be set aside to rest. This does not mean to simply not go to work. The idea of rest is clearly tied to putting off our usual daily cares and routines to focus on and worship God. What implications does our society now face because of the constant disregard for God by not giving Him His proper due?
As Bible-believing Christians strive to be salt and light in this world, we must remember the importance and necessity of clinging to the teaching of the Creation. I firmly believe it is important for us to defend the teaching of Creation from the atheistic\humanistic teaching of evolution. I have come to believe that it is just as important for Christians to defend the decrees of God set forth in His creative work on a daily basis. If we, as Christians, fail to uphold these three principles in our own lives, how will the world around us see what is lacking in theirs? The church of our generation cannot expect to be blessed by the Creator when we fail to abide by the Creator's decrees.
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