I’m currently preaching through the book of Acts, and my
messages have largely been drawing our attention to some of the core practices
of the early church. When we look back in history and wonder how the first
Christians following Jesus’ time on earth did things, what can we learn from
them? One of the pieces is their generosity towards one another (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35).
Being generous isn’t something they just decided to do on
their own, though. It’s actually rooted in what God had instructed the Israelites
about as they made their way to the Promised Land. He taught them how he had
created all things and was giving them an opportunity to live and work and
harvest on his land. He was the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery. Lest they fell into thinking they earned and ought
to receive credit for making themselves into the people they were and
possessions they had, God reminded them that they wouldn’t be who and where
they were with what they had without him. God had been merciful and continues
to be merciful. He has blessed us most graciously with his Son Jesus. Generosity
ought to continue among Christians today for that reason!
As
I’ve been preparing for this week’s message, I’ve been looking at what it means
to “give to God” as “cheerful givers. So, I’ve been mining what God’s word tells
us he has given us, what the place of offerings is (including thinking about Old
Testament animal sacrifices), what tithes are all about, and what a godly view
of wealth involves. That process brought me back to the account of creation. God
blessed [the man and the woman] and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then
God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And
to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the
creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I
give every green plant for food.” And it was so (Genesis 1:28-30). For meat-loving
Christians, yes, that does appear to mean that God created us as vegetarians
and not until after the flood did he say, “Everything that lives and moves
will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything”
(Genesis 9:3).
God has created us and blessed us to enjoy our lives with
one another and to reproduce, to enjoy (take delight or joy in) ruling over the
rest of creation, and to enjoy eating that which he has given us. As I studied this,
I was struck by the Reformed theologian John Calvin’s commentary on those verses.
He writes, “For it is of great importance that we touch nothing of God’s bounty
but what we know he has permitted us to do; since we cannot enjoy anything with
a good conscience, except we receive it as from the hand of God.” In speaking
about how we enjoy the things of God’s creation, Calvin cautions Christians.
Literally, think of the yellow police tape. It’s as if he’s saying, “What you see
around you in the world and would credit God with the (good) creation of, don’t
take it or use it or consume it unless you certainly know God has given it to
you.”
I’ve
found myself wrestling with Calvin’s words. I wrestle because parts of the New
Testament come to mind. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you
eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or
a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things to come; the reality, however,
is found in Christ…Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of
this world, why, as though you belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do
not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish
with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such
regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed
worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they
lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Colossians 2:16-17,20-23).
Accept
him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One
man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak,
eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who
does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who
does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To
his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to
make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man
considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own
mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats
meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so
to the Lord and gives thanks to God…For the kingdom of God is not a matter of
eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by
men…So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and
God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But
the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from
faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans
14:1-6,17-18,22-23).
Doesn’t God, through the apostle Paul and others in passages
like these, permit us the complete freedom to enjoy anything and everything in
his creation? If we believe God is the author of creation, and there was no
time or substance that can be said to have existed before him, then isn’t
everything his and therefore good? Is Calvin wrong and there’s really no need
for us to regulate or caution against anything in our world if we’re seeking to
walk with the Lord? We’re not just talking about eating plants and/or meat, but
so much more that’s around us. Are there actually things we shouldn’t watch or read
or attend? Are there sexual or romantic relationships that we shouldn’t enter?
Are there intoxicating substances that at the very least we should be careful
about our using? Or does God give us absolutely everything to enjoy freely—however
we want—and some of us Christians just need to stop being so prohibitive and
judgmental? “If me and God have worked things out, I’m good to go, right?”
This isn’t all Scripture says about the Christian’s
freedom or liberty. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free...You, my
brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the
sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love…So I say, live by the Spirit, and
you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…The acts of the sinful
nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did
before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions
and desires (Galatians 5:1,13,16,19-24).
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a
cover-up for evil; live as servants of God (1 Peter 2:16).
What John Calvin had in mind when he wrote “that we touch
nothing of God’s bounty but what we know he has permitted us to do” is the
situation in the opening chapters of Genesis. God told Adam and Eve to eat from
every other tree and green plant that he had created save the one in the middle
of the garden. He had created that tree. It bore fruit that was edible. It was
not God’s desire or intent, however, that Adam and Eve would eat it. Therefore,
it was sinful. God (not John Calvin!) was the one who originally cautioned his creation.
As we widen our scope past creation into the times in
which we now live, Calvin’s word aligns with what the rest of Scripture
proclaims. What Paul is writing about, that people ought not worry about submitting
to certain rules, to “be fully convinced in [one’s] own mind,” and keeping
things between one’s self and God is about rules that people have made up. We know
that there are many restrictions that came up throughout the history of God’s
people, into the days of Jesus, and that continued to show up in the early
church. These rules were in addition to the Bible; they were not proclaimed by
God. They called for those who claimed the faith to limit themselves from
certain things. Paul allows for the following of them, if people wanted to, if
they helped their life of faith, but they were not to be obligatory to everyone.
Men and women could choose to be free from such things.
To enjoy God’s creation, though, is to enjoy it properly
within the bounds God has set. When we read his commands about various types of
immorality or interactions with idols and false gods or getting angry with
hatred against certain things—our Christian freedom does not encourage or allow
for that without recognizing they are sinful. While God may seem to be extremely
restrictive to us at times, which is likely magnified by our own rebellious
sinful natures, there is so much he has created and blessed us with to enjoy.
Let us use our freedom to worship and enjoy him, to enjoy these relationships, to enjoy
his creation, and to even enjoy eating good food!
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